Holy Wilbur!!! Sorry for the FB bombshell!!

Most of you who have spent any time in my presence probably realize that I am not the most patient person, nor do I sit still very well.  I feel like I am constantly moving, even it's just changing my position in a chair while working on the computer.  So imagine me, given something for anti-anxiety so I wouldn't fidget like normal, on a table that if it could have moved vertically, I would have been a good candidate for the next Frankenstein movie with the way they had my head and neck stabilized.  Again with the surreal...

It took an hour to do whatever it is they do with an MRI and part of the results were thing nifty little image.
**Warning don't look if you really don't want to see Wilbur**

Meet Wilbur, the tumor currently residing in the left side of my brain.

After I got the MRI results and the resident pictured here (not the ER resident who broke the news) had explained what I was looking at in a calm and rational manner, I was moved to an observation room still within the ER.  Once in the observation room, it was almost 3 a.m. which in my mind meant my parents would be awake soon if they weren't already.

I hadn't told my parents I was in the hospital before that because I wanted to wait until I knew something to actually tell them.  I'd never even told them about Wilbur's temper tantrums before, though I do think one or both of them had seen me in the midst of an episode without realizing it.  I always thought the episodes were stress related and were something I needed to mention to someone at some point in my life.  I never dreamed that they were my body trying to tell me "something's wrong here!"  After the MRI, the resident had explained that Wilbur's temper tantrums were actually seizures and that the reason for the problems with my speech and issues with my right arm resulted from Wilbur putting pressure on the areas of my brain that control those areas.

I was proud of myself for not crying hysterically as I called and told my parents what was going on.  That's not a call that anyone wants to make to their loved ones, especially when you're on the other side of the country.  I called Amelia in NC and asked her to start praying because even though I was still in shock, I knew I'd need all the thoughts and prayers I could get.  I posted on Facebook:

"So I just got the news that I have a 4cm tumor on the left side of my brain that has been affecting my speech and the right side of my body. I am looking at surgery depending on what the radiologist says later this morning. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. — with Mercedes Hunt at University of Utah Clinical Neurosciences."

And promptly fell asleep for a couple of hours, completely exhausted from everything that had happened the day before and everything I'd found out.

I'm really sorry if I almost gave you a heart attack with the bombshell!  I've heard from a couple of people about how shocking it was to read the update first thing in the morning on your newsfeed.  I also hate that I was too exhausted to call more people and tell them myself.  Danielle called me shortly after she read the update and was like "what the hell, Lady!?!" and promptly came to the hospital after a early morning meeting on campus.  It was while Danielle, Mercedes and I were waiting on the morning neurology resident that Danielle christened the tumor "Wilbur."

With Amelia and Danielle during Amelia's first visit to Utah

 I know Wes probably got one of the biggest shocks of his life when someone called the house to ask how I was and when I was getting out of the hospital when he didn't even know I was in the hospital.  He hadn't seen Mom and Dad that morning, so he texted me after the call trying to figure out what was going on.

When I finally got home that afternoon, I fell asleep on the couch in the middle of a movie.  Joseph had come over to hang out, eat Thai and watch a movie and I completely passed out on him.  But I think that most people understand what a great shock this kind of news comes as.