Thank you...

I wanted to thank youall for your help.  I've never been a fan of blogs, but I can understandnow how well they fit in certain applications in life.  It's a littlebittersweet writing this last post b/c writing this blog helped me more than you'llever know.  

Thanks to our family andfriends as well, there are so many letters, emails, phone calls, food, visits it'simpossible to list them all but you know who you are and you made a differencefor us.  Thank you.

What did I learn overthe past months?

• Family is priceless, by far the most valuable asset anyone could ever have, and it shames any material asset in the universe.
• I now understand and can appreciate insurance co-pays and fee's.  A lot better than the alternative.
• You have to allow your friends to help you.  I'm not someone who likes taking or accepting help but if there was ever a time we needed it, this was it.
• Sleeping on a hospital floor or recliner is an awful idea and it's only a matter of time before the caretaker is worthless.  For me, it was 4 nights.
• Our medical field these days is absolutely amazing.  It's insane what their knowledge and capabilities are.
• Dogs are great, especially ours - Lana.  She knew what was going on.....and I'm convinced dogs have a 6th sense.  
• Life can be cruel at times.  There isn't any way around that aspect of it, however the combination of family, friends, faith and science worked for me.  
• Understanding what your up against helped tremendously, learn as much as you possibly can.
• Do not run away from your battle.  Run towards it --- It's not going anywhere.  Take a deep breath and Tighten Up.

PS ---  Dana, Iwanted to tell you, "Thank you".  Thank you for being strongerthan I could ever be.  You kept my head up when I needed it most.  Ihaven't a clue what my body was running on during the initial stagesof all this...probably a mix between adrenaline, inspiration and love. 

Regardless, you areincredible.

The Final Update

If you don't feel like reading this long blog post, this will sum it up = Dana is cured.

If you'd like know a little more information about all this then here you go!

Yesterday we had an MRI to get an update on how everything is coming along (I think we've become experts at the filling out paperwork, waiting, and waiting some more thing).

Once we had our MRI scans in hand we visited with Dr Deshmukh and his PA Dr Stamper and got some very good news.

The brain has continued to heal nicely.  Some of the entry way they removed to get to the cavernoma has already healed up and the best news was there was still no sign of any residual cavernoma.  Deshmukh was particularly happy about the amount of old stained brain matter they removed from the area.  He estimated that around 95% of the stained brain had been cleaned thus increasing our chancing for no seizures down the road.  He could see a that the right side of her head was still slightly swollen however that will come down eventually as well.

After getting the good news we started asking away if she could do this, or that.  There was a long list and they were very patient with us (as always) and went over how much of this we could do and/or why we couldn't do any of that.

We have 6 more long weeks until she can do impact exercises like jogging but in the meantime she is allowed to exercise on the elliptical, stationary bike, swimming, etc.  

The overall main threat to Dana now is general fatigue or getting over heated.  If she gets too fatigued and over does something then it's possible her body could shut down (sort of like fainting), thus requiring her a day or two of rest to get her energy back.  Her eyes will have bags under them and she'd really just feel exhausted.  Deshmukh told us that younger people actually have a longer recovery time than older folks b/c younger folks usually over do things and then have set backs.  Luckily for us that hasn't happened!

The overall main threat to Dana in the long run is seizures.  Due to the fact that we operated on a part of the brain that is mainly associated with seizures there will always be a risk for seizures.  However, because they removed a lot of the brain that was stained with blood (and thus having iron deposits in it) her risk of having a seizure is just as much as me having a seizure.  

I love those odds.

In 6 weeks we have another follow up to check on how she is going and to remove all restrictions from her.  That will be a terrific day sometime in mid-May and we can't wait.

After we left the Dr's office we had lunch at our favorite restaurant in Davidson, Flat Iron.  For Dana she took advantage of one of the lifted restrictions right away by ordering a beer!

New Restrictions

Yesterday was 4 weeks after her 2nd surgery and she definitely made sure I remembered that as well as our Dr's.  After not hearing from them by noon I had to call our Dr up, pleading for him to give me a call back so I could get her off my back!

A few hours later he gave us a call and we answered a lot of questions regarding her progress, any set-backs as well as what she's been doing day to day for the past week.

Based off the info we supplied him here is the plan for the next week until we visit him this Thursday =

• She can watch TV, use her smartphone and be on the computer for 30 minutes at a time.  She will become tired after using these but as long as she listens to her body and rest she'll be fine.
• Obviously with the incorporation of watching video screens that will test her brain on whether or not it is good to go for not having seizures.  She has never had a seizure and the med's we just precautionary but the temporal lobe area is a hot spot for seizure activity.  After having surgery on it there is always a risk for inducing them. We will complete the use of the anti-seizure medicine this Monday so that will give us a few days of no med's + computer screens prior to the Dr visit on Thursday.
• Slowly but surely she can incorporate more day to day activities and be more active over the next week (small chores, etc).
• No driving until after next weeks check up.
• Prior to the Thursday check up we will get a MRI with dye to see how everything has healed over the past month.  This will give us and our Dr the peace of mind that we are all needing for him to say that she is close to being cured.
• Due to her age, her good health and how she has taken time to not overdue anything these past few weeks he feels she may be excelling at this healing process.  He is hopefully that we will be able to give her the label of "cured" at 6 weeks instead of the 8-12 week mark.  
• Exercise still isn't on the table though until two more weeks.

All this being said, we are on track for great things!!!  I'll keep you posted on how this next week goes and who knows maybe Dana will jump on here to say a few things since she can do that these days.  After next weeks visit on Thursday I think we will be able to safely shut the blog down and move on to normalcy.  

Puzzles and fun

Dana finished her 1st puzzle tonight. We weren't sure if it would be too much for her but after a handful of days things are good and no setbacks.

Things are finally slowing down for us. The whirlwind seems to be behind us, although we realize we still have a ways to go til everyday living is a norm again.

At the end of this coming week we should have some restrictions lifted. We aren't sure what restrictions those will be but we know whatever they are well need to take it easy and ease back into things.

As you can see we've slowed down on the number of posts we have been sending out. Whenever we have news we will definitely broadcast it out however I know sometime soon we will most likely shut it down simply b/c Mrs Degan will be able to communicate with family/friends herself.

The following pic's:
Finishing her puzzle
Books on tape with Lana
Donut King (new place in town....not healthy)

Good Things

After receiving the green light for Dana to sleep in bed now we didn't know if she was going to have any spinal fluid issues moving forward or not.  After two evenings of sleeping in bed, reasonably flat with a pillow I am please to say she hasn't had any spinal fluid leakage.

Whenever you hear the word "Leakage" it is just a bad thing right?!?!

Luckily for us, her spinal fluid seems to have stopped which means the scar tissue in the brain is doing what it is supposed to do.

Outside of that the week has been going great.  Dana has enjoyed the company of her Sis, my Mom and a couple of terrific friends --- the Amanda's (Conley & Downs) - ((The Amanda's are awesome and I love them b/c they mean so much to Dana and as a plus their husbands are a lot of fun to hang out with)).

Here is a pic from this past week.  Dana has been taking some water color painting lessons with Mom and as you can tell from some of the artwork she has put together her creative side looks to be just fine.

Lastly, tomorrow or Friday we should get a call from our Dr's looking for an update on Mrs Degan.  They will of course be looking to learn how laying flat has been and start looking to next Thursday when we hit week 4 and some restrictions get to be lifted.  I am very excited to see some of these restrictions get lifted HOWEVER I'm not excited about making sure Dana isn't overdoing anything.

Of the many things I've learned through all of Dana's recover process is how fun it will be dealing with our children.....They will be persistent, insanely energetic, bullheaded, frizzy haired and more so than anything else SASSY.

I can't wait.

Lil' Update for ya

Today we chatted with Dr Deshmukh regarding Dana's progress.  

There were a few questions we wanted to ask and we got all the right answers.

We first ask when could Dana stop sleeping at a 45 degree angle in the recliner.  Her neck is not feeling good from all that sleeping at an odd angle.  Dr Deshmukh decided it was OK to transition back to sleeping in a bed.  However if we experience any spinal fluid drainage increase then we have to move back to the recliner.  The only catch is that Dana has to sleep on her back.....she love's sleeping on her side though so this should be interesting.

We get to start to taper off taking the anti-seizure med's so that is a great thing.  No more odd dreams and weird naps.  In two weeks, we'll be off of them completely.

Dr Deshmukh told me that everything inside the brain will take 4 weeks to recover.  Once that 4 week time comes around and things inside are fully healed Dana will definitely feel a lot more energetic and spunky b/c her body won't be needing to divert all it's energy towards rebuilding that brain.  He said it's kind of funny how it works...once 4 weeks rolls around bam.....lots of energy but we can't let her run wild just yet.  

Once week 4 comes they'll be able to left some of her restrictions (not sure which will be lifted though) so that is exciting too.

All in all a great update and someone is extremely excited to lay in a bed with comfy sheets.  I too know I'm looking forward to having her back as well.

Lastly Dr Deshmukh said that he wanted us to stick around CLT until we get to week six. He asked if we had any plans for Easter and if we did lets just say he said to not to do that. Traveling right now isn't a great idea, but soon it will be.

Board Games, Audio Books & Gossip

Board Games, Audio Books & Gossip are the three things Dana loves most these days.  Mainly b/c those are the only things she's allowed to do outside of sleeping in a recliner and taking a stone throw's walk (it's too cold).

We started a game of Monopoly but I think we may have played a bit too much last night b/c her eye's were hurting  a little so I think we overdid it.  Outside of that, she has been doing great and things seem to be on the up and up.

Her girlfriends from WI went back home Wednesday.  We both wished they would have stayed longer as they really spent the majority of their time with gossip, board games and laughter.  Really helped her out I think, unfortunately time flew by way too quickly.

We are hoping that we'll be able to transition her back to a bed sooner than later.  The recliner is great and all but it just doesn't compare to a comfy bed.

Our next appointment won't be until April 11th.  Hopefully they'll give us some great news like she can get back to normalcy.

Time will tell, but if I were a betting man I'd put all my chips on Dana continuing to kick ass.

PS --- Thank you all for sending awesome gifts, treats and cards in the mail.  Like I said, it's her favorite part of the day and really cheers her up when she gets to open up something --- it's like Christmas every day.  The following picture is of her when I told her we couldn't hammer the entire cookie tin that the Thullin's sent her.  She's just so sad b/c they are SO FLIPPING GOOD.