Friday's updates

Mick had his venitrical procedure this morning to put a filter to block the blood clot from going to his heart.He has seen the opt. department, dermatologist 2x, cardioligist students 2x (residence too), physical therapist. and of course the procedure that was done. He had a full day.I met with the Dr. that has been caring for Mick since he came in and had a deep conversation including me telling her what I thought about them changing the dates again and all the unknowns that they have been keeping me out of the loop. I told her I understood she is in the middle of the conversation because it's all up to Dr. Abdulrauf and the Cardio but this postponing and not giving me answers is for the birds. I said a few other things and in the end she came back to tell me she relayed the message to Dr. A and Cardio would down to see Mick and have a definite answer. I guess it does pay to be blunt at times!Anyhow it was confirmed by 3 Cardio members that the surgery would in fact take place on Tuesday. Estimation with prep and surgery for both days is about 12 hrs. We shall see if Dr. A says the same thing or something different.---------------NOW..something funny and sad all rolled up in one....Mick had Wheel of Fortune on the t.v.... he was not watching it just staring at the ceiling like normally. However the answer to the puzzle was "Going to the Chapel".... which I started singing and without missing a beat Mick piped in and did the next verse... sad part is it started crying but he continued to sing with me. MOMENTS.... that will make me smile for a long time..Knowing he is still thinking about things like us although things aren't always clear.We will have so many memories when he gets out of the hospital.

Tired...

But not as tired as Mick. He has been put through the ringer today. As stated before lots of tests, MRI,CT Scan, ENT, Speech theparist, bloodwork, Opthamologist, Vesicular (sp) test ran on feet and legs, and many other things. When the speech therapist came in to test his swallowing she asked me questions about what he eats at home and reactions to foods. I told her exactly what she asked... Mick's reply was "Shannon! Don't tell her...she won't feed me! In addition to this we had to leave the room when he was being tested or taken for tests; when returned the last time he was quite upset because they had to dialate his eyes and he couldn't see. He's had several things going on and me not being able to be in there with him has stressed him out where his blood pressure has raised since he has been here. He told me he didn't love me because I wouldn't give him a burger. Poor guy did not get to eat until 7:45pm... Last time he ate was 8:30 am yesterday morning. Now the bad news; they found a large blood clot in his right leg. He will now undergo a procedure in the morning to filter the blood clot. The fear of it going to his heart or brain is great just like any other clot but the anuerysms complicate things.So, once again just say a prayer for peace.Thanks to everyone for prayers and concerns.

Thursday's Update

Since Dad is in N-ICU(Neuro Intensive Care) we cannot see him until 11:00 and visiting hours end at 8:30....only 2 people at a time also. As you can imagine by the time we saw him this morning he was pretty upset and thought we left him for good. He was also upset at mom for not leaving her cell phone number for him, even though he has no way to call. We wrote it on the board for him today! He has already had a CAT scan, an ENT vocal test thing, an MRI, and later tonight a Speech Therapist is coming to look at how he is swollowing things because he's choking so much while eating. They will also run a test on his feet and ankles tonight to make sure there are no blood clots from all of the falls, since both feet are still so swollen. Dad has also told us he has been poked a lot! :-) He still makes us laugh/smile! He is also upset because they still have not fed him, which means the last time he ate was yesterday morning before he was air lifted from Boone, which he did not like either! I feel pretty bad for him...he told the nurse he would even take a peanut butter sandwich! Even though he is upset at quite a few things he still seems to be doing alright. We will keep everyone updated as more tests are ran in the coming days. Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers.Jess

Change again!

I'm getting really annoyed! Went to Boone hospital to check Mick in to be transported. Got there about 8:30 did not leave for transport until 11:50. Once at St.Louis had to repeat everything about Mick 2x to surgeons from the very beginning of this whole ordeal. No, I wasn't happy. Then the Dr. on call told me that Mick will not be having surgery on Monday; more than likely it will be Tues. & Wed. She said since Dr. Abdulrauf is gone until Sunday night they won't be doing the angigram until Monday because he wants to be there. She also said that because of Mick's issue with swallowing that they will more than likely do a treachautomy for surgery. That blew my mind. Anyhow, they have been doing lots of tests. A lot of other tests like MRI,CT scans and a bunch of other stuff will be done tomorrow and the next few days. She thought they would be doing the external shunt Sat. or Sun. The ENT will come in and do testing for Mick's swallowing to see exactly what Mick is capable of. I was mad because they did not get to him today therefore THEY WOULD NOT LET HIM HAVE FOOD all day.! He just wanted to eat. Lucky for him the nurse at 8am said to let him have breakfast. The lastthing she said is this is more complexed because he had the coiling done and that becomes difficult for them when they clip the anuerysms because it sometimes does not allow the clip to close which causes other problems. That's the scoop; Oh and we are staying in the hospitality house which is nice but you know it's scarey when the nurse tells you "DON'T WALK OVER BY YOURSELF" OR STOP AT ANY GAS STATIONS AROUND HERE... Which that part we figured when we pulled on Grand and there sat 3 police cars with 4 thugs sitting against a rail on the ground... Lord pray for the sinners and keep us safe! ;0)

Mick headed to St.Louis

..Mick will being taken by ambulance or airlifted from Columbia to St Louis Univer hospital tomorrow to prepare for removal surgery on Monday...(that's the plan) we hope nothing changes. Mick has had symptoms come back that he had prior to the shunt along with new symptoms. On Thurs. they will begin tests and angigram. They will also change his shunt to an external shunt so they can watch how it's draining. Please pray for healing for him, and strength and peace for our family!

Mick's news

Rec. a call from Micks Neurosurgeon in Columbia. Very concerned about information that wasn't given in St.Louis and the fact that "false hope" might have been given. He wants to make sure we have all the information and that we don't allow them to push off the surgery. He said he is willing to do surgery on a Saturday if need be because surgery needs to take place soon. I know this surgeon in St.Louis is suppose to be great but greatness isn't going to matter if they postpone it so long that it's too late. Pray for a speedy decision. I keep telling myself tomorrow or Wed. we will have more answers. If not we might be looking at Dr. Ryan doing it again.

ST.LOUIS

The verdict is in. Went to see the Neurosurgeon in St.Louis. Unfort. Boone Hospital did not send all the discs that were needed so we did not get all the answers we wanted.The doctor is very confident in doing the surgery. Have read and was told today he is World Known for his work. People come from all over to have him do their surgery. He talked to us briefly about what would take place and that after he receives the other disc he will look it over and has a meeting setup with his team on Tuesday. He will then call either that night or Wed. to let us know the plan of action. I asked about % sense that is all we have heard and only negative about having this surgery done. As of yesterday the retired surgeon what Dr. Ryan to tell us that he has done 12 Annuerysms of this size and only 4 came out good. However, this doctor said he does surgeries of this sort weekly; not nec. just like it but other complexed surgeries. He also said that it is very complex surgery and there is a great deal of risk but he can not put a % on the surgery because each one of these surgeries are not alike. Again he felt confident in doing it and has a great deal experience in doing so. He left by saying he will treat Mick like he's his own family. I am disappointed that we went that far and did not get the information that we needed. Date, risk % , etc. However, him being as confident about taking care of Mick made me happy. I think it was just comparing apples and oranges because I do not have to pull information out of Dr. Ryan and never have. He did praise Dr. Ryan for realizing that someone more capable should be doing this surgery.So that's the scoop. We will not know more until next week. They have to look over everything with the team and move sched. around so they can get the surgery done in July. It will NOT be in the next week as orginally planned.The verdict is in. Went to see the Neurosurgeon in St.Louis. Unfort. Boone Hospital did not send all the discs that were needed so we did not get all the answers we wanted.The doctor is very confident in doing the surgery. Have read and was told today he is World Known for his work. People come from all over to have him do their surgery. He talked to us briefly about what would take place and that after he receives the other disc he will look it over and has a meeting setup with his team on Tuesday. He will then call either that night or Wed. to let us know the plan of action. I asked about % sense that is all we have heard and only negative about having this surgery done. As of yesterday the retired surgeon what Dr. Ryan to tell us that he has done 12 Annuerysms of this size and only 4 came out good. However, this doctor said he does surgeries of this sort weekly; not nec. just like it but other complexed surgeries. He also said that it is very complex surgery and there is a great deal of risk but he can not put a % on the surgery because each one of these surgeries are not alike. Again he felt confident in doing it and has a great deal experience in doing so. He left by saying he will treat Mick like he's his own family. I am disappointed that we went that far and did not get the information that we needed. Date, risk % , etc. However, him being as confident about taking care of Mick made me happy. I think it was just comparing apples and oranges because I do not have to pull information out of Dr. Ryan and never have. He did praise Dr. Ryan for realizing that someone more capable should be doing this surgery.So that's the scoop. We will not know more until next week. They have to look over everything with the team and move sched. around so they can get the surgery done in July. It will NOT be in the next week as orginalLy planned.