Mom and Kozi

Mom had to have another brain shunt surgery yesterday due to the blood pooling in her brain from the earlier surgery. Surgery is always a scary thing, and when it is involving the brain even more so. She came through wonderfully though, not nearly as groggy and disoriented as the previous surgery, and she doesn't seem to be in as much pain either. Her throat is terribly sore from the tube put down it during surgery(about 1 1/2 hrs). We are hopeful she will continue to progressively improve in all areas. Of course she was ready to go this morning and this time we did have to wait on the staff to get her all signed out.
Here is a picture of her with her little Kozi today when we got home from the hospital in Wenatchee. She looks pretty good for everything she has been through!! And she sure did miss her fuzzy little pup.

I forgot to mention that Mom's birthday was on Tuesday.....

Happy 77th Birthday Mom!!

Not so Good News..

I got a call from Mom's neurosurgeon's nurse on Thursday...and we have to go back to Wenatchee to see him on Tuesday. Her CT scan is at 8:30am and Dr appt at 9:20am. She is already scheduled for surgery on Thursday to reinsert the shunt tube. We will know more on Tuesday, but after examining the CT scan further, I guess they decided it couldn't wait. I found out her eyes have been hurting her a lot lately too. I don't know if it is related to the bleeding or not. Mom is not looking forward to this...and I can't say I blame her.

Mom's Day at the Dr.

We got an early start this morning since Mom's CT scan was at 10:20 am, then at 11 with her neurologist. On checking in we found out her appt with the neurosurgeon at 1 pm would have to be rescheduled due to an emergency surgery he had. Her neurologist was happy with her progress so far, but the CT scan showed there was some bleeding in the brain in the shunt placement site. With the fluid being drained and the pressure reduced from the brain some of the brain membrane was torn away, at least that is how I understood it. She will need to go in for a CT scan weekly so they can monitor the bleeding(her neurologist & neurosurgeon). At least that can be done here in town. We met with Uncle Clyde and Aunt Lana for lunch and catching up, then we were homeward bound.

Puddles, Puddles, Puddles

It rained all night last night, but we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. With all the moisture and unseasonably warm weather we have been left with huge puddles and ponds such as we have never seen here before in the fields. The weather forecast calls for more of the same for the rest of the week.

While out in the yard today I took a picture of this little nest, I noticed it a couple of weeks ago...do you think it could be a hummingbird nest? I'm going to keep an eye on it this spring and see what kind of bird it belongs to.

Little Lucy was out enjoying the sunshine today too..it got up to 49 degrees! I don't think my lawn is really as green as it looks in the picture.

It was so nice that I took Rita (my horse)out for a ride and we slopped around on the muddy ground and through the puddles. She was full of it too, 1st ride of the year you know. What fun!!

January Blahhhs

We had a nice holiday now come the doldrums of January...at least it is half over. Yesterday was a beautiful day, sunny and mild, it felt like spring was on its way. Today on the other hand is foggy, slushy, drizzly and clammy. I guess winter is here for a while longer. All the melting and raining have left us with big puddles in the low spots. It's a mess. Oh well, on the bright side the days are slowly getting longer...yeah!!

The alfalfa field is trying to soak it all in (above) and my garden is a mud pit (below).

Last night we took Mom, Dad and Jimmy out to Rancho Chico for dinner..that is always good eats!!

Mike has been insulating and hanging sheet rock in the new garage this week. It is going to look really good when he gets it done.

This was a three day weekend for me so I think I will get supplies to make a heart wreath and pillow covers when I go to Omak this afternoon.

On Wednesday, we have Mom's doctors appointments in Wenatchee. We have to be there at 10:30 for the first one. She is showing marked improvement in her motor skills and doesn't seem to have that distracted look about her as much. She is looking good and is healing nicely. Her hair isn't growing back as fast as she would like, but it looks fine from the front. Her thinking still short circuits(for lack of a better term), but maybe that will improve later. Anyway, think of us on Wednesday. Dad is doing well, he is so good with mom, although he does get tired(the Parkinson's) plus he has been doing most of the household chores. I try to help out, but they are doing okay. I am encouraging them to start going to Senior Citizens for meals a couple days a week since cooking is a real chore for them, the socializing would be good too.

I think I will have a nice hot cuppa something.....coffee or tea...

I went for the chai tea...delicious!! Perfect on a day like today.

Mike got this Keurig for his birthday...it is Great!!

Christmas Pups!

Pepi and Lucy in their Christmas collars waiting for Santa Paws.

Spike is joining in on the fun, their Christmas collars are so cute! They have little jingle-bells on them. It drove Spike crazy at first but he got used to it before long.

Mom, Dad and Jimmy were up this evening for Oyster Stew and goodies. We opened an early Christmas gift from Jimmy, it was the DVD game Scene It, the Seinfeld edition. We played a couple of games it was alot of fun!

Mom's Surgery - Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

I guess I haven't posted in quite awhile. It has been a busy month though. On Dec 16th, I took Mom and Dad to Wenatchee for Moms brain shunt surgery the next day. Mike went down ahead of us to get Jessie's house warmed up and plow the driveway. We stayed at Jessie's house since we had to be at the hospital by 5:30 am and had to get up at 4am. Mom went into surgery around 7:45 am. Mike, Dad, Bill, Carl S and I waited for the Dr to let us know how things went. After a couple of hours he came out and told us thing had gone smoothly and she would be in recovery for a couple of hours. We went down to the cafeteria for breakfast then went up to watch for her to be wheeled to her room. Although she was tired and disoriented she was doing okay. They had her up walking before too long. She wasn't feeling very good and really wanted to leave. Clyde and Lana came up to visit her in the afternoon. In fact Clyde came by a few times that day. She seemed to be doing a little better by evening and had eaten dinner, so we decided it was time for us all to go and let her rest as well as us. I'm afraid she probably had a very confusing night but the staff at the Central Washington Hospital was wonderful, and took very good care of her. When we arrived in the morning we were expecting her to maybe be released that afternoon. We met her nurse in the hallway and she said she was going to be released that morning. I said in a hour or so? But surprisingly she said in about 10 min. Mom was sitting up in the room when we got there, she had had her CAT scan, seen the Dr. and had eaten breakfast. Bill was there, it was about 8:30 am. I had brought her clothes in so the CNA helped her get dressed and before you knew it we were out of there! Mom didn't want to ride out in the wheel chair ...so she walked. I know she was sooo glad to be leaving. Bill followed us up to Jessie's in Cashmere to stay and visit with them while Mike and I ran into town to do a little shopping at Costco. We got our things together and left Cashmere by 1:30. We drove straight home...making one stop at KFC for chicken for dinner, then we picked up her pain meds at the drug store. Mom was in some discomfort on the way home, she had staples in her scalp and stitches in her abdomen. She was using her walker and cane the first couple of days at home but yesterday when I got there she was up and walking quite well on her own. Wonderful!! Other symptoms...not much change. She is feeling better...less pain. All we can do is take one day at a time.