Balancing Ministry N' Work

Thought I would take a break between my rehashing my experience at UofM and post an update on how I am doing. Today is June 28th, 1 month and 2 days post surgery. I am not as far as I would like, but I am seeing the progress. First I would like to thank my in-laws. They went on the next stage of their journey and are in Canada, but they have been very helpful. To start they were here at the house taking care of our 3 children and allowed Alexis and my Mother to spend a lot of time at the hospital. I needed them there with me and I went through the ups and downs and it was only possible with my in-laws being at the house. In addition they spent the next two weeks helping out, so Alexis did not have to carry such a heavy load. They helped with the kids and many of the 'little' things around they house, that could easily have dragged Alexis down. Thank You Sue and Colin, your help is APPRECIATED! As of last week the leg cramps are mostly gone. Thanks to Alexis massaging my right c...

The next 4 days were days of waiting and intense discussions between the Neurological and ENT teams. The Neuro team believed this leak would close on it’s on, wanted to put me on Diuretics, and send me home. The ENT team wanted a lumbar drain, which the Neuro team had to do. Neither wanted to budge, and both were counting on the sample taken on Day 3 to tell them which way to go. Needless to say, we waited for 4 days to get the results of the test and only after going through a lot of frustration. Now I think the world of UofM, I believe that God used them to give me my life back, as without treatment things would have gotten much worse. Sadly the Drs and Nurses were not able to get answers on the test results. Even to the point where the head of the Neuro Surgeon team took a 2nd sample and sent it in. Sadly it took Alexis going to the Patient Advocate Group to get an answer about the test results. It was not the Drs or the nurses, the group that tracked the tests were not giving good ...

It was 2:30 am when I was transferred from the NICU to a regular room. I remember the NICU nurse being very frustrated that they were transferring me at that time in the morning. She was said something along the lines of, "This is UofM we should not be doing something like this, we should know better." As much as I appreciate her concern, my sleep patterns were not normal yet so it did not matter to me. The interesting thing is they were not moving me to the Neurological floor, due to over crowding. They moved me to a floor that deals with many other types of surgeries. Started out with a room to myself, but was eventually joined by a man who was on a morphine drip. He had some interesting things to say, and I don't think he ever stopped talking. At first they started me out on liquids, and my stomach was still a little uneasy. Then again that may have been due to what they were feeding me. Those who know me, know that I like a good piece of beef now and again. The first ...

I wanted to take some time to share about what God did for me during my stay at University of Michigan Hospital and my recovery since. This will be the first of several blog posts explaining things from my perspective. Some of my memories from the first several days do tend to run together, probably a result of the moraphine or other drugs used during the surgery. On May 26th, Alexis, my Mother, and I woke up early to be at the hospital at 5:30am. Those of you who know me, I am not a morning person and this was difficult in itself. Knowing I was going in for brain surgery made it that much harder. I remember joking with Alexis during our drive that morning that not many people probably drive themselves to the hospital for brain surgery, and that was exactly what I did that morning. When we got to the hospital it became very real for me, and what I was about to do scared me a bit. Thankfully I had faith that God was on my side and that He was going to take care of everything. He had tak...

It seems I find myself wondering how much energy things will take. Simple things that would normally not even be something I would think about seem to wipe me out. For example, Friday night we went to dinner at a local restaurant. We were there for about an hour and a half and I was exhausted. The family wanted to go to The Parlour for ice cream afterwords, but I had no energy. Had Alexis bring me home and her the kids, and the in-laws went. I sat on the couch turned on the TV then crashed. I could not believe that something as simple as going to dinner would wipe me out like that. Not having much in balance issues, so the weeks off that the Drs want me to take must be for me to build my strength back up. I had heard it would take some time, but I did not think it would be this bad. Heck I thought I would be back at church preaching by now, but I see no way for me to have the energy to stand up and talk for 30 minutes, let alone all the prep that goes into it. While it has been rough r...

Been home for about a week now, and have not really felt like sitting at the computer so this is the first real update. First couple of days home were great, felt good to be home and I was mobile. I even went into work on Thursday to say Hi to everyone. After the last couple of weeks I had, it felt good to go in there. Spent about an hour walking around talking to everyone and then Alexis and I had a quite lunch together which was really nice. After all that I was really tired and took a good nap. Friday that changed, I developed some series leg cramps. It was so bad I could not put any weight on my right leg. Knowing that I was low on sodium in the hospital and that potassium could also be an issue, I have been drinking Gatorade (YUCK) like crazy. I think the cramps are due to one of the meds they have me on, which is a diaretic combined with a water restriction. Not fun since I normally drink 4500 ML of water a day (6 big glasses) and I am limited to 1500 ML. Lots of heat and loving ...

Tuesday June 7, 2010 was an emotional day for me. I had been through the wringer and was trying to not let my guard down. I had been told on two other occasions that I would be going home, only to have problems and have to stay in the hospital. 7:00am Dr.s came in no leak, said I would be going home. Then I had an agonizing wait. 3:00 pm they finally came and removed the lumbar drain out of my back. That is one experience I never want to have again. 4:00 pm got in my Dodge and Alexis drove me home! It is so good to be home now! It is always nice to come home after a vacation, but this was NO vacation. The surgery was good, the waiting was a pain, the last 4 days in the hospital was unbearable. Now I am home! I keep saying that and it keeps making me smile. I will start writing more about my 'Medical Journey' in the next couple of days and am now looking forward to lots of walks with Alexis and the kids and I work to get my strength back. Thank You Jesus for ALL that you have do...

This is going to sound alot worse than it really is (you have heard that from me before). I am still in the hospital. Brain surgery was a resounding success. I seem to have developed a leak. (no my brains are not leaking out) It has taken time to determing exactly what is leaking and develop a path forward. We now have answers and everything is looking good. Please continue to pray for me , my family, the doctors, and all persons involved in this as we finish off this medical journey. In the next couple of weeks expect to see a more detailed accounting of my adventure. Thank you and God Bless. Robert