Ace Lefty & his Time Machine

This post is not a very fun one, but I just wanted to give an update on how things are going with my dad.

You might be wondering who Ace Lefty is...that is the nickname my dad has given himself. You see, he sends himself texts messages to remind him to do things, and he didn't like having to scroll down to 'R' for Ron, so he came up with 'Ace Lefty'; Ace because A is the first letter in the alphabet, and Lefty, well, because he is left handed. We have been blessed with many of these little gems lately.

So here is a nut shell version of what has been going on the last 2-3 weeks. He had been complaining because he had no energy, and was extremely tired all the time for about the last 3-4 months. Couldn't even manage to hardly eat, which, I know I have rarely missed meals even when I was very sick- so I know he was feeling pretty bad. So he goes in for his MRI check-up and the doctors discovered the tumor was back. So, they immediately admitted him to the hospital and performed brain surgery that next day to remove what they could. Luckily, the tumor had grown back in such a way that is was operable. The surgery went well and he was allowed to go home and start recovering. About a week or so later, he still wasn't feeling any better so they went back and the doctors told him he has fluid on his brain, and they are going to insert a shunt in his brain that will alleviate some of the pressue and drain the excess fluid. (*A shunt is a thin tube that runs from the brain all the way to the stomach, where the fluid is deposited and exits the body like normal.) They tell us it is a pretty common procedure, and will hopefully help with his lack of energy as well once the excess fluid is gone.

He was scheduled for the shunt surgery last Friday (7/31) and everything seemed to go fine. They kept him overnight and said he would be released to go home on Saturday. The nurses told us he decided to sleep on the floor that night too! Ha! He told them "it is more comforable down here!" He is so silly. She also asked him to give her a thumbs up, and he flipped her the bird! haha...always the rebel. So after multiple x-rays, the doctors come back and tell us that the shunt is in the wrong place...and they have to go in AGAIN to fix it. Um. Hello lawsuit. So he has the 2nd surgery Saturday. Unfortunately after this surgery, things started to go downhill. I feel like we are already at the bottom...but I was wrong.

Each surgery leaves its lasting side effects, such as memory loss, lost language, and just overall energy loss. This most recent surgery along with the fluid on the brain is causing him to have symptoms as if the tumor is there. (It is always there, but very small since most has been removed again.) Right now he is very physically weak, can't sit, get out of bed, or stand up by himself. He is working on being able to feed himself again. He can say words, or phrases, but is unable to hold any sort of conversation. My mom said that you can talk to him, but he doesn't really understand what you are saying or what is going on. The doctors asked him what year it was and each time it is a different year-currently it is 1968- in case you were wondering ;) The doctors also asked him if he had any children and he said he had one! I was thinking awww... :) and then he finished with: "A son, named Ronnie." Dangit. haha...you have to laugh!

Since he is in this state, they can not release him to go home. Mainly because my mom is not physically able to help him. So they are sending him to an assited living/rehab facility where he will re-learn how to walk, feed himself, and hopefully re-gain his language. They don't know if he will ever be 100% back to how he was, but we are hoping he will at least be well enough to do normal activities, and be able to talk and understand us pretty well. We will just have to wait and see how well he responds to all of the rehabilitation. *Praying it all goes well!* I want my dad back for a little longer. He seems to be in good spirits and working hard to re-gain everything back so that is a good sign!

Thank you so much for the prayers!! I just pray for some more time and that he is in no pain during all of this. I will keep you all updated, go tell your mom's and dad's you love them- you can't say it enough!!