The Road to Recovery

Kara looks great this morning. She had a rough night with not much sleep and a lot of interruptions including what she called a Grey's Anatomy experience with a doctor and a bunch of students checking her over, but she is doing well. She was able to eat some breakfast this morning, and Dr. Dailey the neurosurgeon came in and talked with her and answered all of her questions about surgery. Mike, her brother, stayed the night, for which I was grateful so I could tend to Levi at the condo.

The actual tumor that they took out was about marble size in diameter and about an inch and a half in length, larger than we originally thought. The tumor is believed to be ependamoma (not sure on the spelling) and Dr. Dailey believes that they were able to extract all of the tumor. We will know for sure in a few days once the results come back from pathology.

This morning the physical therapy group came in and helped Kara sit-up and then stand on her feet! She can move her feet, but as of right now, she does not have any feeling in her feet so when she stood up, she got a little woozy and had to sit back down. Considering surgery was less than 24 hours ago, that is still amazing she can stand even though her legs and feet are numb. She said she cannot feel anything from about the waist down and her right side (the side the tumor was on ) is the weakest, which is what the doctor told us a few weeks ago would happen after surgery. So we are counting are blessings and hoping and praying that the feeling will return to her lower body in the next few days as she recovers.

She is now getting X-rays so they can look at the hardware they put in during surgery and she will have an MRI later today so they can look and make sure they got all of the tumor out. She will also be moving to the Neuro Acute Care Unit this afternoon, which is a step-down from the Neuro Critical Care Unit, but still an intensive care unit. Once she moves the the Nuero Acute Care Unit, she will be able to see Levi and receive flowers, so she is excited for that!

She will probably be in the Neuro Acute Care Unit for another day or two and then move to a normal hospital room. By tomorrow, she should be ready for a few visitors other than immediate family if all continues to go well.

We appreciate everyone's love, prayers and concern. Hopefully this at least gives you an update on what is going on. Sorry for the late update last night, surgery went longer than expected and we were just waiting to hear from the doctors and see Kara, and it was well worth the wait.