brain injury surgery Archives

Survival

February 13, 2021

“Life’s funny”. “Compared to what?”
The problem is we just don’t know.
What ‘selfish gene’ caused your angiomas
(Or mine, for that matter)?
Can medical miracles protect the kids?

Mum was not the only one to tell me I was brave. I don’t feel like that title is mine to claim. Mum was referring to my choice to undergo brain surgery. I was genuinely confused—there was no real choice. After the brain bleeds, I was only capable of shuffling from one step to the … Read more

Hiding

August 1, 2019April 16, 2017

Was it Cindy’s idea or mine? I think I was the one who came up with, “You don’t want to hear a neurosurgeon saying “oops!”” She was definitely the one who suggested: “That was cool. Now, can you make her leg twitch?” One of her coworkers offered: “Are you sure she’s asleep?” When I told … Read more

Impostor

August 1, 2019April 12, 2017

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=168252&picture=patient-in-hospital-room About a week to go. Am I anxious? Maybe. A bit. Yes, I’m anxious. About what? The procedure? No. Not really. It’s way in the future. Abstract. It’s not real to me. Like the third surgery. Throughout the process of draining my CSF (Cerebral Spinal Fluid), before the third brain surgery, I thought they … Read more

Coating

August 1, 2019March 31, 2017

My head was shaking side to side. I couldn’t control it. Every time it turned towards my right, I almost slammed into the phone I was holding up to my ear. Why was the phone there? Should it— Before I finished the thought my head turned to the left. Back and forth on the pillow, … Read more

Crop Circles

August 1, 2019February 19, 2017

I told my hair dresser, Gaye. “I’d like a really really short buzzcut in preparation for the surgeries.” Gaye seemed puzzled. “But why?” “I don’t want the crop circle look.” She nodded. Her son had been through several brain surgeries, and before each one, she shaved his head for him, for the same reasons. She … Read more