My mom just had brain surgery this week & it has been incredible to see how a person can go into surgery, have your head cut open, have a golf ball sized drill cut into your head & a doctor mess with nerves & then sew it up & staple it back together with 22 stitches and then send you home within two days. I was blown away!!
I was in awe that after all that my Mom could talk, use her facial nerves and even smile. It was amazing, scary, terrifying and a true miracle. How else do you explain it?
My Mom had been battling trigeminal neuralgia for over a year. For you out there that have never heard of this debilitating diagnosis, it is an illness that literally feels like your face is being electrocuted and your teeth on fire. Doctors have all stated it is the worse pain you could experience and most people that have the illness just want to die.
It has been hard to watch her in such pain over such a long period of time, so to even think brain surgery was the best alternative was extremely scary. I was incredibly anxious if there would be any type of slight complication or a slip of any kind, what could happen. This is your nerves, your brain, that the doctor was playing with.
It is a very humbling idea of such a procedure and how serious it was. I was afraid for her. The night before she went in I hugged her & quietly prayed to myself that I would hear her speak again or even smile.
We take so many things for granted, but when someone you loves faces such a scary situation, you reflect. You hope. You pray. You have to have faith that she will come out of it for the better.
My mom is a genuinely very happy personality, so seeing her come out of surgery in such pain was hard. Despite the hope, you begin to see the mind begin to question, to get discouraged, to dwindle in hope and optimism. It is hard to hear my mom wonder if she made the right decision. It is hard to see her still in so much pain, but now additional pain. It is hard to see her struggle emotionally & get down.
THE MIND AND BODY CONNECTION: The mind and body has such a huge connection. It fascinates me, so I thought I would expand on that, while trying to come up with some good solutions to help my Mom get through this experience.
NEGATIVITY WEAKENS: It is interesting how we continually hear how impactful negative beliefs truly affect our life.
Your body, and its trillions of cells, hears everything your brain says. This is both concerning and empowering. Science shows us that negative and worrisome beliefs predispose your body to illness; positive and hopeful beliefs are healing and curative. Medical research on beliefs shows us that your beliefs can be self-fulfilling prophecies. One study showed that 79 percent of medical students report developing symptoms suggestive of the illnesses they are studying because of the intense focus upon the illness. Findings published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry found that our beliefs and our thoughts are neurotransmitters. What this means is that our beliefs create chemical messengers in our brain that communicate information throughout our brain and our body, affecting every aspect of our functioning, including our blood pressure, our immune responses, our sleep, and our digestion. Yes. Take that in. Your body hears everything your brain says. -wanderlust
You wouldn’t take a pill from a bottle with a skull and crossbones on it, but every time you think negative thoughts about your health, you’re potentially poisoning your body with stress hormones that deactivate your body’s natural self-repair mechanisms. You are the gatekeeper of your mind, and it’s your responsibility to protect what you think. -mindbodygreen
BELIEF: Expect better results by BELIEVING in a better outcome.
Countless studies show the placebo effect influences the effectiveness of treatment. If someone tells you a pill will cure your headache, you’re likely to find the treatment helpful–even if the pill was a sugar pill.
Whether you’re trying physical therapy for a bad knee, or you’re seeing a chiropractor for pain in your back, your belief that those treatments will work may be more effective than the treatment themselves. So before you undergo any kind of treatment, think about all the reasons the treatment is likely to help. -Inc.
OPTIMISM BOOSTS IMMUNITY: recent studies have shown that a hopeful outlook is actually what influences immunity. Looking on the bright side makes you less likely to get a cold or infection because optimism keeps your immune system performing at its peak. -Inc
WHAT YOU FOCUS ON CAN COME TRUE: “You have the power to heal your life and you need to know that. We think so often that we are helpless, but we are not. We always have the power of our minds…Claim and consciously use your power.” -Louise Hay
Whether you’re a Chinese-American, a medical student, someone like Angelina Jolie, who may have been “medically hexed” with a poor prognosis or a high risk of disease or death, or even if you’re just someone whose subconscious mind is filled with limiting beliefs from your childhood like “I’m the sickly type” or “My family gets cancer,” focusing your attention on illness has been scientifically proven to predispose the body to illness. Excessive knowledge about what can go wrong with the body can actually harm you. The more you focus on the infinite ways in which the body can break down, the more likely you are to experience physical symptoms.
Becca Levy studied how our beliefs about longevity affect how long we live. What did she find? Spoiler alert: Those who lived longest were those who believed they would live the longest. -mindbodygreen
I think in my Mom’s case she would like immediate results and is struggling with not having the immediate satisfaction of having all the pain gone.
I tried to explain to her and reason with her that she just underwent a major trauma to her brain. The body is an amazing miracle made up of millions of tiny nerves, vessels, valves, parts that all work together to breathe, to speak, to smell, to run…she needs to be patient and allow the swelling to go down, to allow the body to rest, to allow and be patient for the body to heal at its own natural pace.
Nature flows and allows, so when you allow frustration you stop the healing flow, everything will begin to become stagnant, the negativity seeps in and weighs down the natural healing state. Nature knows. Nature grows in patience. If you look outside at nature, you cannot demand the sun to come up. You cannot demand a flower to bloom over night. Nature is patient, slow, and flows in the perfect timing.
Just like in healing, when you allow yourself to be patient that is when the healing begins.
I think getting a cold, working through an illness, having surgery, recovering from an addiction…opens a door that would otherwise not be there. It is a point in your life where there is a space for inner reflection, challenges that spring action, moments of struggle that can bring about breaking open a part of you that needed to be opened. Opportunity is found in challenge or change. It is when we take the moments to reflect, to learn, to grow, to lean on a higher awareness that we begin to truly live more meaning. It is opportunity that opens a door to an even better, higher self.
We are all healing in one way or another. It is what we do with the opportunities that will make the overall difference.
Our mind and body has a deep connection. “The body achieves what the mind believes.”
Peace to all. May any journey you take or endure lead you to a better place.
Prayers and blessings to my Mom. Love you. xoxo
yourhappyplaceblog 
I’m glad the surgery went well and I hope your mom finds some pain relief soon ❤