Bella sisters share update on their mother's recovery from brain surgery
Nikki and Brie Bella recently shared an update on how their mother, Kathy Laurinaitis, is doing after undergoing brain surgery last month.
In a social media post in late June, Brie Bella, of E! reality show "Total Bellas," explained that doctors originally thought Laurinaitis had a condition called Bell's palsy, a form of facial paralysis, but later discovered she had "a mass on her brain stem."
The twins explained on their "Bellas Podcast" Wednesday that their mother is "now on the road to recovery" following the successful surgery. Doctors estimate that her recovery will take around six months to a year, Brie Bella shared.
The sisters explained some of the symptoms their mother experienced leading up to the surgery. "You saw it a lot in her eye and her mouth and her forehead," Brie Bella said of Laurinaitis' facial paralysis. "But she started to also get other little signs, whether it was with her head and all that, but they just told her [it was] Bell's palsy and one day you'll wake up and it'll all go away."
One day their mother woke up, again experiencing facial paralysis, and found that "her whole face went numb, she was extremely dizzy, she couldn't taste," according to Brie.
Laurinaitis went for an MRI at the Mayo Clinic, where doctors found a mass on her brain stem that was "as big as a blueberry," Brie said.
"It was sticking out of her brain stem and it was starting to hit nerves," Nikki Bella said, adding that it was "growing rapidly."
"My mom's actually so lucky that she saw the symptoms on her face because if she didn't have any symptoms and walking around with this, down the road it could've been fatal," Brie Bella said.
The twins also revealed that their mother insisted in documenting her health journey for their show, despite their reluctance to showcase it.
"Obviously, we were all like, 'No!' but my mom's like, 'Think of how many people out there think they have Bell's palsy, or they have certain symptoms and the doctors don't give them MRIs on their brain? And then, they find out they have these growths or tumors or cancer and it's so late in the game,'" Nikki Bella said.
The Bella sister also thanked their fans for their support and prayers during the difficult time.
