Friday Night, February 24

Can't believe it - We're HOME!

Today when I arrived, Ryan was sleeping and his left eye was swollen shut. He had a clear liquid breakfast tray next to him and I could see he'd had some jello, juice, and a liquid instant breakfast. When he woke up he said his pain was less than yesterday and wanted to go home. Instead of the pain level being a 9 or 10 his pain was down to a 5 or 6. His doctor was pleased to see he was motivated to get off the intravenous meds and take them orally - which is a critical step to getting to go home. He made it through the afternoon and evening without getting sick and he ate a little lunch and a few bites of dinner so they let him come home.

He is quite tired and he looks a little like the Disney cartoon character for The Hunchback of Notre Dam with the swollen left side of his head and swollen shut left eye. He got sick from the car ride home from the hospital, but I'm hoping that will improve as the swelling goes down and hopefully the pain decreases even more.

Thank you for your prayers. They've worked wonders - we're done! Wow - it's been a long road! Now it's just the work of healing and getting back to his ol' self.

We are planning a party to celebrate Ryan and to celebrate YOU - our wonderful friends. Yes, you - all of you. The party will be Saturday, April 1. I think we'll start around 2pm and party 'til we drop. Hope you all can come so we can personally thank you for all you've done.

Love and thanks from the bottom of my heart,
Debi

Friday Morning, Feb. 24

Yesterday was long and late so I wasn't able to let you know how Ryan is doing until this morning.

He is still in considerable pain and throwing up. It is a bit baffling to the doctor. They have changed his pain medication several times and finally put him on a pump he can control so he doesn't have to wait for medication from the nurse. The left side of his head is swollen and his left eye was getting puffy and looked like it might close. The night nurse said he slept fairly well through the night and hasn't thrown up. She did have to give him extra medication for break through pain a few times.

He will not be coming home today. They won't release him until he can take medication orally and keep food down.

Please continue your prayers. It's hard seeing him in so much pain.
Thank you! We love and appreciate you all so much,
Debi

Wednesday, February 22

Ryan has his bone flap back! The surgery went well. The bone flap went back in perfectly and Ryan looks so much better with a round head again. He went into surgery at 10:30. At 2:10 pm we were still waiting for word about the surgery. I asked the receptionist if she'd heard anything - we were getting very worried - it had been more than 3 hours. She called the surgery department and they said Ryan had been in recovery for more than an hour and would be moving to a room upstairs in another half hour or so. We were relieved to hear he was out of surgery and in recovery, but were surprised and disappointed no one came to tell us how the surgery went. They paged one of the neurosurgeons and he spoke with me by phone to tell me how everything had gone. He had assisted Dr. Marshall.

Ryan is on the 8th floor at UCSD Medical Center, Hillcrest in room 815. He was sleeping when we left him at 8:30 this evening. He's had a rough afternoon of pain and nausea but they seemed to be getting that under control and he was resting well. They say if everything goes well, he can go home Friday. They want to watch him for seizures and blod clots the first day or so.

He really looks so much better already even though it's been a tough day for him. His color is better and the dark sunken circles under his eyes have lessened quite a bit! I am so thankful to have this day behind us.

I'll let you know how he is doing again tomorrow evening. Thank you for all the calls, love, and support.

What wonderful friends we have!!! You're the best!

Love to all, Debi

Tuesday, February 21

Tomorrow is Ryan's surgery. It is at 10:40 am and will last a couple hours. Can't tell you how anxious we all are. Please pray for Dr. Marshall, for everything to go smoothly and of course for Ryan, that he will feel so much better when he wakes up.

I'll let you know as soon as I can tomorrow how things went and how Ryan is feeling.

Thank you for your prayers - they have helped so much.
Love, Debi

Friday, February 10

Our prayers have been answered! We have a date! Ryan's surgery will be Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 10:40 am. There is a small chance the time will move up to 8:10, but the date is Feb. 22. Thank you Lord! As you can imagine, we are so anxious to get the bone flap replaced so Ryan can move on to the final healing process. They tell us he will be in over night and if he's doing well, he'll go home the following day. We'll let you know if anything changes.

Have a great weekend and thank you for your prayers and support!
Debi

Tuesday, Feb. 7

Hi,
Just got home from meeting with Dr. Marshall. Well, we don't have a date yet for the surgery, but he is trying to get it scheduled for the week of February 20. We liked him a lot, appreciated the time he took with us, his "bedside manner", and the information he shared. We signed papers, did blood work and are ready to go as soon as we can get an operating room. The surgery will probably be at Hillcrest rather than LaJolla because he can get an operating room there more quickly.

He wants Ryan to take the next couple weeks and work hard at building his immune system so he'll do well through the surgery. He made lots of suggestions as to the types of foods Ryan could eat that might help, both with his immune system and with the way he has been feeling. Can't wait until we have a definite date. - Will post that information as soon as we get the call.

It was a rocky trip to see the doctor this morning though. Ryan got sick on the way and lost his breakfast. His headache was pretty bad when it came time to drive home so he took some pain medication and we sat in the hospital lobby for an hour to allow the medication to work. We made it home without any mishaps, but he got in bed the minute we arrived home and has been there since.

At this point, I have given up on the insurance and the appeals process. What a nightmare. In the big scheme of things, we'll look back at this time as nothing. I'm just grateful he is doing as well as he is and we still have him here to fight for!

Thanks for your prayers, Debi

Monday, February 6

Thank you for your encouragement. It really helps!

We saw our family doctor last Friday. He has given us a new medication to help with nausea. It seems to be helping. Ryan isn't feeling as poorly and he didn't get sick this weekend. He ate a little both days and loved the Super Bowl goodies I put out while we watched the game. It was great to see Justin and Phil - Ryan's two closest friends. He really enjoyed their visit.

The HMO hasn't backed down and I couldn't get them to budge in expediting our appeal. I've contacted just about everyone I could, to try to get this pushed through, but the wheels of bureaucracy move so slowly and unless your loved one is dying, they will not expedite your requests. Both the HMO and the government agency established to help with such issues have said this isn't an emergency and will go through "fast track", but not expedited review. (Which basically means we won't have an answer for a few weeks.) I feel less frantic because of Ryan's improvement.

Tomorrow morning we meet with a new neurosurgeon at UCSD. His name is Dr. Marshall and we're hoping and praying he will make immediate arrangements for the surgery. We are resigned to having the flap transferred down here and replaced by someone here. Amazing though, we would have been done last Monday - a week ago had the insurance left us alone.

I'll post again tomorrow if we get some positive news.

Love to all,

Debi