CHECK OUT!!

Chase checked out of the hospital this morning. Flint gave my mom and him a ride to Brigham City to meet my dad. From there they were heading to Island Park to stay in a cabin. Lance, Chemene, Jaycee and Rydge are going to meet them up there. Happy 1st Birthday, Rydge. Hope you all have a good time. My mom said it felt like Christmas morning! What an ordeal. Thankful it is all over. We feel very blessed that everything went so well.

Coming Home Tommorrow!

You know someone is recovering well when they start to get onery. Good thing he comes home tommorrow. I will say be nice to your mama she is the best thing that happened to you and you would be nothing with out her! Love You.

One Week Post OP

Chase is still doing great he rode the bike for 30 minutes and did lounges. He walked over to my mom's trailer to get her this morning. He is coming home on Thursday. He is going on an trip up to Red Butte Garden's tommorrow. He suffers with headaches still. He will be doing occupational therapy this afternoon.

Chase's Surgery Pictures Day by Day

Dad had me freaked out that your pictures were going to be so bad that I wouldn't dare post them on the blog. Well, you don't look pretty, but I think you look pretty good for having had brain surgery!!

The line on his forehead is to mark center so when they stapled things up they didn't staple his forehead back off centered!!

At Chase's request we withheld the bum shot! :)

Chase holding Rivers Dean

No News is Good News Post Op Day 6

Chase is up and moving a lot more. He walked to the cafeteria twice and rode a stationary bike for 15 minutes today. My dad and Chase went to church today. He still gets headaches but they say that is normal. He has been cuddling with Rivers again. My dad went home today and my mom stayed with Chase. All is well! All is well! Not much to say and I guess that is good. Can't wait to get you home Chase. (Hint, hint, dad have Lance and Chemene help you post some pictures)

Post Op Day # 5

Sorry I am slow on the updates. I talked to my mom and dad today, they said yesterday Chase continued to have spinal fluid drain from his nose and he had a very bad headache that scared them. They made a decision to stay in the hospital a few more days and get Chase into some physical, speech and occupational therapy. This has been a very good thing for Chase and has helped him to understand behavior this tumor has caused and what to expect in the future. It is hard to commit to staying longer in the hospital, but it is what is best for Chase. My dad said today is the happiest he has seen Chase in a long time. He looks really good and it has to be a good sign that he is starting to notice the hot nurses. In fact he is putting off taking a shower until the cute nurse is back on duty. He has a wheel chair in his room and thinks it is funny to wheel down the hall scaring little kids. My mom said he looks like Frankenstein. He has a three year old that is always peeking into his room to get a look at the monster. :) He did throw up this morning after physical therapy, but my mom said he ate a really good dinner and Amber brought him a smoothie that he ate. He is taking less pain medication. When I called he was cuddling with baby Rivers. He is doing well. The physical therapist want him to finish out his physical therapy through Friday. Chase and my parents made the choice to do physical therapy and they are thinking about coming home Wed. or Thurs. we'll have to see how they all feel next week, they are all getting tired of being in the hospital especially when they were planning to come home today. They are all doing well and very upbeat this evening.

Congratulations Kallie on a new baby girl!!! Can't wait to see her.

Post op day #4

We are little late getting our update for day number 4, but here is the update my mom posted on facebook for yesterday. "We are now in rehab for the next 4 days because chase is leaking cerebral fluid, small amounts so they moved him to the 2nd floor so he can get rehab and they can watch him. We were too nervous to go to bear lake and find out we would have to bring him back. So here we sit but all is well." We were all a little disappointed to find out that he has to stay a few more days, but would rather see him progressing well before they send him home. We will keep you up to speed with his progress.

Post op day #3

I just got off the phone with my mom and today has been the best day thus far. Chase's appetite is beginning to return. He is still slightly nauseated but he has been able to eat a few slushies and a bowl of soup. His pain continues to be well controlled on oral pain meds. They removed the bandage from his incision and my mom says he has train tracks (staples) from one ear to the other. He is also sporting a new "male pattern baldness" style hair cut. They had to shave the front half of his head to make the incision. But we all know that if there is anyone who can make stapled baldness look good it is Chase. It won't be long before he will be trying to convince all of us that "all the chicks dig it". We are looking forward to Chase coming home hopefully this weekend.

Post Op Day 2 Post #2 Doing Great! Considering.

I think it is amazing that Chase is doing as well as he is, considering he had BRAIN SURGERY 2 days ago!! They took the shunt out of his head that was draining spinal fluid. They removed his catheter. The surgeon said he doesn't see any reason why Chase can't be home for the weekend! Chase still has no appetite and when he does eat he is very nauseated. He was able to visit with my mom and Trevor. My aunt Karin surprised my family and showed up for a visit. I just want to thank everyone for their prayers, I think it is miraculous how well things are going and my mom has said she can feel every ones prayers! Thank you. So happy you are doing well Chase!

Post Op Day 2 Post #1

Sorry I am working today so I am getting behind on blogging. My dad just called he said he thinks Chase is doing better. He ate a banana, milk & OJ. They have him on oral pain medication which is better because it lasts longer then IV. He is down to one IV from four. So that will make it easier for him to get up and walk around more. He is more cohherent today. My dad said his black eyes are even blacker. The swelling on his forehead his down a little bit. Flint and Amber are visiting with him right now. I am sure the baby will make his day. I will update this again around 2:30pm

Last Update the Day After Surgery.

As the day progressed Chase stopped complaining about his bed sore, so hopefully it means it is healing and not getting worse. My dad says he looks far worse today then he did right after surgery. Whitney came and gave my mom and dad a well needed break. Chase recognized her and said "Hi Whit" but he was still in and out of sleep and pretty out of it. They were able to get Chase up and walk him around a little bit. Lance flew in and my mom took him and Chemene out to lunch (luckily they missed the whole allergic reaction). Lance was able to come and see Chase for a little bit and then him, Chemene and the grandkids headed back to Montpelier. My mom said how polite Chase is being everytime a nurse comes in and does anything he always thanks them even if he is out of it. I think it is funny that the nurse that he about took out during his allergic reaction said he is such a sweetheart. There has been a lot of progress throughout the day. I just got off the phone with my dad at 9pm, he said Chase was eating green jello as we spoke. He is alert and talking. If he keeps the jello down, they will start administering his medication by mouth. Great progress for one day if you ask me, although it is not fast enough for Chase and my parents, but they feel good about the day.

Update Day After Surgery post #5

Just got off the phone with my mom. After fighting Chase for 2 hours they finally gave him something to calm him down. It really, really scared them all. He is sleeping now. My aunt Tonya said she had the same reaction to the Compazine after her surgery. We have to focus on every hour we put behind us is an hour closer to recovery. My mom said she couldn't wait to get the surgery over with, but she said this is almost harder watching a child suffer. She said now if we can just get the next three days over with. After the surgery, the doctor did say that Chase should definetly see improvement. Hang in there. We love you. It will all be worth it.

Day After Surgery Rough Hour Post #4

Chase has been very nauseated and throwing up from the pain medication. They gave him some Compazine to settle his stomach. Chase had some sort of allergic reaction/anxiety attack. He said "I have got to get out of here." It was all my dad and the nurse could do to hold him down. My dad had to hold him down for an hour. The nurse gave him some Benadryl and turned to my dad and said, "thank heavens you were here I couldn't have held him down without you. It scared the heck out of my dad. Another hurdle, but we are at least heading through the healing process.

Day After Surgery Post #3

Good news, the spinal fluid stopped draining out his nose so they are going to hold off putting the shunt in his back. This is good news because they are trying to get him up and walking, as I type this update. They are hoping to get circulation to the bed sore which is in stage 1. The nurse said it is common to have bed sores after a long surgery but she said this one is bigger than usual. My dad said it is the size of a pancake. Chase gets hot and restless but over all he is doing well. It is hard for my parents to sit back and watch. He is communicating well even though he is pretty out of it.

Update Day After Surgery.

Chase has spinal fluid draining out his nose. The doctors attribute this to swelling and pressure of his brain. They are going to put a stent in his spinal cord (like an epidural) that will relieve some of that pressure and let the excess fluid drain that way. My dad is heading to the airport to pick Lance up. He had to take boards yesterday and feels good about them. I think he feels a lot better to be coming home for a break. Jaycee aChemene and Rydge have been here for a week and I know they are homesick to see him. I will call my mom a little later for another update. My dad says he is trying to email me a picture of Chase to post but he warns it is pretty gruesome.

Out of Surgery

I talked to my dad at 7am this morning, he said Chase looks like hell. He has two black eyes and is in a lot of pain. He wants to stand up, because he has a huge sore on his back from laying in the same position for 13 and 1/2 hours. He keeps adjusting from side to side trying to get comfortable but can't. He seems to be in more pain from the sore than from his head. He is talking and knows he is in the hospital. One giant hurdle jumped many smaller hurdles to go.

Still Going..... Last post of the night

They extended the reconstruction time by an hour and a half making this a 13 and 1/2 hour surgery! They plan on having him out of surgery at 10:15pm then hopefully after 45 minutes he will be out of recovery and we will get a chance to see him. We will update you again in the morning. What a long stinking day!

The Tumor is Out!

At 7:15pm we received great news. Chase's tumors are out. There were no surprises. He is going to be in surgery for another hour and a half while they reconstruct his sinus, etc. One huge hurdle behind us. Time to move forward and recover. Chase said he is going to walk out the next day. He is determined and I pray that he will recover fast and put this nightmare behind us.

Recent Pictures of Chase (while we are all waiting, enjoy)

Mark has a sore elbow he is trying not to use so Chase came over, 5 days before his surgery, to help us lay some forms so we can pour cement for a basketball court for the boys. He brought all the boys some treats and I had to snap some pictures of him playing with the boys. That is what Chase does best. All the kids love Chase. Most men can't stand to hold little babies until they start walking and talking. Not Chase he loves the little babies and he would cuddle with them all day if he could. He is a very special uncle and we all love him and are praying for a quick recovery. Thanks Chase

Only a face a mother could love.

Trying to be like Chase.

Gehrig loves Chase's truck he loves how loud it is and he cried when Chase left with out taking him in the big truck.

WAITING...........................................

In true Chase fashion he woke up at 1 am and was starving to death. He proceeded to eat a cookie and some chocolate pudding. Chemene jumped up and reminded him that he was not suppose to eat after midnight. All of us were sitting on pins and needles wondering if they were going to have to postpone Chase's surgery. Thank heavens, no (we have waited long enough). Chase finally fell back to sleep at 3 am and we had to wake him up at 5 am, because we had to check into the hospital at 6 am. We had to sit through all the questioning and explanations of all that could possibly go wrong, etc. etc. etc.... Then we had to wait some more..... Finally at 8:45am we said our good-byes and they rolled Chase off. He seemed ready to get this over with! It is 5pm as I am writing this. Chase is still in surgery and the nurse told us that he will be at least another two hours possibly four, because they are still using a microscope and once they stop using it they have at least two more hours till they close him up. So far so good. We all wish they could keep us updated more and dad is keeping the pressure on for as many updates as possible. He has only left the waiting room once to go to the cafeteria. As we all know Rod I am sure he is going crazy, but all we can do is wait...........

Before the Surgery

We're heading to Salt Lake City to the University of Utah Neurosurgery Department to be ready to take Chase in at 6:00 AM in the morning for all the preparations. We are fortunate enough to be staying in a trailer that we were able to park right by the hospital in one of the parking lots. It's been a scary time for the family, but it has also helped us realize that we need to cherish the times we have to spend together. We hope everything goes well, and also hope the doctors and nurses realize what a special person they will be taking care of and operating on. We are posting some pictures of his CT scans and also some of his fresh new haircut from before, during and after. He's so relieved that he doesn't have to get his head shaved.