Thank you so much to each and every one of you for your prayers, emails, text messages, and voice mails. Your love and support is what has gotten us this far. You have given us more than you could ever know. I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to get this update out to you all, things have been a bit hectic. We arrived in Pittsburgh on Wednesday afternoon and Wes went in to surgery Thursday morning at about 10:30. The plan for the surgery was for them to make sure the prior surgery had not overlooked anything and if not, to go ahead and do a partial rhizotomy. A partial rhizotomy basically means to partially cut the nerve. At about 2:30 that afternoon Dr. Janetta came out to speak with us and let us know that everything had gone well. He informed us that they had gone ahead with the rhizotomy and had also put in more Teflon where they had last time. Wes stayed in recovery until about 7:30 that evening when they were finally able to get him into a room. Thankfully Wes was doing much better than he did last time. As you may remember, last time he had a very difficult time due to fluid build up in his brain. As we had been praying, this did not happen this time. When Wez was able to talk to us we learned that he had not lost any function on the left side of his face which was another prayer answered. He has lost sensation on most of the left side. He says it is numb and the left side of his lips and tongue it’s tingly. He said the best comparison he can think of is like going to the dentist and being numbed up. Thankfully he has no face pain though and that was the trade off that we were hoping for. There was a little concern on Friday because he started running a fever but by Saturday he was doing much better and they decided to discharge him from the hospital that afternoon. It is still unbelievable to me that they can do brain surgery and then send you on your own 2 or 3 days later!
Saturday afternoon ended up being quite difficult because when we arrived at our apartment we quickly realized there was no air conditioning! Wez soon began to run a fever again and broke out in a rash all over. The building we are staying in apparently had to turn off the a.c. for the whole weekend and failed to notify us. We franticly began looking for a hotel to stay at for the next day or 2 in order to get him in cool conditions but due to a convention in town everything was booked. Luckily we were able to find a place with one room left. It wasn’t the cleanest but it was air-conditioned. It’s very difficult to move Wez but thankfully once we got there he started to feel much better after a few hours his fever went back down. Today the weather has gotten much cooler so we were able to move once again back to our original accommodations. The move wasn’t easy but hopefully we will be staying put now! Overall Wez is doing very well. He has pain associated with the operation as well as nausea and headaches but they are not nearly as severe as last time. Wez’s mom will be leaving tomorrow morning to go back to Nashville and on Tuesday Wez and I will be going back to the hospital to meet with his surgeon. I will let you know how the visit goes and when we are able to travel home. Last time we left a week after the surgery to come home and it was a difficult trip so depending on how he feels we may stay a bit longer. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. I can’t even begin to express my gratitude to all of you. Everyone has been so generous in so many ways. We feel so incredibly blessed and loved.
Always,
Rachel Bez
Monday, May 18, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Back to Pittsburgh
Hi to all of you!
I am writing to give you the most recent update with Wez’s surgery. As you all probably know form my prior emails, Wez and I were in Pittsburgh about 5 weeks ago due to the fact that his pain had returned. When we went, we were under the impression that they were planning to redo the surgery. After meeting with the neurosurgeon Dr. Janetta, the decision was made to postpone surgery and try some different medications. Unfortunately those were unsuccessful. The past few weeks have been very difficult for Wez and after speaking with the doctors over the phone, they have decided to go ahead with the surgery again. Wez is scheduled for the 14th of May which is this Thursday. We will be leaving on Wednesday to fly back to Pittsburgh. In this surgery they will go in through the same incision that was made last time but this time they will be cutting the nerve. During his last surgery the doctors had found 2 blood vessels that had actually fused together with the nerve. This is what had been causing his excruciating pain. They were able to put in Teflon plates and separate the vessels from the nerve but apparently it was too little too late. They are unsure why Wez was pain free for 2 months before the pain returned but their best guess is that the nerve is just too damaged and is going back to what it has known for the past 4 years. By cutting the nerve the pain will be eliminated. Wez will loose sensation on the left side of his face in areas and has the risk of loosing function. Please keep him in your prayers for a successful surgery and for there to be no loss of function. Please also pray for a quick recovery. We will be staying in Pittsburgh until Wez is able to travel back home. Compared to how he did last time we are expecting to be there for at least 1 ½ to 2 weeks.
Wez and I both want to thank each of you for your love and support of us through this difficult time. It is easy to loose faith when dealing with such disappointment but you all have kept me from doing that with your words of encouragement and love. We are so blessed to have so many people who care about us. It is a continual shock to me how many people that don’t even know us, care enough to give us financial aid and pray on our behalf. I have been so touched by the kindness and hope that I will be given the opportunity to give back to all of you in some way. I will do my best to keep everyone updated on how things are going as soon as I am able. I will have my cell phone as well as my computer with me so feel free to call or email and I will respond as soon as I can. Again thank you. Those two words will never be enough to explain my appreciation.
Always,
Rachel Bezuidenhout
I am writing to give you the most recent update with Wez’s surgery. As you all probably know form my prior emails, Wez and I were in Pittsburgh about 5 weeks ago due to the fact that his pain had returned. When we went, we were under the impression that they were planning to redo the surgery. After meeting with the neurosurgeon Dr. Janetta, the decision was made to postpone surgery and try some different medications. Unfortunately those were unsuccessful. The past few weeks have been very difficult for Wez and after speaking with the doctors over the phone, they have decided to go ahead with the surgery again. Wez is scheduled for the 14th of May which is this Thursday. We will be leaving on Wednesday to fly back to Pittsburgh. In this surgery they will go in through the same incision that was made last time but this time they will be cutting the nerve. During his last surgery the doctors had found 2 blood vessels that had actually fused together with the nerve. This is what had been causing his excruciating pain. They were able to put in Teflon plates and separate the vessels from the nerve but apparently it was too little too late. They are unsure why Wez was pain free for 2 months before the pain returned but their best guess is that the nerve is just too damaged and is going back to what it has known for the past 4 years. By cutting the nerve the pain will be eliminated. Wez will loose sensation on the left side of his face in areas and has the risk of loosing function. Please keep him in your prayers for a successful surgery and for there to be no loss of function. Please also pray for a quick recovery. We will be staying in Pittsburgh until Wez is able to travel back home. Compared to how he did last time we are expecting to be there for at least 1 ½ to 2 weeks.
Wez and I both want to thank each of you for your love and support of us through this difficult time. It is easy to loose faith when dealing with such disappointment but you all have kept me from doing that with your words of encouragement and love. We are so blessed to have so many people who care about us. It is a continual shock to me how many people that don’t even know us, care enough to give us financial aid and pray on our behalf. I have been so touched by the kindness and hope that I will be given the opportunity to give back to all of you in some way. I will do my best to keep everyone updated on how things are going as soon as I am able. I will have my cell phone as well as my computer with me so feel free to call or email and I will respond as soon as I can. Again thank you. Those two words will never be enough to explain my appreciation.
Always,
Rachel Bezuidenhout
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
