Iina (life)

I was suffering at the end of my last trimester with horrible migraines and the doctors assumed I had pre-eclampsia. I did not have all the other symptoms just the migraines. I knew something was wrong but couldn’t figure it out. I had a normal labor and a healthy baby. She was just the right weight although I was induced to be safe because of my migraines. About a month later. New Year’s Day we had done having dinner and I was dropping off my sister in law. I was with my sister. I was driving.

We were almost home and we could see my lil community because we live on the Navajo reservation and about 3 miles away, and I get a grand mal seizure and fell unconscious at the wheel. I was driving the great thing about it was that my fooot just slide to the side and and my sister was able to to pull the vehicle to the shoulder. I was taken to the nearest Indian hospital and they discovered my tumor after my second grand mal seizure. I had to be flown to the university hospital in Albuquerque, NM where they took over care. I had a resection of a golf ball size astrocytoma removed in right frontal lobe. The tough thing about it is that it sat right in my motor strip.

To this day, I am grateful to be alive and to have survive. My husband and family took care of me every step of the way through my rehabilitation. I still rehabilitate and loose coordination now and then but grateful to be alive. My daughter is now 5. She is my tough Cookie Girl. Physically I still have issues with my motor functions and with spasms and or seizures but maintain it with medication. I do believe in Iina which is life and that is my story and I am Dinè which is Navajo.

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Opinions expressed within this story belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of the National Brain Tumor Society.