Hurray!  The light is really visible at the end of that tunnel!!!

I actually went home last night.  Brooks was pretty out of it and it was my mother's birthday.  Oh….and I forgot to mention that over the weekend, my nearly 85 year old father took a tumble down the stairs at my sister's house and broke his upper arm!  Thank God he didn't break his neck!!  But, that was another reason I wanted to go back to the cities.  He will be fine (after surgery!!), but his summer of golf has certainly been interrupted!

I did get up early and drove back so that I wouldn't miss the rounds by the doctors.  I did miss the first round…which was OK.  When I arrived in his room, there he was, sitting up in bed with his head completely unwrapped!!  Wow!!  He looked terrific!!  And, he was hungry!!!  (I would love to post a picture, but he wants to be the first to post a pic on social media!)  After breakfast, he actually got to get out of bed and walk to the bathroom!  Dr. Van Gompel stopped by and was happy to see how well he was doing.  He was ready to move out of the ICU into the neuro-recovery floor and possibly go home by Wednesday!!  Yay!!!!

The rest of the day was spent watching TV, napping and spending time on his computer.  He got out of bed and walked around his room and to the bathroom a number of times.  He did have a couple of small seizures, but that is nothing to be alarmed about.  The surgeons said that this was expected post-op.  When you mess around in the brain….the brain is not happy.  We need to let the brain heal and the swelling to go down.  We are just hoping that he will get the green light tomorrow morning and get to go home tomorrow afternoon!  It seems unreal that I am even saying that given all he has been through!  I don't know if I could have done all that he has!  I am so in awe of his courage!

So…at this point, the biggest concern is what to do with his new hair-do.  His pain is pretty minimal (incision is a bit sore) and he is running out of places to be poked (needing to move his IV multiple times).  He is ready to be at home in his own bed and we will hopefully get him there tomorrow.

Thanks so much, one more time, for caring about Brooks!  I feel surrounded by love and support and that makes me strong which, in turn, helps Brooks be strong.

Mary