Life with Our Miracles: Spinal Surgery, a Tornado and Halloween!!

So, what does Spinal Surgery, a Tornado and Halloween all have in common?

October 30-31, 2015 for The Richards Family.

It was a rough Fall for Adam. He had very concerning symptoms that progressively got worse. We went to doctor after doctor and he endured test after test. The scariest part is that they were looking for a brain tumor. Yes, brain tumor. Like I said...he was experiencing very concerning symptoms. Finally an MRI ordered by the neurologist of Adam's neck revealed the problem. C5 and C6 were moving/pushing his Spinal Cord way out of position, causing such significant problems head to toe for my precious husband. The neurologist called to tell us the result of the MRI and said that it was urgent that Adam be seen by a Neurosurgeon within 2 weeks. Well I thought no problem, but boy was I wrong. That was not an easy task. When you have a situation like he did, you don't want just anybody operating. We knew that we needed to go to the Medical Center in Houston for this. Our top choices were a Neurosurgeon from Baylor College of Medicine (St. Luke's) or from Methodist Hospital. I spent hours for several days making phone calls and all the Neurosurgeons were booked and the earliest we could get in was December or January! Remember the Neurologist said it was urgent and he should be seen in 2 weeks...even the neurosurgeon we were referred to by the neurologist would not get him in. Then, it was so clearly evident where God's hand was leading us. I tried one more time with Baylor Neurosurgery and God had one of his angel's on the other end of the phone. She said, "Tell me what is going on?" So I did, through tears no less. She then said, "OK, if you can hand deliver to me tomorrow or the next day: a copy of the neurosurgeon's clinical notes and a copy of the MRI, then I can get you an appointment with Dr. Ropper on Tuesday." YES!! So you better believe I did just that. And guess what...Dr. Ropper is 1 of only 4 Neurosurgeons with Baylor that SPECIALIZES in Spinal Surgery. Yep, no doubt this was God's hand. We saw Dr. Ropper on Tuesday, October 20. Dr. Ropper said it was indeed urgent that Adam have surgery ASAP. Surgery was then scheduled for October 30. At this point Adam had missed a lot of work and was now on short term Disability. As I am typing this it is January 14, 2016. Adam returned to work last Monday, January 4, 2016. He was off for two months with us - that was a great Christmas present! He is doing fantastic and we give God all praise and glory! He answered our prayers.

We have been through a range of emotions these last few months and through it all we trusted in our good, good God. From the fear of the diagnosis and future to extreme relief that one single surgery could fix it all.

And it did. Hallelujah!!

One day in the fall (during the time we knew something was very wrong just didn't have a diagnosis) Michael brought home a GIANT band-aid he had made at school. Adam thought it would be funny to put it on his head. At that time we thought something was very wrong with his brain/head. I didn't think it was very funny, but I'm glad he didn't lose his sense of humor.

Spooky after school snacks

Pumpkin Carving

Sweet Ella just wanted to put the "lid" back on. She's my girl...likes things to go where they belong!

Surgery Day

Here we go...Still smiling because we know God's got this!

My hand holders in the waiting room!

Resting well with the "good" drugs after surgery. Adam experienced immediate relief of several symptoms. Others took several weeks to subside.

View from our hospital room - rain, rain, rain.

So the tornado I mentioned earlier....Turns out while we spent the night in the hospital a tornado swept through Friendswood. When I found out about it early the next morning you can imagine the panic this Momma had about her babies. Thankfully, the Lord guided that tornado away from our house and our super awesome Miss Mattie kept our babies safe. Ella slept through the whole thing but the loud noise and house rattling woke Michael up and he cuddled with Mattie the rest of the night. He told us ALL about it when we got home.

We asked Dr. Ropper if he would draw us a picture of the problem. This is a side view drawing. Your spinal cord is supposed to be straight but as you can see Adam's was being pushed to the side.

We were released from the hospital and made it home on Halloween Day (Saturday) in time for Mommy to get her Trick or Treaters ready! So very grateful to the Bakers - Not only did they make dinner: "Mummy Dogs," but Mr. Mark and Tia Teia took our babes trick or treating for us. They all had fun despite the rain!

Rainbow Dash

Darth Vador

Daddy spent most of the first couple weeks of his recovery in this recliner that The Pavelka's loaned us (delivered and picked up, they're the BEST) and Ella Grace spent most of her time cuddled up next to her Daddy. Good medicine for Daddy...now that the recliner is gone he's greatly missing cuddle time with his girl.