Mind boggling

Things are looking up for us as We are getting my sister to do our books and were going there tonite and Freida is taking the kids to a friends house for supper while we do books. Getting on top of the shop work and Freida is probably going home on Saturday. Rojean is doing really good and put up her hair for the first time yesterday. If she combs it right you can't see the scars or the shaved area cool....

Recovery progress

Ok, everyone asks me " hows Rojean?" The truth is I don't really know. I am quite far behind at the shop requiring most of my time these days. When I get home the children need allot of daddy time as their mama isn't quite able to do allot of straightening out for them as a little stress seams to make her quit functioning properly like when our dogs got in a fight over some table scraps and I was trying to brake it up , Rojeans left side just quit working and she has to sit down. Little things like spoons clanking on plates are very amplified and almost intolerable. But as we look at her ability to do things from last Sunday to today its a noticeable difference. Like Aunt Freida and Rojean with children came to town on Sat. and ate lunch with me. :) Things are looking up. And she is very capable of getting lunches packed and clothes out for the kids and cleaning up around the house a little.

I think it will take me longer to recouperate from this whole thing than Rojean. she is doing good and Aunt Freida is a good care taker. If anyone has questions about it just post somthing and i can tell you.

Wednesday already?

Good day to you. Rojean got her stitches out yesterday. Everything going good so far. Last nite Aunt Frieda was invited over to Landons with our children for supper so Rojean and I had a little time alone :) I got home way late and so right after supper Katy came over to help me with my bookwork and I think I'll get her to do it all the time. Then later in the Eve Uncle Glenn and Margie came for the nite. Margie is on spring break and they dropped off Rogan at Kelowna to fly out to be with Reg. I have lots of work here at the shop so much its overwhelming and Brian Ensz is coming in today to help wash some cars and run them back and forth to the dealerships. Between talking on the phone and helping the customers that come in and running cars back and forth I am not very productive during the day. SO I come in early to work to have a few hours undisturbed time bonding with someones car! Its and everyday love affair. At least I love my work look on the bright side:)

get back in bed!

This morning I got up and was getting ready for work and Rojean comes in the kitchen and starts packing my lunch. SO hows she doing... good I should say as she is only on Tylenol for pain and up a fair bit. She does still get tired easily but I'm definitely not discouraged. Last nite Aunt Freida and Rojean worked on trying to undo her dreadlocks from surgery, I don't think the surgeons ever had do undo those hairdos or they would have started braiding the hair instead of twisting it so it was impossible to recover. She finally had to cut out some of the tangles. Oh well at least they didn't shave it. Now she can cover most of the incision with the hair that's left. I probably never told you there are around 70 stitch's and they are thread as they couldn't do staples since there was an MRI right after surgery to see what they've done. SO its about a 4 in square incision cut only on three sides. She also itches all over as that's what 7 and half hours of anesthesia does to a person they say.

Recovery progress

Good morning . A quick update and then I gotta get some cars done today. Rojean says she's doing good and feeling good. She does get really tired as all the children want something from mama. I think that their just making sure that shes gonna stay and take care of them. Maybe trying to rebuild some security. SO far lots of food over and flowers from the nice people in our church. Thank you all.

Home

Back home and it feels good. We got home around 7 last nite and Uncle Glenn's got there just shortly after we did. Owens came over and brought our kids home. Happy times were had by all. This morning Glenn left for home. And Frieda and I went over Rojeans meds and made a daily chart so we wouldn't mess that up. Definitely confusing at first but we got it so far. Rojean was feeling good this morning getting around by herself mostly. We just had to get the kids up and Jamin off to school. I left for work around 10:30 and things are nuts at the shop with 6 cars all wanting a massage at one time. We are automotive theropy. your welcome to send Rojean an email arkoehn@agapemail.com

leavin today

Rojean is feeling good right now and she's made two rounds around the west floor and climbed the therapy stairs so they say get going home i think well make it all the way today. Just for the record though we are not up for visitors yet unless you can keep it too less than 15mins which is pretty hard to do and still be a Mennonite haha. Jk. Ok I'm a happy man at this point. I can still let you know of the progress when we get home. Aunt Frieda is coming to stay and help take care of Rojean for awhile looking forward to her company as she is one of the best in our books. :)

Harborview Thursday

Good morning to all. Last nite Rojean did go for a walk and still felt good after wanting to sit here at the computer and reading all the blogs I've been writing about her. I guess it was ok cuz I told her I can change any post or remove any post and she didn't say anything about it. She's been up this morning a bit and her left leg is a bit slower than yesterday but she thinks its maybe cuz of sleeping so good and not moving much all nite. The Dr.'s were just in and they recommended try going for breakfast in the cafeteria again and if she feels comfortable we can ck out. I took mom and dad to the truck last nite so they could get loaded and back home for Marcia's wedding this weekend. Mom and dad and I went up the Columbia building yesterday. Its the tallest building in Seattle and there are 76 floors but the top floors are for members only so the sky deck is on the 73rd floor. very impressive view. twice as high as the space needle.

Can you belive this?!

Today was good as we rested here at the hospital and Rojeans pain is under control as it appears and the Dr.'s said that we needed to test the waters by walking some and sitting up and getting around a little. Rojean did get up to the bathroom and shower and we took her down to the cafeteria to eat with us. But I had her ride in a wheel chair as its a long walk and if we were going to go home today I didn't want to make her too tired. By the time we got down to the eating area she wasn't hungry and wanted to go back to her bed. SO more pain meds were giving as she is on a low dose again and more rest. Talking with the discharge nurse he recommended taking enough pain meds to make the ride home and just do it as this may be a long recovery and they really aren't doing anything different than just giving her pain medication and letting her rest. She can do this at home with a caregiver. I agreed. SO discharge papers were signed and shoes were put on bags in hand. As we were walking out Rojean not yet out of bed the Dr.'s team came by to see her. Asking if she could walk and sit up and operate somewhat normally. She didn't really walk much more than here in the room and she didn't even eat out with us so they said you should not leave as we don't want a repeat of Monday. We didn't either and are glad they popped in at this time. I finally feel like they see what I was seeing. Not that we were untruthful but sometimes Rojean says she's ok when shes not. We all do that especially in the spiritual department. Then we just power out and can't function properly. SO if she can walk the halls and still cope with life and not have to lay down right away.

Sun comin up

Well its getting light I don't think that Seattle has a sun, it rains everyday. Rojean says she slept good and the neuro surgeon team was in this morning and said to test the system today since yesterday was resting and getting back on track. If the pain level stays controlled like it did yesterday we are going to be dismissed today some time. Interesting thing here is all the Dr.'s work as a team 2 or 3 at a time come in and they ask questions and then together decide which is the best thing to do. That is a reassuring feeling for us as you get more than just one opinion.

Harborview and flowers

Harborview, that's what we got here in our room looking out over the harbor and the Columbia building in sight. This building is 2 times as tall as the space needle and only 5 bucks to get to the top. In the harbor there are lots of barge's and ferries coming in and out. Also just got a beautiful boquet of fruit. Looks like a flower arrangement but its got strawberries pineapple and many other pretty eats in it. Glad Rojeans sleeping when they delivered it maybe she won't even know she got it if I get to eating fast. The instructions say to eat right away or store in a refrigerator. Thank you for the cheer vase very nice.

Good day ?!

The pain Dr.'s came by and asked allot of questions and as we visited they didn't recommend another blood patch as she is sitting up and the pain is almost gone. They did give her morphine this morning but its a fast acting med and at the time that the Dr. visited that dose should have lost some effect so they are waiting to see if yesterdays patch did do good. So far it has been better and finally got the go ahead to eat at 3 this afternoon. She also is encouraged to drink caffeine so coke and chocolate cake, it is yummy. Rojean says the lessons I've learned is not to eat food with garlic and onions as I can't get to close to help her. I promise I brushed my teeth 4 times during the nite one time still no good, bad dogie! Today I didn't eat till Rojean could so I could suffer too. I was kinda wanting some nausea meds too by the time I went to the cafeteria and then what happens is I always get more than I can eat. Good thing it cost to park at hospital and its free at the apartment, so I have to walk back and forth or I would come out of here looking like a rolly polly. Even though we are having to reboot Rojeans computer I still am convinced I got the right one. She has been so patient and kind through this all.

Bum deal

Here's a bum deal. Leroy's are taking care of our boys while we are gone. They kindly brought them over to see us this weekend. Fun for all involved but not stress free taking care of our boys is no small matter. Intense... might be a close word to describe it.
Anyway when Leroy went back to work on Monday his tool trailer doors where hanging wide open and the locks had been cut by a bolt cutter taking many power tools. This is most fortunate as he hasn't been busy most of the winter. So anyone feeling to donate to his misfortune would be muchly appreciated. Damages are around 2K and the deductible covers about half.

Tuesday morning

Got Rojean a nice private room last nite around 9:15 and the nite nurse was Ethiopian and was very impressive worker and very kind. She set to work getting all the meds back on schedule and taking good care of her all nite. :) This morning she has more pain and the neuro surgeon Dr.'s were in and said they would try different things to help that so we could go home. They said there are some ways to help her cope with the pain and since she is fine otherwise they see no reason not to send us home after the pain issue is resolved. Today will be good. And I'm talking pain that the prescribed oxycodone is just taking the edge off. They also said that sometimes they have done up to 3 blood patches in the lumbar area on brain patients, so they may try another one today.

I think things will get better tomorrow and the good Lord knows what he is doing. And WE did feel your prayers today even if I am frustrated with it all. One time I just had this feeling that even if the nurses were too busy to take care of Rojean that God was and I didn't have to worry. Thank you for all your encouraging notes and replies, many of the people don't have what Rojean and I have there and I have felt sorry for them as they curse God and have no visitors. If we ever needed a Girls unit, here is the place that needs one.

I'll have to say that 12 hours in the ER and not getting anything to eat was more than I could handle. And shes still there! Its 8:PM so thats 14 hours. And I asked several times if they could make sure she got her meds that she needed and they said not yet she can get them when she gets a room so thats way out of wack right now and she asked again for something to eat and finally got it around 6 and the last time she ate was last nite around 5. SO NOT IMPRESSED IN A GOOD WAY!

I think its Monday

Ok I'll have to say that today did not go as planned. All night Rojean had increasing pain in her head when that the pain killer wasn't cutting and she got splitting headaches when she sat up or tried I should say. So we called the nurse's station and asked what we should do. She called the Nero surgeon and they said the best way back was to get an ambulance ride to the ER. So that's what we did at 6 AM this morning. Busy ER room and since Rojean could talk and respond coherently she was over looked all day. I am to put it mildly " disgusted" and they did find that there was a lumbar gap in her low back were they had installed a drain for the surgery in order to keep pressure off the brain. This leaves a gap after and the fluid on the brain drains into it trying to fill it up therefor leaving the brain hi and dry like a ship out of water. They said it could heal on its own in about 10 days while laying down allot. Darrin's Julie had this same thing Rojean tells me. They also said they could speed up the process of this healing by taking blood out of her arm and inserting it into the gap in her back. Not a guaranteed fix but I thought worth a try as they didn't want to readmit her to the Hospital and at this point didn't know how to take care of her at the apt. or muchless get her there with the pain she was dealing with. So we got this done as Rojean wasn't quite willing for it and I went and saw the charge nurse that dismissed us last nite and told her they didn't want to readmit us. So she helped us out and she is getting a room so they can take care of her for the nite at least. There is so much that went on today and I was so done in I had to let mom sit in with her and I came back to the apt. and at some supper and wanted to update this for you guys. There hospital is full!! people sitting in the halls and I over heard one of the nurses trying to decide which people they should see first in the ER. Some were doing there best to take care of us and some just were there for a paycheck.

WHAAAAT? :)

Just got Rojean back to the apartment about a half hour ago. :0 The nurses said she could get better at home than in a bed there. This morning the physical therapist came in and had her walk some stairs and got to the kitchen fry and egg and make some toast. We got her back to the room and she's tired out. Rod Wedels came to see us and they had to come down to the apartment. Galen Koehns from the Mission house are here now to see us too. Owens and Leroy's took the kids back home today including Paige. This afternoon we took the kids down to the aquarium and we ate out on the wharf. :) Yesss She is dismissed from Harborview.

Sat. afternoon

Rojeans resting now. She will get to go to a accute care room soon. Things are looking up. Dad and some others went to tour the boeing factory.

Saturday Morning

Good Morning, Well I can't say that last nite was all that fun for me. I only slept about an hour and a half. The anesthesiast said she would ask allot of the same questions and not remember that she asked them 2 mins ago. The reason for asking questions is only because of the anesthesia. She is trying to grasp time and get a hold on whats going on. I told her we didn't eat supper cuz we thought she'd be out of surgery any minute and I was hungry. SO YOU Haven't ate lunch? You could tell her every thing she wanted to know only to be asked again in a few mins. I would get her all comfy as could be possible. She would say now you can try to lay down and sleep too. But that sometimes only lasted about 2 mins before she wanted something different. I did get a couple of half hour naps though and I'm pretty impressed on how good shes doing this morning sitting up and remembering more. She just went down for the MRI which will be real short 15 mins once they get her in. When they gave her anesthesia the put a breathing tube down her throught (how do you spell) with a balloon so it won't allow any other air to come into the lungs. Then the tube does the breathing for you and allowing you to be out for the surgery. After they take the tube out she comes back too almost immediately but the confusion is part of waking up. She wanted to talk allot and make conversation with the nurses and me . " to the nurse" where did you grow up? do you have kids? did you grow up around here? Lots of talking about the same things all night and I was hoping she would want to just rest. She said she kinda did too but she is pretty uncomfortable from laying so long. Nothing to eat yet either, just Ice chips. Shes on IVs and a slight dose of morphine.

Finally got to see Rojean and she doesn't want me to leave her. She doesn't know what time it is but she could talk to us fine and answer all kind of questions that the nurse was asking her. They will try to get her in for an MRI too before the morning. She feels quite nauseated and so and they also gave her some pain meds for now. They made a u shaped incision on the very crown of her head and did not shave off very much hair at all. I can't even see any shaved area Its all under some small bandages about 1 in wide. She has allot of monitors still hooked up. The bleed was in the center of her brain and the doc said he was able to remove all of it and cotter the vessels that were leaking so there should not be any more bleeding. If she continues to be as good as she is right now her stay could be quite short the nurse told us, like a couple of days after being in ICU for at least 24 hours. Took Paige in to see her and Paige puckered up alittle don't know if she just been missing her mama or if she didn't like all the extras on her. She's been good as gold though only crying when she wants her bottle. Otherwise smiling and being very contented. You can ask questions if you want I don't mind cuz sometimes I don't know what to tell you or what Ive already told you.

Now they have done a C.T. scan and we still havn't seen her yet. We're now waiting in the ICU waiting room and I think she just went by so maybe 30 more mins. and I can see her 2 people at a time they said. Some of the people in this waiting room have spent 2 weeks here so I guess we're not doing too bad yet.

Surgery update

Ok today finally getting to update you. Rojean went into O.R. around 7 and they started surgery around 9:30. They told us it would be around 7.5 hours from the start of surgery so we sat around there till lunch and ate in the cafeteria and then the staff there told us to go ahead and we could wait in the apartment and they would call us with updates. So we're spending the afternoon here. The doc just called about 15 mins ago and said the surgery was all done just have to close up the incision and that would take about an 1.5 hours and then another 1.5 hours before they move her to ICU. He said every thing went good and just as planned. I was impressed as DR. Shaker came to the pre-op room before surgery and had a prayer with us. The nurses took my cell number and said they could call and update me personally so they really take care of us here. Thanks for your prayers today.

We got Rojean back from the MRI and guess we won't go out for supper cuz they shaved little spots on her head and put little sticky things all over, forhead including, so could be an eye catcher if going out in public. This is landmarks they made during the MRI so they can remember during surgery. They told her not to wash her hair tonite, the other nurses from the surgeons office gave her special soap and told her to bath with this what to do? what to do?
Now we ordered some Italian food to be delivered so we can relax in the room for the eve. Davids are going out for supper as they seemed to not want to bother us too much... you know. Owens came here for awile but went on to his Uncle Robs for the nite and they'll be back in the morning. Pray for Rojean so she can sleep tonite as she did nothing all day but lay around and they said she will be more tired when she gets out of surgery than when she goes in even though she will be sleeping the whole time.

MRI

Got Rojean out of the angiogram around 4. The hardest part was laying without getting up for 6 hours. Now were waitin on her to get done with her MRI which should be done in 30 mins or so and then she can stay with me at the apt for the nite:) We're going to pick her up and go out for supper with Davids. Tomorrow we check in at 6 AM and there will be about 2 hours of prep time before a 5-6 hour surgery.

Angiogram

Got Rojean down in the basement getting her angiogram now. No point in me sitting in the waiting room so I came back to the apt. to be with Paige and Grandma. She arrived here last nite with dad on the truck, dad is unloading today and doing some trucking in the area and we'll pick him up around noon today.
An Angiogram consists of incerting dye in the blood stream to look at the blood vessels and what they got to work on. thats all I know about it so far, supposed to take about an hour and half.

Just got back from the Doc. Said they'd poke her in every imaginable place and a few more, moniter every thing that her bodys doing and she won't remember anything for awhile. Could be real slow in ICU up to 4 days monitering her by waking her up every hour to ask her what her name is? Don't that sound crazy. With brain surgery they can only tell how shes doing by having her talk and do things to see that nothings going wrong like swelling which is the main thing after surgery they watch for.
Now were done for the day with that so were going to probably look for a parking spot most of the afternoon. HA HA in hopes of finding something to eat.

Seattle arrival

Made it here in good time around 5. We made 2 right turns thought we got lost but we didn't, just accidently ended up at the front door of the First Hill app. downtown Seattle. Got settled into our room and I signed onto my online detailing meeting at 6 and enjoyed that for the first hour. Then we proceeded to go downtown to eat, and someone in the lobby directed us to Broadway st. where there is lots of good eating and not very much parking. They were right, took circling the block 3 times before we found a side street with a parking meter. So we tried to pay the meter till we gave up cuz it wouldn't take our money and we were just walking off when a man said " you don't have to pay at this time of the nite". Not too good at city life yet all that stuff makes me feel like a country boy. So we found a nice Italian restaurant and a grocery store across the street. Our app. is fully furnished and is nice with a loft and cathedral ceilings + a good view of Mt. Rainer:) Going to make it just fine as long as we don't have to stay to long.

Got our baby sitter's kinda lined up and Grandma's coming to stay with us in Seattle.

Tuesday afternoon here at the detail shop. Just a little more on Rojean. WE did get set for surgery on Friday the 11Th so going over to Seattle on Tuesday evening for Wednesday pretest to make sure she is well enough to undergo brain surgery. We gotta decide who's gonna take care of who and which kids are going to go along and stay with me while we're there. I think my mom will come out an stay with us at the hospital during the surgery.