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Monthly Archives: October 2015

Brain Storm

31 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by mbtrevino in Brain, drugs, passion, Tumor

≈ 2 Comments

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Brain Tumor, drugs

My youngest brother was admitted to the hospital Monday night after falling off a ladder. An MRI showed a tennis ball sized brain tumor. We were told he needed immediate surgery. Tuesday was spent preparing him for a Craniotomy. A digital map was needed of his brain and some of his vital signs required stabilizing. All day Wednesday we anxiously waited.

The wait was excruciating, for him; literally. His pain was extreme. He complained to everyone. Loudly and often. They tried to medicate him. He consistently groaned that it wasn’t even close to touching his pain. He eventually told them that he had been in so much pain, for so long, he had been self-medicating. The doctor he finally revealed this fact to, was unable to get details.

My brother’s life has always been a challenge; he was born in storm, during a hurricane. He had surgery to remove a swallowed penny as a baby. I remember as a kindergartener overhearing my parents concerns about the anesthesia. As a toddler, he climbed on top of a dresser. While falling off, the mirror broke, seriously cutting his throat. That scar runs right along the bottom side of his now grey-bearded jaw bone. On his tenth birthday, he snapped his tibia in two. Surgeries were required to try to repair the breaks; again, concerns about anesthesia. He first learned to play, then master the guitar while recovering. He sketched out entire comic books. Artistic expression was and is his go-to therapy and his primary passion.

Our dear parents are both departed. His relationship with the mother of his two younger children is damaged beyond repair. She is legally out of the picture; he has sole custody. We located his estranged 27 year old daughter via the web and asked her to call us ASAP. She did. They had not spoken for at least a year.

Myself, I’d seen nor spoken to him in well over a year. Our last interaction was at our mom’s funeral, when he awkwardly pulled me into a sobbing, apologetic embrace.

As children, he adored me. When I left home at 18, he was 14 and running with his pack of misfits. Tragically, two of those lost boys took their own lives as troubled teens. Drugs were involved.

He had the surgery yesterday. He is still begging for more drugs. Still in agony, and now paranoid, he is afraid. I am afraid too. I fear his tumor is only a part of this brain storm.

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Be Good People!

03 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by mbtrevino in Gun Control, School Shootings

≈ 5 Comments

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Columbine, Massacre

My two youngest children were in school when the Columbine massacre happened. We lived in Colorado. The Middle Level/ High School my kids attended had participated in a track meet on the Columbine campus a week before the shooting. We’d all just been sitting there on the bleachers soaking up the Spring sunshine.

They were in school the day the massacre happened. Our school district was close enough to concern the officials, so the students were in lock-down until we, the parents could go pick our kids up. Columbine defined tragedy for them.

Thursday, upon hearing about yet another tragic shooting massacre, I called my son-in law to ask him what he would say to my granddaughters (if they asked him) about the Oregon school shooting when he picked them up from their school bus stop. (My kids moved from Colorado to Oregon after they grew up.)

I told him that they could call me and talk to me, their Momo, if they needed or wanted to. He asked what I’d said to the kids when Columbine rocked the reality of our world.

It’s not easy to talk to children about these horribly tragic things but we have to. It’s one of the toughest tasks of being a responsible parent. I’d say to my six and nine year old grandchildren just about same thing I said to their aunt and uncle in 1999. I would keep it more simple since they are younger.

“Sadly, there are some very bad people who do horrible things. But never forget, there are way more good people than bad people. There are way more people who want to help you than to hurt you. It’s our duty to be good people and help our families, friends and neighbors to be good people. Always be a helper.”

Please, let’s finally figure out how to be good people and to truly help each other!

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