How Do I Put This?

I've been in a quandary the last couple of weeks about posting on The Boston Lady.  It's my happy place where even if things are less than ideal I can go and find the positive side of things and even make myself laugh.

I'm usually drawn to write a post maybe three times a week or more if I'm really on a roll or there's a lot going on in our lives.

Well, there's a lot going on in our lives, but I just haven't been able to bring myself to the point of sitting down and writing about it.  First of all, I always try to keep my blog on the upside of things. Humor and laughter are great healers and I always enjoy a good chuckle, even at my own expense.  Second, I don't like to trespass on my family's privacy - I'm fair game, Mr. T, well, poor man, he's so good natured, he doesn't mind being fair game either, but I try to just stick with funny little stories or what we've been up to with various family members.

Third, I didn't think it was fair of me to keep asking people to keep my daughter, The Maven, in their thoughts and appear overly dramatic and mysterious about what's going on with her.  I thought I could just write about mundane little things going on at Boston Manor, but helping The Maven is all consuming at this point, if not physically, then emotionally and mentally.  So my choice was to just take a hiatus from the blog for a while or let my good friends on here know what is going on with my pretty girl.

She told me that she would like me to share her story at this particular time with my friends and family on here, many who already know a good bit about what is going on.  The Maven is a big believer in the fact that if you share a difficult experience with people, perhaps there is someone out there who is helped by your story, or someone who has insight that they may want to share.

The Maven has been staying with us for about 6 weeks now because she has the symptoms of Vertigo and they will not go away.  We suspected why this may have been happening and that has now been confirmed through tests and scans.  

Last year a MRI of her brain showed that she had a small benign tumor in the ear region of her brain.  It is called an Acoustic Neuroma.  When it was discovered we were told that it would probably be a long time before it may ever affect her, if ever.

Ever came this February. 

 Usually these tumors are a nuisance and affect the hearing of a person when they grow, but The Maven's is resting on her balance nerve and these Vertigo symptoms are signs that the tumor has grown - a very little bit, but enough to be disruptive to her sense of balance.  She is unable to drive, work, walk for any length of time and is often nauseated as the day progresses.  

The solution for this is surgery.  Brain surgery.  Which is very scary sounding, and honestly freaked us out at first to contemplate it.  However, over the weeks we have talked to so many experts and learned so much about how this surgery is done that we all have developed a comfort level with it.  Almost to the point where we are saying, "let's just do it!"

The doctors told us The Maven needed to take a good amount of time to make her decision and they have sent her for numerous tests to measure hearing levels, balance irregularities and nerve function.  In the course of the last several weeks it has become clear to The Maven that she wants to have this surgery which should take care of her balance issues. As with any surgery, there are risks and that is what we worry about most, especially in the region of the brain. We are grateful to have a large city nearby full of some of the best neuro-surgeons and ENT surgeons in the country. And doctors and experts who have taken the time to explain details over and over again.

Good news from a complicated test she had yesterday, the tumor has not caused any nerve damage - a real plus for recovery. And hopefully after a bit of a recovery period she can get back to her old life, her much-loved job and living on her own with her two kitties. 

Her employers have been wonderfully understanding thus far and that has been one less thing she needs to worry about.  She and I are hanging out together just like the old days, watching "our" shows, sometimes arguing over laundry duty, you know, the usual mom/daughter drama. Mr. Tennis is once again outnumbered.

We've laughed, we've cried, we've yelled, we've laughed again.  And that's how I know we and she are all going to get through this as long as we can still laugh about some of the silliness that we've experienced along the way.  And there has been plenty of odd and silly experiences.

So, I will understand if you'd rather not read about it.  I may never write about it much again.  I don't know.  I may write about it a lot.  All I know is that I think about it constantly and it's hard to take funny pictures of the dogs (having the camera card would help) and come up with things to say about them when my heart is just not in it.

There you have it. I so appreciate all the supportive comments I've received on past posts and I always show them to The Maven if she hasn't already read the blog.

Being away from friends and family is difficult at a time like this, but we are so grateful for the support they give us from afar as well as the well wishes from so may new friends via the blogosphere. 

Boston Lady out, for now.