Sunday, July 20, 2008

Good morning! Today is Sunday, our 5th day in the hospital. It is so busy here that I can't keep on top of this blog. Last night I started typing and it took me an hour and a half to finish the blog entry. I kept getting up to help Courtney with one thing or another. I am her personal "nurse" and she keeps me hopping.

We just had something neat happen. Two couples from our church came in and brought us the sacrament. They sang "God, Our Father, Hear Us Pray" and then the men administered the sacrament. It brought both Courtney and I to tears. :) We are feeling so blessed right now because of the success of her surgery. There is a 26 year old girl here who also had an AVM removed on the same day. I guess hers was in the center of her brain. She has had a really hard time in recovery and we have often heard her cry out in pain. It is really hard for Courtney to hear that and it upsets her so much. Yesterday we heard that the poor girl is paralyzed on one side and the damage is permanent. Isn't that awful! It just brought us to tears thinking how lucky we are that Courtney's surgery went well! The only side affect we are seeing with Court is the loss of her left peripheral vision. It has pretty much stayed the same since her first embolism on July 1st. Her vision changes throughout the day and sometimes is foggy or blurry. She just describes it as being "weird". We will have to wait for up to a year to see her final results. The other minor thing she complains about is that her hearing is funny, kind of like she is in a tunnel. I hope that goes away quickly!

Now to go back and catch up on Saturday. Layne spent the night here Friday night. He would not lay down on the air mattress and sleep, instead he sat in the chair all night. Needless to say, he didn't sleep at all. He said he wanted to be there for his little girl! :P He was here when Dr. Reichman came to check on Court. Dr. Reichman said that the angiogram looked good and that he was pleased with her recovery. He took the bandages off her head and I guess that was really painful because they were all stuck in her hair. :S Oww! He said that she was doing so well that we could take her off the blood pressure medicine. She also got rid of her catheter, arterial line (a big painful IV type line), and the pressure boots on her legs. Wow, it is amazing how fast things are moving! I thought she was going to be bedridden and kind of out of it for a long time. I was wrong! Everyone tells us that the faster she gets moving, the better her recovery will be. Well, let me tell you, we definately got moving! With all the fluids they had pumped in to her, she is swollen everywhere. Even her upper arms are swollen and tender to the touch. You can only guess how many trips to the bathroom we have taken since she got the catheter out. :S I told her that she is lucky to have me here because it would drive her nurses crazy having to get her up so many times! I guess the bright side is that the more she walks, the better she gets. :)

Yesterday when I got to the hospital (around 1:30 p.m.) I noticed a big change in Courtney. She was talking in a very quiet voice. She wasn't saying much and seemed kinda depressed. She is really frustrated with her vision problem. I guess her sight keeps changing and it drives her crazy. It was hard to see her like that. I think she is getting tired of being in the hospital. Later in the day when they removed all the tubes and she started walking around, it seemed to help her spirits. I have a feeling we will be out of the hospital much sooner that the two weeks that the doctor first told me. :)

Today is Sunday and that means that I am finally caught up on this blog! Yeah! We slept much better last night than we did two nights ago. I did get up at least every hour to take Court to the bathroom, but because I am so tired, I was able to fall asleep right away. I am looking forward to seeing out doctor today since I wasn't here yesterday to see what he said. I think he will be excited to see Courtney up and moving.

Well, once again it has taken me almost 2 hours to finish this blog, but at least I am excited to be caught up! Courtney's lunch is here so I will go. Thank you everyone for your love and concern! We want to thank our California family, WECC and the Munros for the beautiful flowers. We have taken pictures of them and we will put them on the blog. Thank you SO MUCH! Courtney also wanted me to tell you that she loves it when people make comments on her blog, so keep it up! :) Have a great day and know that we are thinking about you!