and this is my story….
i don’t have complete memory of what happened so this is going to be the story as remembered by my amazing husband, Kit
on the morning of June14, 2020 we were in Las Vegas celebrating my nephew’s high school graduation
the morning ofSunday june 14, we had no special plans, but to spend time with family we were actually planning on driving back to AZ that day but God had a different plan that would change our lives forever…
At 28 weeks pregnant. around 3PM, i would take my firstborn Keluna to the potty then start randomly having excruciating pain in my head that I still remember to this day the cousins wanted to go out to the strip but my headache was so bad that I decided to stay back at the house while our cousins take luna with them
i instantly knew there was something seriously wrong with me This headache was like no other..my cousin, a nurse practitioner ran to get her blood pressure cuff to make sure it wasn’t crazy…. it read normal so I was relieved but my head was throbbing in pain I went to the bed and tried rolling indifferent positions; I call Kit to try and be comforted by him he runs into the room and I throw up and suddenly rolled off the bed, start having a seizure then stroke-like symptoms (grasping my left arm, shortness of breath, and in panic Kit calls 911 and an ambulance e comes to take me to the hospital after an initial CT scan, they discover that I had an aneurysm burst in my brain doctors then perform a cerebral angiogram to coil the aneurysm and to stop the bleeding neurosurgeon stops Kit to tell him one of my eyes was already dilated and if the other would have dilated, that was it- there would be no chance of survival. right before surgery they let kit and my cousins see me in ICU, believing thus was an end of life situation of what I went through: half don’t make it to the hospital, half and don’t make it to the operating table or come out at this point it was only a matter of time to get to the operating room, I Squeezed kit’s hand while he did everything he could to stay strong, After many hours prayers I came out responsive: able to squeeze kit’s hands, look at him and all good signs right then, my parents and my mothrt-in-law arrive just in time to see me after surgery. until we had to go home which was 3AM at this point i would the procedure went well and I get sent to another CT scan.. where doctors found more bleeding from after the first scan starting to build up pressure in my head next step: craniotomy they have to remove the right side of my skull to relieve pressure this was a life threatening-surgery– right then, the neurosurgeon says they need to keep my skull removed for the next couple weeks. and this is when I was officially on the road to recovery. It hurts my heart that , they asked if I have a will,my family was told to say their goodbyes.. The hardest for me to grasp that I wasn’t supposed to survive this, but byGod’s grace, here I am…I almost left my dear husband a widow and my girls without a mother I almost didn’t meet my Gilana baby but I’m so incredibly proud of my body for overcoming and keeping Gilana alive. Kit leaves around 7 PM, then gets calls to come back to the hospital. Gigi was showing signs of decel. and he needed to make a decision. Doctors wanted to c-section the baby. Kit says–yes and that “I’d rather save one than lose both!”
June 27 kit’s post read this: Giana Isabelle Maglunog was born at 30 weeks3 days on 6/26.15:32, 2.7 pounds 16.9 in a rollercoaster week to say the least earlier this week, right before stent surgery, I experienced a seizure which lead to more bleeding-in the bran and 2 strokes – one hemmoragic, one ischemic. not only that, another aneurysm formed on top of the original one doctors performed a coiling and a stent -and another craniotomy take out dead brain tissue-and place a pressure monitor(VP shunt) in my brain surgeries were successful, but now the waiting game me (and baby) were placed in a medically induced coma to monitor he week, baby baby has shown signs of distress for the first time-and needed to take action Fast forward to Friday, doctors wanted to c- section the babY at 30 weeks gestation, however right before the operation, I experienced a vasospasm and needed to have a procedure To expand the closing arteries to prevent a stroke, I was taken to the OR– and baby GIGI was born!
Post on JJuly 33, 2020: belle’s husband here for an update: this poster has been in 3 different rooms of the hospital in the span of 6 weeks. all of the staff who worked with and cared for belle during her time here loved seeing my beautiful wife in her element, along with the members of her family. they got to see a little glimpse of the patient they were caring for Today marks the last day this poster will be in the hospital because belle is getting transferred to a facility in PHOENIX!d ue to covid, I still cannot go visit her but at least we are one step closer to being home!as for Gigi she is also approved to go to a NICU in
phoenix and will be there tomorrow, as well!
keluna and I will finally be home! i know this is Gods perfect timing for us. still a LONG WAY to go of recovery forBelle and growing bigger for Gigi, Icannot thank my family enough for the hospitality hey have given my family the past 6 weeks. its been real, Vegas! see yo u in Phoenix! $#road torecovery
I cab’t pinpoint exactly when I realized and learned of everything that had happened to me, but imagine going on a trip and instead of going home, you’re in a coma and wake up in the hospital and jump right into inpatient neuro rehab because your left side no longer works. Kit tells me the whole story one night when he visited me and I could not believe what I heard truly traumatized. I could not sleep that night. I may havePTSD from it all I am home now, but still have an intense fear of having another stroke/aneurysm….
I would spend 5 weeks, 1110 days in the neuro rehab unit of the hospital. .the days are long and i am just waiting day to day t to be visited by my family and get discharged, i could hardly believe it when I got the news that I was being discharged on
October 3, and then even earlier onSEptember 30 because husband convinced them for itt o be during his fAll break. My husband was always pulling for me like that the whole time. He wanted me home. as much as I wanted to be home.
October 29 came, the day of family training when my family would learn the new way how to care for me being disabled. I would be going home in a wheelchair.
life now,., is so different I often ask my husband if he’s sure he wants to stay with me I worry he will feel trapped-or just want a normal life again because i’m so sure he never imagined his wife would become disabled,.but this whole thing has taught us that all we want is life together… in sickness and in health. with our children Thank you God for allowing me to stay alive and have a future with my children. because the alternative would be too sad
Kit and i have had about a thousand deep conversations about what would have happened had the story gone the other way… in the thick of it all kit cried to my family about not being sure if he gave me a good life or if i knew how much he loves me. But i can say with full confidence that the love kit has for me is boundless that even though Iām not the same person I was before my injury he would never dream of leaving me! And for him i am truly thankful
I thank God every day that i’m still here. that I was blessed with an amazing husband who would literally saved my life. even in the saddest moment he never gave up hope.
it is our firm belief that our faith and trust in God is what made us come this far. our membership in the Church of Christ has not only saved us in this life, but also in the salvation of our souls PLEASE VISIT incmedia.org to learn more about our Church
If you’ve come this far, thank you for reading. Thank you God, our story doesn’t end here.
mwou;l
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