What a Week.

 The past 5 days have been some of the most stressful, emotional and exhausting 5 days of my life.

But, also 5 days that I felt God's peace and love.

*Deep Breath*

A few days before Christmas we found out my dad had a tumor on his brain. 

It wasn't cancerous, but it has caused complete hearing loss in his left ear. 

When we found out this news in December it knocked the breath out of me.

How could my dad have a brain tumor?

It was shocking. 

His surgery was scheduled for this past Wednesday, February 12th.

It was a day that I had been dreading, but at the same time, I was looking forward to that day so that my dad could begin the healing process.

The past 6 weeks, I have been doing A LOT of praying and looking to God for peace.

I was nervous about the surgery because, hello....it was brain surgery. That is major surgery. Things could go wrong.

The surgery was at Stanford and my dad had an amazing team of doctors working on him.

We were told the surgery would be 8 hours long & the tumor was the size of a walnut. 

Surgery began at 7:15 am.

And we waited.

And waited.

I brought my copy of Jesus Calling and read through some of that.

7 hours in, one of the doctors came out to let us know the surgery would be over 10 hours.

The tumor was actually the size of a tangerine (not a walnut) and there was a lot of fluid on my dad's brain. The doctor said he was hydro-cephalic and was shocked that he didn't have any memory loss leading up the surgery.

Needless to say, this news caused high anxiety for myself, mom and sisters.

We kept praying.

  And waiting.

My Aunt (my dad's youngest sister) and his brother were there also, as well as some family friends.

It was nice having people there waiting with us.

10 hours went by and my dad's surgery was still going on.

They have this board in the waiting room where you can track your patient via their number. 

At the beginning of the day, all of these numbers were green. 

Green means you are still in surgery.

It was 6 pm and my dad's number was they only green one left.

That was a bit nerve wracking.

Even though the doctor reassured us that everything was going routine, it was still hard to not let the nerves get to you, especially when the once packed waiting room was totally empty except our family & friends.

13 hours later and my Dad was finally out of surgery. 

We were SO impressed with his medical team. 

There were 4 doctors & 4 nurses, the head neurological surgeon was Dr. Harsh, (Meg Whitman's husband) 

They all did an amazing job taking care of him.

I could not be more impressed with Stanford.

After his surgery he went straight to the ICU.

We had to wait a couple more hours until he was cleared for visitors and we were finally able to see him at about 10:30 that night.

Longest day of our lives. 

But so very, very thankful that everything went smoothly.

The very next day,  less than 24 hours after an intense 13 hour surgery removing a tangerine size tumor from his brain, my dad was doing amazing and hetold the nurses he didn't need any medication, he just had a slight head ache and only wanted an ice pack. 

Are you kidding me?!?! My dad is a freaking rockstar. So proud of him! 

He was discharged from the ICU on Thursday afternoon and went to a regular recovery room.

Then on Saturday, less than 72 hours after his 13 hour brain surgery, here is my Dad, discharged from the hospital...walking back to the car!!!!!!!

My dad is a Bad Ass! 

(And, in true Jimmy form, he is wearing a collared shirt.) 

So thankful for God watching over my dad and for a successful surgery.

Praising God for my Dad and for the team of doctors who worked on him. 

They got 90% of the tumor and will monitor it to make sure it doesn't grow.

He has permanent hearing loss in his left ear, but that is the least of our concerns.

He will also need to go to Physical Therapy to help with is balance (when you have something the size of a tangerine in your head & then it is removed, your equilibrium is off and can cause issues with balance/walking) So far my dad is walking fine, but will still go to PT as a precaution.

Because of my dad's surgery, Kevin and I kept our weekend open and we didn't have any big Valentine's plans. I normally go all out on holidays for my kids, but this week just wiped me out. 

Plus, you may have noticed I posted a TON of Valentine printables in the past 2 weeks....you see, when I am stressed, I create. Some people eat. I loose my appetite, but have the urge to clean and create things :)

I took Valentine's Day off school....I was in no shape to teach that day...way too exhausted.

So, for Valentine's my kids just got these sock monkeys and some store bought Valentine Cookies :)

 For Valentine's dinner we had pizza (Friday Night Pizza Night) and Sprinkles Cupcakes.

This Valentine's Day I was celebrating LOVE, not just the love I have for Kevin & my family, but the LOVE that God has for us and the LOVE he has shown us, especially in the past week.

Late Valentine's night I got a call that my childhood soccer coach had lost his battle with cancer.

He was my coach for 6 years and he is the one who made me truly believe that I could be a college soccer player. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have had the soccer career that I had.

So, needless to say, it was a week of highs and lows.

I was so happy my dad was doing well, and then the next moment I was mourning the loss of my coach & friend.

 I was so thankful for a 3 day weekend (in my case it was a 4 day weekend)

It was so nice to spend time with family, welcome my dad home and just reflect on God's love and peace that our family has experienced.