Out of the Neuro ICU

Written yesterday at 5:00 pm
I get to make a jailbreak from the 24 hr/day, arm-sticking, people-waking, loud talking, "Nurse Wardens" in the ICU - who I also must say have taken great care of me - as soon as they get a room ready...yippee & wahoo!!! I can't wait! I have approx. 16 gillion wires everywhere that love to get tangled and drive the nurses crazy. =)


I have to say that this surgery was much harder than I had predicted, mostly b/c the worst kind of pain I'm experiencing -muscle spasms- cannot be treated with pain medicine. They're treated with muscle relaxers, but they have had to be careful to protect my airways. Hmmm...I thought if you just gave in to being a "druggy" you could always find a way out of pain...nope!


Sunday was a terrible pain day also. And I never, ever thought I could hit someone, but when the Physical Therapist came in and "so cheerfully" told me to get up out of bed so I could start walking (without offering me any help), she almost got a left hook! But, I could just hear Jack telling me "that's not a good choice, Mom," so I just let out a huge "hhhmmphhh" and rolled my eyes dramatically. (I'm guessing that wasn't the first time she'd gotten that reaction?!? I'd have had a lot more motivation if she'd dangled a Krispy Kreme donut on a stick out in front of me and told me if I caught up to it I could eat it! So, after about 30 minutes with my dad's and PT's help, I got out of bed, took two steps, and had to get right back in bed because it was so excruciating.


I slept the rest of the day....ahhhhhh....


Monday, "little miss positive" came back in and got me out of bed, again...grrrr. But much to my surprise I got out of bed easier and went about 10 feet with my walker and then back to the chair in my room where I sat upright for 3 hours!...now, I know that doesn't sound like a huge feat, but it was! The rest of that day I felt horrible and just battled the incredible swelling in my neck and the rock hard, bulging muscle spasms. Dad massaged my neck a lot and we used heat packs to soften them up. He and my doctors decided I looked like a linebacker.


Tuesday was great! Overall, I felt 200x better than Mondayand I have to humbly admit, the docs and therapists were right that getting moving would be hard at first, but it was the only way to start feeling better.I was able to walk 2 laps around the nurses station in the ICU and it was the first day I didn't sleep all day - in fact I didn't even take a nap and my neck started to look dramatically less swollen. I was also able to sit in the chair instead of lying in bed for a good portion of the day. And...drum roll...at 8 pm last night they released me from the NeuroICU to a real room!




Written Today at 10am
The doctors just came in (Wednesday am) and asked me if I was the same person they saw on Monday because I look so dramatically better! They told us not to cancel our flight home that's scheduled for tomorrow at 1:00pm. They would like to get me out of here today, but my sodium is too low for them to legally discharge me. So, they gave me some more Lasix and dad went and bought me enough salty foods to give me a heart attack and I'm shoving them down my throat. I'm doing the best I can do, but I realize that God's plan may be different.

Please pray that He would grant me and the doctors wisdom in this decision.


Now my goal is to get HOME!!! I miss you all and I love you guys so much. Thanks for all of the wonderful, encouraging messages and all of your hard work for us on the homefront!

April