One more day

Things are the same here. Mick's mom said she thought he had a good day and as soon as we got in the car he told me his vision was crazy and he just wasn't feeling good. I asked him why she thought he was good and he said " I don't have to tell her everything"
Honestly nothing has changed. He has his good days and his bad days the same as it has been.
What I have learned. Caring for a child is a lot easier than caring for a stubborn man! No matter what his mine set if he's having a good day or bad day he still wants to argue with me; for the moment and then says I just being mean.... Dang it anyhow...at least with my kids I could put them in TIME OUT... ;0)

Day by Day

Haven't posted for a few days and have been asked how Mick is. Right now we are just taking it day by day... He has his good days where his symptoms aren't so bad or they fluctuate back and forth during the day. Then we have are bad days; he just wants to sleep, his symptoms are worse and his personality is crazy in both directions. He's either emotional with the smallest thing like a phone call to see how he is doing or he's crabby and confused.
Today has been somewhat of a good day. He went to Boonville with me; he's always afraid I'm going to leave him while he's sleeping. We went to his moms and he played cards with us. Still having a lot of vision problems but things up close is better.
For the most part he is good today; memory still bounces around sometimes it's long term some just short term. So, that is the scoop for the day.
It's a happy day and hopefully it will continue to be a happy day. ...Keep the prayers up because they can move mountains. Appreciate each and everyone that is taking there time out to be concerned for Mick.

Correction

I don't want anyone being confused so...the correct date for Mick to go back to Dr. is April 8th.... Surgery more than likely will be the following the week per Dr. Ryan as of today. Thought I should tell everyone in case you are putting it on your calendar...

CT Scan

Mick had his CT scan today because of his crazy behavior yesterday along with his other symptoms. No additional inflamation found under than the normal expected due to the procedure. He wanted to put Mick back in hospital but Mick refused. Dr. didn't want to fight him since it was more to get in a calm state of mind. Dr. Ryan said it could be several things such as his agitation due to the symptoms or a combination of the steroids. He gave Mick 3 other RX that he has to take. 2 to help with sleep and anxiety and last one because he's been having really bad headaches again. He will see the Dr. again on April 8th as planned unless some other issue comes up. ...These are the days of our lives...
I was told today I wasn't suppose to pray for patience so again I will just pray for strength. ;0)
Thanks again for all who are concerned.

Very Upset....

Mick just woke up....Mick's personality is off the rictor scale..mean & irritable...... Waiting to talk to Dr.
Dr. just called back and said that it could be steroids but could be swelling on brain. Sched. Cat scan for tomorrow.

Patience is a Virtue

That is Mick's comment of the day.... I haven't written in a few days but I was approached by several people today so I thought I should give an update. Mick is basically the same. His vision has become worse but everything is where it has been. Left side paralysis, speech slurring still and when walking he is still stumbles, swaggerts what ever you call it. For the most part he's in good spirits unless you call him to ask how he's doing then he gets pretty emotional....His meds have doubled since last week trying to keep inflamation down. The steroids that they have him on makes him eat like he's never had a decent meal...needless to say he's gained some weight (yes, I think we can all agree he needed to anyhow) unfort. with this medication it also makes him aggitated more than he already has been. Not being able to do anything is driving him nuts.
So, that's the scoop. Positive of it all....we still have him to drive (me nuts) and we are taking one day at a time. With God's grace and everyone's prayers we will get through this; Patience is a virtue and I guess that's what we have to say everyday. He is still staying with his mom and dad during the day... As long as there are no issues with his symptoms this will continue until end of week when I'm at work; and then maybe next week he will be able to stay at home by himself.
Hope this helps answers any questions.

Question was asked...

A friend asked when Mick's next surgery will be...Mick goes in on Apr. 9 at 9am for another MRI then the Dr. at 10am. They will do surgery that week or the following week depending on what the MRI shows. Then the following SX will be 4 weeks after. Hope this helps anyone else who was wondering... P.S.No changes today... still very tired, having some trouble swallowing but the stubborn man won't tell me anything so I'm just watching to see if it persists.

Home

Mick is home now. Trip drained him so he is sleeping. No new news on symptoms. Still dizzy but again everything will take time.

Stubborn-Man 3-21-09

Mick will be going home today. His symptoms are a litttle better but he is determined to go home so when the nurse asks how he's doing he says "fine-I'm ready to go home". and then as soon as he leaves the room he's squinting and dealing with same symptoms... What a stubborn man.... But.... He must be getting somewhat back to his old self even with his symptoms because he's been driving me nuts like old times. ;0)
Thanks again for prayers... I had faith that prayer would do the job. God always has a plan even if we don't understand it at the time.... Just continue to pray because he has a long road ahead....

Evening Update 3-20-09

Everything is basically the same. He's been doing a lot of sleeping and when he's awake he's driving me nuts trying to walk around. (He's not suppose to because he's still dizzy)...
Only new news is that is blood sugar has been elevated. I did not know until about 5pm that it was an issue. I wasn't too pleased to find out it was a concern and know one bothered to tell me they might given him insulin. Dr. Ryan came in shortly after I found this out. I asked him and he told me that people on steroids usually have an elevated reading and it should level out within a week or two. If not then they will be concerned about it.....They just took it again (he didn't even wake up) and it raised another 14 points ... Yes, I will stress a little bit about this too... but, I'll try not to since the Dr. isn't too concerned I will try not to be... Remember I said try... ;0)
Anyhow, I'm going to say goodnight and I'll write more later.
Thanks for all the calls and concerns.

Moved out of NICU; 3-20-09

Just got moved out of ICU to room #4106 @ Boone Hospital. He is still dizzy. The symptoms from before the surgery are still present but should begin to go away with time. We will keep you updated through the day. Thanks for all of the prayers!

P.S. Anyone watch Fifty First Dates? 10 second Tom??? Welcome to my world.

3-20-09

Mick is still in intensive care unit. His vision is still doubled, when they tried to get him to walk he was very unstable so they made him go back to bed. His left side still has paralysis; maybe a little more than before because he is spilling coffee all over...he said he can't feel that side of his face. He finally got his cup of coffee at 6am ... he also said he didn't sleep any because of all the noise and I have to agree there's no way I could have slept with all the lights and noise that takes place in that room. Dr. Sadue came in to check on him and just confirmed what they did and checked on his status. He stated once again that Mick will have to come back 4 wks for another procedure and then again 4-6 weeks for the next. In addition to this information he told us that when they couldn't get the stents in they were getting anxious and the fear of damaging what they just did was too real to continue trying to put the stents in. I was impressed that he admitted that. I asked him about the size and if the pics were blown up and he said that it was actually 1in across and 1.5 in tall so it was bigger than believed but they took care of it by filling the width; they don't worry about feeling the heighth with coils the important part is going across to block that path.
They are suppose to move Mick in a room at some time this morning. I will keep everyone posted as done prior. This will as the Dr. said a long road to recovery but hopefully with nothing but positive results.
Thanks for all the prayers.

3-19-09

Mick went into surgery (procedure) today. Before they proceded Dr. Sadue said they would only be doing one stent & the coiling today because all the literature stated that doing 2 stents at same time with coiling couldn't complicate things so they would come back and do another stent lat It took about 4 hrs. They were not able to stent anything. They ended up coiling the large Anuerisym completely. A total of a little over 7ft of coiling is what Dr. Ryan said to fill this Unwanted, Unneeded and Nuasance of an Annuerisym. Dr. said they tried to stent but it would pop back out and cause more issues and the blood flow was still going to the Annuerisym.The plan is to wait for 4 weeks come back in do another anigram, stent and coil the small annuerisym. Then in another 4-6 weeks bring back for a repeat of angigram and stent. This is all with positive results of the coiling doing it's job.It's now 10:00 and just seen Mick. He just stares into space. Freaked me out with his blood pres. going high and the nurses coming in and trying to figure out whats going on PLUS he was watching t.v. and 1 eye was watching and the left eye went all the way over to the left... A lot of fluttering -spasms in the left eye. Other than this we were all amazed at the size of annueryism. I asked the nurse to compare and she said golf ball size but she wanted to double ck something. She didn't get back with me... compared to what the Dr. originally thought the size was that it was way larger...I can that explains the whole 7ft. of coiling thing..., l9) That just amazes me.Anyhow, I'm going home with Amanda because they are kicking me out....;0) I will be back bright and early.Thank you to everyone for prayers and all who could come to be with us... We love you all.

News from Dr.

Mick met with the surgeon this afternoon and they have him scheduled for an 11:00 surgery tomorrow at Boone Hospital. They will be coiling and stinting the aneurysms. All of the doctors from St. Louis, KC, and Indianapolis agree that this will be the best option for dad right now. If they were to go on and remove the aneurysms the chance of coming out a vegetable or death has moved up to 50% so that is why they have went with this option. A specialist who has taught all of the doctors in St. Louis, KC, etc. will be performing the surgery.
Dr.Ryan said that all the surgeons from above actually sent the information along to Dr.'s they new including Chicago Dr.s. As stated above the risk is too high to perform the removal. Confused on why coiling was an option now and it wasn't last week is because the speed of the blood flow to the Annuerisyms. Due to the size they will only do a partial coil hoping it will absorb what is being held in the annueryism and help it to shrink enough to relieve some of the pressure. By doing the coiling and stinting there is still a risk of stroke or rupture but the Dr. said since the Annueryisms is right on the brain stem it is a straight shot so the risk is less. The plan is doing these procedures tomorrow. If all goes well he can come home by Friday unless he needs rehabilitation. If he gets to come home then he'll have to follow the same routine with someone watching him at least for a week. Mick will have to go back in on a regular basis to have angirams done to make sure the coiling and stinting is doing it's job. If they find that it is not working they will not have a choice but to remove it at that time. Pray for this to work so removal won't have to take place at least before any shrinkage.
We will keep you updated tomorrow as we hear from the doctors. Please continue to pray for him!

3-18-09

Mick and I are at home taking care of some loose ends and waiting to leave for his Dr. appt. In the midst I received a phone call from the hospital wanting to ask about Micks history of his health. I was confused. I gave information and stopped in the middle asking why? She informed me that they needed to get information updated for the Surgery tomorrow! TOMORROW! I was thrown aback... I asked if this is correct because we are headed to the Dr. today and they said that the Dr. from St.Louis was coming in Tues. (yesterday) and they were going to make a decision... Anyhow so it blew my mind thinking that Sx was sched. and no one informed us. The hospital staff said Oh....hold on let me call Dr. Ryans and they will call you back... Within 5 min. the Dr.'s office called back and said they are holding the SX room for Mick... and that the hospital jumped the gun by calling us before they had talked to us... they are preparing for surgery for tomorrow but the nurse would NOT tell me anymore...other than they will discuss it with us at Mick's appt. Needless to say I'm freaked out because I think realization has kicked in and now in my heart I feel this Surgeon from St.Louis said "get him in".... At this point I'm still unsure of anything else but I thought I would share this information so everyone who needs to know can be prepared...
Newer posts will come later...I will be giving info. to a family member so they can continue posting when I'm unavailable...
Want to thank everyone for the prayers and concerns.

3-16-09

Yesterday was a scarey day for me and def. for my mother n law . I went back to work (No I didn't want to but I'm having to prolong it so I can be protected throught FMLA) Anyhow Mick stayed with his mom and dad since he can't be alone. I called him at lunch to check in. As we were talking the line went silent then all I heard was Pat yelling in the back ground. Mick had fallen off the chair. He informed me that within the last few days not only has his vision has become worse,he has had ringing in the ears and he's been unstable but I didn't realize how much until today. I called the Dr. and they replied back at 5pm. Actually it was the nurse who called back. Mick will now be taking 2 steroid pills 3x a day instead of 1 pill 3 x day. The nurse said several things including that the Dr. said he could put Mick back in the hospital if that's what we wanted but they couldn't do anything more then what we already are doing.. In addition to this they have heard back from the Dr.'s in K.C. and Indianapolis who at this time believes that stinting might be the safest way at this time for Mick. Going in and removing ways too much risk. However, she added that the "ring leader" is the Dr. from St.Louis and he is coming to Columbia tomorrow so he can actually have all the information and tests in his presence. She said what he says will prob. be a deciding factor. They want to see Mick again on Wed. to decide what will happen next. From the conversation I had with her there def. will be a decision made on Wed.That's the latest.

Mick's Recap Carried over from Facebook

We thought within the last month or so had a stroke. He went in last week for to the doctor because he wouldn't do it (I forced the issue) that sent him for an MRI this past Monday. On Tuesday rec. a call from the Dr. stating he had an Extremely Large Anueryism. Sent to NeuroSurgeon which said they were very impressed with the size and the location...smack dab in middle of his brain attached to his brain stem. It's a little over in 1" wide/round. They want him to go to another hospital because they have never done one this size or placement. They want the best for him. They put him in hospital for ekg,and several anigigrams and a cat scan. Cat scan showed another smaller anueryism at the base of the brain stem. Dr. came in last night; the group here is thinking stinting might be the way to go; it will block off the blood flow to the anuerisym's but it will not help his motions, speech ,etc. He will still be in stroke like state. The reason the group here is thinking of this path instead of going in and removing the anuerisyms. If they do that his chance of death (they would have to do a bypass and stop his heart temp.) or he could be in a vegetative state. So, they are sending all tests, docs, etc. to KC , ST.LOUIS and Now Indianapolis to see what the surgeons suggest. I didn't state earlier but they have not ever seen or worked on an Annuerisym this size or this placement before and that is why they are unsure what is the best path and exactly which hospital will be the best place for him to go to. They are sending him home on steroids and anxiety medicine. The Dr. came in this morning and stated the same thing including that Mick needs to be placed on disability and get that process going because he has a long haul ahead of him. He did state he's hoping to hear back from them by Wed. The reason why they aren't rushing through this is because of how complicated this one is they have to do what is best. The positive side of this is ; the large anuerisym is not having a normal rate of blood flow. He said normally it would be like a roller coaster racing through but his goes through hangs out for a little bit plays around and then goes on it's marry way. The also positive is we still have time with Mick. So, as I have stated before just do a lot of praying. He is in good spirits until talking to someone and then he breaks down.