By: Jeannie

Hi. On May 8, 2007, my 52 year old mom, while cleaning out her garage with me and my sister, had a ruptured brain aneurysm and a major subarachnoid hemorrhage and major stroke. She slipped into a coma after vomiting profusely for quite a while. CT-scans showed she had another brain aneurysm ready to rupture. The doctors did not give us much hope. They told us she would probably not make it and if she did she would most likely be a vegetable because on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the worse, she was a 5.

Dad, our 2 brothers and we cried our eyes out. We communicated with everyone we knew and they communicated with everyone they knew. Within hours we had several prayer chains going on around the nation and some overseas. The doctor scheduled the surgery for the next morning. We thought they should have done it ASAP, but what did we know. It was a double brain surgery with 2 Neurosurgeons conducting it. It took every bit of 8 hours.

 

Guess what? She survived it with absolutely NO complications! The doctor was amazed and we told him she served a God who is in the business of making miracles. They told us that the next 10 days were crucial and anything could happen. We praised God for her survival through the surgery (they clipped both brain aneurysms). We praised God for the knowledge he gave these 2 surgeons. We prayed for them throughout the surgery too. We prayed that His fingers guided their fingers.

 

Anyway, my mom was in ICU for 3 ½ weeks and during this time she developed bronchitis, pneumonia, fever for about 11 days…she had a feeding tube put in and a tracheotomy. She was suctioned every couple of hours or so through her nose and it bled and it irritated her so much. They were eventually able to do it through the tracheotomy. She had another surgery done where a permanent shunt was put in her skull because her brain would not drain the fluid on its own. All her long, curly, beautiful, black and shiny hair was shaved. She had a total of 100 staples on her head. She looked deformed and swollen. The doctor allowed us to give her Glyconutrients (Ambrotose) – totally natural and non-toxic nutrients that my mom was taking at

home for a while before this happened. They allowed us to give her this because they didn’t think she was going to make it anyway. God showed them how He makes miracles. We thank God and we thank them for saving our mom’s life. We believe these nutrients were critical in her speedy recovery. The doctor has been shocked with her every time he sees her. They are calling her “The Miracle Lady”.

 

Thank God her heart stood strong the entire time. My mother is a very strong woman and she is feisty. The very next day after her 8 hour brain surgery, she pulled off her respirator. They had to strap her hand to the bed because she continued to pull all her tubes out.  She breathed on her

own very well.  After 3 ½ weeks in ICU they transferred her to a regular room where we could stay the night with her. I kept my sister’s baby and she stood with her. We all took turns caring for her.

 

In the meantime we all decided to educate ourselves on stroke and brain aneurysms. This way we were able to know what questions to ask and what to look out for. There were at least 3 occasions that we KNEW she would have perished if one of us was not there with her. Thank God we are a big family and we became a team with the same goal to help our mom and wife get better.

 

After about another 2 weeks, my mom was sent to a rehabilitation center. She stood there until 2 weeks ago.She underwent intense 5 to 6 days a week therapy: Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy. Little by little they helped her eat, talk and begin to take steps and go up and down steps. They were very patient with her and with us.

 

Mom is home now and is receiving therapy at home. She does have Aphasia and that too seems to be getting better. We have never and will never give up hope of her recovery. She came home and 2 days later had 5 teeth extracted at the Dentist. She was in pain for days. Today

her vision went black and she became very dizzy and cried. She has a headache almost everyday and it is got worse today. Her face is droopy on one side and one eye only sees shadows, but she keeps feeling her face tingling. We called the doctor and they will give her a CT-scan tomorrow morning to check her shunt. Hopefully everything will be ok.

 

It has been a long 4 month journey and we love our mom and we will do anything for her. Our mom’s intellect is intact, but her communication abilities and skills are affected. She does have Aphasia. Thank you for listening. We KNOW God saved our mom’s life and we know He has a plan for her life and ours. She is a living testimony to a stroke survivor, a brain aneurysm survivor and an Aphasia survivor. Thank you and God bless you and the work that you do.