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Brain Go BOOM! Author/Survivor: John Cooper Chapter 7: Proud T here stood my beautiful wife. During one of the top three snow storms in Philadelphia recorded history, she walked back and forth eight blocks away, through the 25”-30” snowcovered sidewalks. I think approximately two feet of snow was dumped in one day alone. Mind you, Laura is only five feet tall. At one point, she said the taxi services were shut down, and people couldn’t shovel and remove the snow fast enough from the walkways. After the snow was partially cleared, she was able to drive in and out of Philly which, at best, is one hour each way on a good day, just to be at my side. On top of being a mother, she was communicating with all of our friends and family members, paying our bills and handling everything that occurred during that tumultuous time. I can’t begin to imagine everything she went through. She occasionally fills me in on some of the things and I am bewildered as to how she kept it all together. So, as I said, there she stood in front of me for the first time. She looked as beautiful as ever; not showing any doubt or hurt over what I had just put her through over the previous tenplus days. She actually said, “I am so proud of you.” I didn’t get it? I thought, Proud of what? I just pulled out my NG tube and crapped all over myself. I didn’t understand. God, I love you, Laura. I tried my best say, “No, I’m proud of you. I love you,” but I wasn’t sure if she could read my lips with the ventilator tube in my mouth. Page 26 of 167
Brain Go BOOM! Author/Survivor: John Cooper Chapter 8: Now Paging Doctor Robot M y ruptured brain aneurysm was surgically repaired by, what is known in the aneurysm industry as, clipping. I know this because #1, the doctors told me, #2, I read the post op report and #3, I watched a video of the surgery. Call me morbid, but I wanted to know what was done to me. After “the barber” shaved my head, the neurosurgeons gently (I hope) pulled back my scalp and then drilled and sawed into my skull (Craniotomy) with a Dremel-like tool. Approximately twenty-five percent of my skull bone was then removed. To locate the exact location of the ruptured artery, they carefully (again, I hope) moved part of my brain and inserted 7 Titanium clips to the ruptured artery. The objective of the clips is to isolate and prevent further blood flow to the affected artery. In addition to this, they had to reconstruct part of the artery using bovine intestines and then deflate the aneurysm. After the ten-hour surgery was complete, I was put into a medically-induced coma to, essentially, give my brain a rest for a while. The removed skull bone was not replaced during this procedure, as there would be post surgical swelling of my brain. Skull replacement surgery would have to be done six to nine months later. Videos of my type of surgery can be found online, but I highly recommend not viewing them if you are squeamish or have a predisposition of fainting. On the second day after waking from the coma, I lay motionless in my hospital bed; it was still dark outside, but probably early morning. From my left field of vision, I saw something quickly moving towards me. My Angel and Johnny Cash were on my right side, so was bad news headed my way because something was coming from the left? I couldn’t believe my eyes. I remember telling myself, Just go back to sleep John, it will go away; then thinking, Holy crap, it’s getting closer! It started talking and it even knew my name! Okay, someone get me the hell out of here, STAT! (I’m sure just about everyone has heard this word “STAT” before, yet some people don’t know its true meaning. In nursing school and Navy Corps school I learned that its origins are Latin and stand for: Sooner Than Already There; hence, “Get me the hell out of here, STAT!”) Page 27 of 167
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