Saturday, December 15, 2007

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.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

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!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

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!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

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!!

Friday, November 23, 2007

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.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. Oh how we are all grateful for the things we have, our health in particular.

Went down to the hospital last night. Margaret had an Angiogram yesterday and they did see a vasal spasm. They said it was small and so they just increased her blood pressure to support the artery so that it wouldn't collapse. Layman's terms as I understand them. They may or may not have to do another one and it sounds as if that meant it would be the full 14 days in ICU. Again, so many things are unclear.

After the surgery, she had to lay completely flat and still for 6 hours. This proved difficult. Denise, her sister, was down there until about 7pm and Margaret was still restless and moving. They said when she moved, her 6 hours had to start over again. I offered to go down and sit with her. By the time I got down there around 7:30pm, she had fallen asleep. She rested very peacefully until about 10pm when the 6 hour mark was up. The nurse came in and woke her up. She was happy to sit up and stretch a little. I got her to eat about 10 bites of food (we normally max out at 6) which was great. She gets very tired chewing. We chatted and laughed for a bit. Then I read to her out of Prelude to Glory. She is in the 7th or 8th book and on like chapter 40, so I had absolutely no idea what was going on in the book, but get this... that chapter there was childbirth!! Yep, childbirth on the prairie with a midwife and a wet nurse and everything. She thought it was pretty funny that I was excited. OK, enough side tracking. Sorry! Anyhoo, we read until about 11:30pm when my mouth was going to fall off and she was pretty tired anyway. I left her dozing with her classical music playing in the background.

I haven't heard of any updates today. My plan was to go down tonight, but the tritophan and a cranky baby are mostlikely going to keep me home. I will see her tomorrow for sure and update any changes at that point.

Lots of love and thanksgiving!