The Adventures of Heath & Brandi: I'm Officially "The Worst Blogger Ever"

So, really, I'm now the, self-titled, "Worst Blogger Ever" (well, except for Megan). I know some of you are saying, "Oh, come on you had a tumor in your head..." But, that's no excuse...I was already 5 months behind when all that went down.

Well, I don't really have a lot of pics or videos since April when I blogged last, so I'm going to basically give an update on what's been going on and then add some random pics of our lovely city and our girls.

First of all, I really want to say thank you so much for all the prayers. We had people from all over the world praying for us....I think the only continent we didn't have covered was Antarctica...and who knows??? So, here's what's been going on....in the beginning of October I started having some really bad headaches...I don't mean normal "bad", I mean REALLY bad, and none of the medicine I was taking was doing anything to relieve them. I did get a little relief when I was lying down. These kept on and kept on, and after dealing with these a couple of weeks, along with some fluid leaking from my nose and some crazy dizzy spells, Heath made me go to the doctor. Because of the symptoms, the doc sent me in for a CT scan of the brain.

The initial diagnosis I got from a neurosurgeon here, based on the scans, was a serious sinus infection really far back in my head in the sphenoid sinus. He put me on some really strong antibiotics for 10 days. After sending my scans to our American doctor for insurance purposes, I received an email/phone call saying I needed to leave the country to see another neurosurgeon. This doctor knew we were looking at something more serious.

So, off I went to Spain with a wonderful friend of mine who was my backbone for the first few weeks of my ordeal. As soon as we arrived at the hospital in Spain, the neurosurgeon there, who had already seen my scans, told me that although the leak from my nose could be a quite severe problem, the real problem was with the lesion that showed up on my scan. He said it wasn't an infection and he wouldn't know what it was for sure until he took it out, but that it needed to come out, pronto.

After many MRIs, CT scans, spinal taps, a blood transfusion and what seems like a thousand other tests, I was scheduled for surgery on November 12, to have what they had determined was a tumor of some kind, removed. The tumor was sitting in the back of my head in the clivus bone near the base of my skull. It had eaten into this bone and was only separated from my right optic nerve and right carotid artery by the bone that was left that was the thickness of a piece of paper. It had also eaten through the bone into the space where the pituitary sits. The doctor would be removing it endoscopically through my nose and he felt as if he would be able to remove all of it. He would be able to get a good margin (cut extra out) on one side, but not the other.

I went through so many emotions through this time and many meltdowns, but I can honestly say I never once doubted that I was in God's hands. Even with the terrible news, I always had a peace that can only be explained by God's presence.

I went in for surgery at 11am and woke up in ICU at 12:30am. I had stuff stuffed up my nose and had a cast-type thing on it. I looked like Bozo the clown...seriously. We have one pic of that monstrosity, and you only get to see it if you come see us......

After a few days in ICU I was released to a regular room and spent one more day in the hospital. My recovery so far has been pretty good. The only discomfort I've had is from sinus issues. I'm very happy to say my headaches are gone!

Last week we found out that the tumor was malignant, which came as quite a shock because the doctor had said that the biopsies they had done during the surgery looked benign. The tumor was a cartilage tumor, and a form of bone cancer called skull base chondrosarcoma.

The good news in all of this is that the doctor was able to remove it all. This type of cancer if it's low-grade, which mine is, has a good prognosis, and less of a chance of recurrence, if the tumor is completely removed surgically. I have yet to see an oncologist, but I'm pretty certain I won't be needing to do chemo or radiation. Apparently, this type of cancer doesn't really respond to either. So, I'm so blessed that this was caught in time for it to be removed.

We are doing well.....we're trying to get back into the swing of things around here. I'm feeling a little better everyday. Heath and the girls are getting back to normal also. It was a little difficult for the girls to process things, but we think they are feeling better about everything now.

All I can say is that my faith has only been strengthened through all of this. I felt the Lord's presence with me every step of the way. I pray He uses this to His glory, somehow, someway. We ask that you please pray that we'll have a good check up with positive news in January when we go to do scans again and see the neurosurgeon.

Christmas is upon us once again!! Heath's sister, Megan, will be joining us at the end of this week! I'll post again in January with some Christmas pics and a doctor update!

Well, now that winter is here...if you can call 75-80 degree weather winter...the High-Atlas Mountains have made their appearance. Here are a couple of pics of what we get to look at every day...pretty rough, huh??

Here is a glimpse of our everyday...this our language instructor, "T", turning us in to awesome Arabic speakers.

And, here is Heath, deep in thought as he pretends to be the perfect student.

Here is one of our local friends who owns our favorite eating spot, "The Creperie". His feathered friend is Captain Hook.....he's our entertainment while we eat. He talks to us.