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