Guess Who I Saw Today

So today we went on a bus tour of Berlin and we made a stop to see the Brandenburger Tor. We got out of the bus and had to cut through a building to get to the Tor. So as we were about to walk through the glass doors the security tells us that we cant go through because Condoleezza Rice was about to walk from the American Embassy to her hotel. The building we were in was right in between the two. So about 2 minutes later Condoleezza Rice walked right by where we were. We all started waving and taking pictures. I got one of her. I shouted I LOVE YOU and she waved and pointed at my shirt which was an East Lansing shirt. It was very exciting. She was like 10 feet from me.

Day at the Pool

Tim and Julia...hope he doesn't pull her in the water.
Kylee, Tim, Kaylee and Julia

Kylee, Haley, Kelsey and Julia

Kelly, Karen and Karla

A little too much sunscreen. Like father, like son.

What a beauty.

The tube popped.

The house is very quiet today.

It is just Julia and I until Aunt Linda arrives later today.

I'm Home

Hello!

Mike and I got to Cincinnati last night about 8pm. It is SOOOOO good to be home! It was a lot of fun last night with Tim and Julia AND Karla, Kelly, Haley, Kelsey, Kaylee and Kylee. We got to laughing and they are "banned" from making me laugh. ha! It hurts too much. The "cleaning ladies" must have made an appearance because the house looked great. It was a great greeting home from everyone. Julia kept hugging me. Tim gave me a big hug, too, then went on the computer. He does better with one on one time with Mom.

I am relieved to be six days post surgery. The Cleveland Clinic is an amazing place. The breast reconstruction surgical team has a contract with the VIP wing at the CC. No kidding, I was on the VIP floor. One of my nurses told me that when there is a pro player from Cleveland (Browns, Indians or Cavaliers) that has an overnight stay, they are on this floor. At the end of the hall, they had screens and armed guards outside one of the patient's rooms. Because of HIPPA (sp?) laws, we are not 100% of who the patient was, but there were "priests" (as I heard them refer to themselves, but definitely not Catholic) who walked the halls. They were big men, wearing long black gowns/robes, long black beards and a black hat of some sort. English was not their primary language. I didn't ever see the actual patient walking the halls. It was a surreal experience. The nursing staff was top-notch. I don't think there could ever be a better hospital stay for me EVER.

Thanks for reading this blog over the last week and following this journey. Linda arrives on Tuesday to assist. THANK YOU Linda!!! I will be unable to drive for awhile and she will entertain Julia.

Kaitlyn, I'm thinking of you this week. Yesterday her boyfriend, Michael, arrived with a Medical Missions team. She hasn't seen Michael for over a month and I know she misses him. The Monfils family is also down in Haiti this week. I know all involved will have a memorable week, but especially Kait. I will keep you in my prayers.

Nick gets back from Germany in eight days, but who is counting. =-) Can't wait to have him home.

Thanks from Karen

Hello Family and Friends:

I appreciate more than words can say all the prayers and comments this week. They could definitely be felt on many levels. I am healing better than I could have expected; the room accommodations exceeded my expectations; the nursing and support staff have been so very kind; the food has been delicious; BUT best of all, my favorite nurse, MIKE, is quite cute and very helpful! Honestly, it has been great to have these last six days together. He has been there for everything with a positive attitude and giving spirit. Tonight Mike is Detroit (with his sister Linda) seeing his favorite all-time singer, Burton Cummings. Two years ago with BC toured in the USA, I was diagnosed with cancer and Mike was unable to make it to any of the concerts. This summer, I wanted more than anything for him to be able to go. He left Cleveland around 2:15 and is at the concert as I write this. I know he is having a blast and a much deserved "break" from his nursing duties. Mike....I love you and thanks for all your love this past week.

Tomorrow afternoon I will be discharged. I am now ready to head back to Cincinnati. I'm sore but know that I am ready for the next step. I will go home with three drains. YUCK!

Thanks for all the love!!!

Love,
Karen

Friday Morning Update

Karen slept great last night and I did too. Karen had a nice breakfast and is now sitting up reading the USA Today. After being cloudy and cold all week, it's a beautiful sunshiny day here in Cleveland. We are sitting here in the room with the curtains wide open and sun streaming in. Except for her hospital gown, you would never even know Karen just had surgery. She looks radiant and beautiful.

A lady just came in with a card from Margaret. Karen says "thanks Mom".

It will not be a surprise to anyone, but Karen has made great friends with all the nurses and aides here at the hospital. Many of them are giving her hugs after they leave their shifts since they know this is Karen's last day. Yesterday two of the nurses (Beverly and Janice) just came in to "hang out" with Karen. Like always, Karen has shown her loving, positive and Godly spirit and has touched numerous people.

This Cleveland Clinic is really something. In addition to having a single room that is more like a hotel than a hospital room, the food has been incredible. Karen has five gourmet choices for each meal such as filet mignon, salmon, baked cod and schwen chicken and rice. Since today is her last day, they came in and gave her a beautiful fruit basket and a six-pack of Fuji water. We have felt more like we've stayed in a five star hotel than a hospital for the last week.

Well, this is going to be quite a sports weekend for all of us. Margaret and Karen's Cubs take on Rod's White Sox in the first crosstown series ever with both teams in first place. And there is a possibility of World War III erupting if Julia's Russian team beats the Netherlands in soccer today and ends up facing Nick's Germany in the European Cup. Julia will be cheering, "Russia - da!, Germany - nyet! Julia - da!!, Nick - nyet!!"

Well, that's it for now.

Thanks again for all the love, prayers and support this past week. You don't know how good this made us feel and the strength it gave to Karen.

Love,

Mike

Thursday Night at the Cleveland Clinic

Karen is having a very good day at the Cleveland Clinic. Colleen Monfil will be glad to hear that Karen took three walks today. She is moving better and better each time. We just went on the final walk about 30 minutes ago and Karen walked down three seperate hallways. We came back and she is now sitting up watching Larry King with me. She is really progressing well.

Great news. Karen has been cleared to be discharged from the hospital on Saturday morning although we will probably stay at a hotel in the Cleveland area on Saturday night so Karen can get some downtime before we head back to the onslaught that is called Timmy and Julia (and Mike too).

Hey Nick - Deutchland won today 3-1. I bet they are going crazy over there for the team. I also wanted to let you know that I finally went to Au Bon Pain today for lunch. Wow - I love that place. I had the best chicken pesto sandwich and tomato and rice soup ever.

Well, we are about to call it a night and go to sleep for the night.

Love you all,

Mike

Karen's Thursday Update

Today has been a good day for Karen. At this point, she is almost getting up on her own and going to the bathroom. She just needs a little bit of help. This morning we took a short walk down the hall. She didn't make it too far, but at least she was out walking. We are going to take some more walks today.

Karen's appetite is getting better also. She was hungry for breakfast this morning and she ate cereal, banana, strawberry yogurt and half an apple muffin. This is the first time she ate well. They gave her a filet mignon last night and she barely touched it. I knew she wasn't feeling well if she wouldn't eat filet mignon. It was nice to see her appetite improve today.

I was able to take a long walk this morning. It was nice to go outside. I walked a couple of miles to a Bruegger's Bagels and enjoyed a bagel breakfast sandwich and a protein smoothie. It was nice to get out of the hospital and get outside.

Thanks so much for all the support and prayers.

We love you all.

Mike

PS to Jim Day: Due to your snooping in the Cleveland Clinic computer system, I was visited by hospital security today about the missing food in the G section. I've pleaded innocent, but they are threatening an x-ray of my stomach if more food is missing in the future.

Uncle Rod is Fifty!!!!!

Rod Brown is 50 years old today. Besides being a White Sox fan, he is a GREAT guy. For those of you who don't know Rod, he is the husband of Karen's sister Karla. He is the proud father of Kory, Emma, Kaylee and Kylee. Here are the top 10 reasons we love Rod:

10. Extremely nice man who genuinely cares about people.
9. A Christian man with a wonderful heart for God.
8. Finest looking yard in state of Illinois.
7. Even better than Karen at corny jokes.
6. One of few people who can put Timmy in his place.
5. A very loving husband and father.
4. He loves his Buffalo Bills and Chicago White Sox.
3. Nations kindest, nicest and friendliest postal worker.
2. Has second best tan in nation next to Gramma Mary.
1. Two words - Rod Burgers!!

Happy Birthday Rod!! We love you.

Mike and Karen

Karen's Latest Pee Report

After a very rough first try at going to the bathroom where she nearly passed out, Karen has been up three times now to successfully pee. Although it's still painful for her to get up, she did not come close to passing out. After the second time she got up to pee, she actually wanted to stay seated for awhile. She sat in a chair for about 45 minutes - this is great progress.

We are having fun just talking - the two of us with no interuptions (except for the nurses). We watched parts of the Tim Russert funeral. Boy - his son gave an incredible eulogy. Karen and I were HUGE fans of Tim Russert. Whenever he came on TV, we would yell to each other "Tim Russert's on" and we knew we were going to get the "straight scoop". I'll never forget Kaitlyn and I staying up all night the night of the 2000 election watching that incredible election. We were watching the NBC coverage so we watched plenty of Tim Russert. It was a special father and daughter moment watching history unfold in front of us.

Karen just took some more pain medication so she is sleeping again.

Thanks for your love and prayers. We can feel them.

Love,

Mike

PS: I have moved out of the hotel and into Karen's room. She has a single room with a fold out bed and the nurses said it was OK for me to stay here. That will allow us to save some money on the hotel room which is nice.

Difficult Bathroom Trip for Karen

Karen just had to get up to go to the bathroom for the first time. With her catheter now out, she has to get up and walk to the bathroom (with the help of the nurses). Unfortunately, it did not go very well. She became very lightheaded and she nearly passed out. She was also in a lot of pain. If all that wasn't bad enough, by the time she got to the toilet, she didn't need to go anymore. All that for nothing!!

This made Karen very tired and she is now sleeping.

Love,

Mike

Wednesday Morning Update

I walked into the hospital room at 8:30am this morning and Karen looked great. She is doing amazingly well. Her spirits have greatly lifted since early in the day yesterday. She just had the nurse laughing out loud. The nurse was checking Karen's new breast and Karen said, "it's strange to see freckles from your abdomin on your breast". (For those of you who don't know, they removed a portion of her belly to form the new breast.) This statement had the nurse cracking up.

The nurse just remarked that Karen has not had any pain medication since midnight last night. She was surprised that Karen was not in more pain. They just gave her some more pain medication as Karen was starting to feel some musculature pain in her abdomin.

Today they are going to remove the catheter. That means Karen will need to get up and go to the bathroom anytime she needs to go. This will get her up and going, but there is probably going to be a lot of pain today as she gets used to moving.

Thanks for all the prayers, support and comments. We greatly appreciate them.

Mike

PS for Jim Day: I'm eating about 75% of Karen's food. I see it as an important public service to make sure the hospital food is not wasted. Karen has trouble eating it all and there is no sense in having this food go to waste. I'll make sure I leave Karen a morsel here and there.

Finally - Another Update

Sorry for my lack of updates today. I spent most of the day napping in a chair next to Karen - rough life, huh. Karen has had a good day. She was moved out of ICU around 9:30am and up to her new room. As I said, the new room is fantastic. It's a single room and it's more like a hotel room than a hospital room. It has a TV, a fan, a refridgerator and lots of wood trim. There is a convenience center right across the hall with ice, water, pop, coffee and tea. The nursing staff is very nice and Karen has already made friends with all of them. It is all very comfortable.

Around 2pm, the nurse came in and asked Karen if she wanted to try and sit up. Karen was not excited about this since she was in so much pain. She slowly sat up on the edge of the bed, but was very light headed. They waited a bit, then slowly stood her up, turned her around and had her sit in a chair. This actually was very comfortable for Karen. She sat in the chair for about 30 minutes, but then grew tired. The nurses moved her back to the bed and Karen took a long nap (and so did I).

Right now Karen is feeling the best she has felt. She is kind of surprised. She has energy and feels good. We're just sitting around watching Larry King right now.

That's it for now. I will try to do better about posting tomorrow.

Thanks for all the prayers and comments They mean alot to Karen and me.

Love,

Mike

Karen Information

Some people have asked for Karen's address and room #. Here it is:

Karen Combes - Room G71-11
The Cleveland Clinic
9500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44195

Karen loves to get comments on the blog, so please write a little comment if you have a moment. Karla and Kelly, if you could have Tim, Julia, Haley, Kelsey, Kaylee, Kylee post, Karen would really enjoy it.

Love you all,

Mike

Go Deutschland!

The Europe soccer championship is going on right now...and Germany played last night against Austria and won! We all went to Mambo (a bar) to watch the game. There were a lot of people there and Germany is VERY patriotic during the soccer season.

After Germany wins so many people go in their cars and drive around town honking and cheering. It was really exciting! We play again on Thursday and if Germany makes it all the way to the final game it will be on my last night in Germany. That will be exciting!

Here is a photo of me all decked out for Germany:

Tuesday Update

I saw Karen in ICU at 8:30am. She is doing as well as can be expected. She did not sleep very well last night with all the commotion of ICU and with the increasing discomfort she is feeling as the pain medication wears off. It's also hard to sleep when you cannot role over on your side. They did give her a sponge bath this morning and she is looking great.

Karen will be moving to a new room within the hour. I'm already up in the new room. It is really nice. It's a single room and it looks more like a hotel room than a hospital room. When I entered the lobby for this unit, it was more like entering a Holiday Inn than a hospital. We are on the 7th floor with a nice view of Cleveland (well, as nice as the "mistake on the lake" can possibly look. You have to understand that people from Detroit and Cincinnati don't particularly care for Cleveland. And since I'm from Detroit and live in Cincinnati, I have a double dislike for Cleveland. Actually it's all in good fun. Just like the Michigan State and Michigan thing - right Linda and Kaitlyn.)

Karen should be up here soon. As I get more information, I'll pass it along.

Love,

Mike

Last Update for Today

I'm back at the guest house at the Cleveland Clinic. I saw Karen in ICU for a second time. She is continuing to do well and is still very clear-headed and aware. Although she is still not able to eat or drink, I was able to place a sponge at the end of stick in ice water and let her suck on it. She really liked that. She is in good spirits although she is dying to roll over on her side and to have a Diet Coke.

Tomorrow she should be moving out of ICU and into a room. The doctor expects her to be in the hospital through Sunday.

I'm going to go to bed now. I'll be back at the hospital at 8am and I'll give you updates tomorrow.

Thanks again for all your thougths and prayers. It's been a blessed day with the Lord God answering many prayers.

Praise God!!

Mike

I Saw Karen

I was able to see Karen in ICU for about 20 minutes at 5:30pm. She was doing remarkably well. This morning when I asked the doctor about seeing her tonight, he said I could go see her, but she probably would be very out of it and not even remember the conversation. Although she may not remember it later, she was very clear thinking and responsive during my visit. Karen has always been a very strong person and a quick healer. After her cesarians, Karen was always back on her feet and moving around very quickly. She's one tough cookie.

I get to see her in another two hours than that's it for the night. I'll post after my last visit and let you know how Karen is doing.

Thanks again for all your prayers and please keep them coming!!

Love,

Mike

Surgery Completed

I just finished talking to the doctor who performed the surgery. He said the surgery went fantastic - it could not have gone better. It went very smoothly and was completed a couple of hours earlier than expected. Karen is doing fine. They are going to take her to recovery and wake her up. It will be about 3 hours before I get to see her. The doctor will keep me posted if any developments occur.

Thanks for all your prayers.

Love,

Mike

Another Update

I just received the latest update. The surgery has gone well, Karen is doing fine and they are now closing. They expect to finish in the next 30 minutes (about 3pm esdt).

They told me the doctor should be out to talk to me shortly after the surgery is completed.

I'll keep you posted.

Mike

12:00noon Update

They just gave me an update on Karen. She is still in surgery (as expected) and she is stable and doing fine. Wish I could tell you more, but that's all they gave me.

I probably will not have much more than the basics until the surgery is completed. But I'll update you whenever I hear anything.

Please keep those prayers coming. They are very much appreciated.

Love,

Mike

First Surgery Update

Hello family and friends. This is Mike with the first update on Karen's surgery. She entered the operating room at 7:42am so surgery has begun. Please keep Karen in all your prayers please. She was very upbeat and calm this morning - just like she has been through this entire process. It is so different than the mastectomy, chemo and radiation portions of her breast cancer. You could see the feeling of dread that Karen had in those situations. She enters this surgery with a much more positive sense than the other situations. Our family praises God that Karen's cancer is gone and that this surgery is positive in nature in that it is restoring her body. It's all part of the process of restoring Karen and our family emotionally and physically after her cancer. Tim understood the reason and meaning of this surgery much better than I certainly did. One day as we were debating the merits of this breast reconstruction surgery, Tim wisely stated, "Mom, I can understand why you would want this surgery. For us, your cancer is over and in the past. But you get a reminder every time you look in the mirror or take a shower and see a part of your body missing." Oh, "out of the mouth of babes."

We got into Cleveland about 7pm last night and got checked into the hotel. We went to an Applebee's and had a nice dinner and watched the US Open Golf Tournament (what a putt by Tiger on 18 - wow. Karen and I caused a scene by screaming and slapping fives when he sunk the putt.) We were in bed by 9:30pm and got a great night sleep. Karen was very rested this morning.

Well, I'll keep you posted as I get updated today. The surgery is expected to last 8-10 hours. They said they will update me every 2-3 hours.

Thanks for your support and prayers. We are very thankful to have such wonderful, kind, supportive and caring family and friends.

Love,

Mike

Surgery

So, last Friday my surgery got moved up two days. It will now be on Monday. Mike and I leave for Cleveland on Sunday. Karla and Kelly will drive over from Rochelle to take care of Tim and Julia. Julia will have two softball games during this time and Tim has ACT (his acting classes) that weekend.

Can I say that I am both EXCITED and NERVOUS for this day. It is truly a day I've thought about since that day in July of 2006 when I had my mastectomy. I will be having the type of reconstruction called a DIEP flap. They remove "fat" from my abdomen; disconnect the blood supply and form a new "breast" from that tissue. They will "reconnect" the blood supply to my new breast so if I lose or gain weight, my breast will also change. So I get a tummy tuck in the process. The part I'm nervous about is that the recovery time. BUT, I will take the pain medication and I'm going into this surgery the healthiest I've been in awhile. So, that is all good.

If you could all pray for the surgery...that it is a success. For Karla and Kelly who have generously offered to come take care of Tim and Julia while I'm up in Cleveland having the surgery; Thank you.

Mike will be updating from Cleveland.

Karen

Paris Photos

So Paris was a blast! I got there Thursday and stayed through Sunday. I stayed with a friend (Mike) who is doing an internship there this summer. I got to see all the sights as well as meet a lot of Mike's friends. So I got to do the touristy stuff but also got a true "french" experience staying in a french apartment (an elderly woman named Madame something I can't pronounce lives there) and meeting so many different Parisians (haha). Here are some pictures!


Me on a street near the Eiffel Tower. This was while we were searching for food after we went up in it.


Me in front of the opera house from Phantom of the Opera!!!! I didn't know it was there and I was so happy when I saw it. We went inside and saw it too.


Here are Renee, Dani, and Calvin sipping coffee in a park in Paris. Calvin and Renee are on my study abroad and came to Paris with me. They stayed with Dani (middle) and she is doing the same program as Mike.


Here is me, Mike, and his friend Sarah on top of the Eiffel Tower! It was sweet up there!


Here is me in front of the Arc de Triumph (sp? oh yeah I need to mention that none of my french spelling is going to be correct)


Me in front of this basilica called Sacré-Cœur (I looked that one up)

This weekend I am going to Hamburg, Germany! Should be fun! I'll post after I get back for sure and let you know how it went.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my Mom's 70th birthday. She has taught me about love, generosity, caring, and sacrifice. Julia and Grandma
Grandma with her grandsons...Kory, Tim and Nick

Grandma and Kaitlyn at her high school graduation party.

Grandma with Kaylee and Kylee.

I love you Mom. Happy Birthday!

Mehr Fotos!!!! (more photos)

Our group on the city tour!


Schloss Burresheim! It's a castle we saw. I love it!


Me in our favorite bar...Cha Do!


A cool church in Mayen with a twisty tower!


Me on our ONE bed! HAHA

Weekend in Paris

Hey everyone! Things are still going great in Germany. Last weekend I didn't end up traveling anywhere..I stayed here in Mayen. That was really nice though and was really relaxing. This city feels like my third home! (After Cincinnati and East Lansing)

This weekend however I am going to Paris! I am very excited. I am going with 2 other people from the trip but I am staying with a friend who has an internship there this summer. That will save a lot of money since I don't have to get a hostel! Our train leaves tomorrow (thursday) at like 1:30 and is about a 7 hour train ride. We had to take a longer route which doesn't go through Belgium because one of the people who is going didn't buy her eurail pass for belgium. But its only an hour longer than the normal route. It should be a fun weekend! Not exactly sure what we're going to do in paris...all the touristy stuff I'm sure. The eiffel tower...the Louvre...chagte leyessey (sp?!?!) phonetical: shant-ah leesay..arc de triumph. as you can see my french is a mess. i'll stick with the german language.

This week we had class again. It really is not hard though and there isn't much homework. On Monday night we had something called Rotarierabend (Rotary Evening) and it was at one of the host family's home. The dad is in the Rotary Club so it was a time for the American students to get to know the rotary club. (Rotary club if you don't know is a club with older men and they do charity stuff and other stuff that I'm not really sure of...lol) There was a tent sent up in front of the house. There was LOTS OF FOOD. And they kept bringing beers out to you! I had to tell the person firmly that I didn't want anymore!!! Because they keep bringing it out more and more and look at you like you're crazy if you don't want more! It's funny. And the person serving the beer was like a 9 year old boy named Jonas. It was HILARIOUS.

On Tuesday we took a day trip to Koblenz. It's about 30 minutes away from Mayen. We had a city tour and then a boat ride down the Rhein! We saw lots of castles and beautiful buildings.

Continue to pray for me on the trip! Everyday my goal is to just shine the light of Christ and become more like him. What more could I want? Also pray that I can enjoy every second of the trip...because the time is already going so fast! I miss all of you!!!

picture post of what's happening here

This picture is for Kaitlyn. It's from the flowers Michael gave you.
Happy Graduation, Emma!!
Naila and Karla. Naila is Karla's next door neighbor and a great friend!

Tim and "the girls"

Julia's class singing "If I Could Talk to the Animals." Julia played the part of a Kinkaju... that is why she has ears.

Emma, Camryn and Julia.

Julia with her teacher, Mrs. McCann. (Jack snuck in the background)

Austin, Chet and Tim at Sixth Grade Recognition Night.