Making it thru brain surgery. Part 1

For those of you that don't know I  had brain surgery to remove a large abcess
from my brain about 3 years ago this Christmas. This week I am celebrating 2
years back to work. God really keep his hand on me! I just wanted to tell a little bit of my story and maybe inspire someone that may be going thru a tough time.
It was the week of Christmas 2003, I was at work on Monday at my job as a concrete truck driver in Augusta Ga. I noticed that I had a dull pain in the left side of my head just above my ear that lasted all day. I took some aspirin but nothing seemed to ease the pain. I thought that maybe it was just a migraine starting. The next day (Tues.) I called in to work still in pain. I also called in the next day (Wed. Christmas Eve) and toughed out a family Christmas get together and It seemed that the pain was getting worse. I also toughed out Christmas Day with my kids (Thur.) in misery. The next day (Fri.) I finally asked  my wife to take me to the hospital in Aiken SC. There they determined that it was a severe Migraine and gave me a shot of Demoral and sent me home. At least I got some sleep that night!
The next day (Sat.) I woke up still hurting even more so I told my wife that I wanted to go back to the hospital. This time they decided to run a Cat scan and that is when I got the news!.........There was a mass on my brain the size of a lemon! "Oh my God" I  thought  I have a brain tumor.  I just knew that all my years of dipping snuff  (nasty Habit, Thank God I was delivered!)had caused me to get Brain Cancer!
Well they arranged for an immediate ambulance transport to the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta because the had the Neurosurgery facilities that were needed for my condition. I was there overnight and they sent me home because being between Christmas and New Years the hospital was under staffed and the wouldn't be able to do anything until after Jan. 1st.
Let me tell you,  The next day I was sicker than I have ever been. I was in so much pain that I was lashing out at everybody. I was sick to my stomach and dizzy and getting incoherent and between my Wife and my Dad they made me go back to the hospital . When we got there while my Wife was signing me in I stumbled to the bathroom to vomit yet Again and there is where I collasped. They had to bring a wheelchair into the bathroom to get me and then they rushed me upstairs to the nuerology unit. Thats when I got the Frst and hopefully ONLY catheter put in me . Everything else is a blur But I still remember that . I know I had friends and Family there during that time and that people all over were praying for me. I am blessed to have a Momma  who is a true Prayer Warrior and I am convinced that it was her prayers that God heard the loudest.
The next morning ( new years Eve) I was in surgery. The Doctors told my family that it would probably take 8 hours or more and to expect me to have impaired motor skills,  impaired speech and memory loss afterwards.
Now here's the good part of the surgery story, when they opened up my head, there wasen't a tumor it was just a mass of infection on my brain (An abcess) determined to have been caused by an abcessed tooth that had been removed a few months earlier. the surgery only took about 4 hours and was a success. Yes I did suffer some minor memory loss but not enough to really matter. What Really matters is that I know that God took care of me that week and guided the surgeons hand as he probed  around my brain and that the power of prayer is a powerful force and I thank God everyday  for life
and life more abundant. I was back home in 4 days!

Stay tuned for the rest of the story and how God helped me thru the next 9 months of recovery and rehab. God Bless You All!

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