WEAR A HELMET...OR NOT

This is Gayla. I'm going to fill you in on what's going on with my wonderful husband, Bryan. I feel this is the best avenue to get accurate updates to all family and friends as we go through this process.

Let me start from the beginning.

February 23, 2010 Bryan went to Vail with Greg Margolis and a group of guys to go skiing. Friday, Feb. 26th Bryan had a crash and banged his head on the slope. He didn't have a helmet on because he assumed he would be very careful with the way his back feels. Well, he caught an edge and bit it. He felt woozy and his head hurt, but not enough to quit skiing. He made another run and then decided to make it a day.

Bryan called me that afternoon and told me he had a crash and his head hurt but he didn't feel nauseus so he didn't go to the doctor.

Saturday, Feb. 27th the group loaded up and headed to the airport. That's when Bryan started feeling nauseus and got sick. The concussion symptoms were in full force. After speaking to a few friends, they talked him out of boarding the plane so he headed to the hospital, alone. They gave him a cat scan and came back with some disturbing news.

The doctor entered the room and told Bryan the he did have a concussion, but they found something else on his scan. He began to question Bryan about his symptoms; did he have any blurred vision, headaches, numbing of the arms, etc.? He has had no symptoms like this, EVER. He then told Bryan that the scan showed a 2-3 cm "mass" on the back right side of his brain. The doctor said that he sent the scans to a specialist in Denver who verified that he is 95% positive it's a tumor. What type? We won't know until we get an MRI, so he suggested Bryan head back to Dallas ASAP and get an MRI and meet with a neuro surgeon.

While he was in the ER he called me with this news. I hopped on a plane immediately. I left Codi at a friends house while Mom and Dad picked up Darcy from Tyler and met Codi when they got here and spent the weekend with them.

After an hour of letting this sink in, as Bryan sat alone in a hospital room, he was released from the ER. He headed back to the condo where they had stayed for the week, where my brother Russ and his wife Rene' met him two hours later.

We spent the night in Vail, but I can't say that we slept, because so many things were rushing through our minds. What is it? What's next? What do we do? Thank God Bryan had been on the phone with a good doctor-friend (Dr. Jerry Barker) who is a top specialist in Dallas and a wonderful Christian man with very blunt advice. He told Bryan to get home right away and he would get him in for an MRI as soon as possible and get him in front of a neuro surgeon. He said not to worry until we are told to worry.

I guess the good thing is that he didn't wear a helmet and got a concussion, which led to getting a cat scan. We would have never known this mass was present without the scan.

Next step.

We need your prayers and positive thoughts to be sent our way. We are uneasy, of course, because of the unknown. He feels fine and looks great, no one, even us, would ever know anything's wrong.

Our plan is to get an MRI Monday or Tuesday and then meet with a neuro surgeon this week. As soon as a step is taken, I will post it here so you will all know the same information. We will keep this as a journal and hope that you will add to it with your comments.

What we do know is that we have a strong faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ, and we put all of our hope in Him that we will get through this. We trust Christ and we believe that He will take care of Bryan.

Thank you to Colin for sending this note to Bryan today: "Faith is not believing that God CAN. Faith is believing that God WILL. I have faith and I know that you do, too."

Thank you, friends and family, for keeping the faith.

All my love,
Gayla
2/28/10
9:54 pm