She's Home!

I have been told I am failing at keeping this up to date! I am sorry to everyone for my slacking!

Margaret arrived home safely from Washington on January 1st. She is at home with her family and doing well. She is still struggling with multi tasking and she gets overstimulated easily, but otherwise seems great! I am thrilled to have her back and I am sure her family is too.

Bethany and Huey were also married this week (congrats!) and so she has been busy with preparation for that. I am sure you will see more of her soon!

Welcome home MJ!

Update from Doug

Margaret arrived in Yakima, WA today. She is doing well. She is currently staying with her sister Denise. It is quiet there and she can continue her recovery. Her follow-up appointment went well. Dr. White simply looked at her scar and answered questions. She is missed at home but on behalf of our children and myself, thank you to all of you for your prayers, and kindness.

She is doing well...

Margaret is doing well. She is tired and weak, but not in any pain! She is trying to keep up and about to rebuild her strength, but it is hard when she is so tired. They want her awake during the day with a short nap and sleeping at night. That is a challenge when you are trying to reset your clock. She says that she wakes up in the middle of the night wide awake.

Everyone around her is keeping her busy during the day. We are chatting often, but I need to go back over there and visit her again soon. I miss her alot. I know she isn't far, but it isn't the same!

Still no word on long term plans. She is supposed to see the surgeon on December 10th and hopefully we will have more info then. They will talk about therapy if it is necessary and long term plans. So far though, she has surpassed everyone's expectations! Way to go Margaret!

SHE CAME HOME!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Margaret is out of the hospital. She called us yesterday morning and told us to come get her as they were discharging her. We were shocked, needless to say. Denise and I headed down to the hospital as Doug was teaching CPR classes. We wanted to find out exactly what was happening as it was a lot sooner than they had told us.

We found out that she had been doing really well. She wasn't eating much and was still pretty sleepy, but they thought it was because she was bored and needed to be home. There isn't much she needs to do at this point. She can get up and about, read, light stuff. They want her awake during the day rather than laying in bed, so visitors might be nice!

She is staying at her sister Vicki's husband's parent's house. (yeah, that is a long one) They live very close to the Roundrock Building. I will try to track down and post the exact address.

We are all excited that she is doing better and hope that she continues to improve. The doctors are very impressed, as are we.

Keep her in your prayers!

She's out of ICU!!!

Yeah, I am really behind on getting everyone updates. I'm sorry! Here's the scoop as of yesterday. I haven't heard any updates today.

On Sunday, we got word that the plan was to move her out of ICU on Monday. No time was set and she seemed to be doing well. On Saturday night she started using her Nikkan Magnets again and found instant relief. On Sunday they let her use all of her stuff and her improvement was amazingly quick. She was more alert and doing better physically as well.

Monday morning they moved her to room 526 on the 5th floor. They took the cerebral drain out, the IV out and whatever other miscellaneous tubes she had coming out of her. She was able to get up and walk around, eat more food, and generally seemed to be doing well. She is still tired and was really looking forward to getting a great nights sleep. She was still sturggling with names, but the hospital said they had therapy for that stuff, so that was encouraging.

Ok, so that's all I can think of right now. I will try and post updates faster!!

Teamwork

As I visit Margaret in her very sleepy state, I have lots of time to sit and think. That doesn't happen very often... time to sit and think I mean. It has occurred to me how important it is that everyone work together. It is continually amazing to me the amount of people that it takes to pick up from one person not being there. Doug's sister and parents (in Wylie) have done so much to help, especially those first few days when everyone was a mess. Margaret's parents and sister have come in to help as well. Obviously there have been a few close friends who have been working tirelessly as well. When I added it up, it was like 8 extra people all trying to take care of what Margaret did on her own. That is pretty amazing!

It also helps me to realize the importance of family. Margaret and Doug are pretty darn blessed to have such amazing support. I know anyone who knows and loves them would step in instantly, but it sure is wonderful to have their support. It makes me wish my family were close by.

The most important thing though, is that even if we were all working our hardest, if we were doing it alone, it would never work. It is when we work as a team that we actually accomplish amazing things. The same thing happens for Margaret in the hospital. When she works with her nurse and doctor, that is when she starts to progress. It is truly important that we all work together to achieve the best results.

Just some random thoughts to close out the day.

Donations Part Two

A donation accout has been opened in Margaret's Name through Capital One Bank. The account allows those desiring to donate cash to use it as a tax deduction. As tax season is right around the corner, you won't even have to keep your reciept for very long!

We will also be setting up a paypal account that will be linked to the donation account for those who wish to donate and are long distance. More to follow on that.

Here is the info you need:

Capital One Bank (www.capitalone.com)
Locations all over DFW
Her branch:
4024 14th St Plano, TX 75074
972-364-6120

The account Number is:
3312997117

Simply stop in any branch and ask to make a deposit to that account. They will advise you on how to fill out the check if you are writing one. Your deposit slip should act as a reciept for tax purposes, but if you need something different, please contact Tom privately and he can get you something from the bank. He is handling this end of things.

I think that is all for now. A special thank you goes out to those who have given so generously already. Every little bit helps.