Slow and Steady!

Okay girls and boys...here we go!!  Bear with me because I may not be able to make total sense! (And this post has taken me days to compose) For right now, the speech and language is the hardest thing for me to handle.  The therapist says I have expressive aphasia.  But it’s getting better every day.

Feb. 10, 2014 – We arrived at 5:45 a.m. at the University of Utah Hospital.  Mom and Dad went in with me as I checked in.  In Salt Lake, I attend Christ UMC and Pastor Pat had agreed to come to the hospital and stay with my parents during the surgery.  So he was waiting for us in the surgical waiting room when we got there.

I knew I had to have one last MRI before I went into to operating room.  One of the neurosurgeon residents came down to get me.  She was afraid to wait for the orderly to come and take me because it would be 30 minutes before get me and that would mean the surgery wouldn't start on-time if they had to wait that long to get the MRI done.  For some reason this part of the day really made me feel like I was on an episode of Grey's Anatamoy.  The resident reminded me of the character, April Kepner from the show (I think was her.  Her first year on the show was the year I watched the show regularly).

For this MRI, I had “life-savers” placed strategically around my head in an asymmetrical pattern.  They were then outline with a marker so I had lovely purple marks for days after.  This MRI was easy and it only lasted for 12 minutes.  (I have one after the surgery that from my perspective didn’t go as well).  As I was waiting to go in, I talked with the MRI techs about the my speech after the surgery.  We had heard of people who after surgery wound up speaking with a British accent and we were trying to decide if I would me one of those people.  (Though I had no intention of losing my Southern accent or else heads would roll!!)

By the time I got back from the MRI, Mom, Dad and Pat had met the anesthesiologist and one of his residents.  Since I wasn’t supposed to have something that blocked my throat so I could speak during the surgery, they gave me something that tasted like an extra salty sour catch kid to control my stomach acid.  Shortly thereafter, they took me back to the operating room and I don’t remember anything else until I woke up.

Now that may sound wrong to you because since I found out about the surgery, they’ve been planning to wake me up during the middle of the procedure.  WELL….things didn’t quite go as planned.  They had my head pinned in several plans to keep it still during the procedure.  And I was supposed to wake up as easy as you please once they turned the anesthesia off.  But they couldn’t get me to wake up and apparently I am just as fidgety when I’m out as when I’m awake.  So I ended jerking my head against the pins trying to hold me still and getting cut by the pins in the process.  I (of course) didn’t know about any of this until after the fact.  I woke up 8 hours later in the OR before being wheeled pasted the waiting room to the ICU.  That time I woke up like I was supposed to, so I was wide awake and knew exactly where I was and what was going on (though I had trouble saying so).  I did know that when we passed the waiting room, I saw Mom, Dad and Dan and waved as they wheeled me passed. 

Anita is home!

Hey friends. Anita was released from the hospital on Friday and is settling in well at home. Her recovery has been remarkable. She even went to the grocery store with her dad yesterday. Her speech is a bit slow but she will start speech therapy soon, and that will improve over time. Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement.

~Amelia

Wednesday Update

Hey friends. I talked to Judy earlier this morning and Anita is doing well. No major updates to report. She is still in ICU and she had another MRI yesterday and they are awaiting the results of that. They will probably know the results later today and then make a decision about when to move her to a regular room. I will keep you posted as I find out more. Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

~Amelia

Morning Update

Hey guys! I just talked to Judy. Anita had a good night and she rested well. This morning a speech therapist came in and did some exercises with her and asked her a lot of questions to which she responded to correctly. Her speech is a bit slow but that is because of the swelling and that should be back to normal once the swelling goes down. She also was able to do some writing exercises and she got up and walked and sat in a chair for a bit. She was able to eat some applesauce and crackers but for now they are going to do a pureed diet. Another MRI scheduled for later this afternoon and she will probably be in ICU another day or so but things are going better than expected! Judy said they have a wonderful support team there and everyone has been incredible. She thanks everyone for your continued thoughts, prayers, and encouragement.

Also, some of you have asked about visiting. Once she gets moved into a regular room, they think visitors will be okay but I will keep you posted about that. 

~Amelia

Wilbur is gone!

Hey guys! Anita wanted me to keep the blog updated for her while she is recovering. I am so happy to announce that Wilbur is completely gone! The surgery went very well, and afterwards she was able to talk and move. She will spend the next 1-2 days in ICU under close supervision because of swelling, but the doctors were extremely pleased with how everything went. I will update you when I know more details. Anita's family wanted me to thank all of you for your continued prayers and support!

~Amelia

And so it begins...

Oy Vey!! It's been six months since I found out about Wilbur!!

But somehow, it seems like it's been A LOT longer than six months since WD-Day (I'm referring to Wilbur's Discovery Day -- August 26, 2013, like that's not a date that's forever etched in my memory!).  It's less than 48 hours until I have to check into the University of Utah Hospital bright and early.  I'm ready and calm and yet at the same time anxious and terrified which really just results in my head spinning out of control.  I am SOOO ready to have this done and over with, pass GO and collect $200!  But there's still a lot of fear of the unknown about what things are going to be like when I wake up on Monday.  So for now I'm just trying to concentrate on what I do know and what I can control.

SO.....

I found out yesterday that I have the first OR spot.  I have to check-in at 5:45 a.m. and will head into surgery at about 7:30 a.m.  Before they knock me out, I'll have to have one last MRI for the Doc to compare with my MRI results from December.  Yesterday I went into the neurosciences surgical center and answered all the pre-op questions and got the bloodwork handled.  I'm going to be participating in the Tylenol study (which you're probably like "What? Tylenol isn't new!") but a couple of years ago the FDA approved basically a liquid form of the drug which has been used in neurosurgery patients.  The rest of the cocktail of drugs I'm going to be on will apparently make me wonky but they've seen results where neurosurgery patients given this liquid Tylenol for the first 48 hours after surgery see a lot of benefits from better pain management to being up and walking around a lot quicker.  So they are testing to see if these effects are occurring and can be attributed to the drug.  So I'm going to a guinea pig.  It's a double-blind study so no one including the surgical resident overseeing the study will know who received what treatment for another couple of months.  I either will receive the Tylenol with the other drug cocktail or I will not.  Either way, I BETTER not be feeling too much of anything!!  But it would be nice to be more aware sooner (which is something that may happen with the Tylenol addition).  I told Wally, the resident, that I just wanted to know after the fact what I'd actually gotten and that I was interested in the results of the study.  Gosh, I'm such a Geek!! That was my one question for him "Can I please receive a copy of the results of the study afterwards?"  (I find the whole thing kind of fascinating, is that weird?)

While I was there I got my pre-op bloodwork taken care and can I just say I want that guy to put in my IV when I'm admitted.  Holy Cow!!  I think that's the quickest that someone's been able get blood from me with such little effort.  I mean it took three different people to get the IV in me when I went to the ER and this guy just went about his business quick and efficient while I was answering the nurse's questions.  I know it may sound weird to sing the praises of someone's ability to collect blood but I've been donating blood since high school and I've always had to mentally prepare myself for what the technicians always have had to do to take my blood, it's always been such a process.  I've ended up with my entire inner elbow purple and stiff more times than I care to talk about.

I also asked about my most important question that has of course been weighing on my mind since WD-Day.  What are they going to be doing to my hair?  The resident made it clear that Dr. S prefers to shave the whole area he's working with.  I've read and seen online where sometimes surgeons only end up shaving a small patch about and inch wide for the actual incision and the rest of the hair is left alone.  So like I thought, half my head will be shaved.  But seen I wanted pictures of the process and was finally told that I'd already be out cold when they went to cut my hair.  So I decided to take matters into my own hands and control the situation.  I know they may end up having to take more hair on the day, but I could at least get the photos I wanted that will let me feel in control of something!

Here goes nothing!!

Oh Lord, I'm really going to do this!!

I'm doing the first buzz!

We'll let the professional, Adriann, handle the rest.

Oh boy! It's too late to turn back now!

Wandering Wilbur looking on...

Wilbur is not amused, but I kind of am!

Haha! This just made me laugh!