Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Constant changes.

     Remember a while ago when I wrote about life's constant changes? Well, true to form, life has thrown my family another curve ball. Recently I took a hiatus from Facebook (some of you may or may not have noticed). The reason for this being that I honestly was getting so fed up with the little, tiny bits of drama that people felt the need to share on a daily basis. Not only that, the arguments and such that were being shared were so ridiculous and infuriating that I found myself in a terrible mood every time I got on.
       A few days after I started noticing how upset I was getting over Facebook, Facebook!, I found out that my Dad (and best friend) had been diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma (or, in the medical world- Vestibular Schwannoma).  I know this may sound like a bunch of jargon to you all, and trust me- it was to me at first too. Basically an Acoustic Neuroma is a brain tumor that sits on the nerve that connects the ear to the brain. It severely impacts hearing in the affected ear and also affects balance. The tumor is usually benign and is slow-growing. It is also a fairly rare diagnosis with only approximately 2,000-3,000 cases diagnosed per year.
     I am breaking all of this down medically because, honestly, it's the only way I can really handle all of it right now. My reaction is to research, research, research. He is planning on having surgery and will require a fairly long amount of recovery time to compensate for balance issues and possible total loss of hearing. As many of you know, this is going to be an especially difficult road for someone who has total vision loss. His use of hearing and balance is vital in his daily life. I don't exactly know how to begin to express the mix of feelings I am experiencing, and the worry that all of my family is experiencing. I do know that my Dad will fight through this and is, and always has been, one of the strongest individuals I have ever known. I'm not typically an over-sharer when it comes to things like this. I had thoughts of spilling all of my heart out via blog post, but honestly, I just really don't have the words right now. I appreciate any and all good thoughts, prayers, words of support, and love that you all may share, and just know that even if you don't have the right words- it does help to know that you are there for us. I have received more kind words recently than I can ever remember and it truly has helped. Thank you all for being there, and thanks for letting me spill out all of my crazy emotions with you. I know that this post may not seem super personal to many of you, but it has taken weeks for me to work up the courage to write this.


Also, I don't have the heart to read back over this post for grammatical errors and mistakes, so please forgive me if there are any (which, let's be honest, I'm sure there are plenty of errors with commas as I am the reigning terrible-comma-using-queen).

With so much love,
Jennie

4 comments:

  1. Hi Jennie,
    Know that my prayers are with you and your Dad and your family... funny thing is that I had never heard of the term "Acoustic Neuroma" nor the defination of the term until last week when one of the patients at the practice I work in called to schedule her annual MRI... She filled me in,in words well understood, about the discovery of her tumor, the surgery she went through to remove the tumor and the annual MRI's she has done to monitor the possible regrowth of the tumor... which I might add has NOT regrown in the last 3 years... She is doing very well and did not have any hearing loss although she was advised of the possibility... It's all in Gods hands Jennie... once we give it to the Lord we need to trust that He will take care of Us.
    May God Bless You and Matty and your Family...
    Love You Sweetie and miss you too!!!
    xoxoxoxo
    Aunty Lisa and Gang

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    1. Aunty Lisa,

      Thank you so much for your comment. You are right, it is all in God's hands and I know He will take care of us. I am surprised you have heard of AN- most people look at me like I just spoke a foreign language when I have mentioned it. So sorry to hear about your patient, but how wonderful that the surgery was so successful!

      Love,
      Jennie

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  2. Caldwell County will be thinking of you and the fam.

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    1. Thank you, Abby! I truly appreciate it- you know how special Caldwell County is to my family :)

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