Troy's Surgery

We prepped for Troy's surgery today. We got up early, he went off pain meds as scheduled, we drove to Plano, they hooked him to the IV and put him in a gown. He waited for an hour. They rolled him back to the surgery room. Then, Troy's surgery was cancelled due to him having an infection on his skin on his neck. Evidently, the ice that helps to alleviate the pain caused him a bit of frostbite on the back of his neck. That is now infected.

They gave him an IV antibiotic and prescribed an antibiotic for 10 days. We will see the surgeon on Tuesday for his follow up. At that time, they will reschedule today's procedure for a time after the antibiotics are done.

Troy is, expectedly, down in the dumps. We are going to spend today getting him comfortable again since he had to be off all pain meds for 24 hours prior this morning's procedure. We'll regroup and go forward.

b

Hurry and end 2010

Well, the year has been long. It's hard to believe it's already November, but we are ready for this year to be over!

I haven't posted in awhile. I'm feeling down in the dumps with everything going on and just got tired of it all. But, I've gotten a few requests for an update so here it is.

Troy - is on disability for his traumatic brain injury and neck/spine injuries. His neuro psych appointment indicates that he has "mental efficiency deficits" and requires additional therapy. The brain doc said his brain just needs to rest. On Friday, he will have another nerve block done on the right side of his neck. All the previous procedures have been on the left side. Now that he has recovered from that, they will do the block this Friday. Then, they will schedule his RF for the right side sometime next week.

Betsy - is on disability for hernia surgery that occurred unexpectedly last week. The hernia got bigger and more painful and needed a fix since my intestines were involved. That explains the "squish squish" sound I could make my hernia make when I pressed on it. I am allowed to go back to work next Wednesday and am looking forward to being in a routine again. It was a difficult week last week with neither of us able to drive but we made it through and now I am released to drive again.

Megan - has been having some bleeding episodes again and is anemic. She started a new clotting med this week and we met with hematologist yesterday. The change in meds appears to be working and they will see Megan again in 3 months. She continues to thrive in high school and enjoys her swim team. They are traveling to Houston this upcoming weekend for a meet. Then, she has two more major meets the following two weekends. At least those are local and we can be there for that. Oh, and I finally got my coveted yard sign to place in the yard! It must be a Texas thing, but these signs are placed in the front yard and say "Home of a Flower Mound Jaguar _________". Megan's says Swim & Dive in the blank. But, there are signs for choir, band, football, cheerleading, drill team, lacrosse, etc. It's kinda cool!

Steven - he's the lucky man! All is well in his world! He is making it full day in school and is down to 2:1 ratio at school. They were having some difficulties with him riding the bus. Initially he didn't want to get on the bus. So, they used a home vehicle to drive him to/from school. Then, they worked to convince him the bus was okay and Steven started riding the bus. The next challenge was convincing him to get OFF the bus at school. That is still a work in progress, but is successful more often than not. We sent the microphone down to Abilene and will be testing it out tonight. Assuming it is successful, we will post info for anyone else who might want to skype with the little man.

The holidays are coming up quick and we don't really know the plans yet. (Yes, I know that is a new concept for me, but I'm okay with it.) At this point, it doesn't look feasible for us to come to Phoenix or the Phoenix family to come here. So, we may have a low key holiday season and rest up for the new year.

We hope everyone else is doing well. I'll update more after Troy's procedure on Friday.

Betsy

High Tech Steven

We took a laptop down for Steven this past weekend. We have it all set up so we can do video conferencing via skype. Tonight we tried it for the first time and it was awesome! We could see him and he could see us. He could hear us but we couldn't hear him. We'll mail a microphone down tomorrow and hope that fixes the problem! Once the kinks are worked out, we will give everyone his skype address and you can do a video conference with Steven, too!

The Little Mermaid

Today is Megan's first swim meet! We are so proud of her because she has really put forth a ton of effort to improve her times.

Last night, she walked in the homecoming parade with her team and tonight she will don her team warm ups, dive cap, and backpack!

I will post pictures of tonight's meet late tonight, or sometime tomorrow. She will be swimming in three events. Good luck Megs!!! We love you!

Photo of Megan at swim practice last week

It's going to be a long week!

We went back to Troy's doctor today for a follow up from last week's visit. They have signed him off work until at least 11/2. He has more neuro psych testing to get scheduled. They will keep him on dilaudid (spelling?) for the next month to help with the pain while the nerves heal. He's getting really down in the dumps and is tired of feeling pain all the time. Please keep him in your thoughts and send him a joke or two via email if you see any good ones come to your in box!

This week is a busy one for Megan. On Wednesday night, she will be participating in the homecoming parade. She was nominated as one of the "ladies of the court" for the homecoming dance. Thursday evening she has her first swim meet. Friday night, the homecoming football game. Saturday night, the homecoming dance.

Sunday, we are hoping Troy will feel well enough to make the drive down to see Steven for a few hours.

Fortunately, we have Monday off of school to recover from all the busy evenings we have this week!

Weight Loss Update

Several people have asked me how my weight loss is progressing since surgery. The answer? It's going well. I've lost 53 lbs and 28 inches from my body. I still don't see the difference when I look in the mirror, but seeing pictures has helped me see the progress. Here are a few before and after pictures for those who have requested them. The day of surgery pics are the purple shirt. Three months later in the pink shirt!
I feel healthier, have more energy, and love my weight loss tool!

Bets

Nerve Update

Troy had the nerve lesion yesterday morning. The doctors cauterized 3 nerves in his neck. They warned him that it would be a painful recovery for the first 5-7 days since they drilled through some bone and moved muscles around in the neck to get to the affected nerves. If the pain was not handled by the pain meds they prescribed, they told us to call them.

We called yesterday afternoon because Troy was having a headache, dizziness, continued numbness in his arms, and nausea. They sent us to the ER. The ER gave Troy lots of meds to reduce his pain, relax his muscles, and get rid of the nausea. They sent him home yesterday evening with some additional drugs to get him through this next week.

Last night continued to be rough but better than earlier in the day. He is on a 4 hour medication schedule so I set the alarm to wake us at the right times during the night. The doctor's goal is to get Troy to sleep through this next 4-6 days when the recovery is the worst.

More updates later.