Today

Still in the ER lisa is board I told her I was also. There are 26 rooms.  When I walked in there was 1 couple 

in the waiting room at 9AM  I walked out a little bit ago and all the seats are full and all the rooms are full.

They are keeping her a little longer since she had a seizure in the hospital hopefully well be going soon.  

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Karen sent this to me a few minutes ago... Lisa had a seizure 

this morning  on a walk to who  knows where...Lisa didn't know she was being transported to the ER 

via ambulance until she came to in the ambulance. After a CAT scan, she had another seizure in the ER room. 

She did not take her meds this morning because she takes them with her breakfast, and she took 

her walk before she ate. Karen took her out for pizza when they got out of ER about 6 hours later.Lisa says she

 is fine.  Karen says she is fine. Both are glad to be outta there:) I pray that her brain surgery works!

 We don't know where the ambulance picked her up at, or who called for it...God keeps 

His eye on her.... 

The girls

There are four of us.

The girls...

Lisa, Karla, Amy and Karen. Lisa is almost 4 1/2 years older than me. Mom had trouble with miscarriages before she had me. This may be morbid...but Dad has always said that she flushed the boys down the toilet...that's my dad. Amy is 20 months younger than me and Karen is 13 months younger than Amy. Mom told me that Lisa equaled 3 of us younger kids. She was always chasing us, but she was constantly chasing Lisa. She was a little stinker. Lisa is the oldest and I can honestly say that she was never treated different. She went to a different school than my sisters and me, but she was treated just like the rest of us. She got spanked, alot. We got spanked alot. Mom's weapon of choice was the wooden spoon. If that was not handy, she used a brush or the yard stick...we had plenty of each. Mom used to carry a wooden spoon in her purse. She used it too!

My eartliest Memory

My earliest memory of Lisa, or, my earliest memory is of Lisa! 
I remember living on Olive St when we were little and the house was tiny, I really don't remember the house that well, but Mom and Dad both said it was a tiny house and had only 2 bedrooms. We grew into a family of 4 girls. 

I remember the front enclosed porch and watching Lisa get into a taxi cab all by herself and going to school. I had to have been 2 years old. Amy must have been a baby and Karen was not yet born. I remember that Lisa had a coat on and a hat. 

I asked my dad just a few days ago about that and he said that she was either going to Metcalf School on ISU campus or to the Marc Center which was at the Methodist Church.

  Lisa eventually went to Raymond School. It was a wonderful school. I still believe that. Raymond School was a segregated school for Special Needs Children, you had to be 3 years old and you graduated at 21 years old. I will need to do some research about the history...I am not sure that she went there when she was 3. I would like to think that Raymond School was there before Lisa was born.

A date is set!

Lisa will have her 1st surgery on Monday, May 17th. She will have the second one 2-3 days later, depending on seizure data. I will keep you posted!

The "R" word

When we were little, Mom and Dad made sure we as a family, did not use the "R" word. Lisa was brain-damaged. Her brain got too hot when she had a high fever, and it became damaged. I can't remember a time that I used that word.  If it came out of my mouth, it probably would have felt like a cuss word, the four letter kind. I absolutely still feel that way today. It is just not nice, and I hear many adults using it and it just makes me cringe, and sad at the same time. They just don't understand.


As of late, 2 of my children have been very upset with the "R" word. A few months back one of them said it innocently, not knowing what it meant. They have heard it before. As soon as I heard it, I immediately brought all 3 of them together and had a talk with them. The "R" word, RETARDED is never to be used in my presence (that goes for their friends too) and should NEVER be used to describe someone else or their actions...never. I asked them if they knew what the word meant, "No" was their reply. I explained that a long time ago, when I was their age that is what people used to call people who were like Aunt Lisa. Well, they really got mad when they heard that. I told them that it is a word that we as a family should never say and that it is disrespectful to many, many people who are slower than us.


Sydney has complained that her close friends have used it and when she asked them not to, they continue to try to upset her...Well, my boy, Chase, is someone who hates the injustice of people and voices his opinion out loud about it. There have been many kids in his class that use that word in everyday language. I'm thinkin' it's just to tick him off! That hurts me...it hurts Chase, I think. He has told them not to use that word, as does another boy in his class, because that is what his aunt is...(I explained that one well). The other boy chimed in and said that he has 2 uncles who are mentally handicapped. So, problem solved.


Not really, the kids in the classrooms still use that word, more than ever, and  my older kids both continue to request they not use the word. To no avail. I am sorry. I feel sorry for my kids to hear it, for their friends to keep using the word and for all the adults who don't have someone in their life who is mentally challenged...because, ultimately,that is where it starts.
I just hope that what I am trying to teach at home makes sense to them and that they realize how words hurt, not only those being offended, but to those who have no clue that they are being offended.

Visiting Mom Today

Karen called me to let me know that she was going to pick up Lisa. She is visiting Mom. It is 2:00ish and the temp is about 40 outside...a beautiful, sunny day.

18 months old

I called Lisa and asked her what she was doing, she told me "I'm visiting with Mom!" I smiled, she informed me that it is a nice day and she walked over there to visit. I giggled as I asked her how mom is doing...she answered, "She's doing fine. I miss her, she was a good mom. I really miss her."  Me too Lisa. If I could only understand the depth of your missing her and mine, I am sure mine does not compare...yet I miss her with my whole heart.

Meeting with Dr Tracy

Karen and I went with Lisa to her Dr appt with the surgeon who will perform her surgery. We have made the hard decision of Lisa having the surgery. It is a risk, but it is also something that we need to do to try to prevent further memory loss. It might work, it might not. We hope and pray that it will be beneficial for Lisa and that she will be seizure free. Lisa is ready.
Parker, who is 20 months old, went with us to the appt. He took one look at the patient room and wailed, really got a bit upset, thinking we were there for him and he was going to see the Dr. It was cute...but not when the dr is trying to have a conversation with you. Karen took him out and he was just fine in the hallway. Karen was thanked by Lisa and the Dr on that one. She was able to listen in on the conversation though through the crack of the door.
Lisa got really quiet and scooted her chair closer to mine and leaned her shoulder on mine. She is nervous...I am nervous!!!!

Dr Tracy was very nice and was very patient with our many questions. He explained that there will be a question mark like incision over her left temperal lobe. It is above her ear. Her left brain is smaller than her right brain. He said He does the 1st surgery on Monday and puts a grid inside her head on the surface of the brain. It is an internal measure to figure out where in her brain the seizures are coming from. They then reduce meds so she will have seizures. When they get enough data on the seizure activity, they proceed with the 2nd surgery. this part of the surgery is when they go in and take out the part where the seizures are coming from. Each surgery takes 2-3 hours.He said that it usually takes place on Thursday, but sometimes earlier. We are thinking earlier. Lisa had an external observation a couple of years ago that recorded by video tape and round the clock observation by drs and nurses. She had sooo many seizures! Dad and Karen spent the nights with her while she was there. Lisa was a trooper though and didn't complain too much...well, not as much as she could have. 

 The risks are: memory loss, stroke, spinal infection, vision loss...
but the benefits are significantly lower amount of seizures (we hope) and the possibility of NO seizures. That would be awesome. 
Lisa wanted to do the surgery after sidewalk sale. She wants some control here! Karen and I explained that the sooner the better. We are going to shoot for late May or June. She will be in the hospital for 7 days if all goes well and would be able to go back to work in a week or 2! One of us will be with her throughout the procedure. She will be grumpy I'm sure, but I would be too if I had wires sticking out of my head and was in the hospital forever!
I asked the dr how many he has performed...about 25-30 so far. He has 2 scheduled before her now, so we need to get her on the schedule. more to come later!

The very beginning...

Lisa at 6 months old

Ok, I really wanted to keep up with this blogging thing, I am better than before=) 

Starting at the beginning, which I only know because of what I have been told...

Lisa was born on Dec. 19th, 1963. She was a beautiful baby and my mom remembers how so many people would tell her how pretty she was. Sounds fishy I know, what baby isn't beautiful? but you know.
Mom said that she was learning to walk at about 8 1/2 months. She was smart and very happy.  At 9 months old, she was taken to the hospital for a fever. The date in her baby book says it was Sept 21st, I believe...(this is all from memory.) It wasn't until Lisa's surprise 40th birthday party that I found out that when Mom's best friend was having her baby Lisa was being packed in ICE!!!!! I had no idea. Mom never told me that. 

The Dr's could not get her fever down. She was in the hospital for 2 1/2 days and was in a coma. She was paralyzed on her right side, had developed epilepsy and there was nothing anyone could do. The diagnosis was viral encephalitus caused by a mosquito bite. Lisa came home but was now "brain damaged" that is what mom always said, and that is the way we grew up believing, Lisa was just brain damaged. Simple. 

To be a fly on the wall, I would give anything to know how she handled Lisa, and Dad. Dad loved Lisa, he doted on her and was such a good dad. He would not accept Lisa, his only child, as "mentally retarded" he couldn't...one day she was this normal, happy baby and the next, she was brain damaged and to top it off...she had seizures! 

I remember mom told me when I was in high school, how dad would come home from work for lunch and ask mom if Lisa was OK today...you know...Normal... he would withhold her meds for her seizures to see if she really needed them. Mom told him one day after he came home and asked again if she was OK today that "Lisa is mentally retarded and that she will be that way for the rest of her life (our lives)". I am sure she didn't mean to be mean about it...maybe she did. I don't know. She might have just had a moment and told it to herself out loud and lashed out at Dad. She was living it 24/7 and Dad got to get away for awhile. I can't ask her and Dad does not remember. 
The Dr's told mom and dad to put her in an institution because she would be a "vegetable". They must have thought that it would be easier for them to not have her around.  Mom said NO...she is coming home with us. End of Story. 

For Lisa, it is the beginning of the story. Thanks Mom and Dad for showing so many that true love and patience pay off.