Having a Blast with Brain Surgery

On a Tuesday in mid - April, we rolled out of bed to be at the hospital by 5 a.m. without sleeping a wink. This was the big day! I would have one of the rarest brain surgeries possible.Would I wake up from it? It wasn't a simple surgery. Would it change our lives forever? Yes! 

Our family has always lived by the foundation of “Honoring God, Building Healthy Relationships, And having a Blast!”

Would the most difficult hours in our lives change that truth? No! Ultimately it would only enhance it.

Choosing the Attitude of the Day

While it was the most daunting personal day in our lives, our family all realized we had a choice to make. Instead of everyone sitting around the ICU waiting room to see “what might” happen, we allowed each of our kids to decide what they wanted to do. I made the choice that I wasn't going to dictate their decisions because what I was going through was different than what each of them were processing. 

All 3 kids chose to keep their day as close to normal as possible.Did it bother me? Hurt my feelings? Not at all! It made us proud that they trusted that everything would work out, and they weren't going to sulk or dwell on the worse case scenario. In doing so, we saw their friends, their schools, and our city's love for them in a way that would continue to shape their worldview. 

Laughing in the Face of Your Enemy

Everyone has “enemies” in your life, and it’s a personal choice on how we deal with them. For us, most of the time we laugh a lot! It releases the dopamine in our brains to improve our days and it lets the enemy know where we stand. 

For “Brain Surgery Day” a photographer took pictures of all the kids, holding scriptures. They  made the pics into posters for my hospital room. It was such a generous surprise! One of our sons chose the scripture: Proverbs 26:3. Which reads:

A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the backs of fools!

What does that specifically have to do with a rare brain surgery? Nothing!

What does it have to do with a daunting day? Everything! Because it turned “weeping into laughing.”

As I would continue the adventure of recovery, we laughed a ton.When I was in a wheelchair, we laughed. When I was relearning the coordination of walking, we laughed. When I ran into walls because I didn't know how to stop, we laughed. When I tried to relearn how to ride a bike, we laughed. Why? Because it beat crying. It beat being depressed. It taught us all a new way of living. 

When you choose to laugh in the face of adversity, it “Honors God; Builds Healthier Relationships; And, you have a Blast”

My son was just here in the room, so I showed him that picture. Guess what we did? We laughed! 

Life will throw serious challenges our way, what we decide to do with those challenges will shape our future, and the future of others.