At Last

We are Home. Finally! We got back last night and I have been trying to get back to normal ever since. We had our kitchen floor replaced while we were gone, so I am dealing with dust from tearing up the tile and items that don't have a home until the pantry has its shelves back AS WELL AS the general chaos that is returning from a two and a half week long vacation. Or trip away from home. Not quite vacation.

Anyway! It is great to be home. As soon as we arrived Ryan jumped (slowly and gingerly) right into our most comfy bed. Griffin was so excited to be back in his crib that he crawled from one end to the other standing up at each end and then excitedly bouncing back to his knees. Gabe kept repeating how happy he was to be home. And I--well I feel like I have a mountain of things to take care of and get done, but that is pretty much just life! The pile of mail (that is still at the post office) and the piles of laundry (that are mostly folded and unpacked) don't really matter as long as we are all home together and feeling relatively good!

Thanks again for everyone's prayers, thoughts, phone calls, texts, emails, food, and visits. All of you have helped us get through this one more time. We are praying it is the last!

Getting Out!

Ready or not, Ryan, we are getting out of here! Just going down to get the CT scan took a lot out of him, so the ride to his uncle's house is going to be pretty rough, but it will be so nice to be out of the hospital. It is still hard to say when we will head home, but this is the first step. (Oh, and we haven't gotten the results from the scan yet, but they haven't halted the discharge process so we will assume everything is fine there)

My mom is heading back to Colorado this afternoon, so the handy iPad that I am currently using for updates will be going with her. I might not be able to update the blog for a few days unless I do it from Ryan's phone, which would mean a short post to say we are heading home! Until then!

Well, we certainly haven't let Ryan having surgery prevent us from eating well! From Chipotle to The Cheesecake Factory to P.F.Changs to Maggiano's Little Italy, we are enjoying our favorite restaurants that are inaccessible to us in Rocky Mount. And Ryan has been able to enjoy them too, at least a little bit. He doesn't have much of an appetite yet but he is at least able to eat.

He walked pretty far this morning, pushing Gabe in a wheelchair. He looks really good and seems to be feeling better and better all the time. His headaches are fewer and farther in between and the nausea comes pretty often but is controlled quickly with medication. His hearing hasn't really improved it seems to fluctuate some. He said he doesn't feel up to the trip home yet (not that they have released him yet either) but I am hoping that the next couple of days will bring some major changes!

Griffin just woke up from his nap, so we will head back over to Ryan. He says hello to everyone reading and thanks for the prayers. This has been a tough surgery/recovery but we will get through it through Christ who is our strength!

Good afternoon from Bethesda, MD! Things are going well here today. Ryan walked the hallway this morning and says he is feeling better every day, even if it is small increments. We talked to his doc this morning and he said everything Ryan feels is to be expected. It is just going to be a slow recovery this time. They want to give him a couple more days here, so he will get a CT scan on Tuesday and if everything looks normal than we will talk about heading home. Once there, it sounds like it will be quite awhile of taking it easy, really doing as little as possible.

Ok, I have a very unhappy Griffin here so that is all for now! Thanks for the continued prayers and support. They are helping to get us out of here!

I am so sorry for not being more consistent with my updates, but things have really been chaotic the last couple of days. Nothing bad, just tough juggling both kiddos who need me and Ryan who needs me most. Normally I would be able to update from his room where things are quiet and not much is going on, but the computer there hasn't been fixed yet and I have hardly had two free minutes otherwise to sit and write. Griffin is getting a tooth, which has made my nights very rough, on top of him crying every time he sees me because he is not used to not being with me every waking minute. My mom and Tori have been lifesavers, as usual, but at the end of the day, both boys just want Mommy, and Ryan just wants me. I am honored, but it is hard!

As for Ryan, he is getting better, it is just very slow. He was up once this morning, which is great, but his energy is so low and his headaches and nausea are still consistent enough that it is tough to want to get out of bed. Gabe was a big encouragement to Ryan yesterday--he layed in bed with him for a long time and told him stories and made him smile. Gabe was very excited to help 'take care of Daddy' by turning his fan on or off, the lights on or off, getting him a drink and sharing his pretzels with him. He wanted to sleep over with Ryan to take care of him in the night, but he got a better offer...he went to a friend's house close by for a slumber party tonight! I think it will be good for him to have some kid time and be away for a bit.

Well, I am going to head back over to Ryan now. We've had lots of visitors today and my brother just arrived from NC, so things are just settling down again.

Quick update...Ryan walked up and down the hall today! More later, but wanted to get that out there. Praise God!

Sorry for the long day with no updates, but it has been just that--another long day without much to update. Ryan is still in a lot of pain (still the headaches they say are caused by the air in there) and he hasn't been up at all today except for two times in his room. He is pretty groggy from all of the medications he is on, so adding loopiness to tiredness and pain makes him pretty miserable. The doctors conferred this evening and decided to back off of some medications to try to get his body a little more normal on its own and to reduce the loopiness. Hopefully he can get a good night's sleep tonight, because they also agree that his lack of good sleep over the past few days can definitely be a contributor to his lack of energy and desire to get up.

Sorry if I just kind of spewed that out there, but I haven't seen him in a couple of hours and I am anxious to get back over to the hospital. The computer in his room is down so that is why I haven't been on to update all day. Ok, hopefully I'll have some good news tomorrow! God is still good!

Yay! Ryan has been able to stand up three times this afternoon! Walking down the hall is the next accomplishment, but for today, standing up is great. He is off of the IV fluid, so trying to get water and food in him is another difficult task, but the threat of having to go back on an IV is enough to get him to take a couple of bites. His dinner just arrived, so let me get to work!

Nothing new to report this morning...Ryan does not want to move, but it is important for him to start getting up today. The pain is still pretty intense, though. We are still praying for fast and complete recovery!

I just said good night to Ryan. His pain is still the same except for the few minutes right after he gets a dose of pain medication. His knees are a lot better but his hearing is still not great and he has had a fever on and off this afternoon. We are praying tomorrow is a lot better for him--that he can sit up and start moving around without so much pain!

Things are holding steady for Ryan this afternoon. He was moved from the ICU into his room this morning. He is still in a lot of pain due to air stuck in his head from the surgery (no jokes please ;). Hopefully it should dissipate in the next day or two, but for now, the drugs they give him don't really touch that kind of pain. He is not moving around at all because it exacerbates the headaches. Some more things to pray for are his knees--they are hurting him because of how he was postitioned during the 10 hour surgery. We are hopeful that his hearing will completely return, but for now he is not hearing well out of his right ear. One last thing is that Gabe is coming down with a cold and it is hard to tell him that he shouldn't be around Ryan! Please pray for health for all of us and that Ryan's pain is under control soon.

Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers. All in all, things are going well!

Hard Night

Your prayers for Ryan's comfort are most appreciated right now...Tori spent the night in the ICU with him and it was a long one! He is in much more pain than normal, which they did say to expect, and he is pretty nauseous. They did another CT scan just to be certain everything looked good still, and now they are going to take him up to his room on the 7th floor. It will be nice to be out of the ICU but I am sure it will be awhile before Ryan is comfortable. I will update more later...

Now For the Recovery

It is 8:40pm and Ryan is in the ICU for the night. This first night is usually pretty miserable for him while he is still attached to all of the monitors and iv"s and the tights and the catheter. He is in a lot of pain still, which they said is to be expected because they had to cut through a lot of muscle.
The surgery took a long time, but was successful, thanks to all of the prayers and some great doctors. They are pretty confident that the nerves around the tumor are undamaged and should go back to normal soon. Time will tell in the next few days whether Ryan will be dealing with nausea and balance issues while he heals as those were his symptoms with the location of this tumor.

We are all tired but hanging in there. My mom flew out for the surgery, Ryan's parents are here, his brothers and sister-in-law have been here, and the kiddos are along for the ride. Gabe got to say goodnight to Ryan a few minutes ago--He just held his daddy's hand and kissed his fingers and told him he loved him. Very sweet! He can't wait to check out the playroom here tomorrow!

Ok, duty calls. I need to find the nurse!

Ryan is out of surgery and all is well. will post more soon but lots of phone calls to make! praise God!

Getting There

We just got word from the operating room that it will still be 2-4 more hours. It is 2:15 now so that puts us into this evening. I guess it took a long time to get through all of the scar tissue and deep in to the cerebellum where the tumor is. They said he is doing well and the operation is going well, so that is good. It is just a tough wait!Keep praying...

Time For Some Updates

It has been so long since any family updates that I hate to start the blog back up with surgery news instead of fun news. It can't be helped, though, so I will just have to promise some fun stuff mixed in with the tough stuff.

It is about 10am here in Bethesda, MD, and we got word half an hour ago that they have begun surgery on Ryan. The tumor is on the right side of his cerebellum and the cyst around it is pressing on four major nerves that control facial muscles, hearing and balance. This explains his symptoms of dizziness, lightheadedness and nausea. The surgery will be tough because of how far back in the cerebellum the tumor is and the delicate nature of the nerves surrounding it.

We so appreciate all the prayers, thoughts and messages coming our way. God is good and we are expecting another successful surgery here at NIH. Gabe and Griffin are holding up well--they are eating up all of the attention that they are getting!

I will plan to update when we know he is out of surgery. Be blessed!