Surgery Update

It is 1:24 AM and I have just gotten back from the hospital. I decided to decompress by reading through the blog I posted and then read the comments. I laughed as I saw all the mistakes and the ONE BIG PARAGRAPH. I was in a hurry to get all my thoughts down and when I hit the 'publish' button, it didn't work. I realized that my internet connection had timed out. I had exactly 8 minutes to get out of the hotel before we would surely then be late to the hospital. I tried to save the posting but it was not going to work. Paul told me to hit Control C and I was able to save the posting to a word document. I reopened the blog site and then pasted the document back into a new posting. I guess that is what caused all my paragraphs to be one big one. As I was doing all this maneuvering, Paul said, "Mom, we need to leave. Remember I am supposed to be going somewhere?" I told him that I needed to get the message out that we needed prayers for a successful surgery and I was going as fast as the computer would allow me. He said, "Yeah, great. And tomorrow you can post a blog about how we missed the surgery because you were fiddling around on your computer!"

So, it is now 'tomorrow' and the surgery is done. The doctors said it went very well, they indeed found the hole and fixed it. The eye was placed back into the orbit after it was rebuilt and I was told that it should look a lot more normal. The shunt was taken out and there is an external shunt instead. They will keep the brain pressure very low so that the repair of the hole will set properly and not be forced open. I was told that there is damage to Paul's eye muscle right where the break occurred, which is what keeps his eye from moving up and down. It moves from left to right, but not up and down. That issue will be addressed by Dr. Matthews later down the road. There is a list of things that needed attention and they started with the most urgent.

Please pray most especially that Paul will not need to have a shunt at all. That is one thing they are monitoring and it is the doctor's hope it won't be needed now that the hole has been repaired. We won't know until near week's end. When I left tonight I was told that Paul is bleeding more than the ICU nurse was comfortable with. She had placed a call to the neurosurgeon and she added more bandaging to his head. She is not allowed to take anything off - just add to it. She said that she would be placing another call to the doctor if it didn't stop. I wanted to stay, but Paul was trying to talk to me and he was in pain. His first words to me were " I love you Mom. Please pray with me." I prayed for him as I held his hand and he mouthed the words to all the prayers. He was very coherent and a few minutes into our visit, he actually smiled as he said he was thinking about the joke he would play on Jerry if he came to visit him in the hospital. Those 2 are always thinking up new jokes to play on each other and Paul was already on track to pull one on Jerry. I talked with him a little bit longer and he asked me to have everyone pray for him. His head was really hurting and he asked me if he could have some Tylenol. The nurse heard him asking for that and she said she would be getting him some pain medication in just a few minutes. He looked at me and said, "Could you ask her to give me something that actually will work?" I laughed because he has always said he doesn't know why he has to take the prescription medications every day, since it is only the Tylenol that helps him most. I wanted to write a quick note to let you know the surgery went well. I don't know the outcome of the bleeding issue. I have been up since 4 AM Monday morning and I am exhausted. I will update as often as possible. The ICU unit here is very strict in its visiting policy. I will be able to see Paul every 4 hours, but for 15 minutes only. There are no chairs in the room and he has a nurse who will be standing in there with him, watching the monitors. They have to keep the brain pressure below 10 and it was taking regular adjusting. His vital signs are taken every 15 minutes also. I felt he was in good hands, so left to get some rest before a very long day today.

A really wonderful thing about my day was that I was able to do some reading and had the time to sit and pray quietly. I am so grateful for that time. I checked out the location of a church nearby so that I might be able to attend Mass each day. The downtown cathedral of St. Patrick's is only blocks away! Since I am not going to be able to sit with Paul all day, I will surely have the time to do the best thing for him - attend Mass and sit in church. I am going to see if Communion can be brought to him also. He smiled when I told him I was going to check on that.

God's peace and blessings to all of you and your families.
Love , Jon and Rebecca

p.s. I need to ask you also to pray that my van will not cause me trouble. I was not able to back up last night when trying to leave the hospital and when I tried it again, there was a very loud 'clank' noise and then the brakes made a grinding noise all the way back to the hotel. I had Jon on the phone the whole time and God provided an angel..............a police car was right beside me most of the way back. I guess he was wondering what a woman from Georgia was doing on the roads at that time........smile. My prayer to God as I fell asleep was that if there is such a thing as an angel who also does mechanical work on the side, I was making an appointment for him!
If it does break down, Jon will drive up and we will get it into the dealership. He might be the angel God sends!