FIRST SURVIVOR POSTING

So, Since the best benefit ever, Mom has been staying with me at my house. With the best assistant (my sis in law, AMY) we scheduled the first of my follow up doctor visits. With applications with SSDI and State Programs for assistance, I have continued my physical, occupational, and speech on my self. Climbing up or down the staircase, doing all "activities of daily of living" that I can, and doing worksheets given to me from the speech therapist.
Good reports from doctors seen. Cardiology pleased with blood pressures taking morning and at bedtime, will continue to adjust Coumidin (medicine that keeps my blood thin) based on weekly lab results.  One of my doctors, willing to wean me off anti-seizure medications (had been on them since early hospitalization) if my neurosurgeon was okay as well. He was agreeable when we met later that week. Yes, last week I met the brilliant man that saved my life. I told him I heard bits and pieces from family and friends, and with some medical knowledge I was pretty was up to date on what I had been through the past month ;but I wanted to hear from him.  He pulled out a blank sheet of paper and to describe my aneurysm and all the complications that occurred, telling me I "wrote the book on aneurysm". He encouraged me to go to visit the nurses and staff from the NICU (Neuro Intensive Care Unit). He praised on how they work on cases like mine but with much different outcomes. It was nice to hear a doctor thinking about the nurses!
Followed with the rehab doctor gave me some referrals including having my vision assessed at UH Eye Center. I have been having a problem in my left eye. It feels like something in it, like a eyelash feels. I could not identify even the special extra huge letters, the eye center had. I had what I felt was every test available for the eyeballs! Amy and I got their at 1 PM and we did not leave until 7 PM. They discovered 2 retinal hemorrhages, Obviously from the brain aneurysm. Now will see a retinal specialist on Friday. Good new is they are right here in Cypress!

Silent & Live Auction Items for this Sunday's Benefit!

We've been telling you about all the wonderful auctions items we'll have on Sunday, but maybe you're wondering, "Well, WHAT exactly?"

Remember, our Healing Hands for Arianne Benefit will take place this Sunday, August 4, at Cypress Saloon on Telge Road.  We open at 1:00, will have $10 BBQ plates, a bake sale, live music, children's entertainment, and more : )  DunVille Takes the stage as our headliner around 7:30 once the auction business has concluded.  The previous blog post will give detailed info about the benefit.

SILENT AUCTION:  1:00 PM - 6:00 PM.  
LIVE AUCTION:  3:00 PM

When you arrive on Sunday, you will need to sign in and receive an auction ID number before placing bids.  PLEASE allow time for this.  These are the items we have so far... believe it or not, the generosity of Ari's friends, family, and clients is STILL pouring in, so we'll have even more on the day of the auction.

LIVE AUCTION ITEMS!

Trips:

• Cast 'n' Blast Guided Hunting/Fishing Trip
• 3 Nights at any Hyatt Resort Worldwide with a a $250 Spa Gift Certificate
• Day Trip for two to Quantum Lakes (Bass Fishing)
• Weekend at Host Reserve in Leakey, TX

Sports:

• Autographed Brian Cushing Football (Texans)
• Autographed Clint Dempsey Print (US National Soccer Team Captain, MLS Star)
• His & Hers Homerun Basket: Astros Tickets, Jewelry and more!
• Texans Preseason tickets (4) with Blue Lot Parking
• Astros Tickets
• Skeeters Tickets
• Texans Tickets

Personal Services:

• $1000 toward Laser Hair Removal at Vintage Wellness
• Coolsculpting Treatment (3 available!)

Goodies:

• Yeti Cooler & Fishing Rods
• Wheelbarrow Full of Liquor
• Blue Label Vodka Basket
• Wine Basket

SILENT AUCTION ITEMS!

Personal Products & Services:

• Skinceuticals
• Obagi
• Massage
• Neocutis
• ZOOM Whitening for teeth
• La Vee Vee Couture Fashion Boutique
• All About Feet
• Pink Papaya Basket
• Sonicare Toothbrushes
• Envision Salon
• $1000 Toward Wedding Photography with Monkey Tree Photography
• $500 Toward Portrait Photography with Monkey Tree Photography
• GC to Kat Mack Photography
• Portrait Session with Queen B Photography

Sports:

• All Star Martial Arts of Cypress
• Cypress Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Home & Decor:

• Shabby Chic Two-Drawer Dresser
• Two Vintage Shabby Chalkboards
• Willow House Merchandise
• ManCave Basket
• Pink Zebra Basket
• Scentsy Merchandise

Jewelry:

• Premier
• Origami Owl
• Inspiranza
• Lia Sophia
• Diamond Pendant

Restaurant Gifts:

• Chick-Fil-A
• Carl's BBQ
• Alamo Draft House
• Bull & Bear

Other Goodies:

• Cigar Humidor (2)
• Koozies
• iPhone Case personalized with your photo of choice
• Buddha Bag
• Ladies' Handbag made of Western Boots & Belts
• Texas Flag
• Set of Blue Mason Jar Citronella Oil torches

Kids:

• Tutu & Rocking Horse Basket
• A Variety of Kid-Fun Baskets
• Paint-a-Pirate Ship Kit

IF YOU STILL WANT RAFFLE TICKETS, THEY'RE AVAILABLE!

Head on down to the previous post for details : )

A Quick Summary : ) Ari, Raffle Tickets, and the August 4 Benefit.

A quick summary for those of you new to the Healing Hands for Arianne blog:

The situation:

Ari unexpectedly had a brian bleed due to ruptured aneurysm (she's only 37!) in mid-May.  By the grace of God, her roommate Donna found her in the nick of time, and with the help of sister-in-law Amy, they got her to the hospital.  She spent a lot of time in the Neuro ICU at Methodist Hospital, most of this time she was sedated to keep her comfortable, as she had a shunt in her brain and  few other not-so-comfy medical devices helping her out.  Once she stepped down to the regular hospital floor, it wasn't long until she moved across the street to rehab.

In an astonishing display of fighting spirit and hope, she graduated from rehab and is now HOME as of yesterday : )

Arianne's friends have come together to help raise money... Ari is single and has no medical insurance, so we will need help to pay for her health-related expenses and services, as well as covering bills and basic needs while she is disabled and can't work.  We have lots of reasons to believe that she'll make a full recovery-- though she will be working to overcome the disabilities for about a year.

Raffle Tickets:

We are selling raffle tickets now, as well as at the August 4 benefit.  You can purchase them online at the following link:

Online Raffle Ticket Sales

Please feel free to share this link with others!  The prizes are:

• 6-8 night Diamond-Level Royal Caribbean Cruise for two to Canada, Bermuda, Alaska or the Caribbean.  You choose your destinations and dates.
• $500 Walmart Gift Card
• $200 Visa Gift Card
• ZOOM! Teeth Whitening
• CoolSculpting Treatmant

Tickets are $5 each, or five tickets for $20.  Purchase online, or stop by Vintage Wellness, located in the Cypress area at 130 Vintage Park Boulevard, Suite L, Houston TX 77070.

The August 4 Benefit:

We are SO EXCITED for this benefit!  It will be held at Cypress Saloon on Telge (in Cypress) on Sunday, August 4, 2013.  It'll start at 1:00, and we will be serving $10 BBQ plates until we run out!  For dessert, hit up the bake sale.  Please bring cash if possible to help us expedite the sale of BBQ and baked goods.

Silent Auction items will be available for viewing and bidding beginning at 1:00 and end at approximately 5:30.  We will have live music and fun contests all day, not to mention some AWESOME live auction items starting around 3:00.  Lots of professional sports tickets and memorabilia, furniture and home decor, hunting/fishing trips, Spa & personal services, and more.  We're hoping Arianne will be present at around 7:00 to draw the winners for the raffle!  We are able to accept credit cards for auction items, but Arianne will see more of the money if you come prepared to pay with a check or cash (no credit card transaction fees).

There will be a jump-house and some other fun for the kids, so don't let them stop you from joining us! The Funky Monkey Photobooth will be there to help create memories of the day, as well as a nice scrapbook for Ari.  For our competitive supporters, there's volleyball and horseshoes.

There will be a $5 cover charge after 5:00 since our concert headliner, DunVille will start playing around 7:30.  We're pretty excited about these musical acts!

Feel free to share our Benefit Flyer (and this blog post) with all your friends : )

We can't wait to see you there, and help our friend.  We know that under similar circumstances, she'd absolutely do the same for us.  I (Kasey) had surgery last October, and Ari took days off work so she could drive an hour to come stay with my kids while my husband was at the hospital with me... then she stayed 4 days more to be sure we were good to go on the handling of my medical stuff!

Let's do all we can to get her back to a normal life : )

Home Trial

Today Arianne spent some time at home to evaluate her living space and see what challenges she may have upon discharge, so therapy can work with her on these things. I was only there for a short time but she seemed to do great. She walked the stairs twice! Her dad helped her install some things to make the bathroom a bit more functional. It won't be long and she will be home permanently!  Another bit of good news-  Arianne GOT HER TRACH OUT!!! But by far my favorite part of the day was sitting with her on the couch and hearing one of  her use one of her witty one-liners on her dad! We all had a good laugh and her mom said "Well she's back!" Yes she is! Thank you all for your prayers which have no doubt been heard. Arianne still faces some challenges but I have no doubt that she will overcome and will become even more of a blessing to those in her presence.

Speech has encouraged blogging, so I am hoping Arianne will take over this one and share her story of continuing recovery with you all.

- Amy

Visiting information

To answer everyone's question...Yes Arianne posted those pic of herself on Facebook!! I was just as excited to see those as all of you. I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting the day you could pay her a visit and I know that she would want to see all of you as well, but she has a lot of work to do in rehab. Arianne  has what they call aphasia, (she knows what she wants to say but sometimes can't find the right word) so she is doing a lot of work with speech therapy as well as PT and OT. Her days are full with therapy with rest breaks in between. As you can imagine all of this work is tiring and doesn't leave much time/energy for visiting.
But I know she appreciates all of your positive comments and words of encouragement on Facebook. Arianne will probably be home in less than 2 weeks and may not have such a vigorous schedule.
So keep sharing the love and well wishes via Facebook and she will respond as best as she can when she is able.
Many Thanks,
Amy

I finally heard her voice after 53 days!

When I stayed with Arianne on Tuesday, I could not believe how much progress she had made just in 2 days. She had gotten so much stronger. During our sleepover my goal was to get her trach downsized, so she could communicate and get her a swallow study so she could eat. I must have mentioned these things to everyone that walked in the room that day. The swallow study got done on Tuesday and she passed, so she was finally able to eat REAL food again. Her appetite is getting better everyday and hopefully she can get the feeding tube out before coming home. Then on Thursday she got the trach downsized and moved to the rehab unit. When I called her mom to check on her Thursday, she said someone wanted to talk to me. After 53 days it was so amazing to hear her voice again.  Ironically I had lost mine but I just listened to her talk for about 20 minutes. Tears were streaming down my face .
We stopped by her new digs on Saturday evening and she looked even better, when she saw us, she smiled that beautiful smile and said "Hey"! It was Mick's first time to talk to her since she got her voice back.
She is working really hard on the rehab unit. Ari still has her great sense of humor. Apparently some language centers in the brain have been affected so she is having some difficulty with finding the right word to say. She told us that sometimes an incomprehensible word will come out and she is like "Why did I say that?" I told her that we would start going to Brain Aneurysm Support groups to learn more and listen to others stories. Click here to learn more about Brain Aneurysm and recovery. The more we know the more we can all help Arianne.
Thank you all for the prayers, I can't help but feel that she is a miracle and I have all of you fierce prayer warriors to thank. We still have a long road but things now seem to be progressing in the right direction fairly quickly.
Many blessings,
Amy

Sleep Over and raffle tickets!

We are having a sleep over! Arianne has been moved out of ICU and onto the floor. I don't think she is going to be here long though, she is doing so well that she will probably be moved to the rehab unit soon. She has made such progress even since we were here on Sunday and she took her first walk. She is getting herself to the bathroom but needs help with the IV poles and her other tubes. Communication is still an issue(another reason I am staying because she pushes the button but can't talk) and we are pressing the staff hard to get her trach downsized. She could be home in about 2 weeks but will probably need 24 hour supervision for a while.  I am now boldly asking God to give her peace and patience as she progresses down this road and may she always know that she is not alone and that she is deeply loved, most importantly by her Maker and many others as well. Amen.

Also Raffle Tickets are now on sale. You can contact a Benefit Host, get them from Vintage Wellness by calling 281-320-2888 or order them online at https://squareup.com/market/healing-hands-for-arianne/raffle-ticket.