2 weeks post surgery

So sorry I am just now updating on how Sarah is doing and how surgery went!! Our intended one week trip to Arkansas ended up lasting 3 weeks, but I am so thankful that we were able to be there so long and be with Sarah and my family. Craig was able to come up the Sunday before surgery and was a great help with Perri and allowed me to be up at the hospital for as much as I wanted.

Surgery ended up lasting about 16 hours, much longer than the anticipated 10-12. They ran into issues with spinal fluid build up that resulted in them working on that problem for 2 hours. Surgery went really well and praise the Lord Sarah's face is not paralyzed!!! There was a 50% chance of this so we were very scared about that. She did lose hearing and all function in her left ear, but this is something she knew going in would happen and was prepared for. Losing the function of her left ear has left her with a lot of balance problems, as her body has to essentially relearn to walk and her right side has to compensate for the loss.

She ended up being in ICU after surgery for over a week due to continued spinal fluid problems. Apparently the tumor had been blocking the flow of spinal fluid for quite a while and when the tumor was removed the fluid did not reabsorb into the body as it should, but instead continued to flow out of the shunt they had put into her head to help incase this happened (well most was removed, some had to be left on brain stem but hopefully will not grow and if it does will require radiation in the future).  For the first probably 3 days after surgery Sarah was still pretty groggy and out of it and at one point about two days after surgery asked me what happened. When I told her she had had surgery to remove the tumor her eyes opened huge with the biggest look of surprise. The dr. said this was normal though due to the amount of anesthesia in her system from being out for 16+ hours. She had a LOT of pain on her right side and even developed blisters from being strapped to a metal table on her side for so long.

She has been a trooper and not too long after surgery she started weaning off the pain meds and less than a week after surgery she was taking just Tylenol and then nothing!

She finally got out of ICU and was released only to have to come back that evening due to the spinal fluid leaking. They had done a CT before releasing her to make sure it was still doing well but by that evening she was leaking out of the spot where the shunt had been. This was pretty freaky and gross and she was admitted back into the hospital for another two days for observation and luckily this resolved itself after a while.

Sarah went back to the neurosurgeon this Monday and he said all was well and she was doing great! She went in again today to get the staples out and he said again she was doing great and she doesnt have to come back until May!! She has been having a few headaches and vertigo and was very scared this was more spinal fluid buildup but her dr. said this was normal and if the headaches did not go away then that would mean spinal fluid problems.

She is now recovering at my parents house and taking it easy there. Perri and I are back home and while its nice to be home, I loved being able to be with my family for so long!! So hard living so far from them!!

Im sure I'm leaving out information but this post has already become quite the novel!!

Also- thank you SO much for everyone's prayers, kind words, meals, visiting us at the hospital, flowers, etc. We have appreciated them so very much!!