Prayers Going Up, Blessings Coming Down: The Power of Prayers

By London Matthews

This is about my journey with pseudo tumor cerebri, also known as IIH. When I was diagnosed with this disease, I lost everything. With nothing, my journey was long and hard, but with prayer I was able to make it. I will be a survivor because of it, too.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449794095

Book preview

Contents

Chapter 1

The worst day ever.

Chapter 2

Pain and Emotions

Chapter 3

Continued Prayers

Chapter 4

Surgery #1

Chapter 5

Surgery #2

About the Author

Chapter 1

The worst day ever.

M y journey begins with a trip to the Emergency Room. The morning began like any normal day, got up and got ready for work. I felt a bit foggy, but needed to have it all together for work that day, because there was a report that was soon to be due, and I had already been working on it going in early. So I finished getting ready, and headed out the door. About halfway to work, I realized that I left my lunch on the counter.. again. So I stopped in to the Starbucks near work, and not only got a good strong mocha, but also a breakfast sandwich to eat later. Off to work I went. I started early as usual, and as the morning hours passed, my coworkers began to trickle in. I was only about a quarter of the way into my report, and the monitor started looking a bit blurry. I also began to feel a bit queasy, so I thought maybe that breakfast sandwich would be a good idea. I took a little morning break, slowly ate my sandwich, along with my mocha, and it didn’t seem to be helping at all. I was still not feeling too hot. Not only was I queasy, but it was accompanied with a headache. I did have some Tylenol with me, so I took some of that, had a nice big drink of water, and went back to work. After some more time went by, my head was hurting so bad on top, that I was not sure if I was going to make it til lunch. I turned to the window behind me, and shut the blinds a bit, but still no relief. Finally I decided that I was going to need to go to the Emergency Room. Our office just happened to be right next door to a hospital. I sent out an email to my coworkers that I would be leaving early, and I gathered my things and left. Thank God it was a short drive around the corner, because my head hurt even more as I got out into the bright sunlight. Being early in the day, the ER seemed to be quiet. I got all checked in, and my blood pressure was very high, and I was on medication for that so that was not huge surprise for me, but bothered the triage nurse. I went back to a room, and got an IV started, and gave my history to the nurse the best that I could with my head pounding at the same time. She was kind enough to lower the lights for me until the doctor arrived. A very nice Asian man came in and introduced himself as my doctor, and shook my hand with a warm smile. As he began to do his physical exam, I began to cry. My head was hurting so much. He called to the nurse to bring me some pain medication for my IV. Well, he ordered a battery of tests. First stop, head CT. They didn’t take long getting me in to the CT machine. Thank God the pain medication was taking the edge off. I had the CT, came back to the room, and gave blood and urine, and then the wait was on. They kept the pain meds coming, and I just kind of laid there like mush. It wasn’t too long that the doctor came in and said that the CT was normal, and my labs looked good, but he was bothered by the amount of pain I was still in even after all the morphine I had been given. He took my hand, and said that there was one more test he wanted to do. He then prepared me for a spinal tap. With all the anxiety I had, he gave me a dose of Versed. A conscience sedation drug. So I turn onto my side, and feeling very scared of what was to come, and before I knew it, I heard him say well, I think we have the answer! Just as he said that, I felt instant relief. My headache was gone. He gathered all the supplies together and the nurse took them away, and he said he would be right back to explain to me what he found. So I waited a few minutes, and he came back in, and took a seat. He explained that he did the spinal tap in hopes to see if I had meningitis, but instead, the spinal fluid came out like a fountain. I asked what that meant, and he said that I had a condition called pseudo tumor cerebri. He explained that my spinal fluid is not circulating properly and is all trapped in the brain, and that was where the pain was coming from. He said that the name itself means false brain tumor. In other words, my body thinks there is a brain tumor, and even though there isn’t one, my body is reacting as if there is one. This is also the reason that the headache disappeared. So he then told me that I needed to lay flat for a few hours there so that I would not get a leak from the spinal tap. During this time, my daughter and her friend were on the way to come get me and to take my car home. This doctor came in with a printout of information on the condition for me to read, and told me that I needed to get in to see a neurologist and an ophthalmologist as soon as possible. Well, that was no problem, I worked for a group of ophthalmologist. This doctor was a Godsend! So my eldest daughter Nichole and her friend Christie arrived. She is like another daughter to me, so whenever I need anything, she is right there with Nichole. So I explained the situation the best I could, and with the help of the paperwork that the doctor gave me, they had a pretty good idea of what was going on.They both came to get me, so that one of them could drive my car home. I had been given so many narcotics, that there was no chance of me driving. I am blessed to have Christie as Nichole’s room mate. All of her family is in Chicago, so she is here alone, and I have had no problem taking her under my wing, she is a wonderful young lady.

We went home, and I went right up to my room. Nobody was home, so it was nice and quiet. I was so exhausted from the whole ordeal, that I didn’t realize that it was so late. It was nearly 8:00 pm. My youngest daughter was at her fathers for a midweek overnight visit, and my room mate was visiting her mother for dinner. The girls got me all tucked in, and brought me some tea and made me something to snack on. As I sat there, I couldn’t help but start to pray, asking God why this was happening. For once, I was not praying for someone or something, but asking God why? I had finally found a job I loved, and had the ideal living situation. So why this? Why now?

That night was a long one. I got on the internet and started my research. I found out so many things about this disease that I was overwhelmed. My room mate got home, and I went in to her and told her what had happened. All she could say was that I was just having migraines and that they would go away with the right medication. I tried to tell her about the spinal tap and she just kind of blew me off. She is the kind of person that thinks everything is just cured with Tylenol.

The next morning, I called my primary care doctor, Dr Norman, to get in to see him for a referral to a neurologist. I also had to call in sick for the rest of the week. When I called my boss, which also happened to be a long time friend, she asked me why I needed so many days off, and I explained the situation to her, and told her that I needed to get into a neurologist right away and get medication started. She understood, and said to just keep in touch with what was going on. I was able to get in to the doctor that same day. I have seen Dr Norman for a long time, and he has been treating me for my high blood pressure, but I think we were both surprised that this was the main cause of the headaches. He has kept such a close eye on me over the years, that this was just not what we expected. There had been times when I went in for a checkup, or for a cold, and if my blood pressure was too high, he would actually medicate me in the office, and make me lay in an exam room until I was stable, then call my daughter to come drive me home. He referred me to a neurologist not far from me, and made the call right there in the office, so they were able to get me in right away the next day.

So I went home from my doctor visit, and just sat in my room alone. I think that at that time things were starting to sink in. I began the whole why me? talk with God. I just could not understand why this was happening when I was just starting to feel like my life was going right. New job, just bought a car, and was just starting to meet new friends. I had begun a new church just before I got the job, so things were really looking up. God teaches us patience, and to wait to see what he has in place for us, and I just couldn’t see what good was going to come from this.

Morning came, and I got up with swollen eyes from crying a bit that night before. I got myself up, took a long shower and got dressed. Not sure what I was going to expect, I brought a book to read while waiting. I just so happened to grab a Joyce Meyer book on prayer.

So when I arrived to the office of Dr White. Of course I had a mountain of paperwork to fill out. There were a lot of questions about some things I didn’t know. I had no idea what my fathers medical history was, since I didn’t spend much of my childhood with him, and as far as my mother, all I really knew about her medical history was that she had arteries replaced in her neck from smoking and she died from Lymph cancer. I took all the paperwork up to the lady, and she started asking me more questions, and in a louder then normal voice. I