Awesome end to the day

Mom pretty much snoozed the day away. She is on no pain medication, altho she could have it if she needed it. After Rex left at 6:30ish, I sang some hymns to mom. Then left at 7 for shift change and ran into Dennis & Theresa. They had to wait an hour since it was shift change, so we just chatted. I had called one of my girlfriends to come spend 8-9 with me in mom's room, as it gets kinda lonely in there alone with mom sleeping.

Well, she had gotten a bath and changed during the shift change and she was pretty alert. She recognized Dennis & Theresa, they stayed just a short time, and then Roberta and I settled in for our 45 minutes. We were just gabbing across the bed as girlfriends do and mom was looking back and forth at us getting totally caught up in the conversation. Roberta noticed mom had her nails polished and she started asking her if she put a clear top coat on them and mom shook her head yes. Then she pulled both her arms up and spread out her fingers so Roberta could see all 10! I about died!!!! That's the most response we had from her all day. She was squeezing our hands to indicate she wanted water. Once she put her arm around my waist and patted me.

I bought a cross necklace in the hospital gift shop yesterday and I was telling mom it will always be a reminder to me of what God did for her at this time. As I bent over to kiss her goodnite, she grabbed the cross and just held on to it and pushed it back and forth on the chain. I asked her if she wanted one and she nodded yes. Tomorrow's purchase!

Nurses say a couple more days for the steroids to lessen the swelling and we'll begin seeing improvement.

Big day tomorrow for Rex & I. We both have appointments. Randy will be with us.

Thursday afternoon status

Mom is much less responsive verbally today but that is because her brain is swollen, which is normal. She is on a steroid to bring that down. Just as Ryan said earlier, her left side is not responding as well as her right, but the doctor said that it is not a stroke. He told us at the first appointment to expect weakness on one side and that it would be remediated with therapy. She does move her left arm and hand. I haven't seen a lot of movement with her left leg yet today.

She sleeps most of the time, but when she opens an eye, we talk to her and she recognizes us. We smile and tell her she is doing well, Rex is doing good, and she is OK. She squeezes our hands. Randy thought up asking her to squeeze if she wanted a drink or some sherbet and both times I asked, she squeezed! And she drank and ate!

We're only going in 1 or 2 at a time and really at this point encouraging no visitors unless you just want to pop in for a bit. Let her rest.

It's hard to wait. We are all hanging on to each other. Randy/Anita were here this morning until 4:30 when we get kicked out for 2 hours. Rex was there most of that time. We're both at our homes resting right now.

I was thankful to be there when Dr. Canavati stopped in this morning. He was very encouraging.

I am reading Psalms to mom, it's hard. I cry. I want to sing to her too, but I haven't been able to accomplish pulling myself together enough to do that yet.

Our email

Here's our email addresses. They are really hard.

Ronna's email
ronna@juno.com

Ryan's email
Ryan@TheRitenours.com

Best to email me as Ronna doesn't have much time to be at a computer right now. I know it all so feel free to email me. I check it and this blog often. I hate cell phones so that's why I'm not giving out our numbers. Ronna's is going off all the time just from immediate family.

Ryan

update

CT scan this morning was good. She has developed a slight deficit on one side. Dr. says it will come back with therapy.

Address for cards, flowers, etc.

Lutheran Hospital
7950 W Jefferson Blvd
MSIC Room 3520
Fort Wayne, IN 46804

Home address:
6218 Ruby Circle West
FT. Wayne 46804

Mom has some deficit on one side, however I do not believe that it is a problem. I saw her grab both bars and pull herself up yesterday. Therapy will usually take care of it if it's a problem.

Ronna is there waiting to see the Dr.

update

When I left mom at 7:00 p.m., she was doing great. She is still very groggy but understands what is going on and knows everyone. She wants to take her 'hat' off and sit up. I had to tell her many times to stop, however she was not nearly as bad as my wife was with grabbing and playing with tubes and tape and bandages.

We saw the surgeon again and he didn't think she had any deficits. Obviously there can be after-effects but hopefully there will be none.

Randy, Ronna, and Rex will be back at it Thursday. I have to work 2 days and will likely go back Sat. afternoon.

Ronna will have to post the address to send cards to the hospital since I'm not there for a few days.

Just saw mom!

Just went in and saw, and TALKED TO mom! She knew who I was instantly. I made her tell me.

Dr. came in a told us she seems to be doing very good. She counted his fingers and talked with him. At this point she keeps falling asleep when we talk to her but she just woke up.

She looks normal other than a bandaged head. The room is large and COLD!

Obviously it is too early to know when she would be moved to a regular room.

Visiting hours are from 9-9, except for the hours of 2:30-4:30 and 7-8. No more than 2 people at a time. 3520.

Mom's in ICU

Mom is in ICU room 3520.

Done

Surgery was over at noon. Dr. said he got out at least 90% of the tumor. It was a very large tumor that had been growing for many years. It had a lot of involvement with arteries and he worked 2 hours with a microscope to remove as much as he could without causing a stroke. 2 small spots remain and she will be monitored for any regrowth. If that would occur, they could use the gamma-knife for removal.

She is still asleep and so we don't know if there are any effects from the removal of the tumor. She is being moved to ICU, which is normal after brain surgery.

More when we know more.

Mom has went to surgery

Mom just went to surgery at 7:00, or actually, went to surgery prep where they will shave her head slightly. 10 people are here at the moment in the waiting area. More postings when I hear something.

How to comment

To comment on this blog, just below this or any post there is this:

Posted by Ryan Ritenour at 10:17 PM 1 comments

Click at the part that says, "comments" and you can make a comment. Please leave one if you read this. Mom (Ardy) will read this, or we'll read it to her. Put your name in the posting so we know who you are.

Plans for Wednesday

This will be a long day, no doubt. I will be taking Mom (and Rex if he is ready at that time) to the hospital at 5:30 a.m. At this point I will likely be the one going in with her to surgery prep. It doesn't seem to bother me to do so after doing it a few times before. I know what to expect.

Once she is out of surgery and we can get to a computer, we will post something. It could take awhile before a post shows up though.

We will also try to post an address to send cards to but you can always send it to their home and it will get to her. We'll have quite an 'audience' of all immediate family that day so honestly, if you want to visit, wait a day for her to get settled and ready to receive visitors.

Mom's surgery is Wednesday, November 12

Mom's surgery is this coming Wednesday at 7:30am at Lutheran Hospital. She needs to be there at 5:30am.

Rex continues to do well after his surgery yesterday.

Not much else to say, I'm still trying to take all this in. We all need prayer.

Ronna

Rex's surgery UPDATE

Tuesday: Rex has a soft tissue mass, not a hernia. It will be removed tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon as an outpatient surgery at Lutheran and be sent to the lab for testing.

Wednesday: The surgery went very smoothly. He's home resting now. The surgeon did indicate the mass looked very suspicious. So we have an appointment with his oncologist next Friday, 14th.

We are very overwhelmed right now.

Appointments

Rex has an inguinal hernia. He has an appointment tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11am with a general surgeon. Will update tomorrow evening with the plan of action.

Mom has called the neurosurgeon's office to get her surgery date set. The scheduler was not in the office today, so she expects a return call tomorrow.

More challenging news

As many of you may know, Rex's son, Brian, is in police custody in Florida. Please pray for Rex, specifically about the guilt he is feeling. That guilt is not from God.

This just complicates the decision Mom has before her.

The good news is that Mom continues to sleep well at night after MANY months of no sleep. It is a blessing from God, there is NO OTHER EXPLANATION!

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; PERPLEXED, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

Neurosurgeon appointment

We met with Dr. Canavati today. We have a lot to think and pray about before decisions are made. Please pray with us for God's direction and God's peace.

We read Psalm 46 before the appointment. Within it is Be still, and know that I am God. Another translation says, CEASE STRIVING. I want to fix and plan. That is what I do. I can't fix and I can't plan. Thus sometimes, many times, I am lacking peace. I am learning to abide.

Psalm 29:11: "The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace."

Smile

Saw the internist today. Sue & Tommy Hobdy, friends from Emmanuel, the church Mom/Rex attend in Ft. Wayne, met us at the doctor's office to support us before we went in.

We did get a little more info. The tumor is in the front, above her sinuses.

We see Dr. Canavati, the neurosurgeon, on Tuesday at 10:15. Bringing along an extra set of ears, Tandy is joining us as she has the day off work, it being her birthday.

We told Dr. Farnsworth that mom has slept the last 2 nites. She's not been sleeping more than a couple of hours a nite for months, some nites not at all. She's tried meds, nothing works. She's on no sleep meds now and she's sleeping!! I prayed specifically on Monday nite for God to bless mom with a nite of sleep. He blessed her and me. I think He wanted me to know He hears my prayers. Anyway, when we told Dr. Farnsworth we thought she slept because we prayed, he got this huge smile on his face that just stayed there for awhile. That's my kind of doc.

The call

Dr. Farnsworth, an internist Mom has been seeing for the last several months, ordered a brain MRI due to some of the symptoms she has been experiencing. She had the MRI last Wednesday (10/15), and at 5:30 tonite his office called me to schedule an appointment for this coming Wednesday (10/22) at noon. I immediately asked what was going on and the doctor got on the line and told me the report says she has a meningioma, (my quick research says it is in the outside lining of the brain). He said these type tumors are usually benign. He is referring her to a neurosurgeon. Rex and Mom and I prayed after our initial talk. Then we called the family. And the call for prayer is going out.

Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel. Philippians 4:7

Ronna