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