A Thanksgiving Message from Marshall Vic

We are so fortunate that Marshall Vic sent us a wonderful Thanksgiving message that we just had to share with the village...enjoy!!

Thanks Marshall...we sure do love you!!

There's A Lot To Be Thankful For!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

Let me start this blog with a HUGE "Thank You to our FABULOUS Village" for all the support, positive energy and prayers...not to mention your friendship, cards, well-wishes, goodies, skyping, jokes, videos, and love that you've given Brenda and I this year. Words just escape me in trying to tell you all how much your efforts have meant to us. You are simply..."THE BEST!!!"

Now let me bring you up to speed on today's activities...all is well and I'm not typing you from the Houston City Jail!!! The big milestone for the day was that Brenda got the drain tubes out. I have to confess that this absolutely gave me the creeps when they pulled these out. Holy Mackerel!! There was a lot of tubing in her neck. The nurse kept pulling and pulling and the stuff just kept coming...Lord...it was gross and I just couldn't watch her take the other side out. Plus you could see that it really was painful to get these removed. It was gross...just gross. But...the dang things are out. Brenda was getting tired of watching her balls!! Ha!

We got Brenda home and she immediately hit the shower. She said it was absolutely heavenly to actually wash her hair...well and all the other parts as well! There's absolutely nothing like a shower.

The next great thing was that the Rehab Department DIDN'T cancel our 4:00 pm appointment!! May miracles NEVER cease! The therapist worked with Brenda for over an hour and improved her range of motion and relaxed some of the tight muscles in her shoulders and back. She said it felt great. Too bad it's a holiday or we could have gotten her a couple more sessions in before the one we have Monday. This is something she'll definitely continue once we get home and can find the right therapist.

So here we are back in the "hood." I've made dinner and now we're just relaxing and playing on our computers and watching a little TV. All's well. Brenda is trying to move her head a little more to improve her range of motion. Having the drains out really makes a big difference. I think we'll be in good shape to take Paula and April up on the most generous offer to go to April's home for Turkey Day!! YUM!!!

So if I don't get a chance to check in tomorrow...again...

Happy Thanksgiving

Hugs to all...
Dee and Brenda

The "Chief" Comes Out Again...GRRRRR!

Boy! The "Chief" sure came out this morning!!! Here's what happened. Michele...you really would be loosing your mind with this!

So we got up early to make sure we were on time for our 9:00 am appointment for physical therapy. Let me just set the stage a little bit. I know it will probably give the ending away, but you have to know the details to understand my reaction. I really am giving this all away!!! So last week, per Dr. Gillenwaters orders, we made the rehab appointment through Robert, the scheduling guy for that department. We were set for Tuesday the 24th at 9:00 am.

OK...Brenda goes to surgery and on Saturday the rehab lady comes in and gets Brenda walking and leaves paperwork on the exercises and info on Lymphadema with us. She doesn't say anything different about Tuesday's appointment.

When Brenda is discharged on Saturday afternoon, the nurse prints up her schedule and on the schedule is Tuesday's appointment. Are ya still with me on all this? So what would you think right now...RIGHT!!! We still have an appointment on Tuesday the 24th!!! OK...We're all on the same page...everyone except the Rehab Department at MD Anderson!!!

Early morning appointments are REALLY HARD for Bren...that's the time she gets some good sleep. She usually gets up around 5 or 6 am...gets her mouth and nose cleaned out, takes her meds, and then heads for the couch for about 3 to 4 more hours of really good sleep. So it's hard for her to get up at 7:30 to get ready for her 9 appointment.

You are soooo right...Robert CANCELED OUR APPOINTMENT YESTERDAY!!! The worst thing about that is that...NO ONE CALLED UP TO TELL US THE APPOINTMENT WAS CANCELED!!! What the hell is up with this!!!! We were ushered into Robert's office where he tried to explain why he canceled it. He said that when someone is admitted to the hospital their "STATUS" has changed and they need new orders. I asked if the computer showed us as "Discharged" on Saturday and thus our "Status" was the same as when the appointment was first made. He said "YES", the computer did show that Bren was out of the hospital, but they needed new orders. I said I have the schedule that the nurse that discharged us gave us that showed us the appointment was still set for Tuesday!!! I asked how we were supposed to know that he (Robert) would end up camceling the appointment or that we needed to do something different when NO ONE CALLED US!!! I just looked him in the face, and with MUCH restraint, and in my most "Chiefly" manner, advised that this was just flat "UNACCEPTABLE!" Again...I was trying not to get arrested!! He got the message and we now have an appointment at 1:00 PM this afternoon.What is up with this canceling stuff without notification!!!

I just hope and pray that we still have that appointment when we show up at 1:00. I won't be responsible for my actions if it's been canceled. LORD help me!!!

OK...so not to worry...Brenda is fine and dandy...sleeping lots and healing. The drains are still in because they are still outputting too much juice. It has slowed this morning and I'm really hoping we can get these out tomorrow. I'm not sure anyone is in the office on Friday due to Thanksgiving.

Just thought I'd share my morning frustration with you!! Ha! Remember the old saying: "Pain shared is pain divided." Hopefully this is the same for frustration!!

Stand by more more updates...or some huge explosion!! NOT!!

The Houston Duo

A Sleepy Football Sunday

Hi Everyone...After 12 hours of sleep we almost feel human! Well Brenda still feels drugged and is in pain from the knife fight Friday...she's doing so much better than she did last night. Trying to get the pain calmed down and get her comfortable so she could sleep was rough. She was pretty miserable. But thanks to all the good drugs she's taking, she finally got to sleep.

Today is a much better day. The pain isn't as intense as she can lay on her side...her favorite couch sleeping position. She still draining over the limit for the tubes to come out so maybe we can get them out Tuesday. I sure hope they'll be out before the long holiday weekend.

So today was spent sleeping (Brenda), watching football, (both of us), and playing Mafia Wars!!! (ME!!) Then I got cleaned up and ordered a nice pot roast dinner for Brenda and I from the Black Eyed Pea. I thought it was yummy, but Brenda had some difficulty getting the meat down even though it was very tender and juicy. All the foods she used to eat and all that she can eat now are so very different. We'll get it figured out.

After dinner, we went walking around the 3rd floor of our apartment building so we can work on getting her moving...Doc Vic orders! Tomorrow we'll try to do that in the morning and afternoon and then on Tuesday we have a physical therapy appointment. She's got to start all the exercises tomorrow however. I already told her that Nurse Ratchet is out again!!!

So there ya have it VP's...all's well in the hood. Tomorrow will even be better. Sleep well and thank the Lord for Brenda's excellent medical care and her wellness.

More tomorrow...
Nurse Ratchet and Healing Brenda

Ms. Brenda is Free At Last!!

OK...so I just typed an entire entry for the blog tonight and was just getting ready to send it when I hit some dang button and the entire thing disappeared!!! UGH!!!

Here I go again...this is a short one because I'm pooped! Really pooped!!

We sprang Brenda from the hospital around 3 this afternoon. She started to do much better once they got her up and moving a little. Poor thing, she had a rough night until they got some good pain meds in. They also got her tummy calmed down and she started eating regular food late this morning.

It's good to be back at the apartment where it's quiet...no more beeps, vitals, visits...well you know the drill. I sure hope with her evening meds we can get her comfortable and she can get some sleep. She just hurts!!! I thought I'd add a photo in case you're curious about the knife fight she was in with her surgeon. I think the docs and nurses out there will say that she's looking pretty darn good. I really thought she's be a whole lot more swollen than she actually is. I'm sure as the days go by, she'll be getting better and better. Soon the tubes will come out and she'll get a little more mobility in her neck and then the exercises to regain all the strength in her shoulders will continue.

So we are going to try and get some sleep...I'll check in tomorrow and let you know how she's doing. Sleep tight everyone...

The very sleep Houston Duo...

A Sleepy Saturday Morning Hello

Hi VP's...it's 8:00 am here in Houston in room P1130 at MD Anderson and I just thought I'd give you all an update on our gal. We both didn't have the best of nights sleep. Again you all know the post-surgery/hospital stay drill...wake you up and take vitals...wake you up and make you go pee...wake you up to empty the drain meds...wake you up to take more vitals...etc. Now we're not complaining because in that wake you up phase, Angelina (our night nurse) also brought some morphine and some zophran. Bren's tummy is still upset...probably because there is nothing in it and she needs her normal meds. She also drank a little too much water last night and that decided to leave her tummy around 3:00 this morning.

We're trying to get her comfortable in the bed but she just aches and, of course, still is very sore from the surgery. She probably won't have the best of days today but then things ought to get progressively better. They also have her using a nasal saline spray every 2 hours to keep the inside of her nose moist.

I spent the night here in a half recliner. I only got to put my feet up and had the back half of the chair upright. Thanks heaven I'm not very big...I did all sorts of pretzel things with my body to try and get somewhat comfortable in this chair. I actually did get some sleep so all is well. I'm not sitting here with my morning Starbucks and a cancer-free partner and I just couldn't be happier. I'm so very thankful for all the things the village has helped us with through this journey...please know how much you mean to both Brenda and I for all the good that you bring the world and our lives.

We're going to try and get Brenda to eat some solid food in hope that she can keep this down and they are still talking about discharging her around 11:00 am...we'll see how that goes.

So stay tuned and I'll give you more updates later in the day. Hugs to you all from both of us.

Dee and an uncomfortable Bren

Doing OK...

Hi VP's...well it's 10:45 pm and Brenda and I are up in room P1130. They have her comfortable and her pain is under control so all is proceeding OK. You know how post-surgery goes...very groggy...pain...aches....tubes....drains....beeps from machines...UGH!!! Bren's stomach is upset but they are on it and all that's come out when she thinks she has to throw-up is air from her tummy. She's sleeping now and I'm back on duty and will help watch her through the night. It certainly takes a village!!!

Here's the info from Dr. Gillenwater. She came out about 6:00PM and said that the surgery had taken longer than expected because of all the scar tissue in Brenda's neck...it made the surgery a little more difficult, but all the "bad boys" are OUT!!! The fantastic news is that when she went looking around her sinus cavity she didn't see any cancer or suspicious "things" in there. She placed the nasal stints and hopefully that will help her breathe better. They want her to try and keep this device in about 2 weeks in hopes that the nasal passage will heal open before the stints come out. They also put some stuff in there to try to retard any further growth of the scar tissue. Keep your fingers crossed.

Dr. Gillenwater couldn't tell if the lymph nodes and tissue she removed were cancerous or just dead but still full of hot tissue (from the radiation.) All the stuff they removed will go to pathology and hopefully in several days, we'll get the results. Still need all those positive thoughts and wonderful prayers rolling in gang!!

Paula and I got to go back to the PACU to see Bren around 7:00 and she looked amazingly well. I was envisioning that she would be really swollen in the face and neck and she wasn't swollen much at all. She has incisions that run from the base of her ears around the fold in her neck maybe a good 5 inches on each side. There are drain tubes on each side and the incision is closed with disposable sutures with stiry-strips (sp?) all along the incision site. She's draining stuff from her neck and the doc said that the tubes could come out once the output was 30 cc's or less in a 24 hour period. Since the right side was more involved, that is draining the most. Needless to say...they won't be coming out tomorrow!!

So friends...Brenda is good and now sleeping comfortably. I'm about ready to start napping here in this recliner. I'm pooped! Thank you all so very much for all your prayers, love, concern, and well wishes. Paula...thank you soooooo very much for keeping me company and teaching me all about the ins and outs of Mafia Wars and sharing your "Mafia Wars Gang list" with me. It's so addicting!! ha! You were just a sweetie for sitting so long with me...it really helped to pass the time.

If everything goes well and Brenda is doing OK...they said they might release her tomorrow...YEA!! Just in time to watch football on TV this weekend. Watch the blog and I'll give you pictures and another update tomorrow...it's time to get some shut-eye!!

Sleep tight. The cancer is out of her!!! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Dee and sleeping, cancer-free Brenda!