Wednesday Update #3 -- 3:45pm

We are now hanging out in the 5th floor waiting room. Some friends from Lubbock came up to visit, so we have just been visiting and catching up. We were sitting here and in walked Nonnie!! We were so surprised to see her! They told her the more she was up, the better she would get. So by golly, she is going to be up and around! She came and sat with us for a little bit. Brooke sat in her lap and they just loved on each other -- they have missed seeing each other this week. She started getting tired, so they headed back to her room and she is resting now. But here is the great news -- her doctor came in after they moved her up here and said that she would be up here 48 hours!!! Which means that she will probably get dismissed Friday!!! Yahoo!!! Nothing is in concrete, but we were glad to hear the words "go home"!!! Love!!

Wednesday Update #2 - 2:15pm

Mom had a good morning. They got her up and walked up and down the hall with her. She did really well. Loren, Brooke, and I got to the hospital about noon and went up to see her. She was pretty worn out, so we offered to leave her alone sso we all went down stairs to eat and let her rest. Of course, while we were eating, they called and were moving her to a room. Typical. So we finished eating really quick and loaded everything up to head to the 5th floor. Brooke was SO excited to see her Nonnie and I think Nonnie was equally excited to see her Brooke. I asked mom how the trip up here was and she said she walked the whole way. They put her stuff in the wheelchair and mom pushed the wheelchair up here. She is pretty wiped out now, so I think we are about to go down the hall to the family waiting room and let her rest. We are just so thrilled to get her out of ICU so she can have some peace and quiet. So thank goodness for answered prayers. We appreciate all your diligence in praying for mom. We feel like she is finally on her way to healing! Love to you all!

P.S. *She is in room 526.

Wednesday Update #1 - 9:00am

Good morning! Well, we are now on post-op day two and are hoping for a good day. They got mom up yesterday afternoon late and she sat in a chair for about 30 minutes. She was pretty queasy and wobbly, but she did really well. We sent several shifts of family through during that time to distract her from the dizziness. She said when she laid back down that she could tell the dizziness wasn't as bad as it had been earlier. She had a good evening. She had a few bites of Jello and some tea and water. They kicked us out of ICU at about 6:30, so we ran to have some mexican food at a great little restaurant called Ojedas. After we ate, Poopsie and Debbie kept Brooke at the hotel for us and Dad and us kids went back up to see Mom. She had been watching Dancing with the Stars and was just chilling. They got her up to use the restroom while we were there and did really well. It took three nurses to stabilize her, but the nurses were impressed at how well she did. We left about 9:30 as she was getting tired. So it was a good end to the day.

Dad and Bo headed back about 7:30 this morning. I talked to dad about 8:30 and he said she barely slept at all last night. They made her sleep at a 30 degree angle to help decrease the swelling in her eye. He said her eye looked much better and that she could actually see out of it! But she is exhausted. He did say that she had eaten some broth, jello, and drank some tea. During the surgery, they had to cut her jaw muscle, so she isn't able to chew at all right now due to the pain. The PA for one of her doctors came around earlier and said that they were dismissing several patients this morning from the neuro floor, so we are hoping that they can get her moved up there this morning sometime. Debbie is leaving around noon today, so we sent her and Poopsie on up to spend some time with mom and I am here at the hotel with two sleeping girls! Everyone is worn out. We will head up after they get her up to her new room. Brooke and Nonnie are going to have a great reunion when we get up there. They both have been waiting to see each other! That is what I know for now. I will update when we know more! Thanks for your prayers! Love!

Tuesday Update #2 - 3:50pm

We have been playing the waiting game today. Brody and Loren took Brooke to a playground at Children's Hospital, which is in the same medical complex as Zale Lipshy. All three of them had a blast! Poopsie's sister and brother in law came by to see us, so Poopsie and Debbie have been downstairs visiting with them. Dad and I have been in the ICU waiting room, just chilling and letting mom sleep for a while. Dad just went back to check on her and they were giving her more meds to help keep her comfy. They still don't have word on a regular room. They are just waiting on someone to get discharged from the 5th floor, which is the neurology floor. The nurse said if a room doesn't open up that she would have to spend the night in ICU again. :( Bummer. Also, he said that they are going to try to get her to sit in a chair about 4:15 and see how she does. PT and OT still haven't been around, but I guess this is the first step. Please pray for a few things for us -- that a room would open up soon so she doesn't have to stay in ICU again tonight, and that she would tolerate the movement of sitting up at 4:15. Thanks for all the comments. I hope that once she feels better she can read all the blogs and comments from you guys and maybe can blog a message of her own!!! Love!

Tuesday Update #1 -- noon

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay between posts -- the wifi at the hotel wouldn't work, so we are just now getting hooked back up at the hospital. I wrote out a 15 minute blog at the hotel this morning and then it wouldn't post, so I am going to try it again. :)

ICU closed from 6-8 last night, so we all went back to the hotel to eat and chill for a bit. Dad and Bo went back to the hospital at 8:00 and us girls went back to the room. We were all pooped and we wanted to get Brooke ready for bed. Brooke was AMAZING yesterday at the hospital. She was such an angel and we were all so proud of her. Dad and Bo got back to the hotel about 9:15 and said that mom was much better. She was getting more like 'Tina' again. She was settling down and the nausea from the surgery was subsiding. So we all crashed hard last night after a hard day and were so thankful that she was okay.

Dad and Bo were back with her at 8:00 this morning. She didn't rest much last night -- she had a CT scan at 2am and blood work at 4am, so they didn't leave her alone much. She laughed about ICU -- she said they were constantly saying "I see you." Brooke, Lolo, and I slept until about 9:00 and got ready and came up to the hospital about 11:00. It was so good to see mom and to get to talk with her. Her right eye is completely swollen shut and it bruised, so she looks pretty rough. The side of her face is swollen as well. They said that the fluids from her incision will pool in her eye, but it will go away in a few days. She was having more pain in her head today, but they were keeping her on the pain meds regularly. She gets very dizzy every time she moves, due to the loss of the nerve that takes care of her balance. Then, she gets nauseaus when she gets dizzy. PT and OT are scheduled to come this afternoon. They will be getting her up and around. The nurse said that the only way to alleviate the dizziness would be to move her around and re-train that left ear. Mom cringed at the thought, as I know it will make her feel terrible. But hopefully it will help the dizziness go away faster. They put in an order for a regular room this morning and they will move her to the 5th floor as soon as a room is available. Her hearing in the right ear is still questionable. She is hearing a few things in that ear, and they are hoping that when the swelling goes down, that her hearing will continue to improve. So we are here, hanging out in the ICU waiting room. They gave her more pain meds and nausea meds about 20 minutes ago, so we are trying to leave her alone and let her rest. We have lots of family and friends who have been stopping by -- we are so appreciative

We want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for the amazing outpouring of love and support. Our cousin in Beaumont, who is a nurse, sent mom the following message: "The recovery of the patient is in direct correlation to the number of the people in the waiting room." We had the most amazing support system with us here, both in body and in spirit. We know that God is taking care of our sweet mom and we are so thankful for all your prayers and thoughts.

I will post again once we get her moved to a regular room and will let you know her progress. Thanks again for all your love and support!

*Also, I heard from Kyle last night. They had made it up the mountain to Cordova and were trying to get settled. So two major praises from God yesterday -- mom made it through surgery and Kyle made it up the mountain! Please keep praying! Love!

Surgery Report #4 - 4:35

They got mom to her ICU room and we got to go in and see her. She is very nauseated from the anesthesia and has been throwing up on and off. As I said in an earlier post, there was some concern about hearing loss. When we got to see her, she commented that she couldn't hear on her right side. Dad filled her in about the auditory nerve and said that we are just going to have to watch it and see what it does. Dr. Isaacson came in to check on her while we were in there. He said that everything went well. He had her do all sorts of funny things with her face and said that her facial nerve is fine, thank goodness. He had a tuning fork and checked her ears. She could hear the fork on her right side, it was just not as loud as her good ear. He said that there was probably a lot of fluid in that ear and that hopefully she would retain some of her hearing. He also said that her eye would probably swell shut due to the fluid building up near the incision site. But all in all, everything looks great. The doctor said that we would probably have her in a regular room sometime tomorrow as long as she is doing good. We are so thankful for your prayers and we are so glad the surgery is over. Let the healing begin!!! Please pray that her auditory nerve is still in tact and that she gets over the nausea soon!

*As a side note, I have been in contact with Kyle throughout the day. We figure that they are about 2 hours up the mountain to Cordova right now, so please pray for continued safety as they finish the last leg up to Cordova and as they minister to the lost in this village in Peru.

Surgery Report #3 -- 2:00

Dr. Madden came down at 2:00 and said they were done. He said the tumor was larger than indicated on the MRI in January. They did get it all out, but they are concerned that the auditory nerve might have been compromised. We will know more when she wakes up, but we are praying that it is all okay. He said that she should be awake in 45 minutes and that she will be awake in ICU - which is contrary to what we were thinking earlier. Please pray that the auditory nerve is still intact and that she feels okay after she wakes up. Love you all!

Surgery Update #2 - 11:45am

We just talked to Dr. Isaacson. He said the first part of the surgery has gone great. Dr. Madden is now working on getting the tumor out. Dr. Isaacson said that her facial nerve and her auditory nerve are still in tact, which is a great thing. They just have to be very meticulous to preserve all the nerves. He said it would be another 2-3 hours before they finished up. They will take her to ICU when they finish and then after an hour there we will be able to go see her. Thanks for praying -- I will update in a few hours!

Surgery Update #1 - 9:00 am

Hello all! Here is our first update on Mom's surgery progress. We all arrived in Dallas last night and had a good visit with our family and friends. Mom, dad, Brody, Loren, Brooke, and I all shared a suite, so it was good to all be together last night and this morning. We got to the hospital at 5:30 this morning (woah, that was early) and they took her back at around 6:00 to prep her. She was in good spirits. They got her IV started on the first try and we got to visit with her two surgeons and the anesthesiologist. They told us that it would be pretty rough after surgery for her due to the nature of the surgery. She will be in surgery for about 6 hours and then will go straight to ICU for about 24 hours. She will stay sedated most of the time while in ICU, which hopefully will ease her through the rough part. So, they took her back about 7:00 and said they would probably get started about 8:00. So, please be in prayer for her surgeons, nurse staff, and the others caring for her in the operating room right now. The first part of the surgery will take 2-3 hours and then the surgeon will come talk to us. So when we have our first update, I will let you know. Thank you for praying for my sweet mom. Also, please start praying for her post op, as I know she was really concerned about how she would feel.

Updates and prayers.....

Lots has been going around the Reeves house the last few months. The most exciting thing is that I am going to be an aunt again.... twice!!! Shawn and Nette are pregnant again, which is an amazing miracle from God!!! Their twins that were conceived by in-vitro will be two in May (on our shared birthday!) and she is due the end of September! We are just so excited for them! And then, the big surprise... Brody and Loren are pregnant!!! Our newlyweds of 6 months are almost 12 weeks pregnant! It was a total surprise to them and all of us, but they couldn't be happier about it! Loren is due the end of September as well, so Brooke is pumped about getting two new cousins for her birthday (Sept. 14).

Then we have two prayer requests for you. First, Kyle is going to Cordova, Peru for Spring break as part of the 'plant trip' for our church's future mission trips. There are 4 men going with our pastor and will be gone from Sunday, March 15-Monday, March 23. At least he will be back for his b-day on the 24th. I am a little stressed about it, as the selfish side of me has never been away from him that long. Once he leaves Lima on Monday, I will have no communication with him until they come back down the mountain on Saturday or Sunday. In the 15 years that we have been together, I don't know that we have ever gone that long without talking. :( But on the other hand, I couldn't be prouder of him. Talk about spreading the word of God to the ends of the earth. They are going to be sharing God's word on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere in Peru. It touches my heart that my amazing hubby has a heart for God and wants to further His kingdom. So please be praying for him and the other men going on the trip. Pray for their safety and that relationships will be built with the people in Cordova.

Secondly, my mom is having surgery on Monday, March 16th. She has been diagnosed with a vestibular schwannoma, which is a benign tumor that is growing above her ear. Her mom had the same tumor, which leads us to believe it is hereditary. It must be removed, because as it continues growing, it will compromise her hearing and other nerves. She is having no symptoms now, as the tumor is small, but has had some problems with vertigo and her ear which led to the finding of the tumor. She was referred to a neurosurgeon in Dallas and the surgery will be at the Zale Lipshy hospital in Dallas. The surgery is at 7:30 the morning of the 16th and will take about 6-8 hours. It basically is brain surgery, even though the tumor is technically below her brain. She will be in ICU for about 24 hours after surgery and then will be moved to a regular room until Saturday, hopefully. Brody, Loren, Brooke, and I will be going down Sunday after church and will stay through Wednesday afternoon as long as she is doing well. I will have a computer with me, so I will post updates as we know things. But specifically, please pray for the surgeons, as this is a very delicate surgery. Pray for my mom's nerves over the next week as she has been preparing for this surgery since January. We have a crew of family and friends going with us, so I know we will be surrounded by a great support system. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Love you all!