Aubrey jamming.

Round 2!

Thanks Kathy and Jeff!

Opening presents part one...

We opened a few gifts last night. Here are some pictures.

Home sweet home.

We made it home. Had to drive on some nasty roads but we made it! So nice to be home with Aubrey. Thanks for all your phone calls, e-mails, comments and thoughts.

Our back porch:

Merry Christmas!

Here is the view from our hotel room. There is a huge hill to the north that is saving us from any huge drifts.

Here's our winter survival food/Christmas dinner. :)

Stuck in Jackson, MN

We tried to make it home today but failed. We had to pull off I-90 in Jackson, MN. The roads were decent the first 2 hours of the drive but by the end we were going 30-40 mph and could barely see. We wanted to make it home so bad but it was just too dangerous. Plus we got an update that South Dakota was closing the interstates at 7pm and at our pace we would not have made it. We are about 90 miles away from home. Hopefully there will be a window of good weather soon so we can get home.


The picture above was when the weather and roads were "good".

Picture of Lisa's surgery site

Warning to those who are squeamish. Picture below.

Still waiting...

We are waiting to see what the doctors have to say. Lisa's calcium dropped yesterday and they are trying to regulate it. This MIGHT mean that there is NOT another parathyroid like they thought. If that's the case Lisa might have to take medicine to regulate her calcium levels. So we are just waiting at the hospital so they can do blood work with her. If they discharge her we are getting a room at one of the hotels that are hooked up to the hospital here since we will have to be going back and forth for blood tests the next couple days and the weather is getting bad. Lisa is doing good and the pain has been controlled with medication.

Discharged?

Sounds like Lisa may be discharged Thursday. Unfortunately we will probably still have to stay in Rochester due to weather. We are really wishing we were home with Aubrey but it's out of our control.

I'm spending the night at the hospital tonight. We're just sitting around watching Law and Order marathons, crappy movies and tv. They've gotten some snow today but it's calm right now.

New room

Since so many people are getting discharged for the holidays they are moving the people left here to one floor. We are now in room 4308.

Wednesday

Lisa is doing great. She met with Dr Grant this morning and he said she would doing well. They took off her bandages to reveal her new "T" shaped scar. Her calcium levels have dropped so they are doing blood work to keep an eye on it. She is taking calcium supplements to keep it up. We just got back from a walk and are looking at the menu for lunch. Ron Jensen just stopped by for a nice talk as well which was nice.

In the room

Lisa is in the room and feeling fine. I'm actually pretty surprised at how good she feels. Dr Grant's assistant just came in and said Lisa did great and she is looking great. We just ordered some food and will try that out. I am going to sleep at the apartment tonight but might spend the rest of the week here so I can leave the car in the parking garage and ride out the blizzard. Thanks for all the well wishes.

Talk with the surgeon.

I just talked to Dr Grant and he said everything went well. He said he expected 3-5 days recovering time for Lisa. He said it's really a comfort thing. When she feels comfortable she will be able to get out. He expects it will be 3-4 days. He said when they did tests after removing the parathyroid he found that she must still have ANOTHER properly working parathyroid so he did not have to implant this on in her arm. All the blood work looked good.

Still waiting for Lisa to come up from recovery.

"Closing her up"

Just got an update from one of the nurses here. They are finishing up with Lisa and she will be heading to the recovery room. They did have to open up her chest to get the parathyroid which means we will be here for a few more days blizzard or not. They said everything went well. I will get to talk to the surgeon when he is done.

I'm in Lisa's room now.

It's Rochester Methodist Hospital room number 6419.

Surgery

I was just told surgery started at 11:20am.

I'm going to get a bite to eat.

11am Waiting Room

Lisa got taken down for surgery prep at 10:30am. They said it would be about an hour until the surgery would start. They will let me know the exact time. They have told us to expect the surgery to take 4-5 hours. BUT they have said that would be the longest she would be in there. I'm guessing they set aside some extra time.

We're doing fine. We're little bummed out to be without Aubrey but know that we made the right choice by leaving her with her granny nannies. Now we are getting these weather reports that make it look like we will not be able to come home until the weekend unless we can leave Wednesday. That's going to be tough...

I will continue to update when I get news.

Heading to the hospital.

It's 7:00am and Lisa has to check in at 7:30am. Surgery will be sometime after that. I will keep the blog updated.

Rochester Update.

Well it's Sunday and we are relaxing around the house. Monday Lisa and I will be heading out for Rochester. We are leaving Aubrey with our mothers this week. It will be the first time we have been apart for more then a few hours so it's going to be tough. It will make it a little easier knowing she will be at her own house and with her grandmothers.

Tuesday Lisa will be having her surgery. If they are able to do everything they need to do through her neck we may be able to head home as soon as Wednesday. If they have to go through her chest we will be there until the weekend at least.

I will update the blog again during this trip if you want to keep up with us.

Guess who started walking today?

Today at the hospital I noticed Aubrey was getting braver and braver while walking along the furniture. When we got to the apartment I was walking with her and let go of her hand and she continued walking! We went and showed Lisa and she took 5 or 6 steps and then just stood there looking around. Then boom on the butt. I got the camera but by this time Aubrey was kind of tired of doing it so we don't have the best video but here it is.

A couple pictures of our trip.

Hanging in the car seat on the way home.

Outside the apartment Tuesday night.

Outside the apartment Wednesday morning.

Sleeping during breakfast after being up since 12:30am. If we knew this would have happened we would have given her breakfast at 1am!!!!

Lisa and Aubrey watching cartoons on the computer. Kelly said to make ourselves at home. Looks like Aubrey did a good job of that don't you think?


Here is a video of Aubrey dancing on the way to Rochester.

Home sweet home.

We are home. Once we got about 30 miles out of Rochester the roads were good. Rochester must have gotten the brunt of this storm. Lisa's doctor called on our way home and said the results of the CT scan show the problem parathyroid and he wants to do surgery. Right now Lisa is penciled in for surgery on the 22nd. The parathyroid is right below her chest bone. So they will try to get it from the site of her past surgeries but if if that does not work they will have to go through the chest which will take a little longer to recover from. If this is her last parathyroid (the doctors think it is)they will remove the bad part and put the good parts in her arm. It will hopefully work properly from there. That way if there are problems in the future the surgery will be in her arm instead of her neck and/or chest.

Glad to be home and so thankful we had a nice place to stay at. Can't wait to sleep in our own bed and for Aubrey to feel comfortable again. Not sure if she was feeling our stress and could not sleep or if it was being in an unfamiliar place.

We are so pleased with the whole Mayo facility and staff. First class from top to bottom.

Refreshed!

Aubrey went to bed around 9pm last night. Lisa and I had a beer and headed to bed around 10pm. I can't remember the last time I've gone to bed that early. Aubrey was kind enough to sleep until 7am so we got plenty of sleep. She did wake a few times during the night but went back to sleep easily. We are not packing up and cleaning the apartment. Lisa's CT scan is at 10am so we will be heading to the Mayo Clinic shortly. Then returning here to finish packing and cleaning. Then off to Sioux Falls! The sun is out so I'm hoping we will have clear roads for a trip home.

Wednesday evening update from Rochester.

It's 6:30pm and we are just getting to the apartment from Mayo. It was a looooooong day. All three of us are exhausted. We did manage a little nap in the parking garage. Aubrey would not sleep so we went out to the car in between tests and strapped her in to her car seat. She was out immediately. She was able to sleep for an hour and half and Lisa and I nodded off a bit too. People were probably thinking we were pretty strange. The snow has stopped and the wind has died down so it looks like I won't have to dig the car out again.

This morning Lisa had scan of her neck and chest area to try and identify the faulty parathyroid. That took a few hours. The results were sent to her doctor and surgeon. We met with them this afternoon. What the doctors think is a possible 5th parathyroid is located down further into her chest. The operation to remove this might involve cracking Lisa's chest open. The doctors want to do one more test before any decisions are made. In the morning Lisa will have a 4-D CT scan done. This will be able to pinpoint the exact location of this possible parathyroid.

So the plan now is to have this scan done and head home. The surgeon wants time to review the scan and make the proper decisions. He does not want to rush into surgery. It sounds like we will be returning in later in December if this is a 5th parathyroid to have the surgery.

So we are making dinner now and really hoping Aubrey sleeps tonight. Heading home Thursday!

Wednesday

Well Aubrey decided to go to bed at 9pm last night but woke up at 12:30am and has been awake ever since. I stayed up with her until 4am and then Lisa took her turn. Ugh. To top it off I had to get up at 6am and start digging out the car that was nearly completely buried by the snow plow.

We are getting ready to leave now and I will post updates later. zzzzzzzzzz

Update #2.

Not much of an update but someone left their wireless unprotected so I thought I would take advantage.

We stopped at the beer store and got some really tasty IPAs. The guy working said I looked like a kid in a candy store. : )

Not much news with Lisa. We will find out a lot more Wednesday.

It is nasty outside. Huge blizzard coming so we are hanging at the apartment watching cartoons with Aubrey.

We are REALLY hoping she sleeps well tonight.

I will update this Wednesday night if possible with news from the Mayo Clinic.

Travis

12-8-09 7:07pm

Rochester

12-7-09 5pm

As long as I can get on free wireless I will keep everyone updated on our trip to the Mayo Clinic.

A little history for those of you just joining us. Lisa has been battling hyperparathyroidism. She has had two surgeries and multiple tests and procedures over the last few years. Her doctors have sent her to the specialists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to get this resolved.

The trip here was pretty nice. Aubrey would not sleep but did behave for the most part. We enjoyed some bean burritos and good tunes on the way.

We were struggling to find an affordable place to stay for a week and one of Lisa’s friends and past co-workers hooked us up BIG TIME. Her husband visits Rochester a lot so they have a nice 3 bedroom apartment they stay at. They are letting us use it all week. It’s a great place and really made this trip possible. Not sure how we would have been able to afford a week at a hotel. Plus Aubrey has her own room to sleep and nap in. Not sure how we can repay them but this is awesome.

I lost the only unsecure wireless connection while I was typing this…I will update when I can.

Travis

12-8-09 10:30am

Aubrey decided that she did not want go to bed at 9pm last night. I took her for a drive at 1am to see if that would work. She finally fell asleep around 2am and I returned to the apartment at 2:30am. She stayed asleep and let us get a few hours as well. It’s a little different doing this with apartment neighbors. You can’t really let her cry for too long at 1am. Hopefully tonight is better.

Lisa went to the hospital on her own this morning so Aubrey could sleep in and hopefully get back on a normal sleep schedule. Lisa met with her doctor who went over past medical issues. Checked out some stuff and did some blood work. They also scheduled a test this afternoon to test her vocal cords to make sure there has not been any damage due to the past surgeries. We go in for that at 3:30pm. The doctor said they will not do an exploratory surgery. They will only do surgery if they find something on the scans Wednesday. Lisa was impressed with the hospital.

We are just hearing now we are about to be hit with a blizzard so that will be another challenge this week. I’m hoping to be able to get some more info. I’ve heard anything from 6-12 inches with 40 mph winds. Yikes! J

I think we are about to venture out for some lunch/brunch and groceries. I’m hoping to find a wireless hot spot to post this on the blog.