Day 3 Becky

So she came out of surgery about 1am and returned to ICU about 3:30am. The surgery was successful and she is recovering nicely. They're still trying to keep the bloodpressure down; it's borderline. We are thankful to all our friends and family for their prayers in our behalf. We are especially greatful to havae the Priesthood in our lives and that our faith in God is increased. We have been optimistic and I wondered if I was having faith or pure optimism. Whenever doubt would try to creep in, I would remember the calm we received from her blessing and would place that doubt in God's hands. We love you all and, again, Thank you.

Day 2 Becky

So we made it through today, although it was stressful. We were told last night that the surgery would be mid-morning today. Then the Dr. Hajjar came in this morning and told us it would be after 1pm. Our nurse told us to expect it to be closer to 4-5pm. By 11am we learned that it would be after 7pm. She finally went into the OR at 10:00pm. So, with the angiogram and the surgery, I don't expect her out of the OR until 1-2am.
She did fairly well today. She was nauseous twice during the morning angiogram. They put her on some anti-nausea medication that made her drowsy, so she was able to sleep most of the day. I'll keep you posted as I learn more.

Becky's Hospital Visit

Well, it's been awhile since I last wrote. Becky is in the hospital. She had a violent coughing spell yesterday morning and, afterwards, her head felt like it would explode. She has a VERY high tolerance for pain, so I knew something was up after a couple of minutes. I called 911 and the paramedics came. When they measured her BP it was 220/110. They said we needed to get the hospital and have checked out. She loaths riding in an ambulance and wanted me to take her. Then she started to work on her hair and wanted to take off her eye makeup. I firmly told her that could be done in the car, on the way, and we left for the hospital.
We always go to St. Luke's downtown but, as I got on the connector she said, "We could do something novel and go to St. Al's." I told her that if she wanted to go to St. Al's I had to know now (because I was doing about 80 and needed to get off the connector soon, if that's what she wanted). I also reminded her that her brother's Stake President was over the Radiology Dept. at St. Al's. So we decided to go there.
I was not overly impressed with admittance to the ER and her initial care. But things improved, and especially after her brother, Glen, arrived and talked with his friend. Glen and I gave her a priesthood blessing. As I gave her the blessing, I blessed the dr.s a second time. That puzzled me and I almost didn't say the words. I'm glad I did.
The ER dr. told us that they would do a CT scan and a spinal tap to determine what was happening. The tap would only happen if nothing was seen on the scan. Becky kept saying that they wouldn't find anything and would send her home. I reminded her that she ought to hope they find something on the scan or she'd have the tap.
After the scan, the ER dr. came back in. He told us, "There's good news, bad news, and good news." He told us he'd sandwich the news like a cookie. The good news is that they found something on the scan. The bad news is it looks like a small tumor. The good news is that they wouldn't have to do the spinal tap. He then told us that they would do an MRI to better determine what the mass was in her brain.
As you can imagine, this was a bombshell! At the same time, we were both calm. Becky had received a blessing of healing. We were more concerned with how the children would react, because of the loss of their father a few years ago, and decided to wait until we had more details before telling them.
After the MRI we were told that we would have the results in about 20 minutes. They came in within 2 minutes and told us they found that there was a small aneurism, rather than a tumor. The neurosurgeon came in about 20-30 minutes later and talked to us about the aneurism. Dr. Hajjar told us that it a large aneurism, about the size of a green grape. He told us that he would need to operate to correct the problem. He also told us that he would order a carotid angiogram to map the blood vessels for the surgery. At this moment, she is having that procedure done.
We still don't know what time she'll have her surgery. We know that he needs a second neorosurgeon during the surgery.
We are both fine and are putting our trust in our Heavenly Father. Neither of us think it is her time to go back to him just yet. Thank you for your prayers. I'll try to keep this updated.