Home again!

It's 11:30 Friday night and I am about ready to fall asleep sitting up, but I figured I had better throw something on here. It feels like we were in the hospital or the car the entire day...maybe because we were! Anyway...long day, but the MRI looked great and they couldn't find anything wrong. The only possibility of something would be some swelling around the two places on his skull where they screwed in a vice to keep his head still during the surgery. Those spots have been sore for him and they said that sometimes they end up screwing right into the muscle that works your jaw so opening and closing your mouth can be an issue or maybe just exacerbate things. Anyway, they hope whatever it is will just take care of itself in the next couple of weeks. I hope this makes sense...I am not focusing well at this point. We're planning to head to NC tomorrow, so I need to get to bed so I can unpack and repack in the morning.
Glad to be home...

On the road again...

Well, nothing has changed here, so we're getting ready to head up north again. We'll probably head out right after lunch and hope to get there by dinner time. We got a hotel room in Bethesda so that we are close to NIH in the morning. Ryan will have to get there early in the morning and wait around until they can work him in for an MRI. Please pray that he can get in quickly and not have to hang out all day. Tori canceled a trip she had planned to help us out, so she'll meet us at the hotel tonight. ...
I'll take our laptop and hopefully give an update when we hear anything.

In Need of Prayer...

Sooo. It's been a long couple of days around here! Ryan has not been feeling so great--he has a lot of pressure in his head if he moves around at all, so he has just been taking it easy. Sunday night he complained of a headache, then pretty much slept all day Monday. We called the doctor yesterday, and they said that it didn't sound like an emergency, but there could be a possible leak of some kind and that he should just rest for the next couple of days and see if it takes care of itself. So far it hasn't. It hasn't gotten worse, really, but definitely not better. We'll call the doctor back tomorrow and see what they say, but if it isn't any different we'll probably need to go back to Maryland for an MRI on Friday.
Here's the rub with that...We're supposed to go down to NC for the week--leaving Saturday! We got a timeshare on Lake Lure booked as soon as we knew the results of his surgery, and we've been so excited to head down and just relax as a family for a little while. Please, please, pray that this takes care of itself and we can have a real vacation. Ryan's surgery and recovery up until this point have been such a miracle, and we are going to hope and believe that God will continue to work miracles for us.
Thanks for your continued prayers...

Slide Show!

I finally got the slide show thing figured out, so here are some pictures from August...I have an album from September to add, as well, but Tori and I are heading up to Roanoke tonight to watch Footloose in Elmwood Park, so I need to get ready! Later...and enjoy!

Home Safe

We arrived home yesterday afternoon, and I feel like we are close to back to normal. Ryan is feeling pretty good--good enough that he wanted to run some errands with my brother this afternoon, so that is great! It was so nice to be in our own bed last night, and Gabe was very excited for his own crib. We're talking up moving into a 'big-boy' bed, though, so we'll see how long the crib lasts.
I have a few minutes to just lay around for a bit, while Gabe is sleeping and Ryan and Mike are out, so I'm going to say goodbye for now!

Halftime in Washington...

It's a sweltering hot day here, but Tori and Noah had a chance to go to the Redskins game this afternoon, so we decided to stick around here at Noah's until tomorrow morning.  It's been nice to take it easy in the big city, even if it is a small condo...I've gotten to shop at Wegman's and eat Chipotle for lunch today, so we'll enjoy it while we can.  Ryan is feeling better all the time, and it has really been good that we didn't try to get home Friday. 

 I think we'll get to give Noah a birthday hug in person tomorrow before we leave, so that is also a perk of staying.  My brother Mike will be coming to visit on Tuesday.  It feels like forever since we've seen him and it will be fun to come home to a visitor.  We are ready to be back in Rocky Mount, and we appreciate all the calls checking on us.  Hopefully we'll see some of you soon...

Detour...

So we didn't quite make it home...Ryan really wasn't feeling good during the first part of the drive, so we just detoured to Noah's condo in Dumfries and will spend the night here. Ryan felt better as soon as he laid down on a bed--keeping his head up in the car was stressful and he can't lean his seat back far with Gabe behind him in the carseat.
Anyway, we'll rest up here and leave whenever he is ready in the morning. Pray that he feels better tomorrow!

Homeward Bound

We are all packed up and ready to bust out of here! Ryan is resting up for the drive as we speak. We'll be meeting up with Noah for lunch on our way out, and when we get home, my brother Mike will be waiting for us at our house! He had a couple of days off and was really glad that we would be getting home early so that he could see Ryan.
Here are his discharge orders:
-His 40 staples need to stay in for two weeks (Michele, that gives you some time to prepare yourself...:)
-He can't lift anything over 10 pounds for 6 weeks (as much as I love getting piggy-back rides around the house, I guess we will have to refrain...)
-Absolutely no house chores for the entire 6 weeks. (hmm, that one sounds kind of fishy)
-Daily rides on Donovan's 4-wheeler (you can swing that, right D?)
Anyway, we really are excited to be home. Pray that the ride is uneventful and goes by really quickly. Five hours tends to get pretty old even if you haven't just had surgery...
We'll say 'hey' from God's country pretty soon!

Its' been another pretty uneventful day here--we sure appreciate that! Ryan has gotten some good rest today and my mom and I got to spend some time together out of the hospital, which was really nice. Tori hung out with Gabe and Ryan while Mom and I went shopping in Bethesda and got some lunch at P.F. Changs. Happy day! Oh, and while I'm at it, Happy Birthday to Noah's girlfriend Rachel, too.
Last night Ryan told Gabe how proud he was of him for being such a big boy and that he wanted to buy him a surprise when we got out of the hospital. Gabe couldn't tell us enough how "be-sited" he is about a surprise! He has charmed all of the nurses and anyone that he comes across in the lodge where we stay. I'm sure they'll all miss him when we leave sometime tomorrow.
Well, Ryan is out walking in the hallway right now, so I guess I will go find him. He is doing very well and is still just so happy and thankful and praising God for getting rid of the tumor on his brain stem.
I'm not sure when we'll check out tomorrow, but I'm sure it won't be early...I'll send an update on our way out, I hope, but if not, then I'll post when we're home and settled in.
Until then...

Busy Day...

Sorry I am getting this on here so late! I guess time has gotten away from me today. We've been back and forth between Ryan's room and the lodge so many times that I forget you all are out there waiting for news of Ryan. He has had a good day. He slept for most of it, which is to be expected. He got up and walked around some this afternoon, and we had some visitors, which helped to break up the day.
We'll most likely leave Friday or Saturday for home. I guess our doctor had his days mixed up when he said Thursday...which is really fine because I don't think Ryan feels ready to leave quite yet. He loves to hear all of the comments left for him here, and he's actually felt up to taking a couple of phone calls today, but you have to catch him at the right time.
I'll be sure to post something earlier in the day tomorrow...until then!

Amazing Grace!

We got some more great news tonight! The doctor came by this evening and said that Ryan is doing so well they will let him go home this Thursday or Friday! He said that Ryan needs to be up and walking the next couple of days, but should definitely be ready to get home soon. How exciting! We are both ready for our own bed--it feels like we've been here a lot longer than just two nights.
Here's a quick update on Gabe, too...He is having a blast! He loves having his grandmas here to give him so much attention. He and Grandpa George and I played out on the playground for awhile this afternoon. He loves the swing and slide and just running around with anyone who will run with him. He is such a great kid! He adapts very easily to whatever new place he is in or new person is around. He loves to sing and really loves to dance. He is so much fun!
Ok, Ryan is ready to take a walk around the floor so I will close this for now. Good night!

Good Morning!

Things were pretty uneventful here last night...Ryan didn't sleep much, but that is pretty much expected in the ICU. I slept pretty well up in his room and George, Tori, my mom, and Gabe stayed over at the lodge. Ryan got another follow-up CT scan this morning. As far as I know everything is fine there. Ryan has sensory issues with parts of his right side--mostly his right leg, but the doctors feel like that will all work itself out and is just due to them messing around in his brain...(not their words :) He should be moving out of the ICU and back up to his room this afternoon, which we are all excited for.
Hopefully he'll be ready for some chicken noodle soup tonight, D!
Thanks for the comments and thoughts...it's nice to know you are all out there thinking of us.
Until later...

More Praises!!

Wow, Ryan looks great! As soon as we walked into his room this afternoon he got a huge smile on his face and started talking a mile a minute. I guess he had been awake for awhile, but they had taken him down for his routine post surgery CT scan and he was waiting impatiently for us to arrive after that. He is so excited and relieved and grateful that they took the tumor on his brain stem. He had been much more worried about that one than he had let on, and is feeling so encouraged to know that it is gone. The only lingering side affect of the surgery so far is that his speech is a little bit funny--I guess funny isn't quite the right word...it's more just that his voice sounds a little swollen. He is feeling great, though, and is so happy to have all of us in the room with him in the ICU. He'll still stay there overnight and then be moved to his room tomorrow.
The nurse that he has right now is a Christian, and remembers us from a surgery a couple of years ago, I guess right after Gabe was born. She says that Ryan hasn't been too cantankerous so far, so that is a praise, as well :)
A quick prayer request to throw in for the recovery process is that his blood sugar was a little high coming out of surgery, so they gave him a shot of insulin. They'll be monitoring it, but I guess it is a pretty normal side effect of surgery like that.
Anyway, I'm heading back down to see him, but thank you all for your prayers! They are so very appreciated and of course still needed.
With grateful hearts we are praising the Lord!

Sigh of Relief...

Praise God! Ryan is out of surgery as of about 1:00pm. His surgeon came to the waiting room, and said that everything went well! Surprise, though, they ended up taking out the tumor on his brain stem instead of the one on the cerebellum. It makes me so happy to know that that one is out of there! Dr. Lonser went in and drained the cyst from the cerebullar tumor, but decided to head straight for the other one, because he was pretty positive that it was the one causing the problems for Ryan. It was a difficult surgery, but he said that he is glad with the decision to take that one out. We won't know until Ryan is recovered if the other one is causing any symptoms still, so we could have some time before the next surgery.
Wow! This is still kind of hard to digest...I don't think any of us anticipated dealing with the brain stem today, so now we have to get through the next couple of hours wondering if Ryan will be OK when he wakes up. We should know pretty quickly if he is all right. Continued prayer is appreciated! He is in recovery right now and on his way up to the ICU after that so we should be able so see him around 3pm.
I'll post something later this afternoon...

No news yet...

Surgery could be up to 12 hours if they go for the second tumor...They said to plan for the longest scenario, so it could be a crazy day, or he could be out of there pretty quickly. No updates yet, but they took him back about 8am, so who knows when they actually started the surgery. It might be awhile.
Guess I'll add more later...

Heading to Bed...

Counting down to surgery...It's almost 11pm and we are heading to bed, but I figured I'd better put something on here tonight, not knowing when I'd have a chance in the morning...
They will be coming to get Ryan from his room around 7am--my mom and Gabe will head over here so that we can all walk down to the pre-op area together. I'm hoping for a good night's sleep on this pull-out bed-thing I'm on while Ryan gets the cushy hospital bed that conforms to his body as he sleeps...NIH is pretty cool :)
Ryan's parents will be driving up early in the morning--Tori didn't feel great today and didn't want to chance giving anything else to Ryan, so they decided to wait it out a bit.
We had a great dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy for our routine Last-Dinner-Before-Surgery night. Ryan is really using these surgeries as an excuse to get some good meals...Typical!
Well, I guess I'll get to bed. We're pretty wiped out and have a long day tomorrow. If we get an update during the surgery, I'll try to run up to Ryan's room and post something here. Otherwise, I'll just let everyone know when we're in the ICU and he's awake. Surgery will be 4+ hours. Keep up the praying...for the surgeons, for Ryan, for us in the waiting room...and especially for the small chance that they can get both tumors out at once and we can avoid a second surgery.
We love you all...until tomorrow!