In 2004, in just my third year of marriage, when my first daughter was nearly one year old, my husband was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor.
The Back Story
For several years prior, my husband had been experiencing new and worsening neurological symptoms, such as dizziness, headaches, lack of coordination and more. Knowing that something was wrong, he began his quest to determine why he, previously a very athletic young man, was becoming increasingly debilitated by pain and neurological dysfunction.
After years of research, going to doctors, chiropractors and other healthcare professionals, he was given a diagnosis of everything from whiplash to stress to psychosomatic illness.
Finally, his primary care physician in a final act of exasperation decided to send him to a physical medicine specialist in the hopes that he could find some way to rehabilitate him.
After a brief physical examination that almost resulted in my husband vomiting and passing out from simple neck movement, he decided it was time for an MRI (finally!). My husband went in for the MRI and had a message waiting from the doctor before he even got back to the office requesting that he come back in because “his neck was fine, but they found something on his brain.”
We feared what the diagnosis meant, but were mostly in shock.
Due to the advanced nature of the situation and the risk of sudden death due to the tumor being on his cerebellum, the surgery was scheduled at the first available opportunity, which was three weeks’ time – the day after our daughter’s first birthday. Surgery day came, and the tumor was removed successfully.
My husband was alive, and the tumor wasn’t cancerous!
Beware! Removing the Brain Tumor Got Bloody
Despite doing an angiogram intended at clotting any blood supply and preventing the tumor from bleeding during surgery, the surgery was a bloody mess, resulting in the equivalent of a subarachnoid hemorrhage and leaking large amounts of blood into his spinal fluid.
In short, this chemical insult to his central nervous system caused an incurable inflammatory condition known as Arachnoiditis – so severe and dreaded that even his neurosurgeon refused to name the disease or consider the possibility until my husband presented his research and justified his conclusion.
Following the surgery, the nerve pain in his legs and low back was so severe and debilitating that he was left barely functional – a mere shadow of the person I knew and married.
This disease was a terrible struggle for both of us.
For me, it was a struggle to cope with the fact that I was now the caretaker for not only a small child but effectively for a disabled husband as well.
However, my husband did not quit. He continued to research, to learn about the disease, to look at potential treatment options in both conventional and natural medicine, and to try to overcome it.
At first, he used all manner of medication, from steroids to antidepressants to the strongest of opioid painkillers. He even used cardiac and chemotherapy drugs for their “off-label” use as well as a spinal cord stimulator, intrathecal drug therapy, and epidural injections. It seemed to help at first, but the results were short-lived. Shortly afterward, his condition seemed to worsen.
Holding Onto Hope
Realizing that conventional medicine had done all it could for him, he began his journey into natural medicine, particularly nutrition, eastern and energy medicine techniques, such as acupuncture, herbal remedies, chiropractic and physical medicine. He still used medication, but he was in control of his healthcare, not the doctor.
He worked with his doctors and other healthcare professionals in both conventional and natural medicine to put together a regimen and a treatment plan that worked. They knew he knew his body and took his health and recovery seriously, and they respected him for it and worked with him.
Although it took several years and a tremendous amount of effort and discipline, my husband was able to overcome the arachnoiditis. It will never be “cured,” but today he is completely functional in every way, no longer on any medication, and otherwise a normal, healthy adult who has his life back.
I can’t say it was one treatment or remedy that helped him, but I believe all of them contributed to an environment for healing to take place. I find it so amazing how the human body was designed to heal itself and when given the right environment, it does heal if the damage is not too advanced.
When I Realized I Needed to Change My Career
Ever since that experience, I started seeing things I did as a nurse in a different light.
My patients were so desperate to get better and have their lives back. I would see them on multiple medications just feeling worse, and cared for them following surgical procedures that I would come to find out were not necessary or helpful, and it broke my heart.
I had many tender moments holding my patient’s hands and crying with them as they shared their health struggles with me and I would empathize with them hoping for their better tomorrow. I shared in their pain and felt their struggles as the pain of my husband’s illness was never forgotten.
It didn’t make sense to me that prescription drugs and surgery were too often the only treatments being presented, even when the diagnosis was questionable.
I had come to know too much about the current model of healthcare, and that so much of the industry in its current model is just making people poor and sick by the masses. I wanted so badly to sit down and talk to my patients about natural health and wellness, and alternative medicine practices they could explore, but I was not allowed to. It felt to me like I was lying to my patients by omitting what I knew regarding alternative health care options.
I became a nurse because I care about people and want to help people live healthier lives. My job was causing me so much interior stress because I was no longer ignorant to the healing possibilities found in alternative medicine that was being dismissed by the doctors I worked under.
I knew I had to quit my job as a nurse and my heart told me my future involved preventative health and natural wellness. But, please don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful for emergency medicine, antibiotics when necessary, and life-saving surgical procedures, but I found health prevention and natural wellness so much more fascinating and fulfilling to me.
My Dream For the Future
I dream of a day when healthcare means a team of people who could involve medical doctors, naturopaths, acupuncturists, massage therapists, chiropractors, nutritionists, aromatherapists, herbalists, and even health coaches that actively communicate amongst each other and advocate for their patients to reach the best outcome possible and actively promote health prevention.
Have you had a tragic event that was life-changing for you? I would love to hear your story in the comments.
Related post: How Being a Health Enthusiast Saved My Life
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Amazing story Stephanie. I had no idea your family has gone through such challenging times. I love your very open and honest personal testimony. As you know, I’m also on a journey to self-healing and have been a long time believer in preventative health care. I look forward to following your blog and learning along beside you. God Bless!
Hi, Tanya! Thank you for your kindness and am so happy to have you here!
Oh wow, what a beautiful read. I’m praying for you and your husband. I feel for you in so many ways. My father was recently diagnosed with ALS and it has been a rollarcoaster of emotions since. <3
Thank you, Kim. I’m sorry to hear about your father and understand the rollercoaster of emotions. In my darkest moments, even one day at a time was too much, I had to think of it as getting through that moment.
Stephanie, I followed a post on Building a Framework’s FB page over here to your new site. I wanted to let you know how great this looks and that your post was really good! Congrats on launching, and doing it so well! I’m still in the VERY beginning of creating a blog… hope mine looks/reads as nice as yours!
Thank you so much, Julie, that made my evening! I wish you the best and I look forward to seeing your blog launch!
Wow this is an incredible story! I really admire your husband for taking the reigns and being so proactive in his own health care and am so glad to hear he’s doing better! I also think it’s wonderful that you have such a caring attitude as a nurse. I have had some amazing nurses care for me and my family members during some trying times and I’ll always remember them. I have no doubt you’ve left a similar impact on your patients. I so agree with you about a multi angled approach to healthcare. Prevention is so important and treating ourselves with a variety of tools at our disposal is a great idea. Really inspiring post! I’m glad you shared this and glad to have come across it (from the pnw bloggers group on fb). 😊
Thank you, Meg!
I’m sorry you’ve gone through so much, but it sounds like you’ve only come out stronger.
I definitely have, thanks so much!
This is an absolutely incredible and inspirational story, thank you for sharing this with us ♥ It is amazing what the body can do and amazing how you and your husband managed to stay strong and not give up.
Hi, you and your husband’s story is amazing. It is very similar to mine, as I was diagnosed with a rare brain condition called Chiari Malformation, in 2015, in a SCARY similar situation. My wife and I have begun searching for alternative methods of healing as well, but with little hope. She has been my beacon of hope, and after reading this, I am a little bit more inspired to carry on. Thank you!
Keir
Hi Keir,
I definitely feel for you in your situation. Before being diagnosed with a tumor, my husband actually thought that he had a Chiari malformation. In fact, I just found out that the functional medicine doc I am being treated by did have a Chiari malformation and underwent surgery several years ago to remove or shave down the portion of the skull that was compressing her cerebellum in order to decompress it and she’s now doing great. I wish you the best in overcoming this!
Hi Stephanie! Thank you for sharing your story! I am glad your husband is doing better now! My younger son had a heart surgery when he was 4 months old, so I know exactly what you guys had gone through. My whole world has changed back then. Now I know how precious life is and appreciate every single moment of it. Wishing you and your family all the best!
Thank you, Nat! I wish you and your family the best as well.
Hi Stephanie! I love this post so much! I’m not sure how I ended up here at this post, but I’ve been gravitating towards your posts and comments in the EBA fb group since I joined. I knew you blogged about oils but didn’t realize the rest. I’ve been going through treatment for chronic Lyme disease and can sincerely relate to some of your experiences. After a year of conventional doctors not being able to figure it out – some believing me, some insisting it was all in my head – I finally went to a naturopath that has significantly improved my health and life. I already leaned towards natural medicine, but this whole experience just cemented my preference and has me itching to help others in the same situation. I am also an obsessive researcher (you made me chuckle!) and that fact is also featured on my blog lol. (I haven’t launched yet though!) I was all excited reading your posts to begin with and hearing your story and your why just made it even better. Congrats on your beautiful blog!
Thank you, Lauren, for sharing your story! I am so happy to hear that you are feeling better and let me know when you launch your blog! 🙂
Hi Stephanie,
I’m in awe of you and your husband. A team to be reckoned with. I’m not sure I would have been anywhere near as brave or gracious had I been facing similar circumstances.
So glad everything turned out well in the end. Definitely a tribute to both of you.
Wishing you and your husband continued good health.
Thank you, Julie!
I just saw this post come up on Pinterest, and never knew your whole story. What amazing strength and perspective you both have. I know you will be able to use these experiences to help so many people. <3
Thank you, Beth! That is my hope!
I am so sorry your family had to go through such a horrific ordeal, but it’s wonderful to read your husband got his life back, and you found your new career through that. My own husband ended up with an anoxic brain injury from a cancer surgery six years ago. We were never told about the anoxic injury and were left wondering what was wrong with him post surgery for more than two years, until we’d lost everything we had worked for. Since then, we’ve been on a long journey to try to find answers, yet so far have found almost nothing. Certainly the medical profession run in the other direction when they learn how he got his injury. No doctor wants the responsibility of doing anything that could prove his surgery was the cause of his permanent brain damage. My own life was as destroyed by his injury as his was, as I became his full time carer. Your article gives me hope to continue looking in every direction for something that might help.
I am so happy you are hopeful!