I don't even know where to begin. I am young and healthy. I was in the military and have always prided myself on (mostly) taking care of myself. I may have put on a few extra pounds here or there but I don't smoke, rarely drink and generally take pretty decent care of myself.Lately I've been having headaches. And not like regular headaches either...sharp, temple splitting headaches. The frequency at which the headaches have been happening has been increasing. Not to be too forward but particularly during and immediately after the wife and I are intimate, the headache would get so bad that it could last between 12-14 hours even with over the counter pain medication.My wife finally basically ordered me to the doctor. I went yesterday and as I was describing my symptoms, he immediately got a worried look on his face and began scribbling an order form for imaging. He told me to go directly to the building next door for an MRI and an MRA as he feared I had a brain aneurysm. I went and got both scans done and made a follow up appointment for next Wednesday. He was very specific with his instructions - no strenuous activity and stay relaxed.I tried to remain calm and took today off. The call came at 11 o'clock. I knew immediately it was bad news because it wasn't the nurse, it was my doctor himself. He informed me that they'd found an aneurysm in my brain. He said that its small (2 mm) and they generally don't worry too much about them till they get between 5 and 7 mm. He had ordered another scan and told me to go for that today. I'm expecting more results tomorrow.I am a father of three young sons. They are 9, 7 and 5. They are each, in their own way, the most important parts of my life. Every sacrifice I've made, every decision I've made has all been for their well being.I had never once considered a future where they grow up without me. I know that as far as severity goes this could have been a lot worse. Hell it still might get worse and that is what has me totally freaked out. My wife is not an American citizen. She moved here when we got married and literally left everything about her life to be with me. We have our family and now I'm at risk of leaving them and it makes me totally worried.I have only told three people the news. My mother, my father and my supervisor at work so he would know why I wasn't going to be in yesterday or today. I know my kids are too young for me to tell them anything but I'm having a really hard time deciding what to do here.As far as planning goes I've done the basics. I've always had life insurance and my kids have college funds. I am a military veteran and know that my family would be due benefits should something happen to me. Because of the size of my aneurysm there shouldn't be any major reason I would expect something fatal to happen immediately...if it were to happen at all it would be after the aneurysm had increased in size significantly. But that hasn't stopped me from worrying about it endlessly.I mostly wanted to get this out because I'm sure there are other parents who have come up against significant health related issues and felt the guilt I'm feeling now at the thought of leaving my family. I am scared, worried and most of all just want to get better so I can watch my sons get married to their future wives or husbands (because either would be damn alright by me).I'm just...scared. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2jWFLmz
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