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.