Goin home...

Yeah, that's right, we're finally checking out of this joint. Just waiting on the paper work and prescriptions and I'm taking my baby home!
Aside from a few follow-up visits, some hormone therapy, some physical therapy on his eye, and some semi-annual MRI's, my man will be back to normal (as close to normal as he ever has been anyway:) in 4-6 weeks. The eye may take a little longer to recoup, but we'll take that!
Thanks for all of your thoughts, emails, phone calls, prayers, etc. We love you all!

Looking up...

Things are FINALLY looking up! They clamped his drain off yesterday and he still has had no CFS leak, so they will be removing his drain and moving him to "the floor" today (a regular room). I'm not gonna lie, this has been really rough, and I am only on the sidelines. Yesterday he told me this is "one of the hardest things he has ever had to do." I said, "What are you talking about 'ONE' of the hardest things!!!!???" He's a trooper.
So, they will move him to the floor today and if all goes well he will be going home on Monday. The results of his 2nd MRI were good. It looks like they have gotten all of the tumor. There was one area that was questionable, but the surgeon assumes that that was just residual bleeding from the surgery, so he will come back in 3 months for another MRI after everything has healed and we will go from there...

Waiting game...

Now we just wait. Wait to see the results of his 2nd MRI. Wait to see if they can clamp off the cerebral fluid drain. Wait to see if his body can regulate its sodium level. Wait to see if his sinus cavity (or wherever the heck the went in) is sealed off (basically so he doesn't have brain fluid coming out his nose, YUMMY). Wait to see if he can dodge an infection. Wait to see if his eyes will get better. Wait. Wait. Wait. I am so tired of waiting. Can't this all just be over yet? Can't I take him home yet?
He is doing well, though. He is beginning to get frustrated and tired, but his body seems to be doing what it should be doing. His sodium level is still lingering just above the line, so far so good. They will clamp his spinal drain tomorrow at some point, take out the packing from his nose, and check how the incision and tear are healing. If it looks good, and it looks like there is little chance of a leak, they will remove the drain, and he can move out of the ICU. We are really hoping that will be the case. Because with the drain in he cannot sit up more than 30 degrees, he can't get out of the bed, or roll from side to side at all. He is uncomfortable, and like I said before, frustrated. And I just sit here wishing I could do something and feeling completely helpless. I can't even occupy my time by cleaning up his room, because every cup and every thing he eats has to be saved and left on his table for the nurses to measure. Uuuurrgggh. I am frustrated too. So where does that leave us? Waiting.
Let's just hope that this waiting game will soon end and this whole surreal and frightening ordeal will be behind us!

Overall, the surgery went really well. The surgeon said that from what he could feel, he was able to remove the whole tumor. That's good news. There were a couple of minor complications that might set back the "speedy recovery" we were hoping for by a couple of days at least. Since they went in through his nasal cavity, there was a risk of a tear in the sinus wall (or some other medical terminology which I have forgotten), and according to the doc my husband is "a large man, with tiny nostrels" and so he did get a tear. With this tear there is a risk of leakage of cerebral fluid. In order to try to seal this tear they had to take a fat graph (don't know if I spelled that right) from his stomach (I told them they should have taken MY belly fat:) and place it in the tear. They will need to closely monitor this for leakage and/or infection. Both scary, but definitely managable. He is also at risk for something called diabetes inscipidous (don't know if I spelled that right either). I guess the pituitary gland is the thing that regulates all of the hormones in the body. There is a certain hormone, can't remember the name, that regulates how your body manages the intake and output of water. If it can't regulate itself, then it flushes out all of the water basically right after drinking it, and doesn't absorb it, which raises the sodium level in the body, and that apparently isn't a very good thing. Up to this point, he has been right on the line where they would begin to worry, but not over it. Hopefully (keep your fingers crossed) his body will be able to keep itself regulated and hydrated, because this process of getting it back on track could keep him in the hospital for 2-3 extra days. So we're hoping he'll stay on, or under the line, and not cross it!
Other than those 2 things, he is doing really really well. He has been talking a little bit and sleeping alot and his vision has been steadily improving. He has also been able to eat a little and generally seems to be in good spirits. He just says that he is glad it's almost over! ME TOO!

A lot of you have been asking where we are at, what you can do, does he want visitors, etc... To answer your questions:
1. We are at IMC, the new hospital in Murray. Right now he is still in the NCCU (Neuro Critical Care Unit). He will be here in this unit for at least 24 hours following his surgery. Then he will be moved to another unit (not sure where in the hospital) for 3-5 days.
2. We will be needing help with our kids in the immediate future, so some of you may be getting calls! But other than that, we are being taken care of for the moment.
3. Up to this point, he hasn't really been up for visitors, and I haven't really been in the mood to socialize with people! We're both pretty much deer in headlights right now. BUT, I would say that after the surgery, when he is recovering, we would probably really love visitors! I will keep you posted on the situation as far as recovery and location...
He goes in tomorrow at 1:30 and the procedure takes about 3 hours. Can't wait until those 3 hours are over! Thanks everyone! And sorry I haven't been returning every one's calls, but I am tired and I just can't keep telling the same story over and over! But please know that every phone call has been really really appreciated and we love you all!

This is the before. We'll get an after when he is ALL BETTER! Love you hon!

Whirlwind...

Things have been crazy around here for the last couple of days... But we have weighed all of our options and we have decided to amputate Svata's head. Ok not really. OUCH! We have opted to have the surgery tomorrow, rather than waiting until next week. He will be going in most likely tomorrow afternoon. The surgery takes about 3 hours and the total recovery is about 4-6 weeks. There are some risks involved with the surgery, but if all goes well, he should be out of here in 3-5 days. We are both completely freaked out, but we also feel very good about it. Drzte se palce! Keep your fingers crossed... I will be! Thanks for all of the kind thoughts, calls, offers for help, prayers, etc. Much appreciated! I'll keep y'all updated.
Thanks!

Not expecting the unexpected.

I guess I should learn to always expect the unexpected... Yesterday morning I drove my husband to the E.R. because he had been having a severe headache for more than 24 hours and early the next morning he started to lose the vision in his left eye. His left eye was visibly moving from side to side, free from his right eye. We started to freak out a little so we called my sister-in-law who is a nurse and asked her if we should take him in. She suggested that it was most likely a migraine, but to take him in anyway, because he had no history of migraines. So we ripped the kids out of bed and packed them up to spend what we thought would be a few hours with their cousins. When we got to the E.R. (thanks to Tiffany, who called and put in a good word for us:) they immediately took him back and took his vitals and began asking questions. About 15 minutes later he was having a CT scan and about 15 minutes after that we had a bomb dropped on us. Ok, it wasn't literally a bomb, but it felt like one. We went in thinking it was just a bad headache, and ended up learning that Svata has a palm sized tumor on his pituatary gland that had hemmoraged and was creating trememndous pressure in his cranial cavity. This pressure is what was causing the headache and vision loss. The doc came in and told us all of this, then told us that we would be speaking to a neural surgeon about removing it, and then said, (and I quote), "But don't push the panic button." (This person obviously isn't HUMAN if he thinks he can tell us this, and then tell us not to panic. I mean, come on now, I thought my hubby had a migraine and your telling me he has to have brain surgery. PANIC, PANIC, PANIC!) They then proceeded to take him for an MRI where they could get a more detailed view of the mass and learn exactly what they were dealing with. Then the neurol surgeon came and spoke with us and for the first time all day I felt like I could take a breath. He told us that 99.99% of the time these tumors are benign. He also said that they will most likely be able to remove it entirely, but even if they can't, he will still most likely be fine. There is only a 3-5% chance that it will grow back. Those are good odds and I like them. They will go in under his nose and through the nasal cavity to remove it and after the surgery he will only be in the hospital for 3-5 days.
Right now he is at the NCCU (Neural Critical Care Unit) at IMC where they are giving him steroid treatments to try and take down the swelling in order to help his vision and make his headache managable. If this is successful, they will discharge him today and we will wait until Friday for the surgery, but if not, they will do the surgery today. I will keep everyone posted, but in the meantime, keep him in your thoughts!

Free Insulation...

If anyone is interested, my mom is working (part-time) for my Uncle Rick's insulation company. Right now there is a rebate that Questar offers if you replace the insulation in your attic, they pay the insulation company and it costs you NOTHING. For anyone with an older home, you know the value of this. We did it in our last house and our gas and electric bills went drastically down. Leave a comment if you are interested and I will have my mom call or email you. Then she will come to your house with the paper work ready for you to sign and she will set up the date for your new (FREE) insulation. Hope this is helpful to someone out there! Especially since gas (natural gas too) prices are on the rise and Winter is around the corner...
And I PROMISE there is no catch to this!!!

First day of Kindergarten...

Sofie started school Tuesday. I was good and I didn't even cry. At least, not on the first day... But then yesterday I was observing some kids on the playground while we were waiting for school to start and I saw these 3 cute little girls talking to a cute little boy and the girls said to the boy, "Your name is re****!" I don't even want to type it, because it is such a mean and hurtful word. Then I got choked up and thought, "I DON"T WANT SOFIE TO GO TO SCHOOL!" Kids are mean. And I just want Sofie to stay young and sweet and happy and innocent. So I was thinking about homeschooling her (no, not really), and then she came home from school today and told me about recess. She said they were playing on the playground and there was a little girl who was sad because she had no friends to play with. I asked her what she did when she saw that and she told me that she went over and played with that girl. Then I got choked up all over again and thought, "Where else can she learn to be a good person? And a good friend?" So I guess I'll give it a go!


Sofie on her first day of school!


Waiting in line to go in!

And I just want to tell Sofie that we are so proud of her! She is doing so well and she is such a sweet and beautiful little girl (when she isn't being a monster:) She has been reading one book a day so far and she is already at the level that she should be at the end of Kindergarten. What a smarty pants! We love you!

Yard work

There are people in this world who love yard work. People who actually look forward to pulling weeds and trimming the lawn and who actually spend money buying plants. Why didn't I marry one of these people? Or why wasn't I born with a green thumb? hmmm... I guess we'll just have to keep telling our selves that one day we'll be millionaires and we can pay someone to do the yard work. In the meantime, does anyone feel the need to do some charity work???


Hello! That sucker is taller than my husband!

Our Cabin.

Okay, so any of you who know me, or my husband, know that we HATE camping. Infact, every year my brother and his wife invite us to go to Jackson Hole with them and run the river, and every year, we say, "We would if there was a five star resort near the river! Ha ha!" So anyhoo, we planned this trip to our cabin, because we haven't been away all summer and we were, well, going crazy. I will admit, I was somewhat dreading it, because I remember the last time we went wondering, "why do we still come here..." because it's alot of work to get there and there is not alot to do there. But as it turns out, when your really desperate for a vacation, the cabin is better than a five-star resort! (Ok, maybe not better, but really fun nonetheless)
We played in the dirt, collected "jewels" (pellets from the bb gun), sifted through rocks, roasted marshmallows, played softball, rode bikes and atv's, swam in the river, observed baby birds, melted aluminum cans in the fire, visited with my family, met some friends at a nearby campsite, stopped in Kamas for malts (yummy), tossed and turned all night in fear of critters (well I did at least), actually gave ourselves permission to SIT and do NOTHING, and just had a REALLY great time. Oh, and my kids got so dirty you couldn't see their feet through the dirt, and I was ok with that...


Once again, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...


Thomas going on the "car" with uncle Bradley


Softball anyone?


Uncle Carter giving Sofie some pointers


Sofie going for a home run! She is seriously good at every sport she tries!


Thomas playing pitcher. He loved hanging out with "CarCar"


Sadie taking Thomas for a ride in the wagon. They are SO cute with him! I once offered Thomas to Avery for her birthday and she thought I was serious and was so excited! We love them too!


He's thinking, "Should I go chop down a tree, or play baseball?..."


Three peas in a pod - or should I say, three rocks in a river?


I had forgotten how beautiful it is there. Thomas and Svata playing in the (cold)water!


Sofie was easing her way in to the ice cold water. She would later float down the river with uncle Carter! She is so brave - where did she come from???


Thomas found this rock that looked like a car...


...and just like with the rest of his cars, he would not let it go!


Thomas and mommy trying to skip rocks


Carter building his own rapids for a home made raft that the kids and Aunt Tiffany made


Tiffany putting together one of the "pontoons" for the raft. It actually did float!


Three little baby birds waiting for food from their mama


Good times. Great memories!