LAUREN'S LIFE: When Life Changes Forever, Part IV

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The series was originally published in 2011.)

So I found him.

Having to make a decision as important as choosing a brain surgeon is pretty intense. So when the decision was made from a dream I had, some people may think that a tad bit cuckoo.

But for me, I have such intense faith that God sent me that message that knew I found the right doctor.

Plus, after reading all about the amazing wonderful things he’s accomplished in neurosurgery and the many lives he’d already saved, I felt reassured even more. He was one of the top neurosurgeons in the United States.

Then came some a little more of the pain-in-the-butt stuff.

The insurance we originally had did not allow me to use the surgeon I chose, so my husband’s wonderful employer upgraded our insurance specifically so that I could go to my-out-of-network surgeon-of-choice. Another blessing.

Unfortunately, though, waiting for little official dates and starting points of new insurance accounts is terribly and horribly unnerving.

During the time when I was waiting for our new insurance account to become “active,” or whatever its called, I could not make an appointment for surgery to get this thing out of my head.

There were many frustrating phone calls, one of which ended with a hole in my bedroom wall from where, out of sheer sadness and frustration, I smashed the phone through it.

I finally made an appointment just to meet Dr. Gutin. We would actually not be covered by our insurance just yet, but I needed to get something going or I was going to lose my mind.

When the day came the following week to meet my miracle man, to say I was nervous was an absolute understatement.

By the time we arrived at Sloan Kettering, my hands were sore from grasping the armrests of the car. Looking up at the giant hopsital was pretty scary.

Once again this giant roadblock I was facing in my life was becoming quite real because I knew that this hospital was known for its help for cancer patients.

And I have been hoping and praying so hard that I was not going to be one of them. Or if I was, that I would win the fight.

We finally arrived up at Dr. Gutin’s office. After a while, my name was called, and into the room I went. There was a little more waiting but then in he came.

I was so incredibly relieved to finally see him that I started crying my eyes out. His response only made me positive that I chose the right doctor to save my life.

He said, “Geez, I wish all the girls did that when I walked in the room!”

A true, down-to-Earth, very funny, genuine life-saver. He calmed my frayed nerves a bit, but at our first meeting I did learn what I needed to have done to get this tumor out of my brain.

That was information that did more than fray my nerves again.

When I went home that night, I did not sleep.