Only ONE more surgery to go...

...and it's gonna be on Tuesday! Yes, blogger friends the neurosurgeon was very impressed with my work and HIS on my recovery. Turns out we don't have to wait any lengthy time to have my skull flap taken out of my abdomen and placed quite nicely back where it belongs covering my left brain!! I was worried he was going to make me wait a couple of more months but he put me on next weeks schedule. This is great news to Mike and I for several reasons! For me getting this done now means that we can be done and over with all this aneurysm stuff finally and get both girls back home with us! We are one step closer to getting back to "normal" around here! I am hoping to go back to work by the very end of this month and should be cleared for a part time return to work as soon as this surgery is a success. I will be easing back into work as fatigue is still an issue I'm overcoming. I'm hoping that I will ease back in and slowly work my way back into my forty hour work week.

I've also been cleared by the neuro to drive again although I've not put myself behind the wheel yet. It's been since July that I've been behind the wheel so I'm sure that will feel weird. I'm no longer on doctor's order to be monitored 24/7 and that will also be weird as I'm not used to being totally alone anymore either. Mike is driving a quick airport run this evening and I've already called aunt KK to come over and "hang out" as I'm still nervous and quirky about every eye twitch or head pain. I know I HAVE to get over this and I'm working on it or will be getting help with it very soon. It's just part of the post traumatic aneurysm stress that now plagues me. However, so many people tell me a year from now this will all seem like a "bump in the road" and I can't wait for that feeling!

For those of you who know me well and are waiting to find out, I did ask the neurosurgeon the part about the roller coasters! Let me just say first that he didn't even flinch! He simply said "yes, that would be fine there are no issues with doing all the things I have done in the past". OF course I lumped roller coasters in with riding on airplanes etc., etc., but he knew we had been joking about it since Mike and Pat couldn't resist giggling when I brought it up! So should I decide that I'm not going to stay paranoid about dying or almost dying at every sneeze I may decide to go back to my old roller coaster ways and it will be OKAY! HA! We'll see what happens next chance I get but for now I think I'll put riding the ultimate roller coaster a little lower on the "Bucket List" and heal a little more.

So that is my big update for today! We're gearing up for Brooke's baptism this weekend. I absolutely can't wait to see her in her precious gown getting Baptized as her sister did by Father Frank. Mike and I have been looking forward to this day since I was in ICU crying over missing her first scheduled date. It's a major milestone day for us!! Don't worry there will be tons of pics on the blog come Sunday!

In closing tonight I have to ask you all once again for the big prayer chain on Tuesday morning! Please pray that this next surgery goes well and there are no issues with my recovery. I'm freaked about the idea of getting put "under" again just a week after the gall bladder surgery. I know there are plenty of people who get more anesthesia than this and are fine. Once I get through this last one I'll finally be done and GOD WILLING there will be no more surgeries for me or anyone else in my family this year! Lindsay had 1, Mike had 2, I will have had 8 and if you count Brooke's birth she technically had 1 this year too! HA! Hey, it counts if we have to pay for it, right? Thanks again for all your prayers, comments and emails...you guys are the best!

Quick Update

Hey guys-

Gallbladder is out and I'm definitely feeling better. Had to stay the night last night since the surgery was late and I was extremely dehydrated. It took 3 people to stick me 6 times before they got the IV in me yesterday. YUCK. I'm so glad I stayed over night as the morphine IV pain meds every four hours were better than being home popping a pill. I barely made it every four last night. I'm doing better today on the pills. I'm definitely sore but laproscopy is much better than being cut open the old fashioned way. Apparently my GB was very inflamed so I'm glad I didn't try to wait it out and just went for it.

That's all for now. I'm heading back to the couch.

C

Thank you everyone!

Hi-

I just wanted to say thanks for all the sweet comments. My surgery is not until 4 p.m. so if I get to come home tomorrow after the surgery it will be late but I promise to update the blog or have Mike do it by sometime early Tuesday. Most patients get to go home but since my surgery is late he said it will be up to me if I want to stay based on how I feel. As long as I'm not sick I'm planning on heading home. I've had quite enough hospital time racked up this year, thank you.

I'm planning on lounging and recovering on Tuesday. I will also be working on my list of questions for the neurosurgeon who I will finally meet (coherently) on Wednesday! I'm so curious what he's going to decide time line wise on my next surgery. I can't wait to have that one finally be done and overwith. I feel that it will finally put some closure on the whole aneurysm episode for me. I can finally grow back some hair and not have to wear the blue helmet in public anymore! Speaking of all of that today is two months to the day that it happened. I can't believe I'm two months out and I'm doing as well as I am. Everything I've read and been told does not add up to what I'm doing now in most other cases. I remind myself every day how lucky I was to survive at all, much less function in my normal every day activities.

Tonight we popped over to the inlaws to see Lindsay and had a nice visit. Some neighbors had a live band playing in their yard and they were celebrating a Baptism. We kind of crashed the party but were invited to participate in the eating and listening. Lindsay pigged out. I seriously can't believe how much she eats now! I of course am not eating much of anything so I was hating that part. I'm getting ready to eat my low fat, low sodium chicken noodle soup that has to hold me from midnight til whenever tomorrow. UGH. I hear that after surgery you still have to eat light and low fat for a bit otherwise you get to spend lots of time back in the bathroom but to have this nagging pain gone finally I won't care! This gall bladder business has caused a few more pounds of weight loss which I'm NOT bragging about because I don't want anything else to be wrong with me!! LOL! Enough is enough now. How many days til 2009???

I'm happy to get through this week and get to finally have an idea when we can have both girls home again for good! Lord knows how much Mike and I appreciate all of our family taking such wonderful care of the girls, but I can't wait to sit here and type that everyone is HOME and in bed in their own beds! I'm LIVING for that day right now. It's so hard to leave Lindsay each time even though she's doing so well. It's a true test for me getting through those moments.

Thanks again for all your comments and prayers. I promise a picture explosion soon as Brooke's Baptism is next Saturday morning! I'm off to eat and get ready for hopefully an uninterrupted pain free sleep!

New Pics- Brooke 2 months old

10/4/08 Brooke's first photo in the rocker with her name blanket.
Lindsay's first pic in the same chair with her blanket (7/06) Brooke enjoying her new Taggie lovie that Erin made for us! Thanks Erin!
Brooke likes to watch the animals on her mobile.

Surgery is scheduled...

I'm having my gall bladder removed on Monday afternoon! Thankfully! I've been sick since Thursday night with pain and nausea. Woke up this morning feeling pretty good. I hope I can stay this way til Monday. This stinks! I missed my therapy on Friday and am not going next week due to my surgery and my appt with my neurosurgeon on Wed. Hopefully by the end of next week we'll be able to start making some plans for when we can bring the girls home. I have no idea when I may get cleared to go back to work or drive or when we're doing the next surgery to put back my skull flap. So we're sort of waiting to hear what he has to say before we make any decisions. We do not want to bring Lindsay home til we know she can get settled and stay here for a while. So I guess all will depend on how quickly the doc thinks we will do the next surgery. For now the gallbladder thing is supposed to be in and out same day and a quick recovery. Please say some prayers for me that all goes as planned and this is over with soon!

Gall Bladder Surgery

Ok, so the chinese food was not good fortune for the Gall Bladder. I woke up this morning in pain but was going to the doc anyway so that was good fortune! Turns out he said "guess we need to look at some elective surgery". So I picked from a list of a few names that I knew from working at the hospital and called and have myself a consult this Wednesday after my physical therapy. The office girl said typically they can get a surgery done within the next week but my situation is a little more delicate. My surgeon will need to contact my neurosurgeon and talk before hand and I have to have an anesthesia consult. I guess a C-section, 5 brain surgeries and gall bladder surgery is a lot for one person in a three month time period. LOL! Apparently the GB surgery is a one day quick thing and I'll go home the same day. Hoping to squeeze it in before Brooke's baptism but we'll see. We may have to put it on the week after and hope I don't continue to have attacks. We're going to talk about it all with the doc on Wednesday. At least I'm going to be better quickly from it and no more pain after I eat! Guess I pushed it last night with the Sesame Chicken. Darn it! That's all for now. I'll update once I have a surgery date!

Good Fortune

Tonight Mike and I took Carol to our fave Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood. (Sorry KK we missed you). We both got perfect fortunes in our cookies. I'm somewhat a believer in the chinese cookie fortunes just because I still have the one fortune I got right after I found out I was prego with Lindsay!

Mike's fortune tonight said "You're troubles are over and good fortune will now smile upon you".
Chris' fortune said "All your hard work spent now will result in success for you".

How perfect!

When I was pregnant with Lindsay but didn't know it yet I got a fortune that said my biggest dream was on it's way to me (basically Lindsay) and Mike got one basically saying to not harass his wife for sometime in the near future...Can't remember the exact wording but we had a good laugh over it.

Sorry Robin, I was a putz the last two days and didn't take a single picture of Brooke (is that second child syndrome??) I better get on it huh? We did spend all day with her today. Took her to church and brunch at her grandparents. Had her dressed up cute as a button today too and no pics....bad mommy! I promise to get some new stuff soon.

Lindsay had a blast this weekend at her Aunt Patti's. We've talked to her on the phone and she sounded so happy. I'm sure my sis and bro in law have had their ears talked off by now. Can't wait to see her again one day this week. She told my sis this weekend "I'm going home when Mommy is all better and that will be VERY SOON". I tell you that kid doesn't miss a trick!

I have my doc appt tomorrow to follow up about the gall stones. I'll update about that but for now no more pain! We'll see how I do tonight after Chinese food. You know I had Sesame chicken Karen! So far, so good! I figure it won't flare up til January 1, 2009 just so I'll have to cough up a new 250.00 deductible! HA! No more sickness next year! Please!!!