Update on Cindy

Praise the Lord! This update was written by Cindy herself on Saturday...

Hi everyone,

We are happy to say that I am back home and doing well!

The trip took us two days. It was not an easy trip but it could have been much worse. Today (Saturday) has been a little tough but the doctor warned that I could have a lot of pain after the traveling we had to do. The pain medication helps a lot but I can tell when the three hours are nearly up and time for more!

I want to thank everyone for their outpouring of love and concern. We are still amazed daily at the kindness that has been shown towards me and our family. God has really used a very difficult time in our lives to show us that His grace is sufficient.

I know that some did not receive updates while I was in the hospital and I apologize. Wireless connections weren't available at the hospital so my sister, Renae sent out a few updates for my mom.

For those still wondering, the surgery went well. The surgeon talked to Kyle and my parents after surgery and said that it was clear that I would see improvement. Part of the back tonsils of the brain were in his words "battered." The other side of the tonsils were also clearly injured and needing more room. A major artery coming through the spinal cord was too squashed and was trying to make new pathways through the mess, so he did a lot of clean up and removed bone from my skull and vertebrae making more room. There aren't too many people that can say that their brains are too big for their head! :)

I spent two days in icu instead of one but I have very few memories of it because they kept me well medicated-thankfully. The surgery was February 6 and I was released on the afternoon of the 14th. I had a spinal cord leak on Monday which delayed my release--I had been hoping to leave the hospital that day. Monday was difficult with a severe spinal headache and nausea. I lost count of how many people tried to get the iv in (it had been removed the night before in preparation for dismissal in the morning) but I believe that about 10 made the attempt. An anesthesiologist finally won the battle that afternoon and I was finally given something for nausea and pain.

Thursday we traveled from Milwaukee to Waterloo--we took the southern route because of bad roads and snow up north. On Friday we made it from Waterloo home, and I have been resting since.

The kids and Kyle are thrilled for me to be back and I have to admit I had a few tears walking back into our house and seeing everyone. Wow, did I miss them!

We are so thankful that the Lord has blessed us. We are thankful that the headaches have been completely gone (except Monday the spinal headache & migraine were joining forces for a while). We are praying that we are done with the headaches in the future. Now I just need to rest and regain strength. Since the last couple months were tough, I am pretty weak. But some have noticed that my "headache eyes" are gone and that I look much better then I have for a while, which is encouraging. The doctor says that I need to lay flat without a pillow at night and that I need to lay flat as many hours as I am up during the day for at least three weeks. I can't drive until he releases me so I probably won't be out and about much for a while yet. Originally the doctor said that I needed to go back for my first follow up 6 weeks after surgery, but when I was released he said that the follow up would be in two weeks. We will call Monday to schedule it but are hoping to push it back as much as possible in hopes that I will be stronger and will tolerate the bumping around better.

Thank you again for your prayers, words of encouragement, cards, meals, flowers, treats and everything else. We are so blessed!

Cindy