On December 22 I came home to visit my family for Christmas, on the following morning I woke up to a funny feeling in my head and my entire left side of my body feeling numb and tingly (Leg, Arm, and half my face). It felt like that feeling you get when your foot falls asleep. Throughout the day I would continue to have these spells for about 20 to 30 seconds but they always would go away. Being bull headed guy dismissed this as something that would go away on its own. After the 3rd day of the same symptoms one of the spells did not go away and I started to feel light headed, I decided to suck it up and go to the ER where I seemed to feel worse and worse as I could hardly walk in a straight line with out help from my father or a nurse. Within 15 minutes I was given an EKG and Blood sugar test which came back fine. They then took me back to an ER bed where they gave me a CT scan once again within 15-20 minutes. Shortly after, the Doctor came back and broke the news that they found a tumor in the front right part of my brain. This was some rather shocking news to my dad and I. Not exactly news one expects to receive. I was then given some anti seizure medication to stop my spells which were very effective and shortly after prevented my spells. Originally I was set for surgery the following day but was postponed for another week as they wanted some of the swelling to go down before they went in and remove the tumor.
Dr Waters with Neurosurgical Specialists, Inc. performed the removal of the tumor on January 2. I then spent another 2 weeks in the ICU waiting for all the swelling to go down. The next 2 weeks proved to have some rather challenging days, at one point I was averaging up to 7 to 8 seizures an hour. If you can imagine they were absolutely draining both physically and emotionally. I was put on 3 different anti seizure medications which took a few days to fully kick in.
2 weeks in the ICU is honestly nothing id wish upon anyone and one of the worst places on the planet to get any sort of rest hahaha. Whether its getting regular check ups from my nurses or 4 to 5 blood test a day at random hours of the day and night, vitals even more frequent. I honestly cant complain to much as I cannot be anymore pleased at the level care that was given to me by my ICU nurses. They were all absolutely incredible. Even more on top of that all the people that come along side of me and my family to fight and journey along side me during this whole ordeal. I cannot be anymore thankful for the wonderful family and friends that I have been blessed with.
I am now home and able to relax after a minor set back, I was originally sent home Jan 17th but after a follow up with my neurosurgeon I let him know about some sharp pains in my left leg. He advised I go back to the hospital and check to see if I may have developed any blood clots from laying down in a bed for 2 weeks straight. After a positive PVL test they determined that I developed several blood clots. Now normally the treatment for this is pretty straight forward and I would have just been given some blood thinners but due to the whole brain surgery thing Dr. Waters advised against it. Instead they inserted a screen into the the main artery that both my legs feed into so that if anything breaks off from the clot it would not go into my lungs. After some time I will eventually go on the thinners so that the issue can be addressed.
Since the tumor started off as brain tissue it was difficult even with the latest technology to isolate what is brain and what is tumor so I will have to under go 6 weeks of radiation everyday and go on a chemo pill. This honestly makes me kind of nervous as I don't know how my body will react to the treatment as everybody seems to handle it a little differently.
I'm feeling good right now aside from the pain from the leg. I can't tell you how thankful I am for all of everyone's care and concern.
I am doing my best to catch up on getting back to everyone, so I apologize for not being very timely about it. It has been a pretty crazy past month as you can imagine, but I am trying to take things a day at a time I will try and be as timely updating things as they come along.
Me rolling right out of surgery. HOLD FAST courtesy of Caleb Ward.
Oh my gosh, Alex! What a crazy story you have. Speechless, except for what I'm going to write, obvi ;) Hold fast, I love that. You're getting it done, making it happen and though we don't see each other regularly, as a brother in Christ, I'm thinking about you and praying for you now. Dear cancer, you can get outta here, and stay away from our friend Alex! rock on, rock on.
ReplyDeleteHey Daiber! Im sorry that I haven't paid much attention to your circumstance. But I prayed for you bro, and I'm praying that Jesus will never let me forget about you. We don't know each other well, but you're still my brother in christ. Get well soon, bro, and I hope to see you again.
ReplyDeleteDear Alex, We have been praying diligently for you since Ben told us your news. He asked us to ask friends to begin praying, and that's what we've done. I thought you might like to know who around the world is praying for you, so here goes! Friends in Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, Hawaii, Canada, Kansas, Mississippi, Illinois, Texas, S.C., N.C., Pennsylvania, Italy, and England (where we are living right now). Please know that you are constantly in our thoughts. I will always remember sitting with you while you told us about your adventure to Alaska! Sending you much love and continued prayers ~ Martha and Stuart Bennett (Ben's mom and dad).
ReplyDeleteThank you so much everyone for the words of encouragement, I cant tell you how amazing it has been to hear about everyone's prayers and thoughts!!! It has been amazing to see how big God is and his faithfulness in showing up in all things big and small. Thanks again you guys are awesome!!!
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