June 24, 2010

quick surgery update

this morning james had the surgery to implant the pain device and everything has gone well. he was in at 7:30am, the procedure was over by 9am and i saw him after recovery at 11am. he was so groggy still from being put under, and had a beautiful head of messy bed head. it is funny.

the pain pump has been running and he hasn't mentioned any feelings of intense pain at all. he is sore from where they did the implant, but of course that is expected. it is 3:00 now and he got up for a bit and is now back resting. he asked for an additional pain med, to maybe help with the soreness, but again was the first time he's said he wanted anything.

so it looks like the medication mixture they have running in his pain pump is working well. he has a big wrap around his belly, to keep things from moving around, to avoid any type of infection. as he drifts back to sleep i am going to run home and get some things to stay overnight with him.

thank you for praying today and we will be sure to let you know how things are progressing!
praise God for allowing him to have this surgery, and for it showing positive results so far. we continue to live with an attitude of hope... for today and for the future.

June 22, 2010

surgery on thursday

thank you again, to all who have looked at the care calendar link for us. we so appreciate it!


on thursday, james is having a surgery that we are very hopeful will make a huge difference. he will have a small device implanted in his side, called an intrathecal drug pump.


here is what a site online has to say about it:

intrathecal drug delivery, or 'pain pump' is a method of giving medication directly to your spinal cord. the system uses a small pump that is surgically placed under the skin of your abdomen and delivers medication through a catheter to the area around your spinal cord - similar to an epidural that women may have during childbirth. a pain pump may be a treatment option if all other traditional methods have failed to relieve your long-term symptoms. because the medication is delivered directly to the spinal cord, your symptoms can be controlled with a much smaller dose than is needed with oral medication. the goal of a drug pump is to better control your symptoms and to reduce oral medications; thus reducing their assoicated side effects.


so, if it works like it should, it could really make life much better. we are praying that it works and that this would be the beginning of a new phase of 'good' life for james.


the surgery is scheduled for 7am, so we have to get there at 6am. wednesday night the kids will get to stay with gigi and papo, which everyone loves! we shouldn't be there too long, though they will take some time to get the pain medication level correct once the device is implanted.


thank you for praying and for continuing on the journey with us!

the blessing of help

we have been so blessed by family and friends helping us out so much. it is hard for us to ask and accept so much from others, but when it comes down to it, really makes life easier when we do. and with james in such pain, it has been hard to get anything done outside of the normal 'get through this day with the kids' stuff!
so for those of you who are helping, thank you.
to those who have in the past, thank you.
for those who are organizing the recent help, thank you.
for those who are going to help, thank you.

a new care calendar was set up by our friend, for meals and random help, so i thought the easiest way to share it would be to post it here.

here is the link:
http://www.carecalendar.org/logon/43321
the security code is: 4200

thank you to everyone who helps us keep going, through prayer, encouragement and hands on service. we love you!

June 20, 2010

for father's day

today we took some time to celebrate james! he is a great father, and it is so fun to watch both abbie and asher express their love to him. i wanted to take some new photos of the three of them all together, to mark this time in life, so we went to the backyard after dinner and had a quick shoot. we got a lot of great moments and i am happy to have these photos. we love you so much!

June 8, 2010

what a few days we've had...

just like outside today in kansas, it is pouring... as it is in our lives again.
but the clouds do clear and sunshine does show itself to us- eventually.

i spent the last two days at olathe medical center with james, dealing with some very intense nerve pain to his left leg. see, i was out of town for a wedding over the weekend and my sweet husband tried to do some wonderful things around the house. he knows he has hundreds of people who are wanting to help him do these things, but the man in him just wanted to do it himself. and when he does that, his sciatic nerve just gets mad at him.

recently he's been told that the tumors on his spine are also getting bigger so the combo of that with too much extension in lifting and bending all worked together to set him into some big pain.

we went to the ER on sunday night, after i got home, and they gave him 2 shots of pain medicine. these don't work, because they don't effect the nerves. we could have been admitted to the hospital and spent the night, and then seen an anesthesiologist to see if he could do anything. we opted to go home, so he could sleep in his own bed, and come back in the morning if necessary.

it was necessary, and we checked back into the ER on monday. we hoped they would just get us admitted quickly and go from there, but they had to do all the protocol checks and questions and after several hours, we did get a bed in the hospital. james was quite loopy, and on so much medication. it was wonderful to have my mom with me while we waited and kept a close eye on james.

the dr. saw him and wanted to put him on more pain medication, but i was pretty insistant that it needed to be more particular for his nerves. with a recent MRI in hand, he was able to call the pain specialist and anesthesiologist to come back to the hospital to perform a treatment.

he did a nerve block to his S1 vertebrae, which has really helped. he injected a pain medication as well as a steriod right into the base of the nerves, very similiar to an epideryl. it has really surpressed the pain and should give him general relief for quite awhile.

we are home now, and thanks to wonderful friends and family our kids were well taken care of. once again, it is such a blessing to be able to just call and hear 'whatever you need, i will do'. thank you to everyone!

we hope that this week remains calm and that we can get back into a slower, summer like type of life while still dealing with all the trouble and sadness that we have experienced in the last month.

thanks for your continued prayers for our entire family.

now, let the sunshine burst through!

summer time

summer time
(click on image)

Hawaii

Hawaii
click on image for hawaii pics