Monika Barkley

The following photos are a picturial chronology of what started as an incredibly exciting vacation to Mexico with my “mini-me” niece, Erika,  then coming home to the shock and horror of the devastating illness that nearly took my life.   I had two diagnosis’ that singularly should have killed me instantly.  I was initially confirmed with a pulmonary embolism.  Plus, I was additionally diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm that was so getting ready to blow that my ascending aortic arch had become enlarged.  

One thing that helped me through was humor.  I had to laugh when Erika told my sister after I was admitted to the hospital immediately after our vacation that “Mom, I didn’t do anything to kill Mony!”    Look for the humor in every circumstance.  The endorphen rush to the head is enough to momentarily take you out of a funk even if just for a few minutes.  I worked so hard on maintaining my post wlc and makeover body that just the thought of a major heart scar right in the middle of my “twins” was discouraging.   Why be discouraged… my scar is a symbol of life and I really wanted to bring more attention to it so my goal was to say hey, it’s not a scar, it’s a zipper.  I wanted to get a tattoo of a zipper pull at the bottom of my scar but my doctor about flogged me when I asked if I was healed enough to get it.  Alas, no tattoo due to the risk of infection and bleeding (tyvm Coumadin). I say Helloooooooo Henna! I will have my zipper pull!