Another Really Good Day

Today was a great day for me. I only took Tylenol once which was this evening because I had such a long day! I've been getting mild headaches when I visit with people too long or get talking or reading too long. Today we slept in a little and enjoyed our first day with Carol here. Carol and her husband Jeff call me their 3rd daughter and have known me since I was in tenth grade. Carol is staying with us for a little while so she can help me around the house and with Brooke and keep a watchful eye on me and make sure for my sis that I'm wearing my helmet when I'm on my feet. HA! Sorry PAT! We went to my in laws tonight since I have to take a shot once a week and my MIL is a retired nurse. She showed Mike how to do it so it's no big deal now. Hopefully I'll be off the shot in the next few weeks. Since having a baby, brain surgery and a blood transfusion I'm showing a little low on blood and have to take a shot that helps replenish red blood cells. Imagine! But that visit meant another LINDSAY visit!!!

Here is Lindsay playing ball with Carol

Our first family of four picture since Mike and I had surgery!

I'm getting good at making Brooke smile for me!
Stretched out and Chillin'...check out those ankles. It took Lindsay over a year to get ankles!!
Grandmama has the magic touch!
Another Grandada's girl...
Lindsay has fun trying on mommy's helmet! She was so funny tonight. When it was time for me to leave and I put on the helmet she said "Mommy go ride your bike and take the back way home" Crack me up!!! She blows me away this kid!

After we got home we went to my neighbors house for a low country boil. It was kind of funny because it was them, the house next door to them and us. All three of us have had to call 911 and have an ambulance out in the last two months for different health reasons. It's kind of the bad luck culdesac! But hey, we were all together tonight eating shrimp and celebrating! They all got some good Brooke time in too. I have therapy tomorrow so Brooke is back at her Aunt and Uncle's again so we can make sure we all get some sleep tonight. I think we're trying to plan to work her in more and more full time over this next week. I finally feel like I'm starting to re bond with her and that is a good feeling. I'll be so happy when we're ALL home again full time!

Questions

Hello all-

I've had lots of questions on the phone and via email about what all happened to me and what caused it. I just wanted to say that I've been told (because I asked as well) that the pregnancy had nothing to do with my having the aneurysm. As a matter of fact, the drug I got the week before in the hospital to release a ton of the fluid my body already had stored up probably was a major factor in helping to save my life.

I had a headache since that day in the hospital. It was getting increasingly worse behind my left eye on August 4th. I had Kim and her girls in town and kept dismissing calling a doc about it. I had already decided if it wasn't better by the next day I would get seen (my usual, a day late & a dollar short). I've looked up a little on the Internet about my condition sub arachnoid aneurysm but I've scared myself doing that. So much is old information and it's not a good idea (as I found out with infertility) to surf the web for medical issues without causing panic within yourself. I can tell you that I was just plain LUCKY in so many ways.

That night Mike and Brooke and I actually all decided to sleep in the Master bedroom. So many nights with all of the medical stuff going on Mike and I have slept separate. Had he been in the living room with Brooke in the swing he would not have known that I had the seizure in the first place. There's no telling what would have happened if we had been in separate places or if I had been home alone with the kids (if he was driving a charter). I truly believe Mike played a huge part in my being where I am now. I woke up or came to a bit and talked to him while he was calling. I had the worst headache of my life at that point and kept telling him that and not to let me die. I had no idea at that point things were as serious as they were. I remember the EMS asking me if I could walk down our stairs. They basically took me down one man on each side and put me on a stretcher at the door due to our split level entry and our baby gate. The last thing I remember was begging them to take me to Northside (b'cause I work there) and them telling me we had to go to Kennestone since it was closer. I was begging for pain meds which they also could not give me. I remember nothing about Kennestone. I keep asking my family questions about different times as I feel weird having no clue or only snipets from times at Emory. I had a CT at Kennestone that showed what was going on and at that point they decided to life flight me to Emory. Mike had to drive the car and meet me there which I don't think he was to thrilled over. He did tell me later when I was in rehab that the helicopter was really cool and he tried to take a photo of it with his phone. Then he realized he was being irrational and started driving out of the parking lot. LOL!
I remember someone talking about putting me on the copter and thinking "HELL NO" but apparently I'm told I pitched a fit in real life too not just in my head! I remember nothing after that until I woke up in ICU and Pat and Mike filled me in on what happened. All this in between nurses and docs asking me every 20 minutes "Where are you", "What happened to you", "Who's president" etc. etc. I was annoyed with this procedure as well and Mike will have to blog sometime about how I earned myself the nickname "MYRNA" with one of my nurses. I guess you could say I got a little "needy" and I was watching the clock (nothing better to do) and timing pain meds etc.

I traveled a lot during August too. Hallucinogenic drugs will do that for you, especially when all you have to watch is the Olympics! I went on speed boat rides and traveled to other countries and had nightmares about Chic Fil A which I still don't understand. I know there were days when I drove Pat and Mike up the wall. I freaked when I didn't see anyone (they would be sleeping in a room right next to mine) and I had no windows so I would think 3 a.m. would be 3 p.m. and I would wake them up to see who was with me or ask for ice swabs or something to drink when I wasn't allowed to have it. Sorry guys....Myrna loves you!

I can tell you all that everyone I encountered at Emory was incredible. The doc I had was the best person I could have had for what I needed. I've had questions about that too...http://www.emoryhealthcare.org/find_physician/physician_detail.jsp?physicianid=531 This is the other man that saved my life! I wouldn't know him on the street since I remember nothing of that night but I will finally meet and thank him in October! I also want to ask him if I'll ever be able to ride a roller coaster again but I'm guessing I already know the answer to that! CRUD! That is one of my fave things to do but my PT at Emory told me I should ask anyway as you never know. Although I think it's probably a bit premature to ask that question when I haven't had my second surgery yet.

That's all I can think of for now. Please forgive this longwinded post and some of the grammar. I hope this helps answer what some of you asked about and describes that night a little from my standpoint. I really need to have Mike sit down and tell his story although I know you got a lot from the Care pages!
My only positive from the experience I'm enjoying now is that I completely lost all baby weight. Not the diet I would ever recommend but hey I'm in pre-Lindsay pants right now and I am LOVING that! I am trying to be careful since my exercise level isn't exactly where it used to be. I don't want to gain it all back in a month either! I joked the other day with my sis that another 3 weeks in ICU and I would have hit GOAL WEIGHT--she didn't find that as funny as me. But I gotta have something else besides the fact that I LIVED to harp on, don't ya'll think???

Two Months Old Today!

Brooke had her two month pediatric visit today. Here she is trying to figure out what "shots" mean!

Actually these photos came from Aunt Agatha and Uncle Paul and were taken while I was in the hospital! They were so great to take tons of pics for me and load them on my computer when I got home.
Here she is smiling for her Aunt and Uncle who were taking such good care of her.

Brooke's stats:

Weight 12 pounds 4oz (Linds was 11.1)

Length 23 1/4 inches

Head 16 inches

Thank you Aunt Agatha for going with us to the doctor today. Obviously after taking care of Brooke full time for the last month I needed you there to answer all the invasive questions. Thank you to Aunt Patti for doing the dreaded shots for Mike! Agatha and I quickly left to go pay and not have to be in the room for the shot part. Although Brooke did WAY better than Lindsay usually does! GO BROOKE MARIE!

Visit with Lindsay

Linds & Daddy reconnect as well!
Here you all go-Look how big she got in a month!
Today was the best!!
Lindsay told me today "You're my mommy & I'm you're Lindsay Bresnan" I totally cried!
Giving Brooke some Lovin'

Today went really well. The best part ever was Lindsay seeing me for the first time. She looked at me funny for half a second and then ran over for the hug. I was sitting in Grandma's chair and she got up in my lap and put her arms around me and hugged for what felt like five minutes or longer. It was incredible. She didn't even speak to anyone else for a few minutes. It's like she knew then how long it had been and how badly I needed her to just hug me! I was able to cry it out at that point for a couple minutes and hide the tears from her! She is talking in paragraphs now you all. It's crazy how much she says! We had a great visit and all this time of Daddy coming and going has really worked on her separation anxiety. We told her mommy had to go back to the doctor but we'd be back for another visit soon. She told me before I left that she wanted to come home and stay with mommy and I told her we would all be doing that soon.
She kept talking about places she'd been recently and would look at me and say "You weren't there mommy" or "mommy go next time". It was all I could do not to lose it several times but I wanted it to be a happy visit for her and I think we all did well. She let us leave (even with Brooke) and blew kisses and waved at the car. Not to bad for a 27 month old I'd say! I have one pretty smart cookie in her! We brought her a pin wheel from my yard that Karen decorated when I came home. She learned to blow on it and make it move on her own. She looked right at me and said "does this take batteries?" We all cracked up at that one. She's just so smart!

I'm hoping to get back over there this weekend for another visit and hopefully a trip to church on Sunday maybe...we'll see. Thanks to you all for the well wishes and emails and comments. I can't tell you how much Mike and I both appreciate you ALL!

Updates: What's going on over here...

Mike got out of the hospital yesterday! HOORAY! He was there three days longer than he planned since he got some kind of allergic reaction to the tape they were using on his body. He's doing much better post op than the last time. We got the path report back and it was cancer they took off that right kidney. There is a rating scale where they rate it from 1-4 least aggressive to most and his was a 3. Thank goodness everything worked out like it did with him because in five years he may have lost that kidney and we'd have been looking for a donor for him because the left still wouldn't have been good. It's amazing that we found it and according to the doc they don't think it will grow back. The margins were all zero which basically means that what they got out around his kidney didn't have cancer in it. He'll go back in six months and I suspect once a year after that to make sure there is nothing growing back!

I've been getting to know my out patient rehab people this week. I'm scheduled to do Physical, Occupational and speech therapy 3 times a week for four weeks. I'm doing it at Northside Cherokee since it's an easier (stress free) drive from my house. This week was evaluation time. I met with PT and OT yesterday to eval and again today to start working. Tomorrow I meet with everyone again and my speech therapist. Speech is interesting it is a lot more logistics than what you would think. At least at Emory they really get you working on your cognitive thought. It's basically to get a person to be able to get back into planning mode and making lists etc for what you need to get done. My OT person was a lot like that today so I'm not sure what to expect from NSH yet. So this week there is something every day but after this week it should slow down a bit til the week in October when I finally see all my docs. I still have to do a follow up with my OB after Brooke (Crazy huh? that seems a year ago to me now) and I have to see my regular internist and let him know all the newest news. I get to go back to Emory early October to see my brain surgeon (how weird does that sound) to talk about what's next for me with recovery and when I get to have my next surgery to put the skull flap back on. It's so weird to me that I just went from having an 8.7 oz baby to a piece of my skull in my belly. Yet, I'm SOOOOOOOO Lucky! They tell me typically is 2-3 months from the first surgery so I'm not sure if I'll have this done this year or next year. I'm just determined that I don't want it to interfere with Halloween. I look so forward to that every year and I'm determined to take Lindsay trick or treating again this year over at her cousins. The hospital stay for the next surgery could be 3-4 days so I really hope it comes in early November personally. Besides this could be the year I could really do up Halloween myself right?! MIke and I have been joking about getting glow in the dark paint for our scarred up areas! You have to laugh at this kind of stuff to get through it I tell you!

We're off to go put in a visit to LIndsay at her grandparents. Not sure how we're working the big Mommy has to leave but we're going to try it. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Thanks You Blogger Gals!

After we got home today from getting meds here is what I found at my door!

Thanks to you all! You know who you are!

Too bad Mike is still in the hospital today. Sorry Honey, if you're seeing this on your lap top we're trying to save you some!!!
Love ya!

HAPPY TO BE HOME!

Could this face be ANY cuter?! She'll be 2 months on THURSDAY!
Aunt Patti had her out like a light!
KK's first picture with Brooke! FINALLY!
SO good to be home! Thank you to Aunt Agatha and Uncle Paul for taking such good care of Brooke and bringing her by to me for four hours yesterday! (And yes, here is the first pic of the new hair-do)!