In 2005 I was attending a Christmas party. While at the party I went to the bathroom and was putting on lipstick when I noticed something was off about my smile. When I would attempt to put lip stick on, one side of my face didn’t rise like the other. It was only slight but still noticeable to me.
I told my husband about it. On the way home he asked if we wanted to stop at the Emergency Room just to make sure so we stopped at St. David’s Medical in Austin, Tx. The ER doctor diagnosed it as Bell’s Palsy but wanted me to get a scan anyway just to make sure. A few month later I got the scan and we met with Nuerologist for the followup. During the followup phone call, I was working at the Mother’s Day Out program at our church when the Dr. called and said it was Bell’s Palsy but they found something else and he wanted me to get more scans.
After another round of scans, he went on to explain that they found a cluster of blood vessels in my brain and it was called Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) and wanted us to follow up with a Nuerosurgeon (Dr. Kim). I was pretty devastated after receiving this news, nor did I have a clue as to how my life would change. I was just so scared and clueless as to what was to come.
Dr. Kim has been a life saver, literally and figuratively. The first time we met Dr. Kim, he looked like he was just out of high school. But when he spoke and explained what was going on, we were believers in him. Dr. Kim explained more about the AVM and the steps he wanted to take to start treating it. That summer he performed a Ghamma Knife Radiation on the AVM. This entailed a day at the facility, screwing a halo into my skull for stabilization and then the radiation.
The radiation was extremely precise and was suppose to cause scar tissue at the beginning of the AVM, to slow the blood supply, therefore reducing pressure on the AVM and eventually cutting off all the blood supply to it and eliminating the cluster. The procedure was a success with no complications.
April 22nd, 2008, I was with a running group from the YMCA in Round Rock. We were preparing for an upcoming race when during the run I began experiencing an extreme migraine. Within a few minutes I began throwing up so they had me lay down on the bench. This is pretty much the last thing I remember for the next several months.
The following is what was told to me as I was know unconscious and have no recollection. Tanya, from the running group, called 911 and had EMS responded. She then contacted my husband, Chad, who was an Austin Police Officer at the time. As the medics arrived, Chad had Tanya give the phone to EMS where he began to tell them what was going on. He proceeded to tell them about the AVM and that she was probably experiencing a brain bleed, as she was experiencing the classic symptoms. She was transported to Seton Williamson Hospital which was a new smaller hospital at the time.
Chad rushed from work to the hospital. On the way he contacted Dr. Kim’s office and advised them of what was going on. Chad began contacting my family to get them on the way. Since our girls were only 5 and 3 yrs old, he began contacting his family as well to help pick them up while he went to the hospital.
Once at the ER, Chad had Dr. Kim on the phone and connected him with the ER doctor. Fifteen minutes later, Starlight (air ambulance), was dispatched to pick me up. I was then transported to St. David’s Hospital in Austin since this was Dr. Kim’s practicing facility. Within 3 hours, I was in the operating room for the first of 3 brain surgeries over the next 4 days by Dr. Kim and his partner Dr. Patel.
After the procedure Dr. Kim came and told us what was going on but had a positive outcome, even though he knew it was a long shot. He said it was a wait and see. My parents arrived sometime as the procedure began. Later, my two brothers, Jeff rushed from Franklin and Joseph was brought from his college baseball game by family friends. Since Chad was a member of the police association in Austin, they paid for my parents a hotel for the next month near the hospital so they could be near by in case things took a turn for the worse.
Everything remained stable for the next 24 hours. Sometime around 8pm the next night on April 23, Dr. Kim told Chad that pressure in my brain had risen to a critical state and that they were rushing me back into the OR to try and relieve the pressure. During this 4 1/2 hr procedure they installed a drain tube on the top of my head to help drain any excess fluids that might be causing the pressure. This seemed to be doing the trick until 48 hours later on April 25th, the doctors stated that the drain tube wasn’t doing the trick and that if we didn’t do something else that I had no chance of surviving as my pupils had already blown.
Dr. Kim stated that a craniotomy was the only option they had. Dr. Kim went and removed part of my skull, placed it in my abdomen would end up being for the next 2 months while in the hospital recovering, and allowed the process to begin.
During this time, our church friends had gathered at the hospital, I was about 100 friends and family were there, to conduct a prayer vigil for my safe recovery. Everyone was in better spirits was they knew it was in God’s hand at this time and he was the only one in control now.
After the surgery was completed, Dr. Patel walks and meets with Chad in front of everyone and basically tells him that chances were slim and that if his hands couldn’t fix her then basically he needed to get his affairs in order because she probably wouldn’t make it through the weekend. As expected, it felt like the air had been taken from the room. The hope had gone from we have a good shot at this to sorry, time to move on. His presentation is not what someone should have to experience or would even want to.
A few minutes later Dr. Kim walks in with a whole different perspective. He told us about the procedure and began giving a long term plan for me. When Chad asked him how is there a difference between the two Dr’s prognosis, Dr. Kim said that he believes in the power of prayer and that even though it was going to be a tough road, he told us to believe in our God. He went on to say that they also placed me in a drug induced coma to minimize brain activity to allow the process of swelling to occur without restrictions or interferences.
During this time, Chad’s mom would bring the girls to see me every other day to spend time with me and to allow me to hear their voices because they knew I could hear them and this would give more reason to fight. After about 7 days I slowly proceeded to start coming out of the coma. From that day forward my progress continued to improve each and everyday.
After 23 days in ICU, I was moved to the intermediate care for a week and then into the rehab hospital. While in the rehab hospital, initially I still couldn’t talk and still had to be fed through a feeding tube. During the first month my parents and Chad would rotate so that there was always someone at the hospital at all times. Chad would arrive sometime in the morning after taking the girls to school and my parents would go back to the hotel and sleep and return during the evening and stay the whole night while Chad was at home tending to the kids and trying to keep their lives as normal as possible. Luckily Chad’s family is all near and helped tremendously with picking up Jayci after school and keeping Landri during the day until he could get him in the evening.
I spent my 31st birthday in the rehab hospital unable to have cake and my favorite vanilla ice cream as I watched family and friends enjoying them. This was a long process that continued even after being released from the hospital. When I first started the rehab hospital I wasn’t about to talk much less knew how to say them. After re-learning to walk I then had the arduous task of learning how to talk again. I knew what things were but when I spoke something else would come out, if anything came out at all.
After 65 days in the hospital I was finally deemed well enough to go home, even though there were still many things I could do or say but they felt I would progress more by being at home. My mom then moved in with us for the next few months to help with my appt’s since Chad had been off the previous 2 1/2 months and was needing to get back to work. Over the next month she would take me to my speech and occupational therapy sessions 5 days a week. Then it was lowered to just 3 days a week for the next year until they eventually said I was to a point insurance did not see the benefit and would no longer cover.
The love and support I revived from family and friends is unspeakable. From my parents spending so much time at the hospital, Jeff coming and being there, Joseph- missing school to stay with me. Chad’s mom, sister in laws Courtney and Janet helping with the girls to them bring anything we may need. The church family for doing a prayer chain 24 hrs a day while I was in the ICU and friends of Chad’s from high school coming and taking care of the landscaping during this time.
I still have bi-annual appt’s with Dr. Kim and he still looks like he’s barely old enough to be out of college. Every time we go in, he tells his assistant, “This is one of my top miracles of my career.” He still remembers it as if it was yesterday. He has been our miracle to have everything happen the way it did for us to meet him. From the us stopping at the ER just to get checked out, ER doctor deciding to have extra test done just to make sure, the Nuerologist doing the extra scans and then referring us to Dr. Kim. If one of these had not happened in this chain of events, I truly believe I wouldn’t be here today.
My two daughters are now 23, Jayci and 21, Landri. Jayci went to Texas Tech, 4.0 and works in Round Rock at the Seton ER. Landri is in college at Lees McRae, NC and track & field. She will graduated in May and finished in Biology. God has been one amazing special person. My Lord has been so good to me and I know He is with me every second of the day. Thank you for all of you.
Philippines 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”
Psalm 41:3 “The Lord sustains him on her sickbed; in his illness, you restore him to full health.”
