Turning in my jazzercise card for a water aerobics card:(

Well I love love going to my jazzercise class each week for fun dancing, exercise and seeing my buddies but with my energy and ability to jump around decreasing I have turned in my jazzercise card for now:( I was looking through the Richardson parks & rec book and found a morning water aerobics class that looked to be perfect for getting some safe but good exercise. I went today for my 1st class and it was a lot of fun....now there was not any fun hip hop music to dance to but the people were really nice and the workout felt good. I was walking at night around the neighborhood but it is too stinkin hot outside these days for that anymore. So if you have never tried water aerobics it is really fun and the water sure did feel nice and cool for a workout.

Fun News!

Well the word is out...Matt and I are expecting a baby due Feb. 1st 2010. We are SO excited and thrilled to be starting our family. The Lord has been so faithful to us and has answered our prayers for his timing on all of this. We are excited and can't wait to find out if it will be a boy or a girl. I think Matt would like a little football player and I would like a little girl to dress up:) Either way our blessing is on the way.

We are HOME!!!

Thank the Lord we finally got to come home today and try and get things a little back to normal. Getting Matt home took up a lot of the day as it is almost 4:30 and I just sat down to relax. Matt had about 7 perscriptions that I had to pick up at the pharmacy and we had to get all of his equiptment in the house and set up.
I have gained a new respect for those spouses that have to care for people that are disabled...not that Matt is disabled but he is temporarialy unable to do much for himself besides sit up, sleep, eat and walk small distances. I am also thankful that a nurse is going to come to the house to help me care for him as Matt is a big guy and hard for me to handle by myself.

I have also spoken with the home health nurse and the physical theripist and they will be visiting him this week sometime. Matt will not go back to the doctor until next Tuesday. I am just glad to have him home. Matt is not able to do much for himself as he cannot bend, twist or carry anything over 5 lbs. He has homework to walk 4 times a day and sit in a chair for about 30 minutes 4 times a day. The walking really is hard for him and takes a lot of energy but he is getting so good. He is starting to get feeling and movement in his left leg again which is great! The doctor seems to think that if we give the nerves time to settle down from all the trama from the surgery that things will go back to normal. It has been a long extended week and we are so thankful to all of you for your kind words, calls and texts. Matt is excited that we are on the road to recovery and that hopefully next month he will be healed enough to go to Lake Austin with our families.

after the surgery (Sunday)

The surgery went great and Matt had a pretty good day yesterday and this morning. He was not that sick from the pain meds and such after surgery so that was good. He had a horrible time with all of that after the first surgery. I spent the night last night at the hospital and I came home this morning to take care of the house and dogs. He has had a good morning already. He is moving VERY slow and is in some pain but he took a shower and put on some clothes:) He will have a PT in today to help him walk and do some exercises. Hopefully if things go good today we can go home tomorrow,....we will have to see. Dr. Banta is not going to make that decision until tomorrow. He said he does not want to send him home too early after the second surgery. He is still pretty weak and walks slow and is not able to do much for himself beside eat:) He still has a drain from the surgery but hopefully that will be able to come out tomorrow. He is able to wiggle the toes on his left foot and move it up some...which is better than before. The doctor said that the surgery would not be a quick fix so it may take some time for his left leg to begin to work properly. We have seen some small improvement so we were excited about that. I will have a nurse that comes to the house and a PT that comes and works with him so that will be good to have some help once I have him home. thanks for the prayers everyone!!

Surgery today

Please pray for Matt today as he goes to surgery again at 1:00. The doctor said the surgery should not last any longer than 2 hours. They will open him up and take our the L-4 rod that seems to be resting on a nerve. They are also going to clean off any nerves that look like they have dried blood basically from his other surgery...that could be causing the problem as well. Please pray that this does the trick and his left leg starts working normally again. We hope to go home from the hospital on Monday.

Small set back

Matt is starting to do better and has had to really hard but good days. Today he walked to the nurse station and back with the help of the PT. He said it took him about 20 minutes and it really wiped him out but he did it. He is eating better and the pain meds are not making him as sick anymore. We did get some news today that was not so fun but we are praying that everything will fix on its own. Matthew's left leg is not working the way that it should be...the doctors don't know if it is nerve damage during surgery or if one of the rods in his back is pressing against one of his nerves and causing the problem. They did a CAT scan on him today and it was hard for them to tell b/c of the swelling. They started him on a steroid pack today to see if it helps and some pain meds for nerve pain. Bless his heart he is on so many medicines. If the doc sees later this week that it is a rod they will have to go back in and repair the rod and he will be in the hospital probably until Monday. We are hoping that this does not happen as we are both tired of the hospital...him more than me. I miss having him home...and I can't wait for him to get to come home. Please keep Matt in your prayers that everything heals the way it should.

Matt Update

Hi Friends,

I am sitting with Matt today and he is pretty tired and sick to his stomach. Yesterday was a long day and we are glad that it is behind us. Matt has to lay all the way flat for 24 hours because he had some spinal fluid leaking during the surgery. He also had some scar tissue that they had to get rid of so the surgery took a little longer than planned. Matt and I showed up at Presby. of Dallas at 9:30am yesterday and then he did not get into surgery until 4:25 and was in surgery until about 9:30pm. He stayed in recovery until about 11:15 and then was assigned a room. Today he is just going to lay on his back and then tomorrow they will get him out of bed and moving. He will wear a back brace for 2 months when he is out of bed and will go to physical therapy in a few months when he has healed. The doctor said the surgery went well and we should now be on our way to recovery it will just be a little bit of a long road. Thanks for all of your prayers for Matt and his back.