Preston

Well, Preston went in the hospital for a relatively simple surgery to have his shunt replaced or repaired, and there was a piece of shunt tubing embedded in his brain. They had to get it out, and then busted a blood vessel or something in there and he was bleeding heavily. He had to cut him open more to get in there and stop the bleeding. He was able to do that, but had to staple him up without a shunt. He was moved to regular room, and did ok that night. Tues. he started having a high fever and was not very responsive so they did CT scan and moved him to ICU, thankfully, adult ICU had no beds and they put him in pediatric ICU and we can stay with him. He was critical at this point. The dr. didn't even put him to sleep but put an external shunt from his brain to an outside bag. That relieved the pressure off his brain, his temp came down and things were looking up. He is now able to pee, and not be cathed. He can drink, and is drinking some, but won't eat, but he is getting lots of fluids. He is swollen with fluid, but he knows everyone who comes to see him, and he is able to talk and move his body, so seems he is pretty good as far as brain wise. They were concerned about more brain damage because of the extent of his surgery. He cannot get up until the external shunt is gone. As a result there is a problem with his one lung, he either has a spot of pnemonia or part of his lung has collapsed. They did another chest exray this a.m. and also another CT scan. The fluid coming from Preston's brain has to be clear before they can put an internal shunt in.
So that is the latest.
Please continue to pray for us all.
Jr. hasn't been at work all week, but I know God will work it all out.

Norma

Will someone tell me???

if there is a place that you can leave a message when you read my blog? I am not seeing any place and I am wondering what you are seeing.

normagwen2@yahoo.com

thanks,

Ok, here is the plan

Preston has to be at Greenville Memorial Hospital at 7:15 on Monday a.m. and surgery is 9:15, give or take a couple of hours, LOL. Been there, done that, may not get taken to surgery until later, but hopefully not much later!

After he gets through the surgery, the next high risk is infection. Nurse at hospital told me today that everyone who goes in to see him needs to have their hands washed with soap and water. Infection in the brain can be deadly, and even infection in the shunt causes the shunt to not work and we are in big trouble there as well. We have been through staph infection in his shunt when he had shunt surgery in NC. It was not fun, believe me!

So I am trying to get through until Monday, without crashing totally. I am so stressed and exhausted tonight. Hoping rest tonight will help me. My fibro. flairs too when I am under stress and over tired.

Keep praying for us please.

What a day!

This has been a crazy day. I have a sticker laying right here that I am getting ready to stick to my blouse, "I'm going crazy and I'm taking everyone with me!"

First Preston wanted me to call and see when he could have surgery SOON so they called me back and said tomorrow afternoon. Well, he didn't want to miss his stories tomorrow night that he listens to on the radio, but we told him he could take a radio and listen to them at the hospital. So he decided ok. Then hospital called and we did all the pre-registration stuff, BUT he cannot have anything to eat after midnight tonight and his surgery is not until 3:20 tomorrow afternoon. There is no way that would work. I cannot fight with Preston all day tomorrow to keep him from eating, and if he does eat they can't do the surgery anyhow, what a mess. So I am trying to reschedule the surgery and get it scheduled on a morning, but now the lady that does it won't call me back. She thought they would have let him have a little something in the a.m. and I asked the hospital about yogurt and they said no. He said he would do fine if he could eat a yogurt and take his meds., but it is a no go situation. So I have to call everyone back to tell them the surgery is not tomorrow, but trying to wait and see if she calls and tells me when it is. I am praying that she hasn't left the office already, and that we will know something tonight. My nerves feel like they are falling apart.

I mopped the bathroom and Preston had to use gobs and gobs of wipes to clean himself and totally plugged the toilet. It took me forever to try and get it unplugged and some splashed on the clean floor, so mopped over that again. Then I saw he had BM on his shirt, and did he want to change it??? Never!!!! Wanted me to wash it out and spray it with febreese so it wouldn't stink, did all of that, and he ended up changing it after all. I feel I deserve to have a nervous breakdown! ha.

Since I thought surgery was tomorrow, and my inlaws were coming here in a.m, I wanted to get some work done here, as far as cleaning. I did get kitchen mopped. Missie cleaned her room, folded clothes and vacuumed living room for me. Now she is gone to the church where she goes for co-op to practice for their program tomorrow. They picked her up; the same people that take her every Friday. Her nerves have been on edge all day too. She was scared for me to tell him the surgery was tomorrow, then she was scared for me to tell him he couldn't eat in the morning, on and on. I told her to take her medication; it is a natural product that helps with her anxiety. So it is good that she is gone for a while. After supper I am going to town.

I have these new top dentures and will they stay where they belong? Of course not, that would be too easy. When I talk they are falling down and it drives me crazy. So I have to get some adhesive to make them stick in my mouth, TONIGHT!!!! I cannot even eat with these things in my mouth. I can eat better without them, then with them in.

So at this point, I know Preston has to have surgery, but I don't know when. I wanted to know tonight before the office closes, but where is the lady???? Just my luck, she has left early or something???

I only have one question: WHY IS MY LIFE SO COMPLICATED????

Missie and I, if all is well with Preston, are flying to NY on June 23 and going on into Canada to my mom's for almost a week. I need that relaxation sooo bad. It will be good for Missie and I both. Daddy and Preston will stay here as they both are homebodies.

Oh no, surgery around the corner!

Well, Preston is headed for surgery. We took him to neurosurgeon yesterday and he has fluid on his brain, meaning that the shunt is not working properly. In case you don't know what a shunt is, it drains the fluid off of his brain into his abdomen. Anyhow, apparently it is working sometimes but not others. The bad headaches are from the pressure on his brain when it is not working. So now when he feels a headache coming on, I pump it a few times and that seems to help. But tonight he was leaning so bad on his good side, which he has never done before. So I am calling tomorrow and pushing for a surgery date. He was able to get through the day without pain medication but laid down a lot, and took naps. He was able to walk to woodworking shop at end of driveway and tell the guys there he is having surgery. Then later he went to get the mail and when he got back from that he was puffing and little strength left. I will be so glad when it is all over. If everything goes well, he will only have to stay one night in the hospital. His daddy will stay with him. Missie and I will stay here at home. Missie does not want to go to the hospital for his surgery due to her extreme nervousness. I am not sure if my inlaws will come down from SC or not.

So at least we know what is causing Preston's problems and just want to get it fixed so we can get back to normal, which is a strange kind of normal around here.

Update

Well, our neighbor was getting married on Sat. and Missie was asked on Fri. night to fix her train after she got to the front, and Missie was so excited. She had a red jumper with flowers and she wore that, as the color for the girls were red. It was a different kind of a wedding. There were no men except the groom, and the bride's little boy. But the bride had 3 attendants and a flower girl. Their standards were not good, but they are not holiness people. It was a very small wedding and I took some pictures for her. She was widowed. Her and her husband separated but shortly after they did, the husband found out he had a cancerous brain tumor, and he passed away. So sad, he was so young. Anyhow, Missie was happy to have a small part in the wedding, she has never been in a wedding before.

Last night Preston and I went to church, and to the fellowship afterward, and we had to leave early. Preston was having the blindness again. Glad we are going to the neurosurgeon tomorrow. Missie is having stomach problems. We thought it a virus, hopefully it is, but could be her nerves too, with all that is going on with Preston.
She and I cried together for a while last night; we would rather see him go to Heaven than to suffer and not have much of a quality of life. Sometimes I feel so all alone in this situation. I know people have their own lives and are busy, but if I didn't have my online groups and friends, I don't think I would make it. A lot of them don't even believe like I do, but they pray for us. I appreciate anyone who will pray for us.

I thought these pictures of the kids and the cats were cute. Actually Garfield is Preston's cat and Bear is Missie's cat. Garfield loves attention and craves it. Bear is not as friendly but Missie loves on her. We finally had to start putting them out at night. Garfield tried to get out of the windows and made a lot of noise and got into stuff. So it is better to put them out at night, I just hope they disappear like our last cats did.

So long for now.

Still having headaches

Well, Preston is still having headaches and gets scared because of what happened yesterday. So I have been trying to keep him calm today and I am so exhausted. I am hoping and praying for a headache free day tomorrow. I can't wait until Monday and hopefully Dr. Johnson, the neurosurgeon will be in his office to view the cd of the CT scan he had done on his brain yesterday. If that looks ok to the dr., then we go to the next step. I have already sent an email to psychiatrist about what is happening so on Monday he he will know. If it is not the shunt, then maybe it is the cymbalta, the new meds. the psychiatrist put him on.

My dentures are driving me crazy too, I didn't get to go on Fri. and get them adjusted. Plan to do that Monday too. They are gagging me and also the one side is too high and hurts. I just have too many problems right now.

Missie came home this a.m. I missed her being gone all day yesterday and all night. I took her to Walmart today to spend some money she had. So we had some time alone, just she and I.

We just need lots of prayer right now.

Norma