Thank you

Dear family and friends,

What a year this has been! So MANY trials, but also many wonderful, unforgettable moments! Our family would like to send a huge thank you for standing so close to us during Bryan's journey which began on April 19th. We had been given such a grave report from the doctors about the burst aneurysm in his brain as well as being told of the second aneurysm that needed to be dealt with. We did not give up hope, but relied heavily on the prayers of our family and friends, and even strangers, we found out! We felt God's comfort and saw miracles and answers to our prayers every step of the way. We have, undeniably, experienced the power of prayer and to that, we give thanks to God.

We would also like to thank those who have supported us other ways...many gestures of kindness with regards to keeping our home and business looked after, weeks of round-the-clock childcare, meals, baked goods, groceries, thoughtful gifts for our children, monetary gifts/gift cards, emails, and comments that were so encouraging on the blog. (bzjourney.blogspot.com). We are humbled, to be part of such a family in Christ.

Along with the surgeons, we are hopeful that Bryan will be able to begin to work again in April. Although we still look forward to our life being "back to normal", we are thankful to have Bryan with us. He can continue to be a husband, father, son, brother, nephew, and friend, with his wit still intact. There are still a few challenges for Bryan, but he is here and well on his way, to what we hope will be a full recovery!!

Please accept this letter as a huge thank you from us. Wishing you a blessed Christmas. We also pray for health and peace in the upcoming year.

Love,

Bryan, Michelle, Breanna, Zachary, Cassandra and Samantha

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME....

First, my apologies with the delay in updating the blog. Daily life has taken over again, which is definitely a good thing and we are thankful for this!

We would like to thank Karen and Mike (Bryan's sister and brother-in-law) for setting up this blog and providing all the updates and prayer concerns . This blog was a wonderful way to get the word out quick. It was also great encouragement for us to read the comments. We thank you for all those prayers and comments!

Our life is beginning to become somewhat "normal" again. Although Bryan is still home recovering, we are thankful for how far he has come already. According to the doctors, and we have known this ourselves, it is a miracle that Bryan is here with us!

Bryan still gets tired quite easily. In part, this is due to the injury on his brain. Anything that takes concentration is exhausting, because he has to work doubly hard at it. Also, he was not allowed to do anything physical for a long time, so now his body has to work up to where he was before this all began in April.

Most people think, when they see Bryan, that he is totally back to "normal".... but not quite. There are still some challenges for him. He can concentrate, but it is exhausting for him. His physical strength is not quite there, which he is now allowed to work on. His memory is not as sharp. He used to pride himself remembering and knowing peoples names, but has difficulties with that quite often. Most people wouldn't know, because he can be creative in the situation. Often if he remembers a first name, he can't remember the last name etc.. (Now I've given away his secret!) A lot of noise or chaos is sometimes challenging for him. It seems to be hard for him to tune that out. With four small children, this is a challenge!!

An exciting thing for Bryan was that he was given the okay to drive again. This has been great for Bryan. It gives him some freedom to get out and do his own thing! (I must say....it gives me some freedom too!)

Our children are doing great. There are still some bad dreams occasionally, or difficulty when Bryan leaves the house. Overall, we are enjoying spending our time together....(when they are calm and quiet....).

We thank God for the miracle he performed on Bryan. We are thankful to all who prayed for Bryan. We have indeed experienced the power of prayer.

We are not sure how many people still look at this blog, but I will have another post next week. :-)

Appointment with Surgeon

This past week Bryan had the appointment with his surgeon that was rescheduled from two weeks ago. He saw the surgeon that performed the surgery on both aneurysms. He was pleased to see how much progress Bryan has made.

He’s been given the okay to start some physical rehab now.

He is not able to go back to work this year. He will be monitored, but the plan is to perhaps start again next April. That will give his body almost a year for healing.

He is still not able to drive, but that will be reassessed in October or November of this year.

He still needs to work on some cognitive issues.

Bryan was pleased to find out that instead of having an MRI every three months for monitoring, they will only need to be done every six months.

So overall it was a good appointment and Bryan and Michelle were able to get some concrete answers to some of the questions they had.

Three Weeks Later . . .

Three more weeks have gone by and it’s time for another update. Bryan continues to do well and is able to do a little bit more all the time. He was able to attend church for the first time last week – a blessing for him and his family . . . as well as the whole church family. Overall it went well but he was surprised that he was not able to sing due to being short of breath . . . probably due to the excitement and physical shape he is in right now. Bryan has also been able to attend a few more events over the past couple of weeks.

Last week Bryan was scheduled to his surgeon for a follow-up visit. He was looking forward to this as he had a lot of questions for him and was interested in his progress from a surgical/medical point of view. Unfortunately his appointment was cancelled due to emergency surgery that needed to be performed by his surgeon. Of course Bryan and Michelle understood this (as this same thing probably happened to others when Bryan had his first surgery) but they were disappointed nonetheless. So now the appointment with the surgeon will happen at the end of this month.

The good thing is that they were able to speak with the nurse practitioner that was involved in Bryan’s care during his hospital stay. They’ve gotten to know this lady quite well and so it was good to talk to her on the phone. She was able to answer some of the questions they had so that helped a bit.

This past weekend, we were able to kidnap Michelle and their oldest daughter, Breanna, for a girl’s weekend away. Okay, that’s not exactly what happened. It was an extremely thought out and well planned weekend. It was the first time Michelle had been away from Bryan for an extended period of time for the last three months so it wasn’t easy for her to leave. But once we were gone, she relaxed and enjoyed herself and we all had a really good time. Oh, and I should mention, this only happened because of the support and assistance from some great neighbours – thanks J & N!!! It gave Michelle peace of mind knowing her hubby and kids were in great hands.

The main prayer request is for alleviation of Bryan’s continued headaches. He still has a few slight cognitive issues – this is to be expected but still something we can pray about. The chaos and noise of four little ones at home is still sometimes a little bit challenging for Bryan too.

The love and support of family and friends continues to surround Bryan and Michelle and the kids. They are so thankful for everything people continue to do for them – the prayers, emails, encouragement, and meals. (Michelle continues to appreciate a few meals here and there – if anyone still wants to help out in this area for the month of August, please send me an email at mk (at) carmtechsolutions.com)

Another update

Not too much has changed over the past week.

Bryan is still experiencing a constant dull headache . . . sometimes worse than others. He is still able to take the Tylenol #3's when needed during the day and of course his regular dose at bedtime.

Things are in an adjustment period with all the kids being home from school now. It makes life interesting and sometimes loud around the house. It can be a challenge for Bryan to come up with ways to cope and still be able to stay home.

He's going for walks when possible (usually in the evening). The whole family – the six of them – have even gone all together in the evening when things have cooled down a bit.

He’s keeping busy with watching a lot of soccer "Hup Holland Hup!" Sometimes he feels the need to just get out and will go along for the drive when someone needs to do an errand.

Bryan looks forward to when he is able to start doing more. He is still very limited on what he can do and how much . . . and for how long. He is learning a lesson on patience.

Bryan has another scheduled appointment with his surgeons in the middle of July. He is looking forward to meeting with them to get some answers as to where he goes from here.

Your support, encouragement and prayers continue to be a blessing to Bryan and his family.

30? 35? 40?

Happy Birthday Bryan!

May God bless you with many, many more happy and healthy years.

Update

It’s been a while since the blog has been updated . . . so here it is for those of you that are wondering how Bryan is doing.

Bryan had his stitches out on Monday. He wasn’t looking forward to it but it went well and it’s nice to have that out of the way.

He still has a constant headache that is controlled with medication. He continues to take Tylenol #3 at nighttime. And speaking of nighttime, he’s been sleeping in a reclining chair (thank you to Mr. and Mrs. D for letting Bryan borrow it at this time) and that has really helped. If he sleeps at a 30 degree angle, his headache isn’t as bad in the morning when he wakes up. Michelle sleeps on the couch beside him which seems to work well. It’s better than her feeling like she has to lie perfectly still when they sleep together in their own bed. So for now, everyone is sleeping quite well. Bryan also takes a nap during the day when he is able to.

Bryan’s jaw is still quite sore from both surgeries. This makes eating a little challenging and he still can’t eat things he did prior to surgery – both due to pain and the fact that he can’t open his mouth fully.

Walking has become part of Bryan’s daily routine again and it gets a little longer every day. He still takes it at a slow pace but being up and about is really good.

Overall Bryan is doing really well. Life is starting to get back to normal in some ways. The kids are starting to notice that there aren’t as many people coming and going as much anymore. They’re able to spend a lot more time together with just the six of them and it’s good to be home as a family again.

As mentioned in a previous post, sitting around not doing much is not easy for Bryan. Thank goodness for World Cup Soccer! When he gets really bored and restless, he’ll go on little outings – even just to the grocery store – with Mom or Michelle. He still seems to get overwhelmed with too much going on and needs to continue taking it easy.

Looking back over the past few months, we are so thankful to God for how far Bryan has come. We continue to see signs of improvement everyday and we know that God continues to hold Bryan in the palm of His hand.

Please carry on with your prayers for Bryan’s complete healing. We are so thankful for everyone who continues to email and post comments and most of all prays for Bryan and his family. It means so much and Bryan and Michelle are blessed through your encouragement.

Home and ready for the World Cup!

Great news . . . Bryan was able to come home today. He had a fairly good sleep last night and the doctors thought he was good enough to be discharged. Obviously having surgery on an aneurysm that hasn't burst is the preferred way to do things! So, seven weeks and two surgeries later, Bryan got to say good bye to his "home away from home" hopefully for good. Although the General is a nice hospital and the medical staff was great, I hope we don't find ourselves back at that place for a long, long time.

Bryan still has a long way to go but recovery has already been better than last time. He still needs to really take it easy and force himself to rest and relax . . . which isn't easy. Hopefully with the World Cup coming up, it won't be too hard for him to sit around on the couch!

I was hoping to post a picture of Bryan from when he came home from the hospital today but I couldn't download it for some reason. So you'll just have to picture him in his orange World Cup of Soccer shirt. Go Netherlands Go! (And Go Bryan Go!)

Sunday Update

Bryan didn't really sleep last night . . . at all. For some reason, despite being exhausted, he just couldn't fall asleep. So a lot of today was spent dozing in and out of sleep. He obviously didn't have a lot of energy. But he was able to get up a few times and go for some walks - and the walks today were a little longer than yesterday.

One of the surgeons that did Bryan's surgery on Friday came by to see him today. She said the CT scan results from yesterday were great and she was happy with his progress so far. That was the highlight of the day.

We can see little signs of improvement and healing every day and overall Bryan is doing well. Sleep continues to be a challenge so please pray that tonight he will be able to fall asleep and stay asleep and be able to feel somewhat refreshed in the morning.

Saturday Night

The CT scan went well this afternoon - Bryan said the technician was really quick and so he didn't feel too sick from the dye. Unfortunately we don't know what the results are yet.

Bryan is quite swollen today and looks pretty beaten up (sorry Bry!) His jaw is extremely sore so his diet consists of soup, pudding, yoghurt, jello, etc. His head pain and nausea seem to be fairly well controlled with medication. He was able to get up and go for a few short walks today - nice to see him up and out of bed.

At bedtime tonight Bryan took a sleeping pill along with his pain medications. Hopefully he'll be able to sleep better tonight.

Thank you for your prayers today - a day that started out rough but did get a bit better as it went on. Your love, support and encouragement means a lot.

Prayer for the scan

If you happen to be reading this, please pray for Bryan as he's feeling really anxious about the CT scan that he needs to have today. It's a CT angiogram which means he has to have dye injected into him through his IV. In the past, this dye has made him feel sick and because he's already feeling sick to his stomach, he doesn't want to have it done.

Please pray that Bryan will be calm and willing to go when it's time to have the test done.

Bryan's head pain is quite severe today too so perhaps add that to the list of prayer requests.

Thank you!

Saturday Morning Update

Bryan's night wasn't as good as we had hoped. His jaw is extremely painful, he had a fever through the night and he was still bothered by nausea. All of these things combined don't make for a very good sleep unfortunately. The good news is that he was able to get up and walk a few steps to use the bathroom earlier. He seems to be in and out of sleep this morning so far. Let's pray he can get some solid hours of rest/sleep throughout the day today and that his pain, fever and nausea are kept under control.

Unless something else comes up in the meantime, I'll post again tonight. Oh, let's also pray for positive news from the CT scan results today.

More details

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

As stated in the previous post, Bryan's surgery went well. We left him in the OR at 8:00 am, as scheduled, but the surgery didn't actually get underway until around 9:15 am. Every hour or so, an RN would come out and update us on the progress. After we had been waiting for a while, she came and told us that surgery had started a little later than expected. Then about an hour and a half later, she came and said "the surgeons are almost at the aneurysm". Then quite a while after that she came and said "they're just closing him up now". We didn't have these updates last time so we really appreciated knowing what was going on.

So the surgery took about five hours - the same length as the first one. The surgeons came and spoke to us afterward and explained that it went really well. They said they could see one part of the aneurysm was really thin and that it was good that the surgery was done because, if left, it probably would have burst in the next year or so. Yikes! They said the next 24 hours are critical but that Bryan is doing really well. The risk of vasospasm is there but much less than last time. If the brain happens to swell too much and causes the clip to move a little bit, it could result in vasospasm but the surgeon said it was quite unlikely. After surgery, Bryan was in recovery for a few hours and then transferred to an ICU step down unit.

Once he was settled, we were able to visit with him. He's very tired and understandably quite groggy. He was quite nauseous after coming out surgery but they gave him IV Gravol and that seems to be helping. His jaw is extremely sore - the surgeons needed to cut through his masseter muscles (the muscles used for chewing) during surgery and so that's a major area of pain for him. He is still tender on the other side from the first surgery and hasn't been able to open his mouth fully. So now the soreness is on both sides and will be a major challenge for Bryan.

Tomorrow Bryan will have a CT scan to see how things look.

We’re so thankful for how everything went today. It’s a relief for everyone to have this surgery done and out of the way. It was hard to leave Bryan at the hospital tonight but it’s somehow comforting to know that he’s in a familiar place – a place that has almost become a second home over the last many weeks (as sad as that sounds!) He knows a lot of the nurses and is familiar with how things go there.

Thank you for your continued support. Bryan is aware of just how many people are praying for him and feels encouraged that. What a blessing!

Reasons for praise:

• A good night’s sleep for Bryan last night
• Relatively calm nerves (most of the time) this morning pre-surgery
• Successful surgery
• Amazing medical staff – the surgeons that performed the surgery were a husband and wife team and were so caring and explained things so well to us

Prayer requests:

• A good, deep, restful, long sleep for Bryan tonight
• That Bryan’s nausea would be kept under control
• For physical healing for Bryan
• That God would continue to be glorified through this journey

Here's a picture from before the surgery this morning. Aren't they cute?

Out of Surgery

Bryan is out of surgery and in recovery.
The surgery went well and Bryan has been responsive to the surgeons since being in recovery. Michelle has been able to spend a few minutes with him as well.
Karen will update better tonight when she gets back. (Too much pressure for me to keep up with the quality of her posts!)
Thank you all for your prayers!

On Time

Bryan's surgery is underway and started as scheduled at 8am.
Bryan had a good sleep last night and was relativly calm going into this morning. Thank you all for your prayers!

More updates to come ...

One more sleep . . .

Just in case you needed a reminder to pray, this is it. Bryan had his MRI today and is all set to go early tomorrow morning. Please pray specifically for the following:

A good night's sleep for Bryan (and Michelle . . . and the rest of the family)

“I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety”. Psalm 4:8 NIV

Calm nerves and peace for Bryan (and Michelle . . . and the rest of the family)

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go”. Joshua 1:9 NIV

“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”. John 14:27 NIV

Steady hands and wisdom for the surgeons and other medical staff

“‘But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the LORD”. Jeremiah 30:17 NIV

That the surgery will happen at the scheduled time - 8:00 am

“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer”. Matthew 21:22 NIV

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him”. 1 John 5:14–15 NIV

Thank you again for your continued love, support and prayers.

Two more sleeps . . .

Yesterday Bryan had his pre-op appointment. This included an ECG, blood work, chest x-ray, discussion with the doctors, etc. It was a LONG appointment. Having “been there, done that” already six weeks ago, there wasn’t a lot of new information.

The good news is that the MRI that was supposed to be Thursday night has been rescheduled for Thursday morning. That means Bryan can be home and in bed on time and hopefully have a good sleep the night before surgery. Thankfully he’s still allowed to take his pain medication right up until surgery and also his sleeping medication the night before.

So . . . two more sleeps until surgery . . . let’s pray they’re long, deep, restful ones!

Sleep and headaches and surgery . . . oh my!

Bryan is thankful for sleep (and drugs). The doctors feel it is extremely important for Bryan to get as much rest and sleep as possible before next week’s surgery and since that just doesn’t seem to be happening, they’ve given him some medication to help him sleep. Last night was the first time taking it and he slept really well. So he will likely be on this medication until the surgery.

Also, regarding Bryan’s persisting headaches, he’s been bumped up from Extra Strength Tylenol to Tylenol #2 now and that seems to be helping more with the headaches.

And that brings us to next week . . . a busy week for Bryan with respect to his medical care. Bryan’s surgery to deal with the second aneurysm has been scheduled for Friday, June 4 at 8:00 am. On Tuesday he is scheduled for his pre-operative appointment with the surgeon. On Thursday night, Bryan needs to be at the hospital for an MRI. The time is unfortunate because Bryan and Michelle would just like to be home relaxing and trying to get to bed on time instead of being at the hospital. But the doctors want the MRI to be as close to surgery as possible. Hopefully it won’t go too late because they’ll have to get up quite early to be at the hospital two hours before surgery on Friday morning.

So that brings us to specific prayer requests:

• For Bryan to continue sleeping well at night
• For Bryan’s headache management to continue to improve on the increased strength of Tylenol
• That Bryan and Michelle (and the rest of the family) will remain calm and at peace as they await next week’s surgery
• That surgery will actually happen at the scheduled time and that it won’t get bumped for something more urgent
• That God will continue to be glorified through this journey

Thank you for your continued love and encouragement and especially your prayers.

A Quick Update

Bryan is thankfully getting over the bug or whatever it was he was experiencing – thank you for your prayers in this area. He's had to change his medications a little bit to deal with his headaches better – they are still constant, but somewhat controlled. Sleep continues to be an issue. He still sleeps with his upper body somewhat elevated and is unable to sleep in positions that used to be comfortable for him. It seems that moving from his bed halfway through the night to the couch is allowing him to change his position enough to fall back to sleep again.

Thankfully Bryan has been feeling well enough to get up and around every day. He has been going for short, slow paced walks daily, which he really enjoys.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Please keep praying for Bryan – specifically for the headaches and the sleep issues.

Feeling Yucky

I’m writing this post to ask you to please pray for Bryan as he’s feeling a tad under the weather. The last three days or so haven’t been very good for him. He may have a touch of a bug of some sort as he’s been feeling kind of nauseous and has had a slight fever. He also hasn’t been sleeping well at night. He’s still taking his Tylenol, Advil and Gravol as needed.

As you can imagine, this is all making Bryan feel quite anxious. He’s worried about the nausea . . . scared of the thought of throwing up and putting pressure on his head where the second aneurysm still is. Feeling generally unwell is making him frustrated as he wants to rest up and gain as much strength as possible for the next surgery.

So please pray for the following:

• That Bryan will get over the sickness he’s dealing with
• That Bryan will be able to physically relax so he can rest and sleep
• That Bryan’s mind will be at ease and his worry will subside
• That Michelle and the rest of the family will remain relaxed and calm so they can continue to support Bryan