Under My Feet

Well, we have been home about 2 weeks now, & all the girls have returned from wince they came. And we are settling into the new norm. Don is progressing nicely. He still has issuses with headaches & being dizzy. And if he does much, it's like just getting off the mad teacup ride at Disney World. We have been out a couple of times, for short little trips to the grocery store or dinner. But even these seem to tire him out. But he is slowly regaining his strength. Now we have to find something to occupy his time. There is only so much TV a person can watch. Don is looking forward to getting back to work (I know, I am looking forward to him g0ing back). And he feels his progress will be well enough that we have booked tickets to be at the company Christmas party.

Don, our daughters & myself, would like to thank everyone for all their cards, e-mails, phone calls, letters & PRAYERS. They have ment so much to us all. It's sometimes hard to see how many people you touch in your life time, but something like this can really let you what you mean to others in your life. This will be our last update. we want to thank you all again.

Nancy, Laura, Sandra, Kathryn & Don

Home Sweet Home...

At last, home sweet home. Dad's ivory chariot arrived at home late this afternoon. The drive was long and tiring for everyone involved, but the consensus is that it was worth it. After being strapped in the passenger's seat for over a day and a half, dad said it felt good to get out and help carry the luggage into the house and unpack some things. Of course it wore him out a bit and soon he found his favorite recliner and a pudding cup snack before a nap (some things never change). Welcome home Dad!!

Homeward Bound

Dad got out of the hospital today at 10:30AM! As he was lifting himself out of his wheel chair and into the car he commented that he could not believe that, after having massive brain surgery just over five days ago, he was standing and putting himself into his car on such a beautiful day.

Before being discharged from the hospital, Dad got a chance to talk to Dr. Mayhan, Dr. Spetzler's assistant. He said that Dad's MRI looked as good as it could. That he did not see any signs of the cavernous angioma and that he and Dr. Spetzler were confident that they got it all out. He did say that medically, there is a slight risk that some residual vein could remain and regenerate. But, we will not know that for sure until he does a follow up MRI in a year. But, Dr. Spetzler did not feel like that would be an issue.

Dad is resting now in our hotel room across the street from the hospital. Mom and I are taking care of him now. We will leave in the morning to head back home to Texas. We are going to take our time and should arrive by Saturday afternoon.

Dad has a long road to recovery still. He will have to work hard over the next couple of months to regain his strength, get over the headaches and nausea and work with a therapist to get over the dizziness. He continues to have loss of feeling on the right side of his face and ringing in his right ear. These may or may not subside over time.

We will continue to keep you posted on Dad's recovery. We want to thank everyone again for all your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. We have been overwhelmed by the support.

And now there are three

The nine family members have now become three: Mom, Aunt Diane and me. Aunt Diane is staying with Dad tonight so Mom and I can get some rest. We are hopeful that he will have as good of a day tomorrow as he did today and might be able to go home soon.

He had a rough start to the morning. But after convincing him that he can not control his pain with only an ice pack and his nausea with just a cracker, he did quite well. He went for two walks, ate all his meals sitting up in a chair and carried on several long conversations.

The sign outside his ICU room still reads, "Pending transfer." Maybe we will just be transferring right out of the hospital and going home.

Hanging Out in ICU

Well . . .Dad is still "hanging out" in the ICU waiting on a bed to open up on the neurological post surgery floor. They took out his A-line and Central line today. He is still taking oxygen and on the monitor because his levels fall off while he is sleeping due to the pain medications. Mom is staying with him tonight. They said it is possible he could get moved to his new room over night.

Tomorrow he will begin working again to get his pain and nausea under control and on being able to stand on his own so he can go home.

I'm Free!

. . .of tubes anyway. Dad had a decent night last night; he slept in 30 - 45 minute intervals. He was rudely awakened at 5:30 this morning by a neurologist who removed his lumbar drain (spinal tap). She had to remove the sutures holding it in and then put in one stitch to close it up . . .all without any anesthetic. It was apparently quite painful. They unhooked him from most of the tubes/wires etc. He sat in the chair to eat breakfast and then the physical therapist took him for a short walk. The physical therapist said that of the people she sees who have had this surgery, he is one of the best she has seen. He is doing remarkably well.

It was an eventful morning and all the movement has made him very dizzy and nauseous. They gave him some anti-nausea and anti-dizzy medicine so he is napping now. He will be moving to a regular hospital room this evening when they have the room. He will just continue to work on sitting up and standing on his own to be able to go home.

Settling In for the Night

Dad did better this evening. He finally got some medicine to help him with his nausea and pain. He took a really long, restful and much needed nap. He actually ate potato soup and fruit for dinner. He got a bath and his wonderful nurse, Joyce, helped him get really comfortable.

He admitted he did not sleep well last night because he was nervous that the nurse did not know what he was doing (my Dad the worrier . . .so that is where I get it). I am staying with him tonight and hopefully he will get some sleep.

Now if we could only get the zamboni floor cleaner to stop driving by! Seriously, that couldn't have been done during the day?!

Expect Good Days and Bad Days

A sign posted in the waiting room reads, "expect good days and bad days." Well, we have experienced that today. Dad had a rough night and a rough start to the day today. The anesthesia is wearing off and he is on oral pain medication now. He is experiencing a lot of pain, dizziness and nausea. He is really uncomfortable in his bed but changing positions or sitting up is really hard for him. He is not eating much today other than fruit and crackers.

We are still waiting on official results of the MRI but he was told initially that it looks good.

Good Night Moon...

After getting kicked out of dad's room for the night his MRI appointment got pushed back to an unknown time (deja vu, this happened over labor day also). By the time we finished dinner he had completed his MRI and we will find out the results in the morning. He was able to eat solid foods (half a sandwich), sit up for quite sometime without becoming too nauseous, carrying on quite a bit of conversation. However dad did get a bit tangled up in all of his tubes and became flustered, Laura and I managed to defuse the situation by having the nurse unplug and replug everything in a more organized fashion. The male night nurse on duty tonight was a bit bumbling, he would trip over things and was a little bit scatter brained, but after bringing this up he was nothing but apologizing and accommodating (however still a little scatter brained). But Sandra is staying with him in the ICU tonight.

Once again, thank you for all the prayers and thoughts you have been sending our way, we truly believe that we are lucky that dad is doing so well and got in to do the surgery so quickly (judging by other cases we are hearing). It is nice to know we have such a strong community around us to support Dad.