A pictorial view of Bobbie...

She has gone from this...
To this...

And from here...

To here...

Wearing a crown of metal...

But who is this?....
Could it be...

It's Bobbie and she's wearing a smile...

One month later the crown is gone and the sight is almost healed,

And she's growing hair.......

A long overdue update:

Bobbie is healing well and smiling more each day. Her hair is coming in nicely and she seldom wears the scarves or caps any more. (Her daughter picked this scarf out for her.) We ask for prayers once again as she is to have surgery this Friday, March 20th, to remove the heart catheter they put in just after her first surgery. We have no idea why they want it removed now just that the outpatient surgery has been scheduled and it needs to come out. We are taking this as a good thing. Bobbie is much more mobile than I think any of the doctor's expected. That's my girl, stubborn as all gets out, and never one to stay down for long....

Many Blessings to you all,

Tess

My OWOH Prize Arrives & Another Update on Bobbie

Woo Hoo, My OWOH giveaway arrived today. Edrian was so kind to also send along a postcard and her business card showing off her artwork. She is just a wonderful illustrator. And I love her blog. I tried both taking a picture and scanning the items and I just could not get the sparkle of the bracelet to show in the pic. And the pretty gold foil pouch is just icing on the cake. The bracelet looks really small but it fits just fine, and it's lavender. I love it! Thanks Edrian!!

*************

And now for another update on Bobbie. She has now been transferred to the inhospital occupational rehab unit on the 4th floor. She is to wear her street clothes and will get more intensive therapy. And, they have convinced her she must quit smoking and she has agreed. They will be helping her with that too. She mentioned a patch. Her dear friend Tracy took her clothes and washed them to remove the cigarette smell and sprayed her shoes down with Lysol. He has agreed to quit smoking too. Now to get my son-in-law to agree to quit also, that would be great. We are looking at the rest of this week in the rehab unit working with the left hand and learning ways to get around. She handled the stairs well today and is walking just fine on linoleum and carpeting. :-) She is already practicing writing her name with her right hand. I am so glad they are teaching her these things now.

You all have a bright and beautiful day tomorrow and a calm and peaceful evening tonight.

Hugs,

Tess

A Quick Update on Bobbie

February 3rd, 2009

Greetings all,

First, thank you for the many prayers for Bobbie. Please keep them going/coming.

Yesterday was a long and tiring day. We made it safely to Topeka for the MRI and a friend of Bobbies in the medical field that knows his way around St. Francis arrived shortly after we did and before the MRI. Which turned out to be a blessing as the double Valium dose pretty much made her limp. The MRI people were "little" and would not have been able to handle lifting her. Tracy and Robert were able to assist with getting her into position. She did move some during the MRI but the neurosurgeon said with her tremors he could not fault her that. The images were clear enough for their purposes and he went forward with his evaluation, findings and suggestions. During his check-up with her he detected a weakness in her left side. The tumor is on the right frontal lobe just past the forehead to mid top of the head and from the hair part to the right about half way towards the ear. She thought her brain looked like lasagna. The nurse had to give her coffee to wake her up, and it did, so that the doctor was certain she understood everything. The mass is about the size of a golf ball and has no tentacles. One core area at the bottom of the mass otherwise it looks smooth. This is a good thing from what the surgeon indicated. She has been put on dilaudid and he thinks she is having mini seizures and plus seizures are a possible result of any type of brain surgery. She will stay on it until at the least six months after the surgery.


The soonest date available for both doctors was Feb. 24th. Dr. Eberling will be her attending surgeon and Dr. Fritz will be the assisting surgeon. Dr. Fritz operated on my husband in Dec. of 2007. This seemed to make Bobbie happy and I have to admit I was glad to hear he will be with her too as a trust has already formed with him as he helped Chuck. The surgery is scheduled for February 24th. They are going to try for sooner but we are to assume at this point that is the date. The kids have no medical insurance and thus far the type of treatment they have received I have been ashamed of. We are told the hospital here never should have let her leave the E.R. when the ct scan showed a tumor. No one seems to understand why she was continually given meds and more meds, psychotropics and pain pills, without further tests ordered before now. (That is all said and done and we must move forward.) At St. Francis they were treated with kindness, respect and told that "the non-insurance situation can be dealt with at a later date, first we've got to concentrate on getting Bobbie better". I highly recommend this hospital as twice now I've had a loved one there for evaluation and received exemplary care both times.


Bobbie is barely able to write her name let alone keep a journal, however I did purchase her a small notebook and decorated it up a bit. I added some quotes, stamped flowers and stickers throughout and we used it yesterday to write notes in and dates, meds, etc. Robert and I will continue this for her throughout this ordeal so that she will have something to look through in later years and see what all she went through that she may not remember. She was going to show Raven all the things in the notebook today. I expressed to my granddaughter last night that it is mommies journal, not hers. She is a scared little girl as they have now told her what is happening with her mommy. I guess the journal was more for me in a way as it was a distraction on Sunday night and Monday morning while waiting for the time to pick her up and head to Topeka.

Please continue to pray for Bobbie and pray that God will be guiding the surgeons hands....

Many Hugs,
Tess

January's Journal Challenge - Days 30 & 31

This has been a wonderful, exciting and creative month that has ended with a not wonderful whirlwind of a week. My thoughts now are where did January go? I miss the calm and the fun of having time and energy and focused thoughts to work on Misty's Challenge, on her prompts, and on browsing and viewing others wonderful creations. I've so enjoyed her enthusiasm for art and creating. She's hoping we will all continue and have a show and tell about it once a week on Wednesdays. Read her thoughts on this here.

The washer drain leak might be fixed except now it seems to back up through the hose drain sooooo we think it's clogged under the house. But, no matter because now the washer makes a weird noise and won't agitate. Funny thing is, I really don't care. Didn't get upset or nothing. Just loaded up the van and off I went after picking up Bobbie's laundry also to the the nice, clean, laundromat I found. The cost was $22.75 to wash 7 loads of laundry. I used 5 double loaders, a triple loader and a mega loader. This time I got smart and brought all those wet clothes home and am drying them here. That will save on cash out of pocket. I wish I had a clothes line as the temps in the 60's here and windy. A great day for drying on the line as my momma says. An usual great day. tomorrow and Monday/Tuesday the weatherman is saying clear and in the 40's. I hope the forecast is right so we'll have good travel weather.

Bobbie is at home surrounded by friends while Robert is working. Raven is in heaven with "cousins" to play with and "Aunts and Uncles" to give her attention. She's received calls and cards from some relatives and is often in awe as to why people are calling her and sending her cards. Then she remembers. She is tired today so I told them to let her nap.

There is a short update on my AC site here with a couple altered pictures of Bobbie about another MRI series she is to have.

And this is the most recent journal page. I did this in the middle of the night last night. I couldn't sleep.

I think I like this drawing so much it will soon become a painting. I'll probably do one in watercolor and then one in mixed media acrylic, maybe collage a bit on it too. It's similar to something I seen in a magazine and then I had the idea of adding the words of healing. They may change. And I may not find the time to paint it but I intend too and I want to.

I must be off, gotta check that dryer, duty calls. What is it John Lennon said,

"Life is what happens when you're making other plans". Isn't that the truth......

Continue praying for Bobbie and thank you,

I believe she is in HIS hands,

Tess

January's Journal - Day 28 and 29

I can't express enough how very much I appreciate all of the messages and words of encouragement and prayers that I have received here. Bobbie appreciates them too. It has been a whirl wind of activity these past days. My son-in-law is exhausted. My daughter has memories of some of it and none of others. She forgets a morning event by the afternoon yet remembers it the next day. I feel like I'm walking through a fog, a cloudy veil over my head. I can only imagine how she must feel, the fear, the uncertainty, the wonder. Family has been called, e-mailed, notified. Friends have been called. Her sister....she called her sister and actually got her on the first try. My youngest has trials in her own life. She and my son-in=law are laid off from work as of Jan. 31st with severance pay until March 15th. She called me yesterday to tell me she spoke to sis and got her to laugh. That's my little one, always looking to the positive, to the bright side of things. I had forgotten that Bobbie fell from a 3 story window when she was 17 and survived that. Her sister told her "hey if you can live through a 3 story fall you can live through this. I knew it was best for her to call her sister herself. I'm glad I insisted on it.
So far the meds have been switched again to alleviate vomiting, a prescription reaction to a pain med, and they added prednisone to alleviate inflammation from the bump on her noggin. They still have not told my grand daughter what all is going on. I don't know if they just can't bring themselves to tell her or if they feel it is best to not tell her yet. The Dr. office called and told them the MRI confirms what the E.R. doctor found. So now we wait until the neurosurgeon appointment on Feb. 19th. It seems like a lifetime away, that date. So far off. I want it to be now, they want it to be now, but we must wait. The neurosurgeons are booked we are told. So we wait and pray and hug a lot..............

Please continue to keep Bobbie in your prayers and thank you all so very much for the words of encouragement. They mean so much to me, to us.

This journal page is a collage of how I feel, in a daze, in a fog, a cloudy veil over me. It will lift, it must lift. I do not know what name this emotion I am feeling would have, what label. It took three tries at finishing this collage.

She is in HIS hands, I'm sure of this. The fall was a blessing.........., there is a reason for her madness. She's not faking, she's not being lazy, or ridiculous, she's changing, her personality is so different from what it was a week ago, amonth ago, 3 months ago and I want my daughter back. He wants his wife back. She'll be ok, she has to be, we need more time to finish and do and love. She'll be ok...........

Tess