Update 10/20/10

Hi,
Sorry I don't update very often anymore. Please feel free to email me at anytime if you want to know how Mom is doing. I keep my cell phone with me at all times and I can receive emails on it, so you won't have to wait very long for a reply. My email address is: purplestacy@mac.com

Mom is doing well after her surgery. She had run out of therapy visits back in the Spring, but just recently discovered that they had given her 16 more, which was such a blessing from God because the insurance company apparently NEVER gives more than the allowed visits.

She still struggles with the pain cycle at times. And some days are better than others. She can drive and do some decorating work, but she has to limit herself because when she gets tired the symptoms come back.

Her shoulder is doing well, but she still has 3-4 months of recovery mainly because of the pain cycle. The more therapy she does, the more symptoms she has so she has to go slower with that. She is doing water therapy which is much better on her shoulder than regular PT.

She also does have scarring on her spinal cord (don't remember if I've mentioned that before) that is permanent and may always cause her problems. The MRI before the shoulder surgery showed that her neck is worse than it was earlier in the year, but we won't know the extent of this until the shoulder completely heals.

Thank you again for hanging in there with us through this process and for all of your prayers. Mom is constantly telling me that if you all weren't praying for her she doesn't know how she would make it through the days and weeks ahead.

So thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your continued prayers and for asking about her when you see me somewhere. It means a lot to me.

Surgery! - update

Good Evening,

I haven't posted an update before now because Mom had some issues that I wanted to get results/reports on before I did.

The surgery went really well. The doctor was able to repair her bicep tendon and he cleaned out her rotator cuff.  He also said that he believes her recovery will only be about 4 months instead of 6, so that is excellent news.

She is having a bladder issue. We aren't sure where it's coming from. We think it might be a combination of things.  The meds she's been taking for so long and the meds from the IV might have sent her bladder into a spasm.  She cannot release anything from her bladder really.  She went to the doctor had to drain it today and will possibly have to do it again tomorrow.  He put her on antibiotics to help.  She is in a lot of pain from the bladder, much more than her shoulder.

She's very upset by this as you can imagine. And in her words, 'it can't be just one thing, it's always more than one and makes it even harder.'

Please pray for her recovery from both of these issues.  She can deal with the shoulder if her bladder would just stop hurting! 

She will start physical therapy next week on the shoulder.

Thanks again for all your prayers! Please keep them coming! She covets them!
Stacy

Surgery!

Well, after a long and winding road Mom is finally having surgery. But it's not neck surgery, it's shoulder surgery. 

For several months she had been feeling really well.  But then my kids spent the night one night and she was dancing with EmmaLee and she sort of pulled her shoulder and in a way started the pain cycle all over.  Her right arm has been hurting for weeks now. She went to see the shoulder doctor again and got another cortisone shot, but it didn't help or even touch the pain. This doctor finally said she should have surgery to repair the damage and remove the bone spurs. Not being totally comfortable with that, she sought a second opinion.

She eventually got a recommendation to see another very well known doctor who she's more comfortable with and is apparently the best at this kind of surgery. YEA!

All the doctors agree she should have the surgery ASAP and it's scheduled for Tuesday, September 7th at 9:30 am.  Kim is taking the week off to stay with her.

She will be in a sling for 4 weeks before she can start to resume normal activities at a slow pace. 

Please be praying for her this coming week, not just for the surgery and the doctors, but for her and Kim as well. Mom is having a hard time with the fact that she once again won't be able to cook, or drive, etc...  She's been there and done that and it's a little overwhelming to think she won't be able to do them again even if it is only for 4 weeks.  She is a little afraid she might not ever be able to do them again.

Please pray that God would take these thoughts away from her and that they would be replaced with His Word and she would be encouraged.

Thank you so much for taking this journey with us and praying for her.  It's been a long road and it's not over yet, but things are looking up and I am personally excited for her and can't wait to see how much better she feels when her shoulder is healed.

We love you all!
Stacy

Prayers Needed for Mom

Mom exaggerated how well she was doing when she typed the blog update herself last week.  She actually had been doing very well until my kids spent the night with her and Kim. She decided to dance with EmmaLee and she ended up hurting herself and causing some pain.  We left for vacation right after that happened.  We returned and she had gotten a little better and that is when she decided to write the blog herself and write some thank you notes.  Well, typing on the computer and the writing of the notes made her arm/shoulder hurt and she has been in agony ever since.  Her arm seems to be getting a bit worse each day and she's trying not to use it much, but it is her right arm, and she's right-handed, so it's a bit difficult not to use it.

She asked me to write to you and ask you to pray. We know that God will not give us anything beyond what we can handle, His Word says that. Please pray for her, encourage her, and ask God to draw her to Him so that she can rest in Him and the comfort that only He can give her.

We love you and and thank you so much for taking this journey with us through prayer.

Stacy

update

Dear Family and Friends,

Hope this finds everyone doing well.  I am sorry that it has been so long since we have updated you.  I cannot tell you how much Kim and I appreciate your prayers  !!!!!! 

I would not be doing as well as I am without them, it means more than we can ever express.  God has improved so many things regarding my health so please continue to pray and know that we love you all.

The tests that I had done last month all came back normal, which we are very thankful for.....the doctor put me on a new medication called neurontin and that seems to help my pain alot. 

I have not been excercising during the month of July and my pain level really went down......but,I have to back to the excercise program, or I will get weak again. 

The Dr. is hoping that after a year or so....that the scar on my spinal cord and my central nervous system will send the"right" signals to my body.

It is wonderful to be able to drive, cook, and have our grandchildren over, sometimes I almost feel normal.   My sister and her husband ,Stan, (who is in remisson from cancer) came for the 4th of July, it was great weekend....

I pray that the Lord will heal me like has he healed Stan.

Again thank you, so much for your prayers and your love , We give all the glory and all the praise to God for the progress that I have made.

We love you, Anne & Kim and our whole family.

P.S.  Thank you, sweet Stacy for starting this blog and doing such a great job creating it and updating everyone, you get the daughter of the year award !! xxxxooooxxx you are a blessing to me.

June Update

Hi All,

Mom is being tested for auto-immune diseases this week and the next few weeks. She has been having pain in her joints and a few other new symptoms.  These are all signs of an auto-immune disease that was probably masked until recently.

She has been having more good days than bad until these new symptoms. But overall she is better.

Please keep praying that something will show up on the test results and that she will get a treatment that works!

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Stacy

Prayer Needed

Hello Friends,

Mom is not doing well right now and she really needs your prayers.  She was doing very well up until about 10 days ago, when she started feeling badly again. She feels about as bad as she did in December and January.

Dr. E said several weeks ago that she may have to stay on this medication for the rest of her life.  She didn't like that, who would really? So she and Kim are seriously looking into surgery options.  Dr. B (a new pain management doctor) thinks she would be completely well with surgery, but he wants her to go to Nacogdoches for the surgery and get out from under the 'Houston Umbrella' of doctors.  She does have two good referrals that are local and she will be seeing them all over the next few weeks.

I will let you know in June how those appts go. But in the meantime, please keep her in your prayers. She is trying to maintain a somewhat normal life, but her legs hurt so badly that some days she just has to rest all day.  Her legs feel like heavy weights are attached to them and they are in constant pain.  The pain meds aren't as effective as they once were either.

She would love to hear from you if you would like to call or stop by for a visit.

Stacy

Much needed update

Hi Family and Friends,
I've been meaning to post for days, but as the school year draws to a close, the hours in my day seem less and less.

Mom had a bit of a set back. She has rosacea on her face (dry red patches) most likely from all the meds she's taking.  So the doctor put her on an antibiotic for it.  That led to her getting Thrush in her mouth.  Then she started having trouble going to the bathroom and the meds the doc gave her for that made her sick and that set her back even farther. She was in bed for several days after that episode.

She's feeling better now, but her legs have been hurting her more, so please pray for that.

Also, she did see a new doctor that said she needed surgery. Of course this was a shock because no one else has really said that recently.  She went to this new doc, Dr. B, for therapy and he instead throws out having surgery.  Mom and Kim didn't really know what to make of that, but he insists she can get better with surgery. 

Please please pray that God will lead Mom and Kim to make the right decision about surgery and if they go that route, that they will find the right doctor, etc.... right now, we are just exploring the possibility, and thinking it through, no plans have been made yet.

We may just stick with therapy for now.

Please continue to pray for her and for Kim.  Mom has an appt. with Dr. E on Monday and will be driving herself. She doesn't want us to go with her.

G'Night!

Lots of New things....

Well, I haven't posted recently because I've been waiting for mom to get another test done and get the results back and go to the new doctor, etc, etc, etc... and after I got all that info back, Lucy got sick and then Daniel got sick (those are two of my kiddos for those of you that don't really know me) with a stomach bug. Fun times.


I went with Mom several weeks ago to see Dr. E.  It was another really good visit.  Mom has still been having shoulder and arm pain and we asked him about it. He ordered an MRI of her shoulder (that's the test I was waiting on).  The results showed that she had a tear in her rotator cuff and a SLAP tear (Danny said that's from slapping Kim around ;) ). She went to see Dr. S who is an orthopedic surgeon. He confirmed the tears and that she has calcium deposits (bone spurs) in the joint of her shoulder.  He also said that her shoulder is in constant pain and making her nervous system continue its pain cycle, which in turn makes her medicine not work as effectively as it should be working.  Dr. S will not do surgery until he has done three steroid injections in her shoulder. She had the first one last Thursday.

Tomorrow, Monday, she and Kim will go to a Chronic Pain Clinic. They have a lot of different types of therapies there and we're hoping that they can help her somehow.  She was doing water therapy on her legs and her arms, but it was causing her more pain in her arm. That's what prompted us to ask Dr. E about her shoulder.

Thanks again for all your prayers.  Mom asked that you pray for her muscle spasms and the trembling that she has all day long.  She also wanted me to tell you that she prays for all of you everyday.  She said that she prays over her prayer warriors.

I'll try and post something this week about her appt. tomorrow and her appt. with Dr. E that she has on Tuesday.

Stacy

Plain ole update

I took Mom to see Dr. E on Tuesday because Kim had an important meeting to attend. I haven't been to one of her appts in a while. The doc was pleased with her progress.  She's been doing water therapy for a couple of weeks now, maybe three at the most.  It's going really well and it's definitely not as hard on her body as regular therapy.  She forces herself to go even when she doesn't feel like it.


Mom was having some new symptoms and Dr. E explained that they were all therapy related, which was GREAT! At least I thought it was great.  He explained that most of what she was feeling was from actually using her muscles and some of it was side effects from the medicine she's taking.  Her muscles won't always react the way a normal person's would after going to the gym, being sore, etc... Her muscles will react with pain.  Vicious cycle!

Mom's been having trouble with her right arm and she will be having an MRI on her shoulder soon to make sure there isn't something else wrong with it. That's one thing she hasn't had tested yet! 

Please keep the prayers coming! You can pray for her therapy to keep going well. Pray for the 'break through' pain she feels from the therapy to be controlled by the meds. She's been driving too, so pray for her to make it safely to and from her destinations without any problems.  Right now, she has a sinus infections, so please pray for her to feel better from that ASAP. This is the first time since all this started that she's gotten this type of sickness. That's amazing because Lucy and I have been over there several times when we have been sick.

Mom gets a bit lonely at times, so feel free to call her for a chat.

Oh, I almost forgot! She's been cooking too! Well, baking really. She did make Kim some Lamb Soup the other day. She also has made a few desserts in the last couple of weeks. 

Cookies!

The kids and I went to see Mom last Tuesday (we go see her every Tuesday) and she had sugar cookies all ready for the kids to cut out and decorate. They had lots of fun with her.

 

 

This week she went to eat lunch with us and then we went to Target for awhile.

Just like everyone, she has good days and bad ones.  She's is determined to get better though. She started doing aqua therapy last week and it seems to be going well. It's not as hard on her body as the regular therapy. 

Quick update

Mom is having good days and bad ones too. She's on a new medicine that will help with the trembling/shaking that her muscles insist on doing. It seems to be helping for the most part.

Her sweet brother, Wayne, surprised her last week and came in for a visit.  It was really good for her and lifted her spirits a lot.

Thanks for your continued prayers! If you'd like to stop by for a visit, I'm sure she'd love it!

Prayer Request

Mom asked me to post a note and ask you to pray for her this weekend.  The physical therapy was not good for her this week. The therapist apparently worked her neck and wasn't supposed too. She failed to contact Dr. E (the Houston doctor) before starting therapy on Mom.  So mom has been in a lot of pain this week and getting worse.  She's had a lot of pain in her arms and legs and is limping again. She's also shaking quite a bit. 

Tonight she talked with Dr. P from the Mayo Clinic and he was very upset that the therapist worked on Mom's neck and wanted her to see Dr. E immediately. Of course, it's Friday and Monday is a holiday.  Dr. P wants her to go up on her medication dosage. She's been going up on it very slowly (in 5mg doses) because it's had some nasty side effects before when she took it in larger doses.  But tonight she's going up 10mg and wants everyone to pray that the side effects are minimal and that this dosage increase helps with her symptoms.

She was really doing well on the medication before she started PT last week. At Christmas she really was feeling great.  And now she's scared because a lot of her symptoms are back.  Hopefully the dosage increase will help.

Thanks for your prayers and please let me know if you have any questions.  Feel free to post messages! 

**I know some of you are having trouble and I'm not entirely sure why.  But you should be able to click on the word 'comments' (if you don't see the comment box already).  then type your message and underneath the comment box you will see 'comment as'.  select 'name/url' or 'anonymous'  then click on the gray comment button.

Have a great weekend! And thanks in advance for your prayers! Mom really covets them.

***On a personal note, while your praying for Mom will you please say a prayer for some dear friends of ours, they lost their baby this week. She was about 8-10 weeks pregnant. I know they would appreciate your prayers too.

Christmas Photos

Here are some photos we took on Christmas Day. 

Physical Therapy and Driving!

Sorry that it's been awhile since I posted anything about mom.  Please feel free to email me if you want to know how she's doing: purplestacy@mac.com

We had a great Christmas. Mom's sister, Sharon, and her husband, Stan, came down for a visit.  Mom felt really well over the holiday season.  She and Kim even went out for New Year's Eve! 

She started physical therapy (PT) the last week.  It was rough on her. She had lots of break through pain and shaking.  They went today and talked with the therapist and decided to wait awhile before starting back up again.  The therapist said that Mom might not of had enough time to heal before starting the PT.  She said that they see women all the time that have had an epidural during childbirth and have back pain from it.  So even though she's been bedridden for months, she wasn't able to really heal because of the chronic pain. So after a few weeks she's start back up.

For now, she'll walk in a heated pool that's not far from her house and walk around her yard. 

Last week she drove with Kim in the car up to our house which is about at 25-30 minute drive.  Kim said she did great and gave her permission to drive short distances. That was a boost for her because now she doesn't feel confined to the house.

That's it for now. Please continue to pray for her recovery. It will be a slow one, but all the doctors and the therapist all say she will get better, it will just take awhile.