Brian update...

Brian is still healing. He went to the doctor friday (3/5) because he was running a fever and still in a lot of pain (this is 4 weeks after surgery). The doctor took one look and could tell right away that he was having a reaction to the suchers they used to sew him up. They had to pull all of them out that they could see and then dug out all the scabs that were starting to heal. Not a fun process as they did not use any numbing agents. Hopefully now he can start to feel much better. The doctor did say that this would set him back another 4-6 weeks though...one of these days I will have him back, right?!

Update!

Brian is coming home today. I don't know which is going to be harder...having him so far away that I can't see him for days on end or having him home, incapable of taking care of himself. I will take the later...it will be so great to see his face again and be able to hug him and comfort him whenever I want instead of doing it over the phone. Not to mention how much Keziah is missing him! His dad is gracious enough to go get him for me since Brian can leave whenever he has somebody there to pick him up (and we all know it takes way more time to get two little ones loaded up then it does for his dad to just hop in the car). He should be home safe and sound by this afternoon! Yipeee!

Please Pray...

Brian had his stomach surgery yesterday (feb. 5) and as expected he is in A TON of pain. Please pray that he will get rest and start to feel better soon, that he can be comfortable and that things will heal like they should. I just talked to him and he is feeling very lonely too. Pray that he will feel comfort even when nobody is there. He has a chest tube to help with his right lung so a tube is coming out of his right side causing a lot of discomfort also (this is a normal thing) besides the nine inch incision down the center of his stomach. The doctor said everything went well they just had to completely take apart what was previously done and redo it. This is a lot more painful a second time around and a lot more painful the younger you are. Thanks for thinking of him in this time of healing!

(Brian before surgery)

We arrived at the hospital at 9am. We went into this room at about 9:30am and he didn't get taken until 12:30. Once he left this room he had another 1.5 hour wait before they would even start surgery. We were notified at 1:55 that it was starting. At 4:30 we got an update that everything was going great but that it would still be a while longer. At 6:15 we were notified they were just starting to close him up. At 6:45 we met with the surgeon. It wasn't until 10pm that he came out of recovery and we were able to see him. What a long day! I was so thankful Brian's mom was with me and also thankful my mom was at our home with Keziah so I didn't have to worry about her.

(Brian after surgery with Adah-the next morning)

A long 3 months...

As some of you know, Brian has been pretty sick since the middle of October. We haven't known what the problem was until just this week. He has missed a lot of work and missed out on being a part of family things-instead, laying in bed feeling miserable. It was just an all-of-the-sudden kind of pain at the base of his esophagus that wasn't there one day and then was there the next. He called me from work to tell me he was feeling so bad he thought he might go to the hospital. It was the start of a very long 3 months. That night the kids and I (thankfully still pregnant and not with three kids) waited in the hospital waiting room while they took several tests. I ended up taking the kids home for dinner and going back for Brian. Several ER visits later, to not only the New Hampton hospital but also to Covenant in Waterloo, Brian finally made an appointment at Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN. That appointment was on January 5th. It was the start of us finally getting some answers. Brian's mom was able to watch Keziah so that I could go along. We met with a specialist that asked a lot of good questions about history and present-day stuff. We of course knew that wasn't going to be the last time we saw her. She scheduled him the following Monday and Tuesday to have several tests done. Monday the 11th Brian went down with his mom (I couldn't go) to have a scope done. Then early that afternoon they did a test where they had to insert a tube down his esophagus and attach it at the base. For a full 24 hour period he had to wear this tube coming out of his nose attached to a machine that he wore around his neck. This test measured the pH in two areas-his stomach and his esophagus. On Tuesday he had to go back and get the tube taken out and have an x-ray done. Then later in the afternoon he had to meet with Dr. Kelly to get the results of all his tests. Sometime in October of 2008 Brian had a surgery done that tied off a hiatal hernia. Apparently the wrap has come a little loose and is allowing acid to come back up into his esophagus. That doesn't necessarily explain the pain he is having but Dr. Kelly went ahead and referred him to a surgeon to talk about possibly re-doing the wrap on his hernia to see if maybe that would take care of the pain. Brian met with the surgeon last friday, Jan. 15th. The surgeon thinks the wrap needs to be redone and also thinks it is possible that the pain he is having could be caused by a nerve being pinched or leaned on by something. Brian goes in for surgery on February 5th to have the wrap redone. Please pray that everything goes smoothly and that the pain is fixed, that the doctors will do a good job and have a clear vision of what needs to be repaired. Recovery is much worse the second time around because they can't do it laparoscopically. He will be in Mayo for four nights and then he will have a 6-8 week recovery time after that. Also, pray for my sanity through the next three weeks until surgery while Brian is still in pain and then the months that follow surgery while he is recovering!!

Surgery Update!

Brian went in for surgery yesterday at Allen. They were going in with a scope because they didn't know exactly what was wrong with it and ended up finding quite a bit to repair in the back of the shoulder. All his previous work has been done in the front so it was pretty encouraging to know this was a completely different area. They put in 6 anchors and pulled from the bicep up to tighten it. He said this is by far the most painful surgery he has had on his shoulder. We got to the hospital at noon and he didn't go in for surgery until 3:40 (they were really behind). At about 7:30 I met with the surgeon and he told me what he found. I didn't see Brian until 9:00. We finally made it back to my parents' house at midnight after running across Waterloo to pick up prescriptions at the only 24 hour pharmacy in town. It was a not fun experience...let me tell you! At 37 weeks pregnant, the hospital was not the first place I would have chosen to be spending almost 12 hours! We are thankful however that he came out of surgery ok and that he is now on his way to recovery!

Round three...

You guessed it, Brian is having shoulder surgery again. Tomorrow is the big day. He will go in around 2 and have a scope done. If they find something they will repair it but for now they don't know exactly what they are going in for. It is going to be a different doctor this time and he is sure he can fix it (I think we've heard that before!). Originally this doctor saw a chip out of a bone on an x-ray he did and he was going to repair it with some other bone. This was going to be an overnight procedure. Brian did a whole bunch of research and really felt like it was not the surgery for him so he called to talk to the surgeon. Together they agreed it probably wasn't going to fix the problem and decided to just do a scope instead (an in and out procedure). I am very skeptical but hopeful and trying to be supportive to my ever-so-determined husband who wants to be able to play golf again someday! Just think of him tomorrow and say a prayer for him if you think of it.

Round Two...

Brian had an unplanned second round of surgery on his shoulder yesterday. He first had a scope done April 16, 2009 where they found some tendons torn and repaired them through the scope. Several weeks later and after many sessions of physical therapy he was feeling virtually pain free and actually back to golfing a little. One night while watching TV he reached across his body to grab the remote with his left hand and his shoulder popped out again. How discouraging. So yesterday they decided to go in and open it completely up. They found a couple more tears but think this will definitely fix the problem this time. We just pray it does and that he will heal quickly and be back to his old self before we know it! He did say this time he has a lot more pain but I think that is mostly due to the 4.5" incision. If we can just get through the first 48 hours, the doc said the pain will decrease dramatically. Cross our fingers and pray he can get some sleep!