Day 2 - Post Coiling Surgery

Hello again!

Look at the picture ... Jimmy's awake! Praise be to God!!! He woke up for me around noon today. Now, don't get too excited as he is still not able to be responsive yet in regard to his movements. So this is probably to be acknowledged as just a baby step, but it definitely put a BIG smile on my face!

Late this morning, while chatting 'at' Jimmy, I noticed him move his tongue, and then he swallowed. I had not seen him make any movement at all yesterday, so I got pretty excited. When I started discussing this with his nurse, I saw him open both of his eyes a crack. As I began talking to him and encouraging him, he opened his eyes fully ... well, as fully as he can with his left eye still a little swollen. I frantically asked him to squeeze my hand, wiggle his toes, give me a smile, and all other manner of highly anticipated movements , but he was not able to do that. I tried not to be discouraged, and the nurse explained to me that these things usually take time. She did get pretty excited herself, though, when he closed his lips around the suction tube when she was brushing his teeth ... More baby steps!

He is not totally 'tracking' with his eyes, but he does seem to follow my movements up and down a bit. He also appears to be looking 'at' me rather than 'through' me. I find this extremely comforting that he is aware of my presence. I've missed him SO much - that was the longest 36 hours of my life!!

The reason that I am being 'cautiously optimistic' is that Jim and I were aware that one of the negative outcomes that I occasionally refer to would be for him to become 'locked in'. This is when the person is aware of what is going on around him but is unable to respond. This is an example of 'a fate worse than death'. It is way too early to begin to make that assumption, but it is obviously a concern that inevitably pops into my head. My intent is not to alarm but to inform, so that you can know all the scary things to pray for NOT to happen as well. There is still a lot of opportunity for things to go wrong and many hurdles for Jimmy to jump, but I have confidence in my Superman. I am hopeful that I will see more movement by Jimmy as his body progresses in its healing and am doing my best to be patient. I much prefer delivering good news!

More good news is that his fever has been more manageable today, and his heart rate has come down considerably. The heart rate is seemingly tied into the extent of his fever, which is not uncommon. His CT scan showed some swelling, which is not unexpected and can be the source of his fever and lack of his current ability to move. Fortunately, there were no significant changes on his CT, and he is on medication to help reduce the swelling. I am waiting for another MRI to be done, as that is more likely to show signs of stroke -- or, hopefully, lack thereof. They need to remove his 'butterfly tap' in his shunt before doing an MRI, so they are waiting until Monday to do that. They are trying to not disturb anything in regard to his brain unless it is absolutely crucial and necessary. They want to give his poor brain as much time to heal before having to mess with it.

All in all, I consider this a very good day. I choose to believe that Jimmy will continue to get better, and I will not lose faith unless I am forced to -- and I pray that day will NEVER come! God has not let me down so far, and I have no reason to expect that He would suddenly change His mind. So, be excited about this positive change, but be prepared for patience for the rest to come. God is using this opportunity to test our faith, so let's not let Him down! Please continue to pray endlessly for a successful recovery -- I most definitely am!

Love and continued blessings,
Krissy

Day 1 - Post Coiling Surgery

Hi again!

It's time to put on our prayer rally caps, and now that it's Lent, a few more trips to church wouldn't hurt. Jimmy is still not waking up. There can be a lot of contributing factors, and the doctors and nurses are doing their best to address them.

Of course, the obvious one is the fatigue that his body must be feeling. They are trying not to bother him too much but, unfortunately, are having to address other possible issues, so they are always fiddling with him.

He is also back on the ventilator because his heart rate is up, which is causing him to breathe more quickly and more shallow, and that is making his oxygenation level a little low. That faster heart rate doesn't exactly put his body in a very restful state either.

His fever is also high, and that can be a major contributor to his lack of responsiveness. He is not responding much to Tylenol and they can't use Motrin because he is already on major blood thinners and Motrin or aspirin will thin the blood too much. They are testing him for infection but everything is coming up negative so far. They have him on a broad based antibiotic for now. They are using ice baths and a cooling blanket also, but they have to try not to make him shiver as that will raise his already too high heart rate. Jimmy may just be suffering from what is called a brain fever, which is caused by swelling in the brain; that swelling can also be putting pressure on his brain stem, which would also explain his inability to respond to commands or wake up.

The good news is that Jim's CT scans and MRI are looking okay for now. The bypass looks great, and the coiling appears to be successful. His last CT showed some fluid building up in his brain ventricles, but that was because his EVD tube (brain drain) that they replaced yesterday morning had quit working again. They were going to have to replace it once more, which was a bleeding risk due to his high heparin blood thinner, so they decided to tap into his existing shunt instead and do some draining that way, which was a much safer option. They plan for him to go for another MRI tomorrow as they are watching him for possible stroke activity. Even a small stroke in Jim's brain stem would be devastating.

Dr. Spetzler told me that this next week will allow us to see if Jim is going to be able to survive this radical treatment or whether he won't. We knew that the risks were extremely high going into this, but we also knew that Jimmy was miserable and had no possibility of getting better without occluding the basilar artery to try to reduce the pressure from the thrombosis on his brain stem that was going to continue to get worse without taking this measure. There was no other choice, there was no option of waiting any longer, and there was no other place to try to accomplish this.

I still feel that God will bring us through this to the end, and that we will have a positive outcome, but we both knew it was not going to be easy. My Jimmy is famous for always making life interesting and prides himself for being able to think outside the box, so it's no surprise that he's keeping the doctors and nurses on their toes and having to use their creative thinking caps. I truly believe that God wouldn't be putting us through this if it wasn't His plan to take us across the finish line. Remember the adage, "If God takes you to it, He will take you through it." So, I am going to continue to think positively, and I need you all to do the same. We won't give God any other option other than the positive one we expect because He will have too many believers who have the kind of faith that He asks of us. We'll do our part, so God can do His!

Let's use this season of Lent to prepare ourselves to receive another gift of life -- Jimmy's, just like we celebrate the gift of eternal life that God has given to us all through the death and resurrection of His only son, Jesus Christ! Please pray your hearts out, along with me, and let's finish this game as winners!

Prayerfully yours,
Krissy

Balloon Angio/Basilar Coiling

Hi!

Today is a very special day - it's been one month since Jimmy and I arrived in Phoenix to start our journey. I don't think either one of us quite expected to be here so long.

Speaking of long, today has been an exceptional one! The day started with a 6:30am phone call from the hospital. Jim's EVD tube (brain drain) evidently had shifted and needed to be replaced -- nothing like an early morning surgery to start the day!

When I came in, Jim was still knocked out, and I was afraid that today's planned balloon angiogram and coil were going to need to be postponed. Fortunately, Jim's timing improved and he managed to wake up and be alert enough for them to decide to go ahead. They came and took him away around 4:15pm to do the balloon angiogram, and Jimmy was nice and awake. At 7:00pm, Dr. Fiorella came out to tell me that they had started the balloon process but that he was too sleepy to be reliable for following commands to make sure that he was going to tolerate the temporary occlusion. I had to give him permission to test him electronically through EEG and CT angio. I agreed because I knew that it would continue to be a cat and mouse game to arrange the timing so that Jim would be alert enough. The doctor came back out around 8:15pm to tell me that the bypass was looking great and that they were even getting a small amount of bloodflow from the right side, where the old bypass is. They had both balloons inflated, and Jim appeared to be tolerating it. Praise God!

Dr. Fiorella invited me back to see Jimmy, even though he was already under anesthesia, so I could give him a kiss for luck, a quick pep talk, and a 'God bless'. I really appreciated that consideration.

At the time that I am writing this, Dr. Fiorella is in the process of coiling Jimmy's basilar artery -- we're going for broke! This is his only chance of ever getting well, but it is also very risky, and we won't know for quite awhile if it will have favorable or negative results -- it's just our only option as doing nothing would be worse. I remember a familiar quote, "On the other side of nothing is everything"...so that is why we are 'all in'.

Dr. Fiorella is thinking that it will take many hours to do the coiling procedure as they will need so many coils due to his overly large artery. That is why I decided to give you this partial update now. I will definitely be staying through the night until I get a chance to see him. I will add an addendum later, so be sure to check back again to hear how Dr. Fiorella thinks the coiling went. It will probably be weeks before we know whether there will be any adverse effects and months before Jim sees any improvement from the thrombosis reduction. This is truly a marathon of faith!

So, please say your prayers before going to bed tonight, and remember to include Jimmy and his doctors. God is great, God is good!!!

Be back soon!

Love and blessings to you all,
Krissy

Addendum 1: It's 10:30pm and the coiling is done. Dr. Fiorella feels that they did a good job of coiling off the basilar artery. His concern is the possibility of a major stroke now that the artery has been occluded. He's coughing a little bit, which is a good sign. They were not able to get him to follow commands yet, but he has been difficult to get response from when he is in a really deep sleep. He did have some bleeding out of his EVD tube (brain drain), so they are taking him for a CT scan to check for hemorrage. Hopefully, it is just some residual from the replacement this morning. They also will probably do an MRI sometime tonight. I plan to sleep in Jimmy's room so that I can be there WHEN he wakes up. I'm not sure if I'll be doing anymore updates tonight -- we'll see. Keep sending prayers if you are reading this ... Thank you and God bless us all!

Addendum 2: CT is good - thank you God! Going to room to see him and wait for him to go to MRI to check for any signs of stroke. He's still not awake. More prayers please!

Addendum 3: MRI showed no sign of stroke - Halleluia! He's still not awake but is running high fever, so we'll hope for the response we want in the morning. Good night!

Day 5 - Post Brain Drain Surgery

Hello, Hello!

It was another gorgeous day out here. It's been in the 80s since Bob arrived. He had to go back this afternoon, so I'm hoping he didn't take the beautiful weather with him.

Jimmy did slightly better on his timing today, but he's still not cooperating as much as I would like. He managed not to sleep through his physical therapy today, but he still was not as alert as I've seen him be. Later this afternoon, he hit his perky phase and decided he was going to get up. He swung his legs off the side of the bed and was able to pull his shoulders about six inches off the bed while holding on to me all by himself. I called a nurse to help, and we were able to help him into a sitting position on the side of the bed. He was able to sit there with much more strength and control than he had shown in therapy. He then tried to stand up, and I think he would have succeeded, but the nurse didn't think it was a good idea without someone from physical therapy there. He was pretty wiped out afterward, but I was very excited by his show of strength.

So much is tied into his fatigue factor. That is why I am not sure that they'll be able to do the balloon angio test and coil tomorrow. They are going to see how he looks in the morning and make their plan from there, but even if they decide to go ahead, if he's in his zonked out phase when they come for him, they may have to postpone. It makes it difficult to get mentally prepared, but I'm not the one calling the shots. At this point, time has become irrelevant. Anyhow, I am still going to ask that we all send our prayers as though it's a 'go', and we'll just have to make our adjustments if necessary.

Jimmy is still very entertaining while awake. He was singing a song for me today. I'm not sure what it's called, but the words are "Put me in Coach. I want to play... today.. centerfield." Neither of us could remember who sings it, so if anyone can help us out, let me know. It will be fun to see if he even remembers our conversation tomorrow. Jimmy has also been asking for a Diet Coke all week. Well, his nurse took pity on him and brought a sponge swab that she had dipped in Diet Coke for him to suck on. Typical for my Jimmy, he asked for some chicken wings and fries to go with it. That gave the nurse and I a chuckle -- especially being he was serious.

Dr. Fiorella just came in and reiterated the 'iffiness' in regard to the procedure getting done tomorrow. They are going to try giving him an extra dose of his Provigil, which is his "wake me up" med, so we'll see if that helps. He also explained his plan to coil either the basilar or vertebral artery. The basilar is the best long term option but also the 'all in' that gives them concern. The less radical but maybe less effective option is coiling the vertebral artery. If he passes the balloon angio with flying colors, then they will probably opt for the basilar -- that's the one I'm pulling for. He also made sure that I understand that there is a lot to watch out for after the surgery, so even if I have great news regarding the surgery, Jim is going to need your prayers on full strength for a long time. I'm no longer looking at this stay as a matter of weeks but in months. Are you up to it? I am!

There are so many things to ask you all to pray for that it's hard to know where to begin. Obviously, pray for Jim's complete wakefulness during the balloon angio, whether it's tomorrow or later. Then pray that the bypass is working well enough to allow them to coil the basilar artery and that Dr. Fiorella can occlude the artery adequately. Next, pray that the healing/clotting process goes favorably so that nothing clots off that isn't supposed to, and then pray that over the next months that the thrombosis dissolves around the aneurysm and relieves the pressure on the brain stem so that Jimmy can feel better and function better. Lastly, please pray that Jim will recover enough for me to be able to take care of him enough to bring him home. How's that?

Well, tomorrow or someday soon is going to be another very big day. Thank you for continuing on this incredible journey with us, and for giving God the opportunity to show His stuff to so many followers. I can't tell you how much it means to me to know that I am never alone. Thanks to all of you, and thanks be to God!

Love & blessings,
Krissy

Day 4 - Post Brain Drain Surgery

Hello again!

As you can see, Jimmy had another visitor. Bob Fields, our friend and business partner, flew out to Phoenix just to spend a few days with us. I used to always feel so bad for myself being married to someone as hard to reign in as Jim, then I met Bob and I feel even worse for his wife, Patty! Those two boys are definitely cut from similar molds, and Patty and I have both earned our wings into Heaven many times over just for sticking with them!

A picture tells a thousand words, and you can see that Jimmy is proudly holding up his "reminders/wristbands". He worked on those knots for at least an hour, while Bob egged him on and coached him on how to 'get free'. The poor guy was covered in sweat, but he was so triumphant when he finally got them off. I had to apologize to the nurses profusely, and Bob is now banned from ICU (just kidding). Regardless to say, I am sure that Jimmy is going to sleep like a baby tonight. When I explained to him that he still couldn't go with us to dinner, I felt like such a meanie for having to burst his bubble. He really thought those darn things were the only thing that were keeping him from leaving the hospital. The sweetheart was so exhausted and deflated by the time that we left, that he put the wristbands back on himself and settled right in to go to sleep. I hope he's forgiven or at least forgotten before I come to see him in the morning.

Prior to the evening's attempted jail break, Jim had a pretty non-productive day. The stinker kept deciding to take a nap at all the wrong times. He basically slept through his whole physical therapy and kept asking to go to bed during his blue dye swallow test. Even though he managed to do a good job with the blue dye and showed no signs of aspiration, they are going to wait until after he gets through his next surgery before doing the next barium x-ray swallow test. Then, he will hopefully be able to get rid of the annoying feeding tube. At least he managed to create his own therapy with the amount of exertion he used to remove his pesky 'wristbands'. I'm hoping that his timing will be better tomorrow.

It looks like Thursday is going to be the big day this week. I still have not talked directly with Dr. Fiorella, but Dr. Spetzler did tell me that they've picked Thursday to do the balloon angiogram AND coiling surgery. I told him that Dr. Fiorella had discussed separating the two procedures, but Dr. Spetzler said that he wanted the coiling to be done on that same day, so I'm guessing that will be the way things go. I'm sure that the two of them will get things figured out, and I should get everything officially confirmed by tomorrow. I just realized that Thursday is the one-month anniversary of when we arrived in Phoenix -- my how time flies when you're having fun!

Anyway, despite the magnitude of all of the surgeries that Jimmy has had so far, the coiling surgery on Thursday is the one that is actually meant to eventually reduce the amount of thrombosis around Jim's aneurysm and to help relieve the pressure and, hopefully, the symptoms that have been making him so sick. The coiling is designed to eliminate the blood flow through the basilar artery, which is where the aneurysm is located, now that the bypass was able to redirect the blood flow in such a way that he could survive having this artery occluded. Without the blood flow through the aneurysm, it is expected that the thrombosis (clotting) around that aneurysm will dissolve over time, thereby releasing the pressure currently being placed on Jimmy's brain stem. This is going to be a very complicated procedure as it is going to take a lot of coiling to completely occlude the artery due to its abnormal size. Although I don't know all of the details about the procedure, it sounds like it is expected to be very complex and challenging. They must make sure that no blood flow is allowed to seep around and find its way through the coils. A clip would have been much easier to do the job, but due to scar tissue issues, Dr. Spetzler was not able to access the area that he needed to reach to go that route. They also must highly heparinize Jimmy to thin his blood adequately for this procedure, so that can be very risky also. Once the procedure is done, they have to watch how the artery clots off and try to achieve the perfect balance between enough clot and too much, which can lead to stroke. So, it will be awhile before we know the success of the procedure.

Therefore, now is the time to spread the word for plenty of prayers for Jimmy and the doctors over the next few weeks. I think our 'break' is soon to be over, and Jimmy is going to have to be ready to once again do battle. He's going to need all those Superman powers, and then some, to get through it. So pray that God gives him super human strength and super human healing powers to help him through; and pray that he bless the doctors with the skill and knowledge to coax his body into doing what they want for it to do. Then finish up with praying for any road bumps along the way to be minor and something that Jim can overcome. His body has been through so much already, but he just can't be allowed to quit now. Endurance is key in this marathon, and God's love will prevail! We hope to see you all there with us at the finish line!

Love always,
Jimmy & Krissy

Day 3 - Post Brain Drain Surgery

Hi!

Well, today was a blissfully uneventful day ... I kind of needed one of those. Jimmy continues to be alert and actually seemed less confused. He still is most confused about where he is and why he is here, but he gets the answers correct some of the time. I guess if he needed to forget something, that would be the best thing to forget!

When I came in this morning, they had removed the drain that was put in when they did the surgery to drain the excess fluid from his brain last Friday. That was the next step needed to get the balloon angiogram done. It definitely sounds like that will be done this week, but I have not yet received a confirmed date or time. So, I will still have to wait to share that with you.

Jim did receive physical therapy today, which is always good to tucker him out so that he can sleep well at night. I would expect that he will be getting another swallow evaluation done soon, which if passed, will allow him to lose the feeding tube. He will be one happy camper when that thing is gone and no longer hanging from his nose! I really think that he should be able to pass enough to at least get back to the thickened liquids and pureed food -- let's hope so!

Jimmy continues to be adorable and one of the ICU 'favorites'. He is never at a loss for words, even if some of the ones he chooses are a little nonsensical at times, which helps to keep the conversation very interesting. He's doing a good job of keeping a smile on my face.

Bless everyone for always asking how I am holding up, but I am doing great -- as long as Jimmy keeps doing great! So, the big thing to look forward to this week is Jim passing that balloon angio with flying colors this time. The doctors are optimistic, but they need the proof before taking the next step. I guess by now you've all figured out what to pray for ... you're doing a great job! I'll be sure to let you know when I have more information and details. Be talking to you again tomorrow!

Love and blessings,
Krissy

Day 2 - Post Brain Drain Surgery

Hello!

I thought I would take a few pictures today now that Jim has decided to not sleep the whole day away! Even though this first photo isn't the most flattering angle, I wanted you to see that Jimmy's shiner is starting to heal and that he can even open that left eye a tiny bit. I'm very excited about this because last time it took being home for almost a month before it started opening.

Jimmy started his day with a surprise visitor -- his old boss from his Equitable Insurance days, Bob Herman, came to see him. The nurse and I were really impressed with how many people he could name from the 'old days'. They had a very nice time reminiscing. Dr. Fiorella also stopped in to see Jim and was very pleased with how alert he was. He said he was definitely good enough to go ahead and do the balloon angiogram and thought that mid-week might be the plan, depending on how the bleeding is tapering off from his last brain drain surgery. He also said that he felt that he has come up with a good plan for the coiling, so that is very reassuring! I'm guessing that will probably not take place until next week, even though Jimmy put in his two cents worth and suggested that they just do it all at once. Too bad for him that he doesn't get to make those decisions!

Obviously, today was a better day. Jim was much more alert. They've started him on a medication to keep him more awake during the day, which will help to get him back on a more normal sleeping schedule. He was still pretty confused and goofy, but that just made him more entertaining. The nurses are getting quite a kick out of him! Sometimes he rambles on totally nonsensically, and other times he's a real smart aleck -- he's definitely a talker! And he's still working on getting rid of his 'wristbands'. He is incredibly persistent!

Tonight he decided that he was determined to get up and out of bed, and he wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. He hasn't had therapy for so long now that I took mercy on him and asked his nurse, Nora, if she thought that we could get him to at least sit up on the edge of the bed. She was pretty busy with her other patient, so Jimmy had to wait for awhile. Mr. Patience was not content with that, so he kept swinging his leg off the side of the bed and straining to pull his body off the bed. It was quite comical to watch him work so hard, and he kept asking for me to go get Nora. I just let him entertain himself with his quest -- I figured that the exercise was good for him after laying around in bed for the last nine days. He was so happy when he finally got his way and Nora came in with a team of other nurses to help him get up. The second picture is him smugly sitting up. Nora decided to give him a bit of his own medicine and use the opportunity to change his sheets that he had gotten all sweaty with his endeavors, and decided that he may as well stand up too so that she could do so. She wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer either...Yes, that's a look of sheer terror on Jimmy's face! But he did a really good job on those rubbery legs -- I'm hoping that he will get regular daily physical therapy this week to help build his strength. I'm actually amazed that he has gotten so strong again. I would say that he's caught up to the strength that he was at just before he had his bypass surgery...maybe even a little stronger. You should have seen him when they put him back to bed -- he went out like a light! I'm so proud of how well he's doing after such a tumultuous week. His naturally stubborn temperament is really an attribute when going through all that he has -- keep it up Superman! I am adjusting to being satisfied with baby steps, but it's always fun when he throws some bigger ones in once in a while.

I'm thinking that this might be a very interesting week as Jimmy waits for the next phase in his journey. The power of prayer is definitely making a statement with all that Jim has come through already. God is definitely with us all the way! And, even though this has been a much longer and more complicated ordeal than we ever expected, I am content to deal with it for as long as it takes in order to have the rest of our lives together happy and healthy! So, regardless of sounding like a broken record, thank you for ALL of your continued support and keep those prayers coming! I hope you all had as wonderful and interesting of a weekend that we did.

Love to you all!
Kris (with a "K", as Jimmy is now telling the nurses!)

Day 1 - Post Brain Drain Surgery

Hi again!

Here's another report on Jimmy's journey for those of you who are taking time away from your, hopefully, enjoyable weekend to check in. When I came in this morning, Jim had his bed turned to face the window and was nice and awake. He had had a good night and seemed quite alert. He was still a little confused as to exactly where he was, but he was getting most of the questions right. When he didn't know the answers, he would evade with questions of his own or mumble to try to throw me off. As most of you know, he's blessed with a silver tongue and is pretty good with steering a conversation. Unfortunately for him, we've been married too long for his charm to work on me! He also made a grand effort to get me to remove his wristbands, which is what he calls his 'reminders'. He did a very good job of shifting back and forth between pleading and pouting, but I just don't trust the sneaky little sucker! He's got way too many tubes to be yanked on to be trusted yet. When he can stop being confused, then we can remove the pesty wristbands.

Dr. Fiorella came in to check on him. He doesn't want to rush the coiling because they have to give him a heavy dose of heparin and probably aspirin to keep his blood very thin. Then they need to keep him on them for a few days after the coiling, so he wants to make sure that the temporary bleeding that is currently being drained from his head from yesterday's surgery is all done. Therefore, I don't think they will attempt anything before the latter part of next week. He also talked about doing the balloon angio first and then waiting a few days to do the coiling. It sounds like the coiling procedure will be quite intense. Because the vessels that they need to coil off completely are very large, it will require a lot of coils and very precise placement. It is difficult to place enough coils and in such a way that they don't allow any of the bloodflow to trickle through. Then they have to worry about managing the clotting so that it is done in the right places and not too much. So, more major stuff!

Just to make sure that I didn't get too excited and start to do my happy dance because of the vast improvement from yesterday, Jimmy decided to do his 'I'm too tired to wake up and respond' routine again. This started the red flags waving again and another barrage of tests -- all which came back negative...thankfully. I swear he'll do anything for attention. After four anguished hours of letting him sleep the day away, Jimmy woke up all perky and complaining again. I swear I'm going to be more wacky than him by the time we get through this!

Anyway, that's a synopsis of today's adventures. No doubt Jimmy will continue to keep everyone on their toes, so please gear your prayers for a continued successful recovery without any MAJOR complications -- and we'll just keep dealing with these curve balls that Jim keeps throwing. I'm doing my best to concentrate on the baby steps and to be satisfied with those for now.

So, please enjoy the rest of your weekend. I heard that you got some beautiful new snow last night -- I'm sorry (smile). Please pray that Jim can require a little less attention and that he can continue healing and getting stronger in preparation for his next big steps. Thank you, again, for your continued love and support. God bless you for sticking through this incredible journey with us.

Love,
Krissy

Surprise Surgery - Brain Drain

Surprise!

Well, while we were all getting geared up for the ballon angio/coil surgery, Jimmy decided to add another twist to the roller coaster ride. He's doing his best to keep things exciting!

Because Jim was a little quieter this morning than he had been yesterday, Dr. Fiorella decided to check on him again later before making the decision about whether to go ahead with the coil surgery today. When he came back later this morning, Jim was napping. We tried to wake him up and were having a very difficult time getting him to focus or be responsive. He (and I) were both very concerned, and he called the neuro team. They ordered a CT scan and found some excess fluid in the left side of his brain. Dr. Spetzler decided to do emergency surgery to go back in on the left side again and drain the fluid. Even though it didn't look like a whole lot of fluid, based on Jim's symptoms, he decided it was a necessary precaution. After two stressful hours, Dr. Spetzler came out personally to tell me that Jimmy did fine and that the bypass looked great...I just love that man! And I do believe that I'm married to Superman, although I wish he didn't have to show off so much -- I'm already impressed.

Depending on how Jim does over the weekend, they may still do the coil on Monday, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Dr. Fiorella will be keeping close tabs on him. Jim is quite the VIP around here! I'm beginning to learn that, no matter how much I would like to keep things moving along, God has His own plan and timeframe. Jimmy and I are just along for the ride, and neither one of us is being allowed to drive.

It took awhile for Jimmy to 'come to'. I would guess that three surgeries in three week's time would make the anesthesia wear off a little more slowly. He was pretty confused when he did start waking up, and he did forget that I am his wife again -- this is starting to get annoying! After awhile, he remembered and then followed up with a sassy, "duh!". Tomorrow may be an interesting day if he decides to keep the attitude.

So, I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend and that I have some good news to share with you when you check in on Jimmy. I will even be happy to put up with his crazy antics...at least for awhile. Maybe this surgery will help make his 'psychosis' get better. The nurse is going to turn his bed around so that it faces out the window when she brings him back from his follow-up CT scan -- just to give him some different scenery to look at. I just want him to get well rested and stronger again. I wonder how many surgeries Jim is going to rack up -- nothing is ever average or normal with my Jimmy ... He always has to make a production out of everything. I guess that's why we all find him so riveting. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode in Jimmy's journey, and God's blessings on all of us!

Praises & Prayers,
Kris

Day 6 - Post Bypass Surgery

Hi!
Today was another interesting day with my Jimmy. I came in this morning and he was sitting in his chair. He looked so cute that I had to take a picture. See him waving? I found out that, as I feared, Jim was awake most of the night. I'm a little paranoid about him getting his days and nights mixed up like he did five years ago. Sleep deprivation makes me cry a lot! He also had a new feeding tube in -- that makes two that he's pulled out...even with 'reminders'. He's a sneaky little bugger!

I guess that physical therapy came in early, unfortunately before I got there, and had him sitting on the edge of the bed. He said he was pretty weak, but I would expect that. That did seem to tucker him out a bit, so he took a short nap. He then stayed awake until I went to grab another yummy hospital cafeteria lunch. When I came back up, he was still awake and a little more goofy. The nurse was kind of concerned; the doctors seem to think that he's developing a kind of psychosis that is commonly associated with the steroid medication that he is on for the brain swelling. They also think that his long stretch of wakefulness throughout the night and day was a contributing factor. They gave him some morphine to knock him out and have ordered the nurses to refrain from waking him up for their assessments, except for certain ordered times. They want him to get some good uninterrupted sleep.

It was pretty interesting watching Jimmy 'wack out'. He became very strong and mobile, which I was a little pleased to see. He was really moving his legs around and even had one leg off the bed as he was determined to get up. He was very nimble with his hands as well, and I had to tie him down even while sitting right next to him. He kept going for that darn feeding tube -- which by the way runs from his nose, down the back of his throat, and into his stomach -- and was also trying to dislodge his catheter (ouch!). Have you ever heard of the term, "bound and determined"? Well, that's my Jimmy! He wasn't very happy with me, but he'll get over it. He's still a bit confused about his answers to where he is and why he's here, but he did refer to me as his 'lovely wife' today -- there are some perks to his quirky condition! He also wanted to use his cell phone and kept trying to get it out of his imaginary pocket. I did help him make a couple of calls to Mike, Rick, and my parents. His speech was pretty nonsensical and mumbly -- he knew what he was saying, but I was clueless! Anyway, as long as I can be assured that it's not something changing neurologically, I can find humor in his antics. I know they are keeping a close watch on him.

I went back to the hotel a little early as he was getting sleepy and I didn't want to tempt him to stay awake and chat with me. I was getting a little tired of arguing with him about his trying to 'make a break for it' anyway. As I am writing this, I just received a phone call from Dr. Fiorella, who will be doing the balloon angiogram/coiling tomorrow. He is going to take a look at Jimmy again in the morning and assess whether he is clear-headed and alert enough to be able to answer the questions that he will be asking during the balloon angio test. If so, they will probably go ahead and do the procedure/surgery later tomorrow morning. Otherwise, they will need to wait. I think there is a pretty good chance that they will be able to do it, because he's been able to answer the questions regarding how he is feeling without any problem, and those are the types of questions that they will be asking. Final decision goes to Dr. Fiorella and Dr. Spetzler -- I would say that they've done a pretty good job so far! Please be sure to send your prayers for a successful balloon angio test and coil installation without any of the scary potential complications. That would be very much appreciated (smile). It's time to call on all the angels once again!!

Gratefully,
Krissy

P.S. I am so excited to tell you that the 'pipeline gent' is doing much better. He suffered a small stroke that was in a bad spot, but he is regaining much of the strength on his left side that was compromised. He is still not out of the woods for another few weeks, but most of his thrombosis has already dissolved, so they are feeling much more optimistic. Even though this may not have been the best risk option for Jimmy, it is very exciting to see the wonderful results they are having with this new device. So please remember to keep him on your prayer lists as well -- thanks!

Day 5 - Post Bypass Surgery

I was able to take some pictures today. As you can see, Jimmy still has quite a shiner, but (believe it or not) the swelling has actually gone down considerably, and the right eye looks great. He's even able to close that right eye, which he hadn't been able to do since the first surgery, and he can sort of peek out of his left eye too. So things are definitely improving.

Jim surprised me by being much more alert when he was awake. He still slept away most of the day, but when he woke up, he would stay awake anywhere from a half hour to two hours -- considerably better than the very groggy 5 minutes I was getting yesterday!

As you can see by the bottom picture, Jimmy is showing off how much stronger he is getting. Even yesterday, he couldn't raise his left arm off the pillow. He's also able to move his fingers much more easily and is moving his legs considerably more than earlier this week. I would say that he is starting to turn the corner and has made good use of his time catching up on his sleep. He'll probably have his nights and days all mixed up before we go home again, but I don't even care right now.

Jimmy is still a little bit confused, but it seems to be different things that stump him up. I've

been told that this is common for anyone who has had a major surgery of any kind, let alone someone who has had their brain messed with -- twice! So, I'm not really concerned about it at this time. The big thing is that he is much less lethargic and seems to be on his way to catching back up to where he was prior to this last surgery. I am hopeful that he may be awake enough to possibly begin physical therapy tomorrow -- we'll have to see if the doctors will approve it or not.

From what I hear, it looks like the balloon angiogram/coiling is tentatively set to take place this Friday. It will depend on whether they feel he is responsive enough yet based on how he looks tomorrow. So I guess I will get the official word by the end of the day. That will be another very stressful day, but I am counting on a much more favorable outcome than the last balloon angio. I will let you all know the expected time so you can turn up the volume on your prayers during that period. I want to make sure that God can give Jimmy his full attention during that part!

So, today was a good day -- I like those best! We were in a bit of a stall for a few days, but I think it was really necessary for his body to recharge itself. Now he'll be ready to go on to the next step. I'm not sure what kind of recovery to expect from the coil that he WILL be having, as we have never been through this kind of procedure before. I'm assuming that it will be a little easier as it is considerably less invasive than open brain surgery. We will still need to pray for the avoidance of complications, but God is taking very good care of him so far. I have been amazed at the strength that Jimmy has shown and am SO proud of him! It is said that, "we take on the strength of that which we overcome." Well, with what Jim has overcome so far, I think we can start calling him 'Superman' -- even his brother, Bob, sent him a Superman t-shirt ... quite appropriate!

Tune in tomorrow night (or early Friday morning for you early-to-bed types) so that you can be ready to shout out your prayers if we need them on Friday! It's kind of interesting how all these events keep falling on Fridays, don't you think?? Anyway, sweet dreams (or good morning) -- I'll have more news tomorrow.

Love & Blessings,

Krissy

Day 4 - Post Bypass Surgery

Hello!

I had really hoped to have some good and interesting news to give you, but today was an extremely quiet day - literally! Jimmy proceeded to sleep the day away again, except for a handful of wakeful moments that lasted about five to ten minutes each. During those times, he was pretty lucid and was able to perform his motor skills with more strength. He is still having some confusion over where he is and why. He's doing a good job on the month and year and knows that Obama is President. He has surprised me with knowing the kids names, ages, and where they all are right now. I was pleased to find that he now remembers that I am his wife. He even showed a touch of humor when asked what I was to him and he replied, "the boss"... I hope he remembers that when we get back home!

The best thing is that he doesn't seem to be in any pain or real discomfort. He didn't need any pain medication all day. They did continue testing on him to look for any red flags. They did a CT scan in the morning and another in the afternoon, and both came out fine. They also did another EEG to rule out seizure activity, and that came out negative again. They did put him on a steriod medication to help with brain swelling, but I remember him being on that five years ago also. All in all, nothing scary is showing up. It's the proverbial "no news is good news". I'm starting to think that this is God's way of slowing things down a bit and giving Jimmy's body time to strengthen and heal before embarking on the next step of his journey.

It is my guess that the balloon angiogram and (hopeful) coiling will be put off for a bit, unless he makes a dramatic turnaround in the next couple of days. He needs to be completely awake and responsive for the balloon angio test so that they can know whether it is safe to coil the basilar artery or not. This is one test that Jimmy HAS to pass! I don't know if there are any other options if he doesn't.

I know that this is getting a little boring, but please don't lose interest. It's so important that I have all of your help in praying for Jim's success in the coiling procedure. I also know that once sleeping beauty decides to wake up, things are going to get real exciting again. Everything about Jimmy is always more interesting than expected, and he always manages to be right at the center of attention ... which is right where he likes to be! So enjoy the emotional break for now, but start warming up the prayer chains again for the upcoming events that are sure to come.

I am so happy to have my phone charger back! I felt so much better when I was able to use my blackberry again this afternoon. I didn't realize how dependent I was on all of your support until I had to go without it yesterday. The day was so much more difficult and emotionally trying for me when I felt all alone and disconnected. So please don't underestimate the part that you are all playing in this journey. We really need you, and you are God's gift to us. I will continue to save all your messages until Jimmy is ready to listen to them again, so that he can also draw strength from your words of encouragement and support.

It's going to be another early to bed night for me, which is probably good for my health too; although it never feels like enough. I can only imagine how poor Jimmy must feel! I didn't take any pictures today, because he just wasn't awake long enough to bother, but I will tell you that his swelling is improving. Either way, he looks beautiful to me!!

Good night, sweet dreams, and remember to say your prayers!

Love,
Krissy

Day 3 - Post Bypass Surgery

Me again!

Today was one of the more emotionally difficult days. Jimmy was very lethargic and unresponsive, which set off a whole bunch of warning bells for me. This top picture was taken at one of his few wakeful moments during the day. As you can see, he does not have a feeding tube coming out of his nose; that is because he decided to remove it earlier this morning! As you can see from the picture below, he did get it re-installed later in the day. He did manage to get his sticky little fingers around that one also, but I was able to pry them loose before he could pull it out again. Needless to say, Jimmy's "reminders" have been reapplied and securely tightened down. They are actually kind of handy, and I may just decide to bring them home with me if he doesn't start behaving.



Because he was so out of it, they hooked him back up to the EEG monitor (picture below) to see if he was having anymore seizure activity. It did not appear that he was. After that test was completed, the nurse and I tried to wake him up for his routine testing where he is asked to wiggle his toes, move his arms and legs, hold up two fingers, stick out his tongue, smile, and follow the nurses finger with his eyes. Then he is asked questions like, "what day is it", "where are you", "why are you here", etc. Although we did get him to follow the commands, albeit weakly, he was having difficulty with some of the questions. We got really nervous when he was having trouble deciding who I was. He did know my name, but at first he thought I was his doctor, and when I gave him a choice of whether I was his girlfriend, wife, daughter, or mother, he decided I was his girlfriend. I'm not going to let him get away with that just because he's not wearing his wedding ring right now! After that scare, I talked the nurse into ordering a CT scan. The scan did come back showing some changes in the distribution of the brain fluids, so they adjusted his drain and gave him some medication to help with that. They plan to do another CT scan in the morning, and if he's still so lethargic, they will follow it up with an MRI to see if the aneurysm is doing anything new. They are also checking his blood work to make sure that his kidney and liver counts are okay because that can sometimes make people confused.

Fortunately, the doctors don't seem to be panicking (and I'm trying not to). They think that Jimmy's lack of wakefulness and confusion are due to his post-surgery exhaustion. He's been through so much that they feel that he just needs a few days of restfulness to get his strength back. I guess I can buy that, but it's still a little bit scary to have your husband that confused! He did make up for it a little when asked the same questions and he responded that I was his 'hot wife'. I'll be really happy tomorrow if he can get all the questions correct!

I apologize for not being responsive to your emails and texts today. My darling Michael accidently took my phone charger home with him, so my blackberry died. He is overnighting it to me, so I hope to be reconnected to my lifeline by tomorrow afternoon. I will try to catch up then and maybe have some better news.

Understandably, it was a very emotionally draining day for me. Please send your prayers for renewed strength for both Jimmy and myself. The balloon angio/coil will probably be done more toward the end of the week, depending on how Jim is doing. They need him to be very responsive for that test/procedure. That will be another very big day as we need the balloon angio results to be totally perfect this time. I shudder to think of what other options they will have to come up with if the bypass isn't working well enough for them to be able to coil off the aneurysm. Please, please, please pray for positive results. Don't worry, my faith is still strong; I'm just feeling really wiped out at the moment. I'm definitely going to get to bed early tonight so that I can be strong for Jimmy tomorrow.

Love you all ...
Krissy

Day 2 - Post Bypass Surgery

Hello again!

Remember how I said I was afraid to be too optimistic too soon, well that's because I've been through this before and know how bumpy the road to recovery really is. As you can see from the pictures, Jim was a little more swollen today, which I expected. The good news is that he can now close his right eye again! The bad news is that it is pretty swollen and difficult for him to open. By the end of the day, though, the swelling was subsiding some and he was able to look at me a little more easily. He did say that his vision is pretty screwy, but I'm thinking that will improve.

I received two phone calls from the doctor last night -- always scary! It appeared that Jim may have suffered a small seizure. The nurse said that he was doing a repetitive motion with his right hand and that he wouldn't stop when asked and also wouldn't respond to her other commands. Dr. Wilson, one of the Neuro doctors, decided to tap his shunt. They found a lot of fluid in his brain, so the second phone call was for permission to install a drain into his brain. You can see that hanging off the top of his head. He feels that the shunt that was put in five years ago is no longer working and that it will probably need to be replaced at a later date -- another bridge to cross! Oh well, Jimmy had to have a 'brain drain' last time too, so I'm not overly concerned. He also had seizures with the previous bypass, so I am thankful that this one was short and mild, and it also brought the fluid build-up issue to the attention of the doctors, which was a good thing. Because of the trauma and the anti-seizure medication that they had to give him, he was pretty zonked out all day. This made it hard to evaluate how he was doing. They also found his blood count to have dropped quite suddenly and had to give him two pints of blood -- you should have seen how that freaked Michael out (Sheila, you never would have been able to take it!). So, quite understandably, he was pretty weak today; but at least he was still able to move everything ... just not with as much strength. He did improve some by this evening, so I am hopeful that he will do a little better tomorrow. They also decided to postpone his swallow evaluation for a few days, so they added in a feeding tube (the thing hanging out of his nose) until he can start eating again. That should also allow him enough nutrition to help him regain his strength more quickly.

It was very nice having the kids for the weekend, and I enjoyed sharing Valentine's Day with them (watching the NBA Jam Slam Dunk contest). They were in kind of a silly mood for this picture. I'm not sure why Rick decided to buy those ugly glasses, but there's a lot of things I don't understand about my kids! They all left for the airport together around 2:00pm this afternoon. Jim wasn't very responsive while they visited, but he did wave 'good-bye' to them, which made them smile.

During the time that they were all in the air, we were able to get him awake enough to try his speaking valve again. He hadn't even been trying to speak yesterday or earlier today; but he was moving his mouth better, so we decided to give it a try. His voice was very weak and pretty garbled as his tongue seems to not be working as well right now, but it was still great to hear him try. I could understand most of what he was trying to say. First, he asked me if the kids had gone. He also asked if Judy McStott had left too -- I think he might have been having some interesting dreams! Then he asked me what the doctors had to say. I don't think he remembered anything about last night's drama, but I think he knew that something had happened. He then told me that I looked good to him -- and I wasn't even fishing for a compliment! I told him that he looked great to me! So, while he was on a roll, I asked if I could have my Valentine's present. He serenaded me beautifully with "Brown Eyed Girl" ... just like I had asked! That right there was enough to make my day!!!! Later on I received a rendition of "Sweet Caroline" to top off the night. He obviously perked up as the day wore on.

So, even though Jimmy took a little step back, he finished out the evening by taking some baby steps in the right direction. Like I warned you all, this is not going to be smooth sailing all the way. Jim would never allow things to get that boring! Buckle up your seat belts, and hang on for a wild ride (although I'm hoping for an occasional 'coasting' day here and there). I did learn that his CT angio looked good, so they will probably try the coil later this week -- I doubt they will do it tomorrow as I think he needs a couple of days to catch back up. They will do another balloon angiogram to test the bypass before inserting the coil -- I REALLY hope the results from this balloon angio are MUCH more favorable than the last one!!! If not, I have no idea what the next step will be. This is the part where I ask you all to keep the prayers coming -- I swear we need them by the minute on some days! Tune in tomorrow for the next chapter of this much too real adventure story!

Lots of Love,
Krissy

P.S. I was informed that DJ Dave (Kriegler) dedicated "Brown Eyed Girl' and "Sweet Caroline" to Jim at the District 279 Foundation's "A Night Out" event last night. Thanks so much, Dave -- that really means a lot to both of us!

Day 1 - Post Bypass Surgery

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a picture of my beautiful Valentine! He kinda looks like he partied all night like a rock star, doesn't he? Or maybe more like Rocky Balboa after a big fight. Either way, I think he's beautiful!

As you can see, he's got amazing coordination with his right hand. He's using a swab to wet his mouth because he hasn't yet had a swallow test to determine whether he can have anything to drink yet -- he's very parched! He has also been quite active with his left arm, although he doesn't have the strength to quite get things up to his face. He keeps reaching up with his right hand to touch his goatee and his swollen left eye. The eye is swollen because of removing the artery from that left temple. He can still move his legs around a bit, although his right side again seems considerably stronger. For now, his arms are moving with much more ease than his legs, but at least everything is moving! It's surprising that the right side is stronger than the left because when you mess with the brain, it is usually the opposite side that is more affected ... maybe because that thrombosis is still causing trouble on that right side ??? Another question for Dr. Spetzler. Jimmy hasn't been able to mouth any words for me today, so I'm giving him a rain check on his Valentine's gift to me ... I wanted him to sing "Brown Eyed Girl" to me. I think I'm getting pretty good at this patience thing! He was able to pucker up and give me some kisses though, so I am satisfied. They plan to do a swallow evaluation on him tomorrow. I did see him take a couple of swallows when he was swabbing his mouth, and he did give a slight cough once, so I am hopeful that he hasn't regressed too terribly far. Overall, his strength and coordination are a little weaker than right after surgery, but I expected the first few days to be that way, and the doctors don't seem at all concerned.

Jim did get taken off the ventilator this afternoon, and he's doing great on his breathing. Once he looks like he's trying to speak, they will put his speaking valve in and give it a go. I'm hoping that he's a little more wakeful tomorrow, and we can encourage him to give that a try. He also had a CT angiogram this evening. Depending on how the bypass looks on that scan, they plan to do his coil on either Monday or Thursday -- not sure what's wrong with Tuesday or Wednesday, but maybe they figure that if he's not ready for it on Monday it would be a good idea to give it a few more days. Another question for Dr. Spetzler!

My Jimmy did get a little rambunctious today. He likes to pull at tubes, as we found out five years ago, so they decided to put him in restraints when he is unattended. I thought it was cute that the nurse described them to Jim as "reminders" to leave everything alone. He hates them already! I have a feeling that he's not going to be the perfect patient -- oh well, I can be just as bullheaded as him if I need to be!

Overall, it was a very good day. Jim seems pretty relaxed and not in too much pain. He did point to his left wrist to ask what time it was late this afternoon, so I think he's starting to get more aware of his surroundings. He definitely recognizes all of us and points at the kids and gives them the 'thumbs up' when they come in. He also waves good-bye to us when we leave or he wants us to leave him alone. He's pretty amazing, if you ask me!

I wasn't able to read him all your emails, texts, blog comments, or facebook walls yet as he didn't seem overly interested today. I will save them for when he's feeling better though, because I know how much they all mean to him; and he's definitely going to need more encouragement in the days ahead! So keep him in your prayers, and pray that he doesn't run into any major complications. I haven't heard how our 'pipeline gentleman' is doing lately, but I will let you all know if I hear anything more. I am continuing to pray for his recovery and hope you are too. I hope to have good news on the CT angio tomorrow -- it would be great to keep the ball rolling and have the coil put in on Monday. I'm a little nervous about getting too optimistic too soon, but I am pleased with how well he appears to be doing so far. Thank you so much for the continued support. I know it's been a long time, and it's bound to be longer yet, but I hope you can all stay with us. It really does help!

It's been very nice having the kids here. The boys did drag me and Sandy out to celebrate for a little while -- it felt really good to do something normal ... even if we did spend the whole night talking about Jimmy!! Jenna chose to catch up on some homework and ordered pizza in -- what a good girl! We are staying in at the hotel tonight and ordering takeout from somewhere to be determined. The boys want to watch the NBA slam dunk contest on TV. They dragged me to the diner across the street for lunch -- I can't believe I'm going to go a whole day without hospital food! I figure that the kids need a little quality time from their mom, and Jim will probably be sacking out pretty early again tonight. He can have my undivided attention again starting tomorrow. Speaking of which, we're all heading back to join Ricky who's with him while I'm writing this -- he just called to let us know that he's awake. So, "good-bye" for now. Enjoy your special evening with your sweethearts!

Love,
Krissy

P.S. If you're a procrastinator and haven't made plans for this evening yet, the MLC Band is playing at the Lookout in Maple Grove tonight. They promised to dedicate "Brown Eyed Girl" to Jimmy -- so all the girls on the dance floor!!!

Bypass Surgery Day!

Jim is a rock star!!!

After only 7 hours of surgery, Dr. Spetzler greeted us with a big smile on his face. He said that they were able to harvest a relatively decent artery from Jim's left temple, which was a surprise considering his poor arterial system. He said the bypass was beautiful! He did not choose to clip the basilar artery because he said that there were some scar tissue issues that made it not a good option. So, he is planning to have the artery coiled later this week by Dr. Fiorella. Jim will be awake to make sure that he tolerates the coil, but he expects that he will be able to do so. This is the best Friday the 13th ever! I've found my new lucky number!

Jim was pretty cute this morning. He was very serious and had his game face on. He found us extremely annoying and was very anxious for the whole thing to get going. We had quite a fan club and were busy taking pictures -- much to his chagrin. As you can see,
he wasn't smiling a whole lot. Oh well, I can be stubborn too! The bottom picture is of Jimmy with his Brown Eyed Girls!

When we brought him down to surgery, one of the previous doctors from five years ago greeted us, Dr. Chang. He asked if we remembered him, which we definitely did as he was the one who talked to us after that surgery. He told us that Jim was kind of family and that they were going to take very good care of him. Very comforting words for us! It was easier to leave him this time -- like I said, I just had an underlying feeling of peace and comfort. God was definitely with us, and he didn't let me down!

It was so exciting to see Jim! He was amazingly responsive and was able to move all his arms and legs and was even able to mouth words to us. He mouthed, "I love you" to me, which of course made my night, and he told us to "go out". When Michael promised to take me out on the town, he gave a big smile. Some things never change! He even waved at us as we left the room! So, as soon as I finish this, I am going out for the first time since we got here with a very happy heart! I'm sure that he will likely be in worse shape tomorrow and over the next days, as Dr. Spetzler reminded me that the next few days were very crucial, but today was a nice big step in the right direction of this long and torturous journey. I apologize for being brief, but I wanted to get the news out to all of you as quickly as I could, and I really want to go celebrate with my family. I promise to probably have more to tell tomorrow. Thank you SO much for your prayers -- they worked! Please keep up the good work as we're going to need you. I'm sure the road isn't likely to be nice and smooth, so be prepared for some road bumps, but I'm still optimistic that we're all going to come through this with a new and improved Jimmy!

Praise God!
Krissy

Day 13 - Pre-Surgery #2/Bypass Surgery

Hi all!

Tomorrow's the big day! I almost lost it this morning... our son, Rick, hadn't been feeling well this weekend, and I had urged him to go in for a strep check. Being a typical guy, he kept telling me that he was going to wait it out because he was sure that it was just a cold coming on. As the week wore on, I again encouraged him to go to the doctor because I didn't want him to be contagious for Jim. Low and behold, I received a phone call from him Wednesday morning at 5:30am near tears because his throat hurt so bad. I talked him into going to urgent care right away in the morning where he, of course, tested positive for strep. Everything was still okay at this point because he still had more than a 24 hour window to get on his antibiotic and not be contagious when he got out here. The complication was that, because he had let the strep get so advanced, he had developed an abscess in the back of his throat -- hence the excrutiating pain. The doctor told him that if he wasn't feeling better in 24 hours to go to the hospital. Great! So, at 7:00am, I received a phone call from Rick telling me he was on his way to the emergency room at the Denver hospital. That was where I started to feel total panic! How was I going to deal with having my baby in a Denver hospital, while I was sending my husband off for major brain surgery! I prayed to God immediately to let him know that this WAS more than I could handle. Well, by God's grace, Rick was able to get seen right away in the emergency room and hooked up by IV to some major antibiotics. The abscess responded right away, so they were able to let him go with a warning to keep an eye on it over the weekend, and he was able to make his evening flight out here! I was so glad that all of this took place before I got to Jimmy's room this morning. I feel so much better having him here with me and conveniently being within a hospital the whole time he will be with me. You can bet he won't stand a chance of putting me off again this weekend! So, two things happened: I received confirmation from God that he is right here with me, and all of the excitement helped to create a distraction for Jimmy and me to keep our minds off tomorrow a little bit and focus on something else. God does work in mysterious ways!

Jim and I did a pretty good job of keeping things normal, but I could tell he was on edge -- who could blame him? He's feeling a little better, so he's finding more things to complain about. Again, another distraction. At least we were able to laugh a little at his kibitzing! We received many more encouraging messages throughout the day, which helped to pass the time until the kids and my sister showed up. Dr. Spetzler popped in and told us that he was all set and ready to go ahead with the plan. Jimmy also got to take a shower today while sitting on a commode with wheels. Even sitting, it was pretty exhausting for him, but he liked it better than the bed baths that he's been receiving for the last couple of weeks. I wanted to take a picture of this new baby step for the blog, but thought better of it. After all, he's going to be able to read this himself someday, and I would probably get in big trouble for that one!!!

Larry Rawn visited Jim for a little while again this afternoon, and all the kids and my sister, Sandy, showed up this evening. He was really pleased to have them all there, even though he told them that they didn't need to come. We have two rooms this time, so we're not as on top of each other for the two nights that my sister will be here. Sandy generously offered to let the boys have the extra bed in her room rather than the lumpy pullout sofa in mine. It's helpful to have the 'mom' distraction for a few days when the stress level is so high. I am planning to go right to bed as I have to get up really early again -- I want to make sure to have some quality time with Jim and the kids before he has to go to surgery.

I have been totally honest throughout this blog, and I can tell you that, although I understandably am scared, I have this underlying calm that I can't even explain. I just know that God is already working in me and giving me his peace. This is so big that I have no choice but to turn it over to God, and he is here for me. So, I know that we all are going to be feeling very apprehensive until we get the official word from Dr. Spetzler on how Jimmy did, but I already have confidence in a positive outcome. I know that there will probably be difficult days ahead and even some setbacks, but I just feel that when we finally get to the end of our marathon journey, we will be fine. So please, remember Jimmy in prayer all day tomorrow, but try to find that inner peace that has filled my heart with strength and hope.

I love you all and look forward to having some really good news to tell at the end of the day tomorrow. Don't expect an early message -- his last bypass surgery went 10 hours! But I promise to let you all know the outcome as soon as Jimmy is tucked in for the night. Love and blessings to you all!

Krissy

Day 12 - Post Surgery

Hello!

Well, today was a pretty quiet day without any visitors, but it was a good day for Jim to get stronger. He did his best day of eating so far, as he hasn't had much appetite. This picture is from a couple of days ago, but it hadn't made the blog yet, so I wanted to share it with you. Can you see how excited he is with his pureed meal? Yummy! You can't really blame the guy for not having much appetite, but I keep encouraging him to eat to keep his strength up; and he's definitely getting stronger. The next picture is of Jimmy showing off while sitting on the side of the bed. He's giving the camera the 'thumbs up'. It's actually a pretty big deal that he was able to sit so straight and tall without needing to use his arms for support. Way to go, Jimmy! The last picture is Jim standing up. You can see how tiny his Occupational Therapist is, and she's able to assist him all by herself, which means that Jim is able to do most of the work himself. It's so good to see him progressing as well as he is. Everyday, his motor skills get a little stronger and more finely tuned. The body's healing process is pretty amazing!

We're very excited that the kids are coming out to visit through the weekend tomorrow. They all wanted to see their daddy before his surgery on Friday. Even though it cost me a small fortune in airfare because of the NBA Jam going on in Phoenix this weekend, I'm glad they'll be with me. Jenna was planning to fly home to Minneapolis to watch the State Girl's Dance Team competition,
as were we, but she insisted in changing her flight plans. So, we will be cheering on the Totino-Grace E'gals and the Maple Grove Crimson from afar! Hopefully, the E'gal coaches were able to implement Coach Jim's suggestions into their choreography so that they 'kick butt'! We plan to have our own personal celebration when we get back.

My sister, Sandy, is coming out to visit us also. The hotel staff at the Hampton Inn has been so wonderful, and they were able to arrange a room for her and kept it to the same price that they are charging me, even though they were booking the rooms for $150 more a night because of the big NBA Jam weekend. Everyone has been so incredibly nice to us! I really appreciate her taking the time away from her family to be with me and the kids -- she was very insistent that she come and that her family wants her here. So...thank you Tom, Paige, and Max! Paige and Max even gave up their birthday celebration that was scheduled for Friday as well. I promise we'll make it up to you guys later!!!

So, tell me...has anyone noticed that Jim's surgery is scheduled for Friday the 13th? I'm thinking that it's a good thing that I'm not ,
overly superstitious! I'm sure that Jimmy did not plan ahead and bring me something for Valentine's Day (I, of course, brought his gift along), so I told him today what I would like. I want him to sing "Brown-Eyed Girl" to me on Saturday, even if he's on the respirator and has to mouth the words. That will be the best Valentine's gift ever!!!!

I think that Jim and I are still feeling fairly relaxed at this time. I'm sure there's going to be some nerves tomorrow as the day wears on, and definitely on Friday morning when we get to the hospital early to give him our 'good luck' hugs and kisses, but I'm hoping to still feel that underlying calm that I'm feeling right now that we're going to get through this and that everything's going to be all right. I'm sure that it's all the messages of prayer, support, and encouragement that are being sent our way, together with my confidence in God's love that are putting my heart at peace. You have all been wonderful and are loved and appreciated SO much. I know it's going to be a very rough road ahead, and it's probably going to be a very long one, but Jimmy and I will persevere! So, don't forget about us, we ARE coming home -- eventually!

I'm going to try to get to bed a little early tonight in anticipation of some restless nights ahead. I know it's a very special weekend, and you should all take the opportunity to tell your Valentines how much they are loved, but please be sure to squeeze in a few prayers for us as well!

Lots of love!
Krissy

Day 11 - Surprise Visitors from MN

Good Evening (or morning for most of you reading this)!

Jimmy had surprise visitors from Minnesota this morning. Our dear friends, Dan Hill and Pastor Peter flew in just for the day to come visit our boy. As you can probably figure out from the first picture, they helped to entertain and cheer him up quite a bit. Pastor Peter even gave us communion. I still can't believe they took the time and expense to come all the way out for a visit. They probably spent the same amount of time flying as they did chatting with us -- pretty special guys! As you can see from the second picture, we got to take Jimmy outside for the first time. It was a little chilly, but the rain has subsided for now and the sun was shining. The picture is taken in the hospital healing garden. The change of scenery was so nice -- I hope the weather cooperates enough to try it again tomorrow.

The boys also got to meet Dr. Spetzler. They were very impressed! They both agree that he has an amazing presence and feel confident that we are in great hands. So, here's the scoop! Surgery is scheduled for this Friday morning at 9:00am (remember, we are one hour behind those of you back in Minnesota!). He is planning on going in on the left side of Jim's head as the tissue has been less disturbed there. He will take an artery from either his left forehead or one of his wrists -- he will make that decision when he takes a look at them. It sounded like he would prefer the forehead, so we'll have to see what he chooses. He then plans to use this artery to create a bypass that will redirect the blood flow to all the necessary parts of his brain stem and apply a clip to totally occlude (clog) the aneurysm in the basilar artery. He told us that he will need to be absolutely sure that Jimmy is getting adequate flow and that the bypass is going to hold before doing this. If he is the least bit hesitant, he will close him up and give the bypass more time to stabalize; if he thinks that everything is working correctly, he will then plan to go back later and have Dr. Fiorella insert a coil into the artery through his groin. This could be done a few days to a week after this surgery. We are hopeful that he will be able to do the clip right away so that poor Jimmy doesn't have to endure another procedure/surgery. Dr. Spetzler also likes the clip better than the coil because sometimes you can get thrombosing (clotting) above or below the coil -- and we definitely don't want anymore thrombosing! He also informed us that he might want to go back in on the right side (where he just had the last surgery) and remove more of the thrombosing (and cotton) to give him more immediate results. This surgery would be much less risky this time around because of the artery being clipped/coiled off and, therefore, having no more bleeding issues to deal with. If he decides that Jim is not strong enough to withstand yet another surgery, and I do worry about that, then we will just have to wait for the thrombosis around his aneurysm to dissolve on its own over time. I have mixed feelings about this, but I will defer to Dr. Spetzler to not take any unnecessary risks. I know how hard he is working to come up with a way to fix my Jimmy and send him home feeling better and able to enjoy life again. So, we continue to watch the game as Dr. Spetzler calls out audibles while Jimmy does his best to run for a touchdown in the biggest game of his life. This one is going to be the Super Bowl of the century! Sorry ... I guess I'm still in football season.

All in all, we could be out here for a very long time yet. It's all very scary as none of these procedures are easy or without great risk. Dr. Spetzler just feels that we have no other choice, and I am in agreement. He feels that Jim is on the cusp of someplace we really don't want to go and where there's no coming back -- death or worse. All the risks of stroke, hemorraging, paralysis continue to stare us in the face, but we have the faith that Jim will work his way around and continue to avoid all these issues. He just HAS to!!! We know that God is with us, and feel without a doubt that he has maneuvered us back around to this time and place once again for a reason. And I just won't believe that it was for anything less than another opportunity to show us and all of you a miracle!

Quoting again from Jim's Bible study book by David Armistead, "Those who have heart have hope. Those who have hope have everything." Well, Jimmy has the heart and I have the hope, and together we have EVERYTHING! So please stay with us, and keep giving us the strength to endure this very long journey with your prayers and words of encouragement and support. We are so incredibly blessed to have you all in our lives, and you have touched our hearts forever. God bless you all, and God bless our Jimmy!

Love always,
Krissy

P.S. On a lighter note, I hope you have noticed and are able to enjoy the audio portion that has been added to our blog. Jerrett Praske figured out how to do this for me, and I think it's a really nice touch. So turn up your speakers and enjoy! Thanks, Jerrett!

Day 10 - Occupational Therapy

Hi again!

As you can see, it was a less boring day for our Jimmy. These pictures are with the Occupational Therapist, Leana. She really worked him today! You can see how high he is now able to lift his left arm, and he is able to help himself roll and swing his legs off the side of the bed (with a little help). He sat for about 20 minutes by himself on the edge of the bed and was even able to stand for a little while. He also shuffled more steps to get back in bed. The guy to the left of the bottom picture cheering him on is Larry Rawn. I was SO proud of him, and he was SO exhausted! Jimmy is definitely getting stronger every day, and his motor skills are getting much more refined and controlled. I am so pleased to see this progress. The doctors did confirm that he did not have any vein occlusions, so he is expected to have no adverse effects from this surgery. Yay!!!

He also did his x-ray swallow evaluation this morning. He had to swallow different consistencies of barium -- yuck! He did surprisingly well. He only aspirated one time on the thin liquids, but did okay the other times. They want to take it slow, so they have him back on his thickened liquids and pureed foods. This means that he had his feeding tube
removed, so you will notice that he no longer has anything coming out of his nose. He was so happy to lose that annoying thing! He was able to have a 'real' lunch and dinner today. He didn't eat a lot because it takes so much effort, and he doesn't have much appetite yet. Besides, he's still trying to lose a few more pounds! I just want to make sure that he gets enough nutrition to keep his strength up, so I'll be watching him closely. I'm sure that before long he'll be complaining about the hospital food, but right now he's thinking it's not so bad. He had beef and cheddar (pureed) for dinner tonight ... he said it tasted just like Arby's!

Jim also got to have his catheter removed. Another biggie for him! Although, he didn't complain about it nearly as much as he did the last time he had surgery. I think he finally figured out that it was pretty convenient. It's always a nice feeling when they start removing tubes, so a pretty big day for our Jimmy!

Jim was pretty down today. I actually left him on his own for a couple of hours this morning because I didn't want to join his pity party. He apologized, but I could tell that he wasn't feeling his usual self. I talked to the nurse and found out that they were only giving him a third of his normal dosage of his anti-depressant, so they will correct that and, hopefully, get him back on track soon. He certainly had reason to be upbeat today, so it was easy to see that something wasn't quite right. That is a new project for me -- to get him fired up! Maybe if I borrow Lori Money's Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader
costume it would help, although I'm not sure I would fill it out as well as she does!

We did get a decision from the doctors tonight. They have decided to do the bypass and clip surgery. They feel that the pipeline stent is just too risky. I guess our 'pipeline gentleman' has suffered a pretty major stroke, and they just don't have enough confidence to go that route with Jim. I hope that you will all continue to pray for this brave gentleman, and that he can have a decent recovery over time. I would still like to meet him someday and be able to thank him for being a pioneer. I'll admit that I'm a little disappointed as I was really hoping that this option would work, but I definitely want the doctors to go with the option that they feel the most comfortable with. They are planning to take an artery out of Jim's forearm to use to create the bypass. They hope to create enough blood flow to the places where he needs it so that they can totally occlude the basilar artery where the aneurysm is with a clip. They may replace the partial clip that is already there, or they may just add another one right below it. This will cut off blood flow through that artery, and eventually the thrombosis (clotting) around the aneurysm should dissolve. That would take care of the pressure on the brainstem and, hopefully, permanently alleviate his symptoms.

Jim was really quiet and scared when he sent me home tonight. We both knew that more surgery was imminent and were anxious to know the what and when, but now that it is near, it's pretty unnerving. It feels a little bit futile to be celebrating removing all these tubes and upgrading from ICU when we know that he's going to have to go back and do it all over again -- but this is what we came here for. He needs to be fixed, and we have to trust that God will take care of us and help the doctors to do so. Dr. Spetzler will be doing the surgery, and he's the best! That's why we are here. We don't have the exact surgery date yet, but they are thinking either this week or the first part of next. I am expecting that we will be here another two to three weeks. This is going to be a very big and scary surgery (again), but Jim came through the first two really well, so I have every reason to believe he will continue to do so. There are risks of stroke and hemorraging, but they feel they are less than the risks would have been with using the pipeline stent. Based on Jim's amazing track record and the dream/near death experience he recently had, I have to believe that God is just not wanting to take him yet ... and that is what I am counting on!

We will deal with anything that God has in store for us, I just choose to believe for now that God knows what is in my heart and is on the same page with me -- he's had plenty of opportunity to take him away, so there's got to be a reason that Jim is still here with me and the kids. I truly do expect to come out of this with a new and improved Jimmy! Another quote from the men's Bible study book by Marlo Javidando (no idea who that is) that I am holding on to is, "Be strong, go with your heart, and believe in miracles because anything ... anything can happen." I said after the first surgery that it was a miracle that Jim survived; well, here we go getting ready for another one. Nobody can tell me that God doesn't do miracles anymore -- keep watching, and you will see!

So, we need to rejuvenate all the prayer chains. Please pass the word that we have a new route planned for this marathon, and we are hoping for a strong finish! Hope you can all keep up!

Prayerfully and with God's Blessings,
Krissy