home sweet home

Heidi came home last night. She had a rough morning yesterday so we weren't quite sure but the doc came in a bit after dinner and said we were free. So we had a good night and so far so good. She's taking her second nap of the day and is doing great. So were excited to have her home and enjoying our time while the kids are with my parents.

a quick post from the hospital

well, hello folks! heidi here...i hope this post makes sense, lol. i am finally in my own room (& visitors are welcome!) & will most likely be going home tomorrow. crazy, eh? i have some great stories about needles & OR rooms & such. those will most likely be saved for a more coherent time, though. but i'm up & walking with some help. in fact, i would be ready to go home if they had figured out a different medical concoction for me to take at home (apparently they don't like to prescribe morphine for patients to take home. which is okay b/c i'm not such a fan of morphine anyway).

right now i have some really simple goals, such as walking w/ assistance for balance around the nurses' station once an hour when awake (which totally wipes me out!) & sleeping longer than 2 hours at a time...the ICU was good for all the attention...but it was also very loud & there was nearly always some sort of exam or finger prick or something that had to be done.

hhmm, what to pray for? balance & numbness to improve, for sure. another is that tonight goes well, so i can go home! i can't wait to sleep in my own bed (properly filled with pain meds). i also don't like to find myself chewing on my tongue or cheek (gross).

& somehow the connection was just lost & part of this post is gone...sorry i am just too tired to re write. just wanted to let everyone know i'm sort of alive & kicking. but very tired *smile*. keep praying, i want this numbness to go away soon!

quick update

It's been a long busy day so this is going to be short. Heidi had a good day. She got up twice and did a lap around the nurses station. It was completely under her own power but just needed someone for balance. It was enough to wipe her out but great to see her up and around. After dinner she had quite the run of guests including all her siblings and some good friends so that was fun. So all is well in the world of Heidi and I'm off to bed.....

alive, alert, awake, and enthusistic

The title about sums up today except maybe not entirely enthusiastic but for being 24 hours removed from having someone nosing around your brain we'll take it. Heidi got the afternoon off from visitors and I went in to see her around dinner time. Kristi and Cal also came up and stayed through some of the evening. In my mind the difference between just those few hours was impressive. When I came in she was awake, much more alert, and just seemed that much better. She was joking and talking and pretty much being herself which was good. A short time later Dr Welling popped in to check on her and was quite pleased how everything was going. He had her make all kinds of funny faces and weird stuff like that. Then he had her put a phone up to her ear and she said that was audible so he said everything was looking great...very scientific I thought. He said the numbness and swelling on here face would probably hang around for a while but he saw no reason why a full recovery would not happen so that was good to hear.

I also have two humorous stories from today. Before they would let me back in to see her in the ICU I grabbed some wendy's (really sick of it already...but its food) and went out to eat in front of the building near where I was last night. It can best be described as a courtyard with some small sidewalk fountains, a few tables and benches, and is quite pleasant. As I was eating I noticed quite a few patients walking around with their gowns on and IV poles in tow getting some fresh air. One was an extremely obese women riding around in a scooter puffing on a cigarette which just seemed a bit odd. Then a guy walks up to me and trys to bum a smoke. I said I didn't and he moved along. A moment later I saw him talking to scooter women and then watched them have a smoke together....some recovery.

Then tonight in Heidi's room around dinner time she was getting hungry and a bit grumpy that dinner had not arrived yet. Lunch was pretty good and included chicken and stuffing, vegetables, potato soup, peaches in a cup, and some apple pie. So needless to say she was looking forward to food. About 5:45 a nurse brings in a dinner tray and sets it down. I start to help organize it all and it looks a little sparse. Heidi asks what it is and I inform her she has chicken broth and jello. By the time I got the 'o' out she was banging on the nurses call but with a rather disgruntled look. A nurse sticks her head in and Heidi asks her what this was and she said 'dinner' which was not the correct answer. After a brief but somewhat intense discussion the nurse says I'll figure it out and leaves which was her smartest move. A few minutes later the nurse assigned to Heidi (who is doing a remarkable job) came in and said that the food people must have messed it up because she had ordered the food dinner as opposed the the liquid dinner. About 20 minutes later real dinner arrived with some beef, carrots & potatos, a banana, brownie and some veggie soup. This made Heidi much happier. At that time I knew my Heidi was the same Heidi that was wheeled away on Tuesday morning. I just hope they don't screw up breakfast....

the road to recovery

Just got back from seeing Heidi. She was moved into the ICU about 10:30 last night when a bed finally opened up. When I went in to see her today the first thing they said was that she is all clear to move to a regular room but again there are no beds. That however is not such a bad thing as in the ICU she has a huge private room, a one on one nurse, and since she's doing so good they are OK with visitors etc.... Once she moves to a regular room she is just another patient...

As for her, she is doing well. She's awake alert and just really dizzy She's had breakfast and lunch and the food isn't all that bad. As soon as she wants to she is OK to get up and walk a bit (with help of course). For being less than 24 hrs from this...she's doing well.

As for long term she said she has noticed her left ear is quiter so she's probably lost some hearing. He facial nerve appears to be working correctly but her face still feels numb and swollen so that is the biggest prayer request at this point because she said its really annoying.

and the sun shown brightly....

A day to remember and a day to forget is how I will sum this one up. Don't want to have to ever go through this or anything like this ever again but if so this would be a pretty good place to start. About 5p we were told that heidi was awake in the post op recovery area but the ICU is full so she is hanging out there. All considering she looks pretty good and is awake, aware, and agitated. The nurse those were all good signs but gave her some sleepy drugs because being a 'bad patient' is good for long term recovery sleep is the best for the short term. She didn't get a turbine thing which is good.

as odd as the last month has been and the emotional roller coaster I can still say god has been entirely faithful on this one so I thought I'd hit a few highlights...

- to the eye doctor who saw something she didn't like and wanted to get it looked at...
- to the optical neurologist, while still a jerk, still wanting to get an MRI just to be sure...even though I thought it stupid
- to having one of the cutting edge doctors (Welling) in this field 20 minutes down the road
- to this happening in the summer when 2 of 4 grandparents are on summer break as they are teachers
- to not having the commercial group sold until a month after the surgery when medical insurance is going to make this not bankrupt us
- to having the anesthesiologist who has worked with the surgeon for about 20 years.
- to finding out from the post op nurse, without really asking, that if she or her family had something like this she would want this same anesthesiologist, neurosurgeon (the guy who got welling into her brain), and doctor because the are the best. As she put it 'they are some of the smartest and also the nicest'

So as I sit here on the lawn in front of the hospital watching the planes fly over (the hospital is probably less than 10 miles from the airport directly in the flight path) and the sun set i know this world is bigger than what I can understand and I/we are well taken care of even when things suck....and that is why the sun has shown brightly.

done....

Just talked to Dr. Welling (the surgeon) and everything went well. They were just cleaing up everything and putting the dressing on and all that. He said another hour or so on the OR and then to recovery. The tumor was benign and exactly what they expected. It came off all of the nerves except the hearing one. (which was probably the most likely to have issues anyway) and everything went well.