At this point, Jeff has stopped posting and my posts are no longer only about my surgery and recovery, so I decided to move the blog back here. For those of you new to my personal blog, I keep it as a way of staying in touch with people, not as a public blog. Please do not share or post the link without permission. Thanks!

4 weeks out of the hospital

Tomorrow marks four weeks since I got out of the hospital. I have made a lot of progress, but still have a long way to go to get back to normal. Since I last posted, Jeff and I have moved to Regina and started  our new jobs. The movers still have not brought our belongings, and we will not have our stuff until sometime after September 5. We expected things to arrive much sooner than that. So while things are a little unsettled in that respect, other things are starting to settle. I have been able to go into work for about half a day most days since about August 15. I am not teaching this semester, so so far when I have been doing at work, is mostly just getting settled. Jeff starts teaching on September 5, so he is frantically trying to prepare to teach a new course.so far everyone has been very helpful and supportive, and it seems like this department is a good fit for us.

We have also so far enjoyed the town of Regina. It is about the same size as Eugene, a little bit bigger, and feels more like a real city. The weather has been very nice, and we have visited several parks in town of which there are very many. We also went to local farmers market, which had a fairly good selection including pierogies which we brought home frozen. There is apparently a large Eastern European community here in Regina, including a Polish community which has been here for about 100 years. There are pierogies in all the grocery stores, much more so than what you can find in the Northwest. This makes me very happy.

Also the University has a very nice fitness center, and last week Jeff and I got our memberships there. I may not be able to walk on my own yet, but I can go to the gym and work out. I am able to ride a stationary bike, and there is an indoor track that is 200 m long which is a great place to practice walking with a walker. Since last week we have been to the gym every weekday. I think exercising every day will help me get stronger faster, and hopefully I will be walking on my own sooner rather than later. Last week I was able to walk all the way around the track, rest, and then all the way around again for a total of 400 m in one session. This is definitely a new record for walking with the walker.

I have also been able to become more independent over the past month. I am now able to transfer on my own from the wheelchair to the couch, chair, or bed, and just last week I have been able to get to the bathroom on my own. This greatly improves my quality of life, and frees Jeff up as well. Although I am still very disabled, and this is definitely the hardest thing I have ever gone through, I am starting to see that eventually my life might get back to something close to normal.

Right now my biggest limitations are my mobility difficulties, double vision, and inability to type or write very well. I am also still very fatigued, and sleep about 10 hours a night or so. I am not really able to do much with my job right now, and fortunately the department and all of the people that I work with have been very supportive of that. I am fortunate that they are taking a long view look at this situation, and do not view my current limitations as a permanent problem.

About a month ago, Jeff mentioned that I have been checking my e-mail regularly.This is true, I check my e-mail every day. However, because I still have a great deal of difficulty with typing, I have been very bad about replying to the many nice e-mails I have received. I appreciate all of your good wishes, and just know that I am reading those e-mails, and will eventually respond.

Bridget in Eugene

Hello everyone, Bridget here, writing a blog post from Eugene using voice recognition software called Dragon. Typing is still painfully slow, and the software isn't perfect but it helps. I left Seattle yesterday, and Jeff left this morning. Jeff is driving with the two kitties, and will arrive in Regina on the ninth. As of lunchtime today he says that the drive is going well, and the kitties are not having too hard a time with the drive. I'm glad to be out of the hospital, and at the same time it's hard adjusting to new places. The house here in Eugene is set up better for me than the house Seattle was. I can get around here without going up and down any stairs, and  the doorways are wide enough to get the wheelchair through. Today I have had fairly good energy and even went out shopping at Fred Meyer. A couple of weeks ago I would never have been able to do that. I've come a long way, and being out of the hospital also reminds me how long I have yet to come.

Our last few days in Seattle we had many visitors, and said goodbye to many people. It was a hectic few days after getting out of the hospital but it was good to see so many friends. Two days after getting out of the hospital I also had a brain scan, and follow-up appointment with neurosurgery. Everything looks as it should  on my brain scan, and they are happy that I'm continuing to make progress. They say I could continue recovering for up to two years. I have a long road ahead, but I'm glad to know that I will keep getting better and that there is a long window for me to recover functioning.

Jeff and I will continue to post occasionally on this blog with updates. Thanks to everyone for all the support you have been sending. I have greatly appreciated all the cards, candy, e-mails, and other things people have sent me. It has made my recovery much easier knowing that I am well supported.

HOME!

Discharge complete! Bridget and I left the hospital today at around 10:00. The drive was very smooth and did not increase Bridget's vertigo, which was another sign of her continued improvement.

Being home has been both wonderful and difficult. Bridget is very happy to be home, and to see her kitties, and to be out of the hospital. However, it is also really hard making that transition. Our house, and especially our bathroom, are not ideally designed for people with mobility issues, which makes trips to the bathroom pretty exhausting. In some ways coming home has made her her realize just how much has changed since this surgery, and how much farther she has to go, recovery-wise. So it's been a pretty emotional day, both in happy and sad ways.

But I know, and you all know, that she is going to get better and better and stronger and stronger every day.

You should all know that Bridget regularly checks her email these days as well. So please feel free to write and send her well wishes directly!

OK, time to go. But I'll leave you with a picture of Bridget with one of her two new therapists:

On the eve of graduation

On rehab they call discharge day Graduation Day. And my sweet sweet Bridget's is tomorrow!

Right now she is enjoying her last chocolate chip walnut cookies and Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream (a favourite dessert). She had a good last day of her therapies. One of her OTs showed her some hand exercises she can do with her "thera-putty", and one of her PTs showed her some leg and balance exercises to do at home. As you all know, Bridget is no slacker, and she'll be doing these daily until she gets better! She ended her last PT session with a 500 foot walk outside in the Seattle sun, across some zig-zaggy uneven surfaces. We said goodbye to all of her therapists, and got pictures of Bridget with each of them too.


Here is Bridget with one of her awesome OTs Audrey:

 Here is Bridget with another awesome OT, Rishana:

And here is Bridget with her super PT, Alison!

 
The green sticker on Bridget's shirt is her Graduation sticker, which patients wear so that everybody knows they are leaving (and to remind nurses and therapists to do all of the discharge paperwork). Bridget leaves tomorrow, sometime between 10-11 in the morning. I plan to do another post then!

Bridget's LAST night in the hospital! Huzzah!!!

Updates, at last!

Dear readers,

My sincerest apologies for not updating anybody for 10 whole days! What can I say - I am busy man. Now that Bridget is doing so, so, so much better, I don't really have the time to do posts during the day. We stay busy doing exercises during her therapy sessions, working on puzzles, playing games, or watching movies. So much different than when she was sleeping all of the time for the first few weeks! I am also very busy preparing for us to move in just 16 days! Yikes. Right now Sheila is up visiting, and so while she's helping Bridget at the hospital I have time to do an update (among other things).



I have been getting emails from many of you worrying a bit about Bridget, since I hadn't posted in so long. Rest assured, it is only for the aforementioned reasons. Bridget really is doing great these days! Her walking gets better and better and better. The other day she walked a total of 500 feet across her two PT sessions - a new record! She also has done stairs over the last two days. The stairs she is using have rails on both sides, which is rare for stairs in the real world. But, as long as she has one rail and someone to help on the other side, it looks like she'll be fine. Finally, just yesterday she was cleared to have a walker in her room, that she can use with supervision of a nurse or family member. This is huge!

All of this makes Bridget and I feel much better about her increased independence in the near future, as we prepare for her discharge from the hospital. Her discharge date is set for August 1st right now. Although someone will have to be home with her at all times, she'll be able to do a lot of things by herself. We'll have a have a week together at home in Seattle, with friends from afar visiting (our very brief summer vacation!). Our movers are packing up our stuff on the 6th, and then she'll leave for Eugene for a week or so. The cats and I will leave on the 7th, and arrive in Regina on the 10th. I'll get the house set up (e.g., purchase a bed and other necessities, as the moving company won't deliver our stuff for a little while). I'll then fly out to Eugene to pick Bridget up, and we'll fly out to Regina to start our new life together.

Regarding Bridget's symptoms, her sense of midline is hugely improved. This was a subtle development that sort of slipped under the radar, because it doesn't really "feel" any different to Bridget (she would always be shocked to learn that she was leaning left, as it felt centered to her). But it's something the therapists and I have noticed, as her standing and sitting is so much straighter these days. I'm sure all of the walking has helped her brain to figure some of this out. 

Bridget's double vision is still an annoyance. On Friday she had an appointment with a neuro-ophthalmologist, to get an assessment of what her specific double vision problems were. This involved a short car ride to a different hospital, which went very well (i.e., didn't increase her vertigo too badly). This guy was able to characterize just how bad her double vision was (pretty bad!), and noted that it is primarily due to trouble coordinating the left eye. He also also said that it is highly likely to go away. He said that she doesn't need to worry about exposing herself to double vision time (i.e., time without patching up one eye), and also doesn't need to switch which eye she is patching throughout the day, as there's no danger of one of her eyes "taking over". He said just patch up whichever eye you prefer, and wait it out. That was *really* nice to hear, as Bridget's rehab doctors and therapists have been giving her the opposite advice. It's nice to get the official word from someone who knows their stuff! :) And, in the very rare case that her double vision isn't gone within 6 months - 1 year, there are glasses that they can design which can correct the problem for the most part. So that was a very relieving and reassuring appointment :)

Bridget's hand coordination is also greatly improved these days. She eats most of her meals with her right hand now, and makes it look easy. She also practices writing with her right hand everyday, and it is getting more and more legible - which is amazing when you think about it, since she can't really feel that hand very well!

Over the last few days we have begun purchasing equipment for Bridget as well. I found a used wheelchair on Craigslist for her, which is in good shape and runs smooth (a "Tracer SX5", sounds speedy, eh?) We've also purchased a shower bench and other stuff for the bathroom.
Getting ready for home!

OK, there you have it. It should come as no surprise that I probably won't update for a few days again, at minimum. But it is so nice to know that so many people are following Bridget's progress, and get so much out of this blog. The world is indeed full of good, caring, internet-savvy people, like yourself :)

250

Dear readers! Times have been busy lately. Bridget's sister, Sihu, and her fiance Joshua arrived two days ago from Norway. And Bridget is so active these days it's hard to find free time to post! Which is a good thing.

Anyway, just a short post for tonight. The exciting news: Today Bridget walked a total of about 250 feet! The day before she about 140, so that's a significant improvement! But that wiped her out pretty good, and so she had an early bed time tonight.

There haven't been any huge improvements in Bridget's sensation, but little sensations here and there have come back. She finds them hard to describe, as their not exactly like normal sensation, but she can feel "something".

The double vision is still a problem, and her vertigo has increased somewhat of late. Probably all of her increased activity with walking and spending more time sitting is shifting things around in her brain, which makes her a bit more dizzy. But hopefully this a good thing in the long run!

OK, more in a few days.

To the park!

Yesterday was another exciting day for Bridget, as had her first trip out of the hospital in nearly a month! Bridget, Jon, and I, and Bridget's recreational therapist all went out to Volunteer Park in Capital Hill. In all our time in Seattle, we had never actually been there! It was a very pretty park, and it was a lovely sunny day. The car ride to and from the park was pretty rough, though, as it increased Bridget's vertigo a lot. Unfortunately it was also the hottest day of the year so far in Seattle, so it ended up being pretty exhausting for her. But still worth it! Here are some photos of us in the conservatory at the park:

 Bridget continues to slowly gain sensation on her right side. Just yesterday she started feeling parts of her right torso. And the sensation in her fingers is creeping back a little more too. Her motor coordination has improved a lot lately as well. Today she put together a small wooden puzzle - something she would never have been able to do a week ago. And she's now able to check her email and surf the web on her iPod too. So that is awesome! 

Bridget gets up and walks with help at least once a day during PT, ever since her walking breakthrough. It's still pretty tough for her, but she's starting to get into a groove with it. Yesterday and today she also was balancing on her knees on the mat, which looks very impressive as well.

Bridget and I just got finished playing a rousing game of Yahtzee. And she played the whole game with her double vision in full force! Her therapists and doctor are all recommending she spend as much time as possible exposing herself to her double vision, instead of covering up one eye, so that her brain gets exposure to the problem and "practice" trying to correct it. The trouble is it makes Bridget very uncomfortable, and can increase her vertigo and nausea as well. So whenever she's doing therapies she usually blocks on eye. But she's trying to expose herself to double vision during her break times. And so playing a game of Yahtzee with double vision is quite an accomplishment! But I won :)

The Path to Walking

Today was a momentous day.

During morning PT, Bridget's therapist encouraged her to try side-stepping around the mat without her harness attached. She did OK, and was surprised that it really wasn't any harder than with the harness attached. Her therapist then encouraged her to try walking over to a chair across the room, with her and one side Bridget and me on the other side for support.

And so Bridget was suddenly walking across the room, supporting all of her own weight! When she got to the chair it was a really emotional moment for her. She was really happy and also pretty surprised, and started crying tears of joy. It was a huge leap forward in her walking ability, and she said it felt so much like walking on her own, and she has been so worried deep down that she might never walk again. But this is hard evidence that she is closer to walking again that she thought. It all happened so fast, and I think that neither of us was expecting that to happen today (though I suspect her therapist knew she was ready for it).

After that she did some more walking down the hallways with our help. Such a super fantastic thing to see after all these weeks! She was pretty beat after this, and slept all afternoon in between her afternoon sessions.

This is a huge improvement in so many ways! It made us both very happy all day :)

Cookies!

Hi all,

My apologies for not posting yesterday. Bridget had such a busy day there was really no time for it!

Since it was the 4th of July, we planned for a fun evening. In the afternoon my Dad and I slipped out for a bit while Bridget was resting between sessions and 1) got Bridget a cinnamon twist from one of her favorite bakeries, and 2) rented a movie to bring back to the hospital. We rented 007: License to Kill (1989). Unfortunately, however, that has to be one of the worst Bond movies ever. But it was fun to bring the big TV into the room and have a movie night. We'll have to pick something better for next time.

At around 10:00 the nursing staff also allowed people to head down to the gym to watch the fireworks show. Since we're up on the 6th floor of a hospital on a hill we had a pretty nice view of the Seattle show over Lake Union, and we could also look out and see simultaneous fireworks shows from other cities farther south. That was really nice, as it just wouldn't have been the 4th without fireworks. But it did mean that Bridget stayed up WAY past her bedtime. So an early bedtime is in order tonight.

Bridget's balance and leg movements continue to improve. She is now getting quite good at standing up from her bed or wheelchair. And her assisted walking is looking awesome as well. I think within the next week they might try her in a walker, who knows!

Bridget's coordination/ataxia just gets better and better with each day - especially in her numb right hand. For example, yesterday started a new knitting project! She cast on a garter stitch scarf (size 10 needles; bulky weight). She can also tie her shoes with no trouble (did it twice today). And her handwriting is becoming legible again. Admittedly, it looks a little preschool, but that's a huge improvement considering it was incomprehensible less than two weeks ago.

Finally Bridget also got to make cookies today in her OT morning session! That was super fun and super impressive. They were Betty Crocker sugar cookies (no eggs needed somehow). The hardest part was getting the individual butter packets open - especially after she had buttered-up her hands after opening the first one! But she did it, and they were delicious.

Standing tall

Above is a video of Bridget walking in her high-tech Peter Pan gear! Pretty cool, eh? It supports a good deal of her weight so that she can walk for longer periods. But don't worry, she's also getting plenty of practice with walking on the parallel bars too, so that she doesn't develop any poor walking habits on this thing.

And boy, you should see she that girl stand these days! Nice and straight, and today she hardly needed assistance with the standing from sitting part. Bridget and I are always stupefied by how hard it is for her to stand. It must take a heck of a lot of strength and muscular coordination just to stand straight and still for a few minutes. But I guess babies already knew that :)

Bridget's steroid-induced hunger also appears to be disappearing with the absence of her steroid meds. So for the first time in 3 weeks Bridget felt full after dinner, and didn't eat everything we put in front of her! Slowly getting back to normal in more ways than one!

Peter Pan

Hello all of our dear readers! My apologies for the delay in posting. But the good news is, I found a place for us to live in Regina! A nice place, that has everything (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, office) on one floor (for Bridget's potential mobility issues), in a good neighborhood close to the university. So that's one less thing to worry about in our lives.

Upon my return I immediately went to the hospital to see Bridget, and as I expected, I was impressed with her continued progress! Her ability to get up on her own in bed is excellent, and when she sits up now she sits up straight and tall and never leans over to her left side.  When she does pivot-transfers from the bed to the wheelchair she really does most of the work on her own, with me or someone else there just in case (and to sort of guide her). It is so exciting that she just keeps getting better!

While I was away Bridget started walking around with what we have dubbed the "Peter Pan" device. It's this ceiling-mounted hanging body-brace thing, that supports her weight to varying degrees while she walks around the room (as if to help her fly in a stage production of Peter Pan). Tomorrow she is going to try a version which will allow her to walk around the halls, instead of just walking around the mat in the gym over and over again. I will try to get video!

Bridget's sensation on her right side continues to get better as well. Yesterday night she said to me: "And this strange thing keeps happening, where I'm lying here, and suddenly I feel like there something under me that I'm sitting on, and I then I realize - nope, it's just my butt! So she's getting some feeling back in her right butt :)

And today she had some pretty remarkable recovery of sensation in her right arm. She was getting a blood draw in that arm, as she always requests that arm for that sort of thing since it's numb anyway, and but then this time she actually said that it kind of hurt! Then later in the day she reported that she was suddenly more aware of her arms presence, in a proprioceptive kind of way. Then even later she started getting some pins and needles feeling in that arm, as if it was waking back up from being asleep. So that's some super exciting news!

We also had a fun visit form our friends April and Whynn this afternoon, in between Bridget's therapy appointments. It is always good to see friends, exchange hugs, and share some laughs.Yay for people! And my Dad arrived today! He is out to visit Bridget and I for a few days, until the 5th. He was pretty excited to see Bridget and see for himself how well she is recovering and coping with all of this. It is hard to capture in pictures and videos, but Bridget is exceptionally positive and down-to-earth through what she described to April and Whynn today as "pretty much the worst time of her life. Pretty much! But through all of this she is still the normal Bridget you and I all know and love, and anyone who sees Bridget in the flesh can attest to that. And that, my friends, is truly awesome.

The curious arm

I write this post from the Vancouver airport, during a 5 hour layover on my way to Regina, SK. I'm taking an extremely short trip out there (returning Sunday) to look for a house for Bridget and I to rent for next year. I still think it's totally crazy for me to be leaving Bridget during this time, but logically it makes sense to head out now, and Bridget is in good hands with Sheila while I'm gone. I am sad that I won't get to see her in action during therapy though. Wish me luck that I'll only need this one trip out to find the perfect place, so I won't have to leave Bridget again!

Bridget's appetite remains voracious, which is the one funny thing that has come out of this surgery, for everyone, including Bridget. She just wolfs down her dinner, and slurps down protein shakes like nobody's business. While zombies need brains for food, it appears brains need food for, well, brains. Go brain go!

During one of Bridget's OT sessions yesterday she temporarily regained some sensation in her upper right arm. A difficult sensation to describe, she says, but something that told her that her arm was "there". The therapist was having her do some arm stretching exercises, and is just suddenly appeared, like BAM! However, later that night it had disappeared again. But if it can reappear once, I'm sure it will be back. I guess it was just a tease!

Yesterday, while Bridget was napping, she also woke herself up by smacking herself in the face with her (numb) right hand. Probably just a coincidence, but she and I speculated that her brain was trying to do something to reorganize itself with respect to that arm's functioning. However, it may also have been her right hand trying to get back at her brain for disrupting it's sensation.

I had wanted to post a video for all of you of Bridget outside in the sunshine that I took a few days ago. It was Bridget's first time outside of the hospital in two weeks! But sadly, I left my camera at home, so I cannot share right now. Forgetting my camera also sucks because I wanted to show Bridget the possible new houses for us in Regina. Oh well.

In my absence, I probably won't be posting too much, as I'll only get quick phone updates from Bridget. But I'll be back to daily posts on Monday. Also on Monday my Dad is coming out for a short visit (form the 2nd-5th). I am really looking forward to that! Yay for family!

3 more weeks

Bridget's rehab team met today to determine the course of Bridget's therapy. They figure that Bridget will be in the rehab unit for another 3 weeks or so from today. So, this is the official evidence that the time frame we initially thought Bridget's surgery would follow (which you can find on the right-hand side of this page) is way off. But I think Bridget will shock the team with a very rapid recovery!

Bridget's Mom Sheila arrived last night, and was so impressed with how much Bridget has improved. The last time she saw her, just a week ago, she was still hooked up to IVs and was nowhere near as active as she is now. So far there have been small improvements in Bridget's symptoms everyday, but to see 7 days worth all at once is quite exciting and encouraging. Sheila also trucked some of Bridget's favorite ice cream from Eugene - Prince Puckler's Muddy River. They just don't make ice cream like this is Seattle!

Today in PT Bridget took some steps with a walker - with a lot of help and support of course. She's still a long way from walking on her own, but gets closer each day. Gotta train that brain by moving that body!

Bridget also wishes she could take a movie of what she sees with her crazy double vision. For the last few days at times the image from one eye has been tilted about 45 degrees relative to the other image. A few times last week she also reported that one of the images was closer than the other image (like one was zoomed in). These are definitely errors in the brain, and not errors in the eyes! But hopefully these weird perceptual distortions are evidence that her brain is trying to figure out how to solve this problem.

Rehab videos

Bridget requested that I take videos of her doing her rehab activities, for you guys to see what she's working on and so that she can look back at how much improvement she's made herself. So I took a couple of short videos of her doing stuff in her morning session of PT and her afternoon session of OT today. For some reason blogger isn't letting me post the PT video (maybe too long?), so that is lame.

But here is Bridget during OT, doing some pegboard work:

Today in PT she also took a couple of assisted steps on the parallel bars, and did much better with these than she did the previous day, and they tired her out considerably less. And both of her therapists independently commented on how much better her balance and sitting was today, and were very impressed with the difference between today and yesterday! Bridget chalks it up to a) having friends visit and b) Haribo Gummy Bears (thanks Stephan!). But we all know it is really her unrelenting determination to get better!

Rehab is working

Bridget is now almost through her second full day of rehab. Boy oh boy, do they keep her busy! But it is a good thing, as I can already see that she is improving with each day.

Bridget's current impairments are so severe that she finds great difficulty in doing simple things that our brains do unconsciously for us. For instance, it doesn't seem like we have to "do" anything to sit upright in a chair. But for Bridget, multiple problems get in the way of performing this task. For one, Bridget has no idea where the center of her body is in space, so she doesn't know if she's sitting up straight or not, or even if she's looking straight forward or not. Second, she can't really feel the right side of her body. So when she does try to center herself, she leans considerably to her left, because that's the side of her body she can feel, and thus tries to center according to that half (but the body, of course, cannot be balanced on one side only). Third, when people try to tell her to "center" herself, they naturally want to tell her to use visual cues - e.g., "look straight ahead at the clock on the wall." But Bridget's double vision makes this very tricky: she sees two clocks, one a little to the left and the other a little to the right of where the real clock is. On top of all of this, the room always feels like it's spinning while she's doing this.

Going back about 3-4 days ago, these problems were huge barriers on Bridget's mobility. She was not even really able sit up from a laying position by herself. But even before she started rehab, she was getting better at this, and now she can do this mostly by herself. She is getting much better at transferring from the bed to the wheelchair. In the last two days she has gained skill at "scooting" in the bed or the chair - a verb I normally encounter in my developmental studies of baby locomotion. So, even though the gains are small, any gain is good! Her PT today told her today that in rehab, they measure improvement in inches, not miles.

Bridget has 3 hours or therapy per day: 1.5 hours of physical therapy, and 1.5 hours of occupational therapy, each split into two 45 minute sessions (so 4 sessions per day). Both PT and OT have been working a lot on Bridget's balance/vestibular issues. They have her shift her wait while sitting, for example. PT also focuses on getting Bridget's strength back, and has been giving her exposure to standing for short periods - this is extremely challenging for Bridget right now. OT has been focusing on Bridget's hand coordination as well, to work on Bridget's ataxia. Bridget says I should take video of her doing these things, so people can see what she's like. I will try tomorrow. One thing that Bridget has going for her is that she's a *really* good patient (motivated, persistent), and I think that helps the therapists push her to (reasonable) limits.

All of this therapy makes Bridget SO tired. And her appetite is absolutely through the roof! For those of you who are familiar with Bridget's eating habits, you would be shocked to see how ravenous she is at mealtime. She eats much more than she normally used to and much faster than she normally used to. But this is a good thing! Her brain is saying "I need more energy to repair myself!"

Tonight our friends Karen and Alicia came by for a fun visit. Karen made more of the cookies that Karen made when she was in the NCCU and couldn't eat anything, and she was forced to smell them when I would eat them. Now, she can eat them! And Alicia brought some banana bread and delicious raspberries. Good times were had! We even played some Scattergories, and discovered that Bridget can still kick ass at that game. So certainly no cognitive deficits! :)

Whew!

Bridget had her first real day of rehab today, and is totally beat from it. It was a very busy day, so I didn't really have time for a post. I'll post more tomorrow about today and tomorrow!

Tired

Bridget is now up in the rehab floor, and is pretty exhausted from an afternoon intro to rehab. That, and she also had her sutures removed, which was kind of intense. She is lying in bed in regular clothes instead of a hospital gown, as her occupational therapist helped her get dressed. She feels a lot more human with clothes on

Bridget was visited by speech therapy again, and was upgraded to regular foods and liquids. She had a very nice sweet and sour tofu stir fry for dinner, and regular milk to drink - a very satisfying meal after a long day. She also had her visit from OT, and physical therapy. She was up in a wheelchair for a bit, while I gave her a tour of the wing.

Rehab is going to be very structured and scheduled, and very tiring. She'll have 1.5 hrs each with both OT and PT every day. Although she'll be pretty beat almost every day, it is the only way she will learn how to adapt to her current mobility limitations. So wish her lots of luck in her upcoming grueling sessions!

However, a super great thing about the rehab floor is that it is very, very quiet, as they need to ensure that all of their tired patients get as much sleep as possible. So Bridget may finally get a regular night's sleep after 10 days of beeping noises and constant interruptions!

And tonight Bridget is getting more visitors. Bridget's friend Andrea and her boyfriend Kean came up yesterday to visiting Bridget and Seattle, and are staying until Sunday. So they visited last night and are also coming tonight to visit again. Yay for visitors! If anyone local - or otherwise - wants to come and see Bridget, please do! You can coordinate with me.

Breakfast of Champions!

All of Bridget's IV lines are OUT, and real food is going IN! Today she's enjoying her first french toast, scrambled eggs, and milk (still thickened, but later today she will probably be able to have all the regular milk she wants).

She'll need lots of energy today for her transition up to rehab. More on that later!

Ups and downs

There are going to be ups and downs during this recovery process. Most days there have been improvements in Bridget's condition (and that is even true of today), and we can do our best to focus on those positive outcomes. But today was a bit of a downer day. Bridget was thinking today about just how unfair it is that she had to have this problem, and had to have this crazy surgery, and how it is going to deeply impact our lives, and that made her (and I) kinda sad. It is important to have and experience these feelings, to acknowledge and accept what has happened.

Yesterday Bridget was a lot more energetic than she had ever been on days previous. She was up all day, with no naps, and was pretty active (for her current condition). Today she was a little more tired, so that contributed to her feelings I think. It was really nice to talk to one of the physician's assistant here who provided some sensible perspective on this. There will be periods of ups and periods of downs, and if we focus on pluses and minuses each day, we'll drive ourselves crazy fast. Better to look back on gains made over longer periods. When we do that for the last week, it's actually quite reassuring. A week ago Bridget would not have been able to do nearly any of the things she did today. So that was reassuring to hear, in a very non-definitive way.

But in fact, Bridget did stay up all day again today, and was still very active compared to a couple of days ago. AND Bridget passed another swallowing test today! This means she can now drink thin liquids - like regular water and tea. You wouldn't have thought it, but thin liquids are some of the most difficult things to swallow, as they go down the throat very fast. So breakfast tomorrow will be a lot better :)

And - SO EXCITING - Bridget is moving on up to rehab tomorrow morning! This is super great, for at least two reasons: 1) her condition is stable enough that she doesn't need to be monitored so closely anymore, and 2) now she can finally work more seriously on regaining some functionality in those arms and limbs. Hopefully rehab will allow Bridget to win back some much-desired skills.

She's also been eating so much that they are taking her off of her TPN. She's also not getting the sodium solution anymore, since her most recent CT scan showed that her ventricles are still functioning normally, as they were a couple of days ago. Oh, and I guess I have to ask the doctor's and PAs the same questions over and over again. One doctor had told me that most of the swelling in Bridget's brain should have gone down by now. But that is not true - the CT scan shows there is still swelling, and the swelling could take a long time to go down (on the order of weeks). The brain just doesn't work like other parts of the body. The PA we talked to today basically told us that if anybody tells us that they know how Bridget's recovery is going to go, that's really more opinion than fact. Excpet he did say we should trust Dr. Newell :)

Bridget's pain is also way down. She mostly feels pain on her incision site when she's sleeping, and and putting pressure on it for long periods. So she's hardly taking any pain meds anymore.

Weening off all of these medications and solutions is going to make her feel a lot more normal. And really, each day since the surgery has been a step in that direction. Focus on the positive!

A full week later

In writing this blog, it has been challenging to represent things objectively and accurately. The most important thing in my life is Bridget, and when we were faced with this crazy surgery plan, I shifted into a mode of being as supportive and positive about everything as I could. The surgery itself was such a big deal, so that when it was over, and Bridget was alive, awake, and with her full mental faculties, we were all SO hugely relieved. And even though Bridget had some significant symptoms post-op, we were told that these would all go away with time (unspecified amount).

So in my writing I have tended to be optimistic and positive in my reports about everything. Deep down, I still am 100% certain that Bridget will get better eventually, and she is too. But gradually, with more and more doctor visits, we're beginning to understand that this process could be much longer and more difficult than we had hoped for.

So, to recap, Bridget's symptoms right now include:

- double vision
- numbness in her right face, right arm and right leg
- ataxia (per
- inability to perceive her midline
- drifting her body to the left when she's sitting upright or standing
- slight trouble swallowing
- vertigo

That's a lot of symptoms. Combined with a pretty low energy level, these are very disabling symptoms which significantly limit Bridget's activity level right now. And, it's really not clear when these symptoms will get better. One of the neurosurgeons told us yesterday that she shouldn't expect leap and bounds in terms of improvement. Things are more likely to improve slowly, and be noticeable on the order of months or so. So, in short, it's hard not to be a little discouraged by everything. But Bridget has remained positive through the bulk of this - which is a truly remarkable feat.


The last few days have seen the doctors debate about whether Bridget is ready to move up to acute rehab or not. The rehab team wants to get her up and walking, but some of the neurosurgery team wants to keep a closer eye on her for a little bit longer. I think the neuro team is being a little extra cautious, which is good, but I think she'll probably be going up there tomorrow or Saturday.

Bridget continues to eat food, which continues to make her very happy. She says the mashed potatoes are her favorite so far :)

And last night we opened up all of the cards and gifts! The total count: 45 cards, 3 sets of flowers, 2 stuffed bears, 1 stuffed lemur, candies, books, movies, puzzles, and slippers! Bridget felt so touched by all of these, and was sort of floored to realize just how many people out there care about her. No surprise to me of course - she's Bridget after all! She wants me to let everyone now how special the cards made her feel, and how encouraged she was by all of your supportive and thoughtful words. You all rock!

There's a new bear in town

Hi all!

The day passed very quickly, and I did not have time for a post! But rest assured, Bridget's status has remained fairly stable, and her energy level has even gone up a little bit too.

I promise to write a longer post tomorrow. But for tonight, I leave you with a photo of a happy Bridget. A new bear arrived in the mail, from Brandon and Krista! Bridget loves it, and here is a photo of the evidence:

food... food... FOOD!!!

Bridget just ate her first food since last Tuesday! She did a barium swallow test (just like Curious George), and passed for a few of the items. She is allowed to eat purees/"nectar" consistency, but given how well she did eating after the test, I'm sure she'll progress up the food ranks rapidly. Bridget ordered mashed potatoes (with lots of butter) and chocolate ice cream (with weird thickener). Bridget started slow, but then basically DEVOURED the mashed potatoes. She really liked the ice cream too, but couldn't finish the whole thing. She was extremely tired from all of her workouts today (up in a chair twice and transferring on and off a gurney), and so while she was eating she was a strange mixture of energetically ravenous yet close to falling asleep. Bridget just told me to say that, for those of you who know the story of our cat Maddy's mashed potato frenzy, this was pretty similar. Here is a photo of the action, that captures her fatigue more than her sheer excitement:

This is SUCH good news! This is going to improve Bridget's current quality of life dramatically. Food will be her much needed fuel for the road to recovery. I would like to revise the age-old adage to say that food is the best medicine.

Bridget had an MRI scan last night (at 12:15 am!) to check on her brain's recovery. Dr. Newell said the scan didn't reveal any surprises, which is good. It did not detect any remnants of the cavernous malformation or any new problems. He said it mostly showed blood products in the region of the surgery, which were expected.

This information suddenly made me realize something about Bridget's current symptoms which I had failed to think about up until now (I blame the severe stress and the sleep deprivation). Immediately after surgery, there was a lot of talk about the swelling of her brain at the surgery site, which could contribute to her symptoms. Then there was that whole enlarged ventricles issue, which exacerbated the swelling and such. But given that now Bridget's swelling has begun to go down, the bulk of her symptoms are likely due to the blood products that are hanging out in regions of the brain where they shouldn't. In fact, this is the same problem as the bleeds which her cavernous malformation were causing in the first place: blood gettin' all up in the brain's business.

In the case of surgery, it appears the bleeding was more intense and thus more widespread. What has to happen now, in order for her symptoms to resolve, is for the blood products to be reabsorbed into the body/tissue. This could take 3-6 months, and maybe even longer.

I talked with Bridget a little bit about this issue this morning. Her and I both were not expecting the surgery to result in this many symptoms. We knew that it *could* happen like this, but of course we were hoping it would be easier. A couple of times in the last few days Bridget has asked - mostly sarcastically but with an kernel of veracity - whether having this surgery was a stupid idea. It might seem this way, but of course, we know this is not the case. Leaving that monster in there could have caused these problems on it's own sometime in the future. Plus, Bridget *will* heal from this, we believe that 100%. But it's important to face reality: this is going to be a difficult process.

The next big step for Bridget is to start rehab. She may get actually transferred to the rehab floor tomorrow afternoon, but we're not entirely sure yet. Rehab is going to be tough: 3 hours a day of difficult activity. So, they need to be sure that she can handle that level of work.

But if there's anybody who's going to be able to handle it, it's SUPER BRIDGET!

Out of the NCCU!

I write with renewed energy and enthusiasm!

When I arrived this morning the physical therapist was here to evaluate Bridget. He was impressed by her continued improvements in sensation and proprioception. The sensation in Bridget's right arm is returning distally rather than proximally - hand rather than upper arm - which is of more use to Bridget for the time being anyhow.

When I started this post, Bridget was still in the NCCU. But we just got word that she's being sent up to a regular care room! So, for those of you who were dying to send Bridget flowers, they can now be sent to her, to room number 517.

Bridget also had a CT scan (at 2:30 am this morning!) which indicated that her ventricles are now smaller. Thus, the brain's usual drainage system appears to be functioning properly again. This is a HUGE positive, and means the swelling could reduce even more in the near future.

Bridget will also be getting an MRI at 4:00 today, to check up on . The CT scan doesn't indicate anything concerning, but the MRI can provide significantly more detail. Let's hope that shows good things too.

Unfortunately for Bridget she is experiencing a migraine today :( There are few things worse than having a migraine while there's still a hole in your head healing! But she's been given some good pain meds for it, and can hopefully sleep through it.

I also want everyone to know that even though I haven't been responding to comments on each post, I do read them and really appreciate them. And I pass along all of them along to Bridget!

Grape popsicle

Hi folks,

I write this post from home. Sheila is subbing for me tonight and will sleep in the NCCU with Bridget. After 4 nights of poor sleep my body is begging me for 1 good night of solid rest at home!

The super exciting news for today is: the plan is now for Bridget to move to a regular care room tomorrow! After two extra nights in the NCCU without worsening of symptoms, and more importantly for us, with improvement of symptoms, they've decided they probably don't need to monitor her so closely anymore.

However, I think this is contingent on the results of another CT scan that she'll get tomorrow (maybe in the wee hours of the morning again). Let us all hope that this shows that the swelling has reduced, and that the pressure in the ventricles is down. If the swelling has not gone down, it might be a sign of other problems, and Bridget doesn't need any more problems right now!

Improvements for today:

1) Bridget's slightly slurred speech is definitely better today, which means there might be additional improvement in her swallowing muscles.

2) Bridget was a little more energetic today, She might not have agreed with that, since she slept so much, but when she *was* up she had a little more kick and was a lot more with it!

3) Bridget's coordination and dexterity also seems slightly better, at least to me.

4) Bridget took significantly less pain meds today, which is also really awesome.

Unfortunately Bridget still didn't pass her swallow test, but she is so VERY close. Hopefully tomorrow puts things over the edge and she can enjoy some real food. She did get to try some crushed up grape popsicle today, which she was really happy about!

It's the little things :)

Bridget the knitter!

This afternoon, Bridget did something very exciting!

Her occupational therapist had told Bridget to practice doing simple, repetitive tasks with her hands, like moving a cup or opening a flip-top bottle cap. Bridget asked if she should practice her knitting, and the PT smiled and said "Well, that would be a lofty goal for now - you're not quite there yet. But hopefully someday soon you could give that a try."

Well, this afternoon Bridget asked me to get her knitting out, and wanted to attempt knitting a single stitch. It took a little while to get her hands in the right place, and then some more time to get it right, but she eventually knit a stitch! Not only that, she immediately was able to do two more, pretty quickly! Everyone was very impressed and pleased by this, but I think no one more than Bridget herself. After she did her first two, she said "OK, I can do this", and I could tell that meant a lot to her. 

I just had to take a picture after this momentous event occurred, and here it is (note that the white stuff on her glasses is her eye patch, to help temporarily relieve her double vision) :

Super Bridget!

Sheila also did some checks on Bridget's sensation to cold in her right arm today, and it showed continued improvement today. Bridget was able to feel which finger Sheila was touching the cold object too for all of her right hand, save her ring finger. So that is awesome!

So, tonight we all go to bed with freshly renewed hope for improvements tomorrow :)

Progress

I know I promised a photo of Bridget yesterday, but it just didn't work out. Bridget is sleeping so much that when she does get up all anyone in the room wants to do is have a chat with her. But maybe if you're lucky, you'll get a pic sometime soon :)In the meantime, here is a pic of Bridget on our hike we took last Sunday:

Bridget continues to make incremental progress each day. Yesterday afternoon she had her catheter removed, and so finally got to pee the good old-fashioned way. Bridget was very happy about this, even though getting up and out of bed to do it is a huge undertaking for her right now. But it's good practice, methinks.

Bridget also has to pee a LOT since they started trying to reduce the fluid/pressure in her ventricles. The tactic right now is a saline solution, to essentially dry things up a bit, which results in this unfortunate side effect. So last night was a little rough sleep-wise with all of the bathroom wake-ups, but no so bad really.

Bridget had another CT scan at 4:00 am this morning to check if the fluid in her ventricles had reduced or increased since yesterday. Luckily, they haven't increased significantly (though one did increase a little bit), but unfortunately they haven't reduced at all either. So there's more waiting-and-seeing on that front.

The PT came back today to check on Bridget's motor and numbness issues. What was really great to see was that she has regained some sensation to light touch on her right forearm! To give credit where credit is due, Bridget's Mom actually discovered this before the PT came by. The PT also discovered that she was getting some sensation in her right knee too. I do say, there is no such thing as a small miracle! These little improvements in sensation are very encouraging, especially since Dr. Newell said this morning that her numbness is really her most "significant" symptom at this point.

Bridget still isn't able to swallow perfectly, so she still has to wait for real food. She was very jealous of me today when I told her I got some green tea for breakfast. Poor B, I felt so bad :( I won't have any tea anymore until she can have it with me!

Bridget just heard me clicking and clacking away on the keys and she asked me how many posts I have done so far on the blog. I told her, and I also told her just how much all of you guys appreciate having the blog to read over, and she was very happy to hear this and smiled. If I haven't said so already, this blog was Bridget's idea. I sure feel lucky to be married to such a smart and beautiful woman!

More later!

Busy day and new Info

Hello fellow Bridget trackers,

Bridget had an excellent night of sleep last night compared to her first night after surgery. The day once again started off with rounds, and the doctors doing their usual battery of assessments. One thing they attended to today was Bridget's slight ataxia on her left side - that is, slightly less coordinated motor control. She might have a bit of this on the right side, but it's hard to tell if the numbness is just confusing things. Bridget's double vision is basically unchanged, but she noticed that doesn't have it when she looks down; not sure if this is an improvement or a discovery on her part, but it's good either way! During rounds Dr. Newell decided she should graduate from the Neuro Critical Care Unit (NCCU) to the Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU). IMCU is still the same machines, similar care, similar deal, but just less frequent visits from nurses.

Bridget's Occupational Therapist then came by (I think he might be Canadian) and was pleased with her improvement! Today she gained a lot of proprioception in her numb arm (for those nonpsych nerds, this means she has regained a sense of where her arm is as she moves it through space).Yesterday she barely had any of that. She also regained some sensitivity to cold in parts of her numb arm, and a few spots in her numb leg. He then had her sit up, stand up, and transfer to chair. She was pretty dizzy when she did this, but she did it well. To sum up, the OT was impressed!

Next up was a second swallowing test with the speech therapist. She got to eat some applesauce, which was her first food in over 48 hours! Her swallowing improved a bit, but it's still not perfect, and they need it to be perfect before they can give her food. So, Bridget got set up with a "picc line" a little later, to provide nutrition (Total Parental Nutrition, to be precise). Beats a feeding tube, but it's still not eating. She was pretty bummed by not passing - she'd really like to eat some real food!


Bridget then had a CT scan, to see how things are looking up in her head. More on that in just a sec!

After she got her picc line in, she then changed rooms to the IMCU. We were there for no more than 10 minutes, however, when we got news that she was being transferred back to NCCU, due to the results from the CT scan.

The scan revealed that Bridget has slightly enlarged ventricles. This is very common after brain surgery. Without going in to too much detail, essentially this means that there is extra pressure in Bridget's brain, which is causing her to be so super sleepy, and could be prolonging her current symptoms. This latter bit is my non-medical deduction only - the doctor only mentioned that this is likely causing her extreme sleepiness. So I guess sleep is good for recovery, but super-sleep is a sign of a problem. The doctors are working on getting this pressure down now, and hopefully it works soon.

Bridget is hanging in there. As I'm sure you can imagine, it is stressful for her to hear about this new problem while she's already worried about her current symptoms. But her Mom and Jon and I - and all the nurses - are doing our best to reassure her that sheis going to pull through this just fine. Oh, and what's that...? I hear a distant sound... Ah yes, it is all of the words of reassurance you are providing from your respective locations as well! Thanks.

OK. Well, before I go to bed I promise I'll do another quick post, and include a picture of Bridget for all of you, her adoring fans!

Bridget the Comedian!

Today was an action packed day for Bridget. Most exciting of all was that things continued to improve, slowly but surely!

In the morning, after Sheila and Jon arrived, I headed home for a shower, kitty visit, and a short break. On my way out Bridget was up, and I asked her if there was anything she wanted to say to the kitties. She said "Yes, yes - tell Koshka I say MROW!" and she smiled and giggled (it is priceless when Bridget entertains herself!). I then asked if she had anything to say to Maddy, and she said "No, nothing to say, just give Maddy some pets". So, when I went home, I did both.

Bridget also expressed an interest in eating this morning, so a speech pathologist came by to assess her swallowing. She is able to swallow a bit, but she is not ready for food just yet. The SP will come back tomorrow morning to assess her again. She is allowed to practice swallowing ice chunks in the meantime. Also, while I was out at the house, a physical therapist (or occupational therapist? I am unclear on the difference) came by to assess her movement. She even got to stand up for a bit - with help of course.

A great piece of news is that Bridget appears to be through the worst of the nausea. Sometimes she feels a little nauseous, but she did not vomit at all today! This also means that she spent even more time today sleeping, since she didn't have to get up every hour to vomit. She has been sleeping something fierce, I tell you! This bodes well for her recovery.

In the afternoon today she also regained some feeling in her right toes! One might have thought the feeling would come back top-down or bottom-up, but it might just reappear in patches - the spot she can feel right now is not the tip of her right toes, but the region where her toes attach to her feet. We don't really care how it comes back though, provided it does!

Another exciting aspect of today was that her youngest brother, Andre, came up to visit. He just came up for the day, and headed back just an hour or so ago. Bridget slept through most of his visit, but at the various points when she awoke she was super glad to see him. And Andre was also very happy to be able to see her!

Finally, just a little while ago Bridget had some fun with her right hand. Her physical therapist told her to practice looking at her right hand while she manipulated it (since it is numb right now, it's good to practice using it in that state). She started out with some finger-thumb touches, but then I asked her to give me the finger, and she happily obliged (uncommon for sweet Bridget!). We also encouraged her to do various hand gestures, which she performed quite well: the "West coast" rap sign, the "hardcore" devil-rock horns, the Vulcan peach sign, and my personal favorite, the "hang loose" gesture, which Bridget suggested herself and performed with a couple of giggles again :)

Bridget also got to practice manipulating a cuddly teddy bear which one of Bridget's internship friends had sent up to Bridget's room today. She squeezed all of his limbs, and sort of made him do the hokey pokey. A sweet and very functional gift!

I expect a much smoother night of sleep is ahead for Bridget (and myself) tonight, with continued improvements tomorrow. Bridget is such a strong girl, and I know she is just going to power through this recovery like nobody's business!

Morning Rounds

Good morning! (a quick side note: sleeping in the ICU is a little rough, but definitely worth it!)

A whole gaggle of doctors came in for rounds a little while ago, to check up on Bridget. They are all pretty impressed with how she's doing! She still has all of the symptoms she had yesterday, but some are morphing a bit. The numbness on her right side has changed - her right facial numbness has improved a bit, but her right arm and leg are still very numb (she can only barely feel a very strong squeeze to those). I'm not sure if she's still slightly weak with her left arm and leg, but the doctors didn't mention anything when they came by. Her double vision is still there, and she has a little trouble looking all the way to her left. Her speech is a little slurred - I wasn't sure yesterday whether that was just her drowsiness or a new symptom, but it seems maybe to be the latter. A speech pathologist is coming sometime this morning to do a full check-up on Bridget, and make sure her swallowing is good. If so, she'll be able to eat some kind of food today. She had a few bits of ice this morning and that was semi-successful, but we'll just have to wait and see. Her nausea has been much better lately - she has been vomit-free for about 3 hours now (a huge improvement from last night).

But again, all of current symptoms could disappear once the swelling reduces in her brain and she continues to heal.

Dr. Newell (her neurosurgeon) just came by, and decided she should stay in the ICU for one more day, just to be sure. But I think soon she'll be into her own recovery room soon enough!

OK, time for some breakfast! I probably won't update again until this evening.

Love to all!

Bedtime

A final update for tonight! Bridget continues to do well, and is pretty much asleep 90% of the time. Right now she feels awfully nauseous when she opens her eyes, so it's best for her to keep them closed anyhow.

Here is a photo of our little champion, doing what he body needs most:

Sheila and Jon have both retired to the house, to get some much needed food and rest. I'll be spending the night here, probably getting very little sleep. I'll be up at 5:30 am when the ICU doctor comes to check in on her, and then at 6:30 when the rounds come through.

But knowing that she's doing OK is going to help me SO much better :)

YAY!!!

I just got back from a short visit with Bridget in the ICU! After saying goodbye to her at 7:15 am, and patiently waiting through 6 hours of surgery and 2 hours of recovery, I finally got to see my sweetheart. There are only two people allowed at a time in the room, so right now Sheila and Jon (Bridget's brother, who just arrived moments ago from Eugene) are in there now while I write this update.

Bridget is pretty out of it, but looking good! All vitals are normal and healthy and she is able to talk (though again, still coming off the anesthesia, so not particularly talkative). She has all of her movement abilities, which is a huge relief. Currently, she has some numbness down her right side, including her face. She also has some very slight weakness on her left side, and is reporting some double vision (not with each single eye, but when both eyes are working together). I don't want anyone out there to worry about these symptoms: they are to be expected after this kind of surgery, and most likely will improve rapidly and disappear in the next few days. Only time will tell which symptoms might stick around for longer. So, in short, she's doing good!

I had a very quick chat with the doctor, and he told me that they found exactly what they expected in there, and promptly removed it. He is confident that it is all gone, but future scans will be needed to be 100% sure.

So, to all of you who were beaming positive thoughts and prayers Bridget's way today, it seems they were well received! If you haven't exhausted all of your good wish resources, send some more for a speedy and healthy recovery :)

It also looks like I get to spend the night with Bridget in the Neuro ICU, which is super great. I'll post when anything significant happens this evening, or if I procure any more useful information!

WE MADE IT!!!

Love to all.

Midway update

We just got news that Bridget's surgery is just now ending. We are hoping to see/hear from the doctor very soon to hear how it all went. But it sure was a long procedure - almost 6 hours! And there is more waiting yet to come - we won't get to see her until about 1.5-2 hours from now.

But at least the surgery is over! More updates later :)

Surgery Day

Hi all,

Bridget, Sheila (Bridget's Mom) and I got up nice and early this morning, and arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am. Bridget was very nervous, but ready to get this darn thing over with.

Here is a photo of Bridget is the Pre-Pre-Op area:

Doesn't she look cute in her pigtails? The surgery soap she had to use last night and this morning does wonders for your hair, so the braids were an attempt to keep tangling to a minimum.

Only one of us was allowed in the Pre-Pre-Op area with Bridget, so Sheila said goodbye and I headed back there with her. I stayed with her while she got some blood drawn, confirmed her identity several times, got some blood drawn, and all that jazz. We also did a little crossword to keep distracted. At around 7:15, they wheeled her out of the Pre-Pre-Op area to go to the real Pre-Op area. I was not allowed to join her there, so I said my goodbyes then.

Sheila and I are now waiting for the surgery to be over, sometime around 12:00-1:00 pm or so. At this point, the surgery has probably been underway for about an hour. We are both pretty nervous, but keep reminding each other that everything is going to be OK. And it will! That much is certain.

More updates later!

Waffles

What do you do the day before brain surgery?

According to Bridget, you:

1) Have a lunch of homemade waffles draped in homemade rhubarb sauce.
2) Work on a Seattle puzzle.
3) Go for a relaxing walk around lovely Queen Anne.

That's our day so far in a nutshell. Bridget is doing well, and is surprisingly non-freaked out right now. Bridget's Mom is going to be here in a few hours, which will be nice. The plan is to relax all the way to bedtime.

Just a few minutes ago we received our official schedule for tomorrow - well, not really a schedule, but some timing info. Bridget's surgery is going to be the first surgery of the day, and so we'll be checking in at 5:30 am tomorrow morning. So hopefully this means we get everyone at their morning best!

We are feeling so lucky to have all of the prayers, well wishes, and positive vibes beamed our way over the last few days. Thank you all! Keep them coming for the rest of today and through tomorrow.

Day -2: Hello!

Welcome all!

This blog is all about your favorite person, Bridget, and her journey through brain surgery and recovery.

As you all know, Bridget is scheduled to have her surgery this Wednesday, June 13th.

Bridget's current status: nervous, trying to remain distracted, but feeling loved and supported by all of you. She knows she is making the right decision, even if it is a scary one. We know she is in the best possible hands with this procedure, and that no matter what, everything is going to be OK.

We both had a lot of things that we planned to get taken care of before the surgery, so that we'd be all ready to relax for the next day and a half. So Bridget is now officially on "take it easy" status! She's hanging out with friends this afternoon and evening, painting her toenails, knitting, and going to see a movie (Moonrise Kingdom). Tomorrow the plan is to take relaxing to a new extreme, so that Bridget is in the best possible mental place for her day on Wednesday.

Thanks you to all of you who have sent cards to Bridget already! They will make her feel so loved and supported when she wakes up in the hospital. I currently have them stashed in a secret location in the house. Bridget saw a few of them when the mail came, but I quickly made her unsee :) We both feel so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends to help us through this difficult time in our life. So props to YOU!

Anyhow, just a short post for today. Check back in each day for more updates!

     - Jeph