3 weeks post surgery - June 23, 2017

I am now 3 weeks out from my last surgery. Things are going good, I am slowly making progress.  I still do a lot of sleeping and laying around the house! I do leave and do things, but my max is usually about 3 hours! After that, I need to be back in my home! I've done a few outings longer then that but as long as I am sitting I can handle it. Too much walking or standing around is still hard for me to do.

Made it to the bridgefest parade!
I sat on the curb :)  And take note -
this is my bad side!

My face is slowly making improvements, I can smile no problem with my mouth closed. I do still need to use a straw to drink anything. It looks kinda silly when I am at a restaurant and ask for a straw to drink my coffee! But gotta do what I gotta do! A fork is needed still too, or I need the food ripped apart to eat. If I try to take a bite of a burger or pizza, my bottom lip that is numb and doesn't move at all, gets in the way and I bite it! So a burger is hard for me to eat, but the pizza I can obviously cut up!

Not quite ready to smile with my teeth
 showing, but it is getting there.

Closed mouth smile is fine, as
you can see my left eyebrow is
higher then the right.

Can't pucker my lips yet.

My eye is still a problem but it isn't as bad as it was in the beginning... For the most part, it  almost closes all the way. My lashes make it hard to tell that it is open a little bit.  If I am tired though, my muscles slack and that accentuates the problems. So by the evening, usually my eye won't blink correctly or close all the way. And then things get blurry! I've been dealing with some itchy eyes from allergies lately too. I hate to itch my "bad" eye because it feels so delicate but sometimes I can't help it!  And I don't want to be itching my good eye either though, because then I have two bad eyes! Haha. It is a lose lose situation! Some days, I don't have many problems at all. But other days, my eye feels like sand and bothers me all day. I can't handle being in the wind right now either and the sun is hard on my eye too. So lots of hats and sunglasses when I am outside! I can't let my incision be in the sun either. My neck area is harder to hide. I usually need a big brimmed hat.

As good as my eye gets when closed.
Still not normal looking, but better
then it was before. And this is in the
morning when I am well rested!

Boating day with Stace.

Took a break from a hat because
it was cloudy!

Got the wide brim hat covered. Haha

My right nostril and eyebrow do not move at all yet. I hope that eventually my eyebrow does, but I guess that isn't as important to me as my mouth moving is. The last I heard from the doctors is that the eyebrow won't move. But hey, you never know. None of the nerves were cut, so we will see as time goes on.

Trying very hard to raise my eyebrows

My neck has been okay. The skin is tight around the incision. And trying to turn to the right is a lot harder for me then the left because of the muscle that is not there anymore. I can only turn a little bit to my right and that is as far as it'll go. Once in a while my neck hurts and sometimes the incision is itchy. But every week I see quite a bit of improvement!

My ear - now that is a problem. I had told you before that it is numb, which it still is....but the feeling is so weird. Kind of like I have a hat or something on it at all times. I can not hear out of it at all yet, I do hear ringing inside it but it is completely blocked. I still get drainage out of it but it isn't blood anymore. If I am in a loud place, it's really hard for me to hear anything. And my good ear, everything seems so loud! I can't lay on that ear, the feeling is hard to explain, but it doesn't feel good at all.  If I am desperate to lay on that side for a bit I will take a blanket and make a U shape out of it so my head is on it, but my ear touches nothing!  And because of the front being shaved, I have a head band or scarf tied on to hide it, and that bothers my ear too. It starts to hurt after a little while of having it on. My head around the ear is still sore so maybe as that heals more, the headbands won't be as bad.  Most days if I do leave the house, I can not even wait until I get back to remove the headband, I usually rip it off in the car on the drive home! It is definitely frustrating. The corner of the plate is not there anymore but now my ear is the problem!

The body is truly amazing. I love seeing the progress that is being made. Visual progress being made within a few days is so gratifying for me. Knowing that the healing is happening and that each week I got closer and closer to feeling better. It blows my mind that a body can be put through so much trauma but still wants to bounce back to how it was before.  Now that the stitches are out and the scabs are gone, it is a bit harder to see a change in how things are. The nerve healing takes so many months. What I need to do now is take pictures every few weeks to compare the difference. It isn't a night and day change for me anymore. That is a little harder for me, but I do still see the slow changes.

 Below are pictures of the incision healing. These are all less then 3 weeks apart!

It feels good to leave home though. I like doing my hair and makeup, and putting clothes on. And obviously it is nice to be around people too! I am very much a home-body and I have no problems being here, but I think it's good to get out and about sometimes! Change of scenery. Haha. And then the minute I get home and climb back into bed, I am in heaven!


When I met with Dr Kassam on the Tuesday after surgery, he had said everything looked good and he was surprised with how quick my eye was recovering. He had seen me in the hospital when it was super swollen and didn't expect it to go down so fast. He also said I was allowed to get the stitches taken out at home so that I didn't need to come back down a few days later. But they also talked to me about radiation. I will be starting a 6 week course of radiation in Marquette and they want it to start about 5 weeks out of surgery. Ugh. I didn't see that coming. I thought maybe if we did any radiation, it would be the same kind called cyberknife that I had last time. My radiation oncologist in Milwaukee, Dr Bastin, knows the Marquette radiation oncologist so that makes me feel good! He said he will personally get all of his notes to him.

Love that they are voted a best
hospital and Dr Kassam is on
the front. 

 After the appointment we grabbed some food and headed home! Luckily this appointment was early in the day so we got back at a decent time and my kids came home to me that night.  I was a lot better looking to them after this surgery then I was with the last! I had no new surprises for them.
The kids had a half day of school left and that was it! I would say it was a good and bad thing! It was always nice to have the days to myself to sleep and recover while the kids were at school. But I also like that they don't have to be in bed early, and if we want to sleep in we can. Makes life easier. No homework to worry about or lunches to make!

The kids last day of school

My lovely friend Joanne that keeps my house together while I am gone, redid my kitchen table for me! She had it finished for when I got home and it is great! I had a ugly dark wood table that was worn out. I had asked her to turn it into a farmhouse table for me and she did just that! It is soooo much nicer now then it ever was!! It brightens up my whole kitchen! I feel like the table is brand new.

She also made the gather sign and
painted the brick behind it. 

Radiation is going to take a lot longer to get started then I expected it to. The Marquette doctor was out of town for a few weeks so they wanted to wait until he was back for me to come in. He is also backed up because of being gone so I won't be seen for my consult until July 6. At that appointment we will go over everything and I believe set up my schedule for radiation too. They said the appointment is 1-2 hours long so we must go over a lot of things! I also think I come back a different day to get my mask made.  For those of you that don't know, the mask is basically a plastic sheet that they heat in warm water to soften it and then it is put on my face, and as it cools it hardens again and it is shaped to me. Every time that I come in, the same mask will be put back on. It gets pinned to the table so that I don't move  at all and I am in the same position every single time. It is also used as a "map" to know where to go with the radiation.

The mask before it is put in the hot water to soften it.

The reason I am using a different radiation this time then the last time is because last time we were aiming at one small area. So I had a single big dose shot to that one spot. This time, we are radiating a much bigger area and the best way to get to it all is by a bunch of small doses to cover the whole area. Just to make sure every cell is killed and hopefully does not come back.

I am not sure how radiation is going to go, or if I will be working while getting it. I plan to go back in the beginning of August, just a couple hours, maybe two days a week, but now because of radiation, we will see about that.  I have a lot of weddings in August and September to attend and some to do hair for. I hope that radiation doesn't affect any of that! But, only time will tell. And maybe I will get some better info on my scheduling and how I will feel after the consult with my Marquette doctor.

I am still getting meals delivered which has been great, I truly appreciate it! The meals are coming to an end, I have enough energy to make them and run to the store now. It will probably go back up once I start radiation for the first few weeks until I get into the groove of things and figure out how busy and tired I am.

I got my stitches removed by a close friend/ family member and it went really well. Everything was getting really itchy and I was so ready for them to be gone. Dr Kassam had said to wait two weeks, but my NP had told me to check them around ten days and make sure I wasn't starting to heal over the stitches.  I thought on day ten that it looked good and the incision was closed so I had them removed.

Stitches coming out!

Took a quick break when we got to my ear

Done! Stitches are out! Christiann and I were
both sweating once done. Haha

All in all, I would say things are going well. I am getting a little less tired, taking less naps. I like the warm weather days. Sitting outside is easy to do! I love going to Twin Lakes with my family too. Summer is the perfect time for a recovery!

I've got a pretty funky hair do right now!

And that is the reason headbands
are always worn!

Two days before my next surgery - May 29, 2017

Tomorrow I leave for my next surgery. I need to pack for the kids and I still but with the last surgery being so close, I think it'll be pretty easy to remember what to pack.  Some bags didn't even get unpacked! And last time I packed everything that I needed - there wasn't anything that I wish I had brought but didn't. So now, I just have to remember to pack the same things as I did last! Haha

I am not sure how I feel about having this surgery. Part of me is ready to get it done and hopefully not have to worry about surgery again for a LONG time. I've become very used to hospital stays and recoveries so I don't mind that I have to have another. But, then the other part of me, wishes I didn't need to go in for another surgery. I wish I could just keep the healing process going.  This means I will be taking a few steps backwards..

 I am definitely not healed but I can camouflage it to a point now.  My incision is looking great and the pain is going down. The swelling is a lot less. My cheek is a drop puffy still but my doctor said it is going to look a little "chubby" for a while until the muscle settles into its spot.

One of the few times I left home

 My eye still does not close and that is hard to deal with.  It is blurry all the time. It makes a lot of things difficult! Driving, reading, watching a show and just looking around! I am constantly trying to clear it but it's impossible to do since it doesn't close. I have to be very careful wiping it also because I might scratch it. And looking at me, you can see when I blink that that eye is slow and does not close all the way.  I am very self conscious about closing my eyes! Sometimes I forget that it doesn't close all the way and people can see it isn't closed even though my eyes both feel closed to me. I had a massage the other week and I kept my eyes open the whole time. Haha. I wasn't gonna lay there with one eye open.

 I have a lot of 'nerve pain' on my neck and chin. It feels more like pins and needles but it's a constant feeling. Last time I was on a medication that helped with the nerve pain but I have decided to try and go without it this time. It is a very hard med to ween off of and I don't want to deal with that again.

The incision on my neck is tight. Every time that I turn I can feel it pulling and if I keep moving my head too much it gets sore. I can't have anything touching it either or it starts to hurt and feel uncomfortable.  A t-shirt even bothers it. So I usually always have a tank top on.

What a difference two
weeks can make!

Scabs are gone!

And then there is the right side of my face. I can move my cheek a LITTLE bit! That is the first progress of movement I have seen. It started about a week ago (two weeks out of surgery), and it moves a bit more now than it did then. No eyebrow or lips moving yet. If I make a small smile with my mouth closed, the right side moves up a little. I am not sure if it is the lip muscle moving or the cheek muscle that is pulling it up. If I pucker my lips, or try to smile, it doesn't work yet.  And that is the only movement I've got at this moment.

Trying to pucker my lips.
Right is doing nothing. As you can
 see the right eyebrow is down too.

The two things that I wish most, is that my eye would start closing and that my lips would start working. Out of those two, I'd pick my lips. I still need to use a straw to drink. And I need a fork for anything I eat. I tried to eat a piece of pizza the other night without one and I bit my lip pretty hard. So back to the fork I went! A few days later I tried to eat a burger and bit my lip again. Giving up on that for a little while! I'll stick to the fork. I am starting to talk better, the first few weeks, some words were hard to get out because I couldn't get my lips to help me pronounce them right. Smiling is another problem. I can't do it and look normal. If I do try to, I use one hand to cover the side that isn't smiling! ugh.

Hiding the crooked smile. Haha

I did a lot of sleeping in the first two weeks. Now, I am having a problem falling asleep at night. So it is late when I do and then I want to be sleeping in. Some days I take a nap and others I don't. But now when I do, I make sure it is earlier in the day so maybe I can fall asleep at a decent time. I know going in for this next surgery I will be back to sleeping a lot so I won't have to deal with the sleep problems for a few weeks again.

I have gone out in public a few times. It feels good to get makeup on and get out of the house, but I can only handle a few hours at a time. My body is tired and my neck is usually hurting after that. I end up doing a lot of talking with people which gets hard for my mouth, and I seem to move around to the point that my neck gets sore. And, it isn't warm here yet so I have a jacket on and that is rubbing on my neck! Not to mention that just standing anywhere for a little while is tiring for me. Now is when I would start doing yoga, or being more active around the house to try and work up some energy but with surgery around the corner I really don't see the point.

My ear is still a problem too. I don't mind that the whole thing is numb, but it feels heavy on my head. And it is still completely blocked. No hearing out of it what so ever.  I think overtime the hearing should still improve. Sleeping on that ear feels very strange too so I usually stay away from that side.

What I have heard about this next surgery, it sounds like Dr Kassam doesn't need to open my neck up again. That is a relief for me. The head surgeries are easier to recover from.  I hope that going in for this surgery, doesn't bring all of these healing nerves back to the beginning of the healing stage. This neck surgery is by far worse then the other surgeries. (Minus the infection surgery).

In a previous post I had brought up that the corner of the titanium plate behind my ear hurts. Since I will  be opened up for surgery anyway,  I'm going to ask my doctor if he can fix that area. I think if the corner is bent in a little, cut off or just filed down - the pain would go away. Sounds like a simple fix to me, right!?! It still hurts to sleep on that side, wear a hat or headband.

My parents and I will head down Tuesday morning and at 4PM that day I have a CT with the fiducials again. And then Wednesday morning I need to be at the hospital for 5AM and surgery is 6:30. Same as the last one which the time worked out perfect for me. I like going in so early, I don't have to sit around at all waiting until its time to get to the hospital. I feel like the prep time flies by and before I know it, I am in the operating room and going into lala land!

My cousins Ali and Maren have set up a meal delivery for me. It is very convenient the first few weeks out of surgery. The site is called Take them a meal (.com) and the password is 0521. I had to make very few grocery runs (usually had someone else run for me since I can't drive for a few weeks after surgery) and I had to put zero thought into what I was feeding the kids! It was super nice and made things a lot easier for me! I would have the table set and the food ready to go when the kids got home off the bus. We would eat right away and talk about their day. It was great!

My birthday was a week ago, I wasn't up for going out to dinner but we went to my parents and ordered pizza. It was prefect and all that I needed this year!

Birthday Dinner

The past few days have been a little rough for me. I am prepared for surgery and all. I know I need to go in again and then that is it for a while. (We hope).  But I am just struggling with this slow recovery process. The facial nerves that don't move at all are an adjustment. I am a patient person but this takes SO much patience! In a week, the improvement I see is very little.  The thought of going back to work and struggling to have a conversation with my clients isn't appealing. The energy that I don't have is hard too. How am I going to stand all day?!? I know I will start out with just a few hours a day, a few days a week. But it still seems a bit overwhelming. And when I am tried, the muscles in my face slack even more and it makes my mouth and eye more obvious that they aren't working right. I did take another 6 weeks off from work for this surgery so hopefully by the end of that, I am feeling up to it!

And that sums up the recovery process so far! Tomorrow we are onto the next Milwaukee run. Hopefully I am gone just about a week.  And then it is officially time to heal, heal, heal!

Surgery day and the first few after - May 1st 2017

The night before surgery is finally here! The routine is the same as all the other surgeries - wash with a special soap, sleep in clean clothes and clean sheets, shower again with the soap in the morning. I had no problem falling asleep that night. We had to be up at 3:50 to shower and get ready to leave.  Before we knew it, it was 4:40 and out the door we went!

The soap. Prepackaged- a sponge on one side,
 scrubbies on the other and a blue little
 pick to get under your nails.

Off we go to the hospital!

When we got to the hospital I was brought back right away to get prepped. They took my weight, did a pee test, listened to my heart. Then they gave me a gown to put on and wipes I needed to scrub down with first. I never like these wipes. They are warm which feels good, but instantly my skin feels sticky and cool. BRRR! I get the gown on, hop in bed and the nurse brings me a warm blanket to put on.  She asked me all kinds of questions and then it was time for the IV. I told her, the big IV's don't go in so easily for me. She said there was a note of that in my file! First she wrapped my arms in warm towels to help get my veins to pop. Then it was go time. She got it on the first try!! I was relieved and I think she was too.

The lovely wipes. One
for each arm, leg, 
stomach and back.

My parents were brought back around now and a neuro team that hooks up a bunch of wires to me were in the room too. A few minutes later Dr Corsten came in, put an X on my right side and said he would see me soon in surgery. The anesthesiologist walked in and introduce himself and explained that he would be there with me the entire time. Then two cute nurses came in with pink hairnets on, and said it's time to go! She handed me my blue hairnet, said she should have brought a pink! I laughed and said the blue will be just fine!

Our pic before surgery that we always take!

We strolled into the operating room, I moved from my bed to the operating table, nurses introduced themselves to me, an oxygen mask was put on my face and I was out. That was by far the quickest I have ever been out. Next thing you know, the anesthesiologist was trying to wake me up. At that point, it is so hard to open my eyes. I mumble something to him and that is all I remember. I was moved to a recovery area for a while and then brought back to my room. I remember looking at the clock, it was 2PM. I also remember sleeping and waking myself up from snoring! All of a sudden after a few hours of that, I was finally feeling awake. Sometimes this is when I get nauseous. Or have a super dry mouth. This time I had neither. I felt very good, just tired.

When I was brought back to
my room after surgery

Shortly after this nurses came in to ask me questions and sign a paper. I needed help from my parents answering them because I was still so groggy! Then a PT came in and wanted me to get up and go for a walk. I was thinking this is way too soon! I assumed we would be doing all of that the next day! But I wasn't going to tell her no, so we did it. My parents and bro went down to the cafeteria while I did this. My legs were weak and shaky. I had to stand while she put a belt on me, took a seat to rest for a minute after that and then got up to do the walk. We did one circle around the ICU. I was tired but I did great and passed with flying colors! :) She had a few questions for me and after that she said I was cleared by PT and OT.

That first night I also had an MRI done. I fell asleep during it which can be very rare in an MRI because they are so loud! I usually have padding on each side of my head so I don't move at all but with all of the fresh stitches we decided against it. It is hard to stay perfectly still while sleeping! I did my best and the tech said he did not need to redo any of the scans, that means I was still enough throughout it all!

So I just thought I had a pill stuck in my throat... but now I'm not sure if I did. Ha. Does that make sense?! My speech therapist came in each day with different foods and would watch and feel as I swallow.  She started with clear liquids then thicker liquids and then something hard. She would have me use a straw, spoon and/or nothing. They wanted to make sure everything was working properly and I was using the right tubes for the right things! Well just now, I took the pill and I felt like it was lodged sideways. I was drinking my water but that didn't help so my nurse got me applesauce. Maybe the thicker liquid would push it down. Well, here I am ten minutes later, and still feel the same way. But it's confusing because the pill would have disintegrated by now right?! Hmmmm. I wasn't worried about it because it was just a pill, but it shows me that I need to be very careful on what I do eat.... just in case that decides to happen again! I think the increase of swelling on my neck is pushing on it so it makes swallowing more difficult right now..

This was the other morning in the hospital. Since then I have had many problems with my throat but I am now kind of used to it. Every time I swallow my throat feels weird. Like something hard or scratchy is in it. Sometimes it gets so dry that I feel like I can't swallow! And now before I take a pill I make sure to swallow a lot of water first to get everything moving correctly. This morning when I woke, my voice is barely here. Everything is weak. But my swelling is at it's worst right now, so every day ahead it should start improving and hopefully the throat issues will subside. And that I get my voice back soon!! How can I yell for my Mom without a voice!?!? Haha

The swelling started near my eye, and
worked its way down my neck.

The last evening in the hospital:

I'm kind of crabby right now. Tired because I can only sleep an hour or so at a time and I went too long without my pain meds so now I'm hurting. I was counting on my favorite medication, dilaudid, which is given through an IV so it kicks in right away. But the plan right now is that I'm leaving the hospital tomorrow so I need to only be on oral meds that I can take at home. To make sure I can manage the pain on my own. I totally get it, but I'm frustrated about it too. Oral meds can take quite a while to start controlling the pain.

My face is getting more swollen by the minute so my eye is closing more and more. Makes seeing hard. Dr Kassam said no steroids (which would help with swelling) because it increases your risk of an infection. And because of the nerve being messed with, my eye isn't working how it should right now. It blinks slowly, and does not shut all the way. So it's either dry or watery and it's blurry. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I put my finger over it to hold it down. I am one of those scary people with an eye part open while I sleep!

The right side of my lips -top and bottom- do not work right now. Will they someday? We hope so. Is it guaranteed? No. So that's a scary thought. I might not have a normal smile ever again. Even a little improvement would be okay. But right now it is VERY dramatic. Makes talking hard, eating hard, I can't drink unless I have a straw. I can't even lick my lips! Everything feels foreign to me. I try to make it move, but it just won't. I can't flair my right nostril either! Or move that cheek or eyebrow. I try to, and it feels like I am, but when I look in a mirror, it is not moving. Nothing is moving.

My crooked smile.  #8 is the parotid gland that was
 removed and #5 is the nerve that
had the most damage done to it. 

Everything I eat is on the left side. And yes before this surgery I was only eating on that side, but my lips were not numb before. So I can't suck on a straw on the right side, or use a spoon or fork on that side. I can't drink out of a cup because it'll pour down my face. No hard foods, because that causes pain in my jaw. It's a whole new world of getting used to.

Yes, over time parts of this will improve. But it's hard being in the moment and believing that will happen.

I have over 50 stitches in my head. My neck is very tender from stitches and the tube. I had the tube removed earlier and that didn't hurt at all but it is sore now!  My ear is draining blood, we aren't sure why, but just watching it for now. The lobe of that ear is numb and will forever be that way. But that I don't care about! Kent jokes that I can now get many piercings in that ear and not even feel it. Haha. True story, but I think I'll pass. Lol

The tube being removed. One stitch is holding it in place.

The tube once removed.
That whole thing was inside me.

My head has a lot of crusty blood spots on it and that is from being pinned into a holder for surgery. It kept my head pinned in the same place so there was no movement going on at all. Some of these spots are tender and others do not hurt at all. My hair is hard and nasty, must be blood and antibiotic cleansing soap. I plan to take a shower later, but that takes a lot of energy! So I am waiting until I feel up to it. I can wash my hair with baby shampoo. The stitches can get wet, but only from water pouring down on it. No soaking or rubbing that area at all. When I get out I can dab it softly with a towel to dry it.

My hair is pink from blood

I have two IVs and a blood pressure cuff. An oxygen monitor on my finger and 6 cords connected to my chest to watch my heart rate. I had a catheter during surgery but removed shortly after and a little catheter in my wrist to get my blood pressure and to draw blood from it during surgery whenever needed. My legs have the cuff things on them to keep blood clots from happening. The sticky fiducials were removed, but the marker circles were still on my face. A few of the fiducials I found in my hair! I have little scabs and dried blood everywhere on my face!  I have bruises all over my arms from the IVs and blood draws. I definitely look like a warrior! Haha.

Heart monitor cords on my chest

Oxygen on finger, IV on my wrist.

Bruised wrist from all the pokes.

IV in upper arm, bandage over wrist that had catheter in it.

Surgery went great and doctor Kassam was super happy about it. He removed it all! We have had zero talk of radiation or chemo yet but I'm hoping we can save that for a different time if needed down the road.  After surgery my Mom asked him if this was going to keep coming back and Dr Kassam said he didn't know, but that he isn't going anywhere. He will be here to help us. Today he came in to check on me and held my hand the entire time while he explained our story to someone who didn't know it. He has a special place in his heart for me! I feel so lucky about that. And every room he puts me in, is brand new and huge. This whole unit was made for him and his patients.  I couldn't be treated any better.  Everyone is truly great.

The neuro ICU has glass walls so the
nurses can see their patients.

Dr Corsten came in today too. He said Dr Kassam did an amazing job removing the tumor in a very complicated area. Dr Corsten removed the margin around the tumor and it all came back clean!  He explained that we did not need to use the thigh muscle because there was a muscle in my neck he was able to flip around and use. He thinks it will be enough to fill the area in, but that is something we will see over time. Once the swelling goes down we can make a decision about how it looks.  He explained that the lower facial nerve that moves my face had to be stretched really far to make room for Dr Kassam to do his job. They did not cut it which is great but this nerve doesn't like to be messed with at all so it isn't liking that it was stretched out. He said the upper portion, near my eye and nose, is going to slowly come back. Which nerves can take weeks to heal. But the lower area, near my mouth may not. All I can do is pray, pray, pray, that there is some improvement over time.

My mandible (your lower jaw bone) was removed to get to the tumor, a bigger portion than they had thought needed to be permanently removed. They added pieces of titanium to put it back together.

My parotid gland was also removed. I haven't got a lot of information on this yet, but it is a major salivary gland. There is another on the other side and smaller ones throughout the mouth area too.

When nurses and/or doctors come in, they comment on how they love seeing our happy room. We are all just sitting around chatting. I have heard this every time we are in the ICU.  My case is different.  We look happy, and are happy. The other rooms have stroke patients or another neuro problem and most are asleep with breathing tubes in.  It looks like we are the lucky ones, which we are, but at the same time, I am in here because I'm fighting a deadly disease. Where the others may one day heal from their problem. Hmmm.

It sounds like I am leaving tomorrow. Dr Kassam wants me out of here so I don't get an infection! He thinks the chance of getting one in here are much more than me being at home. We will go back to Peggy's and stay there. I have my own room, it's comfortable and her house is beautiful. Plus being there my mom has a partner. I do a lot of sleeping the first week after so I like her to have someone to keep her company. I know my Mom is worried the whole time, she tries to stay calm for me but I can see it is hard for her! She does great checking in on me and being my maid! My Dad had to go back home today. Kent was also here for the night so it was great seeing him! Both my Aunt Liza and Jaclyn and my Moms cousin have came by to visit too! There is talk of my baby bro Brendan coming to see us in a few days which would be awesome because he has not been home since Christmas!

 Kenny can be quite entertaining! Haha

Next Tuesday we will see Dr Kassam, and if all looks good we will get to come home! And then in a week we will be back down to get my stitches removed.

The worst part should be over, and the healing should start now!