A Big Update

Well, time sure does get away from you! I'm going to have to break this posting up into a couple of manageable sections for different family members:

SHELLY'S SECTION

Shelly has been home from the hospital for 2 weeks now and is doing MUCH better.

The first week was rather rough for her (and me as I couldn't really do too much for her). She's spent the majority of it just hanging out in bed. This, of course, is the ultimate torture for a "Super Mom" like Shelly. She's used to being up on her feet, keeping the house perfect (I Tease Her About Her House Cleaning OCD Problem, But Truly Appreciate All She Does, I've NOT Been Able To Keep Up With What She Normally Does), keeping the School running the way she thinks is best, helping the Board of Directors, Volunteering in the Kids' classrooms, shopping, cooking and everything else... *pant*, I'm tired just typing about it!

There were a few saving moments during the past two weeks! The visits from her sisters and parents were HUGE in her sanity. We are SOOOO Fortunate they are so willing to spend the time to come down and help. Tiff's been Shelly's "On-Call" nurse for all things medical, that's been amazingly helpful! Shelly's gotten to see the "Outside World" twice; First was to go see her Doctor for a followup visit, the other was to go to our neighbor's baptism.

Both outings were good for her state of mind, but also were physically taxing. She's had a couple "Over Did It" days, so she's learning what her current limits are and trying to get a little more out of herself each day.

There are, of course, no pictures of this time. I like NOT being in trouble, Thank You Very Much!


MARC'S SECTION

It's been a fun couple of weeks for me as well! The results for the MRI that I had while Shelly was in the hospital showed that I had a couple of vertebrae that were compressing some nerves as they left the spinal cord. So, the best solution seemed to be to get an epidural in my back to inject a steroid into that area to try and relieve some of the pain.

So, last week, I had that procedure done!

This starts with me getting to put on another one of those sexy hospital gowns; followed by being wheeled into a surgical suite to lay down on a procedure table.


They cleaned and draped the area they were going to be working on.


Then the doctor, using x-ray as a guide, inserts an epidural needle into the base of my neck.


Finally the Doc pushes a steroid into the spinal column before removing the needle and the plastic.

Start to finish the procedure itself took less than 10 minutes. AMAZING.

The best part is I have a SIGNIFICANT reduction in the amount of constant pain that I experience.

KYLEE'S SECTION

Kylee got to participate in the "Egg Drop" at her school. Kylee's egg protection device consisted of 2 tiling sponges with an egg rest hollowed out in the middle. These were tied together with yarn and a small amount of duct tape on the edges.

Just for kicks we put that contraption inside one of Rylan's lunchboxes and packed it all with cotton balls.

One of the school staff members dropped it off the roof of the school...




We were happy to report that the egg survived intact!


Friday of this last week, Kylee went in to have tubes put in her ears and have her adenoids surgically removed.

I've never seen anyone "Excited" for surgery, but Kylee was all excited for the morning, even wearing her favorite Jammies and taking her friend "Teddy" to keep her company.
That only lasted until we got her checked in, and she got to put on one of the cool Green Hospital Gowns.


She was super brave and got her IV put in before she went into surgery. As a reward she got a new friend to keep her company.


Dr. Jessop came in to talk with her about how she'd sleep during surgery which seemed to help, and she HAD to show off her IV! :)


Once in surgery, Dr. Jessop put her to sleep and they got her all ready so that Dr. Ventura could take care of the Tubes and Adenoids.


The Tubes were done with super magnification, whereas the Adenoids were done through her mouth.


She had a tough time coming out of the anesthesia, fortunately for her, Tiffany was able to stop by and sit with her to make it all better. Apparently Dad's okay to be with BEFORE surgery, afterwords, not so much! :)


She did finally get to take off the really cool gown and get a ride out of the hospital to spend the next few days making Mom and Dad's life miserable by milking... I mean recovering at home.


RYLAN'S SECTION

Dad got to volunteer in Rylan's Class at school since Mom isn't up for traveling at the moment. It's always fun to see the kids having fun. I did take the opportunity to snap a couple photos to highly annoy him while I was there!


To make things even more fun, Rylan's spent the last couple of days being sick.

DYLAN'S SECTION
Dylan's been the quiet one at the house lately. Considering that within the past year everyone in the family had had a surgical procedure, he's wondering what's going to come his way. Hopefully he stays super healthy!

Dylan did get a 3.6+ on his last report card, so that's good, and has been working on a Science Fair project that involves the effect of Video Games on Grades. I have a theory but we'll have to see how it turns out. Now if we can only get him to finish the assignment on time!

Hospital - Update 3

Thursday evening was party night at the Shelly Taylor VIP Club...

Anna, Tara, and all the kids stopped by to say hi.
The girls all went Ooooo... at Shelly's groovy new scar

While AJ just hung out on the edge of the room with his eyes closed.



Tara was just ecstatic to get a MWMC mug filled with soda, while Noah ran around like he 0wned the place.



After the "party" was over, it was breaking my heart watching Kylee lay by her mom just in tears that Mom wasn't coming home, then more tears as I helped her get into the car because I wasn't coming home either. She just misses us being there...


Friday was Progress Day!


Friday started out with Marc getting an M.R.I. for a pain in the neck. (I can now prove it's NOT my kids... Dang, I think I lost a bet on that!)


Since I had to dress in the Sexy Green Gown, I figured it was only fair that I got to be stuck into the blog as well.

I'll know more next week about what's going on.

Shelly on the other hand, hit a few milestones!

She's up and moving; got to take a shower and have me wash her hair (I'm still not trusted enough to style it...); she had her CATH removed and started going potty on her own; and, after a very stern conversation from her doctor, started eating more. We know it's serious when Shelly doesn't even find the taste of a Diet Pepsi appealing!

The day was filled with Ups and Downs... Up out of Bed, Up for a walk, Down to the potty, Down to the chair, etc.

I had to leave her for the evening as I was DJing a dance at Excelsior Academy so I missed the kids stopping by. They are so cute, they each bought her a gift with their own money. Rylan bought her a card game so he'll be able to play with her when she gets home, and Kylee bought her a box of Reeces PB Hearts. I'm not sure I won't eat all the candy first, I Love those!

I got back around 10:30, and thought that Shelly was falling asleep after being given a sleeping pill so went to my office to work on a couple of things since I wasn't that tired. I went back to her room ready to fall asleep around 1:15 and 30 minutes later found myself being called down to the E.R. to fix the system that had crashed. That went until 3:30 where I went back to the room to find that the sleeping pill hadn't worked as well for Shelly, she was still in and out of sleep. I finally got to sleep for 2 hours around 5:30 after the last set of her vitals was taked for the night shift and before the first set of the day shift.

Shelly - Update 2

Shelly spent 3 ½ in surgery to come out in great shape. Both doctors said she did fantastic. Dr. Anders was very pleased, but I did know she wouldn't be too happy about Dr. Jessop having to put an IV in her foot.

He told me he tried numerous times to place an IV in her arm (I saw the numerous puncture wounds identifying his attempts) he finally had to put one in her foot so that, just in case she needed blood, he would have a needle big enough to handle it.

Shelly was pretty groggy for most of the day. She spent a lot of time sleeping. When she wasn't sleeping, we (the nurses and I) learned a couple of things:

1. Shelly was allergic to one of the anti-inflammatory medications causing her to break out in a rash.
2. The Benadryl they gave her via IV to help with the hives made for some of the most entertaining conversation I have had in a very long time.

Shelly finally reached what I would call a "coherent" state around 5 or so in the evening and she tried eating for the first time. (again forgive the photo from the phone!)

Mmmm Broth and Popcicles!

Shelly got beautiful flowers from her cute friend Maurie, from my cute assistant Heidi, and from our cute neighbor Jenny.

Later that evening the kids came to see mom. They're having a hard time, of course, with mom not being at home.

The kids were cute, Kylee brought Mom a stuffed animal to keep her company,


Rylan brought mom "Doydle" and his "Truck Blanket" to sleep with. He almost NEVER parts with either, so it was a big deal for him to let mom have them for a time. (Click here to see how valuable the dog is to Rylan!)

Shelly and I spent the evening sleeping like babies, which meant we were in hard beds waking up wanting to cry every hour. If anyone was ever wondering, the "Chair Beds" that the make available for guests of the hospital to sleep in, SUCK ROCKS! Shelly had to have her vitals taken, and I can't sleep through that kind of interruption. And of course I had to deal with a problem at the hospital anyway around 4am... *sigh*

Thursday has been a much more productive day. Shelly has graduated to real food, had all of her IVs removed and got to show off her new nifty scar!


She also wanted to show off the number of bruises she ended up with during the attempts to find a place to stick an IV.


And, now that she's fully coherent (did I mention I miss the Benadryl?) it's a bit tougher to capture the moments with my camera!


She's up and trying to walk which is a bit of a struggle, but it'll be good for her recovery.

The thing that ultimately matters is that she's going to be OKAY.

A New Year... More Surgeries

I was strong, I had to be, that's my job!

It's hard to believe that it's a year ago this week that Rylan was headed into surgery to have a tumor removed from his leg, and here we are again sending another member of the Taylor family to the hospital for an operation.

Shelly went in for surgery this morning and I was the stalwart husband, giving her every bit of strength and support I could. She needed to know everything will be okay!

It's an early start, neither of us slept very well, in fact Shelly was up and showered by the time the alarm we had set for 5AM went off. Weeks of planning and preparation had finally come to execution time. The plan is for Shelly to spend a night in the hospital and a few days recovering at home.

Shelly and Jenny spent 2 days making freezer meals so as not to be needing to be on the Meals on Wheels program that is abused and over-used in the neighborhood... (if for some reason I offend someone by this statement, I apologize, but it's how I feel.) I can cook, very well if I do say so myself, but it is nice knowing I have easy options for all of us!

Tara is coming down to stay the night with the kids; Anna is going to get everyone to Moo Shin Kwan; Dylan is going to get the boys to Scouts; I'm taking the next two days off work to be with her; Shelly's school board meeting was the night before so she doesn't have to worry about missing that; J.R. and I gave her a blessing before she went to bed; Shelly shaved her legs (it's a girl thing...); all is ready!

We spend the morning as quiet as possible so as to not wake the kids, Shelly packed an overnight bag, and had a few minutes to kill before heading to the hospital.
(I know the quality of the photos in this post suck! I'm taking pictures with my phone this morning... Shelly would kill me for carting a camera around!)

She's all ready for the day, looking as cute as she always does.

We get to the hospital and the first thing she gets to do is change out of her cute outfit into the SEXY GREEN ROBE!

For the most part, Shelly's doing fine, but she has just two major concerns; she's afraid of the laproscopic procedure accidentally doing some damage to her bladder; and she's scared crazy about not being able to feel her legs after having a spinal.

Dr. Anders talked with her, and both felt better about changing the procedure from a laprospically assisted surgery to a "cut me open" procedure. It's easier for the Doctor to get a feel for what's happening instead of using machines, and there's almost no chance of bladder damage that way.

Change of Plans... Now it's a 3 day or so stay, so it'll be time to get creative for a few days, but it'll all work out. We are so fortunate to have the love and support of family and friends to make sure that everything that needs to be taken care of, will be!

Krista and Shelly pause to let me take the "Pre-Surgery" picture, and Krista heads off to get ready for surgery.

The anesthesiologist alleviated her other concern by telling her she could have the spinal with only the pain medication and no numbing agents... she felt MUCH better at that point. She did make him promise to not let me take a picture with her surgery hat on! So I snapped a quick shot right before he gave her an injection to take away all her fears and pains!

I'm sure she doesn't remember me kissing her as they wheeled her towards the OR, but I'll never forget the look of peace on her face. (We could all use drugs like that on occasion!)

I headed back to my office (working at the hospital means I don't have to wait in an uncomfortable chair for a few hours) and that's when I about lost it. She's my everything, and the thought of her going to surgery about ripped me apart. I have all the confidence in the world in the staff, I hand picked those I thought were the best, those I felt comfortable entrusting the life of the one person in this world I love more than any other. I'm confident that everything will be okay, but there's still that fear, until I hold her in my arms again I won't know for sure that everything IS okay.