He's Home!

TJ was discharged today. While he still has significant discomfort, for some funny reason he is finding it much easier to find a comfortable position in his lazy boy in his study than in the hospital. Now time to start climbing to wellness once again.

Gratefully,

Mary Ann

Post Op Day 2

TJ is still in the ICU as there were no beds available on the neuro floor. The staff is incredibly friendly and they are really enjoying seeing some positive outcome from their work. I have been introducing him to some people of whom he has no recollection. A nurse walked in this evening and looked at me and said, “You look really familiar.” She had taken care of TJ a couple of times but did not recognize him without a tube in his face.

TJ is doing well although his neck and back still are very painful. The nurse practitioner from the neurosurgeon's office was in and put him on a new pain medication regime. She changed his dressing and the incision looks really good. He took a good walk and hopefully will be able to get some sleep tonight. The nurse who is on tonight had him several times in December and is a wonderful nurse. The plan is discharge some time tomorrow, but no one will make any promises.

Prayer requests are for good pain relief, some sleep, and once again an uneventful recovery.

Many thanks again for all your support!

Surgery Day went well

The neck surgery today went very well. The surgeon was pleased and felt that he was able to fully decompress the nerve roots on the right side. He got the MRI scans to review them and did not see anything on the left so he did not do anything on that side. It took a long time to get a room because TJ is on an insulin drip again. He has a little insulin pump he usually uses at home but the nurses in the hospital don't do the home pumps (about as large as a pager) so he was put on a drip. The post op neuro nurses don't do insulin drips and the nurses on the units that do drips don't do post op neuro patients so he ended up in the same ICU as he was in in December! One of our favorite nurses was in charge and it was great to see him again.

Now TJ is not in the ICU because he is so sick, instead it is a staffing issue for the hospital. TJ is doing well. He has no pain in his arms although the numbness on top of his right arm is still there. The surgeon said that the he expected the pain to go pretty quickly but numbness and strength in his right hand would take longer to improve. It is a huge praise that the pain in his arms is gone. He does have pain at the incision site but his very sweet evening nurse was on top of that. I expect that his night will not be comfortable and the ICU is noisy but he said that he can sleep when he gets home. It should be a one or two night stay. The insulin drip will be discontinued tonight so he will probably go to a regular post op neuro unit if there is a bed available.

Prayer requests would be for full recovery of feeling and function of his right arm and an uncomplicated recovery. We are really ready for uncomplicated right about now!

Grateful again for all your support.

Mary Ann

Brief Update

Via MA, TJ is out of surgery, everything looks good at this point.

Hopefully we'll have something more to say tonight or tomorrow, but really, if things go well there won't be much to say.

Neck Surgery Scheduled

TJ has neck surgery scheduled for October 8th at around 10:45 am and we are very happy to have this scheduled. To bring you up to date on what has happened since the last update to get ready for the surgery. TJ had an EMG where they stick needles in your arm into the nerves that are inflamed, wiggle them, then send an electric current through them to see how the nerves respond. It was lots of fun. (NOT). A neurologist who was new to walked in and said, “It’s worse” and walked out. He also two advanced MRI’s that indicated that he has a narrowing of disks in his neck at two vertebrae leading to the severe pain and weakness in his right and now left hands. Specifically he has a small herniation at C7-T1 and interbody spurring and annular bulging at C5-6. It has made daily life challenging as he has been in significant pain making it hard to sleep and almost any activity that involve his arms hurts. He also has difficulty buttoning small buttons or lifting anything as heavy as a half gallon of milk. The actually surgery is a bilateral C5-6 foraminotomy and Right C7-T1 foraminotomy. The surgery should last about 2 ½ hours and is considered minimally invasive. Here is a link that explains the procedure: http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article554.html . After the surgery he will need to take it easy for a month and can expect as full recovery as he will get in three months. He should be feeling pretty good by the first anniversary of his discharge from the hospital in January!

TJ had an echocardiogram a couple of weeks ago to determine why his pulse has been so high. The results looked great so he will not need the holter monitor. The doctor made a copy of the results for us and I felt like I was holding a miracle in my hands looking at it last evening. The reason listed for the echo was a “ruptured papillary muscle” and the results indicated normal heart function with mild mitral and trace tricuspid insufficiency. While we knew about all this in March, the wonder of it still makes me catch my breath. The doctor feels the reason for the rapid pulse is deconditioning from the hit in December. After his neck is fixed we will feel more freedom to push past the elevated pulse knowing that everything in his heart is looking good.

Last weekend Jon removed the remaining base cabinets in the laundry room and removed the remaining sheet rock to check behind it for mold. We are confident that any possible mold issues are taken care of (since there is nothing left to take out down there!). I am still feeling a lot of fatigue which according to the allergist may last a few months after the repeated exposures I have had. Jon and Steven have been incredible in helping with this big project.

This weekend, TJ’s brother Jon with some others are hoping to finish the siding and painting outside our house. It is going to look great! Jon is a saint- he and others have been here several Saturdays and evenings to paint and work on siding. We are so grateful for their help!

While life continues so have some challenges, God is always good and has showered us with blessings! In his leadership blog TJ recently wrote, “It is a gift to fully understand what it means to live by faith. When we have reached the end of ourselves and have nowhere else to turn but to confidence in a good, all powerful, loving and holy Father, we have received a great gift. It is at that point that what we believe in our head becomes truth in our bones! The gift is wonderful because "without faith it is impossible to please God."

Prayer requests:

Successful surgery with full recovery of function, strength, and pain relief in his arms and neck.

An uneventful recovery

A rapid return to full energy for me.

Praise for all the amazing things:

Resolution of clolt

Normal heart

Incredible support from our personal family and spiritual family!