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!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, July 3, 2009
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!
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!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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...
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.
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