Karia Stockdale is back to feeding her husband medications to take the edge off his severe headache pain while his family waits for another chance at a brain surgery, maybe in February.

Some days, it is almost more than the Middleton mother of four can bear. She pulls herself together for her kids.

"We're just waiting to see if the infection has cleared," Karia said Monday. "It is just day to day right now."

The Stockdales and their four children live in a house they won in 2007 after being chosen by the producers of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," a TV show that helps struggling families get back on their feet by building them new homes.

Ryan Stockdale suffers from excruciating cluster headaches, a problem that worsened after the show. The headaches did not respond to treatment. Last summer, Stockdale underwent surgery to implant a deep brain stimulator at the University of California in San Francisco.

Treasure Valley residents in July raised $84,000 in 27 hours to pay for deep brain stimulation surgery after Stockdale's insurer said the surgery was experimental and it could not pay.

The stimulator reduced his pain.

But it was removed Aug. 22 after Stockdale developed an infection.

The couple returned home, and for about three weeks, they and their children enjoyed doing stuff most families take for granted: playing in the grass outside, attending a class reunion.

Then Stockdale's pain returned, and he developed an allergy to antibiotics. He spent most of September in a Boise hospital, his body ravaged by drug-resistant infections, high fevers and kidney failure.

Now, he is home again and appears to be recovering without antibiotics - a "tender mercy," the way his wife sees it.

Doctors in San Francisco plan to try again with the deep brain stimulator, but the surgery cannot be performed until he is fully recovered from the infections.

The family is trying to work with the insurer to pay the bills. No fundraising is under way.

Colleen LaMay: 377-6448