MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Can't believe it is Christmas week! I'm still not all the way ready but hey it will happen!!  Mitch had his sleep study test last week and they finally called today and said that he does have sleep apnea but it isn't a very bad case and they want him to learn to sleep on his back and loss some weight! Easy right????  His Dr. is outta town for the holidays so I will get in touch with him when he is back.  He told us last week if Mitch had sleep apnea and he got a machine to help him at night he may feel 100% better and not need the device, so I want to make sure that this is his recommendation also!!!!  He also told us that he isn't sold on the Vagas Nerve Stimulator, he has been looking at something else called a neuropace, so anyway I guess we just need to be patient and wait for the Holidays to be over and then get a hold of him and see what his thoughts are on all of this. Mitch is just wanting to feel better......NOW!!!!!  Dave's uncle Ed Meyer passed away last week, please say an extra prayer as they try to get through the Holidays!  Many prayers and Big Hugs to Aunt Dolore, Karl, LeAnne and families, even though he is no longer suffering, we will all miss him so much!! Thanks so much for all the continued prayers, enjoy your families and we pray Santa finds you all!!! Love ya,  Theresa

Sleep study!!!

Thought I would put a quick update as it has been a while.  Mitch continues to do ok. He will enter back into the hospital at University of Missouri on December 13th and they will do a sleep study and then on the 14th we will meet with his Dr. and set up surgery for the Vagus Nerve Simulator! I am also hoping they will be able to tell us how the sleep study was!  We are ready to get this all done and hopefully when Christmas break is over he will be feeling so much better.  Dave is doing good and he did do the home sleep study and it came back that he doesn't have sleep apnea but I'm still not convinced of that!!!!  He will go back to the Dr. after the first of year and see what or if they can do anything else, who knows!!!  We hope you are all getting in the hustle and bustle of the quickly approaching Holiday!  Thanks so much for the continued prayers for us, we really couldn't get through this without all of you!!!   I will let you know how the hospital stay & appointment go in December.  Love you all,   Theresa

We are home!

Well, I forgot to bring my login information to the hospital so I couldn't update this til now, Sorry!  Mitch was admitted to the hospital on Monday Morning for EEG monitoring! He had a few episodes just like we all knew he would! Today when Dr. Bandy came in he said they had seen enough episodes and data that they felt he should go home. So here is what we have learnt, Mitch is still having seizures but not near as many as before. Dr. Bandy said that the day before Mitch had his surgery in June he was having between 30 and 50 seizures an hour, today when we left the hospital he had had only 9 seizures in the three days we were there, now he isn't sure that he isn't maybe having more than that but they are so deep in the brain and the EEG won't pick them up. They do not want to do another surgery because they can't go any deeper in the brain without causing him motor function damage.  Mitch's main complaint is that he doesn't feel like he is getting sleep at  night so they are going to set him up for a sleep study to see if he needs to wear a machine at night and then he is going to get a VNS, Vagus Nerve Stimulator, and that will zap seizures every 3 minutes and if he would have one in between he would run a magnet over it and it would stop them too! They are still very impressed with how well Mitch gets along having the seizure activity all the time and they are all so proud of him for being in school still! We are hoping to get this all done before the end of the year! We so appreciate all the visitors we had, Kyler Farnan, Erma Mattson, Shannon Luke, Michelle, Robynn Gard, Trevor Johnson, Debbie Smith, Marilyn Jermain, Shelly Deen never a dull moment and big thanks to Erma Mattson for letting me crash at your place, and bringing us pizza, Debbie Smith thanks so much for steak and shake, Marilyn Jermain  thanks so much for the Sports Grill food, we cannot thank you enough! I will let you know when all of this is set up and we head back that way! Most of you know that Dave had a spell a couple weeks ago! He spent a couple days in the hospital in St. Joe. He also did a sleep study and we should find out the results of that in a week. Insurance wouldn't approve a over night in the hospital but they approved one he did here at home and then if that shows something they will approve the hospital one, if I can get him to go do it! We will be the family of sleep machines! On the way home from Columbia today I was talking to Tiff on the phone and all of a sudden she started Screaming and yelling "are you ok?" Then her phone went dead and I was screaming at her and crying I knew something very bad had happened but I had no clue what. Well she had stopped to let a car in front of her turn and a pickup rear ended her, it hit her pretty hard and Quincy was with her. Thank God they are both ok but let me tell you this family of mine is making my poor pacemaker work overtime. Thank you all for the continued prayers, as you can tell this crazy lady needs them. Love you all so much and I continue to ask God to watch over all of our family  and friends, we adore you all! Love you bunches,  Theresa

Back to the Hospital!

I am so sorry it has been so long since I have posted, I just don't really know what to say:( Mitch continues to have different problems and he continues to get more frustrated everyday! Last week he started in with his famous arm seizures, it only happened a couple days and then they were gone! This week his right leg and arm, which is his good side, started in with some different kind of spasms! His Dr would like me to capture them and send to him but I can't seem to!  Mitch will enter the hospital in Columbia on the 31st of October and will do the video monitoring for a few days. We had it set up to do over Christmas break but with all these new issues his Dr really wants to know what is going on. Mitch continues to tell us that he just doesn't feel good, he says he doesn't feel bad or hurt he just doesn't feel right. We are trying to be optimistic that he just doesn't know what it feels like to be seizure free after 15 years, and we are still praying that he is healing and that this is all normal. So for now we will continue to stay positive and pray that he is still just healing. I will try real hard to update this more often! Thank you so much for all the kind words and prayers you continue to give, you will never know how much they really do help!  There is so many little ones and big ones dear to our heart that are battling the beast, please keep all cancer patients and their caregivers in your prayers too. God Bless you all and hope you are ready for the cold, Brrrrrrrr!! Love ya, Theresa

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting!!

I'm not sure why after almost 15 years of dealing with Drs. that I am so impatient!!!! Dave took Mitch back yesterday and got all the electrodes off his head and now we are just waiting for them to call us with the results. They said it could be up to 10 days before they know!  Mitch did pretty good, he did hit the button 18 times, which means he thinks he had some seizure activity. We are praying it is just his brain trying to heal!  Thanks so much for all the messages and kind words, this is getting very long and tiresome for us all but we thank God for all of you that help us get through the day.  Can't believe summer is about over and school will start soon. We hope and pray that Mitch will be ready to go and finish up his Senior year of College. I just can't believe he is about done!  Again, thanks so much and I will let you know when we hear anything. Enjoy what is left of summer and try to stay cool and safe.  Love you all, God Bless!!!  Theresa

Trying to hang tough!!!

Sometimes life throws some pretty mean curve balls but you must stand in there, hang tough and take them and then fight back!!!  So Mitch's appointment was kinda what I thought it would be. When we got to the Dr, office yesterday morning Dave said "Mitch, I still haven't seen your arm do that twitching thing you have been telling me about"! Well Mitch said "just watch it cause it is going to do it now". Yep he had a seizure right there in the parking lot! We got him in the building and got him in a wheelchair and wheeled him to Dr. Lanigar's office and they came and got us and Dr. Lanigar was with another patient but we think she went and got him but by the time he got in there he was coming out of it. We think it lasted about 30 minutes. Dr. Lanigar told Mitch and us that Mitch, is defiantly his most challenging and difficult patient, of course Mitch isn't the text book type! He wanted to know if we thought his seizures were different than before and I said yes because before he was having so many and we never even knew it but now he is able to tell us when they are going to happen. he agreed with us on that.  He wanted to put Mitch back in the hospital and do the long term EEG but couldn't get him in until the end of August, so he decided to do a ambulatory EEG, which we will take him to the hospital on Monday and they will hook him all up and then we can go home and he will wear it until Thursday! If this doesn't show much then the end of August he will have to enter back in the hospital and do the other one. Dave asked Dr. Lanigar if he would have been hooked up if he thought it would have showed up as a seizure and Dr. Lanigar just isn't sure yet if these are seizures or healing! He did start Mitch on another seizure medicine and also gave us a prescription to have if he has a seizure to give him to bring him out of it sooner, now I just hope I am organized enough to have it with us when we need!  We were all pretty bummed yesterday and Mitch still claims he will not do another surgery but I told him I feel we need to get a second opinion and try to keep going, we have came this far lets not give up now. I also told Mitch that he hit his beautiful head so darn hard the day of the accident and dang it he is paying for it now.  So we will head back to Columbia on Monday and get all hooked up and pray that Dr. Lanigar will see what he needs to and all of this is just part of the healing process.   Thanks so much for all the prayers, kind words and encouragement, we really do appreciate them all! Thanks also to Traci and Robert Archer for bringing a piece of the NWMSU Bearcat Turf, Mitch was pretty excited to get it!  God Bless you all,  Theresa

Hanging in there!

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated!  I got anxious and called Dr. Lanigar's office on Monday just to let them know that Mitch was still having a few spells and not feeling the best and also I wanted to know about the EEG!  They called back and said the EEG was NORMAL!!!  First normal EEG they have seen from Mitch! We are thrilled but Dr. Lanigar wants to see us Friday, I wonder if he will want to put him in the hospital and do the extended EEG to make sure the night time activity is gone as well, That is me just thinking so that may not be it at all!!!  Dr. Lanigar still thinks his brain is healing so I hope and pray that is what is going on and Mitch will feel better soon.  I will update when we get home from Columbia Friday!  He continue to not feel the best in the mornings and he does still think that he has stuff going on at night and he is pretty sad the darn Royals are stinking up the field right now but he really seems more happy, alert and ornery to me and lets go ROYALS!!!  Thanks so much for the continued prayers, kind words and support, they really do help us get through this darn roller coaster ride we are on.   Love you all,  Theresa

Long Week!!!

It has been a Very Long week and it is only Thursday!  Between Mitch and I we have had 6 appointments in three different hospitals, good thing we have nothing better to do:)!  Mitch had an appointment in Columbia on Monday and he got his stitches out and had an EEG, we won't find anything out from that for 10 days! Dr. Tanaka was just like Dr. Lanigar and she wasn't concerned at all about Mitch's seizures he has been having, she too thinks it is part of the healing process!  Mitch hasn't been feeling the best in the mornings and he wanted me to watch him sleep and see if I noticed any seizure activity at night, so I did last night and I didn't notice anything. Dave and I are hoping he is just upset because of the activity he has had during the day, we all just want the seizures gone!!   I want to send a huge thank  you to my Aunt Cindy and Cousins Vicki and Becca for coming out this week and helping me get to all our appointments, and also to Mom and Aunt Trude for helping with Gia and Quincy, so I didn't have to drag them with me, they would have been so bored!!!! I had a shot in my eye in KC on Tuesday and Mitch had therapy in Maryville and then on Wednesday I had to see my heart Dr. in St Joe and then got my third shot in my knee in Maryville and today Mtich has therapy and I think tomorrow we have a free day so we will play, play, play before Joel and Tiff get home from Mexico!! So glad they are having a fun vacation but wish our life wasn't so crazy so we could have some fun with the kids but they aren't lacking for attention as they have spent some quality time with Steve, Vickie and their family at the lake, thank you guys for letting them hang out with you!! We have facetimed with Joel and Tiff in Mexico a couple times and also Dan, Mary and their family are on Hilton Head Island and we facetimed with them this morning and both places look beautiful!  We all continue to pray that Mitch is healing and all these seizures will soon be gone. Thank you all so much for sticking with us through this journey! We really appreciate all the prayers and encouraging words you are giving us. Love you all, Theresa

Ups and Downs!

Well, I'm not sure what to say!! Mitch has been going to therapy and doing real well with that, He continues to get stronger everyday!  He has had some really good days and we just LOVE those but then he has had some pretty yucky days and they bring us way down to our knees.  On Wednesday, July 13th, Mitch woke up and felt like he had seizures all night just like before, he we very irritable and just felt pretty crappy all day. Then on Thursday, he had an awesome day and was joking with me and feeling great, then this morning he woke up and he said he was feeling good but by 8:10 am I knew he was in full seizure mode:(!  I called Dave home and we couldn't get him out of it so we headed over to ER, he was throwing up and just not quite with it! I called Dr. Lanigar and he wanted them to do a CT scan, blood work, to check for infection and levels of his seizure meds! He really wasn't concerned at all about this and said it is just all post traumatic surgery and his brain is still healing!! They gave him some fluids and got him all hydrated back up, then after checking everything and it was all fine, they sent us back home. He has been resting and just staying low key for the day!  WE are trying to stay positive and pray that this is just part of the healing process, I'm sure there will be alot more Ups and Downs.  He goes back Monday to get his stitches out and then they will do an EEG to check for seizure activity. Thanks so much to everyone that came and helped this morning and for all the visits at the hospital, we really was needing all those hugs and thanks for all the prayers, we really couldn't do this without you all. Love you all,  Theresa  

One Day at a Time!!!

So, I was very apprehensive about my last post  because we all know things can change in a heart beat and that is exactly what happened.  I took Mitch down to see Mom on Sunday afternoon and we all started playing a game and having a great time when all of a sudden I heard Mary say "Mitch are you ok"? Well he was having one of his many different kind of seizures, where his lip was quivering and droopy! It lasted maybe 1-2 minutes and then he was fine but in all seriousness we were devastated! I did call the hospital and Dr. Lanigar wasn't on call so I just spoke to the Dr. on call and he assured me that as long as he was conscious and he knew what was going on that it was ok. He did want me to follow up with Dr. Lanigar today and I did call him and left a message and he called me right  back, He was more worried that it was his famous arm seizure and when I told him what all had happened, he wasn't worried at all.  He really isn't sure why it happened but he said he has a whole lot of healing to do yet and Mitch needs to have fun but also needs to take it a little easy.  Mitch didn't feel very good yesterday, he was very worried that the seizure had found a new spot to come out of, but this morning after talking to Dr. Lanigar he is back to smiling and teasing me a whole bunch.  I can't tell you that I am fine with all of this but I will tell you that, God is in control and we will take this One Day at a Time!   Thank you all for all your continued support and prayers, I know they are all being heard and answered, I want to Thank Mitch's Doctors that have me call them and they call right back and help calm us down! This is just a small bump in the road and now we need to keep him healing! He will start therapy on Thursday and I know that will help him feel stronger fast. I did get my first shot in my knee this morning and that went great, one down four to go!  Thanks again to you all for EVERYTHING and we Love you all,  Theresa
P.S. He got a belated birthday card in the mail today from the Royals and they said they are following his blog, so thanks so much for the card it did put a smile on his face. What an awesome group of Royal people you are!!!  He LOVES you all so very much!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanking God!

Well, it's been a while again, sorry. Mitch has been absolutely great, we went back to Columbia on Wednesday and Dr. Lanigar was thrilled. He thought Mitch looked better, acted better and is better than he has been for a very long time. He told us that he wants to do a EEG on July 18th, when Mitch gets his stitches out, and he knows that NOTHING will show up, No abnormal activity and no seizures. We have waited a very long time, 14 1/2 years to be exact, to hear those words.  Dr. Lanigar was pretty upset the night Mitch had the 3 hour seizure and he told us that was just too long for anyone to have a seizure. They are all pretty confident that they have found the Focal point, where all the seizures are coming from, and that he will never have another one again. We are just all thrilled!!! Mitch says he sleeps better, feels like getting up and ready to start everyday with a smile on his face. Dr. Lanigar will not start weening Mitch off any medicine until next summer. We continue to pray that they are gone forever and will never show up again. As most of you know, I was going to have a knee replacement on the 11th of July, my knee was bothering me alot but it really is a ton better and I feel like I can finally walk again. I still have trouble kneeing and getting up off the floor but hey at least it don't hurt, anyway I have canceled that for the time being and I will start a series of shots on Tuesday July 5 and I am praying that will give me a couple of years before I will have to have a new knee. Mitch is getting ready to start therapy and Dave would be run ragged trying to help him and me, so it is wonderful that I can wait. We have alot of things to be thankful for but mostly Mitch's successful surgery, our health, and all of you and our precious God, so thank you all so much for your prayers and support during this crazy time in our life. We cherish you all and please stop by if you are in the area. We pray you all have a safe and Happy 4th, summer is almost over!  Love you all, David, Theresa and Mitch

Keep on trucking!!!

Mitch is just amazing!!! He still has some swelling in his head and it does cause him a headache but we still haven't seen any seizures and he swears he is in no pain and he is sleeping much better at night! We are just thrilled!!!! He did receive a package in the mail today from the hospital and it had at least 50 cards in it! He would like me to thank you all for the cards and all the wonderful messages he received for his birthday, He feels pretty special!! He didn't get them all looked at yet but I told him to just take his time and open a few each day, makes your birthday last longer, thank you all so much for making him so happy, we appreciated it so much!!!!!!  We hope to start therapy in a week or two, just want to make sure the swelling is gone so he can handle being up more! He has had some great visitors and he looks forward to more!!! Thanks so much for all the good food you all have brought, no dieting here:)! Thanks so much for all the prayers, we appreciate them! If you could say a prayer for some of my Kansas cousins, we are heading out their tonight as my sweet Aunt Evelyn Henry passed away! Never fun to see everyone at a time like this but I am so thankful I am able to go and tell her goodbye! Thank you all so much, you guys are all amazing!!! Theresa

Home!

we got home at 2 pm yesterday and enjoy dinner with Joel, Tiff and kiddos! Thanks Tiff for dinner it was awesome! Mitch has had a great first night and day home! He has slept quite a bit and when he is awake, he has a smile on his face! I just love seeing that!!! I am trying to to get to excited but we haven't seen his arm do one of its seizures and that is fabulous!!! We are just praying that we never see one of them again!!! He has had some company and he really enjoys visiting with anyone so he doesn't have to talk to me:)!!!  He did do a shower and I hardly helped at all he is just doing great! Well it is 5 pm so I think I will go get outta my pjs:)!!! I am pretty lazy:)!!! Thanks so much for the continued prayers and please do stop and visit if you are in the area!!!! Love you all,  Theresa

Keep on truckin!!!!

Well my rockstar is wanting out of here real bad!  He has had an awesome day....hoping that he hasn't overdone it!  He has been up several times walking the halls and each time he is more steady than the last! He has had a very good appetite and pretty much eats whatever he wants. He took a shower, with the help of  Dave and I , and he just looks so much better.  He does have quite a bit of swelling in his head and face and they told us to expect that to go down his face each day and his eyes may be almost swelled shut but it should absorb itself and he has had no fever at all today.  They also told us that we should go home tomorrow and I think we can handle that!  This place is wonderful and I love the expert help we get but there is no place like home to heal. He will go back to therapy, at home, in a week or two and we aren't really sure how long that will last but we know they will LOVE to have him back.  The Royals have kept this stay very interesting for us and all the nurses have heard about the birthday shout out to Mitch and some of them were even watching it and said to their family "Hey I know that man"! Mitch is Loving the winning streak they are on! Dave and I plan to go back to the house tonight, THANK YOU SO MUCH ERMA, JEFF, JOAN AND KYLER for letting us use your homes, that helped us out tremendously!  God is good and so far we have seen 0 arm seizures in 2 days. We know that we won't know anything for a long time and this is how it started the last time but we are very hopeful that they have left the country!  We said goodbye to my Mom, Mary, Malia and Magz today! Thank you so much for spending the weekend with us, even if you were here to play ball, it sure made it go fast. Thanks to Keith, Kristy and Kayla for coming by for a quick visit, it was so nice to see you.  So the plan for now is to get out of here tomorrow afternoon and go home and heal!  Thanks to you all for all the support and prayers, WOW you all are awesome!!!! Love ya, David, Theresa and Mitchell

Much better!

Just a quick update now to thank you for prayers! I came back to hospital at 6 this morning and he was much more alert, talkative and no fever! Dave said he slept good, Just praying now the Fever stays away and he can have a good day! His nurse thought he would get moved to the floor today if they had a room for him! Mitch wants outta here real bad, I'm in no hurry to get him home......yet! I will update later but wanted you to know he seems much better this morning! He just got done eating an egg, bacon and cheese buiscut and he thought it tasted good! The surgery team was just in and said they are moving Mitch to the floor and if he can get up and walk he can go home tomorrow, I told them we are in no hurry yet, Thank you Jesus!!!! Love you all, Theresa

Quiet Birthday!

The birthday boy was pretty quiet today! They got him up and he was able to sit in a chair for 30 minutes but that was all he could handle! He went for a MRI and we haven't heard anything from that so they said that is good otherwise they would have took him straight to surgery! He Hasn't ate much but doesn't really have an appetite yet, and he is running a 100.2 temp and they don't get concerned unless it is over 100.5 so I am praying that it goes back down instead of creeping up! Dave kicked me outta the hospital tonight and he stayed, so I will try to get so sleep and head back over early! If his temp goes down he should get moved to the floor tomorrow, they also said if he can get up and move around he may be able to go home Monday but I'm not real thrilled with taking him home unless he is getting up and down a lot better than what he is right now! Mom stayed with Mitch for a while today so Dave and I could go watch Maggie play ball, good game Maggie and thanks Granny, and we were sad to find out we missed our cousin Keith, please come back Keith!! We had some visitors from Iowa today, thank Kevin , Crystal, Hailey, Caitlyn and Aiden for coming to sing Mitch Happy Birthday! Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day! We are praying tomorrow will be a better day and that this is just a bump in the road! Thanks so much for the continued prayers we really do appreciate all of them! I'm so ready for my baby to feel better!!!! Love you all Theresa

Back in our room!

Our Rockstar is back in his room! They took him at 9:30 and he got back to the room at 6:30! They took a pretty good piece of brain out and now the waiting game to see if seizures come back! They said just surgery could make him have some seizures but we are really hoping they are DONE!! When we got back to the room they were concerned because he couldn't move his left arm or leg at all, they called the Dr and ordered a MRI to make sure there is no bleeding but he did finally start to move and seems to be back to normal! They are still going to do the MRI just to be on the safe side. He is also pretty nauseated and sick to his stomach, so they are pumping him up with alot of zofran! We got his meds down him and are praying that they stay down. Mary, Malia, Maggie, Mom and Dave got here at 11:30, i was very glad to see them. Bri Hunter brought some birthday cupcakes and Jill made some scotcheroos, Yummy Puff, Tyler Davis, and Jessica also came and spent some time with us during and after surgery and Lori Stoll came and brought us some cookies and fruit! Thank you all so much for the food and visiting with us during surgery it really helped to pass the time. Thanks so much for all the kind words, messages and prayers, you will never know how much we cherish all you have done for us! Love you all David, Theresa and Mitchell

My rockstar is heading to surgery! He had a pretty yucky night and seized most of the night! We are so ready to get this over and praying he will feel better! Thank you all for all the support , we really appreciate it! I will update when I can! Love you all so much!!! Mitch and Theresa

We are set for tomorrow!!

Well Mitch had his mapping test, mapping CT scan, EKG, blood work, ultrasound to make sure there was no blood clots in his legs, since he isn't up walking and urine test and I think that is it and everything is a go for tomorrow around 1 pm. The mapping test was pretty interesting, he started having seizures about a half hour into it and they had to stop 4 times and give him medicine to come out of it, it ending up taking 3 hours to do! Dr Bandy, who is with Dr Lanigar, did the test and he is very confident that they have for sure found the focal point this time and there is no motor functions that should be in the way of this. The piece of brain they will take is approximately 2 inches by 1 1/2 inch and 1-1 1/2 inches deep, alittle bigger than last time. Dr Lanigar came in after it was over and said he is so happy we are doing this and he really thinks Mitch will do great and feel like a new man, that is why we are doing this!!!! He also said they had called him Sunday night when Mitch started seizing and they couldn't get him out of it, and he could watch him from home and Mitch seizure lasted 3 hours. He said he was concerned but wasn't cause he could see Mitch and tell that he wasn't having any trouble. He presumes that Mitch has these kind of seizures a lot and we just don' know cause he isn't hooked up to the machine. I just know he is a trooper and I am so proud of how well he handles everything that is thrown his way, He is definitely my hero. He received quite a few cards again today and he really enjoyed reading them, some were from people we didn't know but knew us from people we do know, how cool is that?? Thank you all so much for all the cards, prayers, messages and support. We really couldn't do this without you all!!!! We are praying that this will all be over soon and we will be home to recuperate! Love you all, Theresa and Mitch

Royal brain!

Well, Mitch is officially on the surgery books for Friday!! Dr. Tanaka thought she would be ready for him at 1 pm so I think 2:)!!!! It will be a long day for him with no eating or drinking but we will do, I will do it with him!!! She brought in a diagram of Mitch's brain, with the grid and circled where all the seizures are coming from, it looks like a pretty big area to me! There are 36 leads in his head and they will remove 15 of them!! We are soooo excited, she really has us pumped that this is it! So with any luck at all, Mitch will get exactly what he wants for his birthday, he doesn't want money, a car, drinks, cake, clothes or a steak, all he wants is to get rid of these damn seizures!! We don't Sleep much here at all, I spend my time praying!! We had some awesome visitors that brought us food, thanks so much Boston Dickerson for tacos for lunch and thanks Erma Mattson for Olive Garden for dinner, We are stuffed! Thanks for all the cards he got today, he did get quiet a few! Again his 26th birthday is Saturday so if you would like to send him a card the address is: Mitchell Schmitz University of MIssouri Hospital NSICU Rm T7227 1 Hospital Dr. Columbia, Missouri 65211 I had his wrong room number on before but he still got some cards so they said it really didn't matter but this is his official room number:)! Feel free to just leave a message on here or Facebook, he will read them all! The support we have got is phenomenal. Thank you all so much for helping us through this most difficult time, we are blessed to know you all!! The Royals have been doing their part also, keep up the awesome work and get back in first place! Mitch just said if they win tonight they will be tied, how amazing is that?? Thanks again and lets do this!! Love ya, Mitch and Theresa

My Star!

Mitch is AMAZING, he has went two days without pain medicine! He swears he doesn't hurt so that is great!! Things change so fast here and I'm sure that has a lot to do with having Four team of Doctors following you! Dr. Tanaka came in with a smile on her face this afternoon and said, "Are you ready to get this done." Of course Mitch said yes and I was more like, "do you have all seizures that you need, are you sure where they are coming from, because I can tell you right now, he will NEVER do this again!" She totally understood and said very confidently that he has had MANY seizures and they are all coming from the same area of the brain, so they will do the mapping of the brain to make sure none of his motor functions are in the way and then surgery is back on for Friday! It will be late morning but that was fine with us, let's get it done! She was really more excited that the famous arm seizures he has, have been found and she knows where they are coming from And she will get rid of them for him, I just know my baby is on his way to feeling better than he has in 15 years!! He also was lucky enough to get to be a part of a newspaper article in the Columbia tribune which will come out on Saturday, his birthday! They came to do an article on nurses and all the nurses picked Mitch to be their patient! He is kinda spoiled here in the NSICU, we remember A lot of them from before and for some reason they all remember us! So that was pretty exciting too! Thanks to Erma Mattson for coming to visit and thank Shannon Luke for taking me outta the hospital to do some laundry, make a Walmart trip and grab some dinner!! We appreciate all the encouraging messages, prays and Mitch did get a card in the mail today, thanks so much Joyce Miller for the neat card, I'm impressed you got it here on flag day, and everyone really enjoyed the red, white and blue stars!! Love you all So much!! Theresa and Mitch

Feeling Better!

Mitch has had a better day today! He is still tired but he claims he has no pain and he hasn't had any type of pain medicine since last night! He is such a trooper and I am so proud of him and I just pray he is not trying to be too tough! All Doctors rounded today and Dr. Tanaka was pleased with his head and thinks it looks real good! The neuro ICU team came and they are pleased with how well he is doing and they are even wanting him to get up in a chair, so we are waiting for that! Dr. Lanigar's team was in but he wasn't able to come today and they told us Mitch is doing exactly what they want him to, he has had 7 pretty good seizures they have captured so far and many small ones. The big one seems to be coming from the same area and now they need to figure out how deep they are, with that being said we have took it that we will probably be here another week just to make sure they have all the documentation that they need. Mitch was pretty bummed but I am fine with that cause Mitch says this is it, he isn't doing any of this again and frankly I don't blame him! It is exhausting watching him have to go through all this! Yesterday was very hard to watch Dave, Mark, Tiff, Gia and Quincy leave here without us, we just miss them all so much. Thanks to Vince and Joan Wilmes for coming in and bringing Dave, Tiff and I lunch, it was awesome and also thanks for great cousins Montana and Boston Dickerson for coming in and seeing Mitch! Mitch didn't feel the best and they wanted to bring him lunch but Mitch just wasn't up for it! You guys get your behinds back over here, he is doing much better and we really enjoy the visit! Then last night we had one of Mitch's high school teacher and her husband, Jared and Bri Hunter, came and seen us and they have moved here now so hopefully they will drop in again:)! My Aunt Liz brought us lunch today on her way back home and brought us a couple bags of goodies from the VanNordstrand's, thank you guys so much, I feel like all I do is eat, eat, eat!!! So for now it is a waiting game and they want him to continue to have seizures so they can capture them. We appreciate all the messages, support and prayers you have giving us, you will never know how much we appreciate them all!!!! Love you all, Theresa and Mitch

Mitchell wants outta here!

Well Mitch hasn't let us down at all! He had a pretty sleepy day yesterday, he is in more pain than I would like to see him in but they said they really expected that. Mark, Joel, Gia and Quincy got here around 3 yesterday, it was so wonderful to have us all here! Max and Jennifer Dunlap brought us in pizza and cookies and Andy and Sara Hull sent a bag of goodies so we just stayed here in the room and ate, thank you guys so very much for doing that, it is so wonderful to have support from everyone, no dieting going on here!! Mark, Joel, Tiff and kids left about 8 and Dave took off about 8:30 so Mitch and I just were resting and going to try to get some sleep since neither of us slept much the night before. Wouldn't you know it about 9, while his nurse was getting all his vitals, Mitch starting having some pretty big seizures. His heart rate got dangerously high and he quivered alittle by 9:15, the Doctor on call showed up and she was very concerned. The monitering team had called her cause they could tell from the moniter and video, they watch of him all day and night, that he wasn't coming out of it. By 10 he had all the ativan he could have to stop the seizures and he was still seizing. I called Dave and told him to come back over, thank you Dave, and the Doctor on call had called Mitch's Dr and he really wasn't that shocked, he really feels like this is Mitch's normal! He probably does this every night, but because of the grid on his brain and the surgery it may have been alittle worse but really he doesn't think much! The on call Dr. also told us that she can tell exactly where the seizures are coming from so, We all have our fingers crossed that they will decide that Mitch needs to have surgery very soon, but who knows! This Momma is so ready for this to be over, I'm pretty sure my pacemaker is working overtime! They did tell us that Mitch did have a few spells during the day yesterday but really the night time is the very worse for him. They will have to do the grid testing to make sure none of his motor functions are coming from the same area as the seizures. We are praying very hard that there will be no other functions there cause we really don't want him to lose any of the function he has in his arm or leg. So I guess you could say that Mitch is doing exactly what we want so they can get him all fixed up! He had an ok night and we are anixously waiting for all the teams of Doctors this morning to see there thoughts on this. Thanks so much everyone for all the love, support, food and prayers we sure need them all!!!!! I will try to update again after all teams of Doctors are in. One other thing, we just found out that our cell phones won't receive calls here, we can call out but not receive, so if you would like to visit with us or Mitch please just text us and we will call you, my cell is 660-582-7064!!! Thanks again for everything, Love you all, Theresa

Hanging tough

Well night one is in the books and Mitch didn't let them down. Mitch hurts alot more this time than before, his incision is much bigger and he has really had a headache and hurts more. They are trying many different pain medicines so you would think it would make him sleepy but not so much! He went for a CAT scan at 4 am, this was to make sure the grid is placed in the correct place, and when he got back they gave him some more pain meds and he is kinda resting now. As soon as they find out if the grid is correct then they will hook him up to the machine to show the seizure activity! About 10 pm last night he started having his famous arm seizures, these are pretty rare and his nurse hadn't seen them before! Although it seems weird to pray for seizures this is what we need to pinpoint where the heck they are coming from! We are just praying that all of the different kinds he is having is coming from the same area and that it is going to be in a place that won't affect any other motor functions! If the seizures show up, like they think they will, there is a big possibility that he could have surgery Wednesday or Thursday! This would put us home much sooner than we thought but we just need to make sure that all the different kinds of seizures are caught before he has the next surgery, I don't know if Mitch will do this again and I can't say that I blame him. Thanks so much for all your continued prayers, we really appreciate the support and you all helping us get through this! If you would like to send him a card his address is University of Missouri Hospital Mitchell Schmitz NSICU Room 27 1 Hospital Dr Columbia, Missouri 65211 If you want just leave him a message on here and he will check it! His birthday is next Saturday the 18th so with your help, I am hoping to flood him with lots of birthday and get well wishes! Thanks again, we have one tough boy, Love you all, Theresa

ALL DONE!!!

We got a message at 8:30 saying surgery had started. We aren't sure if that meant they had started at 7:30 and updated at 8:30 or they had started at 8:30. We then got a message at 12:50 saying surgery would be done soon. We then met with Dr. Tanaka at 1:30. She said the surgery went as expected, there was lots of scar tissue from his previous surgeries, which she knew there was going to be. She said the incision is pretty big, they cut starting at the top center of his head all the way to the back and up and around his ear. She said his other incision had been open a lot and she needed to be more in the middle on top of his head anyway so she thought it would be best to just make a new one. She said there are less leads this time than there was last time. Last time he had 70 leads and this time there are 38 leads coming from the grid. They are grouped into 5 sets so there are only 4 leads coming out of his head. She said they will do a CAT scan tomorrow to make sure they placed the grid in the correct place and everything looks good. She said due to scheduling issues he is taken off the schedule next Friday for surgery. She said if they see as much activity as they did last time the surgery could be bumped up sooner than Friday, we were shocked as we thought she only did surgeries on Friday's so we ask her and she said she likes to only do them on Friday's but will make certain exceptions. If they don't see enough activity over the weekend but get enough next week he can be put back on the schedule for next Friday and they will have to make that decision by Thursday if that's the case, otherwise it will be the following week. He is currently in recovery, she said he had woke up a little bit but he will be there for about 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. We have decided that we are praying for him to show lots of activity over the weekend so he can get this done and hopefully get out of here! We know he is having seizures so the more he can have now the better. To pass the time today during surgery we ate, played cards, walked and did LOTS of visiting with Aunt Liz. Thanks so much for stopping on your way back to Conception to keep us entertained, and of course the homemade chocolate chip cookies, they were amazing, were meaning we've already about ate the whole batch!!! Also thanks to Randy and Sharon Luke for stopping, it was great to see you guys! Of course we had many snap chats from Gia, Quincy and many others! And or course many good laughs from Granny Kate!!! Something about hearing aids and cinnamon rolls!! Again thanks for all the prayers! Keep them coming, praying for lots of activity over the weekend!!!! Thanks Sister Tiff

Let the Waiting BEGIN!

We arrived at the hospital at 5:00 this morning, we got checked in and they took Mitch back right away to prep for surgery. We waited for them to get him ready and then we got to see him. We didn't get to see him until a little after 6:00 and Momma Bear was a little worried that her little baby told them not to let her come back! :) The prep Nurse told us surgery was expected to last 4 to 5 hours. We spoke with Dr. Tanaka's assistant Dr. Ab and he assured us that Mitch was in good hands. We told him to take as long as they needed, we were in no hurry. He said that this was their biggest surgery today so they wouldn't be in a hurry. The anesthesiologist came in and recognized Mitch right away, he said, "I think I remember you from last time." "Haven't you done this before?" We were surprised that he remembered Mitch, we do not remember him and I'm not sure why, cause he had some good stories this morning and gave us all a few laughs! He also assured us that we didn't need to worry about anything, that they would take good care of Mitch. He said he was going to worry more about the 3 of us (pointing to Dad, Mom and Myself) than he would Mitch. So reassuring that he has such wonderful Doctors taking care of him. They took Mitch down to surgery around 6:45 and told us, it was best to get something to eat right away, so we headed to the cafeteria for some breakfast. By the time we made it back upstairs around 7:30 he was in the operating room. There is a TV screen that we watch for updates and we will update you as we are updated, we didn't get many updates last time so we are likely not to get many this time. Thanks for all the prayers and support we have received, we can't thank everyone enough for all they have done for us! LOVE, Big Sister

One more week!

Well it is all getting real....one week from today and Mitch will have the grid placed on his brain and the monitors will start showing them where all these darn seizures are coming from...we hope! Mitch and I along with my awesome Uncle and Aunt, Jim and Molly, went to Columbia yesterday and he got his blood work done that they needed and he already has two bracelets on that we can't remove before surgery. Something about his blood has some antibody in it now that they needed to get blood here for his surgery! I have been trying to get everything in shape here at the house so that it won't miss me for a few weeks:)!! haha thanks so much to Tiffany and my nieces Jessie and Jill for helping me get some much needed cleaning done. It's really hard for me to get my mind set ready for this again. What all I will need, What I just want to take and what I can really do without for a few weeks! At least I have time to gather some stuff and get stuff done, cause I will never forget the mess I left 15 years ago when I left my home in a split second and was gone for many months without coming home! Thanks you all for all the kind words and continued prayers you give us, we really couldn't get through this without you all. Thanks so very much Jim and Molly for riding with us and getting our lunch yesterday, We really appreciated and enjoyed the visit with you guys so much. Love you all, Theresa

Surgery is set!

Well surgery is set for June 10th, this is where they will open his head, remove his skull, place the grid on his brain and then put his skull back on and wrap him shut! Then on June 17th he will have his second surgery where she will have all the documentation that she needs to remove the part of the brain that is causing all the seizures! Sounds pretty simple...right? We are very excited to get this done and PRAY like heck that this is the answer to our prayers!!! Today we met with Dr. Tanaka and she is just so confident that this is going to be it! We just LOVE her and trust her!! Mitch will be in ICU from June 10-19 and then moved to a room and we hope to be home by the 22nd or so. Mitch really is taking all this news well and we are very proud of him and how honest he is with Dr. Tanaka, He really doesn't feel good and he really wants to feel better. Thank you all so much for all the prayers and encouraging words for us, we truly wouldn't be able to get through this without you all! Love you all and PLEASE Dear Lord guide Dr. Tanaka's gentle hands over my baby, let her remove the damaged brain and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let this be the last one. I want nothing more than to have my baby boy happy and feeling great!! AMEN

Getting Closer to Surgery!

This ole World just continues to go by so fast. When we found out Mitch was going to have surgery back in Feburary we thought that it seemed so far away and now Mitch is all done with his classes and ready to head to a couple Royals games in May and then here we come Columbia! They did call last week and change his appointment from May 2 to May 9, Dr was out of town on the 2nd! Then they called back the next day and wanted to get Mitch "in the books" for surgery, so right now his TENATIVE date for surgery is June 10th. This will all get finalized on the 9th of May when we meet with surgeon! We continue to pray that this surgery will be the answer to our MANY prayers and Mitch will finally feel better. Thank you all so much for the continued prayers and support you have given us through this journey. We really do appreciate them all. Last week was a whirlwind week and our hearts were broke a couple times as a couple of my cousins went through the worst days of their life. Please say a quick prayer for my Cousin Eileen Love and her family as her husband was killed in a motorcycle accident and she laid him to Rest a day after their 30th wedding anniversary. My Cousin Jaime Andrews and her husband's 11 year old son was killed on Monday. It was a week of heartache and many tears shed for both of them this week. I pray for comfort for both of these families to find peace in their new NORMAL life. Please remember life is fragile and give lots of love and hugs as you never know at the beginning of one day what the ending will be! Thank you all and I will keep you all posted on what we find out the 9th. Love you all more than you will ever know!!!!! Theresa

Here We Go Again!

We made it safe to Columbia and back home again! Mitch had a 3D MRI and a Functional MRI yesterday and then we met with the surgeon. Right now the plan is to go back and see her on May 2nd to set up surgery. Mitch really wanted to wait until classes are over for this semester before he had surgery and that was just fine with her and us. He needs to go for a functional CT scan now and that will tell her how much scar tissue he has between his skull and dera! She is wanting to place the grid higher on his head this time and she really THINKS she can get rid of the seizures but she CANNOT guarantee that, just hopes so! We continue to trust their decision and pray like crazy that this will work. Mitch is VERY disappointed but he also just wants to feel better. It is a lot different this time as we all kinda know what to expect and we all know that it must be very hard to have your head chopped on as much as he has had! We really appreciate all the wonderful words, hugs and prayers Mitch and us are getting. You will never know how much they all truly do help. So I think we are probably looking at the end of May or first of June he will enter back in the hospital have his skull removed and a gird placed on his brain and they will watch the activity for at least a week, maybe two and then they will remove that part of the brain. He will be in ICU all the time but they are very flexible with healthy visitors and we sure enjoy all we get! Thanks for all the prayers and please keep them coming. Love you all, Theresa

Here we go again!

Well we are back from another trip to Columbia. So the new plan now is for Mitch to enter back into the hospital and reopen his skull, in a different place and put the grid on in a different place and remove some more of the brain that is causing all the trouble. We just continue to pray that the Doctors can help him feel better and get rid of those darn seizures. Mitch isn't very thrilled with this news but we just continue to remind him of all the support he has and prayers that are coming his way. I still remind him that as long as they have a plan, just maybe someday he will be all fixed up and feel tons better! He will go back on January 26 to do a MRI of his brain and then we meet with the surgeon on March 21 to set up a date to do this. We are in no hurry and would love to see Mitch get done with school for the semester before we do anything. Also he is pretty pumped because he got some Royal tickets to use in April too. I am thinking it will be May or June before they do this but we will just have to see what they think! Thanks so much for the continued prayers we really do appreciate them ALL!! There are so many babies, teens and adults that need so many prayers right now and we continue to pray for all of you. Sometimes life just don't seem very fair for any of us but please everyone, remember to count your blessings, hug your babies and tell your loved ones you LOVE them all dearly as often as you can, you just never know how long any of us will be here! God Bless you all and thanks so much for hanging in there with us on this journey. LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!!!!!