We've Been Sprung

Great News VP's...we just got back from seeing Dr. Hanna and we're homeward bound tomorrow morning. YEA!! That's such fabulous music to our ears. Now it's time to pack our bags, get home, and get our lives back to normal...whatever that is!! Dr. Hanna said that Brenda is healing really well, but no lifting, and she can start working out very easy in 3 or so weeks...Brenda is just going to wait until after the holidays and slowly start back into her workout routine at the first of the year. We sure don't want that patch to create the bubble Michele is visualizing. That picture really cracks us up. No bubbles Michele...NO!!

He said he'd like to see Brenda again in 3 months and would work with all the other doctors to coordinate and maximize all the appointments. Maybe we can hold off until around February to come back.

So our gal is dripless and back on the healing track...that is such great news. We jet out of here at 11:35 tomorrow and when we get home we both have hair appointments. On Sunday, I'll drive down to Tucson and get Tanner. We'll do laundry and get everything ready to go to the cabin on Monday afternoon. Brenda did crack a tooth while we have been here so she has a dentist appointment on Monday morning. Our girl gets her wish...Thanksgiving at the cabin. That is going to be a great time. Don't worry...pictures will be coming.

Have a fantastic holiday, enjoy all the blessing that you have been given...Life is Good.

Toodles from Houston..
Dee and Dripless Brenda

The Patient is Sprung!

Hi everyone...I know you're all wondering who won the smoke alarm fight...I DID!!! Did you think otherwise? I finally got the maintenance man up here, after 2 visits to the office, and had him put in new batteries and then disconnect both of them from the hardwired electrical source...yea! Silence from the infernal churp is wonderful!! The alarm still works because of the battery but there must have been some kind of electrical short. Dee -1 / Smoke Alarm - 0!!!

I know you're all anxious to hear how Brenda is doing so let me get to that. I sprang her from the hospital around noon yesterday with instructions that she should take it easy for the rest of the week. That's not a problem because there's not much to do here!! She was a little wobbly after spending 4 days in bed, but she's allowed to get up and move a little so I'm sure she'll be up to flying home on Saturday if the doc says she's good to go. We see him on Friday. She's not supposed to lift anything over the weight of a gallon of milk so that's why I've been working out these days!! I've now become the sherpa!! Thank heaven she can pull the rolling luggage bag.

We spent the rest of the day watching football...what else are you supposed to do in a foreign town, stuck in an apartment, when it's cool and cloudy outside. And on that note...what on earth happen to the Steelers yesterday? Tom Brady and the Patriots really smacked them last night...OUCH!

Neither of us have been sleeping very well so we resorted to a couple different meds and slept like logs...man! Did we sure need that. We now are beginning to feel human again. Sleep is soooo underrated. It's still a cool, cloudy, and a drizzly day in Houston so I think we'll just pop some movies in the DVD and settle in. I thought I'd add a pic of our gal so you could see how well she looks. She really is recovering nicely...and no more DRIP!! YEA! Keep your fingers crossed that it will hold. Marshall Vic...Have that "Great Stuff" handy in case we need it! Ha!

Love to you all...
Dee and Brenda...the dripless!

Saturday Update...

Good morning from a cloudy, breezy, cool Houston...First off, I'll give you an update from room P1118 at MD Anderson.

All goes well with our favorite patient. The night of surgery Brenda had a little bit of a scare when her nose started to bleed when she got up to go to the bathroom...it also scared the on duty nurse so they called the on duty doc. He really didn't know what to do...dah!! When Doc Charlie, Dr. Hanna's "fellow," came in to check on Bren Friday morning...he said that was normal and they expected that to happen. Well Hell! Wouldn't that have been nice if they told us to expect some blood!!! Too obvious I guess...UGH! So the best news is that everything is going as expected and she's healing well...YEA!! They want her in bed for another day and then she can come back to the apartment and continue to recoup here.

Michele...OK on the use of the word "CODE" when speaking about hospital patients...crack me up. But you have to remember that I spent 30 years in law enforcement and only a year and a half in health care...the law enforcement side always takes over...always! Remember you wanted us to come to Africa with you to protect you from any hungry animal!!

OK...here's one for you. I think God is mad at me for some reason and that's not good. Yesterday morning, just as I was about ready to leave the apartment to go over to the hospital, the smoke detector in the hall started to churp...that is a sound straight from hell. I'm sure that all of you have tried to live through the churp of your smoke detector...it usually goes off around 2:00 am...UGH! So I knew that damn thing had to get repaired PRONTO. I called the maintenance folks and put a work order in, gave them permission to enter the apartment, took out all the valuables (remember...30 years of law enforcement!!!) and went off to visit my favorite patient.

I spent all afternoon and the evening with Bren and then came home around 9:00 PM. I walked into the apartment and found the work order on the counter that said they had entered and I ASSUMED fixed the problem. I was tired and just wanted to check my e-mail and then go to bed when all of a sudden the damn smoke detector...yep...started CHURPING!!! NOOOOOOOOOO! It was now 9:30 at night and I knew I just couldn't sleep through the damn churping alarm. And you guessed it...when I called the maintenance number they said there was nothing they could do...the work order was still OPEN but it wasn't an emergency. In whose opinion was that!!! Certainly not the light sleeper that was supposed to sleep through the damn alarm!!!

So I decided to isolate the alarm (close the door to the hall that had the offending beast), drug myself with a full dose of Ambien, and sleep on the couch. Can you believe this? Man! Was I pissed! God...what are you trying to tell me??? OK...I fixed up the couch, turned on the TV, took my Ambien and tried to calm down!! I actually slept. But all is still not fixed!! It started its infernal churping again this morning so off to the office I went. We'll see if they can fix it. I've got to get this dang thing fixed before Bren comes home...trust me...I will or the smoke detectors will be destroyed and I'll claim temporary insanity.

I'm doing the laundry and getting the apartment cleaned up for Brenda's return tomorrow. I called her and she's doing well. The bleeding is subsiding, she got a good nights sleep and a good breakfast, and the doc said that all was looking good for her to go home tomorrow. We're on target folks!!

I'll keep you posted on who wins the alarm war...any bets?

Have a great day and pray for me!!! Ha!
Dee the Destroyer

Code 4 from Houston

Hi everyone...I had a horrible time trying to get on the internet at the hospital today so I had to wait until I got back to the apartment to get on the computer.

Everything is "CODE 4." That's police jargon for "All's OK." The surgery was a success with NO complications...now that's music to our ears. We had to be there for check-in at 5:30 so that meant we got up at 4:30...have I told you that we are NOT morning people?!! UGH! But the sooner in, the sooner out! Dr. Hanna started the surgery at 8:00 and he was out talking to me at 10:30. He said he found the leaks visually and was able to use existing tissue in her sinus to create flaps that covered the areas where the leaks were occurring. He glued them in place and then used some self absorbing packing to hold that in place. Amazingly enough when I saw her...she could breathe through her nose!! There is a God! We were really worrying about that because she has no saliva and so breathing through her mouth is a nightmare and we had visions of really restless, interrupted sleep. YEA! She's going to get some good rest now. Dr. Hanna said he wanted her to stay in the hospital for a couple days to keep her from jogging or jumping around...bed rest is the name of the game for now.

So I was expecting long strings of cotton coming out her nose, tubes, and all sorts of stuff...what was I thinking!!...this wasn't a horror movie. She looked just fine...groggy and with left over disinfectant wash on her face, but she looked just fine. She said she had a headache and could feel a pressure in the area where they did the surgery, but as the day went on, the grogginess wore off, and she got some pain meds and her other usual medicine. She was doing great when I left tonight. She had a great dinner of fish and vegetables plus some veggie soup so I felt I could go back to the apartment and get some good sleep in a real bed instead of spending the night in those horrible chairs. I am sooo pooped!

So dear friends...all is well...the dripping has stopped and the healing has begun once again. Thanks ever so much for all the positive thoughts and prayers...they help so much.

More tomorrow...sleep tight!
Dee

We're Back!!!

Hi Everyone...well we're back in our Houston apartment ready to get Brenda's dang leak fixed once and for all! Going home was both wonderful and tragic. Many of you know that we lost our 7 year old Dobie, Abbie, who passed way on Halloween night. Our hearts still hurt so very much over her untimely death. She had a condition called DCM...dilated cardio myopathy. It's a disorder that has really plagued the Doberman breed. I had her heart tested every 4 months, we had her on heart meds, and she was even lined up to take part in a stem cell study. We also knew that she could die very suddenly from the disease and that's exactly what happened. At least it was very quick and painless. Tanner...our 3 year old male Dobie is absolutely lost without Abbie...she did all the thinking for him so now he's going to have to find his own unique identity. But maybe the schedule worked out this way so we could spend some days with Abbie and that she could pass at home. Rest in peace dear Abbie and thanks for bringing such joy to our lives. Continue to guard the house...that's your job!

We did get to have a really fun pizza party (home made pizza on the grill,) got to see our friends, and get some projects done. I thought I'd add some pictures to this post because...well...because it's just fun ro see some pics. You'll see our great friends at the pizza party and Pat playing "airplane" with Ryder...man! did he love that game. Julie...he might follow in your footsteps and be a pilot. He just liked that movement so much. Then there's a pic of our usual bedtime routine where I watch an episode of "Lie to Me" on my iPad while Tanner lounges in his favorite bedtime position...what a character. Then there's the priceless photo of Brenda in her new "Monkey" pajamas (thanks Becky) impersonating the very famous "Sock Monkey!!" Great impression don't you think? She is such a character...that sense of humor she has is just priceless and has certainly helped her get through all this crap.

We flew back to Houston yesterday, went to eat at Pappas BBQ, and then went over to the clinic bright and early this morning for Brenda's pre-surgery appointment. That took a couple hours and we headed for breakfast after. The skys clouded over and by the time we got back to the apartment it started to rain. Now what does an Arizona gal do on a cloudy, rainy, cool afternoon? You're right...she takes a good long nap!!! Man! did that feel great! And it's a good thing I got that nap in because we called the clinic this afternoon and learned that Brenda's check-in time for her surgery tomorrow is 5:30 AM - UGH!! At least Dr. Hanna will be fresh as he tickles the base of Brenda's brain...that just sounds wrong for some reason!!! Ha!

So dear friends...I'll check in tomorrow after the surgery and let you know how our gal is doing. She should only be in the hospital for about a day for observation. Keep her in your prayers and positive thoughts. More later...

Dee, Guardian of the Princess

We're Going Home!!!

We just got back from seeing Dr. Hanna. They identified where the leak is coming from and he said that he can repair it by going through Brenda's nose. YEA!! He said it's a delicate surgery that he doesn't want to try and squeeze in someplace and then find that he doesn't have the right amount of time to make sure this is done right. We totally get that and have absolutely no issue with it. That's exactly why we came back to Houston to get this done. So the bad news is that he can't get us on the schedule until November 11th...UGH!!

Well, the Executive Assistant to the Princess was very happy that the proposed fix for the leak was looking like it would be pretty straight forward and we definitely came to the right guy to do the fix. Dr. Hanna said that there wouldn't be a lot of pain and very little blood loss and although other things could happen, but with the good Lords help...it won't. The thing I wasn't happy with was the long wait until we could get this done...UGH! I hate sitting around when there's so much to do at home. GRRRRRRRR.

So we thought about this and ran some money issues through our brains and we both decided we'd go home until we had to come back for the surgery. YEA!!! I actually had a free ticket from using my Southwest Airline credit card so the trip home cost us $5.00...some tax thing!! AMAZING...God sure gives you gifts when you ask...This is a best news. We are now both wonderfully happy campers...in the words of the immortal "Dorothy" from Wizard of OZ..."There's no place like home!" So we fly out at 12:15 and we'll be in Phoenix by 1:15...I'll have the dogs by 4:00 and back by the time Survivor hits the TV at 7:00...yea!

So we'll come back on Nov. 9th, Have an appointment with the anesthesiologist on the 10th and then the surgery on the 11th. Dr. Hanna said she's just be in the hospital for about 24 hours for observation and then could recoup at the apartment for a week. She'll see the doc on 18th and we'll probably be able to fly home on the 19th....YEA!!!

So there ya have it...we finally have the plan for this phrase of the cure. The leak will finally get fixed.

Keep posted on the haps...the adventure continues.

Hugs...
Dee and the Princess

Marshall Vic's "Drip Repair" Medical Minute

Villagers...Brenda and I have stopped laughing long enough for me to post this wonderful "Medical Minute" provided by our favorite Jill of all trades....Marshall Vic.

Warning: DO NOT have anything in your hands, like hot soup, electric tools, or sharp instruments, as you watch this pearl of wisdom.

Can't wait to hear the comments, so don't be shy about posting!!! God love ya Marshall Vic!!

We sure do...
Princess Brenda and her Executive Assistant.