Edit: Flower bouquet is from Jaimes co-workers and are stunning in beauty.
(Jaime is a CPA and Head of the Accounting department at Parker Hannifin's Baldwin Filter plant here in Kearney.)
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First off...Thank you to all who have reached out to me both privately and online.
I also apologize for not writing this blog sooner with an update. The concern you have shared for my daughter and grandson truly proves that online friendships are REAL!
I also apologize as this Blog is longer than I thought it would be.
I want to say Hallelujah! I have prayed more in the month of January than I probably have in 5 years...and yes...I do go to church every week.
If this is your first time reading my blog...a few weeks ago I wrote a blog about becoming a Grandpa for the first time and some related health issues for my daughter that were discovered as a result of the birthing process. You can read that blog here:
https://activerain.com/blogsview/5875837/short-story--mike-is-now-also-known-as-grandpa-mike-
Last week, we went back out to Colorado for the brain surgery and met with the neurosurgeon, Dr Ung. Incredible man and will be a great neurosurgeon for decades to come. Univeristy of Colorado-Anschutz. Look him up!!
And yes...baby Everett went with us again...he has almost 2,000 road miles in my backseat and is a perfect road warrior!!!
The Five and half hour surgery was on the morning of January 24th. Hopefully a family holiday for years to come! 
And of course we had no idea how it was going...Until... just by chanse, I saw them wheeling her bed from the surgery wing into the ICU.
"There she is coming over the skyway!"
We bolted for the intersection with the hallway... and from about 8 feet away... Jaime's head was turned towards us and I said "Hey, Dolly, how you doing?"
The nurse asked: "Do you know those people?" To which Jaime groggily replied "yeah, that's my Mom and Dad and husband!"
A thousand pounds of the unknowns were lifted off my chest at that moment.
Jaime heard my voice, saw my smile and wave...and responded perfectly even through the anesthesia. Hallelujah!
What she did not see, as her bed turned the corner, were the massive thunderstorms that formed in both of my eyes...so many tears of happiness and yet still concern for the unknown...so many emotions.
And in that moment, no idea how to justify or control them. In fact, those tears have just paid me a visit again a couple of minutes ago.
The unknowns...the future...was surgery successful?...the past...flashbacks to my daughter holding her baby for the first time 3 weeks earlier...the frantic phone call notice to come to the hospital right away and that she had a seizure and then finding out she had a grade 2 Glioma all within the first 48 hours of becoming parents and Grandparents...my wife scared half to death for her only daughter...her brother waiting 500 miles away for an update.
My mind was racing all the way back to the day she was born...and the first time I held her...and to the day (almost exactly 30 years before) when I missed the top step in our home when she was 9 months old and we tumbled down the stairs...me with a broken leg that still sports a titanium rod...and Jaime boucing off the living room floor sounding like a watermelon hitting the concrete.
Some of you have been in this type of place before...and I will admit...I have never had as much empathy for others going through a traumatic event than I do now...I was clueless and apologize to all those people. Now I get it...I understand the frustration, anger, joy, happiness, loss, life changing events and have a better understanding of life.
The truth is...we are in a good place we think (we pray) but now are waiting on pathology for test results next week. Those results will determine her future path. Our future paths as well. All the way from 100% success and benign...to more surgery and other treatments.
Good place...but no where near perfect. Every ( 29 day old Everett)
issue Jaime is experiencing right now are exactly what the surgeon prepared us for. Slowness in the left arm and hand that should completely come back and it is much better 6 days post-surgery.
Side note: Dr said she needed to use her left hand/arm as much as possible as it will come back faster. Short story:
We were out at her place last night eating supper.
One of the daddy/daughter things we have had for about 15 years is when I make a joke Jaime is not impressed with, she will give me a very subtle American salute with her middle finger. She did that at supper and we all laughed. I told her it did not count because it was not her left hand...and we laughed...yeah, you know what she did next with her left middle finger...right!!??
She also is experiencing headaches (supposedly normal and will slowly go away); and when two or more people are talking it is hard for her to concentrate when more than one voice is going at a time...which for our family is normal as we are quite chatty as a group.
She also has some frustrations as she is used to being in control. She did comment that she remembers most but not all of what has been going on but said she is worried that she is missing out on some "firsts" with Everett as a Mommy. Or that she will not remember them. I think she will remember more than she thinks.
We go back in 2 more weeks for a followup.
I can say for sure that she has improved immensely over the past 4 days.
Having 2 of her best friends who are Moms to very young-ones coming over has been a Godsend!
Her Mom....and the lady I have mentioned here in blogs many times...the woman I Love and married 37 years ago...Robyn, has been phenomenal!
Her husband, Kody, has done a great job even though it is now calving season for his cattle herd. Edit: He had 4 more calves today (Thursday, 1-30-25)
Jaime still has not seen her puppy dog since being home as tough luck would have it...Siding company is in the process of putting new doors and Siding on her home that was delayed for over a month because of a backordered door and the back yard fence is down.
The noise really impacts Jaime from the workers hammers, saws, and nail guns...and hopefully they should be done in the next day or two...So I expect them to be in town soon.
This blog is now going to be well over 1,000 words long so I am going to close and will followup later.
Until Next Time...Just know this...The AR Community is REAL! It has a real place in my life and many of yours! m
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