Annie- Part 4

A few years ago, my Mother was diagnosed with 2 Brain Aneurysms.   This is the story of her journey.

For Part 1 of this Story click Here
For Part 2 of this Story click Here
For Part 3 of this Story click Here


She was amazing.  


My Mom fully recovered from her first surgery with very minor consequences; One (strangely enough) being her loss of smell, which eventually would slightly return. 


She regained full use of her eye which surprised everyone, including the surgeons. 


In between her two surgeries, my Mom returned to work.  During this time, my Husband and I found out we were expecting our first baby.  


We showed up unannounced to surprise my Mom with this cake I had baked,  And without saying a word, we watched and waited for her reaction.

It was amazing and definitely the best way to break the news to our families.


My Mom's second surgery date arrived and she made it through the surgery amazingly well. There were a few scares for us during her recovery such as slurred speech and loss of balance, and at the time I feared it could be a stroke.  Thankfully, it wasn't. 


2 Brain Surgeries.  No major consequences.
BRAIN ANEURYSM SURVIVOR, And I thank my lucky stars everyday!


During my Mom's surgeries, my Brother George had done a tremendous amount of reading about Brain Aneurysms, and insisted I ask my Doctor to be screened.  (Brain Aneurysms being hereditary, more common in women, and my few episodes of migraines during my pregnancy). 


I thought I would humour him (and my super-overly worried Mom) and I mentioned it to my Obstetrician during my next visit.  To be honest, I truly thought the Doctor would think it was crazy, but instead, he immediately booked me for an MRI to be screened.
  
Friday March 28th, 2008 
Week 27
Day 187 of Pregnancy 
I find myself laying in an MRI machine, not worried of the results, but terrified that I am having an MRI while pregnant and unnecessarily exposing the baby to a lot of unknowns.

A couple of weeks passed and thankfully I hadn't heard anything from the Doctor.  No news is good news!  I call my Brother and my Mom and tell them everything is fine, and joke that they will need to find something else to worry about.


My Husband (Mike) and I loved our Obstetrician (Mike came to every single Doctor's appointment with me during the pregnancy) and we spent most of the appointments laughing and joking with our Doctor.  


Wednesday April 16th, 2008
Week 30
Day 206
  
On our way in to the doctor's office, Mike and I were laughing and joking around about a conference he wanted to attend 2 weeks before my due date.  I thought he was crazy but I agreed we would leave it up to the advice of our doctor.

Me: 

"Mike wants to go away to a conference 2 weeks before the baby is due. Please tell him he can't go {Laughing}...

Dr:  

"Mike, You can't go"..

Me: 

"ha ha, told you so!"

Mike: 

{Laughing} "Really?  You really think it's pushing it if I go that weekend, even though it's 2 weeks before the baby"?

Dr: 

"Yes!  Mike, you can't go, because we have the baby scheduled for a c-section on June 10th".

Me: 

"Really?" {Confused} 

Mike: 

"What"? {Also Confused}

Dr: 

"Jen, we got the results to your MRI and you have a Brain Aneurysm, like your Mom".

To be Continued...


(Please note:  Although I did make the cake in this post, the design is not my own.  It is a replica of one I saw on Cake Central.  Thank you for visiting)