It’s late,  I am trying my best to update here when I can. What little time I do have I find myself falling asleep.(like right now)

It started Friday night the day after they did the spinal tap. We were getting Laura ready in the wheel chair to take her outside for a walk in the sun. Next thing I knew she looked like she was about to get sick and she was pointing to the bed. she had a really bad dizzy spell. Well this dizzy spell turned into a headache that has lasted for 3 days now.

Long story short, She had a CT scan this morning which showed a bleed in her brain. It is close to where the stroke took place,same area. The doctors are watching her closer now, she is on Morphine and she is hooked up to iv’s and has a oxygen monitor, (aka E.T. finger). She still has the headache but it is not as bad with the pain medicine. She went from a 10 being the worst pain, to a 5.

She also has big leg wraps on that are filling and releasing air to keep clots from forming in her legs. The doctors say they want her to just rest in bed for the next two days and they will do another CT scan on Thursday to check the area of the bleed. We are praying it will be less and reabsorbed. They switched her medicine and took her off the blood thinner and other pain meds she was on which could have contributed to it.

She is still talking, and still getting stronger on the right side of her body. Today she lifted her arm up for me and smiled. She is loving the cards and gifts she is getting from friends and family,every time something shows up she smiles. It really is helping her to know so many care about her. I have given her countless kisses from all who ask to give her one for them… it was quite comical this morning when i gave her a bunch, she was laughing because i was naming people off and kissing her for each person I named.

 She is so sweet through all this it really breaks my heart.I will not let her see me that way.You know the screaming internally, dropping to my knees, stabbing in the heart me. I am not always like this, it actually comes on very sporadic and sudden, then I have to take a walk and Pray.  I know without prayer and Jehovahs help I would not be getting through this as well as I have been. 

 I think of the faces I see in the elevator every day, the other parents who are here that we have come to know passing in the hall. It goes almost unspoken, we just all know what each other is going through. The Helicopter takes off and lands many times a day,it is right out our window. Since  this is a childrens hospital, I can’t help but wonder what happened,who is next I will meet in the elevator,at the cafeteria,or could possibly be moved to the room across from us,or next to us. I long for the day there will be no more hospitals needed.No pain. No suffering. ~Revelation 21:4

I look out the window and also see a big river,which just a few days ago realized it was the Mississippi river(Laura told me), and the HUGE boats are actually SHIPS coming up from the ocean. Very warm weather and almost every day we have been here it has been 70 degrees and up, sunny with the exception of 2-3 days when it rained some of the day.The nice weather I believe has also helped us get through each day.

I can’t wait to get Laura back out in the sun, and MOST of all get her home. I can’t wait to tuck all my kids in bed at night,under one roof and sleep in my own bed. It’s not easy being here…

Although Marina knows how to lighten things up a bit . That lizard is REAL!

~ Thankyou all for all your prayers and support. Thankyou to my family, and Marks family for all you have done and are continuing to do,we will all be home soon…..I can see it now.

This was my view the other night when the moon was bright and very LARGE. Just beautiful. I am so thankful to know what I do.

  I guess I should update a little here what has been happening the past few days.

Laura was doing so well with her therapy and they were getting ready last week to clear her to go home today, but she had another episode Friday morning ,she is now back to not talking much and unable to lift her right arm at all, she can no longer walk by herself unassisted.

What happened was Friday morning she got up fine,ate breakfast got ready and left for therapy,when she got to her first class,she lost her speech,and when they had her get out of the wheelchair she stumbled and couldn’t walk. her right arm went numb,they rushed her to the Mri it happened so fast. I can’t even explain the feeling.. I literally couldn’t tell if i was cold or just shaking from shock.. I was shaking so bad I could barely stand. They let us go all they way to the actual doors where the Mri is. We waited then went to Ct scan .. Shortly after got the news her vessels were inflamed decreasing blood supply to the brain.. When she got to the ct scan she was answering by shaking her head that she knew who we all were and she knew where she was. (HUGE relief!)

So we spent Fri,  Sat, and Sun in the PICU . She was started on Steroids for the inflammation and it has helped.

They think everything has been caused by vasculitis something autoimmune, her body attacks her vessels for no apparent reason, we have no idea what caused it to happen, and the Doctors said they may not find the cause but she can be treated to prevent further damage. 

She just arrived back from her therapy classes and she is exhausted..

This is her walking this morning for Physical therapy

 I am completely confident she will be like she was again before the second episode.  Walking on her own,talking and everything. She was able to lift her right arm above her head before, now she can only shrug the shoulder. We are seeing slight improvements each day so that is good. What a rollercoaster we all have been on.

 We WERE supposed to be moved this morning to Childrens Hospital to start Lauras therapy. Good old insurance companies is all I have to say. As soon as they fax the final paperwork to Childrens, we have a room for Laura and we are on our way. She is continuing to improve.Speech is still a little difficult for her, her smile is getting better and she can squeeze with a lot of pressure now with her right hand…. she can’t open her hand after she squeezes but just the squeeze for now is a HUGE improvement! Two days ago she could barely do that.

Thought I would post some more pictures real quick. It’s late and I am tired ….for once.

Just thought these trees looked so cool!

an abandoned building, there is a lot of them down here still.

Most of this place looks like this.

I thought this was pretty.

We spent some more time outside in the sunshine..

a little blurry but it captured her smile!

Caught Kermit the frog and we played with him for a while..he was very friendly.

and of course these lizards are everywhere, we found three different types.

this one was a little harder to catch.. it was fun though, a lot of laughing!

GIANT bug…. a little creepy.

a cute bug…I want to smooch on his cheeks!!!

Anthony giving Laura a smile therapy session  

Marina kissing Kermit longing for Prince Charming (should I tell her Princes don’t come from frogs?)

This is indoors but gorgeous!

Marina Paparazzi following us around

I’ll post again when we get to Childrens Hospital,I have no idea what to expect so it should be fun.

So far today…

We woke up happy

arranged the bed and little “friends”

We had some really friendly and furry visitors…

We are going to paint a ceiling tile today.. I think it is WONDERFUL Laura is able to leave a piece of her own artwork to add to the rest here.

We took a ride up to the 9th floor for a look out the window..

We decided to go for a walk out to the pool

I caught me a friend!

Sunshine is the best therapy if you ask Laura!

We let Bob go..lol

He turned all different colors, I think he liked me, so sad I had to let him go, I think he would have loved to come home with me but Mark said no

and never coming back….

Laura has been improving so much the Doctors say 2 weeks tops,if that, for in house rehabilitation. Her Doctor today said he would be shocked if it was more then a week and a half.

So we decided instead of going through the entire hassle of moving her back home,we will just stay here in New Orleans.Then when she is finished with rehab,drive back home and she will be able to continue therapy there.

We are staying for now in the Hotel attached to the hospital she is in,here is a glimpse of the Hotel lobby.

Our room

This morning I awoke to thunderstorms and looked out the hotel window to see FLOODS everywhere! When we were leaving to go to Laura I asked a Lady at the desk if that was just normal here,she said no and that there was a tornado or something..Haha..ok. 

 Carter was hanging out on the bed with Laura today,I thought it was the sweetest thing ever.

I cannot tell you how much I want to take Laura home right now, like… you know, blink my eyes and it be all just a bad dream…wake up and she is perfectly fine. I thank Jehovah every moment that she is still here with us. It could have been worse, I don’t know how I would have handled anything worse,being so far away from her…thinking about saying goodbye when she left to get on the plane to come down here,that it could have been the last. My brain goes crazy sometimes just thinking about how things could have been,I force myself to stop.

I have never experienced a panic attack in my life.

Since this has happened, I now know what it is. It is NOT just hyperventilation,like I thought.

~ You wake up with an EXCRUTIATING headache…the back of your neck throbs shooting pains right through your head and into your eyes.This comes in waves. Then your hands start to feel like they have been asleep, you know..that tingly feeling when they wake up, it travels slowly up your hands then your forearms. It feels like your hands are going to pop from pressure,like they are being squeezed through a wringer. Then my friends, is when the vomiting starts…I absolutely DETEST that part of it.

I can tell you now, I do look at things so different now, little things that were not always so important suddenly become so important.

Tonight is my night to stay here with Laura. Jeff and I are rotating nights with her, I am looking over at her and she is sleeping ever so peacefully. I tucked her in, and this time,when I kissed her forehead, I took a moment to really feel the kiss, not just a quick peck on her forehead, a real kiss, and ran my fingers through her hair. I am so happy to be here with her right now. It was worth every bit of the 31 hours it took to get here to her.

~ Thankyou SO very much to our family for taking care of the house and the rest of the kids so we don’t have to worry. Thankyou SO much to all of our friends and family who are thinking of us and praying, it means so much to us.

Philippians 4:6,7       Do not be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving let YOUR petitions be made known to God; 7)  and the peace of God that excels all thought will guard YOUR hearts and YOUR mental powers by means of Christ Jesus.

Happy baby.

Oh,and I was just kidding about the never coming back part ….did I mention I LOVE palm trees?!?!?

Laura today has made great progress.

She did indeed have a stroke, the area of the stroke was mainly in the sub-cotrical basil ganglia on the left side of the brain ( the part that controls fine motor skills.)  Her entire right side is weakend from this.

Last night she could say maybe a few words,today during the day,she has been talking more and we can understand her.

The therapist was working with her on following directions in a certain order,she did great! an example is she would say,”touch your nose before you make a fist and then point at the ceiling” she flew through it. she also would ask her what an object is and how we use it or what do we do with it…she flew through that also. I am watching her progress by the hour it seemed.

I was able to help her shower and she did great getting in and getting out all on her own,I helped her wash her hair because she needs to hang on with one hand and is unable to use her right arm.

Thank you to all who have offered support and prayers…I have to say I am nervous about the unknown,but I am at great peace at the same time.

We are still figuring out a place for Laura to be transferred closer to home to do inpatient rehabilitation therapy,we want to do whats best for her so this takes some research and finding the right place..As soon as we get her set up where we decide they will discharge her and she will make the flight with either medical transport( if insurance covers it) or Angel Flight with volunteer pilots. 

I wanted to post an update here for those who know and are concerned about Laura (also letting those who do not know,know)

This is what I know at this point.

 Laura and Carter went south to vist their Father,when they arrived off the plane Laura was really sick.

I spoke to her when she got off the plane,and she sounded fine,just complained of being a little nausous.

The next phone call was from Jeff at the ER

Laura suffered an extreme miagraine and started vomiting the day after she got off the plane,she didn’t reconize her Father and her right side including her face was weak. She can not talk. (I spoke with the Doctor and he said he doesn’t use the word paralized because she has feeling and is slowly able to start moving starting from the foot upward making progress.)

Laura has had Bloodwork a CT scan , 2 MRI’s and a MRA. They found Abnormal vessels in the base of her head they are looking closer at (the Doctor did say it could be congenital,I also have these vessels,I knew when I found out about my thyroid issue and had an MRI.) 

Laura also had an Echocardiagram of her heart ,they were checking for a possible blockage…she has already been put on a blood thinner as a percaution.

I just got word now that the echo is fine.

The last I heard from the nerologist was that depending on what they find on the second MRI and MRA they MAY decide to do immediate brain surgery to place a stent to relieve pressure and lesson any further effects where the  abnormal vessels are.

We do not think this is related to her first plane ride. (the doctor also said he doesn’t believe that right now)

Mark and I will be leaving in the morning and driving down it is about a 21 hour drive from here smack dab in the middle of New Orleans ( and Mardi Gras) 

I did talk to Laura and I talked TO her for about 20 minutes and had each of the kids talk to her to try to get her to respond,she was breathing heavy and I could tell she was trying to get something out but couldn’t. I did manage to get a “yes” from her when I asked her if she was ok. Also a possible “what happened” which I couldn’t completely tell if thats what she said,I asked her if thats what she said,and she couldn’t respond.. That is ALL I managed to get from her. NEEDLESS TO SAY we are on our way to her.

I will continue to update as we get updates when I am able. I really have no further information as of right now,and am still waiting on the results of the second MRI..

Thankyou for all your prayers and all who have offered support for us during this time.

I am writing this really fast so I know things are mispelled but hopefully I got it across.