Not over yet

SO, here is the latest in case you've been wondering...

Trenna was able to come home on Sunday night. She is VERY tired. Her visit to Cedars Sinai had to be postponed due to all of the bruising on her arms from the intense weekend in the hospital. She has had so many IVs, tests, and shots that her body is very traumatized. Dr. Black wanted to give her a rest and let her body do some healing before having her come in to Cedars (where she will have an MRI, more tests, etc.)

On Monday Trenna will go to Cedars to see Dr. Black, and also to meet with a neurosurgeon and a seizure specialist to (hopefully) get some answers about what took place this past weekend.

Trenna went this week to see her primary care doctor and long-time friend, Dr. Schmidt, who has been such a help to her during this journey. He's taking very good care of her and helping to right some of the insensitive care that she received at Placentia-Linda Hospital (during the ER visit). Due to the long stay in the hospital, she developed a very intense bladder infection....not good. He also gave her a referral to visit a surgeon today to look at her tongue, which was quite damaged when she bit it during the seizure. When she showed up at the office today, they decided to stitch her up then and there--an extremely painful procedure that she hadn't been prepared for. She is restricted to a no-chewing diet for the next 7 days (although I reminded her that luckily, Thanksgiving is in 8 days--yaaay chewing!)

Spirits are low and exhaustion is high. It's strange to think that although the actual tumor-removal surgery went so smoothly, all of these other things have happened in the aftermath. Your continued prayers for this involved situation are comforting and appreciated.

Today is Mitch and Trenna's 20th Wedding Anniversary--God grant them many years!!!

-mary

Keeping a Close Watch

Trenna spent last night in the hospital, and she will be staying the night again this evening. I'm receiving all this info from Mitch via text, so hopefully I am communicating everything accurately. Her doctors want to keep a close watch on certain things...

Today has been a day of testing. Doctors took an EKG (Electrocardiogram) to check her heart, blood tests, and looked at troponin levels. Her troponin (a complex of proteins found in muscles, essential for muscle contraction) levels have been elevated, which is likely due to the seizure. Elevated troponin can be a pre-signal of heart attack, which is why the doctors are taking extra care in monitoring the levels, and having her stay another night. They want to rule out heart attack.

Trenna is very exhausted from everything that's happened. She's not in terrible pain, but is so drained and needing rest.

-mary

Today

What a day it has been...

Thanks to everyone for your plentiful prayers, and your well-wishes via facebook, text, email, calls, food packages, and visits to the waiting room. We've spent much of the last few hours sharing with Trenna all the love that is out there for her. When Mitch said "Honey, you're all over the internet!" she weakly replied "I....I can't use the internet" and seemed pretty bummed out that she couldn't currently partake in all the social media lovin'. :) We assured her that we would pass on her thanks and love to you all.

An ambulance came around 3pm to transfer Trenna to St. Jude's in Fullerton from the ER in Placentia. This is a very good development, because if things were seriously bad, she would've been taken to Cedars' Sinai for intensive monitoring. At St. Jude's a neurologist came to check in on everything, and then the floor doctor came for a short visit. He said there is no infection at the incision (very good because that area is susceptible) and no fever, etc. They will be monitoring her throughout the night and tomorrow. If she is seizure-free for 24 hours, she will be allowed to return home tomorrow (Nov. 12) afternoon!! If there is any fever, mental disorienting, or seizure symptoms, they will determine whether she's developed an infection or is experiencing another seizure, and will act accordingly.

Currently she is being given anti-seizure meds and Norco for pain. She is sore and very tired, and her tongue is giving her a lot of pain and discomfort (she bit down on it/through it very hard when her jaws locked during seizure). She is not having so much pain in her head, but she is still under anesthesia, which was given along with a sedative when she arrived at ER this morning.

A follow-up appointment with her brain surgeon, Dr. Black of Cedars' Sinai, had already been set for Monday. We will keep you posted with everything we can, and the results of the appt. We'll see what Monday reveals, but currently the doctors don't think this morning's seizure was directly related to the surgery or tumor. It was a horrible experience, but they've told us it is pretty typical for a first-time seizure.

Thanks again for all your love and support during this very scary day. We are truly thankful to have you all walking with her through this experience.

-mary

Surgery Setbacks

This morning, Trenna woke up and sat at the kitchen table with Emily and Dad. While they were talking, she forgot a word and couldn't think of it for about 10 minutes. When Emily asked her if she'd like ice for her drink, Trenna couldn't understand her multiple times. Emily asked her if she knew who my dad was, and sometimes she knew, sometimes she didn't. Then she started having a seizure, during which, she bit her tongue pretty badly. Alex called for an ambulance, and she was taken to the ER.

At about 9 a.m., I got a text message from my dad saying that she was being rushed to the ER, and that she might have had a stroke or seizure. He wasn't sure. In order to give her a CT Scan, they had to sedate her (I think because she was still having seizures?).

After the CT, the doctors said it wasn't from a brain bleed or stroke, but they still didn't know what was going on. They've been waiting for her to wake up and become a little more coherent, but she is having issues with short-term memory loss. She'll wake up, say her tongue hurts, ask what happened, and then fall back asleep. Moments later, she'll do the same thing.

The doctors have been on the phone with Dr. Black's office all day, and they've decided to transfer her to St. Jude's Hospital by 3 p.m. This is good because it means they don't think it's serious enough to transfer her back to Cedars Sinai for more intensive monitoring!

Please pray for her and for our family. This is a pretty scary day.


-Shannon

Thank you for the prayers!

Dr. Black came out of the surgery around 9:15 (a mere 30 minutes!) to announce incredible news: the tumor was not attached to any of Trenna's brain tissue...it was completely isolated and "floating" around. Amazing. They were able to remove it easily and quickly with no complications, and because no other areas were affected, she might even be permitted to return home TONIGHT!!

We are so thankful for the Lord's abundant mercies, and thankful for all of your prayers and support.

-mary

Second Brain Tumor Surgery

Trenna and my dad went in early this morning to prepare for today's surgery. The blood clot from the first surgery is still present, but the assisting doctor said it won't be an issue for now. At about 8:30 a.m. today, they took her in for surgery.

We will keep you posted on all the updates here and on her Facebook page.

-Shannon

So Much To Be Grateful For

Well, August is here, it's hot, and though I really really don't like the heat, I am SO very grateful to be able to experience it, and so much more. It's been just over six weeks since my brain surgery and I realize that in the last two weeks I have felt much better! I have not taken so much as a Tylenol in several days, and that is pretty good progress I think:). I have even been able to resume watching my 19 month old grand daughter, Cecily; which is glorious! I can only do that once a week or so, and need to be careful, as I am still not supposed to bend over, or to pick up anything fairly heavy. The biggest thing right now for me is fatigue (!!!)....especially be the late afternoon. Of course I have all kinds of weird sensations related to the surgery and the incision site (about five inches long behind my ear), and still have a sort of constant under water feeling on that side of my head, but it could be SOOOO much worse! I am VERY thankful, and realize how incredibly blessed I am. I have read some horror stories about people with a tumor in that particular location. I have no facial paralysis, no significant hearing loss, no neuralgia, no feeding tube or trach, I can read (!!), and I can walk just fine (some may argue that though)! Thank God.

A couple of weeks ago I did have the scary headache, which resulted in a trip to Cedars for a stat MRI. We saw Dr. Black and he said that my brain looked good, and that the blood clot had gotten a little bit smaller. We talked about the next surgery and he wants to schedule it in November instead of September, in order to give the clot some more time to dissipate. So the next MRI will be the brain mapping one, the night before the surgery! Ugh.....so not looking forward to that...however, everyone anticipates the next surgery to be more straightforward (less precarious in many wasy) and a shorter hospital stay than the first one. I hope so.

I am truly in awe of how things worked out throughout this whole ordeal. Thankfully the insurance thing worked out perfectly thanks to Dr. Black and his office staff, Dr. Tim Schmidt, the two wonderful RN case managers for Cigna and St Jude Heritage Medical Group, and the wonderful people at Mission Hospital, including my wonderful nurse manager, Kathy Whitehouse. Also thank you to my son-in-law, Matt Smith and also to Kevin Allen for helping me with a letter to the medical group (HMO). I am not sure exactly how it all resolved, but it did.......and as the medical bills keep pouring in, I am grateful we did not have to sell our home to make a dent in them!!!

I am also incredibly grateful to all of you dear loved ones who were in the waiting room during the surgery, praying and keeping my poor family company (it was very comforting to them); Father Wayne and Lynn, Kevin and Colleen, Joey and Kathy (flew in from Utah to be with us....for several days!!), Jeff and Deedee, Shea, my children of course, Luann, Cindy R., Margaret, Scott Nassau, and the many many friends, coworkers, and godfamily praying in other locations (one dear friend, who is ill himself, took the day off work to pray for me). I have NO DOUBT that this good outcome was as a result of your prayers in so many ways. Thank you also to all of you who came to see me in the hospital and here at home, for the DELICIOUS meals that have been so thoughtfully and lovingly prepared, for the beautiful flowers, and many many cards and sweet, encouraging notes (Mission nurses!!!). All of these things have served to bless and encourage us, and Mitch and I have been strengthened by your love and concern. Words cannot express our gratitude.

The reality of what I have experienced and am experiencing is only now beginning to hit me. So happy and grateful to be alive, to hug and kiss my husband and children, so cuddle with and read to my grand daughters, to see, talk with, and hug the friends and god-family I love so much, to read, to be able to think about going back to work and making a difference, to appreciate my garden, my sweet dogs, the ocean, and walking through my lovely neighborhood (chickens and all).

"For me there are few things more beautiful in the universe than the human brain. Unlike any other organ in the body, our brain is the essence of what makes us human, our memories, our thoughts, our our personalities- one hundred billion nerve cells, working in absolute harmony to allow us to see, to smell, to move, to understand, and to create. We have only begun to understand the marvel of this three pound mass of grey and white matter. I have focused my entire professional career on learning about the brain. As a young medical student I aspired to solve the riddle of human consciousness, to demystify the interface between the mind and the brain. Now as a brain surgeon, my life's work is to operate within this sacred territory, within this most complicated and delicate structure in the universe." Dr. Keith Black (my truly wonderful and gifted surgeon)

The next entry will be about him.