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