Friday September 10th, 2010

It has been just about 9 weeks since Alyson was rushed to the hospital, and it is just about 8 weeks ago that they did the surgery to close off the anurisym. The progress she has made since getting out of the hospital has been nothing but amazing.

She still has a little stiffness in her neck, her back has a very slight pain, and she does not have quite the strength she had before the illness, but she is working on all of that. She has been going to a physical therapist twice a week for the past 3 weeks. They have been really working her over, and she does exercises between visits to help her body get better. At this point her aches and pains are not stopping her from doing much. She knows her limits right now, but she does not let it stop her.

She is back to working with the kids at the YMCA before school activities. She gets up early each morning to go to work.

She is taking two classes at college.

She walks the dog around the block regularly now. And she is back to driving her car to and from work.

Her hair is slowly growing out. She wears a wig sometimes when she goes out, but she is just as comfortable without it. Just the other day at the grocery store, when she was wearing her wig, the cashier was commenting on her hair, and asked if she had just had it done, as it looked so good. Alyson said yes, and walked out laughing. She should have lifted the wig, and showed the lady what was underneath.

Alyson has started to read this blog, and of course most of what happened she does not remember, and she is finding it both entertaining and educational to read all that happened each day she was in the hospital. It is great to hear her laugh at all that she has been through.

It looks like Alyson is well on her way to a full and complete recovery. On behalf of our entire family, we want to thank you for your support, concern, prayers, cards, gifts, visits, flowers, and e-mails. They have all meant so much to all of us. We are glad you were with us in spirit as we went down this road.

Sincerely,

Don, Pauline, Alyson, Manny, Andrea.

Tuesday August 10th, 2010

It has been a few days and everyone is probably wondering what has been happening and how is Alyson doing? Well she is doing very well. Everyday she is getting better. Her appetite is back to normal. She was never a big eater, but she does eat three meals a day with snacks in between. She is concentrating on eating more protein to help rebuild her muscles.

She is exercising or stretching everyday to help with the pain and to increase her back and neck movement. She can move her neck quite a bit more than just 5 days ago. She still has pain in her lower back, and she is still taking pain medication every 4 hours. She does tire easily, but is down to one nap a day. She cannot sit in one place for very long, and moves from one end of the couch to the other to both relieve the pain, and to stretch her muscles.

On Sunday we had about 25 people come by to see her here at the house. It was a great time together, and she enjoyed seeing everyone. After that she slept for 3 hours.

She has decided to cut off all her hair, so that it is all even now. Now it will all grow back at the same time. And when you get to the bottom of this page, you will see what she has received to cover that bald head. Although she has been out in public without it.

Her walking is much better. She is walking with more confidence and getting quite steady on her feet. Today she walked to the end of our street and back. She has not tried going up steps yet, She is still staying at our house until she can manage steps.

She has been to a few stores with her mom, and at each place she gets into the electric carts that they have. She is not the best driver, so lets hope she gets her walking legs back before she has any kind of serious accident.

Her stitches in her head will come out in a couple of days, and she starts physical therapy on Thursday.

I have received 35 e-mails for her in the last few days. It has been lots of fun for us to read the messages, to see who has been following this blog site. If you would like to send her an e-mail you can do so via my e-mail address. KERBY99@AOL.COM Under subject put "Alyee".

We still have some time before we decide if she is taking any classes this semester.

But if she does go to classes this fall, here is what she may look like walking the halls.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Thursday August 5th, 2010

She is home!!!!!!

Alyson got home last night after supper. and it wasn't long before Mannys family and her friend Moss came over to welcome her home. So there was a bit of a party going on until late in the evening. Once we got Paulines and Mannys cars unloaded it was too late to post last night.

She is happy to be home. She spent the night at our house last night. First time she has slept there since she got married just over a year ago.

She is moving quite well. Her neck movement is getting better. Still has lower back pain. Her walking is slow, but getting better. We put her on the scale and she has lost 6 pounds since she went to camp.

Since I have started this webpage, it has been looked at over 6000 times. I like to track these sort of things. Everyday there has been about 300 hits. That means that every 4 minutes and 35 seconds, 24 hours a day, someone has been opening this webpage to read what has been going on with Alyson. And this number has been consistant each day. Pauline and I are amazed at this kind of concern and support. It has really meant alot to us, to know that so many people care so much. I have heard from several people how much they have appreciated being able to get these kind of updates.

We have no idea who all of you are or where you are from. Some of you have sent cards to Alyson, and she has kept those in a special box that was made for her. We will look at those again with her in the coming days. I was thinking that it would be great to let Alyson know who has been following this webpage.

If you have been a follower of this blog, I would like to ask you to do the following. Send me an e-mail to the following e-mail address.

KERBY99@AOL.COM

Let us know who you are, where you are from, how you found out about this blog, and a short greeting for Alyson. In the subjest line just put "ALYEE" I will print these all off for her. This doesn't cost you anything but a few minutes of your time. It will mean alot to Pauline and I so that we can put a name to the mysterious followers who have been reading so faithfully.

We thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. It has uplifted us more than you will ever know. Keep up the prayers as she still has a long ways to go. Everyday she is getting stronger.

I will continue to keep you updated on this webpage.

Thanks,

Don

Wednesday August 4th, 2010 PM

Alyson had no idea of the surprise that Pauline and Manny for her when she woke up this morning. She knew she was going home, but she had no idea who would be travelling with her.

After all the check outs by the nurses, and doctors, another special guest was brought into her room. Her dog Griffin.

At noon, she breathed the last of that hospital air, and was wheeled outside to the smells and sounds she had not seen or heard in 25 days. No more blood pressure cuffs, no more IV's, no more shots, no more nurses and no more doctors. No more beeping monitors. What she wanted to do was to go to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.

So the first stop was Dairy Queen. Where she got her ice cream.

Because all of their belongings are still at camp, they went back to camp so that they could pack it all up. Alyson had a nap. Then she went for a walk outside at camp. Alyson seems to be getting stronger every hour.

They went out for supper with Mrs Murphy, and Tony and Pam, the remaining staff at camp. Everyone else has gone home.

Then they went and walked around a store.

Getting back to camp at 9:00pm, Alyson had kept up very well, but was very tired again. It had been a long day for her. It has been a very long time coming for the rest of us. They are spending the night at camp.

They should be back home in Dunedin tomorrow.


This is not the last update I will do.


Come back tomorrow for the latest on Alyson's Road to Recovery.


Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Tuesday August 3rd, 2010 PM

Alyson had a great day.

This was the deal she was given this morning.

If she was up for all three meals, and only napped for an hour at most when she slept, she could go home tommorow.

Well Alyson was up for all three meals, and kept her naps to a minimum.

So she is being released tomorrow!!!!!!!!!

Pauline wanted to get her outside, and the nurse said that it could take a while to get a wheelchair up to her room, so Pauline went down to the lobby of the hospital, and found a wheelchair. So Alyson was wheeled outside to feel the hot and humid Gainesville air. This evening they went outside again, after the sun was down and it was a little more comfortable outside.

In alot of the pictures you have seen Alyson wearing her sunglasses. This is not just a fashion statement she is making. Her eyes are very sensitive to bright lights right now. This is a side effect of her injury. So she may be wearing the sunglasses for a while.

Her friend Joey from camp came by to see her one last time before he heads back to Australia. Alyson put him in the wheelchair, and pushed him up the hallway.

The only medication she will be on when she leaves is something for the back pain that she is still experiencing. Once she is over that and she has her physical strength back, there will be no medications or restrictions. She should get back to exactly the way she was before this happened. She is one lucky girl.

Tomorrow I hope to post the picture that we have all be praying for, and that is a picture of Alyson walking out of the hospital. It may be that due to hospital policy she is in a wheelchair, but that in no way lessens the achievements that have been made in the last 24 days.

Come back tomorrow for what will be the best update yet.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Monday August 2nd, 2010 Afternoon

Guess What???

We are still at Shands, but we are not in the ICU.

Manny, Andrea and I left the hospital last night at 9:00pm to head back to camp.

After we left, Alyson took one more walk. She came back from the walk and the doctor came in and said that he would be back to take the tube (brain drain) out of her head.

At 11:00pm he was back and proceeded to pull the tube out of her head, and sewed her up. She handled it very well.

This morning they disconnected the remaining wires, and IV's. She was able to get up and go to the bathroom, without being connected to anything.

The physical therapist came by, and had her get herself dressed, and then had her make her bed.

Then they came by and said that she was being moved to another room. To the penthouse suite. Actually it is only the 11th floor, which is the top floor of the hospital.

She took a farewell walk up and down all the halls of the ICU floor. One patient even looked at her and said she was looking good.

It was the last day for the entire camp staff to be at camp. They had finished up with their last camp, cleaned and packed everything up, and were all ready to head home. We gave them one final update at camp, and thanked them all for all they had done, and what they meant to Alyson. Andrea even read them all a note that Alyson had written. Alyson was really hoping to see them all before they went home.

When Andrea and I arrived at 11:00am, she was sitting up in her chair, all her stuff packed up ready to move, and she had on a sundress, her sunglasses and a bright green hat.

A nurse showed up with a wheelchair, and away we went. Leaving the ICU floor, she wore her Viking hat and wig. Everyone smiled as she went by. The other nurses saw her being wheeled down the hall, and were surprised but happy that she was being moved up to the rehad floor. A couple of nurses even asked that she come back to see them before she left.

She is in a private room. All the rooms in this hospital are private. She knows that she is on her way to making a full recovery now. She is still stiff, and suffers with the lower back pain. She still has her heating pad.

After having been in the ICU for 23 days, when they wanted her out of there, they got her out of there fast. We will see what happens next, and we are waiting to see about a date that they release her. Should be sometime this week.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Sunday August 1st, 2010 PM

Day 22 on the ICU floor at Shands Hospital.

Today started off with a couple of concerns with Alyson. She complained of a headache, and she threw up. This raised some concerns with the doctors, but as the day went along, she got past this and this evening she seemed to be back to what her normal is now.

She did not eat breakfast, but did eat some lunch and a little supper. It may have been the bad start, but she just seems to be more tired today. She had only one long period of sit up time this evening once Manny arrived.

The brain drain is still clamped off, and first thing this morning they thought that could be the cause of her problems, but they left it clamped off all day long and she seems to have handled it fine.

She has taken two walks so far today. Both nice long walks. And she is getting better at that every day.

At the speed of a turtle now, she can get herself sitting up at the edge of the bed on her own. Her back is still very sore, and she still has limited movement of her neck. She still has the heating pad on her back and is still on pain medications for it.

They x-rayed her stomach to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary going on there, as it seems so bloated. But it is just air.

She has done several leg exercises in her bed, and she needs to continue this to get stronger.

Tomorrow we will find out if the brain drain tube is coming out.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Saturday July 31st, 2010 PM

Happy Birthday Pauline.

From the ICU unit at Shands in Gainesville Florida. 10:00pm

Another great day for Alyson.

They took an x-ray of her kidneys at 3:30 this morning to make sure there was no problem with them. She is fine there.

She is no longer having to take the dreaded saline solution. She is happy about that.

They clamped off the brain drain tube at 7:30am to see how she reacts to the pressure in her head. She has handled that just fine today, and is doing remarkably well. As long as she has no problems there, she is on the fast track to recovery.

Dr Mocco came in and said that he is hoping that they can remove the brain drain tube on Monday and then they can talk about a release date for her.

She was up early this morning and did exercises. She also took a walk this morning.

Had a good lunch of a hamburger. Then she took a nice long walk where she walked without the use of a walker or holding on to anyone, up and down all three hallways, and even out past the lobby to the outside balcony. She then sat in the chair for a couple of hours.

After her afternoon nap, supper arrived. She ate good again. Then Santiago and Rebecca came by for an hour. Then after they left, Elyse and Heather came by. Alyson had a great time talking with everyone and it was great to see her talking with everyone. It lifted her spirits greatly.

Pauline spent most of the day at camp sleeping. She came back to the hospital at 8:30 tonight. By that time half of her birthday cake was gone.

They just took out the a-line from her arm. So now she has 2 IV's. One in each arm. But with the A-line off, she can now bend and flex both wrists.

She has now been up for 4.5 hours and we are about to take one more walk before she climbs back into bed.

She still has the pain in her lower back, and her neck is still stiff. But she is getting better at getting in and out of bed, and she is moving about much more.

Overall she has had another excellent day, and we may soon be able to count the days until she is out of the hospital. This has been an excellent birthday present for Pauline.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Friday July 30th, 2010 PM

From the ICU floor of Shands Hospital in Gainesville Florida.

There is so much good news I did not want to wait until later tonight to get this out there.

She has been up and feeling much better all day.

The catheter has been removed and when she needs to get up to the bathrom, she is actually pushing herself up to prop herself up.

They took out the NG tube from her nose.

The fluid from her brain drain is definitely starting too look much better. They did have a problem with the tube coming out of her head today. It had a kink in it, and they had to remove the stitches where it goes into her head, fix the tube, and then restitch the area. It was two stitches and they did that without any local anistesia.

She has had a good appetite today, and tonight she ate all the noodles, mushrooms and alot of chicken for supper. This was the most I have seen her eat in 20 days, and even the nurse was impressed with the amount she ate.

She had a DVT scan of her arms and legs to look for clots, and she passed that test. She has no clots.

They did a brain dopler ultrasound test and that was still showing signs of vaso spasims.

The red blood count is low, and they are adding iron thru an IV.

She now has 2 IV's hanging on the rack.

Her cousins Alex and Kyri came by for a visit this afternoon.

Alyson took two walks today. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon. She is hoping to possibly take a third walk tonight when Manny arrives.

She has been doing her breathing exercises, and she is showing great improvments there.

Pauline has been working with Alyson doing exercises in the bed to stretch and strenthen her legs and hips. Alyson also received some new excerise equipment from her mother-in-law that she can use both here at the hospital, and once she gets out of here. She already tried the stretching band.

If you had not know what had happened 48 hours ago, you would just think that she had made great progress today. But knowing what she had been through 48 hours she is looking and feeling fantastic. She has had a very good day. This is the kind of day we have been waiting for, for 20 days.

Her lower back is still very sore, and she is still needing the heating pads and the pain medication. She is moving about the bed more, and able to get from side to side easier then she has in the past.

We are hoping that this is a sign that she will start to make remarkable progress.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Friday July 30th, 2010 AM

I am writing this post on behalf of my nephew Cody Farr.

Our nephew Cody is wanting to help Alyson in a special way. Cody who is 17 years old, lived with us as part of our family for 4 years. During that time, he became very close to his cousin Alyson. When he moved in with us he was 9 years old, and the smallest of the three kids. Now at 17 he taller than all of us. He wanted to do something special for his "little cousin". So with the help of his Grandma Bailey (Faye) he has set up an account to receive donations at his bank on her behalf.

Alyson and Manny both work part time and are going to college. Alyson has now missed 3 weeks of summer camp, and at this point it may be several weeks before she can go back to work at the YMCA where she has worked before and after college classes for the past 2 years.

If you would like to make a donation for Alyee and help support Cody with this project, you may send a check to the following.

Make check payable to "Christopher Farr FBO Alyee Umana Account"

Send check to:

Wachovia Bank
Attn: Chris Lehan
1483 Main St
Dunedin Florida 34698

Thank you,

Christopher Cody Farr

Thursday July 29th, 2010 PM

There may have been some confusion with what was stated in the last posting.

Pulminary Edema is fluid in the lungs, and Alyson does have that. And is being treated for that.

Pulminary Embelism is a blockage of an artery to the lungs, and could be caused by a clot.

Both can cause the same type of symptoms. The x-ray confirmed the Pulminary Edema, and the cat scan ruled out any Pulminary Embelism. Pulminary 101 lesson of the day.

Lesson two for those of you that know more about this than me. Pulmonary is spelled PULMONARY. This blog does not have spell check.

I also apologize for the way the last post looked. Once I pasted Paulines email into this blog, even though what I had written had spacing in it, when posted to the web site it crunched it all together. I tried to fix it but nothing seemed to fix it.

Another item to clear up for those who know even more about medical proceedures.

Alyson is on the high saline solution medicine and medicine to increase her blood pressure, to help control the vaso spasims. When she was having problems with too much fluid in her system and lungs, they took her off the saline solution when they started the Lasix. Today they took her off the Lasix and have again started the high saline solution.

After the scary start to the day today, it improved quite a bit as the day went along.

At noon they took off the Cpap mask and she was just on oxygen through a tube.
At 3:00pm they took her off the oxygen altogether.

She was feeling better tonight. She still has not eaten alot today. She has done lots of exercises in her bed, but did not get up for a walk.

She has been peeing like a fire hose, but this evening Pauline says it has slowed down a bit. She is still on a catheter.

The pain is still bad in her lower back. The brain drain is still fruit punch in color.
She still has the naso gastro tube in her nose.

As I write this I have just received another text from Pauline that they gave her tonights saline solution through this tube, and she just threw it back up.

Manny was with her this evening and I am sure that is helping to raise her spirits.

Lets hope that she is over this glitch and tommorow we start to see some more progress with her recovery.

I will be headed back to Gainesville tomorrow.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Thursday July 29th , 2010 AM

As of right now Alyson is doing better, and is stable. She gave us scare last night and I have an e-mail from Pauline that she wrote last night that I will include here.

As I type it is going onto 2:00 a.m., Thursday, July 29th. It has been an extremely difficult evening. Everything had been fine today, with pop-pop & gramma here I was able to get back to the camp & get a rest. I had no idea how important that rest would be, in preparing me for the evening. It was when Andrea & I returned at 4:00 when I could barely arouse Alyee. After 3 hours, I started to get concerned. It was 7:00 at that time, but with every check Alyee answered all the most frequently asked questions and simply complained of pressure in her head, pain in her lower back & neck (pretty much what she has been experiencing). The pain level she indicated was anywhere between a 7 and 9, pretty much the usual lately. The nurse did come in and adjust the drainage, and Alyee was feeling less pressure in her head. By 9:30 it was time for her to take that dreaded saline. She burst into tears & said, "Mommy, I just can't, it's making me sick. Just the smell is making me nauseous." Well, you know me...ever the pusher, I told her this is what she would need to do to get that sodium level up, so she could 'go home'. So...she proceeded, struggling with every mouthful. I feel guilty...like she was taking that to 'please me'. By 10:00, I knew something was wrong, she kept having this little 'cough', I could hear her wheezing, then she said, "it hurts in my back". I got the nurse in immediately. Because of Alyee was becoming more responsive the nurse felt secure in administering morphine at that time. (She was reluctant to administer it earlier, because Alyee was so lethargic) I am so glad she 'woke up' enough to have that morphine, because I believe that is what sustained her through the next 2 hours. The first action taken, was to put her on the oxygen tubes in the nostrils. Her rapid breathing began to come down with the oxygen & use of breathing techniques she's been practicing. However, the respiratory therapist wasn't too convinced, so they offered her the full mask, which Alyson readily grabbed. During these few minutes, Alyee's little 'cough' seems more aggravated. The respiratory therapist decided it was likely the dry air, so she added some humidity to the oxygen mask. Alyee was unable to breathe on her back, still breathing shallow & almost gasping as she rolled to her side.

It was agreed that an X-ray was necessary to see about that fluid. She could hardly breathe laying on her back for the 30 seconds it took to get the X-ray. The X-ray showed Pulmonary Edema (again, so rare for her age/non smoker etc. The Alveoli in her lungs were not opening fully, due to the amount of fluid/pressure). The critical care team came into action (that is a group of about 7-8 specialists). They did an ABG = arterial blood gas (to check the blood oxygen & a multitude of other things within the blood). She was then put on a CPAP = Continuous Positive Airway Pressure). The CPAP is like an oxygen mask, but it is more 'sealed' around the nose, cheek & chin area and it gives added pressure to help open the alveoli.(Alyee will be on the CPAP through this evening and until the oxygen in the blood goes up and she can maintain oxygen saturation in the blood.)

Next, our buddy 'Anthony' put in the dreaded A-line (that she had been free of for a few days). Her blood will need to be tested every 2 hours, so the A-Line will allow that to happen without having to be poked every time.

In addition a NG (Naso Gastro Tube) was put in place. The NG is a tube that goes up nose, down throat to the belly. (The nurse said Alyee took that better than anyone she'd ever seen!) This tube was placed under the CPAP & just removing the CPAP for those few moments caused great difficulty in Alyee's breathing. She was wheezing, coughing & gasping. That was SO DIFFICULT to watch, but I held her & continued to support the slow breathing techniques she'd learned so quickly a few days ago. (I never thought I'd need that Lamaz breathing after my babies grew up!! I had to breathe right along with her to keep calm & to keep her focused.)

This NG tube provides a means to administer meds without having to remove the CPAP. It was as if she welcomed the NG tube that would now keep her from having to 'taste' any of the saline -or any other medication at this point. Now with the NG in place "Lasix" (a medication) was administered to help Alyee rid the excess fluids building up in her system - not just the fluid in her lungs, but the air building in her abdominal cavity. This Lasix would further increase the amount of urine she would eliminate Watch out, if this Lasix is going to relieve additional bladder pressure...she will no longer be "peeing like a race horse" (as she always says) - it will be more like a 'fire hose'! If they were emptying the cathidar every 2 hours before, they will be in every 1/2 hour now!

When the 2nd set of blood work came back it looked a bit better. (For those of you needing details, her PO2 was 86. For those of you who didn't need the details, that is the oxygen in her blood). While that number was OK - it really wasn't great, because that was with the oxygen mask and then the CPAP. She will have to maintain that level when the CPAP is removed.

That was from Pauline and you can see how stressful that was for her.

This morning Pauline said that after she e-mailed that at 2:00am, Alyson rested well, and with little pain.

At 8:00am they took her to do a cat scat on her lungs. The results were that she does not have Pulminary Embelism. That is great news.

She has had some breakfast this morning, and is feeling a little better.

So as of this morning she now has 4 IV's going back into her.

They have put the A-line back into her artery to monitor her blood pressure and to take blood samples.

She has the tube up her nose, and she has the oxygen mask on.

She is still in pain in her lower back, but not the severe pain she was experiencing last night.

They had started to reduce the amount of fluid being drained from her head, but they have increased that again to keep the pressure down in her head. It is still looking like fruit punch.

Alyson has had a bit of a set back here, but nothing that can't be dealt with. Pauline is sounding positive this morning, comfortable with the situtation the way it is now. Andrea is there to help as well.

To end this morning note with something that may put a smile on your face. For those of you that really know Alyee, she loves dogs. All dogs. After we had been at the hospital for a couple of days we found out that they have therapy dogs that come to the hospital to visit patients. Well Pauline signed up for that as soon as she heard about it. Yesterday morning two Golden Retrievers came into her room to visit her. Their names are Bud and Wiser. As you can imagine her face lit up. Lets hope she gets that same smile back on her face real soon.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Wednesday July 28th, 2010 PM

Alyson is having a rough night tonight. She had a good day, but this evening things changed and now she is having some problems. As I write this to keep everyone updated, things are changing every hour. Doctors have assured us that it is all controlable and manageable, but Pauline and I are very anxious about what is happening. Right now she seems to be more stable.

I will update tomorrow with more details.

Pray for Alyson tonight.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Tuesday July 27th, 2010 PM

Alyson would like me to post the following message to everyone reading this.

She said she would like to thank everyone for being so concerned about her. If she could, she would write everyone a thank you letter, but you would not be able to read her writing right now. She didn't think she had that many friends.


Today was alot like yesterday. She got up and took a walk with the physical therapist this morning. It was hard for her to walk today. This was the only walk she went on.

Pauline was shown how to do the exercises with Alyee, and so she is now having Alyee do the stretching and bending. Alyson knows she needs to get stronger and is trying hard to get stronger.

The pain was no less today. It is still very bad in her lower back.

Today to lessen the awful taste of the salt solution she has to take, she tried mixing it with chicken boulion cubes. It is like adding salt to salt. It seemed to help.

Pauline gave her a bath. She still has not had a shower.

She did eat some more today.

What I find amazing is the number of people that continually come into her room in the ICU to do something.

Someone comes in to get the dirty sheets, towels and pillow cases.
Someone else comes in to get the trash from the garbage pails.
Someone else comes in to get the bio hazzard trash.
Someone else comes in to check the supply of rubber gloves.
Someone else comes in to check the hand sanitizer.
Someone else comes in to sweep and mop the floor.
Someone else comes in to deliver the meal.
Someone else comes in to pick up the empty food tray.
Someone else comes in to resupply the medical supply cart.
Someone else comes in to make sure all the lights are working and then they test every light switch.
One day there was even a guy hanging from a rope outside the window cleaning the outside windows.
All this in addition to the nurse coming in all the time to measure, check on, monitor or get something from Alyson.
Not to mention the beeping and flashing from all the monitors.
It is not the Intensive Care Unit, it is the Interuptive Care Unit. You can never rest here.

I say all this because as one of these people who randomly comes into the room all the time just happened to be in the room when Alyson said that she would like some pizza. And Pauline responded that maybe she should order a pizza. They do have delivery to that floor from several area restaurants, for the employees and the patients. They have a menu binder at the main nurses desk that you can ask for to review and order food. We have seen it.

Well this person in the room turned around and said. You want some pizza? And Alyson said yes. And she said that they had a party on the floor earlier in the day, and they had lots of pizza left overs, so she would go and get some and bring it back for her. She came back with two pieces of pizza for Alyson. What are the odds? Alyson had a piece of pizza.

Pauline says the fluid maybe a little clearer than yesterday.

Alyson did sit in her chair today for over an hour in the morning again in the afternoon. In the afternoon she did an activity book that she had been given. And she had the book on the little table that she could pull up to her chair.

Small steps forward. All little signs of progress.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Monday July 26th, 2010 PM

Alyson was very tired all day long today. She had a hard time waking up and just seemed to be wore out all day long.

Pauline had spent the night. I arrived late morning, giving Pauline a chance to get out to get some supplies and then off to camp to rest.

Alyson had her first walk at 11:00am. Since she did not get a long walk yesterday, she was very stiff, tense and sore. She had a hard time straightening up and then walking. The therapist helped her, as Alyson leaned on Pauline, and Andrea pushed the medical stand with all the monitors on it. They did one hallway and that was it.

She sat in the chair after that, and lunch arrived. She ate some grapes, some cantaloupe with some juice.

She then had a good long sleep until 2:30 when another physical therapist came for her second walk. Alyson understands she has to get up more and move more, as this will help her recover faster, and this time it was a little easier to get out of bed and standing up. This time she had a walker, and she went out into the lobby and around the elevators. A good long walk. At times she was moving a little too fast. She is having problems staightening out her legs as she walks.

Back in her bed the therapist showed us some exercises to work her legs and hips to get them flexible again. Also some exercises for her neck which does not have very much flexability right now.

Just note here. This is day 16 for those keeping track. In all the hours in all these days that I have been in the halls and on the floor of the ICU unit, I have never seen another patient walking the halls. I have seen a few in wheel chairs. But most clients are moved about in their beds, to or from surgery or other proceedures. As I stood back and watched Alyson walk this morning, I noticed all the other staff on the floor take a break from what ever they were doing to watch her progress down the hall. It just seems like a rare event.

The fluid from the brain drain is just a shade lighter than yesterday. Not near being clear yet.

Her entire neck and back does not seem to be as sore or fragile as it has been. The worst pain is now in her lower back. She is able to now pull herself over from one side of her body to the other in the bed. She is also starting to help push herself up and lay herself down when needed. Both positive signs of improvement.

Pop Pop and Grandma Bailey arrived again today. They will help out the next two days.

She ate a little at supper time. It appears that maybe her appetite was a little better today.

There are only two bags of IV's being pumped into her today. That is a record low for her. Slowly but surely she is becoming more independent of those IV's. She is still receiving pain medicine, anti seizure medicine, blood thiners, and extra saline to get her salt levels higher.

I am back at home now. I will update each night.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Sunday July 25th, 2010 PM

8:30 pm in the ICU unit at Shands Hospital.

Not much has changed today from yesterday as far as her physical or mental well being goes. But little or no progress is better than taking a step backwards.

She did eat a little at both lunch and supper. For lunch she had chicken fingers and french fries. For supper she had ice cream, apples, and a turkey sandwich.

She only has 3 bags of fluids being pumped into her today. They took the A line out of her arm, and they are back to monitoring her blood pressure by the cuff on her arm.

Pauline has bought her some new gowns to wear in bed, so she is no longer in hospital attire.

The big step today is that they have reduced the amount of fluid being drained from her head, to see how she reacts to that and the fluid that is draining is slightly clearer today.

Pauline and I spent the morning and most of the afternoon resting at camp, while Mannys step mom spent the day with Manny and Alyee. It was a well needed rest for Pauline and she really appreciated it. They rebraided her hair, and had her up to walk around the room. Andrea also did some moving and stretching exercises with Alyson as she laid in the bed, and while she sat in the chair.

She did not walk in the halls today.

She continues to sleep well when she can sleep, but she is still being checked on every hour.

Tonight as I write this she is laying on her side and watching a movie on a laptop computer. The movie is "Babe". Everyone once in a while she laughs or repeats a line that the character say. She appears to enjoy it.

Last night was 2 weeks since she entered the hospital. Seems like a year ago already. We are hoping that they allow her to get into the shower soon, but she will not be allowed to get her head wet due to the tube in her head still. But I think this will happen soon.

That is all for tonight. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Saturday July 24th, 2010 PM

Today Alyson woke up at 5:30 and told Pauline she was ready to get up and sit in her chair.

So Pauline and the nurse got her up and she sat in the chair for 2 hours.

She didn't eat much for breakfast or supper, but she did eat some fruit at lunch time.

Pop Pop and Grandma Bailey were there this morning, and Pauline was able to get out and get her hair cut. The Baileys headed home at noon.

Paul and Paula, and Ben and Annie came by and all had a great visit with Alyee. Paul and Paula were witnesses to the orchestrated event of getting her and all her attached hardware from the bed to the chair. Alyson was glad to see them and it she had a good time talking to all of them.

Paul and Paula were then kind enough to take Pauline an I out for a lovely lunch. We thank them for that break.

Elyse Bridges came by after she got off of camp, and from what I hear, she and Alyee shared some laughs together.

Pauline left for camp after lunch for a much needed rest. She has been at the hospital for 5 nights in a row. Mannys step mom Andrea and his two little sisters came in this afternoon and were there with Manny for the evening. Manny is spending the night.

The doctors are trying to raise Alyees sodium level, so they are giving her a higher concentration of saline solution in an IV and some sort of salt liquid that Alyson does not like. She was trying to make a deal with the nurse this afternoon, that if she ate lots of salty foods, could she get out of taking the salty solution. That wasn't going to get her anywhere.

She has 5 IV bags hanging off of the hangers on her bed, being pumped into her today.

What is very interesting is that when they give her some sort a shot through the IV in her arm, she can taste it. When the nurse was giving her a shot today, her face scrunched up and she said it tasted terrible. Just wondering how she can taste something that is going into her arm?

The brain drain looks like fruit punch today.

Her attitude was very good today. She still sleeps alot, but when she is awake, she is alert, and her eyes are really open and looking around.

The pain down her neck and back is still just as bad. Today I heard her tell the nurse it was 6 on a scale of 10.

She did take one small walk today, but was too tired to really go any longer.

This afternoon she was singing a song to Manny in an attempt to persude him to come over and rub her neck and back. Making up the words as she went along. I believe it worked.

She talked to her Grandma Kerr and Auntie Cathie on the phone.

From the familys perspective she had a very good day and seems to better than yesterday in small but important ways. Pauline is happy to be sleeping in a real bed tonight. She is very tired.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Friday July 23rd, 2010 PM

Live from the ICU unit at Shands Hospital in Gainesville Florida. 9:00pm

Got in here late this afternoon. I had picked up Griffin who had spent the week with Mannys two sisters and brought him up with me to spend the weekend at camp.

I took Griffin across the street from the hospital, and Alyson was able to stand up in her room, look out the window and see us across the street.

I have noticed the changes in Alyson since I left Tuesday. They are small improvements, but every improvement is a step in the right direction.

Her attitude is better. More talkative. And she is very aware of everything going on around her. She slept soundly for 2 hours after supper, and now she is awake doing an activity book.

She has an arterial line in her arm that is monitoring her blood pressure, as they are still trying to keep that high.

She did not each much today until supper time. Pasta, mushrooms and chicken, with juice and a roll. Then tonight she had some sliced apples.

Last night she was acting really weird and giving some very strange answers to the questions she was being asked. They thought it was a reaction to the muscle relaxants she was on, so they discontinued those. She thought she was in Publix, or working at the McDonalds drive thru. Once off of that medicine, she is back to normal.

This morning she took a walk down the halls, going out on the balcony again, where she saws some little kids playing below at a day care center. This balcony was out by the waiting room, and all the people in the waiting cheered her on.

Then she took another walk down the halls this afternoon. This time going down all three halls of the wing. She did most of it without holding onto the cart that supports all her IV's and monitors. But the physical therapist had a good grip in her.

The brain drain is darker today than when I was last here. The nurse has noticed that depending on which side she sleeps on, the fluid is either darker or lighter. Just as long as the blood drains out of there.

Her eyes are still sensitive to the light, and anytime she goes out she wears her bright green sun glasses.

Tonight right now she is awake, her eyes are open more than they have been since arriving here, and she is doing an activity and carrying on a conversation with us. This has not happened before.

Still severe pain in her neck and back, and that has not changed much this week.

The dark clouds of Tropical Storm Bonnie are off in the distance outside the window, and it is no threat to us here.

Thats all for now. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Thursday July 22nd, 2010

Alyson was able to get more sleep last night. Pauline says that she was turning over on her own from one side to the other during the night. Until now she could not move on her own with out being in a lot of pain and without help.

She was up and had breakfast. Today she ate fruit and cranberry juice.

The physical therapist came by again, and she went on a long walk, going to both ends of the ICU wing. She was also able to go out on to a small balcony and breath in some outside air. The first she has been outside in 12 days. The bright lights in the hallway bother he eyes, and so she wore her fluorescent green sunglasses during this walk. All the nurses came out to encourage her on. She is fast becoming a well known patient in the ICU. The therapist says that she is still tense all over, but not as bad as yesterday. After the walk she sat in the chair for a while, and then had a nap.

Pop Pop and Grandma Bailey arrived today, and this gave Pauline and Andrea a chance to get out to take care of some things.

Still having bladder problems, and they are working on that.

She has been able to move her neck a little more today. And that is a great sign.

Every day and almost every hour since she has been in the ICU, the nurses have asked her on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst, what was her pain level. It was mostly 8 or 9's that she would reply with. Today the pain level she says is 4. So either the pain meds are working better, or things are starting to improve.

The brain drain is still a little cloudy.

Dr Mocco says the progess is still excellent.

Still concerned about the vasospasms she is having. They continue to keep a close eye on this.

I will be back there tomorrow night. So I will update tomorrow night.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Wednesday July 21st, 2010 PM

Another rough night with pain continuing through the night and again today.



Elyse came by on her way to camp and brought Alyson a new wig from Europe. You may see her wearing it around soon. There were lots of smiles, and Alyson really enjoyed that time together.


Alyson was up and took another short walk today. She was a little more relaxed on todays walk. Then after the walk she sat in a a chair for 30 minutes.

They took out the catheter. This has caused her to get up more ofter to use the bathroom.

Pauline says that she had more smiles today, and that her spirit was a little better. Lets hope that attitude contines, and she can get through this pain.

Brain drain is still draining well, and getting clearer each day.

She did not eat much this morning. Pauline said she ate mostly fruit today.

Lets hope she gets some much needed rest and relief tonight.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Tuesday July 20th, 2010 PM

I am back at home in Dunedin, it is late but I know and appreciate the number of people that are looking for updates here, so here are the facts.

She continues to be in alot of pain. Her body is almost rigid with the pain, and it is most severe in her neck and back. They gave her morphine today to help with that.

The fluid from her brain drain was looking very clear today. That is a good sign.

The physical therapist did get her up and out of bed today for a walk of about 50 feet. Then she sat in a chair for another half an hour. This wore her out.

When she rested she rested well, and she sleep most of the day. She did quite a bit today, and that is good as well.

They are now giving her medication to increase her blood pressure. The hope is that this will increase the blood flow around her brain, giving her more oxygen, and forcing the veins around the brain to open up. They are still restricting flow due to the vaso spasms.

Dr Mocco came and showed us pictures of the veins and arteries in Alysons head, and where the anurysm was. We saw what it looked like before, during and after the proceedure was done. It was very small.

For those of you familiar with such things here is the official diagnosis from the doctor.

Ruptured Left Posterior Inferior Cerebellam Artery Anurysm, causing the Subarachnoid hemorrhage. The fix was an endovascular coiling of the aneurysm.

We could also see how the Vaso Spasim was effecting everything in her head.

Mrs Murphy visited today, and she also got a phone call from Elyse Bridges just as soon as Elyse was back on US soil.

I am back in Dunedin tonight, and will be at work tomorrow. So tommorow there will only be one posting tomorrow night after I get the updates from Pauline who is spending another night at the hospital with Alyson.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Her spirits are high, and if we can just get past this tremendous pain, I think we will see the happy Alyson we all know, make a fast and great recovery.

Tuesday July 20th, 2010 AM

There are lots of sounds I love to hear but the best sound this morning is listening to Alyson breathing as she sleeps while I am sitting next to her.

They have put her on oxycodine, and steroids. Both have given her some relief from the pain.

She ate a good breakfast, and that is good because she did not eat at all yesterday. For breakfast she ate 2 waffles, a blue berry muffin and 2 pieces of bacon, and some fruit.

Since I have been in the room, she has been sleeping very soundly.

Pauline says that this is the longest she has rested since the surgery. She was in serious pain all night long, and the longest rest she had received until now was 20 minutes.

Now a technician has come in and they are doing a sonigram on her head. We are looking at colored graphs on a screen, which must mean something to the doctor, but what we hear is the sound of blood being pumped in her head. He will be doing this all over her head to make sure she has proper circulation in her head. The pumping sound is matching up with the monitor on the other side of the room showing her pulse rate. Even during this proceedure she seems to be resting nicely.

Later today Dr Mocco is hoping to show us the pictures of the anurisym from last night. I will try to get the exact technical name of what and where this happened from him.

Lets hope she continues to get some rest today. It is the best thing for her.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Monday July 19th, 2010 PM

One giant step forward, several small steps back.

Today has been a long and exhausting day. So I will get straight to the facts.

We waited all day for the angiogram. Finally at 4:30 they took her down for the proceedure.

6:00 they came in to say they had found an anurisym. It was in the back left of her brain. It was the last place the doctor looked. It was very small. We were not expecting to hear this, and it was shocking.

We had to sign for them proceed with continuing with the surgery to fix it.

Manny came right out from camp, as we were not really expecting this to take this turn.

They proceeded by placing a coil in to fix the anurisym.

It took less than two hours.

During the proceedure the anurysm started to bleed again, but stopped very fast.

This bleeding has caused the fluid around her brain to be contaminated again. This means that the pain in her neck and back will continue even longer.

She was back up to her room quite fast after the surgery and we were able to get in to see her around 9:00pm. She was awake and her memory was just like it was before she went into surgery. But she was in a great deal of pain. Her neck and back are extremely painful. They have her on pain meds, and she has a heating pad. At this point they do not want to administer morphine, as that can mess with your mind, and it is her mind that they are concerned about, especially tonight when they check on her to see if there are any changes with what is happening in her head. She needs to be able to respond to questions and requests every hour tonight.

Doctor Mocco was pleased with the surgery, and says that these next 12 hours are critical. She had rested alot today, but tonight will be rough on her.

The giant step forward is that they found and fixed the cause of all this. The small steps backwards are that the pain in her neck and back will continue for days, the fluid draining from what we are now calling her brain drain is very dark again, and that will take time again to clear, and because of all this, she is staying in the hospital for at least another 10 days or more.

It has been an emotional day, but we are grateful that the anurisym was found and has been treated. Alyson is a very lucky person tonight. We are all grateful for all the answers to prayer tonight.

Just a couple of other notes. Flowers are not allowed in the ICU unit and she will be there for some time. If you would like to send cards, they will get to her fastest via the camp she was working at and our family is staying at. The address is.

Alyson Umana
C/O The Salvation Army Camp Keystone
6581 S.E. 9th Ave
Starke Florida 32091

All postings you send to me via this webpage, or on my facebook page, I read to her. I do not think she will be on her facebook page for the next couple of days.

Your continued prayers and support mean so much to all of us, and are appreciated more than you will ever know. Continue to pray for healing now.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Monday July 17th, 2010 AM

Alyson had a good nights rest. They put a childs blood pressure cuff on her arm, which of course is smaller and more comfortable for her. She had a bath this morning, and the nurse went and got her a new set of PJ's. Here you see her sporting her new clothes.

She is scheduled for the angiogram this afternoon, so until then, water only and no food.

She is still in pain, and sleeps alot.

She opened up about 6 get well letters that had arrived at camp.

A doctor was just in to check her out for the angiogram this afternoon. She should be going there in about 2 or 3 hours from now.

I am really amazed that in the last 48 hours this web page has been looked at over 500 times. Every 5 minutes, it is being opened up by someone. So thank you for all your concerns.

She had brought a book to camp to read titled Laughter is the best medicine by Reader Digest, and it is a collection of jokes that she asked to brought to her room, so she could read it.

I will leave you with a joke that I just read in it.

"I told my doctor I broke my leg in two places.
He told me to quit going to those places".

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. I will update later today after her surgery.

Sunday July 18th, 2010 PM

Alyson had 3 visitors from camp today. It mean't alot to have them come by.

She did not eat alot today. The pain in her neck and back is really bothering her, and it hurts to just lay there. It really hurts to move her, to adjust her pillow, or to raise and lower the bed.

Mannys step mom and two sisters arrived this evening to stay in the area for a day.

Here is what the two sisters managed to do to her hair. They got through 7 days of uncombed hair, and managed to get the unshaved side braided. This will make her feel much better.

We were hoping to get her up this afternoon for a walk, but she just does not have the energy.

Lets hope she has another good night of sleep.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Sunday July 18th, 2010 AM

Todays news from the ICU unit here at Shands.

Alyson had a good nights rest. The nurses changed her medicine to every 4 hours, and that allowed both her and Manny to get some good sleep.

She got a bath at 5:00am. So now she smells better. Her hair has not be combed all week, as she has this big patch on her head. At this point it might be impossible to get combed out, and she is saying that maybe she will just cut it all off, so that her entire head looks the same.

She did not each much for breakfast.

She has been sleeping much of the morning. No visitors yet today.

The fluid from her head seems to be shade darker than last night.

Lunch has just arrived. Hoping we can get her to eat some more.

She remembers the activities of the last two days. She remembers yesterdays visitors, and she remembers Mr Griffins visit. This is all good.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Saturday July 17th, 2010 PM

Tonight I am now back at camp.

Alyson had good but busy afternoon.

Six friends from the YMCA where she works in Clearwater came up from there to see her. Nick, Sebastian, Kelci, Moss, Amelia and Mandy. She was very happy to see them.

Roger Cindy and Katie stopped by on their way back from Georgia.

She seemed to be in less pain today. And when she slept, she slept more soundly.

It has been one week now, and the progress has been amazing.

Dr Mocco came by again, and is still very pleased with her progress.

The fluid from her head is looking much better.

I installed a counter on this bog this morning, and in the last 12 hours it was looked at over 160 times.

We are amazed and grateful for everyones concern.
Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Saturday July 17th, 2010 AM

Here is the update from the ICU unit of Shands hospital this morning.

Alyson had a very good night, getting much needed sleep for two hours at a time between visits from the nurse.

They have given her a heating pad for her back, to help with the pain and discomfort she is feeling there.

They took out the catheter this morning.

The fluid draining from her head is looking very clear this morning, and in fact you have to look twice to see it. Before you had no problem seeing it. So that is a very good sign.

Right now she is sleeping comfortably. So is her mother who spent the night at the hospital with her.

The heating pad is actually some sort of water filled device, with a heater and a pump constantly circulating the water to the pad under her back. Sitting here in the darkness of her room, it sounds like a stream flowing here. Very soothing sounds to sleep by.

Things are going very well. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Cards have arrived at camp for her, and she will read those today. She has been on facebook, and enjoys reading the posts on her wall there. I will update again later today.

Friday July 16, 2010

Greetings from the ICU unit of Shands hospital. This will the one and only update for today.

Manny and I both decided to drive home late last night to care of things at home. Pauline spent the night at the hospital. Manny and I arrived back at the hospital around 3:30pm.

This morning was the day that Alyee had been hoping for all week. We had been talking to the nurses and her doctor about the possibilty of having Mr Griffin (her dog) come up for a visit. Pauline had found a dog in the halls of the hospital 2 days ago, and talked the owner into bringing the puppy in to see Alyson. The dog sat on her lap, and Alyee laughed and smiled so much with that dog there. It wasn't even a minute, when another nurse came in and said that dogs were not allowed in the ICU and that they needed to take him out. So he left after a brief visit. The next day Alsyon did not remember seeing a dog, and she was sad she could not remember it.

Yesterday the nurse said that he thought it would be possible to get Mr Griffin in here. Pauline made some inquiries this morning, and they said if we did not make a big scene, carried him in under a blanket, and got him into the room without barking, we could pull the privacy curtain in her room, and she could see the dog. The day nurse today got in on the caper, and was prepared to do her part.

Andrea brought the dog into the hospital. Out in the lobby, they put it on Paulines shoulder like a baby, and covered him up with a blanket. Pauline then walked down the hall, past about 10 other rooms and the nurses station, like she was carrying a baby. Once in the room, they closed the door, and pulled the curtain, so others in the hall could not see what was happening. They put Mr Griffin right on her bed, and he was just as excited to see her, as she was to see him.

Mr Griffin did not move from her side for about 2 hours. It was a great day for Alyson.

The picture says it all and it is priceless.

At 3:00am they came in and took an x-ray of her lungs. She has quite a bit of fluid in her lungs, and they are still concerned about that, but she seems to be handling it very well.

She did get out of bed today, and she had a sponge bath. She felt that she was beginning to smell bad and wanted to smell nice for when Manny got back.

The fluid draining out of her head is much clearer today. It looks more like clean motor oil, but to her mother it looks like pink lemonade.

Dr Mocco came in this afternoon, and was really pleased with the progress she is making. Her age is totally in her favor, and things are progressing well. He was glad Alyee saw her dog, and believes that will help her as well.

Grandma and Pop Pop Bailey were here again today, and they left for home in the afternoon.

Andrea went home and took Mr Griffin with her.

Alyson enjoys the Subway sandwiches more than any of the hospital foods that have been brought in. When the TV is on, it is on the Animal Planet channel.

Today she does remember what happened yesterday, or at least alot of it. Her voice is much stronger, and she is talking alot. She continues to do her breathing exercies every hour to help clear her lungs, and what used to be hourly visits to be pinched, poked and proded, now are every two hours.

As predicted the pain is now going down her back, and she feels it. The neck is still very sore, as is her head.

Pauline will be spending the night again, Manny is headed back to camp, as this weeks camp is over tomorrow, and things need to be cleaned up and shut down before the entire staff has a day off. He will be back just as soon as possible tomorrow.

Many small steps were taken today, and she is making progress.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers and I will keep you updated tomorrow.

Thursday July 15th, 2010 PM

This afternoon has been one of good news and bad news. I will give you the bad news first which is not all that bad. Alyson does have a UTI still, and that has caused her to feel like she has to go to the bathroom every few minutes. And then she began to get a bit of a fever this after noon. So because of the fever, they put the catheter back in so she did not have to get up so much. That is the bad news. As I write this tonight, she does feel better, and the fever is coming back down.

The good news is that Dr Mocco has been in to see Alyson and us. He looked her over, and talked to her for a while. Then he took the Manny Pauline and I out to the hallway to talk to us and to show us pictures of Alyees brain. This would be a good time to say we saw nothing, but we did see something, and that was blood. Dr Mocco went into detail on how the brain is built in our heads, the layers that surround it and how fluids surround and protect the brain. The blood we saw was down in the middle of her brain, and not in the outer layers like I was expecting. He said that it was alot of blood, but he has seen cases with more.

The fluid around the brain is created and then absorbed into the body completely 3 times a day. At any given moment, there is 150 ml of fluid around the brain, the body creates 450 ml of this fluid every day. It is clear and normally is like clean water. The blood leaked into this fluid. The fluid drains down thru the spinal cord, and is absorbed into the body that way. With the blood in it, it does not get abosorbed properly, so it does not get absorbed as fast as normal, but the brain does not know enough to stop producing the stuff. This is why they have put the tube in her head. It is draining off the fluid so that it does not build up in her skull, and causing her brain to colapse.

The hole in her skull is about 1/4 inch in diameter, and the tube actually goes through her brain directly to the center of her head.

Dr Mocco said that after all the cat scans MRIs and the Angiogram, they really have not determined where the blood came from. She is still in a critical status, and is still being monitored every hour. The time frame for being in this crital status is up to 14 days.

Dr Mocco believes that this is what he would call a sub arachnoid hemorrage. There is no cause for it, no way to predict it, and can just happen to anyone, although rare. It is not a stoke, as a stoke is a hemorage of an artery heading to the brain, and part of the brain begins to die because of that. This is not what happened to Alyee.

The fluid draining from her head this afternoon is much clearer than it has been. This is a good sign. Dr Mocco said that the pain in her head and neck is normal. He said that the pain in her neck will travel down the spinal cord in the next few days making her back sore as well. This all has to do with the problem the body is having absorbing the contaminated spinal fluid.

They will still do the Angiogram on Monday, as that is standard on all these cases, but he does not expect to see an anurism with that second test. He expects that she will make a full and complete recovery, with no side effects, limitations or restrictions. And he said that the odds of this ever happening again are very low and there was no reason to ever worry about it. So that is what we are calling the good news of the day. We were all relieved to hear all of this. He said she should be 90% better in about 2 more weeks, but it could take 2 months to fully recover and be back to normal.

We feel much better now, knowing that although she is still in a fragile condition, tired from all the poking and proding, and slowly recovering from a very tramatic brain injury, that she is well on her way to recovery.

We are thankful for all your thoughts and prayers.

Tomorrows goal is to get her up, and give her a bath.

Thursday July 15th, 2010 AM

Alyson was up early today and had breakfast. She had bacon, eggs and grits. And she had some coffee.

Manny spent the night here at the hospital with her.

Before Pauline and I got here, she had already been for a walk down the hallway. This was a big step.

Alyson was talking this morning, and was saying that she did not remember anything about yesterday. She did not remember Pop Pop or Grandma being here.

Roger, Cindy, and Katie Brunk stopped by on their way up to Georgia. Katie had a big blue and green blanket (Alyees wedding colors) that she had made for her. And she had a big green stuffed frog for Alyee.

With the Brunks in the room, Alyee said that she liked to hold her breath to see the numbers go up on the monitor next to her.

Pop and Grandma Bailey had another visit with her as well.

The hospital gave her a menu for her to select what she would like for lunch and supper.

For lunch she wanted pizza and french fries with a Sprite.

For supper she wanted the mac n cheese and mashed potatoes.

She received a gift from a teacher friend of Paulines of a Webekins Dog and a card.

She has been up to use the bathroom several time this morning. The pizza arrived and she ate very little of it, and a few fries. She drank down the bottle of Sprite.

She said that this is the worst head ache she has ever had, and if it didn't hurt so much, so would be running up and down these halls.

She has a male nurse today, and he loves to hear her laugh and joke.

She has a low grade fever right now, and her neck is still sore.

Everyday she sees what the date is and says "I missed Griffins Birthday". It was 4 years ago Sunday that we adopted him. She just wants to see her Griffin.

Wednesday July 14th, 2010 PM

This afternoon Alyee was very active. She was up in the chair this morning for a good long time. She had a great visit with her Grandma and Pop Pop Bailey. They were talking about the turkey sandwich she had for supper the evening before, and she responded by saying she didn't remember eating a turkey sandwich, so she better get another one today.

She was up and into the bathroom several times, and that pretty much wore her out. It is good that she up and moving so much, but it takes two people to get her there, and with all her "attachments" it is an orchestrated event. Manny is doing an excellent job in assisting in every way possible.

She is no longer on any sedation. She is just on pain medication. She is also getting medication to ward off any possibility of a recurring seizure.

The fluid that continues to drain from her skull still contains blood and the doctors are hoping to see that clearing up in the next day or two.

She was so tired that she did not get to sit in the chair in the evening.

We did get her another turkey sandwich, and she enjoyed that again.

She does have a urinary tract infection now, and is being treated for that.

A physical therapist came by, to check on her neck which is still sore, and to check her body strength. She performed several tests to check her dexterity and to flex her muscles. She also showed us some exercises for her to do for her neck.

Her head still hurts. The hairs on the shaved part of her head, are now at least 1/4 inch long.

Slowly but surely she is improving. Nothing moves fast in this wing of the hospital, and it is teaching us to have patience letting the body heal in its own time. Thanks for your thoughts and prayer and we look forward to the progress that will take place tomorrow.

Wednesday July 14th, 2010.

Greetings from the waiting room of the Shands Hospital in Gainsville Florida. I have spent the better part of last night and this morning getting this blog site set up and ready for your reading. We are so blessed to have so many relatives and friends who are so concerned about Alyson. We have been trying our best to keep everyone updated and informed, and we had been counting on them to help get the word out. The cell phone signal at the hospital has been sporadic, and at times not at all, so we have missed calls, or cannot talk when some have called.

From this point forward I will update this blog page at least once if not twice a day. This way everyone will get the same news, and can stay informed as to what is going on.

This morning I brought Manny and Andrea back to the hospital. Pauline had been here all night. She said that Alyee kept asking when Manny was going to visit. She had a sore neck, which could have been from the neck brace she had on the first two days, or it could just be the way she is sleeping. At 4:00am they gave her some pain medication for that, and she slept more comfortably after that.

In the ICU unit she is only supposed to have two guests at time. So we have to stagger our visits, and rotate in and out of the room as needed.

When I walked into the room she looked at me and said "There is my daddy". I asked how she was and she said she was fine. Then she asked how I was. Then she asked if this was the first time I had been here. She didn't remember seeing me before.

My mother called and talked to Alyee on the phone.

She does know where she is at this morning. At the hospital. She also knows now that she had a seizure at the pool. Pauline took a picture on her cell phone of her partially shaved head. Alyee wanted to see it, and said it looked cool, when she saw the picture.

Ed and Faye, (Paulines parents) arrived from Clearwater just before lunch. They have had a good chat with her.

They got her to walk to the bathroom, and they had her sitting in the chair for a while this morning. Her attitude is very good, joking with everyone in the room. Her thought processes appear to be better, remember more of what is going on. Her sentences are getting longer, more detailed, and her voice is a little stronger this morning. She is being encouraged to do more for herself, and she is supposed to be up in the chair again for supper.

We still do not know the cause of this. Keep praying that we find the source of where the blood came from.

In trying to recall all the details of the last 5 days, I know I have left out alot. We are so grateful to all who have stopped by and visited. We are also very grateful to the Camp staff and all that they are doing to make our stay here as comfortable as possible. I hope that this blog site will help to keep everyone informed, and keep checking back for updates and more pictures. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Tuesday July 13th, 2010

Here is Alyee this evening with her ice cream. It put a big smile on her face.

Today Pauline Andrea and I arrived at the hospital at 9:30am. Manny was there looking well, and making sure that all of Alysons needs were being taken care of. Her catheter had been removed, and she was now having to use a bed pan. It was no longer the "first class" service she had been getting earlier. Getting out of the bed was impossible because she was still connected to so many machines.

The large patch that had been on her left arm, that had several tubes and wire on it was now gone, and instead she had one smaller IV in that arm.

She had eaten some apple sauce and juice for breakfast.

Her voice was a little stronger. Her sentences a little longer, and she was more aware of her situation. All great signs of continued improvement.

Her left arm was hurting a bit, from all the needles that had been in there.

Her neck is sore and they are giving her some pain medication for that.

Her bladder was full, and they helped her to releive herself. Once that had happened she slept most of the afternoon.

The doctor issued two new orders for her. Solid food and to get her into a chair.

Late in the afternoon, they got her into a chair for almost an hour. She sat there and talked. Then they moved her back to her bed.

Pauline and Andrea went to the food court downstairs and got Alyee a Subway sandwich and some ice cream. When that came into the room, she lit up and was ready to eat. She ate most of the subway sandwich and had a bit of ice cream. It felt good on her throat. It wasn't long after eating that she was ready to go back to sleep.

To sum up today, she again made great progress. She met her goals of getting out of bed, and moving to solid food. Her humor is back and so is her spirit. She is still confused, has some short term memory loss, and not sure why she is here or where she is. She has lost track of the last 4 days, which may be a good thing. At times she still thinks she is at camp.

Pauline is spending the night in the room with here. I took Manny to get a good meal of Chinese food, before we got back to camp.