ANA Discussion Forum
AN Community => AN Community => Topic started by: leapyrtwins on June 23, 2008, 10:34:03 pm
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As LADavid mentioned earlier this evening, it's a busy week on the AN Calendar. Carrie is scheduled for surgery tomorrow (Tuesday), followed by Liz H (Effiya) on Wednesday, Lacey on Thursday, and Charlene and Dave Benz on Friday.
IMO it's never too early to wish our fellow forumites the best, so since we've already got two threads going for Carrie, I wanted to officially start this one for Liz, Lacey, Charlene, and Dave.
Good luck you guys! My thoughts and prayers are with all of you and I wish each of you the best. I can't wait to personally welcome you back as posties!
Stay strong and know you are not alone in your AN journeys.
Best wishes to all,
Jan
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No slow AN week here (as Steve once put it). To all of you future posties, I'm sending you my prayers and best wishes for great surgeries and speedy recoveries. And Dave, I'm hoping to be able to visit you at St Vincents.
David
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Okay, I'll wish them all well, but I am at least giving them each their own sentence. ;)
Liz, best wishes on your surgery on Wednesday.
Lacey, best wishes on your surgery on Thursday.
Charlene, best wishes on your surgery on Friday.
Dave, best wishes on your surgery on Friday.
I see some middle-fossas scheduled in there, so extra wishes for hearing preservation as well.
Busy indeed. I hope all goes well, and we will see you all back here shortly.
Steve
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Yes, The AN Treatment calendar is full this week so lots of prayers and good vibes are filling the air.
Liz, Lacey, Charlene, Dave: May your treatment go smoothly and may you emerge with much success and no complications - and may your recovery be swift and complete. :) We'll see you back on the 'other side' as 'posties' as soon as you're able.
Jim
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Good luck to everyone have a surgery this week! Speaking from recent experience, it's no cakewalk but you live from it.. You all will do GREAT! Just relax everyone!
Brian
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Liz, Lacey, Charlene and Dave Benz,
Praying for a successful outcome.
Syl
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Hello --
This is Lacey's daughter, I just wanted to let everyone know that she is out of surgery and everything went very well. The surgeon said he got 100% of the tumor and he expects her to do fine. They are moving her to ICU very soon.
Thanks for all of your prayers. We appreciate it.
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Lacey's daughter -
thank you for the quick update. I'm delighted to hear that your mom's AN was 100% removed - very good news ;D
When she's feeling up to it, please tell her we are thinking of her and wishing her the best for a speedy, uncomplicated recovery!
Jan
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Hi Lacey's Daughter
Thank you so mmuch for the fast reply. We get kinda antsy around here when we don't know what's going on with our AN buddies. Great news on your mom's surgery. Please give her our best and make sure she gets some rest and doesn't try to tackle too much too soon.
BTW, my daughter was my number one supporter when I had my surgery. You guys are the best kind of support there is ;D
David
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Lacey's Daughter:
Allow me to add my thanks for your thoughtful update on your mom. I'm delighted to learn she did so well. Prayers will be said for her full recovery and of course, we hope she'll be up to posting here soon.
Jim
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Thanks for the update! I'm glad they got it all with no danger anywhere else! That's great news! When she's up to it, tell her "Hi" from us!
Brian
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Hey All --
This is Lacey's daughter giving another update. She had a pretty rough night last night in ICU. They are having trouble controlling her pain and she was vomitting quite a bit through the night and this morning. She got a low fever and her blood sugars are running a little high (something she's never had trouble with before). They are keeping her in ICU for another night just to watch her closely. When I left for a little while late this afternoon she seemed to be doing a little better. She had finally slept for a little while (she didn't sleep last night).
Thanks for your concern and prayers, it is appreciated!
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Lacey's Daughter,
I know the ICU can be scary, but it may be the best place for her right now. I know my surgery wasn't over until almost 7:30pm and I didn't get moved until 8pm the next day. Of course, I remember none of it. I'm glad she seemed to doing better later in the afternoon. She'll make it through this part of her recovery just fine. Stick by her side, like you have so far, and everything will be fine. Keep faith. Keep praying for her just as we all do.
Brian
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Lacey's daughter -
keep in mind that it's very soon after your mom's surgery and she's been through a lot, so the rough night is very normal. She may continue to have rough nights down the line, but in most cases patients who have had AN surgery improve daily - even if it's only a little bit. She will eventually get to a point where her good days are more frequent than her bad days.
Although I didn't have any pain post op, I did have incredible nausea for days. I couldn't keep food down for a while and nothing they gave me for the nausea seemed to work. In time that issue got better on it's own. The best advice I can give you is to encourage her to eat - even small amounts of food when her nausea subsides. I know this sounds strange when she is vomiting, but in order to get up and walk around in a day or two like the doctors will want her to, she will need to have strength. Not eating will make her weak and may hinder her progress; this happened to me and as a result I was kept in the hospital an extra night.
It's hard to sleep well post op - medical people keep coming into the room at all hours and it's also hard to get comfortable with a huge pressure bandage on your head, but the more sleep your mom can get, the better.
I'm keeping your mom in my prayers and am confident that everything will be fine for her.
Thanks for your update. Make sure you get some rest; surgery is hard on family members also.
Jan
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Thanks for the update on Lacey. I can't believe I missed this thread and her date of surgery. It sounds like she is having a tough time right now and will keep her in my prayers. I hope she starts feeling and doing better soon.
Wendy
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Liz, Charlene and Dave,
Sorry I missed your surgery dates but I have not been on as much as usual in the past week and have bene trying to catch up. I'm sending positive energy and thoughts your way and hope you are all doing well. I'll be looking for your posts when you are up to giving us updates.
Wendy
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Lacey's daughter,
Glad to hear that the surgery went well. Does this mean that her facial nerve is fine? I hope so.
How about you? How are you doing? The surgery tends to be rough on the patient's family and caretakers, too.
Will keep checking for updates.
Syl
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Lacey's Daughter:
I'll just add my regrets that your mom is struggling, but her situation following AN surgery is actually not entirely unique. It's still frustrating, though. I was in the ICU for four days and nights and yet had few problems, except poor appetite the first 48 hours post-op. 'Nurse Ratchet' (my name for her) refused to leave the room until I ate something on my third day post-op. I did and was sitting up, then walking around by day four. By day five I was moved to a semi-private room, then discharged by noon because my doctor saw no reason to keep me hospitalized. By that time, I was ready to drive myself home but my wife thought better of it and I resumed my recovery as a passenger in our car, then basically a bystander at home...for about a week. The point? Food helps, even that wretched hospital food.
I trust your mom will be feeling better soon and be able to keep some food down. Not to instigate, but sneaking in a favorite, easily digestible food from 'the outside' has been known to revive hospital patient's appetites. Not that you would do this, of course. Just an observation. ;)
Thanks for taking the time to keep us updated. Its appreciated.
Jim
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'Nurse Ratchet' (my name for her) refused to leave the room until I ate something on my third day post-op.
Wow! My hospital didn't have a Nurse Ratchet, but the nutritionist paid me a personal visit on day 3 or 4 and insisted that I needed to eat. She offered to make me anything on the hospital menu. Yea, I know sounds really good ;D Too bad we were talking hospital food ::)
Lacey's daughter -
hope your mom is feeling much better. I'm looking forward to your next update and am anxiously awaiting the day that Lacey will be able to post for herself :)
Jan
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Hi Lacey's daughter-
Just a quick note on the elevated blood sugar - this can be caused by the steroids. I actually got insulin shots while in the hospital, which totally freaked me out the first time. Anyway, blood suger was back to normal by the time I was released from the hospital. Apparently, this is fairly common.
Hopefully Lacey is home by now, or at least ready to come home!
Let us know how she's doign, okay?
Debbi
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Hey All,
This is Lacey's daughter again. Wanted to give you all an update. She came home from the hospital last wednesday. She was doing very well. Then on Saturday evening she noticed something running out her nose and down the back of her throat. We called the Dr. and they said to come into the emergency room. Turns out it was CFS (Spinal Fluid) leaking from somewhere. They kept her overnight and this morning (Sunday morning) did surgery to repack her ear to close the leak. Tonight she is back in ICU and while she is in great pain, she is thankfully not dealing with naseau this time. She has a spinal drain in her back that they are watching closely. She will have to remain flat on her back until that is taken out - probably on Friday. Then they will get her up and hopfully the leak will have stopped. The Dr. said it is very unusual for this to happen, especially on the 10th day after surgery. I will keep you updated on her progress. Thanks for the prayers and well wishes. We appreciate it.
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Oh dear, that doesn't sound like fun at all. I think they are pretty good these days at managing CSF leaks when they happen, so hopefully your mother will be okay on Friday when they get her up again. Stay strong for her; she will get through this soon. Best wishes to you both.
Steve
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Lacey's daughter -
please tell your mom she's in our thoughts and prayers.
CSF leaks aren't too common, but they do happen. It seems like we've had quite a few of them among the members of this forum lately.
I hope that your mom is back home soon and can continue with her recovery without any more "bumps in the road".
Thanks for the update,
Jan
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Lacey's daughter,
Let your mom know we are thinking of her and I hope she's up and aroudn soon. I'll be wathcign for an update....thanks so much for keepign us informed.
Melissa
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Having been away for a short bit, I'm just now getting caught up with everyone.
Lacey's daughter, please let mum know that she is in my thoughts and wishes.....
and for everyone else... continued wellness wishes to you all. Will keep a closer eye now to see how the follow AN'ers are doing.
Phyl
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Hi Lacey's daughter-
Please let your mom know she is in my prayers and thoughts. It does seem like an unusual number of ANers have had CSF leaks lately - hopefully your mom's will get resolved very quickly. Make sure the nurses know about her pain so that they can manage it effectively. The body can't heal as well when it is fighting pain, so this is very important. Even if the drugs make her feel wonky, the body needs to focus that energy on healing.
prayers and hugs to you both,
Debbi
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Hey guys -
has anyone heard from Liz, Charlene, or Dave Benz ???
Just wondering,
Jan
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Hi, everyone
I'm wondering about Liz, Charlene & Dave Benz too. Will keep checking for updates and praying for the best outcome.
Lacey and daughter: so sorry Mom had to go back to the hospital with a CSF leak. Prayers and well wishes continue to be set your way.
Syl
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Golly, a lot of us seem to be "rare" these days...my CSF leak out my incision was "almost unheard-of". Hmmmm, wonder what the stats really are??
Hope the CSF leak is over - take care, both Lacey and daughter,
Tammy
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Just read an update from Dave Benz. Here's the link http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=6869.msg69834#msg69834
Jan