Dance Your Shoes Off

Love our church!! This past Saturday over 2,000 members of our church, Second Baptist Church in Houston, got together at Discovery Green to celebrate Easter. At the end of the dance they all left their brand new shoes they wore for the dance, to be donated to local mission agencies. It was called "Dance Your Shoes Off"

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!!

Tomorrow's the big day

Tomorrow morning at 7am Sarah will head in to surgery. She had to go in this afternoon for another MRI, get her head shaved (not her whole head though) and get electrodes put on all over her head. (Which Perri told her "looked pretty") Sarah, mom and I went and got our nails done today so she would have pretty toes for surgery, bags are packed and everything is ready to go. She's scared about surgery, but also at a peace about it. She said, when you have no other option, it kind of makes it easier to know that this is just what you have to do. She was saying tonight, though, that it feels like we're all talking about someone else. That it just doesn't seem possible that this is happening to her and that in the morning she's going in for brain surgery.

At the MRI today the dr. told her the tumor has been blocking the flow of spinal fluid and when she first goes into surgery they will put a drain in her head to help drain off that fluid once the tumor is removed so that it doesn't all flow and pool around the brain. They do think its a certain type of tumor that is attached to many nerves and that is the main worry, as we have been told there is a 50% chance of face paralysis, not being able to swallow, blink, smile. That is Sarah's main worry. She was told she will definitely be losing hearing in her left ear, which she is okay with, but its the other that really scares her. Please pray that they can remove all the tumor and safely get around the nerves so there is no damage!
Also, if they get in there and they can't get all of it out due to being too attached or surrounding nerves, they will either have to close up and do radiation later, or close up and do surgery again after she recovers from the first surgery. We also ask that you please pray for complete removal.

I don't know how much I'll be updating via the blog but those of you who are friends with me on facebook, I will have my phone and laptop up at the hospital and will be updating as we get reports throughout the surgery. It will last 12-13 hours so will be quite a long day.

I also want to thank all the sweet parents of the kids my mom teaches for their going in together and giving my parents a Visa card to let them stay at the hospital that is right there on the hospital campus. You guys are so amazing and you have no idea how grateful they are to you all for this. As well as everyone bringing meals, giving the gift cards to restaurants around the hospital, food for the waiting room, flowers, kind words and prayers. We appreciate it all so very much. I've also been so overwhelmed at everyone's offering to keep Perri. Craig came up last night so he'll be staying at my parents house with her tomorrow so we won't need help with her, but thank you all so so much for that.

Again, please continue to keep Sarah in your prayers as well as for the 3 surgeons working on her. We appreciate each and every prayer!

Update

Thanks to everyone for their prayers for Sarah and our family, we really appreciate them!! As well as all the kind offers to keep Perri for me at this time.

Surgery is definitely on for Tuesday, beginning at 7AM and now will last from 12-13 hours, with a team of 3 surgeons in there, each working on the tumor for 3 hours at a time. Also found out the tumor is about 2 inches, considered large for its location, is on the lining of her brain and likely began growing 12-15 years ago.

Yesterday they tried Sarah off the iv pain meds and taking oral medication in hopes that she can come stay here with my parents for the weekend until surgery. She did well managing pain that way yesterday and my mom just called and she slept all night and never woke needing the pain meds!! Her neurosurgeon isn't on call this weekend so they're just up there waiting now for his partner to make his rounds and tell her whether or not she gets to come here or not.

Craig is coming up either Sunday or Monday, praise the Lord, and will be able to help me more with Perri. She is doing well with everything but it's difficult carting her back and forth to the hospital so much. I did take her yesterday morning to a place to climb, slide and play. She had a blast but I was already exhausted from lack of sleep and needless to say came home and took a nap while she did.

I'll keep updating on here as we find out more.
Thanks again everyone for your sweet messages and prayers!

Prayers for Sarah please!

Just wanted to post a quick note to ask everyone for prayers for my sister. Perri and I have been in AR visiting and while here my sister has been very sick with severe migraines, what we thought were a result from having her neck adjusted since he has a lot of problems with her neck. Last night, praise the Lord her fiance was there, but she lost consciousness and he called an ambulance and she was taken to the ER here in Little Rock. She there passed out again. After a CT Scan and MRI they found a large tumor behind her ear, pressing on her brain causing all the problems she's been having lately (dizziness, numbness, migraines) that we thought was from her neck. Surgery is tentatively set for Tuesday, as the neurosurgeon has to plan out the surgery due to the size and location of the tumor. It will be a full day surgery and very serious and risky because it can affect hearing, sight, etc.

Thank you all who have already had our family in your prayers.

Snappy Straps

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Etsy shop is up and running!! I have many more designs made up and will get them listed as soon as I get home from visiting family!

Come check it out! And also, I've done several custom orders for people and love doing that as well and helping you pick out fabric, etc!

Snappy Straps

Smarty Pants