Brain Surgery

I had my brain surgery on September 18. It is technically called Chiari Decompression. It is defined as a posterior fossa decompression is a surgical procedure performed to remove the bone at the back of the skull and spine. The dura overlying the tonsils is opened and a patch is sewn to expand the space, similar to letting out the waistband on a pair of pants. The goals of surgery are to stop or control the progression of symptoms caused by tonsillar herniation, to relieve compression of the brainstem and spinal cord, and to restore the normal flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The surgery takes about 2 to 3 hours and recovery in the hospital usually lasts 2 to 4 days.
My surgery actually took more like 4 hours and I was in the hospital 4 days. Dr. Kim (my neurosurgeon) said my chiari was worse than the mri in April showed. I am confident that the surgery has fixed me. I have not had a tingle, a pain or a numb feeling since surgery. I get my stitches out on Tuesday and hopefully they clear me to drive because I am getting a little cabin fever.
I have thoroughly enjoyed having my husband do all the endless duties I do during the day that are never ending. Oooh did I already say that, never ending, 24/7 early morning to late at night, mommy this mommy that. He has a new found appreciation for this SUPERMOM!

A posterior fossa decompression is a surgical procedure performed to remove the bone at the back of the skull and spine. The dura overlying the tonsils is opened and a patch is sewn to expand the space, similar to letting out the waistband on a pair of pants. The goals of surgery are to stop or control the progression of symptoms caused by tonsillar herniation, to relieve compression of the brainstem and spinal cord, and to restore the normal flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The surgery takes about 2 to 3 hours and recovery in the hospital usually lasts 2 to 4 days. - See more at: http://www.mayfieldchiaricenter.com/chiari_surgery.php#sthash.pIMjZvGN.dpuf

A posterior fossa decompression is a surgical procedure performed to remove the bone at the back of the skull and spine. The dura overlying the tonsils is opened and a patch is sewn to expand the space, similar to letting out the waistband on a pair of pants. The goals of surgery are to stop or control the progression of symptoms caused by tonsillar herniation, to relieve compression of the brainstem and spinal cord, and to restore the normal flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The surgery takes about 2 to 3 hours and recovery in the hospital usually lasts 2 to 4 days. - See more at: http://www.mayfieldchiaricenter.com/chiari_surgery.php#sthash.pIMjZvGN.dpuf

A posterior fossa decompression is a surgical procedure performed to remove the bone at the back of the skull and spine. The dura overlying the tonsils is opened and a patch is sewn to expand the space, similar to letting out the waistband on a pair of pants. The goals of surgery are to stop or control the progression of symptoms caused by tonsillar herniation, to relieve compression of the brainstem and spinal cord, and to restore the normal flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The surgery takes about 2 to 3 hours and recovery in the hospital usually lasts 2 to 4 days. - See more at: http://www.mayfieldchiaricenter.com/chiari_surgery.php#sthash.pIMjZvGN.dpuf

A posterior fossa decompression is a surgical procedure performed to remove the bone at the back of the skull and spine. The dura overlying the tonsils is opened and a patch is sewn to expand the space, similar to letting out the waistband on a pair of pants. The goals of surgery are to stop or control the progression of symptoms caused by tonsillar herniation, to relieve compression of the brainstem and spinal cord, and to restore the normal flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The surgery takes about 2 to 3 hours and recovery in the hospital usually lasts 2 to 4 days. - See more at: http://www.mayfieldchiaricenter.com/chiari_surgery.php#sthash.pIMjZvGN.dpuf

And then there was Zoey!

Because my life is not crazy enough with a dramatic 18 yr old, rambunctious 5 yr old twins and a sassy little 17 month old and a home base embroidery business......... we got a PUPPY! We have actually been looking for a Westie since April but have had no luck. The opportunity came about Labor Day weekend that a maltese was available and a female so we got her. We named her Teche (tesh) at first but that seemed more like a big dog name and well Zoey is bite size. We went through a list of favorite dog names and Zoey stuck. She is 2.5 lbs and just a little ball of fun. There have been hurdles, loss of sleep, poop on the floor, whining at night, but we love her and she is learning.Our beloved cat of 13 years Kiki passed away on 8-21 so we didn't think twice about adding Zoey to our family.

My babies had a great first day at Kindergarten

As the bus pulled up and the rained poured down my babies got off with excitement about their first day of Kindergarten. I am so excited about this year and all they will learn the friends they will make and the experiences they will encounter.

Twas the night before kindergarten...........

‘Twas the night before kindergarten and as they prepared,
kids were excited and a little bit scared.

They tossed and they turned about in their beds,
while visions of school supplies danced in their heads.

Erasers and crayons and pencils galore
were stuffed in their backpacks and set by the door.

 Outfits were hung in closets with care,
knowing that kindergarten soon would be there.

In the morning it came – school starts today!
Would the teacher be nice? Would they still get to play?

Faces were washed, and teeth were brushed white;
Kids posed for pictures with eyes sparkling bright.

Parents packed snacks and kids hopped in cars
As if they were boarding a spaceship to Mars.

Some kids brought blankets or their favorite stuffed bear;
in hopes they could nap like they did in day care.

Their parents exclaimed: “You’re big kids – WOW!
Let us hold your bears and blankies for now.”

The parents were worried their children would cry
if they left them at school with just a good-bye.

So they told their darlings, “If you want, we can stay
and make sure that everything will be A-okay”

The teacher then greeted each one with a smile,
and invited the students to stay for a while.

The room was all filled with toys, books, and maps,
but where were the beds for midmorning naps?

They colored and painted and played Simon Says,
then tumbled and skipped and stood on their heads.

They sang silly songs from beginning to end.
Within just a minute, each kid had a friend.

The children were happy. They loved Miss Sunrise
It was she who was in for a giant surprise.

When what to her wondering eyes should appear
but sad moms and dads who were holding back tears!

Their noses – so sniffly! Their eyes – red and wet!
This was the saddest good-bye Miss Sunrise had seen yet!

She gathered the grown-ups on the magical rug,
then sent them away after one final hug.

The children all waved from the door of the school.
“Don’t cry, Mom and Dad; kindergarten is cool!”

Off to Kinder they go!

Today we had meet the teacher for the twins. I could possibly be more excited than them. Their school is amazing. It was constructed this year and literally finished weeks ago. It is gorgeous inside. I am so excited for the teachers and students. It's going to be a great year.

I have a diagnosis

I have been back and forth to drs and have had several MRI's. I went to another neurosurgeon this morning and have answers. Not the answers I had hoped for but either way we have a next step.
The Dr was shocked after reviewing my mri results that I don't have more symptoms than I do. When I asked her what she expected to see she said that most people with severe herniation and spinal voids (syrinx) are very clumsy, drop things often, have severe headaches, get dizzy, have speech issues and fall often. She stated she couldn't believe I only have headaches and slight nerve damage on the left side. However she does recommend surgery. It's not something that is urgent since my symptoms aren't progressing rapidly. The surgery will release the pressure and prevent my symptoms from getting worse but won't cure any damage that has been done. I will be having chiari decompression surgery probably in August. It is a 4-6 weeks recovery time so maybe when Preston and Lily go to kinder in August that will be the best time.  Ashley's culinary program is year round so she won't be done until December. I don't think she will ever move back to Cypress. She is absolutely loving Austin.
Here is a link about the surgery if you are bored or curious. http://www.mayfieldchiaricenter.com/chiari_surgery.php  It's a 2-3 hour surgery that involves removing a section of my skull from the back of my head. The hospital stay is 2-3 days. Recovery 4-6 weeks. I have my pre surgery consult on June 18.
I asked my Dr. if I could still go on my girls trip this weekend and to Hawaii next week and she said yes but I do have some rules I have to follow until the surgery. No head jolting, sky diving, zip lining, roller coasters, scuba diving and nothing that will cause trauma. These were pretty obvious since I don't do any of those anyway except the roller coasters.So I will be relaxing my little heart out in New Braunfels this weekend and head to Hawaii with my hubby on Monday. I plan to do nothing but sip drinks all day on the beach. 

In a moment everything changed

I have always been very healthy. My doctor even made the comment a few weeks ago "We haven't seen you in 4 years" That is because I hardly ever get sick. Around the beginning of April I started having headaches and went to visit my doctor. The nurse practitioner said it looked like my pain was more in the neck and prescribed muscle relaxers. I took it once and it didn't help at all. I had tried everything from Advil, Aleve, to caffeine and chocolate. Nothing worked so I started taking Excedrin Migraine. That seemed to help so I started taking 2 Excedrin everyday for about 2 weeks. I also started a new Zumba class to get fit for our upcoming Hawaii trip. I did several Zumba classes and liked it but it wasn't something that was gonna make me lose the weight I wanted. So I started a kickboxing class. The first class I was exhausted but loved it. I never did sit ups or push ups and did 50 of each at the first class. I couldn't wait to go back. I went back last Tuesday but couldn't do the things I had done in the first class. My abs were killing me. Once I got home I cleaned the house and did my usual Tuesday stuff while the twins were at school. The time came to pick up the twins and my abs were hurting a little more. Preston had a game that night and I needed to bring a meal to someone. Around 5:30 I bought the meal and by the time I got back home I could barely walk into the house. Aaron saw me and immediately though I had appendicitis. We called the neighbor to come over and watch the kids so we could go to the emergency room. Once we got to the ER the dr gave me morphine for the pain. She also assumed it was appendicitis as well but needed to do a ct scan to confirm. The CT scan came back and she was surprised that it wasn't appendicitis but what she called a huge mass in my abdomen. That scared me right away. We went to a stand alone ER that isn't attached to a hospital, which meant I needed to be transported to the hospital. About 10 that night I got to the hospital got more pain meds and went to sleep. Early Wednesday morning I got an MRI. The dr came into visit and I explained I had been taken Excedrin, started exercising and am now in pain. Before he even reviewed the MRI he said I had a rectus sheath hematoma. A combination of the aspirin in the Excedrin combined with my new exercise routine thinned my blood and caused an artery to bust. I lost about a until of blood but it's contained within the muscle. The only thing that will help is rest and relaxing. Oh and not lifting anything over 10 lbs for a few weeks. That's a hard one since Carly weighs 17 lbs.
Once we figured out the abdomen pain he wanted to know why I was having such bad headaches. I told him where my pain was and he ordered a CT Scan. The scan did come back abnormal and he said I probably have one of two conditions but wanted to get an MRI done to be sure. The 2 conditions he thinks I might have are:

a condition involving the greater occipital nerve

or

Chiari 1

I could have been born with the chiari 1 and it may or may not have anything to do with the pain I am having.I need to call on Monday to make an appt to go in and review the results. He said that in most cases both can be eased with medication depending on how much I can tolerate the headaches. Right now nothing helps the pain. They sent me home with Vicodin which is a joke. They did give me a steroid shot of prednisone that helped alot but they said I can't go home with that. 

So that is where I am and how life can change in a moment. 

Could they be anymore beautiful!!!

I am so happy and blessed that they are mine. 

 

 

Ashley came into town for a few days for Easter. Between work and school in Austin it's difficult for her to get down here. I told her the only plan was that we were all going to be in the same place at the same time and take a family pic. I didn't care if we were all smiling I just wanted a family pic. I am surprised how well they came out. I could not be more proud of my family. I absolutely love it!

Resolutions

I usually don't set aside a list of rules for myself to abide by. Especially since by 1-3-12 half of them are usually broken. I try not to set expectations that will disappoint me. I'd rather just have a word or a phrase to live by each and every day. Last year my word was SIMPLIFY. I strived to really make my life simple. This year it's still the same, SIMPLIFY. I succeeded in simplifying last year but I think it's something that always needs to be revisited. I love this sign that hangs in my kitchen because it's a constant reminder that simple is always better.

Christmas 2012

And she's off

The Friday after Christmas we left for Louisiana to visit Aaron's family. We decided we would only stay until Tuesday wince Ashley had to be moved to Austin by the 3rd. We had a great time shopping, eating out, visiting with friends and relaxing with family. Even more exciting was the on Monday morning I sent Aaron a link to a car that I had been looking 3 months for. You see when we need something rather it be a car, a tv or a new pair of shoes we research (sometimes to a fault) We want to make sure we get the best bang for our hard earned buck. So imagine my disappointment when we called the owner of the car to find out it was sold. Oh well wasn't meant to be................. or was it? Aaron got online and decided just to search the Lafayette area since we had usually only searched the Houston area. We found a car a great car for an awesome price, from a dealer. Meaning the warranty and the ability to deal was greater. We left the kids at Nana's and went to test drive the black Traverse. I loved it! Black wasn't my first choice but I didn't see the white diamond tricoat color I REALLY wanted. So we test drive and come back. Upon or arrival back to the dealer there it was like a beacon in the night, a white diamond tricoat 2012 Chevrolet Traverse LT. Where do I sign? I fell in love. It is by far the nicest car I have ever had and will be driven until the wheels fall off just like every other car I have had. It is an all leather, dvd, back up camera, heated seats, power lift gate, captains chair, bose stereo dream I tell ya!
Ok so I obviously regress. We got back from LA on Tuesday unpacked the car. Ashley and Aaron repacked my car and her car for the move to Austin the next morning. Bright and early Wednesday morning we headed out to Austin. My mom came over to watch Preston and Lily. Such a blessing because I could not imagine having the whole fam damily with us. So we arrive into Austin get unloaded, unpacked and head to Sam's and Target to stock the apt full of necessities. Leaving Ashley in Austin is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. I worry for her safety, I pray for her guidance and am proud of her determination. She has turned out to be an absolutely wonderful lady. She starts culinary school and her new job on Monday. Say a little prayer for her on this day.