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.

First Outing

Good Evening!
I just wanted to update you really quickly on mom's condition.  The new medicine is really starting to help. She is doing really well. She had a great week last week and even did one day of physical therapy.  She will start regular PT in January.

On Sunday, her good friends David and Dianna were singing at Second Baptist West Campus and since that is right across the street from her house, we all went. Danny and the kids and I spent the afternoon at the house and then went with her and Kim to hear the music.  It was a great performance as always.

Mom also had new ornaments for the kids to hang on her tree.  I've included pictures below.

I'm sure she'll read this and get mad at me if I don't tell the story behind her Christmas tree.  I hate 'blowing my own horn', but while they were at the Mayo Clinic, I mentioned to our friend, Mark, on Thankgiving Day, that I wanted to hire him to decorate my mom's tree for her.  He is a talented Christmas Tree decorator and I knew he could make it look like she did it herself.  He said the only time he had available was the following morning. So we decided to make it a surprise. I gave him the key to their house and Mark, his wife, Mary Jo, and my mother in law, Karen, all went over to Mom and Kim's and decorated their house, and tree for them. When they got home later that day, there was a big surprise waiting for them.

It was a ton of fun surprising her and Christmas is her favorite time of year and I knew Christmas just wouldn't be the same if her tree wasn't up. It already was going to be different anyway.

So, THANK YOU to Mark, Mary Jo and Karen for decorating Mom and Kim's tree.

Mom did really well at the concert.  She got to see several of her friends there too.

Thank you for your continued prayers.  The medicine really is starting to work better and we are so grateful that God has allowed it to work.  Please don't stop praying, she has a long road ahead of her with the therapy starting in January.  My prayer is that she'll have some sort of 'normal' by the beginning of the summer.

Merry Christmas!

Some Improvement

I went over to Mom's house yesterday. She wasn't feeling well and needed some company.  Later, Kim called and told me to get her ready to go to the doctor's office. She didn't want to go, but complied. 

Here is what happened at Dr. E's office:

*She hasn't had the electrical stimulation therapy since last Thursday. She thinks it was making her feel bad, but we aren't sure.  She will try it again later.

*She is on a steady dose of the new medication for now. She'll increase it later, probably in January.

*She does have bruising and scarring on her spinal cord that is permanent. At this point she cannot have neck surgery of any kind because of the condition of her neck.  The only reason they would do surgery is if she was in danger of being paralyzed.  She's not there, yet.

*She does have Chronic Pain Syndrome (CPS).  It started in the neck and has traveled around her body because it was left untreated. Most patients with CPS have more severe pain and symptoms at night (which is the case for Mom).

*She has to work through the pain so that she can get to physical therapy. She starts that hopefully on Friday, December 18.

The visit with Dr. E. was EXCELLENT.  We had a lot of questions answered and we all left feeling hopeful.  Dr. E said that he already thought she was getting better.  I asked him upfront if she would get well and he said yes. She does that the permanent damage to her spinal cord and her reflexes are 'brisk'. That will also not ever go away.  The physical therapy will last 3-4 months. 

She's trying to focus on other things now. She is listening to music and CD's of her favorite preachers.  She also met us at the door today, already showered and dressed. She was more active today than she has been and tonight is not doing to badly with the help of her pain medicine. 

here is how you can pray for her:

*pray that she sleeps at night. i'm sure you know how awful it is to be exhausted and not be able to sleep. She has been waking up several times a night in pain and discomfort with the spasms.

*pray that she is assigned the right physical therapist, and can continue her treatments here in Houston without having to travel back to Mayo Clinic for their rehabilitation program.

*pray that she will be able to stay focused on the improvements she's seeing and not on the pain.

*And pray for Kim too. He's doing such an amazing job taking care of Mom, but it can be exhausting.

Please feel free to leave a message. Mom and Kim both read them.

Therapy

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy and there wasn't really much to report.

Mom continues to be in horrendous pain. She has good and bad days. She is much worse in the evenings and better in the late morning and afternoons. I do think the medicine is starting to help some. She would probably disagree, but I can hear it in her voice. I've tried encouraging her to listen to Christmas music to help get her mind off of it and on to the birth of the Savior. 

Today she starts day 1 of a ten day electrical stimulation therapy.  We're not exactly sure what this will do, but the physical therapist at Mayo said that it wouldn't hurt Mom and to let her know how it went. It may or may not help.  We'll have to wait and see.

She would love to hear from you that know her personally or if you just want to call her and tell her you're praying for her. She is in so much pain that it doesn't cross her mind to all people. But feel free to call her. If you want her number let me know.


She will hopefully be starting regular physical therapy the week before Christmas, if she's up for it. But I'm thinking it will be more like January.  She will need help getting to and from the PT, so if you would like to help, please let me know.


We appreciate your prayers! and love you all!

Visiting

Good Evening.

Mom and Kim both wanted me to let you know how much they appreciate your prayers. Mom said that they felt them and asked you to not stop praying just because they are home now.

While you're praying, I would ask you to pray for my family. Lucy and I have been sick for almost 5 weeks now. Danny got sick just before Thanksgiving and now Daniel seems to be coming down with it too. The icing on this cake though is that Lucy now has Hand, Foot, Mouth disease.  Awful sores in her mouth and on her hands and feet.  Please pray for us to get well. We can't visit Grannie until we're all better.

Since we can't visit her, she wanted me to let you know that she will be home alone most of the time and if you would like to come over and keep her company for awhile during the week, she would love to have someone to visit with her.  Having someone to talk to helps keep her mind off of the pain. She can't do much for herself so she can get pretty lonely with nothing to do and no one to talk too.  *She does want you to call her before you come to make sure she is feeling okay that day. Some days are really bad and she just doesn't feel like company, but most days are good.

If you'd like to sit with her, just call and let her know when too. If you need her phone number you can email me privately and I'll give it to you. purplestacy@mac.com

A Diagnosis and a Home Coming

Tonight's posting is just a bunch of information. Let me know if you have any questions.

The test results from the EMG's were normal. She had a nerve conduction test done as well this week. It starts in the foot and runs up to her head. Everything was normal until it got to her neck, then it slowed way down and the returned to normal after passing her neck.

Much of today was spent waiting to see the neurosurgeon.  Someone finally came out and said that the head of the Neurosurgery Dept. reviewed her case and the MRI's that were done this week and agrees that she does not need neck surgery. None of the symptoms she is having would require surgery.

Here's what she does have: Cervical Myelopathy or Cervical Stenosis
(the name on the website link is different than what I put here, but it's basically the same thing)

The neurologist said that the muscle spasms and weakness she is experiencing is caused by the pain. It's a vicious cycle.  They have given her an older medication for the pain and should stop it. She will take it for two weeks and then start physical therapy here in Houston. It could last 7 weeks or more. And it's possible that it could take about the same amount of time that it's taken her to get this way.


The neurologist she has been assigned to is very nice and she really likes him. He told her that she could come back if she didn't feel she was getting better.

She didn't say this exactly, but I could tell that she's both relieved and depressed at the same time. She didn't want neck surgery, but she was hoping she'd need it because it might make her better faster, but she also has a treatment plan and a slow recovery.  She didn't want to come home with just medication and physical therapy.  She wanted something different, although no one is sure what we really wanted to hear. Does that make sense?

They are coming home on Friday as planned.  Please don't call or come by until next week.  She'll need the weekend to recover from the trip home. 

You can post messages to the blog by clicking on 'comments' (if the comment box is not visible on the page). Then you will probably need to scroll down to the comment box and  type what you want to say. Next, where is says to 'comment as' select 'anonymous'. Then click on 'Post' and you're done. 

OR you can send her an email to: aussiequinn@yahoo.com / You can also send me what you want to say and I can post it to the blog: purplestacy@mac.com 

Just be aware that she cannot personally respond to your emails because she cannot type on the computer. It's too painful in her arms and her hands.

She and Kim both would love to hear your encouraging words and how you've been praying for them.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. I will continue to post a few times a week on how she's doing with the pain and the physical therapy.