Swimming Day

Today Rebecca and I headed out for the physical therapy man who will hopefully help me beginning tomorrow with my new exercises. It is a rather strange feeling not to be able to make things work when you perhaps know they should. The pool does help, although the mosquitoes seem to be waiting for me - and for her! Each day I get a tiny bit better, which is encouraging, I guess. I am anxious to begin my therapy work hoping that it will have an effect on me. And then I must promise myself to do it each and every day. It is lovely to have her here with me - making me do things I probably would not wish to do on my own. But so important.

Robert, in Boston, will be soon opening a new Polka Dog store in Jamaica Plain, MA and we all are very excited. Good for the Polka Dog folks!

Tomorrow should be a good day for us - some errands and some fun things as well.
Love you all and thank you for your thoughts and support.

Robert left this morning and now lovely Rebecca is here with me. We had a fun day today - Whole Foods and lots of nice driving around and thinking about the Scottsdale when it used to be a different place. Much to post tomorrow - each day I grow stronger and I am doing my exercises pretty well - legs as coming - fingers are good - typing a little to be desired yet, BUT it's coming. And that's important for me.

Thank you all for your love and support and your thoughts. They mean very much to me and to my family.

The Cold Snap Continues!

Borrowing a joke from a good, old friend of mine, mom and I just can't wait for the cold snap to end! Today, the mercury is forecast to clock in at 111, tomorrow 113, which here in Arizona they call an excessive heat warning. Hmmm. I'm not sure at what level regular heat becomes excessive heat, but 111 seems like a fairly reasonable benchmark. What this means, of course, is that the 10K mom and I had planned and carbo-loaded for all week might have to wait a couple days...

So, in lieu of a tyvek racing number and some funny-looking nylon short-shorts, instead we headed out this morning to walk the grounds. Many things afoot at the Enchanted Village: the new fence for the new dog run is being laid out by a somewhat surly man who obviously would rather be working as a lifeguard in a place that rhymes with Rancho Relaxo, a driveway down and around the corner has been repaved with a flawless, shiny, protective, stucco-colored enamel, which mom thinks definitely will show the dirt, we remarked on the ubiquitousness of the ever-spiky and poisonous oleander, that here within the village walls has been trained almost exclusively into small orchards of blossoming trees. We missed the mail, but didn't miss the recycling truck. A full morning indeed.

Later, we're planning a trip to the pool to do a little cross-training, but that will be a subject for a different post.

Mom says hi to each and all and thanks everyone again for all the cards, flowers, thoughts, prayers, and encouragement. She is getting stronger every day. It is simply a marvel to behold.

Sending our love out...

More later. Now, off to lunch...

A walk outside

Posting a comment

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the great comments. Suzy is loving getting to read every ones comments and is enjoying posting messages herself. I know there are a few of you out there that have had some trouble posting comments so below I try to explain how to do it if you are interested.

For all of you new to blogging you can post a comment or read other peoples comments by clicking on the comments section at the bottom of each post. By clicking you will be taken to the comment section for the post you were reading. You will be able to read other peoples posts and at the bottom of the page there is an area for you to type your own message. After you type your message just push the the post comments button, enter the little code word it shows you, and your message should show up.

Happy blogging.

Mark

The Haircut

These are my newest staples - rather cool, I guess. But it makes for far less work I am convinced and it is easy for me. My Matt says I look for some weird atomic energy person, I guess. Reverse mullet!!! Like is looking up a bit, but I am still somewhat tired, so a little more time would be so wonderful. I am just sitting reading, enjoying my guys and enjoying my life. It's pretty different for me, right now, but I do love it!
Suzy

For those that have had surgery you know they now sign your surgical site before they start. Here is Suzy's presurgery signature on the back of her neck.

I am back at home resting

Hi everyone,

I am now back at home and it feels so wonderful - amazing! Thank you for all of your posts to my blog; Rob and Mark have helped me with this. It is incredible.

I do welcome your thoughts and your prayers; right now I am resting and trying to be careful with my recovery. I do so appreciate your concern and I will gladly see you very soon, but right now I guess it's my turn to stay put and recover.

Rob and Mark and worked on my house to make it adaptable to my new surroundings, and I am learning to get with the program. Lots of work to do - in short stages! However, much to relearn, but it's coming.

Love you all

Suzy

Getting ready for Suzy's homecoming

We are busy getting the house ready for Suzy to come home. Rob installed a new handrail in the hallway that looks good and works like a charm. We also installed a shower chair and a fancy new shower head so she won't fall.

New Sign at Mayo

The Mayo Clinic has been installing a new sign while Suzy has been at the hospital.

Please hold the calls and visits

Suzy wanted to thank everyone for all their wonderful posts. She has really enjoyed being able to log in and read the new comments from everyone. She wanted to encourage everyone to continue to post comments as this has been easier for her than reading and answering emails.

Suzy's family and doctors would also like to ask that everyone sends their wishes and thoughts through the blog as Suzy is not feeling up to visitors right now. She is progressing better than anyone expected but is still very tired. Her doctors have recommended that she not tire herself out so please hold the phone calls and visits for a while. We will do our best to keep everyone up to date on the blog and Suzy will be posting herself when she is feeling up to it. We will let everyone know when she is ready to have visitors again.

Thanks to everyone!

Saturday, August 22

It is me - I am doing very well today - lot of new things to learn, but with patience and time, I can relearn all of them once again - It is rather strange to be in this position, but ok with me. My head is feeling ok - and I am eating now and visiting with all of you and I have learned to skype!! Wow - such fun.

I am planning to go home tomorrow - all's well here - it is a very special place Mayo Clinic and the staff has been wonderful to me.

I cannot thank you enough for all of your emails and calls to me. It is so important and gracious and I thank you for taking the time to write me. I am looking forward to recovering from this and then on to the next thing - I am up for the challenge.

Love to everyone and thank you

Suzy

Moving from the ICU

me and mom at the icu...heading upstairs!

Day 2 update from Suzy

Thank you so very much for all of your messages. You have no idea how much you all mean to me and I am extremely grateful for your lovely notes. I am doing well - albeit a little slowly, but well. My family is so important to me and I love them so much and I love ALL OF YOU.

Thank you

Suzy

Surgery Update from Mayo: Day 1

Yesterday was a long day. We needed to be at the hospital at 6:00am to check in for the surgery. We saw Suzy at 7:30am after she was all changed and ready. She was looking good and was ready to get going.

The surgery started at 8:35am and they called us with an update around 10am to let us know they had removed the tumor and the surgery was moving along well. They had previously estimated the surgery to last from 4–6 hours, so we were excited to hear they were ahead of their schedule. The surgery finished at 12:00pm, and we met with Dr. Lyons who let us know that everything had gone exactly as expected.

Suzy spent a few more hours in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) and then was brought over to the ICU. We saw her here at 3:30pm. She was still rather groggy, so we sat by the bed and let her wake a bit more. An hour later, she was more awake, and we chatted a bit. She had some pain at the surgery site, which was expected. They gave her a bit more pain medication, and it worked like a charm. She was feeling much better, so we had a little visit and then headed home to let her get some rest.

We returned to the ICU in the evening around 9:00pm, and Suzy was much more awake. We could tell she was feeling better; the sedatives were wearing off, and she was quizzing us to be sure we had taken care of everything. It was great to see her feeling so good just a few hours after surgery. We spent more than an hour talking with her, and she was even able to eat a little soup. We left her in the excellent care of her nurse, Jenn, and went home to pass out.

Thanks to all the family and friends who have sent their good wishes to Suzy and our family. It is wonderful to have so many amazing people in our lives; you have helped Suzy pull through surgery successfully and we are forever grateful for your kindness and generosity. We are sorry we did not have time to call and talk with each of you yesterday, but Rob completely drained the battery on his phone time times just calling our family with updates.

We’ll keep writing periodic updates on Suzy’s status here, so please check back.

If you would like to send a note to Suzy, please leave a comment on this site. We will be printing your comments and sharing them with Suzy at the hospital—we’re hoping to decorate her room with them!

Thanks again to everyone for your support!