Another update

Went to the Doctor on Thursday. I've hesitated updating because it was very non eventful. I suppose that is good. Little frustrating, 7 hours, 40+ dollars and tons of energy just to have the surgeon sit and say, "well, you look great, have a nice day." So, basically there isn't anything more they need to see me for unless I have a question.

So now we get ready to move. 

Daniel finishes his final week of work this next week.

We have the mother of all garage sales because it is worth more to sell our stuff than to pay to get it up to Oregon....  

We say goodbye to everyone we love here... quite a feat.

We go to Arizona for a couple days

We try to hit Disneyland

All in two weeks.

Going to be quite and adventure!

Miracles.

We've had a very full week.... as you can imagine. Yesterday Daniel's brother Jon and his beautiful wife Cyndi gave birth to twin boys. The boys arrived 10 weeks early but are now stable and supposed to do just fine. They were each 3 lbs. but need to be in the hospital from 5 - 8 weeks. Please pray for their finances to support this unexpected surprise and blessing. 

We got our bill in the mail on Saturday from my surgery. We were surprised how quickly they billed us... I suppose we shouldn't be. Anyway. As we opened it and tried to decipher it we saw that the two bills together equaled over $50,000! Whew! That is just a little over 48 hours of  care! Unbelieveable. Even better than that however is that we don't own one cent!!! Our insurance covers every single penny! Total miracle! We are beyond thrilled.

It truly does seem to pour when it rains. We feel like we are standing here with mouths hanging open just staring and watching the Lord do what He loves to do best.... take care of His kids. There are so many things that the Lord has put together that we never imagined, too numerous to name each... we just continue to be in awe.

Daniel is finishing his final two weeks of work now and finding great favor with his bosses and co workers. Everyone is so sad to see him go. 

I am headed to the surgeons for a final check up on Thursday. 

We've spotted the light at the end of the tunnel!

100%

Wow, we are exactly two weeks from surgery and I can say that today I am 100%!!!!!!! Amazing. I have more energy than I have had in years, no more horrible thirst, no pain whatsoever and my stuffy nose is completely gone!!! I am beyond thrilled. Everyday we just praise the Lord for his amazing goodness.

Now we are packing, packing, packing. We've got lots to do but we are confident in the Lord's ability to provide every step of the way. Still looking for house and major source of income, but again we don't feel stressed, just curious as to what exactly the Lord is up to.

Daniel went back to work yesterday and he is thrilled to be 3 weeks out from being done there. We are kicking it into high gear. Thank you for praying for us, we are joyfully anticipating good things.

Progress

We are making progress. The week has been so wonderful, having Daniel home with us. It has helped tremendously. I had a great week of progress. I am now about 95% of what I can remember being before all this. Thursday we went down to LA and basically spent all day there taking a blood / urine test to test me for diabetes insipidous and make sure all was progressing on schedule. Then I had to wait for the doc. appt. We took the boys and made a day of it which was good and hard because there really isn't much that would interest kids in downtown LA.... They were pretty bored, but troopers. 

Saw the doc. and he gave me the ok (of course) that everything was better than ok. So I have one more visit in 2 weeks which should be easier because there is no blood draw and no wait, and then we will have the all clear :o)

I got way overtired on Thursday from the drive and the hectic-ness of the day that my body freaked out a bit yesterday and I needed to rest a bit more than normal. I have been incredibly thirsty and thus having more water in my system and so the fear of diabetes insipidous tried to creap in, but it was just my body reacting to the stressful day and now I'm more rested and it has calmed down quite a bit.

Please pray that I will have the patience to heal properly especially in these next 3 days before Daniel returns to work..... I want to be as close to 100% by the time he goes back.

Also we've been trying to figure out the housing situation in Bend.... do we buy right away, rent right away, stay with mom and dad..... we just need wisdom. As we've been trying different doors we have been getting some wisdom, but we just need more confirmation. 

As we look ahead to our move it all seems pretty simple compared to this last season, but as it gets closer it seems more and more overwhelming. Pray that we stay out of the "overwhelmed" stage.

New Day

We are great. I told Daniel this morning that there aren't many people that can have the experience I have had. In one year I felt like I aged 15 - 20 years. My face changed so much, it got difficult to try to look beautiful, especially toward the end, my eyes got puffy, the lines underneath were deep and my nose and forehead had grown. In the 5 or 6 days since surgery I have decreased in age about 20 years!!!!!  It has been astounding. I hadn't put any makeup on for about 4 days and then yesterday I did my hair and put my makeup on and I was shocked! When I walked out of the bathroom Daniel just stared at me. He was amazed at how much I had changed and how quickly I had changed back!!! 

My parents left today and they did so much to help us get started in the moving process. They cleaned appliances, and windows and all kinds of things that would have taken me days and days to do. Now we are moving ahead with our next adventure. We are planning on being out of Santa Ynez and moved by Valentine's weekend which is just 5 weeks away!!!

I have a follow up appointment this Thursday and then another one in 2 weeks and then we are done!!! I feel amazing. Still need to do more resting than usual, but my nose is finally clearing out and I can breath thru it, it is still draining a bit, but it's expected to do that for 2 weeks from surgery. I have felt a challenge to my equilibrium a bit because of the ears being affected by the sinus stuff.... All in all I am sooo happy and unbelievably relieved that this season is over. 

We are marveling at the Lord's goodness and His divine instruction in resting, waiting, and the timing of surgery and moving and insurance.... too much for us to have planned ourselves. Looking at it from the vantage point it has truly been a dance!!!

Please keep us in prayer. We have lots to do and wrap up here in the next few weeks and we are planning to buy a house in Bend, something we have never done before. All of that is quite overwhelming, but considering the thing we just weathered, not something we are afraid of. We know the Lord will dance with us all the up to Bend and beyond. 

We just have to keep letting Him lead.

Summary of miracles

After a long battle for healing and then having it end in surgery, there has to be a way of returning to hope in the Lord, processing all that you've experienced and allowing Him to minister hope to your soul again.

We were reviewing all the things that didn't happen.

#1 - I didn't have any trouble with surgery. It went faster and smoother than expected. They said up to 4 hours of surgery, it only took 2. They were concerned with Spinal meningitis being a possibility if the tumor had affected the spinal column and they had to tap into that then there would be spinal fluid leakage and they would take some fat from my belly (lovely) and "plug" that hole. None of that happened! 

The surgeon was able to get a good look around inside because of this new technology of endoscopic procedure that he was more confident that ever that he got it all. He said the tumor had grown around the carotid artery but that he was able to dissect around the area and was confident he got all.... something he wouldn't have been able to do last year with the old procedure.

#2 - Recovery was much quicker than they expected. There is a risk of something called "diabetes insipidous" long term for when the body doesn't turn the liquid you drink into urine, but just passes it thru.... I did not have that!!!

#3 - They were astounded at the lack of pain. They kept trying to give me vicadin, something I hate to take because I feel so loopy on it. I was able to take Tylenol with great affect. 

#4 - early discharge. Way earlier than I expected.

The only sadness for me was that they had to cut off my rings during surgery. When I woke up in post op Daniel told me they had to cut them off for fear of hurting my hand if it got swollen during surgery. Amazingly though they cut it with just one clip on both rings and they seem easily fixed.

For now I'm resting. No limitation of what I can eat or drink. I do have to be careful not to do things like clean my house and drive... guess I'll have to be pampered for a few days :o) 

Thank you all for praying. After a year of prayer being invested into this season not just by us but by most of you, I am astounded at God's goodness! He loves us and He is caring for us with astounding care. He has been so near and already I can feel my body returning to normal. 

I love you all so much and am so grateful for all of your love and prayers. Looking forward to more miracles to come!

Friday Jan. 10th

When I woke up on Friday I had two thoughts. First was that I slept much better than the night before, my thirst was not as excruciating as it had been. and the second was that if they didn't take these tubes out of me I was going to rip them out myself. I just laid there and prayed that they would let me come home that day. Check out is by 11 am. 

At 6 am they came in and said everything looked great. I had no complications whatsoever and all the tests looked good. They encouraged me that they would take the tubes out soon.

By 8 am they were asking me if I wanted to go home. After a hearty "YES" they began getting my papers in order and promised to try to get me out by noon. 

By 9 am they had the tubes out and I was able shower and do a few tests that would prove I was able to go home that day.

By 10:30 we were driving home!!!

Arrived home at 12:30pm..... Just astounding. Got to spend the rest of the day with my kids and parents and after a long day went to bed early.... 8pm!

Thursday Jan. 8th

When I woke up on Thursday I already could feel improvement. Even though the night had been very interrupted, I felt clearer and stronger.

My parents brought the boys up to see me and they weren't sure what to do. They were pretty shocked to see me in bed with a giant bruise on my forehead, but the warmed up quickly and enjoyed seeing the room.

The surgeon came in. He said the tumor itself came out very very easily. It was rather soft and he was able to get a good look around without much trouble. He was very confident that they had gotten it all. I am still amazed that there could be that much activity in my head and I don't even have a headache!!! I expected to feel pretty rotten for quite a while. My eyes were tired and my nose feels like I have a really stuffy nose, but that is it! I can already feel the pressure gone behind my eyes that I lived with for so long.....

By breakfast I was able to eat cereal, an egg and some muffins..... I napped just briefly a couple of times that day, but other than that I felt amazing. Didn't get to get up at all until later that night, began getting sick of the tubes, especially the catheter and the drip line in my arm. All in all I had a couple of tylenol that day but felt sooo much better.

Every nurse I had, every doctor, even the janitors who came to the room and the transport technicians, everyone, without exception was so kind and gracious and compassionate. I have not seen or heard of that kind of kindness and care ever!!! It was extraordinary!

Wednesday Jan.7th

I thought I'd blog day by day about the surgery so you can see the hand of the Lord from the beginning all the way thru.

So Daniel and I went down to LA on Tuesday evening. We left the boys with Daniel's family for the night and they were pretty oblivious as to why we were leaving, but were thrilled to be staying with Papa, Nana and Uncle Jon (Daniel's brother who came all the way from Seattle just to be with us for the surgery.)

After a yummy Chinese food dinner we got stuck in traffic for an extra hour or so which made us so grateful that we don't live in LA anymore!!!! DON'T miss the traffic! When we got to our hotel we were a bit disheartened by the outside and the lobby, but were surprised when we reached the room. A big room with two big beds that were very comfortable and a big tub with jets!!! I got to take an amazing bath that helped me sleep way better than I expected to.

In the morning we got up early (5 am) so that we could get up and get to the hospital for a 6 am check in. We were close enough to be able to walk to the hospital. When we woke up we were both in a state of shock. We felt like we were walking around but mere zombies. So surreal to actually be doing something we had been only wondering about for over a year, something we never imagined we'd ever have to do.

So after we got checked in we were asked to sit in the waiting room which is full of other patients and their family members all preparing for surgery at the same time. As I was looking around I was wondering about everyone's stories. People who looked perfectly healthy, ones who looked like they were hanging on to life by a thread.... the only way to know who was a patient and who was a family member was the white wristband they gave to the ill...... Soon I got my own wristband and filed into the waiting room with the other "zombie-like" people.

After a few minutes of waiting we were ushered to the second floor where they lead us to a cubicle, asked me to undress, put on a gown...... that is when it hit us. We both started to cry and allowed ourselves to feel the heaviness of the situation. Soon we had people buzzing about. After about an hour of answering the same questions: are you allergic to anything, do you drink, do you smoke, are you pregnant, etc..... we numbly answered all of them and whispered how much we loved each other. For me I felt like I was going to the death chamber. I have never faced anything that scary in my life. Brain surgery! I didn't know if I would come out with normal brain function, if I would come out with my vision, I didn't know if I would come out at all! The gravity of the moment was not lost on us, we were terrified and I was so grateful my sweet husband, best friend and rock was there with me. He steadied me thru all of it.

As the anesthesiologist came and poked me numerous times, trying to get the vein which kept collapsing because I had been fasting with only sips of water since dinner time the night before, I knew this was just the beginning of all the poking and prodding. Finally he gave me a drug that made me feel relaxed and told Daniel he could walk with me. I was so scared, Daniel kissed me one more time and we prayed together, he told me he would see me in just a bit and they rolled me thru the doors. It felt like a TV show... weird, just weird. We went into the OR and they had me move from one bed to the operating table. I said hi to the surgeon and then my hearing began getting cloudy.

The next thing I remember I was being told to wake up. My limbs each felt like they were strapped to 500 pound weights and I kept thinking "this is just a dream, it has to be a dream, this can't be happening to me..." I could barely open my eyes and the strongest sensation was overwhemling thirst. I had a giant gauze bandage on my nose and an oxygen mask. They kept asking me questions like "what is your name, where are you, what is the date".... I was able to answer all of them.

Finally they allowed Daniel to come in and see me, after about 2 1/2 hours of waiting. When I saw him I was so relieved. He looked wonderful. I guess I had a pretty huge bruise on my forehead. They had to stabilize my head and it left a bruise, other than that I had no bruising whatsoever, my nose wasn't even tender. They took me up to my room and the rest of the day was filled with blood tests, MRI's and lots of looking at the inside of my eyelids. I heard most everything, but couldn't open my eyes much.

My parents came up to see me briefly and Daniel got to stay with me  in my room.... it was such a long day and all night they monitored me closely with lots of needle pokes and blood pressure cuffs and urine samples and IV drips.. but the absolute worst part was the unquenchable thirst. All that day and all I drank cup after cup and ended up drinking well over a gallon of water in about 9 hours.

 

Update On Surgery

Today we went into UCLA medical at 6:00 AM and at 8:30 AM I left my sweet wife in the hands of the surgeon and the LORD.  At 10:30 AM they made the first incision.  Two hours later the surgeon found me waiting in the court yard to give me the news.  He told me that thinks he was able to remove the entire tumor.  Thank you Father God!  After a day of painful waiting finally at 3:00 PM I was allowed to see my wife and touch her beautiful face.  7:30 PM she is asleep and all is well.  Thank you everyone for your prayers.

Tomorrow

I told Daniel I feel like I'm preparing for a wedding, only not as happy. Things to arrange, billions of phone calls, schedules to coordinate etc, etc....

Looks like Daniel and I will be going down today. We will be staying in a hotel near the hospital and I think we will have a 5 am check in at the hospital. We have Daniel's parents here to take care of the boys and his brother Jon arrived last night. My parents are driving down today and will arrive around the time of surgery tomorrow. 

The boys still seem to be a bit oblivious... although Ethan is more of my "feeler" and he has been more quiet than normal. We are trying to make this fun though for them. Keep things as normal as possible. They are excited to be with Papa tonight and tomorrow and then to be with my parents tomorrow.

I will have Daniel update this blog tomorrow after surgery so that everyone can stay up to date. We would appreciate it if you would stay updated here, if you need to call please call one of our family members that you know. We need to keep our phone clear for family calls and Dr's to get thru to Daniel if they need to. Thank you for that. If you are family, feel free to call.

Looking forward to being brand new ;o)

Waiting

We are taking care of last minute things here at home today. Daniel's brother Jon flies in later today and my mom should be here in the next day or two!!! Yay!!! Anyway, I'm keeping very close to the phone, I'm waiting for the Dr's office to call and give all the details I need before surgery. I hate waiting!!!! 

Weird to think we are just about 48 hours out from surgery.... unbelievable even. I'm actually anticipating having all this over, that is basically all I can think about. 

I had a wonderful time with the Lord yesterday. I stayed home from church and went to a park for a couple of hours. The Lord ministered Isaiah 30:15 to me yesterday. He is having me fast from negativity for the next few days before surgery. I get side tracked with negativity especially when I'm tired and overwhelmed. I'm happy to be fasting that.

More news as we receive it.

Happy New Year

I am so glad we've leaped into a new year!!! I couldn't be happier that 2008 is over. I don't ever remember wishing a year goodbye as heartily as I said goodbye to last year. 

I think my favorite thing about last year is all the traveling I did with Daniel. We got away by ourselves more last year than at any other time and for that I am grateful. I also got into contact with an extraordinary number of people from my past in the last year. Most of it was not something I orchestrated either which I think was interesting. All that made my year nice..... 

However, I have high hopes for 2009!!!

We are down to 3 days before surgery. Yes, I am feeling mixed emotions. Apprehension is increasing for sure. I find myself much more sensitive than normal and overwhelmed much easier than usual. I know it is just the extra emotion of the season. I've never experienced anything like this before. We have both received a peace about the surgery itself. I know I will come thru it just fine, the care I will receive is supposed to be the best, for all that I am grateful. As I mentioned before my heart is a bit sick though. Please be praying for me in that.

Daniel is officially off for 2 weeks now. His brother Jon flies in on Monday to be with us for the surgery and to get a chance to pray with us and for us before hand.... I'm so grateful for his thoughtfulness in coming, it will really help.

We will find out more details on Monday I imagine. For now, thank you for praying. We'll keep everyone posted.