Happy Belated Thanksgiving from our house to yours....

Just a quick little note to tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving!!  We have lots to be Thankful for, not only on this holiday but on a daily basis!  God has given us a great roof over our head, good jobs, and good health this year! 

Jordan is doing great and is looking forward to her Christmas break in 2weeks.  She LOVES the radiology program:) She and Taylor are my DAILY inspirations!  

Below is a picture of Jordan over the past year or so.  People that don't see her everyday tell me they can see a huge difference! What do you think?  Sometimes I think I can and sometimes I think I don't but in reality I am just hopeful that she will see movement in the spring.  

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends & family!!

Just a little this & that...

Whew what a whirlwind of a weekend!  This weekend we celebrated Sara & Michael's beautiful wedding!!  Sara is one of the girl's best friends since Kindergarten & they all graduated from Bryan Station together.  Hard to believe that they are old enough to be getting married!  I am trying to pitch a destination wedding to Jordan but she told me to drop it because it was NOT going to happen! LOL

I do know that Taylor will be the official wedding planner!!!!

Jordan is doing great & I wanted to share a couple of pictures from the wedding! 

Jordan & Taylor

Taylor, Sara, & Jordan

Jordan & Cory

Good eye appt & back to school she goes...

Jordan recently saw Dr. Bradley for a follow up! Her eyes are doing great and no change was needed in her prescription! A long overdue Fresnel Prism for her lens was replaced & a discussion was made about possibly getting a contact lens to go over her left eye in times that she did not want to wear glasses.  She decided to wait until a school break to get an appointment with the contact person to discuss this further & I think it would be nice for her to have that option!  Dr. Bradley was pleased with how the weight looked and how well her eye had healed!  Jordan doesn't need to see her again until the Spring, which is GREAT news!!

She has also completely healed up from this last surgery!  All of her incisions look great but the leg still gives her a little trouble:(  Hopefully, in time that will get go away.

Back to school already?!?!  Yes, Jordan started back to school yesterday & is doing a clinical rotation in Georgetown.  She seems to be loving it  & can't wait to get this semester under her belt! This means that she will only be on campus in Morehead on certain Friday's, so we will get to see more of her this semester!  
On another note... Below I wanted to share some pics from Boston, recent one of the girls, & another of the engagement!

 There is nothing like the love of sisters.These pictures reflect their love & shows where a big part of our life has been spent the past 2 years & the improvement that has been made! I can't even begin to explain how thankful that I am that Jordan is able to be back in school & make plans for her future.  We have LOTS of different doctors, nurses, & therapist's to thank for that! Jordan has shown her strength & resilience many times & continues to inspire not just me but many other's with her journey! I am very proud of both my girls & am so lucky that God chose me to be their Mom!

Great News!!!!

Well Jordan had her follow up appointment on Friday with Dr. Fraser and we got GREAT NEWS!!  Jordan does NOT have to go back for a MRI or an appt with him for 2yrs!!  WHOO HOOO  This was exciting & great news for us!! We are still so thankful for Dr. Fraser, Lindsey, & rest of the NS team. We will miss not seeing them but we also hope we do not have to see them in the next 2 yrs.

On another note, Jordan has recovered great from her last surgery. The incisions look great & have healed great!  She is getting excited about starting back to school in August & starting clinicals! 

Thanks to all of you for the continued support..so until next time.  PRAY FOR JORDAN!!!

Back home & some EXCITING news!!!

We got home Saturday evening and we were all very glad to be home! Jordan did well traveling, which was a big relief for Taylor & I. Let's just say we were all excited to see the family/dogs & sleep in our own beds Saturday night!!  Sunday I rested while Jordan, Cory & Taylor went to tell the rest of the family her big news!! On July 3rd Jordan got engaged to Cory, her boyfriend of 3 1/2 years! He did a excellent job surprising her & having a photographer there to capture the big moment!  He is a wonderful young man that I know will always stand by her side! It was a very special moment for us all & we look forward to planning a wedding in a couple of years!!

Now let's get to how she is feeling. She is actually doing really well! The swelling seems to be getting better everyday & the eye is looking better! The biggest complaint that she has is her leg :( it seems to have muscle spasms constantly & as she would say,"a real pain"!  As most of you know Jordan pushes right thru it & is such a trooper! She is looking forward to getting the face sutures out on Friday and for the steri strips to fall off of her leg!

Tomorrow she has her annual follow up brain MRI & will see Dr. Fraser next week. To be honest I am always nervous before the MRI until we get the results & this time it will be a little harder because we will have to wait a week for results! Oh well, I know that God has this!

On another note I would like to ask all the prayer warriors out there to pray for my friend's daughter Hannah. Hannah was traveling to China when the plane had to be diverted to Canada due to an issue with her shunt. She had surgery today to replace the shunt and needs prayers for a speedy recovery so they can bring her home! 

Busted out yesterday and headed home today!!

After getting the all clear from the eye MD yesterday am Jordan was cleared to finally be released!! The conclusion on the eye was that the epinephrine that was used with the lidocaine to numb the eye before the procedure was the cause of the pupil issue. Let me tell you what a relief that there wasn't a new eye issue to deal with. So we hung out in the hospital until early afternoon before heading to the hotel.  I can not begin to express how wonderful the nursing staff was at Mass Eye & Ear! Pearl, Ruth, Shannon, Caitlin all took great care of Jordan & Taylor & I. The night nursing staff always had the excitement because of her crazy low blood pressure! It would drive them crazy! They were all excited to see us go! LOL 

Our family from Rhode Island, Andrew & Yavonka, came up last night and we went out to dinner.  On our crazy drive thru Boston we passed by China Town and let me just say that was pretty amazing! As Yavonka said, it looked just like  a movie set! We enjoyed getting to see them again before we left town. Last night we all got some much needed uninterrupted sleep, which was much needed! Our flight leaves @ 1pm today and we are all anxious to get home!! I am ready to see the family & the dogs!! 

Now everyone has had lots of questions about the surgery so let me try to answer the most common oquestions  & clarify some other questions.Yes she has swelling in the face that will take about 4 weeks to totally subside. Her eyelid swelling should subside in about a week. She does have 6 incisions. One long incision on the face, one in the left crease of the nose, 2 small incisions on the outer right thigh,one long incision on the inner right thigh, & one on the eyelid. Mobility seems to be ok but she does move slower. The leg is pretty sore. The left eye does close now and should still close once the swelling subsides!  This is very exciting!!! Now for the biggest question when will she see result on the face. If this surgery is successful, & we are very POSITIVE that it will be, movement occurs in 8-12 months.  We know back to the waiting game, which to be honest sucks but the results will be worth waiting for! So for know we focus on healing, getting her mobility back to her normal, and going on with life. Jordan is ready to be done with surgeries! 

I will updated the blog later tomorrow after we get home and get settled in! Thanks for all the thoughts & prayers!! 

So much for discharge...:(

Today, we'll I guess yesterday since I am writing this at 1:30am, was a pretty non eventful day until the afternoon. Around 2pm we went downstairs to Dr. Hadlock's office so she could place the eyelid weight and pull her bottom eyelid up before being discharged. This was a minor 30-40 min procedure.

When Dr.Hadlock came to talk to us she said she wanted to keep her an additional night for a couple of reasons. 1. The last drain, that was on inside of her leg, had yet to be pulled due to amount it kept putting out.  2. The eye procedure didn't go as smooth as she liked. We were all a little bumped about this plan but we rolled with it. 

So the new plan consisted of going ahead and pulling the drain to make sure that no fluid collection was going to build up before we headed home and to carefully watch the eye. We got back to the room about 3 and let's just say Jordan had all kinds of attention! They were checking on her about every 40 min or so and by about 5ish we had our first bump in the road! They were very concerned with the outside corner of the eye and was worried about bleeding. Jordan was also saying that the outside corner had some discomfort. The fact that she was saying the word "discomfort" was a huge RED flag!  This prompted a urgent ophthalmology consultation! While they were waiting for the eye MD to come they cut the outside sutures and she had almost instant relief. The eye MD came and it was decided that she would go downstairs to the eye ER for a complete work up. So off we went, wheeled down by Dr. Caroline Banks, Dr. Hadlock's fellow, who stayed with us the whole time during the ER visit! I can't begin to tell you how much that meant to us!! The work up was concerning for a pupillary issue. We aren't sure exactly what but something about the pupils don't react together and are not the same size.  At this point it was like too much at once and glad it wasn't bleeding behind the eye!  We got back to the room and Jordan's eye is  being checked hourly and we will trek downstairs to see the eye MD at 9am. 

Later today we hope to be discharged to the hotel & hope to be on a plane for home come Saturday!!

Unfortunately, we are used to the bumps in the road but we are flexible and Jordan just rolls with it. Her strength & resilience NEVER ceases to amaze me! 

Getting discharged today!!!

Yesterday was a pretty crazy day around here! Yesterday the facial swelling was worse, which is common but they did get to pull her face drain and she was able to take a shower!! The shower made her feel much better but that fever stayed persistent throughout the day until about 12:30 this morning when it broke!! That is also when her BP was freaking the nurses out! They are just not used to seeing a 86/41 pressure! I had to keep reminding them that this was totally normal for her and they would keep repeating it. Let's just say Jordan was very frustrated with them! 

I was ecstatic that the fever finally broke and to top it all of they had given her a pretty high dose of steroids around 11pm so she had Taylor up playing Fluxx at 1am this morning! She had Taylor & I laughing so hard last night with the funny things she kept saying! 

This morning they pulled the outside leg drain but the inside drain may need to stay in another day! They will make that final decision this afternoon. This morning the swelling is about the same and she has a nice shiner on that left eye! This is all normal! Jordan may also get the eyelid weight done today!! As most of you may know, Jordan's left eye hasn't closed since the craniotomy surgery(5/25/12). So this will make a huge difference for her & will also help protect that eye. This will depend on the facial swelling and Dr. Hadlock will make that decision this afternoon. Fingers & toes crossed for this!! Jordan & I can't wait to get more than 3 hrs of uninterrupted sleep!! Let's just sayTaylor has not missed a beat with her sleep! So I am off to pack up a hospital room so we can go to a hotel room!

Typical crazy post op day...

Last night Jordan rested better than usual after a surgery. One of the anesthia MD's had a brilliant idea & placed a scopolamine patch on her during surgery and left it on to see if that would help with the usual nausea & vomiting she normally has post op. Guess what..it did one hell of a job because for the first time she had NO n/v these past 24 hrs!!  YEAH!!!!

This morning we went down early for an ultrasound to make sure the muscle flap was getting great blood flow and it was perfect!! They keep telling us how amazed it has all went so far and we are ecstatic!  We were hoping for a non eventful day but that was not to be. Jordan has spiked a low grade fever that keeps going up and down. All her labs look good except for magnesium & potassium. So tonight she has been getting IV mag, had to drink some nasty tasting potassium with Apple juice, plus getting her normal dose of IV antibiotic. So I am sitting her waiting for all the IV's to stop and the drains to be emptied before trying to get some sleep & reflecting on the other BIG positive thing. Jordan has been walking today with little assistance!!!!! I was worried about ambulation but I think it time she will be back to her normal! 

 As I am typing this she is asleep in the bed and Tay is asleep in the chair beside her with her head laid on a pillow beside her sister. It is the sweetest thing. Their bond is amazing and having Tay with her this trip has been wonderful for me & Jordan.

I am hoping tomorrow brings good lab results, NO fevers, & a little less pain for her. #prayforjordan

Surgery day!!!

We arrived promptly at 6am for check in this morning, and I was very thankful for a cab driver that didn't need directions!! Jordan went back about 7:30 and I spoke with Dr. Hadlock around 12:30.  She is VERY pleased with how everything went! She fixed the deviated septum on the left side, which opened up her nasal airway. So she has an incision in the crease of the nose and 2 small incisions on the outside of the right leg, where fascia was taken to open the airway up. Jordan said she hadn't realized what she had been missing & it was nice to have more air!

 The muscle transfer to the face went great and Dr. Hadlock  is very pleased with how "perfect" it went! This created an incision on the left side of the face which is about 7-8" long and an incision on the inside of the right leg. Not sure how long the leg incisions are, because it is all banadaged up! She also has drains in the leg and face that will stay until at least Wednesday.

Of courses he had a million questions for the nurse post op and we were also able to see the nurse Linda that took care of her after the surgery in Dec. They are all amazed and what a great patient she is! Overall she is doing great & looks amazing!! The initial post surgical ultrasound of the face sounded great & the next 24 hrs we are praying for no hematomas or clots in the vein!! 

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts & prayers!!

We are in Boston!

Our first day in Boston we took Taylor downtown to Faneuli Hall. We ate @ Cheers with family, took a carriage ride, and went on the awesome Ghost & Gravestone trolley tour. We had a crazy long first day and are getting a very late start today!

Tomorrow Jordan checks in at 6 am for the big day. So, we are going to enjoy our afternoon here in the city, eat lots, and enjoy our time together. 

Thanks for all the thoughts & prayers!!!

Preparing for Boston.....

The preop physical is done, consent has been signed, and everything has been emailed to Boston!  Yep, it is time for another surgery on 7/7/14! For me it is hard to believe that 2 weeks from now Jordan will be once again on the road to recovery from another surgery! There have been lots of questions regarding this surgery so I am going to try and explain it! 

As most of you that follow us know that in December 2013 Jordan had a nerve graft done.  This entailed moving nerve from her left leg to the left side of her face. So the nerve has been regenerating since then. If you are asking yourself if this is possible, it is and it has regenerated!!  This surgery will be to move a piece of her left thigh to the left cheek. Then they will connect the nerve & blood supply. This is another long surgery and she will be admitted from Mon-Thurs. Now I am sure you are thinking will the results be immediate, unfortunately, no.   Hopefully in 2 months we will see some movement and it can be up to 2 years for the best improvement.  Jordan will have lots of facial exercises to do and may even need some facial therapy.   As a Mom my biggest concern will be the leg incision since it will be on her good leg. We all know how resilient Jordan is so I am sure she is going to do GREAT!

Jordan has a summer class this month & will finish that up this week. She will get a week off before we head to Boston. We are excited about doing a Ghost tour one night and can't wait to see family, Andrew & Yavonka!! This trip will be just Jordan, Taylor, & I.  WHEW I don't know if Boston is ready for us!  

Great news all around!!!

Great things have been happening all around for Jordan!! The golf scramble was a great success despite the day starting with some nasty rain! It was great seeing old friends & new friends.   Thank you for your continued support you give to Jordan & our family. So from the bottom of my heart I say thank you! We still have Jordan Chapman Golf classic t-shirts available if anyone would like one just email me!!
Jordan is also out of school for the semester & once again she pulled out a 4.0!!!  Taylor also pulled out a 4.0!!  I am a very PROUD Mom & these 2 just keep amazing me!  Jordan has a summer class in June so she will be very busy before we head to Boston in July.  We are all getting excited for that trip!!
On another note after 20 LONG months, we finally have a FULL approval for Jordan's disability case!!  Our attorney, Paul Guthrie was the one that made this happen for her & he was GREAT!!! So, if you are in need for a disability attorney CALL HIM!! 
So until next time.....PRAY FOR JORDAN!!!

Great News & upcoming Golf Scramble.....

So sorry it has been so long since I have updated all of you!  Jordan continues to show signs of feeling in the face and the feeling seems to get stronger everyday!!   This is GREAT & exactly what is supposed to happen!!  Jordan's next surgery will be July 7th  in Boston & Taylor will be going with us! We are all just very nervous but know it will all be fine!  Next week is the disability hearing with the Judge. This has been a long process & we are hoping for a positive outcome!  So please say a prayer that the Judge will rule in her favor!!

On another note the girls Uncle Chris & Uncle Tony once again have put a golf scramble together to help with the ongoing medical/travel expenses.  The scramble is May 10th @ Cassell  Creek Golf Course, 4199 Lexington Rd, Winchester, KY.  Registration is @ 8:00 & tee off is @ 8:30.  The cost is $45 a person & the cost includes lunch.  If interested in golfing please contact Chris Chapman @ 859-396-9237. I hope to see some of you there!!!


Thanks again for all the prayers & support for Jordan!!!  PRAY FOR JORDAN!!!

THERE IS FEELING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning I received the below text from Jordan :)::)

I immediately called her and we were both on the phone crying with excitement!  This is such a HUGE development & a great sign that the nerve is regenerating!!!  We just wanted to share this great news

with all of you!!  Keep them prayers coming because they are WORKING!!  PRAY FOR JORDAN!!

What's with all this white stuff?!?!?!

How many of you out there think this WHITE stuff is never going to go away?!?!  For all of you that know me, know that I am NOT a fan of the cold weather!!  I am SO ready for warmer weather and SPRING!!! Enough about the weather, let me tell you guys how Jordan is doing!!

Really there isn't much to tell. Health wise she is doing well right now.  No feeling yet from the nerve but we are hopeful that will occur in the next 2 months! She is doing great in school, loving clinicals, and like me is OVER this weather.  As all of you know she started driving again and the weather has NOT cooperated with making that stress free!  She has done well driving in it but it sure makes this Mom worry even more!  

Hope everyone that follows the blog is doing well and thank you again for all the support/prayers for Jordan!! Until next time....PRAY FOR JORDAN!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Another Christmas and New Year has come and gone.  Our family had a wonderful time with family & friends over the holidays and the girls celebrated their big 21st birthday!!!  WOW where did that time go? We hope all of you also got to spend time with loved ones!!

Jordan is doing great and the incisions look awesome!Big shout out to Mandy & Christie for taking her sutures out!!!  The only complaint that she is having is constant pain in her left heel/foot and we are hopeful that once the nerves start to heal in that area this will go away. Now comes the hard part...waiting for that nerve to grow and do its thing!  Hopefully in about 3-6 months she will have some feeling on the right side!!  

She is now focusing on getting ready for school to start back and is already studying!!  When she returns she will be doing a clinical rotation in Morehead and she is VERY excited about this!  Again, she continues to amaze me everyday by overcoming adversity and ALWAYS with a smile on her face!!  Of course after this semester she will have another surgery.  The 2nd step is scheduled for July 7th! At least there will be no white stuff that time of year!!  

Thanks again to all of you that pray for Jordan, pray for our family, follow the blog, and have financially helped us along this journey.  We could not have done this without all of you!  PRAY FOR JORDAN!!!