Given that this is a personal hair blog, and today happens to be Thursday. I thought I’d share miniTBG from waaayy back in 4th grade.
Young TBG had very damaged hair. My mom gave me a “Super Perm” at the tender age of 8 years old, and most of my hair fell out. Three years later she would attempt again and it took the rest out.
This photo is also evidence of a burgeoning otaku, the early signs of a future cosplaying, track running, blog posting, culture-o-phile oddball.
If I happen to have some readers from outside of the States, I’ll breifly explain the African American system of relaxers/perms:
Texturizer – loosens the curl pattern of natural hair
Perm – in the Black community, this is a synonym for relaxer. I have come to learn that outside of the Black Community, this process actually curls your hair.
There’s tons more that goes into all of this, but I’ll save it for my future dissertation in grad school lol.
But my Ursa held my hand, stayed overnight and visited as often as possible. All hell broke loose when my Paramedic older brother showed up, the tension in the room was palpable. When they came back with the results, I was glad I was already sitting…
The doctor informed me that I had an 5.8mm aneurysm on the left side of my brain. It hadn’t ruptured yet (this is what most people think an aneurysm is, the clutch-your-head-eyes-roll-up-and-bloody-then-collapse type of ordeal), and thankfully so. Only one-third of people with aneurysms survive a rupture. Anything 3mm – 7mm should be operated on immediately. More fun facts; one in thirty people have a benign aneurysm in their heads — one that is well under 3mm and just naturally comes with age; most people with aneurysms are aged 55 or older; headaches are not symptomatic of aneurysms, in fact quite the opposite. Lastly, aneurysms are not hereditary. That said– I should not have had one that large.
I was scared… But, Happy Birthday to me?
In my case, I was 26, had migraines all my life and had never been given an MRI for my passing out incidents. Thankfully that fateful night someone thought I was crazy and found this thing sitting in my brain ready to blow. The entire staff kept telling me how lucky I was to have caught it. By the time I was admitted for my surgery barely 30 days later, it had swelled to a startling 6.4 millimeters.
after I woke up
Post Surgery and blood thinners
I don’t remember much of my surgery. The operation took place a month after my birthday, and my throat was killing me. Apparently you need to breathe even while passed out. I thought they’d do the whole count backwards from ten, but I don’t even remember when I went out. My brother and boyfriend were in the room when I came to.
I was so excited to be alive.
I posted on Facebook that everything went well, even though I hadn’t exactly told anyone that anything went wrong in the first place. I’m the type of person that believes No news is good news and only like to deliver good news if at all. So I post and barely an hour later my estranged grandmother calls to yell at me about not telling her first.
BRRRIIINGGGG
“Hello?”
“My name. This is your grandmother.” ( Like I A. Don’t know her voice ( she didn’t know I was hospitalized so there’s no way she could think to say ‘Oh let me introduce myself in case she has amnesia’. B. I can’t read caller ID — see reason for A.) I swear Caribbean elders have a way of reminding you what your place is, chastising you and complaining, simultaneously, with a single sentence disguised as a formality. )
Ugghhhh
Here I am, post-surgery, hooked up to beeping and shrieking machines. A few things happened at once. My blood pressure shot up, my brother doubled over with laughter, my boyfriend’s eyes widened and I sat there glumly playing sad theme music in my head.
My brother making fun of my blood pressure lol
Overall, it was a happy ending — until I got the $68,000 bill + $3,000 monthly medication notices in the mail.
dem bills doe…
But that my friends is a tale for a different time. I am truly blessed to be alive and I hope you never have a loved one not make it, or almost rupture or worse.
trendyblackgirl 