Update

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. There hasn't been much to report. Alicia has had a few minor unrelated things along the way that came up but is still doing pretty well. Her sight hasn't really changed much but she's very good at adapting. To the unknowing, she seems to get around pretty well. The challenge right now is getting her thyroid medication leveled out. This would help with her mood, energy and overall outlook. She's getting lots of care and attention from mom and her dear friend Randy has been a Godsend. He is there on a daily basis to help her keep up on things and gets her out and about. I think the whole family would have been lost throughout this whole ordeal without him. We would be lost without Alicia too. Her humor and kindness is ever present. Mom has done so much on a daily basis. She's not one for taking a break from taking care of us and doesn't know when to say when. Always the person to lean on and never leaning herself. Thank you all for caring and for all the thoughts and prayers that got us to this point. We are so blessed to have every minute of Alicia in our lives. We're still hoping that patients and prayers will strengthen her sight.

Home Sweet Home!

Alicia got to come home Saturday! We felt she needed a day or two to get acclimated before getting much company. She tires easy and then gets very frustrated. I know part of her frustration comes from needing help. Alicia has always been very independent. Having to stay with Mom and Dad and ask for things is a hard adjustment. She's always been someone who bends over backwards for others but isn't comfortable being on the receiving end of that.
We are so proud of the adjustments and improvements that Alicia makes daily. The little holes or delays in her memory, along with her sight, seem to improve just a little all the time and give us continued hope that she will fight her way back to a near full recovery. Please continue to pray with us and for her strength and patients as well as for her friends brother, Christopher, who is on his own journey to recovery.

Better every day!

Alicia is doing well and thriving in therapy. She will get to come home soon and wiil have to travel back and forth for her out patient physical therapy. She still tires very easy and we have to pace and stagger our visits but she's always the perfect hostess making sure to reassure us even when she isn't up for it.

Off to Rehab/ Therapy!

Alicia was released from Via Christi today and admitted to an In-patient physical rehabilitation center. She's doing good but still having some pain. I will be staying the night with her tomorrow and will have a little more information about how things are going there. Our first sleep over in a while.
Just a little side note. Alicia does have a few allergies or a sensitivity to some flowers and some smells. These seem to be a little stronger right now and she's not fully able to enjoy the thoughtfulness just yet. If anyone would like to send her a card or something of the sort, I will get her new address while I am with her and post it here. That way we can read them to her and save them for her to see herself when she's able to. You are also welcome to post messages to her here or email them to me on this site and I will print them off for her to keep.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and well wishes. Alicia has come so far in just two weeks!

Same old same old

I'm sorry I've slacked off a little. There's really not much to report. Alicia's still in ICU even though they've been saying for days they were going to move her. I guess she's getting more attention and good care where she is.
They are running more tests. Her neurologist seems determined to find another explanation for the strokes other than restricted oxygen and blood flow. The good news here is they keep coming up empty handed. Hopefully these tests will provide more good news. Alicia continues to amaze us with her strength and determination.

Looking Up!

Dad and I are on our way out the door to go see Alicia today and get back before the freezing rain starts. I've gotten great reports from Mom and Randy earlier this morning. Alicia's been up in a chair and ate breakfast without help. She was able to get a shower too. Randy said that when he came into the room she was able to make out what he was wearing. Even his shoes! Last night she went for a walk with her walker. The nurses were surprised be her strength and how much she was able able to help herself. Not a surprise to those of us who know how independent she is and that she would rather bend over backwards for you than ask for a hand.

Rough day today.

Alicia's still doing well but having some trouble with her stomach today. She's been in quite a bit of pain. This is the first time throughout her ordeal that Alicia's complained of pain. They have X-rayed her stomach and examined her and think it's the usual problems that come after surgery and lack of movement. If you've ever had surgery you probibly know what that's like. Physical and ocupational therapy were in today and got her up for a bit. There is also talk of moving her out of ICU in the next couple days. As I was typing this a nurse gave her a little morphine and another medication that will hopefully help her relax soon. I picked a bad night to finally leave the hospital. Hopefully she and Mom both have a good night. My daughter informed me today that "it has now been a week and no one has ever gone a week without there mom before". The guilt worked. I'll be back for a visit tomorrow.

Doing Well

Alicia's been breathing on her own for 8 hours now. She finally got to have some water a little bit ago and some pudding after they took her feeding tube out this afternoon.

Breathing tube is out!

Alicia passed her test and they took the ventilator off ahead of schedule! Keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't wear her out and they don't have to put it back in. The removal process isn't fun for the patient to start with but they had tape wrapped all the way around her head.They pulled some hair out. As with everything she does, Alicia's working hard.

Out of surgery!

The surgeon came out to talk to us. Alicia came through just fine. He said her thyroid was very large and difficult to get out but he didn't have to go through her sternum (crack her chest). He said they were able to identify the nerves and parathyroid. He felt they we're all in tact. They aren't going to consider taking her off the ventilator for 24 hours could be up to 48 hours. She will be heavily sedated for the next few hours. It sounds like things couldn't have gone better. Now we just wait and she works on healing.

Off to surgery!

They took Alicia in about half an hour ago. Her spirits were great. She's ready to get this taken care of and get that breathing tube out. She even tried bribing the nurse. She also finger spelled to me "I can't wait to take you to Sonic." I said "For a rout 44 diet coke?" I got a happy vigorous smile. I told her I was buying. She then pointed at Mom,me,the nurse,and herself making it a 4 person party.

Trying to keep up.

I'm sorry if there's anyone I'm calling back or texting as often as before. The waitng room we are in now doesn't get reseption as well as the old one. Also,it's just Mom and I right now so one of us usually stays with our stuff.We aren't supposed to be on our phones in her room but that's where I'm typing now. Mom has spoke to Alicia today but I haven't seen her awake. The truth is I didn't want to wake her up. Last night when Mom and I saw her just before 10:00 she asked us what day it was. She was so disappointed that it wasn't the next day already and time for surgery. There really hasn't been anything to report. We are all just waiting for surgery time (only about an hour and a half). I'm going to go back to staring at Alicia (something she would hate by the way). I will let you all know about the surgery as we find out anything.

Finally a Treatment Plan!

Two doctors did an exam by way of a scope down Alicia's throat this afternoon. They were getting a better idea of the extent of the problems caused by pressure from her thyroid and were also getting a better look at her heart. There was a concern of "bacteria in her heart". Happily, that test was negative. Everything they've checked on related to her heart has come out very well and no problems have been found there at all. They were fairly sure that her thyroid was the culprit. I pointed out that Alicia has had some breathing issues on and off for over a year now and that no clear diagnosis had been made. They were only treating the symptoms. He said that was even more convincing that they were on the right track. He recommended her thyroid be removed. Her surgeon was very thorough in going over all the possible outcomes and complications. Throughout what he was saying to US Alicia was giving thumbs up. She understood what was going on and was ready to get on with things.

A few of the concerns were that the vocal nerves run right by the thyroid and if one is injured she could have several levels of problems. Another was that her thyroid was so big it could be partially behind her sternum. That would require a much more invasive surgery with a lot more difficult recovery time. There's also the possibility of needing the parathyroid’s removed. There are the usual risks that go along with any surgery and a thyroid surgery. The surgeon told us that there were nodules or cysts on her thyroid and they could be cancerous but they will not know that until they get in there. He was telling us that if he were told he had to have cancer and could pick what kind, it would be in his thyroid. It was easy to remove in that case. To that Alicia gave us another thumbs up and we agreed.

Alicia was very much herself today. Even though she's not able to talk because of her breathing tube she gave us a smile several times. When our little sister, Shawna, went in to tell her good bye before driving back home... Alicia finger spelled (sign language)"drive safe". She's been finger spelling to us since then. Mom and I aren't as fluent as Shawna but we get there eventually. She has to nod yes or no to tell us if we're right. Also, when her young, very nice looking surgeon left I told her "He's cute". He came back in for just a second and when he left Alicia spelled "cute". She's been through so much and still has her beautiful sense of humor and is worrying about us. She'd also spelled out to Mom and I that we didn't need to stay. Silly girl. I will update after her surgery tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers!

Just a Tidbit

Mom and I were just in checking on Alicia. Things are holding steady. They have scheduled a test this afternoon which involves them putting a scope down her throat to get a better layout of restriction and to know for sure they are on the right path. The doctors should be in between 10:00 and noon and maybe we'll have more to share then. For now she's resting as much as anyone can in a hospital.

What We Know So Far

At some point Saturday morning Alicia had left her house and only made it as far as trying to get in her car. She passed out from lack of oxygen (something we are speculating based on findings from the doctor now). A neighbor saw her and after checking on her, called 911 to report her unconscious and not responding. She was taken by ambulance to our local hospital. She did not gain consciousness there and was having multiple seizures. They did an MRI and found that she'd had a major stroke and was not breathing on her own. She was placed on a ventilator. It was decided at that point she would get better care in Wichita at their Neuro Critical Care unit where she arrived early Saturday evening. She began looking better to all of us that same evening and was gripping our hands.

By Sunday morning nurses were reporting that she was opening her eyes when told and had held up 2 fingers when asked. Throughout the morning she was delighting us with one wonderful sign after another. She opened her eyes and would turn towards us when asked. Her hands and feet were all moving. By afternoon the doctors decided to try taking her off of her ventilator and removed the breathing tube. They were happy that her breathing wasn't labored but it sounded very bad. She was able to speak to us. There was no slurring and her thoughts were clear and not confused. They had pinpointed the problem to something upper respiratory related.

After a few hours she began getting agitated and had trouble breathing again to the point that the breathing tube had to be replaced. There were a few other minor setbacks along the way but she has remained on the ventilator since then and sedated to a point that she can relax but respond when asked to. This episode with her breathing pointed the doctors in a new direction. They went back to X-rays to investigate further and found that her thyroid was VERY enlarged. So much so that they felt it was compressing her windpipe and in turn, compromising her breathing. They now speculate that this was what caused her to pass out at her car and then due to head position blood flow was restricted to her brain thus causing the strokes.

Her mind is clear and is able to answer yes and no questions with a nod and you can see expression on her face even though she's unable to speak due to the tube. The doctors have said that there were two major strokes in the area of the brain that control sight. They aren't being optimistic about the state of her vision at this time but we are still very early on. She showed amazing signs in less than 24 hours and this too could be something that improves or heals.

Today, Monday, was pretty uneventful from our stand point. They ran several tests and are still working on a treatment plan or course of action. We haven't heard much in the way of results of these tests. I am happy to report that not only did I get a wave from her today but just moments before visiting hours were over, while I was telling her something ornery, she rolled her eyes at me!!