Day 6

Believe it or not, Jason has been moved out of the ICU!
When I got to the hospital this morning, the nurse had him unhooked from all the tubes and wires because he was doing so well on his own. He was able to get himself out of bed, walk on his own, and use the restroom. We waited until after the doctor came in and let us know that everything was going so well, that they felt it was best to move him up to the 7th floor. We had been told that this type of surgery usually requires at least a 2 week stay in the ICU, and another week under observation. It is truly a miracle that he has recovered so well, and they are talking about sending him home on Tuesday. We know this is because of all the prayers and support that have gone out for our family this week.
This morning, the hospital branch presidency for our church came and provided the sacrament for us, and then we were able to spend some time alone together with out the interruption of the nurses coming in every few minutes. We watched a movie (Jason using only one eye of course), and had lunch together before they shipped us upstairs. His new room is much bigger, and even has a pull out bed for me! Finally-I don't have to sleep in a chair anymore!!! This floor is very quiet, and Jason is finally catching up on the sleep that he has missed over the last 6 days!
They are still planning on doing the angiogram tomorrow, and even talked about taking his staples out of his head on Tuesday if the wound has healed up enough. (By the way, for those of you who were in on the wager of how many staples there are in his head...there are 48-I think Chief Snyder was the closest to that number!)
The highlight of Jason's day was that he was able to see the kids this afternoon. Kayson was more interested in looking out the window than looking at his dad, but he does have a rather short attention span. Sawyer at first was a little wary of seeing his dad look beat up, but within 20 minutes he was carrying on a conversation with Jason about "bad guys", and helicoptors. We are working on trying to get Constence down here, but it might be a little harder with her having to go back to school tomorrow.
We want to thank everyone who has helped us out this last week, and for all of you who we know will be helping us in the weeks to come. We truly have felt of everyones love and support for our family!

Day 5

Jason decided last night that he didn't want any more pain medication at all. He hasn't even really taken the Ibuprofen or Tylenol to help ease the pain. He figures his body is healing better on it's own, and he is in less pain when he is not throwing up. It is starting to make me feel guilty for grabbing a Tylenol for a little tiny headache when I look at the scar he has from his forehead down behind his ear! He is one tough guy!
Today was a GREAT day! Jason was able to walk around the ICU unit, eat solid food, and he finally got some sleep. The doctor told us that it is very possible that he could be out of the ICU as early as Monday, and out of the hospital by Wednesday! He is scheduled to have another angiogram on Monday just to make sure everything is as it should be in his brain, and then they can move him up to the 7th floor where he can finally see the kids. This news has kept his spirit up and he is anxious to get home.

Day 4

My sisters & mom have a tradition of going shopping on Black Friday, and I was forced to go this morning to get my mind away from the hospital. We had fun, but I was anxious to get back to the hospital.
When I got there, Jason was looking much better! Hopefully they won't keep him in the ICU as long as we originally thought. They are hoping to move him to a different room by Monday! He actually got out of bed & walked in the room, we had him sitting up in a chair for a little bit, and he even got a little sponge bath! We found that the best thing for his pain was simply Ibuprofen, and it has helped tremendously. The doctor came in today and removed his bandages (which hurt according to the not so nice words that came out of Jason's mouth!)His head is stapled from the middle of his forehead, all the way down behind his left ear. They also removed his drainage pump out of his ear, and put in two more staples. One of these days I'll have to count how many staples are in there, but my guess is at least 75. He started getting hungry around 5:00, so he had some beef broth & saltine crakers, and was able to get some sleep.
The ICU kicks me out between 6:30 & 8:30 so I went home to get some laundry done, and have dinner. The ward has started to make me some meals, so I don't have to worry about cooking. (Thank goodness!) Sawyer is doing great with his Aunt Mel-Mel, so I'm just going to leave him there & hope he continues to be good. Kayson has been with my mom, and I go get him at night so I can be with him for a little while.
When I got back to the hospital, he was still doing pretty good-just very tired. We went for a walk around the ICU tonight, and I had a hard time keeping up with him. He is finally on the road to recovery!

Day 3-THANKSGIVING

I got to the hospital this morning and stopped in the cafeteria to grab some breakfast to take up to the room with me, so i wouldn't have to eat alone in the cafeteria. The second i walked in the room, Jason immediately began throwing up, and told me to "get that crap out of here!" I felt awful I had made him hurt worse than he already did.
He told me that it had been a long night of horrible pain & nausea. Whenever he would take his pain pills it would make him nauseous, which would cause him more pain to throw up. So, he just choose to not take the pain medication. I guess I've lived with his stubborness for almost 6 years, so this didn't surprise me at all. The doctor had warned me that today would be the worst day of the recovery.
I left the hospital around 3:00 t0 g0 have Thanksgiving Dinner with my family, but I hurried back as soon as possible to be there with him.
Sawyer is having a really hard time understanding what happened, and why mommy & daddy aren't around very much. His emotions are starting get the better of him. I hope he will forgive me later on for neglecting him this week.
I got back to the hospital to find Jason sitting up & awake. He was talking to the nurse, and even kept down a saltine cracker, a couple spoonfuls of Jello, and some grape juice (Happy Thanksgiving!)

Day 2

I arrived back at the hospital before 6:00 am. Jason was very nervous and anxious about having brain surgery. He received a blessing from his father, my dad & Brad just before the nurses came to take him down to surgery. We all said our goodbyes, and walked out to the elevator with him, and went to the waiting room. Immediately the nurse came back & told us that the anesthesiologist called in sick & we would need to wait until we could get somebody there to knock him out. We went back up to his room, where he had even more time to worry, but luckily they were ready to go within 30 minutes.
The surgery lasted about 4 hours, and the Doctor says that everything went well. Once he got back up to the ICU, they let me go back to be with him, and he was obviously in a lot of pain, mostly in his left eye which was swelling up like a baseball. The nurse had a hard time finding a pain medication that would help, and it was hard for me to see him in so much pain. The only thing that seemed to help was for me to hold a cold rag over his eye and apply some pressure. It will probably be a long recovery.

Day 1

Tuesday during the SWAT Team tryouts, Jason started running sprints, when all of the sudden he felt like he had been hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat. He then suddenly started throwing up & became very dizzy. He reluctantly had to leave the tryouts. After he called me to come & pick him up because he was too dizzy to drive, we decided that something was wrong & that we should go to the emergency room. Once there, the doctors & nurses did a series of tests on him including A CAT Scan, a Spinal Tap, and finally an angiogram, it was discovered that he was suffering from an aneurysm behind his left eye. He was rushed up the the neuro-icu, and told to be very "Boring" until the Doctor came & discussed our options with us. This meant no movement, laughing, watching TV, etc. The Neuro-Sergeon then came in & told us that his gut feeling was to do a crainiotomy first thing in the morning when the morning shift came on in the morning & was refreshed & ready to operate. We scheduled the surgery for 7:30 in the morning, and began a very long night of worry. I left the hospital around 2:00 am, to try and sleep.....but who can sleep with the risks that were associated with the surgery?

Starting a blog

We are starting a blog so we can post any news on here and everyone can check on Jason's Status. Thank you for your prayers, love and support.