Day 1 - Post Surgery

Hi all!

I thought I would include a few pictures for your entertainment -- I hope no one has too weak of a stomach (sorry, Sheila)! The first picture is of the incision. I would guess that Jim has about 15 staples this time ... not as many as last time, but plenty to win the sympathy vote. The second picture shows him smiling. He just had his respirator removed, and he was very happy. As you can all see, he's got some drooping on the right side of his face. This is due to the swelling going on in his brain and is most likely temporary. The good thing is that he is able to move all of his extremeties. By the end of the day, his drooping was already looking a little better. His vision is blurry, more so in some areas than others, but they expect that to improve also. I apologize for the last picture! I was trying to get a nice one with the kids, and funny boy just had to give the traditional Reynolds salute. I was going to leave it off the blog, but the kids outvoted me. They are just happy to see their dad behaving like his usual self ... inappropriate!

Today was a much better day for us, but a more miserable one for Jim. I think he liked being unconscious better than awake. At first he was a very happy boy because they took out the respirator. When I arrived, he was wide awake and kept trying to communicate with me by writing letters on the palm of my hand. We were getting pretty good at it. The first thing he wrote was 'kids'. They were still sleeping when I went over, so he wanted to know how they were doing. Next he wrote out "email". He has loved having me keep him up-to-date on messages that are being sent. I read a few to him from my blackberry, but then he got emotional and started crying. He finally got around to writing "love you" -- took him long enough! He was very sweet and apologetic about being such a bother. He was also very concerned about how I and the kids were holding up and whether everyone was being contacted. I told him that the networking was keeping everyone informed and that I was doing my best to give as much detail as possible on the blog (probably more than some of you want -- sorry, Sheila!). He even sent me back to the hotel to take an afternoon nap. Darling Jenna covered for me. Jim said that she's a better nurse than me and wants her to switch her major from teaching to nursing, as they tend to make more money. I don't think he has her convinced!

He was sleeping soundly when I came back after my much needed nap. Unfortunately, he woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was quite ornery the rest of the day. You can't really blame the guy, but I'm hoping he wakes up a little happier tomorrow. He's in quite a bit of pain and is having a hard time getting comfortable. He's not as worried about being a bother now and is keeping his nurses hopping with his requests for frequent position changes and more drugs. They are doing their best but can't do too much for him. It's just going to take time for the healing to progress. He is still vomiting, but we hope that will also get better as the swelling improves. He may get to try eating tomorrow, if he can pass his swallowing evaluation. They are being extra
conservative with him, because they don't want him to aspirate and have to worry about pneumonia issues. I think the surgery diet plan is going to work!

Dr. Spetzler came in this evening. He seemed satisfied with Jim's progress and told him that there is an explanation for why he feels so crummy and that they are trying to fix that. He will be gone next week for classes in Europe, but he will be monitoring how the pipeline stent operation goes for the man who is having it done on Monday (remember to pray for this gentleman!). He is hopeful that the pipeline will be an option for Jim. If things don't go well for this man, then he plans to go ahead with the bypass and clip for Jim and to operate on him the following week. Although I prefer the pipeline option, if we have to do the bypass surgery, I am glad that we will be able to move ahead and get the next operation done right away. If the decision is made to try the pipeline, we have no idea how long the approval process will take or if we will even be able to get it. So, we are back to patience, patience, patience! Everything is in God's hands.

All in all, it was a positive day. Jim seems to be healing and showing forward progress more quickly than last time. This is helping to boost our confidence. Crabby boy doesn't feel as confident right now, but I'm hoping that it also temporary. He promised to not give up just before I left him for the night. I pray that he can get comfortable enough for a good night's sleep. I'm hoping for one of those too! I apologize for the lateness of this entry, but Jimmy was a little needy tonight, and Jenna and I had to stay with him a little longer than planned. Please remember Jim in your bedtime prayers, or your morning ones if you weren't able to stay up this late!

Love and blessings to you all ... thanks for staying with us on this journey!

Kris

Surgery Day - Thrombosis Removal

Well world, he made it!

And surgery only took 7 hours this time. It was a much better day having the kids all with me. Here is a picture of them with their Daddy before going into surgery. Jim was in rare form this morning... Remember that I told you that he was pretty groggy last night, well he wasn't this morning! He had all sorts of stuff to tell us about what was going through his head from the night before. I thought I would share some of them with you as I think we could all use a chuckle right now. Here goes ...

First of all, Jim has been giving Carrie Hill a bad time over the years about a red dress that she wore at New Year's about 10 years ago. He told me that he could have sworn that the nurse was wearing that red dress last night. When I told Carrie, she decided that it was time to wiggle back into that dress one more time just for Jimmy when he gets home. He'll definitely hold you to it, Carrie! Next, he moved on to the McStott family. He remembers little Mikey McStott (I'm sure he was thinking of the 7th grade golf team picture) playing ping pong, and Jim was coaching him. Then he said that Dave McStott came in with a bunch of iron to fix his brain (Dave is an ironworker and has built the most wonderful deck and recently a dock, among other fabulous things). We all know that Super Dave can fix just about anything, but this may have been a stretch, even for him. He also asked the doctor to fix his voice last night because he really wants to be a rock star. He told the very young intern, Dr. Wilson, that he would usually ask for a penile implant, but that he decided he wanted to be a singer more. I told them both that I thought that I should get a vote on that matter! The poor doctor just blushed and smiled politely. Jim said that he's been getting a lot of those polite smiles while he's been trying to entertain the hospital staff. He also has decided that if he can't play in the NBA (one of his post recovery goals) that he might write a musical when he recovers. He thought he could set his whole experience to song and dance. He's trying to figure out how to get "Lorelei" into the score for Lori Money -- he's thinking that maybe he can name a nurse that! When the nurses asked him the standard questions of what day it was etc., he answered that the Vice President was Fitzgerald (from the Cardinals) -- he said that he wanted to make sure that everyone knew he was a Cardinals fan before going under the knife! Just before surgery, he asked the surgery team if it would be possible to bring a souvenir cup of whatever they remove from his brain home with him. He thought it would be a good conversation piece. He received more polite smiles. Obviously, he was in good spirits, which helped to set the kids and me at ease ... until we had to kiss him good-bye and the tears started rolling down his cheeks. I can't imagine a tougher fairwell than that.

The waiting room lady took pity on us as she knew we were in for a very long day, so we were given a special conference room to ourselves so that we could sleep -- or at least try. It was very much appreciated. The day was extremely long again but a lot more comfortable. Waiting was not easy, but I also figured that no news was good news.

Here we go with the details of the day. As I said, he made it! Dr. Spetzler was able to remove quite a bit of the thrombosis (clotting), but then Jimmy started to bleed. They had to stuff the area with cotton, which unfortunately will remain in the body and just form scar tissue around (Carrie says that truly makes him a cotton head now!). Therefore, they're not sure how much they were actually able to relieve from the pressure on the brain stem. Only time will tell whether his symptoms improve or not. That was disappointing news, but we knew of the risks and are just glad that he seems to have made it through so far without further apparent damage. We will be optimistic for now that he may feel a little better after he heals up. Either way, this was just designed to buy us some time and to try to make him more comfortable, not to permanently fix anything. Dr. Spetzler, along with Dr. Fiorella, still thinks that the pipeline I discussed yesterday seems to be the best option for Jim. So, we will wait to see the outcome of the patient who is having the pipeline surgery on Monday (please pray for this man), and then start the approval process, if all goes well. There is no guarantee that we will get approval through the FDA, but the success of this man will certainly help our case. If this man's surgery goes well, and we still can't get FDA approval, we would have to consider the option of trying to get it done in Buenos Aires, where they have been doing this same procedure and there's not as much red tape. Not my first choice, but a bridge we will consider crossing if necessary. The next option is to go ahead and revert back to the clip and bypass idea. Dr. Spetzler has decided that he would go back in on the right side and use a larger artery from his arm to create the bypass. He would hope that the larger artery would feed enough blood supply to the brain stem area to allow them to place a full clip below the aneurysm. His first choice is still the pipeline as it is less invasive and would leave the bypass option available as one more future option. We have to hope and pray that Dr. Fiorella can work his magic with the politics and get the approval through in a timely manner. So, it looks like we'll be having another trip back to Phoenix very soon.

We got to go see Jim when they moved him back to ICU this evening. He was sedated, so we did not get any response from him, although the nurse told us that he could probably hear us. They have him restrained, which is probably a good idea as he is on a respirator and has a history of pulling out tubes -- that saves me about $500 a pop! So far, he does not have any drains coming out of his head or his spine, which was a possibility. They are doing another CT angio on him tonight to take a look at things. He is responding when the nurses pull him out of sedation -- he follows them with his eyes and can move his hands and feet on command. He also shakes his head, which tells them that he doesn't like being awake right now. I am glad that he seems comfortable, but I will naturally feel better when we can see more responsiveness ourselves -- maybe tomorrow or the next day. The kids would sure appreciate having him more awake before they leave on Sunday, and we would all love to hear more of his stupid jokes. I could even tolerate arguing with him about his catheter some more. We are all learning great patience!

All in all, it wasn't a great day, but we are SO thankful that Jim survived another surgery. We will continue to test our patience as we await the next step and also help him through this recovery. Please pray for his safe healing as there is still the opportunity for lots of things to go wrong, but each passing day is a step in the right direction. Jim was born with a really stinky arterial system, but he continues to beat the odds, and we are so thankful to have him a part of our lives. We will continue to take any and all measures to keep him around for as long as we can -- we hope God has the same plan in mind.

The love we have received from everyone has been overwhelming and extremely humbling. I don't know what to say except that we are thankful and love you all back! I know I sound like a broken record, but please continue keeping our whole family in your prayers. This is very difficult for all of us, but our love and God will get us through.

Love and God bless!!
Krissy

Balloon Angio Test

Me again... finally!

Whew... what a long day. We arrived at the hospital at 7:00am, and Jim didn't go in for his balloon angiogram until almost 4:00pm. Here's my Jimmy before his big test. Can you see how patient he looks? It was a very long day that turned out to be very disappointing.

We were so hopeful that things would be a little easier this time around, but no such luck. Jimmy failed his balloon angiogram pretty much right away. The doctor said that he flailed around for a couple of seconds and then went comatose immediately. Therefore, all options of clipping or coiling have flown out the window.

Dr. Fiorella came out and got me right away to go to his office. Fortunately, Michael had just arrived, so he was able to be part of the discussion. He showed us a "pipeline", which is a new device that is basically a mesh stent. It is being used on a trial basis and is awaiting approval by the FDA in a couple more years. He has been having some remarkable results and thinks Jim might be a candidate for early usage. It's a very long and complicated story, but I'm thinking that maybe this was God's plan all along. This would allow Jim to be one for the record books, and you all know how much he would hate that (ha-ha)! We'll never be able to shut him up!

Anyway, I digress. Here is how the plans have changed. Jim is still scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning at 7:30am. They have canned the bypass and clip idea and now plan to manually remove part of the thrombosis to relieve some of the pressure from his brain stem. This will, hopefully, alleviate some of his symptoms and allow him to feel better once he recovers. They will be entering from the right side of his head, below his ear, and work their way around his cranium to access the aneurysm. This is pretty risky, which is the reason that they were trying to avoid going this route, but if successful, it will have the quickest positive results. Stroke and paralysis are the greatest risks, but Dr. Spetzler will be as careful as he can and remove only as much as he feels is 'safe'. I'm assuming that his recovery will take quite awhile again as it is open surgery, so I'll probably still be here for some time.

There is a patient who is fairly similar to Jim. He is having the experimental pipeline put in on Monday, so if he does well, then we will start the process of getting approval for Jim to have the same. The great results from this pipeline have been that the thrombosis has disappeared for these patients in a period of a few weeks to six months. There are no long term results as yet, but we have to go with it, if it becomes available to us. If this patient on Monday doesn't do well, then we will just have to settle for what Dr. Spetzler is able to remove manually and hope that it doesn't get worse again too fast. Jim's strikes against him are that his basilar artery is too large for the pipeline in some places, so Dr. Fiorella will only be able to do a portion of it. Also, what he plans to do is quite a bit longer than he has done before, and Jim has lots of bends and curves for him to maneuver through. Then there is the partial clip that is already installed to deal with. Fortunately, the patient who is having the procedure on Monday also has a partial clip, so we will see if there is a problem with the clip pinching the pipeline or not. In other words, no piece of cake. But once again, we have the utmost faith in the expertise of the doctors that we are working with. The approval process could take weeks to months to obtain, and we might not get approval if this patient doesn't have good results next Monday, so we all need to add this gentleman to our prayers. The good thing is that we should know how this patient fares before we leave to go back home. Then I can plan another trip to come back as soon as we get our approval!

Are you all confused yet? My head is totally spinning! Jim and I were both so hoping for a straight forward process, and now we've got this to deal with. I'm very scared as there is so much still based on speculation, but I am so glad that Dr. Spetzler is going to go ahead and attempt to make Jimmy feel better -- if only until we take the next step in our journey.

It was very hard to leave Jim tonight. He was pretty groggy and already complaining about his catheter. I'm sure I haven't heard the end of that yet! He didn't get to eat all day and probably won't get to have anything tomorrow either. We tried to let him have a sip of diet coke (his request) after his test, but it made him vomit, so they took it away -- poor baby! He didn't get settled in his room until after 9:00pm, and they were getting ready to take him for an MRI before tucking him in for the night. Rick and Jenna are on their way to the hotel as I write this, so they will get to see him in the morning before surgery. We need to be there by 6:00am!

Please don't give up hope, and continue to pray for Jim -- he needs it more than ever! The surgery will last at least 5-6 hours, but that is what they told me last time, and it went for 10. I'm going to have to gear up for another very long day and very little sleep, so please send a prayer my way too. I am so glad to have my children with me for the weekend. Thank you all for your love and support, and I apologize for not keeping up on the phone calls ... I'm a little busy right now, but I still appreciate the love and interest from all of you. Let's hope for a successful day tomorrow. God bless all of us, and keep the faith!

Love, Krissy

Pre-op and CT Angio

Hello world!

I feel I can say that as we've received so many well wishes and promises of prayer -- thanks to every one of you! The big stuff starts tomorrow, so turn up the volume on your prayers!!

Jimmy and I spent the whole morning at the hospital doing his pre-op testing and CT angio for Dr. Fiorella tomorrow. The good news is that he passed! Dr. Staman, the internist, said that other than his poor walking, dizziness, headaches, nausea, and newly diagnosed diabetes, he is the picture of health -- yeah. Anyway, he's good to go for tomorrow.

Jimmy was his usual smart-alecky self while struggling to get his underwear on this morning ... he noted that I was dressed in a black shirt, dark jeans, and black boots. He looked me over and mentioned that he would prefer if I would refrain from wearing black for the next couple of days as it was making him nervous. I answered by adding my hot pink scarf to my attire -- that cheered him up! We then grabbed a shuttle from our hotel to the hospital as it is difficult for him to make the one block walk right now. About a hundred yards from the entrance, we had to have the driver pull over so he could 'toss his cookies' (actually he had to skip breakfast, so I'm not sure what it was) all over the curb. At least we got him out of the car first. The poor baby just looked at me and we both said, "that's why we're here". Last night we were watching TV and he had to stumble across the room and grab the bag that the newspaper came in to do the same. The nausea just comes on him in an instant, and he hardly has time to react. He's learned to scope out every room we enter for the nearest bathrooms, sinks, and waste baskets. Today, the nice nurses gave him an official 'puke bucket' that I intend to carry with us everywhere we go. I also have some extra garbage bags that I keep in my purse. He's been amazingly neat so far! Neither one of us will ever second guess ourselves on the decision to go through this surgery at this time and place.

Tomorrow is a VERY big day. We have to be at the hospital at 7:00am. They only want him to take one of his blood pressure meds and his aspirin that morning. I'm planning to wait until we get settled over there before he takes them, so there is less risk of him vomiting them up. We are on pins and needles as to how the day will turn out. This is the start of everything where we find out whether he can tolerate a total occlusion or not during the balloon angiogram. If so, they may decide to coil it right then and there, and then he will be done with surgery. Or they may decide to wait and do a clip with open surgery the next day. Or he may not pass the balloon test, and then we will know that he will have a much bigger hurdle to leap on Friday with a bypass and clip. It will be a HUGE relief if he passes the test, but we are prepared for anything and everything. Of course, I would love to hear the news that he passed and they decided to install the coil, and that he seems to be doing well; but I know that if they decide to do the clip the next day, that it would have been contemplated very diligently and the decision made with good reason. So....we just wait and see!

Jim and I have really enjoyed having these few days alone together and are looking forward to the kids joining us tomorrow. We haven't been able to go out and tear up the town, but we cherish every moment spent outside of a hospital room -- we're going to have plenty of those ahead. Jim has been amazingly calm, even as the reality is setting in. He even remarked that he felt better being in the hospital today because he knew he was going to be taken care of. Everyone treated us so kindly, and our confidence in the facility and the doctors continues to thrive. The hospital is a 'teaching hospital', so we will always have a doctor there and available. That is very comforting when you are going through something as critical as this. Jim is still napping, and as soon as he gets up, we are going to go have dinner and get to bed early tonight. We might try a mexican place that a cabbie recommended. I think I could use a margarita -- but just one! I don't think Jimmy is quite up to babysitting me!

As I seem to keep repeating: pray, pray, pray!!! God is with us. And just to make sure, I have the holy water that Judy McStott sent, the Mary medallions from the St. Clare Sisters, Judy Larson's prayer charm, his brother, Steve's, prayer bead bracelet, and the cross necklace that I gave him for Christmas. I also have a crystal cross from Judy McStott that we will set up in his room as he recovers. In turn, I have the 'Build-A-Bear' that Jim and Jenna made for me for Christmas with the cute little green doctor scrubs that says, "I love you, I love you," when I squeeze its paw to keep me secure while he is away from me. Along with all of that, we have the love that we feel from each and every one of you -- thank you so much for your support!

I hope to have good news for all of you tomorrow, but if not, we will hope for a good day on Friday! Take care, God bless, and thank you.

Love from,
Jim and Kris

P.S. Jimmy said that I should remind all of those who are asking if we need anything, that there is a lot of dog poop to be picked up at home! I hope his humor is as good over the next few weeks and months! xoxoxox

Appt w/ Dr. Spetzler and Dr. Fiorella

Hi again!

Well, today was the day that we got to meet with the doctors. Unfortunately, we left feeling a little less confident in the potential outcome. Of course it is necessary for the doctors to point out all the possible scenarios, both positive and negative, but we were hoping for just a little more long term confidence.

Because of the size of the thrombosis (swelling/clotting) around the aneurysm, which happens to be roughly the size of a golf ball, I guess we should be pleased that his symptoms aren't even worse. The hope is that removal of the blood flow through the aneurysm by applying a clip or coil will eventually cause the body to absorb the material and, therefore, the thrombosis would decrease over time and release the pressure on the brain stem. When I asked how long that process would take ... weeks, months, years ... both doctors confirmed that there was no way of knowing and that, although this was "theoretically" supposed to happen, there was no guarrantee. Of course, our hope was that a successful surgery would make his symptoms go away and that he would feel better and be able to get back to doing the things he liked to do, but we won't know if that will be the case. There is the chance of them being able to do another surgery down the road to actually remove the thrombosis, but it didn't sound like they were too excited about going that route. So, once we get through the surgery, remember to add to your prayer requests that the thrombosis will dissolve and ultimately shrink as he progresses through his recovery.

In discussing all the possible surgery options, we found that they were considering doing a coil, which can be done through the artery, versus doing a clip, which is done through open surgery. The basic plan is this: They will do the balloon angiogram on Thursday through an artery in his groin. He will be awake for this procedure (ouch!) as they will be talking to him and asking for his response to commands during the test to see how he tolerates the balloon. Although this will be more unpleasant than being knocked out, it is comforting to have them see how his faculties are reacting. This will take up to twenty minutes, if he does well. At that time, they will insert another catheter into the other side of his groin (more ouch!) and inject the dye to watch the blood flow - that will take another ten minutes. If they are happy with the results, they could decide to put him to sleep at that time and insert a permanent coil into the artery, and he would be done. The downside of this procedure is that there could be invisible blood flow around the balloon (they are a little concerned that their biggest balloon won't be a tight enough fit because of the size of the artery/aneurysm) which could create some complications after the coil is in place. The coil also carries a little higher risk of stroke than a clip, but open surgery is riskier than arterial, so that is what they will be weighing when they make their decision. The biggest downfall is if the balloon angio doesn't look good. Then they will definitely have to do open surgery on Friday. That gets a lot more complicated as they will need to do another bypass, this time from the left side of his head. They will again take an artery from his forehead and use that to create a bypass, and then they will do a full clip below the aneurysm. Jim was kind of bummed that they might have to mess up the "pretty" side of his head! All in all, we still know that this is a very major and risky procedure, no matter what they decide to do; we just are going to have to be even more patient to see how the results pan out over time. We are still hopeful that this will be the last time that we need to go through this, and that he will get better and be able to live the kind of quality of life that he so badly wants.

So, please keep the prayers coming! Now you know a little more about what to pray for specifically -- that the balloon angio looks good, that the doctors pick the best procedure (coil or clip), that if they need to do a bypass, that it will go as well as the last, that he won't stroke (now or in the future), and that the thrombosis will disappear over time as he heals. That's all!!!

Well, I hope I haven't sounded too discouraging. Obviously, we are terrified, but we also know that there is no other option than to give this a try. Jim can't and won't live much longer with things the way that they are. The rate of his deterioration has been terrifying in and of itself these past couple of weeks. We are still optimistic as we have the very best doctors, and we still have our faith that God will get us through. It's a miracle that Jim is alive, and there's no reason not to expect another miracle this time. God has already blessed our family, and will protect and guide us always. Dr. Spetzler promised that he would take care of Jim as he would one of his own -- we can't ask or expect more than that.

Tomorrow, Jim will have his pre-op, and they have also added in another CT angiogram to get some more pictures. Thursday continues to be a very big day, so please follow along. Love and blessing to all of you and yours -- I sometimes forget that there is a whole other world going on out there -- and we still hope to be returning home soon with a much healthier Jimmy!

Love to you all!
Krissy

Arrival

We're here!



Well, we arrived in Phoenix about 2:00pm local time. It was a little exhausting hauling so much luggage -- I'm not a very light packer, but without knowing how long we were going to be here or what to expect for weather, I kind of over packed. Jim was a little put out that I only had half a suitcase for him, but I figure he'll be wearing those cute little gowns with the open backsides for most of his stay.



Today was kind of a "free day" because we didn't have any doctor appointments. We got settled in at the Hampton Inn across from the hospital, where I was the "guest of the day"! I got a little treat basket in my room and a welcome sign in the lobby -- I guess it was that extended stay package that I requested that pushed me up to the top! I feel so special!



I got my workout today pushing Jim around in a wheelchair. It's pretty difficult for him to walk, so we borrowed a chair from the hotel to take to the deli for lunch. He's going to need to drop a couple of pounds if I'm going to have to do this long term. Hopefully, that will be something that we won't have to deal with after the surgery.



Tomorrow is when we get to see Dr. Spetzler again and meet Dr. Fiorella, who will be doing the balloon angiogram on Thursday. We are anxious to ask our many questions, although they may not be able to give us many answers yet. Tune in tomorrow, and I will be sure to share whatever information I can.



Jim's spirits are still amazingly good. I'm hoping they will hold up until the big moment. Your prayers are helping already -- keep them coming! Talk to you all tomorrow!



Love, Krissy

Getting Ready

Hi all!

It's been a pretty crazy week of taking care of the necessities and mentally gearing up for our big trip, while also trying to see as many friends and family as possible. The picture is of Jim with our friend and hairdresser, Karla Brenckman. We both got up early Friday morning and went to her house -- me, to hide those nasty grey roots that keep poking through one last time and Jim, to get a pre-surgery buzz cut. I think he looks pretty cute ... kind of like a marine sargeant. He says that he's just getting ready for his new career goal: ultimate fighting champion!

Jim has had a kind of roller coaster week in regard to how he's been feeling. He's made it through a few days without vomiting, although the poor baby had to let loose in Karla's sink during his haircut, which totally mortified him. Karla took it in stride, thankfully! He didn't get much of a nap yesterday because of a late lunch date that we had set up, and that proved to be a huge mistake. He was supposed to try to take another short nap when we got home, but got distracted and never did. Unfortunately, while we were visiting the McStott's for dinner, his exhaustion caught up with him. His walking became extremely awkward and he fell down in their bathroom, taking out the shower door with him. Dave managed to get the door back on track, and I tried to get Jim to go home. That proved to be more difficult. He was enjoying being with everyone so much that he refused to leave, and he's just too big for me to carry!! So we compromised with laying him down on their couch until he was ready to go -- I can see I'm going to be dealing with a very stubborn mule in the days ahead.

Jim's spirits have been very good, though, this week. He really is ready to go and keeps making jokes -- most of them at my expense. His favorite one is that he likes to tell people that he was feeling really positive about his upcoming adventure until he found out that I had bought him a one-way ticket to Phoenix. While I have your attention, I just want to clarify that I also bought myself a one-way ticket -- it was the practical thing to do as I have no idea when our return will be. So, there!! Anyhow, I'm very pleased with his frame of mind, and we are both SO looking forward to having him get well.

We leave Monday morning, so I will plan to do another post then. I probably won't have too much to talk about except for the weather, which I hope is nice, but I will definitely keep you all abreast of all the details of Jimmy's journey -- probably more than you'll even want to hear! I'll say 'good-bye' for now, and make a request once more for those prayers. Thanks to all of you who have already put him on your prayer chains! Be talking at you soon!

Love, Krissy

Travel Plans

Travel plans are set! I heard from Dr. Spetzler's office today, and we are scheduled to fly out to Phoenix on January 26, exactly 5 years to the day of when we flew home from there last time. Hopefully, this is a good sign!



The projected itinerary is as follows:

1/27/09 2:00pm Office visit w/Dr. Spetzler and Dr. Fiorella

1/28/09 9:00am Pre-testing labwork and pre-op physical

1/29/09 7:00am Check-in to St. Joseph's Hospital for balloon angiogram w/Dr. Fiorella

1/30/09 9:00am Brain surgery



As this plan is quite similar to his previous surgery, we are expecting to be gone for around three weeks again. The difference is that we kind of get to have a "trial run" before the surgery. The balloon angiogram will mimic the clip that they are hoping to install during the surgery. This procedure will be done through an artery in his groin (I believe). If the bloodflow throughout the brain stem area looks good, they will have confidence that the surgery will be successful. If it doesn't look adequate, then they will have to come up with an alternate plan, which may include another bypass or some other option. While this procedure is not without risk, it is being recommended that we pursue this option. Dr. Spetzler is the best when it comes to inventing new ways to do things, and we have every confidence in his expertise. Unfortunately, installing the clip requires entering the brain again. While this means removing the skull and quite a long and painful recovery, it is the only way for it to be done.

Understandably, we are all anxious about having to go through this whole process again, but we are also feeling optimistic that this may actually be a long-term solution that will allow us to live a long and healthy life together. The kids will each be joining us on Thursday before the surgery so that they can give their dad a pep talk and good luck kiss. They will plan to spend the weekend with me and then head back to Denver, LA, and Lake Minnetonka on Sunday. Jim and I both want them to carry on with their school and work and to leave the waiting to me and the healing to Jim. If we each do our part, the transition back to real life will be much easier.

What we are asking from all of you, our friends and relatives, is for you to remember us in your daily prayers. If you have prayer chains to put Jim on, that would be much appreciated. We very much believe in the power of prayer and know that with so many people asking for God to watch over us, that he won't be allowed to ignore us and will help guide us through. I will be just a little bit crazy next week preparing for our extended stay, but I promise to keep you all informed of any new developments. I will probably begin posting new blogs after our arrival in Phoenix on the 26th. Thank you in advance for your continued support -- we love you all!

Love,
Jim and Kris

Re-cap of Jimmy's Journey - Part 1

Hello everyone!

Well, here we go again! Before Jim begins his next journey, I felt that it would be a good idea to do a re-cap on our original story for those of you that need refreshing or who missed out the first time around. So, here goes ....

In July of 2002, just a few days after his 41st birthday, Jim suffered his first stroke. My daughter, Jenna, and I happened to be in Las Vegas attending a national dance competition that she was participating in. The plan was for Jim and her brothers, Michael and Ricky, to join us later that week. You can imagine the shock when I received a call from a friend that Jim was in the hospital. The next phone call I received was from Jim telling me that he was fine and that he and the boys were still coming out to Las Vegas. The next phone call was from my sister telling me to get my butt home. I was on the next plane.

When I arrived at the hospital, the doctor explained to me that Jim had an aneurysm in his basilar artery and that the aneurysm contained a blood clot. Because of the location of this aneurysm, which happened to be in the location of his brain stem, it was deemed 'inoperable' due to the risks of major brain damage. Despite being placed on blood thinners, he continued to have quite a few more strokes, and we spent the rest of the summer in and out of the hospital. Eventually, things settled down, and we did our best to move on and enjoy life as best we could.

Late in 2003, through a routine MRI, we found that the aneurysm was enlarging at an alarming rate. The doctors decided that he might need to consider surgery, despite the risks. We were referred to Dr. Spetzler of the Barrow's Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. He is considered the best neurosurgeon in the world in regard to brain aneurysms and tumors and is often referred to as a magician. He came up with a plan to remove an artery from Jim's forhead to create a bypass around the aneurysm and to place partial clips below that would help relieve the pressure on the aneurysm. We packed our bags and headed for Phoenix. After a 10 hour surgery, and weeks of watching, the surgery was deemed a success. We spent three terrifying weeks in Phoenix and many months back at home dealing with his recovery -- some of which was pretty scary and some of which was quite comical. If you would like to read all about it, I believe you can still find it on our old website: http://home.comcast.net/~krisreynolds.

Through the magical power of prayer, we enjoyed more than three years of this miracle. Then, in the spring of 2007, I noticed that Jim was developing a slight limp and showing signs of weakness on his right side. Another MRI showed that the aneurysm had started to increase again for no apparent reason and that he was developing symptoms because of the pressure on his brain stem. We again called on Dr. Spetzler for his help, but he wasn't as anxious to do surgery again as he felt the options were too minimal and risky. He advised us to move on with our life and to wait until the symptoms became too great to ignore.

After about a year and a half of deterioration, the symptoms have become too great to ignore. For those of you who have seen Jim recently, you will have noticed that his limp has become more pronounced and he relies on the use of, I must say, a very dapper cane. More than that, his dizziness has increased and is causing him to experience constant feelings of motion sickness. In other words, he vomits regularly, and this very social creature has become more and more unsociable -- this is a state worse than death for someone like Jim.

Very long story short, we have heard back from Dr. Spetzler that he would like to consider another possible surgery for Jim. Fortunately, they will plan to do a test first to make sure that the surgery will work before attempting. At the time that I am writing this, we are still waiting to hear all the details and to discuss the options. As soon as I have more information, I will be sure to publish another post on this blog. For now, we are asking you for your prayers as we know how much they helped last time we went through this. Thank you all so much for your continued support, and God bless us all!