The second surgery

GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS?!?!? HUMP DAY!!! 

Yeah, I know. It's not getting old, it's really old. Still makes me giggle though. :)

Today is his follow up surgery.  We were expecting it to be this evening but the two people scheduled before him were canceled so we are in pre op by 10:30 am and have already talked to his surgeon and staff,  and hopefully will get him back soon.

Waiting.  The hard part. 3 hours. Lots of reading. 

And so everything went fine.  He had elevated heart rate and blood pressure in recovery so we were there (in a meat locker omg it was freezing!!!) For about an hour or more. He was well taken care of by several doctors.  His surgeon came by and said everything looks better than expected so here's to hoping for fast healing!!!

Once we got to the room I got some dinner and Jake and Queenie came!! Dean was cold and had several blankets on and Jake said " Daddy!  You look like a castle! " :) Dean had a lovely dinner of crackers and water. Then they brought him another bed!!! It's a sand bed. Yes sand! It weighs around 1600 lbs!!! The sand is blown around with air and aids the healing process!  Let's hope it works

Getting Dean to the OPC - I do believe it's actually a MAZE between buildings and bridges!

Rice University - saw this on a bridge on the way back to Dean's room.

This is what the sand bed looks like.  The white part is a sack of sand that's moved around with air, and the bed is heated, to keep him warm!

Keep the Updates a coming...

Hello!  Everybody is loving the updates I'm doing here so I'll keep Em comin!

Monday
I returned to work.  Ya see I work in one of the best places to work in Houston.  It's true,  Insperity is always in the top 5 in Houston! ! Not only that, I work with the best team in my department.  That's more of an opinion but still, I do.  I have a light load and they also feel family is the most important thing.  Best. Job. Ever!!!

While I'm at work and Jake is at daycare,  my awesome Mother is with Dean helping any way she can.  Lovely Mommy! I hope I'm at least half as good as she is at being a mom!

Dean went for his Picc Line around 2pm.  However there was a huge back up and he didn't get back to the room until 7:30!!  It's like hospitals have absolutely no sense of time.  I know they have to do things in order but really? A 20 minute procedure should not take 5 hours of waiting to get it done. Hurry up and wait all the time!!!  So very frustrating.   But it went well and hopefully it will help.  My mother stayed there all day! Bless her!!!

Tuesday

Back to work again.  Jake is still getting used to his Daddy being at the hospital but he is a trooper and doing well. Issues with the daycare asside.  His room teacher seems to be on her own schedule and it's not Kids r kids schedule.  He had to stay in another room until 10am!!  Anyway. ..

Dean seemed to be doing well this morning.  His mom and niece are going to visit him this afternoon.  Jake and I will be going there this evening.  Apparently it's National hot wing day. I will be bringing some.  Shhhhhhhhhh!! Don't tell!

So....He loved the hot wings! ! It was fun! Ever Jake liked the mild ones! Then we had several desserts and got to laugh and talk for a nice evening. 

Surgery is Wednesday afternoon or evening.  Not sure. We are seeing this as the beginning of his heeling and are ready to start the next phase!

Monday. Watching the Fox and the Hound. 

Bad ol hunters! :)

Tuesday at the hospital they had a sports memorabilia area set up. Didn't get anything though.

Weekend Update with Dean A.

Again,  Dean has some infections but if you want to visut. Please ask me. :)

Saturday.
Apparently Houston is under construction.  59 south at Tuam, 288 lanes closed, AND Fannin just as you get to methodist from the zoo is CLOSED!!! Took me an hour to get here leaving at 6am!!

Jake and Mother came up (after a 2 hour drive in traffic! !!) And stayed and hung out with us until after dinner. It was really a good afternoon.  They watched part of an old Lego movie. He loved it! Guess we are gonna have to give the Lego movie a try now! :)

Sunday
Traffic was way better today! At least Fannin wasn't closed too! :)  As usual the morning was busy. Dean's Uncle Mike and Aunt Pat, and his brother David all came by. Nice afternoon.  Mother and I took Jake to Herman Park to play in the water park. It was a short play but we got to ride the trains! Hoot and Toot for all Disney Jr fans!!!  Evening was nice as we had dinner and watched American Ninja Warrior which is always fun! 

Tomorrow I have to go back to work.  I'm nervous about it but my mother will be with Dean tomorrow.

Please keep praying for Dean!

Sunday morning traffic.  Closures a Tuam and at 288!!!

Saturday - Jake at the Healing Garden. This leaf is bigger than he is!

Sunday Lunch - Pizza with Cool Ranch Doritos! !!

So, we are waiting...

The next couple of days will be slow and the same.  Every 2 hours vitals. Shift changes. Figuring out schedules. Time is fast. Then slow.  But we will work all this out.

If you want to come see Dean please let me know and we can arrange some time.  Afternoons are better than mornings for visitors.

Thursday.

Dean got all the outstanding things he needed from after surgery, his personal items and a bed cover.  Not what we were expecting but it's a good air mattress.  I went home to get some things and play with Jack and Buddy. And bring Jake to see his Daddy. First thing he asked is "Daddy! Are you all better?" Sweet kid. We got to eat together.  One of Dean's friends, Dale, was able to visit, and it was nice.  After Jake and Mother left I hung around a little then went home to sleep.

Friday.

I got up early and beet the traffic to get to the hospital at 6:30.  Dean had some visitors today. Dean's mom Linda and niece Linda Jean came by just before lunch. Deans friend Brian Galloway came by shortly after.  Dean's brother Doug came by in the afternoon.   

We got to talk to his surgeon and discussed the follow up.  He does have some infections and will be treated with IV drops for 6 weeks or more. Jake and Mother came up and we had one of the casseroles I made,  tater tot casserole with veggies and ground beef. Was delish! Jake of course charmed everybody he saw and got candy from a doctor and ice cream from Dean's tech. He is really being a good boy.  I went home last night to get some sleep. 

This Lego was put there Tuesday. It has not moved since. Not sure what's holding it

Friday morning.  I haven't been stopped by a train in a long time!!!

Surgery went well

After a really long day, all said and done, surgery went well.  A follow up surgery will be Wednesday next week.  We have decided its' best to stay in the hospital for the week.  Send me a message if you would like to know which room.

After we got him checked in and in pre-op, we waited.  And waited. And waited.  Apparently the first person on Dean's surgeon's schedule was quite a complicated case. Then, the 2nd one took a good amount of time as well.  They took Dean back abut 5 pm and he was finished around 7. I got to go see him around 8, then we got to Methodist around 9pm.  Settling in for the first night being so late is not easy, but we managed.

Houston Medical Center - it's nice from the 19th floor of the Methodist OPC building.

I was able to have dinner and enjoy a yummy treat while waiting for Dean's surgery to finish.

It was a pretty tough first night, as it usually is the first night in the hospital.  His bed is "on order", he's getting an air mattress bed that helps with healing and is special order.  He just got a more accessible call button so he can call the nurse himself, which he couldn't last night because maintenance was closed for the evening.  So, all in all, the staff here is doing a pretty good job so far.  They are listening to us at least when we tell them what we want them to do.  Hopefully the shifts will stay a little consistent so we don't have to repeat ourselves every time.

Now, the healing and waiting game begins.
Thank you everybody for all your thoughts and prayers.  They are appreciated!!!

And, just in case you haven't heard, here's the latest on Durwood (Dean's Dad) from Linda (Dean's Mom)
7/23/2014 10 pm:
Had a better day. Increased strength in right side, enough to pull out the ventilator tube! Nurse said it was no accident! He didn't like it! Had to reinsert a secondary tube for meds and future tube feeding . Naso-gastric tube is out also. Has remained off sedation all day. All he had was a oxygen mask and will have B-Pap machine tonight. When David & I Spoke to him and held his hand, he tilted his head and tried to open his eyes and squeezed my hand! I needed that Lord! The nurse said his right side was significantly stronger today, yet a bit weaker than left. Am thankful for this encouragement.

Here we go

Well, we are here. Methodist Outpatient building.  We had to be here at 7 to check in. We got here at 6:58. Thank goodness for valet parking!!!

A big hurry up and wait. Never any fun.  Then, they decided today was a great day for a fire dril. At least we were already up here on the 19th floor. Lots of sports pictures up here! Berckman, Schaub. Cool! 

Oh and built in patient lifts!! What a great idea for a hospital to have!!!

An hour later, and now we wait. We are checked in pre op and are 3rd on the schedule. We will get to see the surgeon before he goes in.

More later... 

So, what ELSE is going on?

Hello Friends and Family.

NOTE:
I wrote the below post yesterday before my Father-In-Law, Durwood, had to be rushed into surgery for his fall yesterday afternoon.  I've revised it a little (if you already read it).  If you want to know more about Durwood, please feel free to ask.

As far as helping out with meals, I was able to cook up a couple of freezer meals this weekend, and in some twist of faith, one of Linda's friends cooked up 12 (yes that's a dozen) freezer meals for us, which will really come in handy now that Linda may need some too!  She was going to store them in their deep freezer anyway.  Please pray for Linda and Durwood as they are also going to go through some rough times.

Original post about Dean:

I know some of you know this, and some of you don't, but I thought it be best to keep everybody updated with what's going on in my blog.  This seems to be the best way people are sharing information these days that need to go to a wide range of people, and it helps the poster (me) to get a few things out there and ask for a prayer request without crying multiple times a day.

So, what ELSE is going on? 

Dean is going to be having surgery Wednesday, 7/23.  We found out he may have a bone infection.  This is a treatable condition, but how severe or not can only be determined with surgery.  Basically, the usual way antibiotics are delivered to the body to fight infection is in the blood, but the blood doesn't go through the bone, so it needs to be surgically explored and cleaned.  We will not know the extent of any infection until after the surgery, but based on the X-rays, which is not always completely reliable in cases as these, it looks like there is an infection.  Again, it could be small but it could also be big.  

Also, we learned last week that after surgery, his recovery may be more that just a few days in the hospital then come home to heal and recover.  He most likely require a long term stay in a facility designed for extensive wound care, and of course there is not one really close to our house.  If we need to use a long term care facility, it's been recommended to use Kindred.  It's funny, coming from a "country girl" who had to drive 30 minutes to the nearest small town, 30 minutes in the Houston Area seems so long to me now.  There is a facility in the medical center, one in Spring, and one in the Heights, all around 20 to 30 minutes away.  There is a Kindred Rehab hospital (ironically it's a SCI/Brain Injury rehab facility) but they do not specialize in the wound care we may need.  So it will most likely be another facility around Houston.

There are pros and cons to Dean staying at a long term care facility.  Pros like he will be cared for 24-7, they specialize in healing, so it *should* be good (Note: if they are not I will make sure they are!), stuff like that.  However, the biggest con is he will not be home.  This is of course the worst part.  It will be hard on both me and Jake, and it's something I am not looking forward too.  But, if the healing is somehow better at a place like this, then we can get it over with and (hopefully) not have to think about it again.

Now, I know all of you are wondering "How can I help".  Right now, we are so in Limbo that we don't really know our needs.  But, believe me, we will ask for help.  If I've learned ANYTHING about the situation we are in, we welcome and ask for help when we need to.  For now, please pray for the surgery to take place as scheduled, as the doctor does not have another opening for 3 months.  Also, pray for the surgery to be successful and be able to clean up anything and take care of anything that is needed for healing.  And, pray for me and Jake to have the strength to support Dean in anyway we can.  Easy cook or freezer meals are a good idea - ready made crock pot recipes where you dump and turn on are awesome for both of us too.

To top it all off, My PHONE DIED!!  :(  Hopefully I didn't loose too much.  I'll be getting a new one tomorrow as it was still on warranty.