Sunday

too tired to give a full update tonight.

dad is frustrated. his mind is functioning fully but his body isn't anywhere near that. imagine being fully aware but unable to get it out. HATE IT

that being said he has made amazing progress. gtube was taken out today and he ate 3 cups of apple sauce, one with his own hand. the rehab techs came by and want to try and get him sitting up and possibly standing tomorrow. I cannot imagine this but am hopeful.

i'm not doing well. getting so stressed that I'm giving myself shakes and fevers. not sure what to do because to me being away from the hospital is not an option. this is just SO WRONG

want to thank everyone who has offered food and their support. special thanks to Mary for her help with my kids and Lori for the blockbuster gift card in my mailbox. incredibly, incredibly kind.

Saturday, the cliff notes.

10/15/09 at 1:16am
-Alert this morning and smiling big at stories about the grandkids and his delirious children walking to starbucks in the rain. smiled at the fact that we rented 3Amigos and The Jerk for him to watch. Shook his head yes when asked if his brother in law could visit. Also shook his head yes to listen to the Ticket (but not yet)

-Took pictures of him. Aside from letting me step away from the situation for a minute to be a documentarian, I want to have them to show him someday how far he has come.

-Dr checked him mid-day, so impressed with his progress that he decided to go ahead and extubate today instead of Monday.

-The extubation was really, really hard on him. Although I am sure he is more comfortable, it is taking all his strength to move his lungs on his own again. He was very agitated and uncomfortable. Because of the brain surgery, they cannot give him any pain meds or sleeping aides. Only Tylenol.

I feel so helpless. I am fine most of the day then by nighttime get to a point of not being able to take it anymore. I know he's coming back but i feel like I've lost my dad. Can't wrap my head around the mental image from just Tuesday morning, to now. Can't believe that is the same man. By the end of the day I am so emotionally exhausted that I have uncontrollable shaking. Luckily my brother is being the strong one of the two of us. He refuses to leave Dad's side and is spending the night with him tonight. Dad kept looking at me tonight like he wanted to tell me something. I couldn't figure it out. He still can't talk yet because he is so tired and his throat is sore from the intubation. This is so exhausting. Just love my Dad so much and want him to be ok.

It's like his progress is one step closer to normal, but then at some point during the day it kicks me in the face how far away from normal we actually are, when he was never sick before the surgery to begin with.

Not making any sense. Going to bed.

Friday (written by my sister in law)

UPDATE as of 3/13/09 at 9:15pm.

The doctor decided today to take Bob off of sedation meds and pain meds entirely. He still is intubated (has a tube down his throat helping him breathe). He has been off of the meds since this morning and there are only brief moments where his eyes open and he appears to recognize us. We are not supposed to attempt to engage him too much because his blood pressure and heart rate increase and this is not good. He is supposed to remain as calm as possible in order to heal. Over the next several days the accumulation of meds should start to dissipate and he will become more and more out of this drugged state. The doctor has said he will probably remain in ICU through the rest of next week and the total recovery time in rehab, both in and outpatient, will probably last 3 to 6 months.As I mentioned in a comment, he has suffered 2 strokes. One at the brain stem and one at the cerebelum. (sp?) The cerebelum controls balance and such but is extremely "forgiveable". We have yet to see the effects of the brain stem stroke, but the doctor feels as though he will cognitively be the same old Bob he was prior to the surgery.

Tim is something like a vigilant soldier and just wants to stand over him in case he opens his eyes and let him know he is okay. Deanna, along with her brother, walked to Starbucks in the rain and is now feeling sickly. Both of them want to be in the hospital all the time but are feeling the effects of that. Tim, I think, plans to spend every waking moment here during his Spring Break next week and especially over the next few days as hopefully Bob slowly comes back to us.

It is a rough patch, but I think, ultimately, we're going to come out on top. Again, thanks for reading.

(Deanna) thank you SO MUCH for all the love and support. My Dad is one of the most loved people, and for good reason. He is the best man I know.

Thursday.

Turns out Dad had two strokes, one of the cerebellum, the other is brain stem.

Today he showed much improvement, but only for his neurosurgeon and for Tim (my brother) and I. We think he just likes us more :)

They may try to extubate him tomorrow (Friday) but I'm doubtful.

He is still moving his extremities and seems much stronger than yesterday.

Tonight the nurse turned off his sedatives for about an hour so Tim and I could talk to him. Finally after half an hour of yelling in his ear to squeeze our hands, he fluttered open his eyes, and turned his head and looked at me, and I saw in his eyes that he recognized me. He then squeezed my brother's hand. That's about all we got out of him, but it's better than yesterday. So good to see him somewhat awake. I cannot wait to have him back.

Update

I am writing from a laptop in the hospital. here is an update on the past two days.

Yesterday morning we arrived at 5am and stayed with Dad until they took him for the surgery. He was in good spirits. I have a picture of him that I will cherish forever, smiling and giving us the thumbs up. We were all laughing and joking around and feeling positive.

 The surgery was supposed to last between 5 and 7 hours. They began at 8:30am. At 3pm we were getting restless and anxious, and asked for an update. At that point they told us it would be another 2 hours, but that everything was fine.

2 hours later, another update to check back in an hour because they had no idea how much longer it was going to be.

finally after a nervewracking 11.5 hours, we were informed that the surgery was over. A few minutes later, the doctor came to speak with all of us.

The doctor was very sober about the operation. The tumor had way more blood than they had anticipated. He went through 4 pints of blood during the surgery. It was nowhere near what they expected.  It was an extremely difficult operation.

 The biggest concern was that Dad had had a stroke during the surgery. As of last night, the dr's opinion was that there was a 50% chance that this had happened. 5 of the 6 quadrants of his brain had responded post-operation, so that was encouraging. 

 They then moved  him to ICU, where they decided to intubate and sedate him so that his brain could recover. We went home around midnight and were back at 5am this morning to meet the doctor.  At that point they had already done a catscan, and when the dr arrived he assessed that my Dad had indeed suffered a brain stem stroke.

 The good news was that the surgeon and nurses were able to get my dad to respond to their requests to squeeze their hand and move his legs, even though he was completely sedated. At the time he spoke to us, he was not moving his right leg at all, which indicated to the dr. that there had been some damage. However, the dr walked us over to Dad and asked us to talk to him. He responded to my voice by lifting his right arm over his head, and then again by finally moving his right leg. The dr, who has been very sober and cautious, turned to Dad's wife Tamera, grabbed her arm, and said "Oh my God, there is hope!" Was a huge relief.

 So today they kept him intubated and sedated all day, with the hope that his brain would rest and heal. We are currently waiting on the results of a second ctscan which will tell us if there has been any swelling in the brain. The goal is to extubate him and wake him up tomorrow.

 Obviously this was all completely unexpected, by myself, my family, and the surgeon. The surgeon indicated that Dad's tumor was something he had never seen before. We were completely shaken by the news of the stroke, and now expect some damage, however are hopeful that through physical therapy he will be able to make some recovery. The dr is saying that while there's little chance of FULL recovery, that he has a good chance for GOOD recovery. 

 All I care about is that my Daddy comes back to me mentally. I don't care if I have to cart him around in a wheelchair for the rest of his life or if he gets a cool "Dr. House" cane and has a limp...I just want him back to his old self. It is hard to be positive and hopeful at this point because with each step in this process, the unexpected has occurred. I will leave the positivity to all of you.

 If you are on facebook, I am updating as much as I can from my page (search for Deanna Devine-Silvestre and I will add you as soon as I can from my phone)

 I have had literally hundreds of emails, phone calls, and texts over the last 48 hours, and I truly truly appreciate everyone's support and prayers. It means everything to me. My Dad is so loved by many and I know that will get him through this.

 Please keep us in your prayers. Pray specifically that the dr will be able to extubate him tomorrow, that he will wake up and be himself, and for my brother, Dad's wife Tamera, and myself for strength so that we can get him through this.

The Big Day

I wanted to reach out to all of you for a moment, and ask you to please pray for my Dad this week.

The operation to remove his brain tumor is this Tuesday morning. He will be admitted at 5am, and they will begin the surgery around 7am. The surgery is expected to last around 6-7 hours. My brother and I as well as our support system of friends and family will be there at the hospital with him. After the surgery he will stay in the hospital for a week, then home recovering for another month.

I'm sort of a mess again and could use happy thoughts and prayers myself.

On that note I will be out of the office Tue-Friday to be with my Dad. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

Here is his picture with my kids so you can put a face with a name. I *heart* my Daddy so much and hate seeing him go through this.

One day left

One day left to take advantage of the Reprint Sale...this only happens once a year so be sure and get your orders in before the deadline! Mother's Day is just around the corner!

ANNUAL REPRINT SALE

Better late than never, right???

20% off all prints 16x20 and larger

15% off all prints 11x14 and smaller

15% off all gallery wrapped canvases, all sizes

Minimum order of $200 required.
Orders must meet reprint requirements (call or email for details)
Sale ends next Friday, March 6th at midnight.

This is a great time to get those early Mother's and Father's day gifts!!!

972-596-5500 OR DEANNA@DEVINE-MEMORIES.COM

And the winner is....

Congratulations to the S. Family for winning Image of the Year 2008, Newborn Twins! A complimentary session is yours!!

Also congrats to the C. Family (Sisters on bed) as first runners up! You will receive an 8x10 of your image!

Thank you all for participating! It was a close race this year!

Image of 2008-VOTE!!!!

Finally! It's back!!!

These are my picks for my favorite images of 2008. Please vote for your favorite one. The winner will receive a COMPLIMENTARY SESSION, and first runner up will receive a COMPLIMENTARY 8X10 of their image!!

Polls Close Feb 25th at midnight!

#1 Girl in red tutu

#2 Sisters on Bed

#3 Girl and her horse

#4 Blue eyed girl

#5 Giggles

#6 Happy Family

#7 Brother and Sister laughing

#8 Sisters hug

#9 Dad plays guitar

#10 Baby in Hat

#11 Family snuggles #12 Girl loves kisses

#13 Newborn twins

#14 Family in Grand Central

Back to Business

Lookie, pictures!!! On a photography blog!!!!!

This session is from waaaaaay back in December. This gorgeous family is one of my faves and have been so wonderfully patient waiting for just a peek at these. If you've been following the blog for awhile I am sure you will recognize them, they are Devine Celebrities of sorts ;)

*************************

Update on my Dad: We found a surgeon who will operate! He is an uber-specialist called a "skull based surgeon", and he will perform the surgery through my Dad's ear. He is pretty confident that he can get the tumor out with minimal side effects, and he thinks he can get it ALL. This means a CURE!!! We are so relieved and cautiously optimistic. The biggest risk is some hearing loss, but like I told my Dad, he'll still have one good ear ;) And that beats a brain tumor any day! I think the surgery will be sometime in early March, I will definetly need more prayers then. That is going to be a long day.

Thank you so much for your prayers, they WORKED!!

Update

Last Friday, my Dad had a test to determine the amount of bloodflow to the tumor in his brain. The news was what we expected and not encouraging. There is a large amount of bloodflow to the tumor, and this makes any surgery or radiation "treacherous" (the neurosurgeon's word).

The short of it is, my Dad must have an operation on an inoperable brain tumor. We had no idea how serious this brain tumor was, and it turns out to be almost as bad as if he did have cancer. The only up to it not being cancer is that it buys us more time to find a surgeon to operate.

There are 25-50 surgeons in the entire country who are skilled enough to operate on the area of the brain that his tumor is located. The good news: one of them is located in Dallas. Dad will be consulting with this doctor very soon to see if he thinks he or one of his colleagues across the country would be able to at least get some of the tumor out. It is tricky because of all the bloodflow and because it is buried so far deep in his brain. Tricky isn't even the right word, it's so damn near impossible that this neurosurgeon, who is on the cover of D Magazine as one of the area's best, wouldn't touch it.

Anyways we still have options and we still have hope, but I can't tell you guys how scared I am. No one wants to see their parents suffer, I truly can't imagine anything worse.

Please continue to pray for him or send good thoughts our way.

As for me, I am going to be slowly stepping back into working. I'll start returning phone calls and emails this week and will begin taking sessions again towards the end of this month. Look for a reprint sale coming up in the next couple of weeks. I cannot begin to thank all of you enough for the patience and kindness you have shown me during the most difficult period of my life. I will forever be grateful.

Deanna

More news...

I am so thankful that I made the decision to take the month off...here is the latest from my house (copied and pasted from my facebook page, sorry if you guys are seeing it twice) If you don't know my dad, he is only 53 years old, lives around the corner from me, and we are a very close family.

For those who don't know, yesterday my dad called to tell me that he had an MRI earlier in the week after having a few dizzy spells. They found a mass, and today was his dr. appointment with the neurosurgeon. We went with Dad to the neurosurgeon's office today. First of all, the tumor is benign. That is the most important thing and the thing we are trying to focus on. It is about the size of a golfball and has likely been there for years. This is how they know it's benign. If it were malignant, he'd be dead by now. More good news: the tumor is not actually growing on his brain, just pushing against it, at his brain stem.

The problem: it's inoperable. It has blood vessels all through it that likely also supply that area of his brain with blood. Surgery would likely cause major damage to his motor skills and he would never be the same. If it continues to grow, his motor skills would be affected.The surgeon seemed to think that gamma ray knife surgery is his best option. I don't think I exactly understand yet, but they're doing some more tests to rule out surgery and to see if he is a candidate for this gamma ray procedure, which is like super precise radiation. Here is a link: click on Neurology, then Gamma Knife procedure http://www.dallasneurosurgical.com/surgicalanimations.htmIf this works the way it should, they can kill the tumor and it will basically implode and shrink. After that, he should be able to live a normal life. I'd imagine he'd have to have follow up MRI's to make sure it doesn't grow again.

Dad is in good spirits. He was just grateful that he didn't walk in and have the surgeon tell him he had 6 months to live. I'm iffy. One minute, I'm so grateful that he doesn't have cancer, the next I am so terrified of that stupid monster on his brain or of him suffering at all. I got to see the tumor on the MRI and I think I will have nightmares about it tonight. It is huge and is literally smooshing his brain stem and the lower right quadrant of his brain. It is a MIRACLE that he doesn't have more symptoms. That thing is a beast.I believe the next tests are next week sometime and I will definetly keep updated. Thanks for the phone calls, emails, texts, etc from everyone. I am so sorry I haven't been able to get back to most of you. I am emotionally exhausted and holding a conversation right now is difficult.

Please continue to pray for my Daddy.

For my clients:

I know many of you are waiting on things from me. I hope that you all know me well enough to know that I will get back to you and get you everything you are waiting on as soon as I can. I have been unable to get to all the emails and calls relating to the business. Please continue to have patience with me as I promise we will get everything to you as soon as we can. I just need some time to recuperate from everything that I have been through. I will get through this and I will come out ok and ready to be creative and work again. I have just never been in such a difficult period of my life before, and would be crazy not to take advantage of being self employed right now.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your patience and understanding.

Deanna

Explanation :)

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday.

I doubt if anyone is even reading anymore ;), but in case you are wondering where the heck I am, I thought I'd explain.

I've talked privately with several of my clients and have explained the situation, and many of you have probably figured it out by now, but my husband and I separated very recently after 11 years of marriage. I have wrestled with whether or not to share that here because it is my business blog, and I try to keep business and personal lives separate. But as many of you who have gone through these types of emotional situations know, it makes working nearly impossible. Add to that three kids and trying to run a business in the midst of it all, and I have had a very, very difficult time.

I was supposed to come back to work this week after taking 4 weeks off for the holidays, and I am completely and utterly not ready. I have made the decision to take the rest of January off. Those of you who are waiting on things from me from before the break will still receive them (prints, slideshows, etc.) but I am not taking anything new on so that I can take this in babysteps. I feel as though I JUST am getting a handle on the single mother of three thing, so to add running the business back in so suddenly just feels wrong.

Many of my closest friends started out as clients, and I know that you will all be super understanding and supportive, and I appreciate it so much (it makes me feel worse :) )

I have plans for February (Image contests, reprint sale) so please do stay tuned. Thanks for hangin' in there with me.

Love to you all.

Deanna

PS-A picture of Gabby, who turned SIX last week...Happy birthday my angel girl.

Happy Holidays!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone out there in blogland!!

We're taking a much needed 4 week break over here to regroup for 2009, and will return on Monday, Jan. 12th.

We'll be doing the Image of the Year contest at that time (I know, I'm a little late)

I thought it would be funny to let you all know too that I myself did NOT get my own photo order in in time for Christmas. Oops, sorry grandparents! It's been that kind of a year. I posted this on my Facebook page, but here is something to make all my clients feel better...see, I feel your pain. (this is the best we got)

Go ahead and giggle, I did (much, much later after a glass of wine).

Have a great time with the ones you love and we'll see you in 2009!

Deanna

A taste of NYC

Rockefeller Center Wollman Rink in Central Park

Getting ready for Christmas

I heart my babies

Like you're right here with me

You can follow my New York trip here via my Twitter feed! Check back here to see what I'm up to, if I run into Britney Spears at the Rockefeller Tree Lighting, or fall on my "ice" while ice skating at Wollman Rink! :)

(If you're receiving this update via email, click here to come directly to the blog)

HOME!

Change of Plans

Due to a big blunder from the lab, we have a little change of schedule.

All holiday cards/4x6 quantity prints are READY. You may pick up WEDNESDAY or FRIDAY during the day. Please call for directions and to let us know when you are coming.
This includes:
Hogue
Frank
Courtright (entire order is ready)
Cohen (entire order is ready)
Woolley (entire order is ready)
Lalicker
Badger
Brown, M
Gardsbane
Murphy
Craven
Guillory

If you are out of town we are shipping your holiday cards to you via UPS Ground on Wednesday

Most print orders should be ready to go on FRIDAY, so if you would rather wait and pick up your print and card order together, you can do so at that time.

If this week does not work for you, I will be back in the office next week.

Sorry for the confusion, email or call us at 972-596-5500 if you have any questions or to schedule your pick up!

Deanna and Suzanne

This week

Hope everyone had a great break!! Here is our schedule for this upcoming week:

MONDAY: Suzanne and I will both be in the office for most of the work day. I have holiday cards ready and packaged for the following clients:
Biggerstaff
Crumley
Lalicker
Cohen
Fenerty
Hogue
Brown, M
Courtright
Please call us at 972-596-5500 if you would like to come by and pick them up!

TUESDAY: I am in and out of the office, please call to make an appointment if you'd like to come and pick up cards or orders at this time.

WEDNESDAY: I leave for New York early in the AM. Suzanne will be in the office and contacting those clients whose holiday cards/orders are available. We expect all holiday card orders made BEFORE the deadline of Nov. 20th to be ready to go on Wednesday.

THURSDAY-SUNDAY: office will be closed while I am in NYC. I will have very limited access to email at this time and will return all messages on Monday, December 8th.

If you need to get a hold of me personally, please make sure you call or email before Tuesday afternoon.

Thanks everyone!
D