Merry Christmas!

We're off to 'The Mountains' (as Gabe is calling them) so Merry Christmas to all! Here's to getting snowed in and cozy. We hope your holidays are bright!

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Belly Picture

Sooo. I'm working on slide shows for Thanksgiving pictures and a few other events from these past few weeks. I realize it has been weeks since my last post. Again. Maybe I have done my job in lowering your expectations by now? In the meantime, I had a request (weeks ago) for a 'belly picture' so I have to at least address that. This is from the Drumstick Dash, a 5k in Roanoke on Thanksgiving morning. It was a lot of fun! I don't think many people knew they were getting schooled by a pregnant woman because I ran past them all so fast...

More to come. Really!

Hiking and Hunting

We went on a hike a couple of weeks ago. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a lot of fun! We stopped to explore every little thing...centipedes, pretty leaves, pools of water, acorns, sticks, bark, a fun little toad and even a lizard! Gabe kept thinking that we were hunting, but either way, he couldn't get enough of it! He loves to explore.




Ryan took Gabe hunting at the farm. They had a lot of fun, but didn't see any deer. Gabe loved carrying around his gun (unloaded, of course) and they even sat up in the deer stand for awhile. Gabe loved hanging out with his great-grandparents and seeing his Aunt Jennifer, too!

Two Fun Facts

(because I can't seem to get my act together to add anything else)

1. We are having another boy. (found out on Thursday...very exciting!)

2. My sister had her little girl this afternoon! (I can't wait to meet her...who knows when that will be?)

And that is all for now because I really only got on the computer to find pictures of my new niece. I was all snuggly in bed, then realized that these are blogworthy events that shouldn't have to wait any longer to be posted. So there! Of course, as usual, pictures to follow. SOME DAY!

No Excuses (but I'll try anyway)

Soo, a few reasons why it has been almost a month since my last post:

1. I had no idea it was almost a month since my last post! I knew it was at least a couple of weeks...but wow! A month. Oops.

2. A lack of interesting goings-on to post about. Not to say we haven't been busy--there are a couple of new pictures hung on the walls, the fish get fed every day, the ants on the kitchen counter require a lot of energy to kill, Gabe and I have to sweep off the porch under our bird feeders every other day, there have been lots of fall recipes that have called my name...I could go on and on about daily life (really there is a LOT more to it) but things have been pretty calm around here lately. Ryan is getting back on a normal work schedule, Gabe and I go to my Bible study at church and meet all the kids at McDonald's afterward, we go to Awana every week and have verses to study for that, The Office, The Biggest Loser, and The Amazing Race call our names after Gabe goes to bed--all in all, we've actually been getting into a normal routine for the first time in about 4 years! Or maybe even longer...it's hard to say. I kind of like it!

3. I am never on the computer! Unless I am paying bills, I can rarely sneak away from Gabe long enough to do more than a quick email-check but Gabe really loves to play with ME. He is great at hanging out by himself while I am making lunch or dinner or if I need to get something done, but just about every other minute of the day he really likes to be hanging out together. We play Candyland about twice a day (Yes, more games are on our shopping list), he never gets tired of rolling golf balls back and forth with us across the living room floor, and he still loves playing with his trains, but they are so much more fun when I am in there playing with him. All of this equals no blog time! (and not much to write about unless you want to know who won the latest round of Candyland)

4. Last, but DEFINITELY not least, I wanted to wait to post about our special news until a few key people heard it in person...(they were told a few weeks ago, but it was my excuse for awhile!) but in case you don't know yet, Gabe is going to be a big brother! He is very excited about it (we are too, of course!) and he is pretty sure it is going to be a girl and she will have pretty pajamas. Not sure where he got that and why he so firmly believes it to be true, but we will find out the first week of November if he is correct. My due date is April 5 and so far everything is going great. I haven't been sick at all and have been able to keep running, so life doesn't feel a whole lot different yet. I think Gabe will be in for the biggest shock of all...He will have to share us!


Well, in case you are wondering how I was able to find the time to finally update this blog of ours, it is because Gabe is at Grandma's house this morning! I really should be getting other things done, as usual, but I know that I have neglected our faithful readers. SORRY!

A couple of other pieces of news:
Ryan has been feeling pretty decent lately. He is very tired all of the time, but hasn't complained of headaches or pressure lately, so that is a huge blessing. He still deals with allergies and it is tough to feel so drained all the time, but hopefully things are looking up. His next check-ups will be in December.

Also, my brother Mike will be deployed to Afghanistan on October 29th. PLEASE be praying for him. I miss him already--it is hard to think about him being so far away for such a long time (they are saying 10 months) and I can't even let myself think too hard about his safety there--we have to put him in God's hands! I'll put his address up here as soon as we know it so that anyone who wants to can send him a note or package. I know he'll be needing all the support he can get from us.

Ok, hopefully it won't be another month...I'll get some more pictures up here soon, too. Until then!

Last Weekend

We started out at the Johnny CASA 5-miler where I ran my hardest so that I could eat apple cider doughnuts at the orchard later...I didn't have my running partner with me, so I finished a minute slower than last year. Ouch. But I did win 1st in my age group! Oh, but I was the only one in my age group. Next year?


Ryan and Gabe on a hayride at the apple orchard...I think Gabe and I ate at least 6 apples between us--it was a perfect day on a really beautiful mountainside right next to Monticello. What a nice way to celebrate birthdays and family!


Dinner at a Thai restaurant was a nice way to end the day and officially celebrate Noah and Rachel's birthdays. Happy Birthday to both of you!


What I want to do when I grow up...Ambitious of me, I know, but something about working in an adorable little brick building selling nothing but crepes to people of every different background for breakfast, lunch, dinner, desert, and late-night snacks just calls my name. I think Gabe liked it, too.

A Slow Kind of Busy

Hmm. I don't even know where to begin! I guess with our visit to Colorado. Gabe and I had a great time being with my family for a week. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

A good one of Gabe and I...He doesn't like to pose for pictures lately. (He's 3, you know)


My dad took Gabe and Henry to go watch trains while my mom and I followed Mike around on his motorcycle and took pictures. Before the photo op, we all had lunch at Bud's Bar in Sedalia, where the only items on the menu are hamburgers, cheeseburgers and chips. Yum!


Mike LOVES that bike!

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Me with my brothers (Mike, Tim, and Chris)


Happy birthday to my sister-in-law Tiffany!


Congrats again to my big sister, Erin, due with Gabe's fourth cousin in November.

So, yeah! We had a very nice and relaxing visit to Colorado. Lots of good family time and so nice to see Mike for more than a couple of days before he is deployed. I don't know yet when we'll get to go back, but hopefully we'll get to see Erin and Mark's new little one before she gets too old. Ryan actually gets to go out without Gabe and I next week. He has some appointments and a fishing trip planned, so it will be his turn for some fun!

Hopefully he'll be feeling good by then. When Gabe and I got home from CO he had been feeling pretty sick and hasn't gotten any better yet. It's not the flu, but he pretty much has any flu symptom you could come up with. He's had a few appointments mixed in with the exhaustion and feeling horrible, so it has been a long week for him.

I'm going to run a 5-mile race this Saturday with a bunch of the women that I run with, and then we get to head up to Charlottesville to celebrate Noah and Rachel's birthdays at an apple orchard and a Thai restaurant. It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend--I've been loving this cooler weather! Well, hopefully that sums us up for awhile. Now if we can just get Ryan feeling good again!

Back to the Grindstone

Well, Ryan had a pretty full week back to work. He went in a few hours each day and had quite a few appointments. Besides being exhausted all the time, he's had a few headaches here and there. Hopefully he'll have lots of time to rest up this next week, because Gabe and I will be in Colorado! We got a last-minute flight out to visit my family while my brother Mike is out there. He'll be deployed to Afghanistan at the end of October, so I want to see him as much as possible before then. Anyway, I need to finish packing because we leave tomorrow, but I thought I would give a quick update first. More later!

There and Back Again

Yes. We are HOME. That makes me happy. That means that Ryan's MRI was fine and we don't have to go back until December! Good. I'm glad. And now I'm going to bed--it has been a long day. LOTS of traffic and driving. But praise God, NO MORE SURGERY! What an answer to lots of prayers!

Ryan will be starting back to work on Monday for just a couple of hours a day. What a blessing to have a job where he can set his own schedule and appointments to take it slow for awhile! Hopefully he will build up stamina quickly and really start to feel good soon. Until later...

Highs and Lows

I'm slowly but surely working this afternoon to get laundry done and get all three of us packed up yet again. We leave in the morning for what is hopefully Ryan's last MRI for a long time. His scan is scheduled for 7am Thursday, so if all goes well, we won't have to wait around for the results all day but can get a good report and get back on the road. Ryan still isn't feeling great, but really does not want another surgery, so is hoping that they will just send him on his way and let things get better with time. The MRI should tell us if there is a chance of things getting better without surgery. Anyway, it is good that we will know soon and we can figure out when he can get back to work and life can resume.

We've had a crazy week and a half since the last post! Here are some highs and lows and then I'll add some pictures to spice things up a bit.

Highs:
Ryan's relatives are at the lake and we love to visit them at the State Park.
Ryan had a couple of days in a row of feeling pretty good.
I got to run 9 miles with a bunch of women from church that run together.
We got an amazing care package from Chris and Tiff (my brother and sister-in-law in Colorado)
We went bike riding (running for me) along the Greenway in Roanoke with D, Chele and the kids)
We went down to Fairy Stone Park to swim for an afternoon.
My purse (with Ryan's wallet in it) was turned in to the park's gift shop with nothing stolen out of it (see Low's for explanation)
We had lots of visitors, food and fellowship last week, which really made time fly!
Gabe found a ginormous beetle and a dead cicada to begin our bug collection. And today we found a moth and a bee to add.


Lows:
After a couple days of feeling good, Ryan is back to feeling OK. and some headaches.
I left my purse (with Ryan's wallet in it) at Fairystone Park (not sure how...)
On our way down to get my purse, I rear-ended someone. (no one hurt, just annoying)
Mike hasn't been able to leave base to visit us the last few weekends. We miss him!
We have to go back to Maryland. :(

Well, I guess the highs easily outnumber the lows, which is a lot to be thankful for! We have been overwhelmingly blessed with love and support the last couple of weeks. Thanks for being there for us!

Spanish Night at the Lesters:)

Somedays just end better than others:) Tonight Leigh made one of the best meals EVER!!! She handed me a cook book with TAPAS recipes in it. (I got to pick two) For those who don't know, tapas are Spanish dishes similar to an horsdoeuvre. She made salmon in mojo sauce and manchego cheese with an amazing Spanish Salsa. I'm telling you, if she were to open a restaurant, I would put my money on her. Only problem is clean up:) I really do wish I could be more helpful. Oh, well! I'm getting better and when I am I'll do the dishes and take out the trash. AND if I haven't said so, she is the greatest wife ever. She really takes great care of me. Thank you for the prayers, they are still needed. Love,
Ryan

Limbo

This is a difficult post for me to write. Yes, we are home. We got home Thursday afternoon. But things haven't really gotten any easier. Ryan still feels pretty exhausted. No headaches or nausea, praise God, but he still just doesn't feel good. It's tough for both of us to remain upbeat and happy while we are in this valley that seems to stretch on and on. It doesn't help anything that we are still Gabe-less. He brings so much joy and energy to our lives and it's almost impossible to be down when he is around. He had a slight fever when he went to bed last night, so we'll get him tomorrow morning in time for church. I can't wait to hug him!

Well, if things keep up this way we'll be back up in Bethesda on the 20th for an MRI and another possible surgery. Pray for us. This is hard!

Just waiting to leave.

We're just waiting for the doctor to put in Ryan's discharge orders and then we'll get to start our trip home. Very exciting! Neither of us got much sleep last night, I think we were both anticipating our own bed. Ryan still has a little bit of pressure in his head, so we have to come back in two weeks for an MRI if that hasn't gotten any better. He's really not supposed to lift a finger for the next couple of weeks, so pray for patience for me...Haha!

Gabe is doing a little better this morning. His fever has gone down, but Ryan isn't supposed to be around him until he's feverless for 24 hours. Please be praying for a fast recovery for both of them and a fast and easy drive home for us. We'll update you from Rocky Mount!

So Close We Can Almost Taste Home

I'm not sure where the time goes in here! This morning was pretty busy--I got Tori's car all packed up and a load of laundry done while she cuddled and snuggled with Gabe and gave him his Motrin and checked his temperature and tried to get him to drink something. I would have traded places with her in a second. I had just been thinking last night that Gabe really never gets sick, so to have him feeling so icky today and I can't take care of him is torture.
Oh well, I'll have to keep using my mothering skills on Ryan ;) Anyway, Gabe and Tori are at Noah's, Ryan and I have just been hanging out here. His nausea has stayed away, he still has a little pressure in his head, but no headache (which befuddles his doctor) and he is working on continuing to feel better so we can go home tomorrow.

Lucky for Ryan, there is a P.F. Changs down the street, so I'll be running out to get him some Mongolian Beef for his last dinner in Maryland. And I might get in a little side trip to Anthropologie...Just for kicks!

GOOD Morning!

Wow! Ryan is not nauseous this morning. Praise God! That is very exciting. He woke up ready to walk around, make sure he wasn't dreaming, and wanting to order some breakfast. The doctor came by and was very pleased with how Ryan is feeling. We'll get through today, he'll be having a CT scan tomorrow morning and if everything still looks good, we'll get checked out after that.

Now another big prayer request: Tori called me from the lodge this morning to say that Gabe was up for a couple of hours in the night with a fever. They are back asleep now and it seems to have gone down, but it twists my heart not to be over there with him. The doctor wants him to stay away from Ryan, which means Tori stays over there too, and I really shouldn't see him at all if I'm going to be around Ryan. I don't know how I will handle that! Please pray that he feels completely better very quickly and that Tori, Ryan and I are all protected from whatever it is. According to the doctor, if Ryan gets a fever, we start the clock back to the beginning. Not gonna happen.

Ok, time for breakfast. Until later!

Late One

OK. Here's the deal: If Ryan doesn't have a good morning tomorrow, they want to replace his shunt with a new one. Arg. They really think the nausea has to do with the pressure in his head, and things just aren't right there. Sooo, please pray tonight and in the morning that his brain adjusts itself miraculously to whatever pressure this current shunt is at. We want to go home, not get more surgery! We're hanging in there, but just the thought of Ryan having to be put under again and have to go through even more recovery time is pretty depressing. It is not always easy to find joy in every situation, and this is a particularly tough one. We appreciate your thoughts and especially your prayers as we face this trial.
Look for good news in the morning...

Hmm

Not much new today...nauseous on and off, the morning is always the worst time for Ryan. I'm glad they gave him the IV because I'm pretty sure his body really needed that extra fluid. He is feeling a little better right now, just tired and ready to feel normal. Nothing is confirmed on when we'll be heading home. I'll let you know if anything changes--until then, keep praying!

Heading the right direction...

Well, another long day, but I think we might be on the homestretch. The nausea subsided a bit throughout the day, although Ryan wasn't able to keep his breakfast (3 bites of a bagel) down for long. They did another CT scan, just to make sure there was nothing going on in his head, but everything looked clear. He ate a good dinner and they put him on an IV, just to make sure he is getting enough fluids. The nausea comes and goes, so hopefully it will 'go' for good very soon. He's been up walking around a few times today, so that is another good sign!

Things Gabe and I discovered today:
*a handful of 'puffball' mushrooms (we went to dot com and mushrooms to look them up ;)
*a rolled-up piece of tree bark
*two very dead and crispy leaves that somehow made an impression on him
*a June bug that couldn't fly (and was pretty quickly not able to walk either...crunch)
*purple daisies with a moth on them
*he also asked Dominga, a housekeeper here at the lodge, if she was 'tiny' (which she is...)

--If we had to choose a place to spend days at a time, why not here?? A 3-year old can't enough of pushing elevator buttons, filling cups up at the water cooler, getting hand sanitizer automatically dispensed into his hand, calling the front desk for a shuttle (which he does all by himself!), getting candy and pen lights from nurses, having thousands of rubber-glove-balloons at your fingertips..I could go on and on. Oh, to live with no cares...

Answered Prayer #1

Praise the Lord! Ryan woke up without any headaches this morning! That is a big relief. He didn't get much sleep last night though, because he is still pretty nauseous, so that is the next big prayer request. It is most likely his body getting used to the cerebral spinal fluid being drained into his gut. The medication they give him for nausea doesn't seem to work most of the time, which is frustrating. He is supposed to be up and walking around a lot today, but that is difficult when he feels like he could throw up at any moment. The doctor did say that hopefully Wednesday he would up to going home. I sure hope so!

Ready for a new week!

Well, I guess things are starting to look up, but I don't want to be premature on that one. Ryan is slowly feeling better, but then as soon as he has a couple of visitors or sits up for a bit he gets a headache and more nausea. Not fun! He ate some dinner and has been up walking a couple of times today, but he still doesn't really feel like doing much. Thanks, thanks and more thanks for all of the prayers that this is over with quickly! We can't wait to have him feeling better and get out of here.

Side note for me--Tori and I are getting out of here for a couple of hours tonight! We're going to go see a movie while George is still here to stay with Gabe. It will be so nice to sit and stare at a large screen for a couple of hours and not think about anything.

Well, I hope to have great news for you in the morning that Ryan is feeling much better! With God, ALL things are possible.

See Yesterday's Post

Yup. More of the same, although he hasn't even felt like eating today. The doctors are just saying to give it a couple of days. He had another CT scan this morning. Everything looks fine, so they think that maybe his brain just needs to get used to the different amount of pressure after the surgery. He's been up walking twice today, but not by choice...Just keep praying that things normalize soon!

The Never-Ending Day

Sigh. It has been a long one! From the time I finished the last post and headed to the ICU to see Ryan, I have just been sitting in his room while he slept. And slept. And then moved to his room on the 7th floor. And then slept. And slept. Woke up for half an hour to eat some dinner. Then back to sleep. Still sleeping. Sooo, I read the first few chapters of 1 Kings. Then I finally finished reading The Shack. Then I finished reading Outdoor magazine, which I actually really enjoyed. Then I fed Ryan his dinner. Then I found a Vogue magazine in the waiting room that I think I read last month when we were here. I have digressed from this morning, haha! To go from reading about Solomon to Sienna Miller...Hmmm. I would love to get outside and excercise some of my other senses!
George and Tori took Gabe out to Ryan's aunt's house, so he at least got to run around, swim awhile, and be out of the hospital. He's really doing great, though. He doesn't mind being here at all.
All in all, it is good for Ryan to be sleeping. Usually he has a hard time sleeping here and I know last night was really rough, so this rest has got to be good for him! He's not in as much pain and his nausea is on and off, so things are looking up. Now let's just pray he can sleep tonight and wake up feeling a lot more normal in the morning. I'll say good night for now...

No Pain, No Gain?

Good morning...sorry I didn't post anything else last night! The day was long but busy in ways. Ryan started feeling better yesterday as soon as they changed his pain medication. He was actually pretty chatty when he wasn't trying not to think about the pain. Unfortunately, it was kind of short lived! The stuff they switched him to made him very itchy, so they ended up having to go back to the morphine, which isn't doing much at all. Anyway, all that to say he is in lots of pain again this morning and could use your prayers!
I did finally get to speak with the surgeon last night, and he said that everything went as they had planned. Ryan's pain is mostly incisional and should be a lot better in the next couple of days. Hopefully we can get cleared to go home on Monday. We're heading over to see him right now, so I'll try to add more later on. Maybe we'll have some good news on his pain, but I don't know if there are any other options for him. Boo.

Mid-day Report

Sooo. It has been a very long day, but everything has gone well. It's just been lots of waiting. Waiting for them to take him to pre-op. Waiting for them to prep him. Waiting to hear how things went. Waiting to see him in the ICU. Yuck. Anyway, now Ryan is in the IMC, which is less critical than the ICU, and things are going well. He is getting a CT scan and x-ray right now to make sure everything is in place and working. He is in a lot of pain--he says it feels like they removed a rib and drilled into his brain. Not fun! Hopefully it doesn't last long. I haven't talked to his surgeon yet, so I don't have any official report on how things went, but so far, everything looks good. I'll update you when I know anything else. More waiting...

Don't be jealous. Too much fluid on your brain and you can have a shunt, too!

Well, Folks! Here's the latest, although it is kind of old news by now. I just haven't gotten the chance to post until now, when I should really be in bed. If you haven't heard, Ryan will be having surgery first thing in the morning. They will be placing a VP Shunt on his brain to drain the excess cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) that is building up there. His brain isn't absorbing the CSF like normal which has caused his ventricals to dilate and is what has been causing his symptoms. It is a permanent and programmable shunt, with a tube that goes from his brain down behind his ear, down his neck and chest and drains into his stomach, where it just heads into his guts (there was a cool technical term for those but I have forgotten it...'guts' sounds so 3rd grade!) and is taken care of. The surgery is pretty fast, fairly non-invasive, and he should feel better really quickly afterwards--bye-bye nausea and headaches! We might even get to head home in a day or two (best-case scenario)!
OK, so that will be all for tonight but I'm sure you'll see something on here tomorrow, just not sure of when. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers...we sure don't want to be here, but I can't wait for Ryan to start feeling better, so whatever it takes for that is welcome.
Until tomorrow then!

Back to NIH again!

Just wanted you to know I have to go to NIH again for some more testing. Unfortunately, I'm not feeling great. A few posts ago I said I was feeling better. Spoke too soon:) I'm having a lot of pressure and nausea and the docs want to make sure there are no leaks upstairs. Thanks for the prayers, let you know how it turns out tomorrow or even Friday.
Ryan

Can't stop laughing!

This whole time I have been posting this morning, Gabe has been trying to get me to go to some website that Ryan showed him involving helicopters. I told him he'd have to ask Daddy because I didn't know what website it was. Gabe told me: Go on dot com and go to helicopters and that will be it! Right? Hilarious.

Gabe, Abby and I baked cookies!

From the Mouths of 3-year-olds

We watched our little friend Abby this week, and it's been fun to see how she and Gabe interact. Here are some snippets of their conversations the last few days:

Abby: Your mom is funny.
Gabe: No she's not. We wrestle!

Abby: Baby Gabe, let's play in the toy room.
Gabe: I'm not Baby Gabe. Just Gabe.

Abby: Pink is my favorite color. I have a pink bowl.
Gabe: Orange. I like orange.
Abby: I like pink.
Gabe: I just like orange.

Gabe: (after reading to both of them the funny things they had said...) Could you do it again please, Mom? I need you to do it again when I just need you to do it again.

Gabe to me: Abby told me I wasn't her best friend anymore. Cuz that makes me sad and she told me to go away. sniff.

We're heading up to northern VA this afternoon for Ryan's grandpa's 80th birthday party. Part of the party is an air show and Gabe hasn't stopped talking about it since we told him we're going. Here's what Gabe told me over our cereal this morning: I wanna go see airplanes do tricks and touch one and jump up and try to touch one. And jump and run and jump and run and try to get one again. Are we ready to go yet?



On another note...Gabe spelled his name the other day! I asked him how it was spelled not expecting anything. He thought for a second then said G-A-B-E! I was kind of stunned. We say it all the time, but he's never just spelled it all by himself. I asked him again. This time he said G-A-B-E-S-I. Cute. The next time I asked he said S-B-G...You get the idea. Fluke? I don't really think so. You just can't push brilliance.

Ok, gotta finish packing.
Quick update on Ryan first...he has pretty frequent headaches, and is tired a lot, but he is recovering pretty well, all things considered.

a glimpse of Noah and Rachel's wedding

Trade Offs

Someone asked me if I was feeling better now since I've had surgery. There is so much pain that goes along with surgery, I had never really thought about feeling "better." However, I am feeling better:) I don't wake up nauseous any more. Going all day with a stomach like flu is not cool. I don't feel like that. So ya, I feel better. Along with surgery comes the side affects of just recovering. I could complain about that all day. I won't! I'd just like to tell whoever wants to know - I FEEL BETTER!!!
Gabe (about 30 min ago) was as hyper as I've ever seen him. We had so much fun. I had my Ipod playing on the counter and he was just dancing it up. I saved a small video on my cell phone if you want to see some of his action:) Halfway threw a song he runs to his toy room to jam on his miniature drum set (have the vid for that too). It was soo much fun being dad - and not being too sick to enjoy it. By the way, I just love playing, being dad.

43 staples!

Finally HOME!!! Oh Happy Day! I don't know what day it is, don't really care too much, but I'm finally home. Seriously, no idea what day it is. I walked into my bedroom and my bed gave me a great big hug. I was out like a light. Finally woke up and had an epiphany! I need to say thank you. Thank you all who have been calling and praying for Leigh and I (and Gabe). God has answered some serious prayers. It's still a long road ahead but at least I'm gaining speed...oh, maybe 10 mph. Again, THANK YOU!
In Christ,
Ryan, Leigh and Gabe

Almost too late, but Happy 4th!

Well, Ryan is feeling much better as of this afternoon. No more nausea and he's been up a few times walking and eating. Huge difference! We watched some fireworks from the 13th floor of the building here--some conference room in a remote part of the building that lots of nurses pointed us to. Another patient and her family went with us, so we had a big crowd, which was kind of fun. You could see dozens of different groups of fireworks, with downtown Bethesda being the closest and biggest to downtown Washington, DC, which were far away, but still awesome. I missed hearing and smelling them, but seeing them was better than nothing.

Also, Noah and Rachel stopped by tonight after getting in from their honeymoon. They had a blast but seem glad to be home. Ok, going to head back over to the hospital now, but good night and hope your 4th was fun!

He wants a new head--anybody have one laying around?

Soo. Nothing new, which is really getting old! Ryan is still pretty nauseous. They gave him a different drug this morning, so maybe-just maybe-this one will do the trick. So far nothing has helped, which means that he hasn't been able to get up at all (except for a CT scan last night which came back fine) and he still hasn't eaten anything. It's tough to even get him to take a sip of water right now, but I'm really pushing that because if he goes much longer he's going to need something more drastic.
I guess there's not much more to add right now...I am going to try to snag a nap while Gabe is out on the playground with my mom. Hopefully things will be looking up soon.

Night at the Farm

I'll take a quick break from surgery updates to add a picture...I miss that part of the blog but didn't bring my camera cord to load any pictures to the computer. Anyway, here is one from the night of Noah and Rachel's wedding. After a long busy day of setting up, celebrating, then taking down, everyone needed a break. Ryan's Aunt Jennifer made dinner for all of us stragglers who needed to unwind for a bit. Here is everyone who was left!

Nausea. Bleh.

I didn't even realize that I hadn't updated since we left the ICU yesterday. Sorry about that!
Ryan got into his room around 1pm yesterday and was finally able to get some good rest, so I just tried to keep things quiet around here. He ate a little bit of lunch and seemed to be feeling ok-just very tired. We had some afternoon visitors then Ryan started getting nauseous and it hasn't really gone away since. He's been able to sleep on and off, which helps him to not think about the nausea, but it has been constant and miserable for him. The doctor wants him to be up and walking around, but he doesn't want to throw up, so he hasn't even really sat up yet. PLEASE pray that this goes away quickly and is just a distant memory very soon. They think that because that was his main symptom before the surgery it is just exacerbated now.

On a happy note...my brother Mike drove up from base last night and will be hanging out with us through the weekend. We were hoping to be spending the 4th out on the boat at the lake, but as long as we're together with family, we'll come up with something fun. We'll probably catch the Metro into DC to watch the fireworks there. It seems very strange, though, to think about being one of the tens of thousands of people in one place out there on such a big holiday. Maybe we'll just see if there is anything going on in downtown Bethesda...?

Another little side note...Gabe is having a blast here! He has been helping my mom take care of all of the flowers at the family lodge where we stay. They've been walking all around the grounds dead-heading the marigolds that have suffered since their watering system went out. He has become very proficient with scissors (thanks, Grandma Jane!) and they go in and out filling up pitchers of water to dump on the poor flowers. Our friend Christie was thoroughly enjoyed by Gabe yesterday, as well. She threw the ball and blew bubbles with him for a long time. We were walking over to the hospital to say good night to Ryan last night, when Gabe spied a little girl his size walking with her dad. His eyes lit up and he got very excited. He grabbed me and asked if we 'could go see that man's girl?' Next thing you know, he had caught up with her, asked her her name, and she was sharing her walnuts with him. Talk about being able to handle any environment...The nurses here are all very impressed with how good he is, too. He invited one down to the playground yesterday. She declined, but gave him her flashlight so that he could check Daddy's pupils. Gabe has been great with Ryan, too. I'll figure out a way to post a picture I got of him and Ryan snuggling in bed. Maybe I'll get to that one later...
Ok, please keep praying--Ryan hates feeling so gross and we hate to see him feeling so that way. Hopefully we'll have a better update later!

ICU. Blah.

Ryan is in an MRI right now...when we get the results that everything looks fine, they'll be moving him up to a normal room. Hopefully then he can get some good sleep. He only got catnaps last night, and that is not good for recovery! He really looks good, though. His catheter is out (which makes EVERYONE happy), he has about 15 less wires to tangle up in, the little suction cups are off his chest, he got a sponge bath, we brushed his teeth and shaved him...Life is good. Oh, and he still has a little button to push every time his pain gets bad--who wouldn't be happy with that?
I'm gonna run up and make myself a little normal now, then head back over to be there when he gets out of the ICU. It looks like they want us here through the weekend, so now we'll just get on a routine of hanging out in the room, entertaining Gabe, and enjoying visits from friends in the area. We appreciate your comments, emails and phone calls! Even when Ryan isn't up to talking, he still likes knowing people are thinking of him. Thanks!
'til later.

My interpretations of the doctor's rundown:

Sooo. Ryan is in the ICU now. He's had his post-op CT scan already and is just working on waking up now. He gave Gabe and I a half-smile and tried to flex his muscles for me, so he's coming around.
The doctor gave us a long explanation of the surgery and I'll try to recap it for you...The tumor was less than an inch long, the cyst around it was maybe 1 by 2 inches. They drained the cyst, removed the tumor, and then detettered his dura. Yup, that's what he said. Detettered! I guess there was some inflamed tissue around where they had cut through his dura before (the dura is under the skin and is a thin sack that holds your cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) in around your brain). So they removed some of the scar tissue and then placed a patch of synthetic dura over the section that they keep going through. This will give him more room for his CSF to move around--I guess it had been building up on the outside of his dura and placing pressure on his brain stem from there. That might have been what was causing his nausea, too. Maybe not even the tumor! Anyway, not sure how much of that made sense, but it is a good thing for future surgeries and we are still hopeful that there will be no more in the near future.
So now I'm going to take Gabe up for a nap and then we'll be back over to the ICU later. All for now...

Already done...

WOW! We couldn't ask for any better report! I went with Ryan down to pre-op at about 8 this morning. George, Tori and Gabe got there in time to kiss him goodbye before they took him back. Then we got a call in the waiting room at 9:15 to let us know they had started the surgery. Gabe and I came over to our room so that I could brush my teeth, and by the time we were ready to head back over, we got the call that they are already done with surgery! One hour later. Crazy! He'll be heading up to the ICU in an hour or so and we can see him soon after that. Everyone's prayers have sure paid off. Hopefully this means he'll be recovering extra quickly and we can be back home soon. Until later.

Let's get this party started!

Ready or not, here we go. After some yummy Korean food for lunch, we'll be heading up to NIH to get Ryan checked in. George and Tori will stay up there with us tonight and surgery will be first thing tomorrow morning. Not sure how long it is supposed to last, but I guess we'll update when we get that info. My mom is flying in tomorrow afternoon-she is always a great help and support. We are ready to get this one over with and still appreciate all the prayers we can get for a successful surgery and fast recovery.
I'll try to post some of Noah and Rachel's wedding pictures this week-it was beautiful!
Until later!

Love ya, mean it:)

Hello all! I don't have much time to write, I just wanted to let you know that we have a firm date for surgery. It will be Wednesday 6/31. Thank your for all the support and prayer.
Ryan & Leigh

Ok, Now we Know!

I'm going to Noah's wedding. I'm still the best man after all. However, I'll still have to have surgery sometime in the next two weeks. Thanks, for all the thoughts and prayers.
Love ya, mean it!
Ryan

AAHHHHHH, hospital food:)

Well, here we sit. Definitely been here before. Hurry up and wait, that is the motto at NIH. We got into our hotel at 2:30a last night (or morning) and arrived at NIH at about 7:00a today. My surgeon wanted me here ASAP but upon arrival the MRI machines had a back log of people. Fourteen hours of waiting (and a very long night of driving) and the MRI is now done. Now, we are just awaiting the verdict. Is surgery going to be tomorrow or next week after Noah's wedding? You'll know, when we know:)
If all of you would, please pray for Leigh, and my family. Everyone is fatigued and stressed. Noah's wedding is on Saturday and we don't know if his best homey is going to even be there. (sorry man!) And if I have failed to mention it, we don't know anything yet (there was frustration in that sentence). Love you all,
Ryan & Leigh
PS This has all happened pretty quickly. We didn't know we would be coming up here at this time. My surgeon is adamant about making sure no complications arise by waiting for any more symptoms to develop.

The tip of May's iceberg of pictures...

Some random photos from the past few weeks...
1. Gabe and I making his birthday cake.
2. I love these clouds that were so randomly hanging out over the lake.
3. Gabe's best birthday surprise was a helicopter landing at the hospital during the open house at Ryan's office. We could see it from the front porch, but that wasn't good enough--D took him across the street and right up to the helicopter! Gabe was in heaven.
4. Ryan and I before the Pigg River Ramble.
5. Gabe enjoying his first cotton candy at the Strawberry Festival.

Too Much to Cram Into One Post

I suppose the major news right now is Ryan's latest check-up at NIH. We were up in the nothern half of the state last Wednesday through Sunday. It was a looong, but fun weekend. The results weren't that exciting, either, so good thing we had lots of fun things scheduled to make the rest of our trip happy. Yup, more surgery in store for Ryan. Last September, his surgeon had planned to remove a tumor on the left side of his cerebellum and take a look at a tumor on his brain stem while he was in there. When he got inside Ryan's head, he found the tumor on the brain stem and was able to remove that, but decided to leave the other tumor there (it was in a difficult location). He drained the fluid from the cyst around that tumor, but didn't take it out, hoping that it would not fill back up with fluid and might just hang out there for awhile. Welll, you know what happened--the cyst filled back up and will need to be remove at some point. He said just to come back in six months unless Ryan starts to feel the symptoms from it before that. It's possible the headaches won't start for a few months, but Ryan kind of thinks it will be before then. Please be praying! None of us are looking forward to another surgery, and we all believe that God is more than capable of doing a miracle here.

Well, I am ready for bed, but I'll try to post a few pictures first. We've had a lot going on! I'll put together a slideshow from our trip to Colorado and put that up here soon, too.

Time to Get off The Crazy Train!!! or Plane!!!

Wow!!! Where to start! Leigh, Gabe and I went out to Denver these last few days. I'm finally back! Leigh and Gabe will be back Friday. However, I don't know if I've recovered from my flight! On Monday morning (yes thats Memorial Day) I woke up at 3:45a to leave for the airport. I arrived at the airport at 5a thinking everything was going smoothly (so much for thinking). I boarded the plane around 5:30a and thought "this is great, I'm going to have a great flight!" At about 6a, as we were about to take off from the tarmac, the proverbial you-know-what hit the fan. The captain comes over the speaker and apologizes because we have to head back to the terminal. He says something to the effect that there is a passenger who is having difficulty?! When we arrive a "gentleman" (looking very official) boards the plane and begins having a discussion with the front lavatory. Turns out we're here for a while. The man in front of me leans his seat all the way back and on que the 6 month old baby behind me begins to scream very loudly. It was fine, only lasted for an hour. In a nut shell, the official looking gentleman was actually talking a very sick passenger out of the lavatory and off the plane. Then comes the "not-very-official" cleaning crew with gloves and masks (looking none to happy about the clean up call) to clean up the mess. We were up in the air at about 7:10a. It was a 3 1/2 hour flight, all in all, it went smoothly. I made my connection at Dulles and arrived in Greensboro at 1:45p. I gather my luggage and head outside to meet my bro who was picking me up. I give him a quick ring and find out he is ONLY behind schedule by an hour and fifteen. SO, I head back inside to relax in one of the "extremely" affordable restaurants. Upon my arrival, I suddenly remember my luggage. Yep, I left it back outside with my other brothers wedding suit in it...OOPS! It was fine though, two cops were guarding it for me when I got out there. Fine men in blue! Now, it's bachelor time for me until my honey returns home. Sorry this episode was so long. I still need to update everyone on the Bolder Boulder run Leigh did.

From the Standpoint Of...

I feel I must give an explanation. At NIH there is a rather "annoying" anesthesiologist. I say annoying - that puts it mildly - "SHE MADE MY WIFE CRY!!!" Leigh just doesn't normally cry. This crazy woman actually brought her to tears. And, one of THE most annoying things ever, she would start off each (seriously, each) sentence with "From the standpoint of." Try sitting through forty five minutes of that! You must realize I am required to see the chief anesthesiologist EVERY time I have surgery at NIH. That is at least six times in the last four years. So, now Leigh and I like to use that line every now and again just to be funny. We however thought it appropriate to name our blog "From the Standpoint of..." to describe the life and times of Us - The Lesters.

6 Days 'Til Gabe is 3!

Yawn. 8:14 pm and I am beat! The morning started off with my alarm at 5:20. I rubbed my bleary eyes and went downstairs for an English muffin and some coffee to load me up for a nice morning run. By 6:05, I was on the road with a lady from church who invited me to run with her. One hour, 4 min. and 6.5 miles later, I was back on the road to change my clothes, rinse the sweat off my face and head over to Waid Park, where Ryan and I were helping register folks for the Pigg River Ramble. Not sure why registration started at 7:30 when the canoe race didn't start until 10:45, but it was fun chatting with everyone and getting involved. It poured down rain at one point which was kind of discouraging, but it cleared up pretty quick.

Our canoe launched at 11:14 and 2 hours later plus a dump at The Ledge and one other spill (both my fault--I am NOT a great canoer!) we finished at Lynch Park. We have sore necks and shoulders and backs (and I learned many a life lesson on leading (I'm not great at it)/following (not great at that, either)/trying to navigate only to find out Ryan was steering from the back (kinda made me mad)/and even if we passed Bryan & 4-year-old Andrew AND Ray and 8-year-old Jake, we still didn't really win anything. Hmmm. But we did pass them.

Enough about today...
This next week is going to be here and gone before I can take a breath! Ryan has an open house at his office on Thursday, Gabe's birthday is Friday, and we leave for Colorado on Saturday, so I want time to speed up and slow down all at once. I can't wait to see my family, but I am really excited about Gabe's birthday simply because he is so excited to be 3. Here is how a conversation with him goes these days:

Anyone: How old are you?
Gabe: I'm two. My birthday is May 15th. Then I'll be 3! I'm going to have cupcakes. Then, the day after my birthday, we're going to fly {he cups his hand into a tiny plane shape and zooms it through the air} to Grandpa Dave's house. On a big, big plane. And we're going to go very, very fast!

We are all very excited to go, but not before we eat cupcakes!

Other things to get excited about...
-Sleeping with the windows open.
-Spring thunderstorms.
-Getting on a workout routine again.
-Running the BolderBoulder with my brothers and sister-in-law.
-Mestizo's CD release party the day we get to CO.
-My hammock.

Belated Congrats

I don't know where the days have gone, but tomorrow will be one week since Noah proposed to Rachel. We got to be there for the big event. She said yes, of course! And we had a great weekend hanging out with everyone in northern VA. It will be fun having a sister-in-law on this side of the country!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Who knows if they'll fit me, but thanks to my favorite brother in the whole wide world, I had money to spend at Anthropologie (my favorite store, remember?). This pair of really cool checked pants with the snazzy buttons is my much debated-over purchase. Thanks, Mike!

"I'm a speed-racer!"

Gabe has been talking about his race for a week now! He had so much fun at the Chug For the Jug last Saturday. There was a Kid's Fun Race to kick things off, and Gabe was the youngest to run. All of the kids ran up the street in downtown Rocky Mount. Gabe got halfway there with Ryan running along the sidewalk next to him, when he bit the dust. It looked like a bad fall from where we were standing at the start/finish line, and Ryan ran over to him to pick him up. They chatted for a second, then Gabe took off and started running again! Everyone clapped and cheered for him. He got last place, but definitely earned the title of Speed Racer, like he has been telling anyone who will listen.
He got to do the 4-mile walk in the jogging stroller after that. Ryan pushed him and Noah, George, Tori and Rachel all speed-walked through town together. Ryan and Gabe came in fourth out of all the walkers! Jon and I ran the 4 miles together. We had fun and Jon did a great job. He and I had run the course earlier in the week and it was quite a switch for Jon because he had only ever run on the treadmill. The hills added a challenge, but he really did well in the race. He even let me cross the finish line 2/10ths of a second in front of him!
Here is some proof that we all finished...

"We go bowling because we just go bowling!" -Gabe

We needed to get some practice in for the last two weeks of our bowling league...George, Rachel, and Noah were there, too, but I wasn't too thorough in my picture-taking. Gabe had to stretch out before his game, mostly because all of the guys were busy stretching out their 4-mile walk induced sore muscles.

More From Easter...

The previous post started malfunctioning on me before I could add these last three pics from Easter. We had a great time up at the farm. We got to see a lot of family, eat tons of great food and enjoy a nice hike down to the creek. Gabe got a kick out of seeing Alice ride her horse through the water (he didn't want it to get too close, though!). Here is a photo of the Easter crowd, a family picture, and the one of Gabe in the hat has gone down as my favorite picture of him to date. He really wanted to be a cowboy in that moment!

Easter In Pictures

Gabe's 1st of 3 Easter Egg hunts...It was hilarious to see how excited he was! He was almost shaking when they said "Go!" They didn't even put candy in the eggs, but he still had fun opening them all up. And we got a doughnut afterwards, so can you beat that?? This one was put on by Trinity Mission Health and Rehab Center, so there were a lot of elderly people watching all of the kids. Gabe and I want to go back and check out the fish tanks and visit with some of the folks living there. He really loves having conversations with people, no matter what their age, so I think a lot of people would get a kick out of chatting with him.


Hunt #2 was at the library during Story Hour. Miss Joyce made Jellybean Soup and Gabe found a bunch more eggs. These actually had candy in them...


We saved the best for last...there were 15,000 eggs scattered throughout Waid Park and Gabe snagged his fair share of them. He had so much fun opening them all up and dumping out the stickers, tattoos, erasers, bracelets and candies. They kept him busy for a couple of days afterward. We ran into some buddies there, too!