In other more urgent matters

As I type, my brother is in an operating room where his scalp will be opened, a small portion of his skull will be removed and a baseball-sized arachnoid cyst will be drained*. I'm just putting this out in the universe as a virtual good thoughts catcher...

The backstory is that about 5 weeks ago he was "struck by lightning." I use the quotes because the lightning apparently struck very, very close to him. Close enough that he thought he had been shot, he had a seizure and he was unconscious. In running tests to ensure he had no brain damage from the shock, a large mass was discovered. Over the next two weeks he had many more tests and saw many more doctors, one of whom told him that he thought what my brother had was actually three masses, two of which were tumors, one of which was likely malignant. That diagnosis has since been refuted, but I think we'll all breathe more easily when we hear that he made it through the surgery just fine and it was just a cyst filled with spinal fluid after all.

One thing is for sure, though: all the doctors have been amazed at how big this mass is. It is "impressively large" to use one doctor's words. And to think he wouldn't even know about it if it hadn't been for the lightning.

And for those whose first reaction to being involved in a lightning strike is "he should buy a lottery ticket!"...well, he actually did that at some point in the last few weeks (I think 3 weekends ago?). In keeping with his typical luck, he hit 5 of 6 numbers of the Florida lottery. What boggles my mind isn't the amount of money but the amount of amazing karma.

*They will try to remove the sac as well, and the small hole in his skull will be covered by a metal plate so that if they have to go back in at some point, it will be easier.

Comments

[webhill]

Hey, I've been wondering about that, I'm glad to hear that the working diagnosis is now much less scary. I feel for you though, I know how hard it is to have loved ones in the hospital. I hope they can get the secretory part of the sac out and resolve this for him forever!!! Please do update when he's in recovery!

Now, about that lottery ticket... !!!! Hopefully it's enough money to cover his lost work time... :)

[calliaz]

I had wondered how he was doing. I'm glad the diagnosis appears to be something more benign. Good thoughts are on their way.

As for the lottery--that's hillarious. Your brother must have done something karmically good in this life or another. ;)

[onepinktee]

Thanks for the good thoughts webhill and calliaz!

The lottery money wasn't much. I mean, it was several thousand, so significant to the average person (like me!), but not really a big deal to him. Even before tax, the winnings amount to not much more than his average monthly cell phone bill, if that puts things in perspective.

[jenniferC]

Glad to hear that the diagnosis was much less scary than before, and that the surgery went so well! Hope he has a quick recovery, and that the cyst stays nice and empty...