I was not finished with the previous post and somehow hit enter! OOps! I have been getting around more and definitely sitting outside every opportunity that I can. I could go out on my own, but the first step is too big for me to get back into the house without any help.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Having a hard weekend with all of Taylor's graduation festivities and not being able to go. Beth Anne took me down to the church yesterday before the open house and let me see how neat it was decorated. It looked awesome. Today she graduated. Ok, dont know if I missed sitting in a hot gym, but nonethe less. Just really hard.

I had my follow up with Dr Le today. I am healing well, but he told me I need to try and eat some more lean protein. He suggests Boost over ensure. So I am going to try and see how that tastes.
I have an appt with the Dr in Indy next Thursday. I have to be at St Francis Beech Grove at 9 a.m. I am anxious to get this infection drained. Dr Le told me though that even after this is drained, it will take at least 14 more weeks to feel like myself. I am sure I will still be going to the infusion center to still get my antibiotics and fluids.
I just want to start getting some energy back that is all! My family has been extraordinary in helping out and so have friends.
Claire's last day of school was today. She has about a week off before she gets to go to summer school for 5 weeks. She will be able to get her therapies this way.
Peace and blessings

Thought I would blog while it was a little quiet in the house. Claire is off to horseback riding lessons and this is the first time I am home alone.
I received a call from Dr Le last night. He spoke with the dr who will be doing my procedure. I waited all day for this Dr to call and he finally did! I will be going to St Francis Beech Grove. I just needed to bring a disc of the ct scan that was taken Friday. He will use that to see where the infected areas are. His person will call my person to set up an appt. I told him I was actually looking forward to this. He told me I was a funny lady.
Tomorrow I have a follow up with Dr Le and then off to the infusion center again. They treat me so nice. They have my little blanket, and pillow and this blower that blows out warm air for me underneath my blanket.
Every day is a challenge. And it really is hard on me emotionally. So thank you for your prayers. I have a long list of thank yous to get out, so don't think I have not forgotten about any of you and all the kind things you do!
Blessings

It has been a pretty uneventful weekend. All my days seem to run into one another anymore. I will continue to go to the infusion ctr at the hospital daily to get my fluids and anti biotics until Dr Towriss can set up a time for me to get into the dr up north. I am hoping this week. I really want to get this infection out of my body so that I can continue to heal. I am so weak all of the time. All I do is rest. Sometimes going to the bathroom is a chore. At least I feel as though I know why I am not getting stronger everyday. It is just hard to lay around and not be able to do much. Today after my infusion I had Beth Anne just drive me around town to see things other than 4 walls.
Thank you to everyone who continues to bring by food for my family and a big shout out to the Rosary Society especially for providing so much food! It touches our heart that even though we don't attend church out there that they find it in their hearts to help us out.
Blessings

There hasn't been much to blog this week. It has been a tough week. I do have to say at least I am at home and in my own environment.


I had my follow up appt with Dr Towriss yesterday. Things did not go as well as I wanted. He told me I should be in the "recovery stage." But I am still in the "sick stage." My counts are still high which still indicated I am fighting off an infection. He has me going to the infusion center everyday at the hospital to get an antibiotic and some fluids. He also had me get a CT scan last night. He called me at home and told me there is an infection. Apparently this is not uncommon. They try and get everything clean, but it is not always easy. So the next step is for him to contact a doctor at St Vincents that can go in and just drain the infection. I am hoping this will be this week. The sooner the better. DR T said as long as I don't have fevers,etc.... I will be able to stay out of the "big house." the hospital.

For now I am asking for no visitors. My immune system is pretty low and I am suspseptible to too many things.

Thank you once again for all the food, cards and prayers. Please say extra prayers for me, this whole operation, etc....has been a bump in the road for me. I am trying to stay positive but it is hard.

Blessings

First full night home was nice. I figured out the recliner is the best place for me to be right now. I have no way of getting up out of the beds when I lay down. God Love Dennis, I just ask for him and he lifts me back up or down when I need out.
The pain is tolerable. I am taking pain meds. which I really hate to do. We will see if they work their magic or not. I am actually able to walk alittle better than I did before. I know that everyday it will get better and I will get stronger. I do get up as much as I can during the day and walk around. Having that epidural in me for a week did not help the fact that I could not feel my legs!
I have to go get blood drawn on Monday and then make a follow up appt with Dr Towriss this week too.
Once again I cannot thank you enough for all the prayers and cards, the food and gifts. It is nice to get a card everyday.
Not awhole lot more to report, will blog more later....
Blessings!

I really dont know how much of this I will be blogging tonight. Kinda wearing down. The new release date has been set for tomorrow. I willl still have to come back next week and get a scan to keep an eye on the infection. I have to commned the staff because they have been so patient and kind.And of course Dr Le and Dr Torwiss and Dr Olson.

Thank you for the visitors, Fr Todd, and Pastor Aaron for coming by to pray with me.

I still have a long few months of recovery. I can walk but sometimes fell wobbly.

Last Wednesday was a bad day because we were figuring out pain managemet and all kinds of differernt things.

Friday Nurse Sarah called a friend of her's to come visit me. I was pretty down in the dumps. Her name was Candy, weighed about 146 pds was St Bernard! She was awesome. Dave Nueman in town owns her and she is a therapy dog. She came again the other day. Really neat!

The worst part of all of this. The venilator. I was sedated a bit, but when I wasn't it was hell! I would never wish that on my own worst enemy. To be able to hear and not speak!

I will close for now. Really missing my family everyday.

Blessings

Greetings from Schneck Medical Center. I am tying to adjust to the gift that Claire and Dennis bought me for Mothers day. A laptop.
There has seemed to be a bit of a set back on releasing me. Yesterday I had a ct scan there there appears to be an infection somewhere. They had finally decided to take me off the anti-biotic because they were raising my white cell count. Until this happened. As far as I know I will have another scan on Friday to see if it is still there. So it looks like I will be staying through the weekend. Can I ever get a break? They did release me from PT today, so that is good.
I wont babble on and on....But I wanted to personally thank everyone for their cards, and prayers, and gifts. We so appreciate the help.
Dennis is doing wonderful job with Claire and he needs to be commended. I love you!
Blessings

Weekend went well, other than not really getting out, but whatever the Dr. thinks is best for the longterm recovery and well being is fine. In the hospital for one Mother's Day to be healthy for all the ones to come is best.

Saw Mary at lunchtime today. She is up and moving around quite a bit. I guess she is not even using the walker anymore, PT just uses a belt strap around her waist for safety support. Friend Tiffani took her for a ride around and downstairs of the hospital in a wheel chair to get Mary a change of scenery.

Appetite is still slow coming around. Still sore from the surgery but not as much PAIN.

I think both mother and daughter are feeling the effects of being away from each other. They both are missing the cuddle time they had grown accustomed to. I can also tell that Mary is getting antsy about getting out, she has been such a model patient for the Dr's and nurses let's hope she can continue to be patient.

A big shoutout to sister-in-law Beth, for the food brought over this weekend. Hope everyone had a great Mother's day weekend.

Seems to be a difficult day today. Recovery is still going well, but emotionally a little let down today. Dr. Towriss really would like to keep Mary in the hospital for about another week. She is of course getting uncomfortable and not getting as much rest as she would like with all of the interruptions for IVs, visits, therapy, meals, bathroom breaks, etc.

Beth Ann and I did bring Claire up to see mommy at lunch time today. Both of them are missing each other dearly. Hope this helped to brighten Mary's day rather than getting her more down.

Since Mary is on solid food and does not seem too thrilled with any of the hospital selections so far, Beth Ann and I are waiting on her to tell us something she is craving from the outside world that we can bring up to her.

Visited with Mary at lunch - soup and pudding in front of her so they are trying to get solid food started - of course she wasn't too impressed with what she had. Cathetar out today and she has been up and walking a little in her room. She looks and feels much better and right now is being really patient.

Mary continues to do great. She was up sitting on the side of the bed last night. They took out the epidural this afternoon in preparation for getting her to move around more. Tired and uncomfortable so she asked for people to hold off visting her today. Even though I didn't like not seeing my wife today while she is in the hospital I respected her wishes. Claire had horseback riding tonight and than a bath so I was kept busy even though I didn't make it to the hospital.

She is already texting me with a list of items to bring to her tomorrow. Must be feeling a little better.

Mary continues to recover from surgery wonderfully. She was moved from the ICU to a regular private hospital room this morning. Also just got a text from her and Dr. Lee her surgeon was just in her room a little while ago and she got her NG tube removed from down her nose. I think she was a little happy on that development.

They will be working with her to get her up and sitting and moving. Obviously she is still a little sore from being opened up again. Getting her digestive system working again is the other main step to get her on liquid and than solid food.

Must be feeling a little better was inquiring about Kovener's Corner ice cream tonight!

Just came back from seeing Mary. She is doing wonderful. Her opinion of ventilators is that they are awful. Fluid output is great - everyone that knows Mary will know what I mean when she is getting back to normal with her output. They will be working with her to sit on the side of the bed this afternoon and evening and progress to out of bed in a chair. If everything keeps going good, out of ICU tomorrow morning to a normal hospital room. Thanks to everyone and the power of prayer. Will update later tonight after I see her again, may even take Claire up tonight so she can see Mommy and Mommy can see her. I am 100% positive they both miss each other since they haven't been together since last Wednesday evening.

Mary is doing very well at this time. She spent most of the day sedated so that she was comfortable with the ventilator still in. Currently scheduled to have the vent removed around 10:00 AM tomorrow morning. Her fluid output continues to increase as well as getting lighter which are good signs on the kidney function starting to work more. She was awake a little on my last visit around 9:00 PM. She smiled and had me adjust the bed a little. Told her how much I love her and that she was doing great and that she just needed to keep resting - she actually nodded her head in approval.

Big shout out to our friends Bill, Cindy, Brady and Will Rinehart who spent the afternoon with Claire allowing me to come and go visiting with Mary and doing some errands around town and the house.

Long day - Mary had surgery today after what was a long night for her. Seems like the mystery of her admominal pain for the last 5 months may be solved along with her recent pains from Wednesday night.

Surgery today revealed trouble with Mary's small intestine. Appropriate term would be small bowel obstruction due to adhesion. Two loops of her small intestine were attached together with scar tissue about 4" below the adhesion she had developed a hole in her intestine known as a perferation.

Dr. Towriss and Dr. Lee presume that the adhesion was most likely what was causing the gastric pain Mary has been having off and on. The hole and subsequent infection is what caused the severe pain on Wednesday night. Investigation of her appendix and gall-blader showed normal function so they were not removed.

Dr. Lee removed about a 2 foot section of the intestine from the adhesion through the perferation. Cleaned up the infection fluid and other matter from the hole, and re-attached the intestine.

Mary is in the ICU unit at Schneck under sedation and on a ventilator to allow her to rest and start the healing process. Post op complications will be the biggest worries moving forward. With her reduced immune system and chemo treatments, infection, hernia and pnumonia are potential issues.