Memorial Day - 1st day home

Hi, Well, things are going pretty well today. Mostly just slept. I stopped taking some of the meds, which I think was a mistake. I woke up this morning feeling awful. Well, I have been back on them and it seems to be a little better now. I think the more I stay up with them, the better I will feel.

Jerry brought Cooper and Connor by. That was so great! I miss them so much and I think Cooper was pretty worried about his momma. Hopefully they are feeling better about things too. They were in good spirits. They are going to stay with Jerry for a while, but maybe come by after school a couple of nights this week. They are going to a Rod Run in Lander this weekend and Jackson the following weekend, so I am sure they will really enjoy that!

Well, that's about all for now...
Carmen

Coming Home today!!

Here is a picture of the incision. Hope it doesn't gross anyone out. Pretty long.
The doc was just in and said there was no reason to stay here. The neurosurgeun had wanted to see me on Tue in his office, but Dr. Feese, who is Dr. Muckles partner said that wasn't necessary! That is good.

I took some sleeping pills last night, I woke up not feeling so great. I did sleep good, but woke up grogy and hangovery. I am sure it is going to be a long tough day getting home, but will be glad once I am there. I will probably post about the journey tonight or in the morning. That all depends on how it goes with the 5 hour drive....
Carmen

by the way, I hate liver and onions!

Carmen Here on SAT AM

Well, here I am, another day. I am not feeling too bad. The neck is sore by the incision. I just took some Valium for that. For pain, they finally got me on some Vicadin (SP?) It doesn't give me the itches, which is a relief.
The Physical Therapist was here first thing this morning and showed me some balance exorcises. I think it would have been better had I had some anti-nausea meds, but I got them afterwords. Also, the doc was in and took the dressing off of the incision. That is kind of a relief as it was squishing my ears. He said it is about 4-5" long.
He said that I will probably be getting out tomorrow or Monday. The neurosurgeon wants to see me in his office on Tuesday. They are both out of town for the weekend (the neuro and the oto). Therefore, I will be coming home on Tuesday sometime. Hopefully not too late. I am ready to sleep in my new bed again!
As Dave and KEvin mentioned in their posts, I set up an account at My 2nd Kitchen. They prepare meals and deliver them. If you want to do something for me, one thing you can do is make a small donation to the account. I will order some meals once I get home.
I am going to sign off for now. Wearing me out. I will try to post this evening or in the morning.
Carmen

Friday- Recovery begins

It's lunch time here & Carm is attempting to get hospital food down, still not much of an appetite but she is making a good effort. Still haven't found pain med of choice- Percocet is causing itching- so there is a call out to Dr. for something different.... until then she is still receiving morphine. Last night she walked to the nurses station & back- then got nauseated. Well, it looks like she's getting into the napping position so we'll clear out for now & sign off. Thanks again for all your thought & prayers. Love You, Juli

Hi, it's Carmen

Well, I am in my own room on the neurology unit. I don't think this post is going to be long, as it is a little hard to look at the monitor without gettting woozy. Thank you all for the thoughts an prayer that you have been sending my way.. They have definetly helped. I am going to sign off for now, since it is making me woozy. I will try to post again tommorrow.
Carmen

Carmen is doing GREAT!!!

Carmen is still in the ICU today, but the plan is to move up to her own room later this afternoon. She is hearing pretty good? out of her left ear and has very little dizziness. She has been awake and talking, but is pretty tired. She also has a very sore neck. I'll write more later.

Sue

A Little More News

I just came back from visiting Carmen in recovery. She will hopefully be moved into ICU within the hour. She definitely has full use of her facial muscles -- she can open and close both eyes and she sipped water from a straw. She's in a lot of pain, to be expected of course and she also thinks she can hear from the right side. We have lots of hope. We are allowed to see her for 1-2 minutes, one at a time, about 45 minutes apart. We'll keep you all posted. Mimi

Still Waiting

Carmen is still in recovery.... 4 hours now....She is okay (bad headache though), with a bed in ICU just now becoming available. We are limited to visiting her because of the headache and the need to keep the amount of stimulation to a minimum. It's been a long day, truly a very long day.... so we'll continue with the updates in the morning. Thanks & take care, Juli & Sue

Recovery

Carm is starting to come out of the anesthesia, woke for a little while @ 3:15 & drifted back into lala land. When out of recovery (2 hrs now) she'll be transfered to ICU. We thank you all for all your kindness, thoughts & prayers. We'll post again after transfer & we have a better idea of how she's feeling (headachy I'm sure-:). Thanks again! Juli & Sue

Good News

The surgeons just came in to see us and Carmen is doing fine and is in recovery. Here's what we know: Her facial nerve is intact and is conducting electrical impulses but it will be a day or two before we know if there is any paralysis so keep the prayers coming for that. Her auditory nerve was stretched very thin and the doctors were surprised that she had the hearing she did (prior to surgery). There is a blood supply to the nerve but it'll be a day or two before we know whether or not there is hearing loss. Keep praying about that! She will be moved into ICU in a couple of hours and will be there 2 days. The surgeons were able to remove the entire tumor, praise God so it is looking good! I'll be in touch as soon as we know more. Mimi

update Carmen's surgery

Hello everyone: The surgical nurse just called and said they were getting ready to close the incision. The doctors will come talk to us in about an hour but as of now, Carmen is doing well. I'll update as soon as we talk with the doctors. Thanks for your prayers, love and concern. Mimi

Carmen in surgery

Hi Everyone: This is Mimi Roller, Carmen's stepmother. She checked into the hospital this morning at 6 a.m. and immediately waited 2 hours. She was taken into surgery at 8 a.m. and at 9:30 a.m. the nurse called and said they just made the incision. She said it was taking time to get her properly positioned and all the equipment in the right place. She is doing fine so far and I will post again when we get the next update. Thanks for all your prayers and concern. Please keep them coming. Mimi

It's Time

I am leaving for the hospital now. My only complaint is that I am thirsty. Nothing after 3:30 this morning. I will be fine though. Oh, a little bit of a sore throat, but nothing major.

One item of interest is that it is not 12 days to wash the hair, only 2!! Great news.

Yesterday was full of appts all afternoon.

Sue and Juli will be posting today hopefully.

Thanks for all of the prayers, "talk" to you all soon through my blog or phone!
Carmen

Travel and Pre-Op Day

Good Morning! We will be hitting the road shortly to go to Denver. I have appointments all afternoon. First the neurosurgeon, next the neuro-otologist and lastly the hospital. It will be a little bit hectic I imagine.

I am checking into the hospital at 5:30 AM and the surgery is supposed to start at 7:30 tomorrow.

Keep the prayers coming. My sisters will be posting updates!

Two days...

Well, the weekend is over and I didn't really accomplish too much. But, that is okay and the things that really need to be done, will get done tomorrow. Cooper and Connor and I had a good weekend. We did get to see Shrek the Third. We all enjoyed it! For those of you that didn't get to see it, Shrek and Fiona had triplets! That really wasn't what it was about, but probably a cliff-hanger for the fourth.

I want to thank everyone for offering help. I really don't know what help I will need at this point, but the offers are appreciated. If anything comes up, we will let you know.

Now for the details:

Surgery will be at Swedish Medical Center at 7:30 on Wednesday. They anticipate that it will take 6 hours. My sisters will be updating this blog as they feel is necessary or even just to pass the time (??). I don't have any idea what it will be like for them or me. But, maybe the updates will help them to stay occupied. I am sure that I will be out and not really caring.

I will be in the hospital approximately 5 days (I assume post surgery day). That means I will be coming home on Memorial Day, but we will see. I don't really know if I want to travel that day, as everyone will be trying to get home from the long weekend.

I am going to close for now, and try to post tomorrow or Tuesday.

Keep the prayers coming as this is in God's Hands now!

Five days to go

Well, I am counting Friday through Tuesday and the surgery is on Wednesday. Seems really strange... Back in March when the doctor kept moving my appt back for the consult, it seemed like time was going by oh so slowly. Now, that everything is set into motion, it seems like the days are flying. I sure hope the days in the hospital and the days of recovery also go by quickly. I shouldn't be wishing that at all though. It seems like time does go by quickly and there is nothing we can do about that concept except to deal with it and try to cherish every moment. (Be it good or bad I suppose!)

Wow, am I getting a little too deep here?? Oh well. That is what this space is for.

Tomorrow is my last day of work for awhile. I have things taken care of to the best of my ability, I hope.

Thank you everyone for the comments, they make this a little more interesting for me. For those of you who would like to email me and not post comments, my email address is dragonflyclg@yahoo.com.

Connor can't stop talking about Shrek the Third. It opens tomorrow, so I am sure we will be one of the millions taking it in this weekend. Connor's last soccer game is Saturday. That means all of the extra curricular activities are done. We went to a picnic for Cooper's last night at cub scouts tonight. Connor's kindergarten graduation is on June 4th, so I am hoping I will be able to get out by then. Actually, a mini goal. Track day is the 7th, so we'll see if I can make it to that, too, unless the boys go to Jackson with Jerry for a rod run that weekend.

I think I have rambled on enough for tonight. I hope I didn't bore you all!

Photos

Here are a few of the photos from last week. I like them. Now, I have until the 22nd to view them on a web page set up by the photographer. One more thing to get done. Although, he said I can order later, but they won't be on the web to view anymore after that. That's fine.

I am not feeling too nervous. Everything is out of my control, so I don't feel like worrying and stressing is going to get me far. I do talk to God more than before though. It is in his hands.

Today at lunch, Kandi (from work) and I put together a fleece tied blanket for me to take to the hospital and have with me to keep warm afterwards too. It has Winnie the Pooh on one side and pastels on the other. I am sure that will come in handy, as I am always cold anyway. Thanks Kandi!!

I got my new bed today. Nice new sheets, too! I bet it is going to be cozy. I sure hope so.

That's about all for now....

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mom's out there!!

The boys are with their dad, but I am going to go over and see them in awhile. I have been fairly busy this weekend. I got the tree branches cleaned up with the help of a friend and the lawn mowed. I went shopping for bedding for my new bed that will be here Tuesday afternoon. I got a queen and didn't have any queen bedding, so had to start from scratch. Other than that, I am doing laundry and just some general picking up and organizing.

I did get my hair cut yesterday. She just kind of cut the long layers shorter to be the same length as the next longest layer, so it is thicker and fuller and will hopefully cover the shaved area so it doesn't show too much. I'm sure the next cut will be the challenging one!

We are going to have a busy week. The kids have something going on every evening but Wed and Fri. After Saturday, it will calm down. At least I will be busy and that will keep my mind occupied.

10 days to go!

Wednesday

Hi, well we made it over hump day. We went and had our photos taken in the park tonight. It was alot of fun. Tryin' to get past the cheesey grins was a little bit of a challenge, but I think we got some good shots. I will be able to view them tomorrow probably. I can't wait. I will see if the photographer will post a few to this blog. We went to Nancy English Park, a very nice evening with little wind, can you believe that, here in Casper!
We are trying to get things together at work. My bosses and everyone are being really great! Thank YOU!! I really do appreciate that. That helps lighten the stress load.
13 days to go.... BLAHH!!

Sunday

Well, I still have power and the internet. The satellite went out a few times, and I went up on the roof and cleared the snow off it, then it was fine. Thank you God that the big elm held on! The crab apple didn't fair so well, at least a couple of big limbs are gone. I'll have to get out after it melts and clean up. It never got below about 30-32 degrees. I think that it actually rained during the night. It is wet!

Have a good Sunday!

SNOW

You won't believe the snow here! Check it out!

We went skating, when we went in, the snow was not sticking, but when we came out, there was about 2-3" of snow on the ground. That's Wyoming for you!! One of my crabapple trees has at least one big broken limb. That's it in the pic on the right, you can see it in the background. The lilacs are drooping, but I went out and knocked as much of the snow as I could. I am worried about one big dead limb on one of my chinese elm trees that hangs directly over my power line. I was supposed to meet a guy today for a bid on that, and he didn't call me to set up a time. The last quote I had was pretty high, so I thought I would get another one. I sure hope it holds. Happy Spring Snow!

Saturday

Good day everyone! It is raining pretty good this morning and probably most of the night. That is good, we can use the moisture.
Not much is going on with us this weekend. I am going to try to get my house a little more organized. The family room is full of toys that need to go to the basement. And just some general picking up I guess. The boys rented the Spy Kids trilogy, so that is what they are doing right now. We might have to go roller skating or bowling this weekend. Those are a couple of other things that I won't be doing for a while after surgery and both boys love em. Maybe we'll do one today and one tomorrow.

Boy it was a long week for me. I had a hard time sleeping this week and felt just exhausted. I got a little extra rest last night, so hopefully that will help. I think the emotions are starting to set in a little bit more as the surgery date gets closer. 18 days to go.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

May Day

I love Spring. It is my favorite season. The rebirth is just fascinating. We are having a thunder storm right now. I love it, especially the smell of rain.

I went to the field for work today. The meadowlarks were amazing. I just had to stop and listen. Their song is just amazing. I paid particular attention as I may not ever hear their song in stereo again if I loose the hearing in my AN ear. I am definitely more aware of that kind of thing now. I even cranked up the stereo in the car.

By the way, I am not feeling sick or having any real symptoms now. I am a little more tired maybe, but that is about the only symptom I am feeling at this point. The reason I mention that is because people have been asking how I feel. I actually don't feel bad.

I have probably had this tumor for maybe 10-15 years. "They" say AN's grow at a rate of about 1-2 mm per year. I have had the feeling of stuffiness in one ear for some years. It is funny, because when I mentioned this to the doctors, they said it was "fluid behind the eardrum" and to take some sudafed to help it drain. Never worked.. Huh? (Sue, you better comment on this!)

Counting down.... 22 days