Wednesday, July 29, 2009

I was watering the other day and it was getting into the afternoon, so I was watering close to the roots so my flowers wouldn't burn. Out came a little snake. If you look closely towards my mum, you can see his head sticking out of the hole he climbed down. I'm not afraid of snakes, but it freaked me out a bit not knowing it was there.

Here are a couple of pics of the pets we have up in the back yard. A mama with her twin babies.





Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Better late than never...

Better late than never...
Well, I said I would update this weekend and here it is Monday and I'm just now updating...better late than never!!
JUNE 15, 2009:
On June 15th, we headed to The James around 4:30 in the morning. The drive over seemed to take an eternity. We just didn't know what we were in for and what to expect. After registering, we headed to the 4th floor to pre-op. After getting changed into the good ole' hospital attire, stuck a few times, iv's hooked up and being asked hundreds of questions...they asked me to step out of the area to put his epidural in. I really wanted to watch since I had one for my c-section, but they said that alot of people pass out and they didn't want to have to put me in a bed next to him. When I finally got to go back in, he was pretty relaxed and I don't think he remembers anything from that point on. We said good-bye and they wheeled him out of the room and through the "big double doors" that say, Operating Room, Do not enter, Proper Attire Required. I don't think I will ever forget the way I felt when those "big double doors" closed. In a few hours, we would be told whether he had cancer or not. What a surreal moment. Back to the atrium waiting area that I had been in during the last surgery. Penny, Ralph and Wendy were there with me this time. Around 9:25, a lady came over to me and said that Eric went into surgery at 9:19. I can't describe the feeling I had during that time. I was glad that I had people with me, which made the time pass a little easier...although, it still felt like forever. Around 11:10, I saw Dr. Ross come into the atrium. I went over right away and he told me the words that I wanted to hear. "We don't think it's cancer. It looks benign. We will still do some testing on it and want the mass to have different tests run to see what it is, but it's not looking like it is malignant. He is doing fine and someone will be calling to let you know what room he is in." I went over and told the family and just broke down. So many emotions had been running ramped through me and I had been trying to be strong through everything. I called my mom and couldn't even really get anything out because I was crying. I needed to let it out. Around 1:15, the lady came over and said that they were taking Eric to his room and we could head up there. He was in room 963. We arrived at the room before they had got there with him. When they arrived at the room, they said we could come in after they put him in the bed and transferred all the tubes and iv's and got his vitals. Finally, we were able to go in. He was pretty quiet. Again, he had the vent tube down his throat and was a bit raspy. The epidural was still in, which was distributing pain meds at a slow pace and was controlled and locked, and he had a hand pump for more pain meds. He also had the catheter in as well as his chest tube that was draining fluid off and around the lung. I told him that they didn't think it was cancer. I don't know if it really registered right away. He was very groggy and sleepy. Penny, Ralph and Wendy left and he slept for a bit. When he woke up, he was a bit nauseous and they gave him some Demerol. Around 5pm, they arrived with the "liquid diet" dinner. He did drink some broth and drank some soda, which came right back up. We think now that it was the Demerol. Because he had some at another point and he felt sick again. Around 9:30, I headed to Stephen and Sarah's to shower and grab a bite to eat. I showered and then left to go back to the hospital. Well, Stephen and Sarah had just moved not too long ago to Westerville, and I'm not too familiar with the area yet....lost I was! I didn't make the turn I was supposed to and ended up in an area I really wouldn't want my worst enemy to go. It was also 12:30 in the morning. Construction was started that same day on 315, so most of the on ramps were closed. Then I got on 315 north and needed to go 315 south. It was crazy. I finally got back to the hospital around 1:30 in the morning. No sleep that night!! The chair in Eric's room did lay back, if you were 300 pounds, it may stay back. I didn't have enough weight to keep it reclined, so every time I tried to lay back, it would spring back up. It was not a fun night.
JUNE 16, 2009:
I had now been up for about 30 hours. I really don't know how I functioned...the body is an amazing thing. Just when you think you can't go anymore, you do. Eric was doing ok. Chelsey, our favorite nurse, got Eric in the chair that morning. He didn't look too well and kept on complaining about his catheter. It was giving him all kinds of pain. He told me he felt a little nauseous and I gave him his tub. Before I knew it, he was passed out. Scared me. I kept saying Eric, Eric, Eric. Nothing. The nurse ran over and yelled for help. This all happened in about a matter of a minute. He finally came to and we got him back in bed pretty quick. They took his blood pressure and it was 97/44. Needless to say, they kept a close eye on him. Eric has high blood pressure and has been on medicine for it for about 9 years. But, the pain meds and anaesthesia make your bp go down. They decided to take his chest tube out, which I got to watch. Loved that. It was so cool to watch them pull it out of him. Then it was time to take the catheter out. We got him in the chair and the nurse deflated the balloon and tried to pull it out. It didn't and wouldn't come out. She tried twice and poor Eric was in horrible pain. They decided to let the dr. try. He ended up cutting the tube and telling Eric to relax and yanked it out of him. He let out a sound that could be heard down the hall. His parents were out there when it happened and they heard him. Then we realized why he had been having so much discomfort from it. The tip of it had fallen to the side and was coming out sideways instead of longways. I can't even imagine. Only Eric!! I left around 7 that night to go shower and eat. Sarah took me out to eat, I showered and headed back to the hospital. I took the right turns and had a much easier trip this time. Got back and they had given Eric some higher doses of meds. They weren't working well for him. He has a high tolerance for things and they needed to up them. Around midnight that night (I'm now going on about 45 hours with no sleep), the nurse gave Eric some dilotted (STRONG pain killer) and rolled a cot in for me to sleep on. My head hit the pillow and I was out.
JUNE 17, 2009:
I woke up to the team of pain management doctors standing in the room. They were trying to get Eric's pain under control to send him home. He also had an x-ray that showed he had a slight pnumothorax, which meant he had a small leak in his lung where air was escaping. They told us that we needed to watch his breathing and to continue to do his breathing exercise with the machine they gave us. We got the go ahead around 11 in the morning that they were letting him go home. We had a few more doctors and people in to give us instructions. He was told that he was not to drive for a month and to not lift anymore than 10 pounds for a month...which meant that he was not to pick Jackson up!! There were a lot more restrictions and we signed papers and headed home. Now, the ride home was not any ordinary ride home. Every little bump that you normally don't feel, Eric felt. He also had to ride in the back seat because we couldn't figure out how to shut my passenger airbag off. He wasn't allowed to sit where an airbag would have a chance to hit him. We got home and I went to the pharmacy to get his meds. We were so happy to finally see Jackson. We missed him terribly. That was the longest that we had gone without seeing him. Eric tried to sleep in the bed that night and needless to say, it was too painful for him. He was used to the hospital bed mechanically lifting him up and down. Every muscle he was used to using to get up and down was not working and was hurting horribly. So his parents had brought a recliner over and that is where he spent the next two weeks. We were scheduled to go back to have his staples removed and more information on what the mass was on June 30. Those two weeks seemed to take forever. On June 30, we headed back over and had a chest x-ray done and then met with one of Dr. Ross's pa's (physician assistant's). He explained to us that they are thinking that he has what they call Sarcoidosis. It is a fungal disease that he will have for the rest of his life. They took his staples out and said that his incisions looked pretty good. They recommended us to a Pulmonologist. They deal with lung diseases and we are scheduled to go on August 18. They also lifted some of his restrictions. As long as he wasn't taking any pain meds and his range of motion was good, he could drive and pick Jackson up carefully with the other arm. I have done a ton of reading on Sarcoidosis and came to find out that it is more common in women and African Americans. It is not contagious and is usually treated with Steroids unless things come back in his lung and the steroids don't take care of it, more surgery may be needed. We are hoping that taking the mass out will just fix the problem. We will find more information out on the 18. He is feeling good and is doing more and more each day. We are so thankful for family and friends that have stopped to see us, sent cards and money, brought food and especially for all of you who have been praying for us. We will never forget how truly blessed we are to have such caring people in our lives. I will let you all know what we find out in August.