Written Aug 7, 2012 3:04pm

I was waiting to update until surgery was over but it is taking longer than expected. 
Jacob went to OR at 8 am in good spirits. His OR nurse even put country music on for him. I got an update at noon that the large tumor removal started and another update at 2:00 that Dr A was starting removal on two small tumors. Both updates the nurse said Jacob is doing great. They will contact me again when they are closing. Then the second big wait will start to see how Jacob's hands and legs are doing. 
Thank you all for your prayers and loving support today. Keep them coming!!!

Written 18 hours ago

7:30 pm After 11.5 hours Jacob is recovering in ICU. He can squeeze my hand and wiggle his toes!! Praise God. 
There ended up being 5 tumors total. The removed all of three of them, 95% of one & left a tiny one on the motor nerve to the left hand.
10:23 pm Jacob is awake and talking. He is in pain, but coping as best he can. His body has been through a lot. He has a morphine pump and is on zofran. He's been able to have ice chips. Jacob is complaining of numbness in both his hands. They feel "asleep." I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but I'm hoping its normal. Not one of the things Dr A mentioned but the ICU doctor is aware. 
They are going to let Jacob eat soon. 

I can't wait until he feels better so I can read to him all the emails and messages of love and prayers he received today. 
Thank you all!

Written 10 minutes ago

Good morning. Yes, I know it's 3:30 pm but it feels like morning to us. We finally got a few hours of sleep this morning around 9 am to 12 pm.  Last night was rough. Jacob has been uncomfortable and in pretty bad pain off and on. They are trying to find the right combo of drugs to get his pain under control.  His blood pressure was really high last night and he was given drugs to bring it down. It is controlled now.  His heart rate has been really high for over 24 hours now, but it's at 130 BPM now and that is an improvement. His EKG was abnormal so they are watching his heart closely.  He had one of his ventricles stop for a moment last night and that was of great concern for a few hours.  He had a fever of 102 last night but that is down now too.  The ICI is thorough if nothing else and they don't think you need sleep, lol.  Today has been better.  Jacob ate a little breakfast and lunch. They wanted to get him up and have him move out of ICU, wanted him to do a MRI, but all of that is on hold right now.  Dr. A has come in to see Jac twice now.  The numbness in his hands is normal and may take several months to calm down.  His right hand may always have some in it. The good news is that even though it is very painful for J to lift his arms or legs he CAN and he seems to have the same strength as before surgery. As time goes on we will have more info but for now I am so happy that his "Neuro" exams are going well.  Reflecting on the surgery info from yesterday I am so thankful we came here with Dr. A and he choose to do what is best for Jacob's quality of life and not what was the easiest....and he completed their main goal.  Jacob now has a happy spinal cord!!!
Today we are watching for blood clots to form in the large areas the tumors were removed.  Tomorrow we will be watching for spinal fluid leakage and hoping J won't need a lower spinal drain.  I have a lot more info to share but will do that at a later time.
I read Jacob some of his messages of hope this morning from all of you. It was hard to not cry tears of love so we only got through some of them, but we will have more to read later.  He knows he has an army who is lifting him up with prayer and hope!!
Thank you all so much.  My words are never enough.