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.