My husband is in brain surgery RIGHT NOW, having a brain tumor removed, right this very moment, as I’m typing this.
I would appreciate sooo much if you would share this link. If you have Twitter/FB/Insta/etc please feel free to share it there too. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ We appreciate shares just as much as contributions. I know it says we are past goal but “goal” was an arbitrary number I made up. In reality I have no clue what our expenses are going to be like moving forward. The amount of rehabilitative care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, assistive devices, etc he’s going to need largely depends on how this surgery goes and how his recovery goes. It might be a long road to recovery, or an even longer road. Either way I’m hoping for the best and I’m going to be there by his side 24/7 every single day supporting and helping him.
Here’s the full story:
Two days ago my husband had a seizure in the middle of teaching his class. He has no history of seizures. He teaches high school theater tech. Needless to say his students were really freaked out when this happened. They ran and got the school nurse who called him an ambulance.
When he got to the ER he had another seizure there. I was there holding his hand when he had a tonic clonic seizure. It was fucking terrifying. Once they stabilized him with IV seizure meds, they were able to run some tests on him such as multiple ct scans and MRI. They found a brain tumor in the right side of his head, and they immediately scheduled him for surgery on Saturday (aka RIGHT NOW!) and in the mean time he has been staying in the intensive care unit, aka the ICU. And of course I’ve been staying in there with him at all times.
While he has been in the hospital he hasn’t been allowed to have any pain medicine, although he’s been in serious pain. He also hasn’t been allowed to eat or drink anything, meaning the last time he ate was Wednesday night. This isn’t the doctors and nurses being mean or anything. In fact the doctors and nurses have been ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! (Nurses are literal angels and you better believe I’ve been sneaking candy onto their desks every time they turn their backs.) The reason he can’t have food, drinks, or pain meds is because he can’t have anything interfering with the surgery. All I’m saying is… it’s been very scary and uncomfortable for him. But he has been so very brave and strong through this ordeal. Needles and claustrophobia are his two biggest fears, and yet he’s been hooked up to multiple IVs and had multiple blood draws per day, and he faced the inside of the MRI machine twice. I am SO PROUD of him! He has been so strong and brave!!!!
Anyway, he is in surgery right now. I’m out in the waiting room with his entire family. We are waiting for updates. It’s so scary. He has the best neurosurgeon in the state, and we are all very positive hoping for the best, but it’s still scary as heck.
I promise to update later. In the mean time, I would really appreciate if you share my link. I want to make sure that whatever rehabilitation he needs, he gets. Any outcome is possible at this time. No matter what help he needs after having brain surgery, I will be with him through the entire journey, by his side, supporting him every step of the way. This gofundme is to make sure I can take all the time off work needed to be there for him (I don’t have paid time off at my job) and I can get him whatever he needs. He’s amazing and I’m so proud of him. I love him so much.
We have only been married for seven months, and this is certainly not what I expected as newlyweds in our first year of marriage. But that’s why I made those vows. I meant them then and I meant them now - I will always be there for him, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health.
The good news is that they got a lot of the tumor out. The bad news is that they did not get all of it out. We won’t know for sure what type of tumor it is until we get results back from pathology in a week or two, but from what the neurosurgeon said, it looks like it might be an aggressive type of tumor.
The neurosurgeon did not sugarcoat things for us. He has explained that Matt is almost definitely going to require further treatment. That could be additional surgeries, or potentially something like chemotherapy or radiation. He also emphasized that Matt will likely need substantial rehabilitative care to regain and maintain functionality in the left side of his body. (And as many of you know, he’s a leftie, so that’s extra important.)
In light of all the additional treatments that will be needed, and the amount of time that Matt will be out of commission, I have raised the goal of the fundraiser. However please do not feel pressured at all to donate. The “Go Fund Me” page is not just for fundraising, it is also a page that anyone can go to for updates. The pathology takes time so it may be a while before we have more information to share, but I promise to continue posting updates whenever I have them.
Matt’s family and I are all here supporting each other, trying to process this difficult news together. We were all hoping that this surgery would be the end of this journey, but we are now beginning to accept that this is only the beginning.
The love, support, and generosity you have all shown us means more to us than words can even express. We have a tough road ahead of us, but Matt is amazingly strong and brave. The fact that you are showering him with so much love is giving him even more strength and hope. I have been reading your messages to him and he appreciates them all so much. His face lights up when I tell him how you have all been rallying around him and showing so much support.
