Back from Vacation

Well, I made it back, safe and sound from Sacramento/Portland. I had a good time in both places.

Sacramento/Placerville~
I got in at 11pm, Mark picked me up and took me to his and Ashly's apartment to crash for the night. We stayed up for about an hour chatting and catching up, but both of them had to be up and at 'em, so we kinda kept it short. I was awake bright and early, still being on CST time and all, so was up when they both got up to get ready for the day. Grama & Grampa Booth came to pick me up around 11am. We headed straight to Sunrise Mall from there where JCPenney's was having a fabulous sale! Almost everything in the store was 50% off and I had a $15 off coupon if I spent $75. Well, by the time I had picked out what I wanted, I ended up making two $75 purchases and got to use the coupon twice, so I got 4 pairs of capris, one VERY nice church outfit and a pair of jammies for $120. Not bad if I do say so myself. Being the product of two very awesome Gramas that know how to shop the sales and get the best deals, what would you expect, right? So, now I have some summer clothes that fit and they are cute to boot! After shopping, we headed to the Old Spagetti Factory. YUMMO! Grama got her favorite lasagna, Grampa had spinach ravioli and I had spagetti and a meatball. We all got spumoni for dessert. MMMMMM, I can still taste it! After that, we headed up the hill to Placerville and home. We spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing and hanging out. After supper, I went to visit my Dad & Sandee for awhile, but was wiped by 8:30(10:30 CST), so I headed back to Gram's to crash.
Woke up on Saturday a little later than Friday, but still was up early. Had breakfast and headed back to Dad's. We had planned to go gold panning that afternoon. Bunnie, my dad's rottie(sweetest dog ever), came with us. She is a river dog for sure! That, and she'd follow my Dad to the ends of the earth if he asked her! Anyway, Dad goes goldpanning on a regular basis and when he has a full day, he has this dredger that does alot of the work for you. However, we didn't have all day, so we took the basics and set out to scout a location that would be lucky. Well, the one he wanted had no trespassing signs and barbed wire, I took that as a sign to stay away, so we went where he has gone before and just choose a different part of the creek. If you have never gone gold panning, you wouldn't know you are basically going to end up soaking wet, so I was slightly unprepared, but adapted nonetheless. My tennis shoes were soaked, as were the bottom half of my capris, but in the three hours we were there, we made significant progress on the area we were in and I found the teensiest piece of gold for a souvenir! Dad said if I had another 10,000 of those, we'd have an ounce! HA! It is alot of work, but surprisingly fun. I guess its the prospect of finding something? We ended up bringing home about a third of a five gallon bucket of what my Dad refers to as "concentrates" to pan from home. This was the stuff that was left after picking out all the big rocks and most of the dirt. I went grocery shopping after we got back, I was planning to cook brunch for Mother's Day and I needed supplies! Got back to Gram's and unloaded and took a brief nap before we all left to meet Dad & Sandee at Casa Ramos, a Mexican eatery with nummy food. The rest of the evening was spent with Melannie shopping for Mother's Day presents.
Sunday dawned and again, slept a little later than the previous day. I got up and made myself a smoothie for breakfast, wasn't serving brunch until 11am. After that, I started on my preparations. I had bought fresh fruit - strawberries, pineapple, cantaloupe, oranges and grapes - so that all had to be washed and sliced. I also had bought ingredients to make belinis, they were virgin(normally made with champagne) and very good. Had cranberry and pomegranate juice with sparkling water and simple syrup and fresh fruit slices for decor. Then Melannie and her husband Angus came to help me with the rest. We made Texas toast french toast, pork and turkey sausage, cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. It was almost as good as going out to eat, just more economical and of course delectable when you know how it was prepared! Melannie's mother and my Aunt Lynn and my Uncle Matt came, as well as Dad & Sandee, so with Gram, Gramps and me, there was nine of us. We had a good time laughing, telling stories and of course EATING! We opened cards and gifts after we cleared the table. I think everyone really enjoyed it.
Spent the afternoon just hanging out some more. The plan was for me, Dad and Sandee to meet Mark & Ashly at BJ's in Folsum for dinner. We were going for Ashly's birthday AND because I am a complete nerd and HAVE TO eat there whenever I am in the area. I love that restaurant! Can you say PAZOOKIE?! They make, to order, the best dessert ever, its super simple, but they make it awesome. Its a fresh baked cookie(your choice) served hot from the oven with a scoop of ice cream on top! HEAVEN!! I had pizza for my dinner and that was awesome too. I REALLY wish they'd come our direction, so far, they are a West Coast thing, I keep begging, maybe someday they'll listen to me. After dinner, we headed back home to wallow in our gluttony. =)
Monday was my last day to spend with Gram & Gramps, so I spent most of it just hanging out with them. Gram and I had pedicures scheduled in the morning, my treat for Mother's Day, so we did that and grabbed Taco Bell taco salads for the three of us on the way home. The afternoon was spent preparing for the BBQ we were having that evening. My sort of goodbye supper. Everyone came over - Matt & Lynn, Mel & Angus, Dad & Sandee AND Mark & Ashly. We had a good time eating and telling stories. The main purpose behind the BBQ was so that Mark & Ashly would have a little extra time with everyone since they live an hour away and are so busy with work and school, they don't get much time in Placerville. They were also my ride back to Sacramento as I was leaving early Tuesday morning to head to Portland. After dinner, we left and went to Mel & Angus' apartment and played a board game for awhile before heading to Sacramento. It was another somewhat late night, but we were all up and moving Tuesday morning and I got to the airport in PLENTY of time to get through the hoops of security and board my plane.

Portland/Beaverton~
I flew into Portland, but mostly was in Beaverton, which is a suburb. Portland is so beautiful in the spring. Everything is so green and fragrant. The trees in the west are SO different from what we have back home, they are tall and majestic somehow. Anyway, I got to the airport where I was met by Mom & Marissa, and Marsha, a very nice lady from the church who was our chaffeur. The purpose of going to Portland was for their annual convention, its four days of praise & worship and teaching the Word. It was an awesome meeting. It is sad that some of our elders are passing on, but awesome to see the younger generation taking the lead and pressing on. Grama and Grampa Wood were there as well, they traveled with Mom & Marissa. I worked in the kitchen two of the days of the meeting. At these meetings, its typical to feed the people twice a day, breakfast and dinner. So I helped with the preperation of the meals and the serving. We cooked for 500 most every day. I love to cook and since I don't get to do too much of it just for myself, I was having a good time cooking that much food. Its amazing the operation they have set up. Their scullery(their term for dish room) is bigger than Mt. Carmel's kitchen! It was alot of fun meeting new people and helping feed God's people. Marissa worked in the dining room those days and she enjoys that alot. The church in Beaverton, Cornerstone Gospel Assembly, is a huge campus consisting of a large sanctuary and an equally large dining room/gymnasium/school. They also own property bordering the church consisting of apartments and dorms, as well as many of the church members living on or right next door to the property. They call it a campus because it really is set up like one. I am in awe of their hospitality and the amount of work that went into preparing and pulling this convention off. Thank you to everyone!
The convention ended Friday afternoon, but one of their regular church services is Friday night, so we had church that evening as well.
Saturday was the day I was to return home, I slept in that morning before having breakfast and packing my things. Mom and the others were scheduled to leave Sunday morning to head back to Indiana/Kentucky.

It was a short visit to both towns, but all in all, good to see my family and friends. The weather was nice in both places, although Portland got steamy for two days, very strange for them at any time, let alone in May.
No more real vacation for me until Christmas, when again, we'll gather for the holidays and our own youth convention.

Favorite Foto Friday ~ My cute nephew

Since I won't be around for two Favorite Foto Fridays, I am posting this cute photo of my nephew, Austin. He is nearly six months old already. Doesn't seem possible. He was 4 pounds, 2 ounces when he was born, went home at 3 pounds, 12 ounces. He is now over 13 pounds!!
So cute!! Love you little man!

Less than two hours............

I should be cleaning the mongo pile on my desk, but here I am, in blogger land!
So excited to be going away, but the pressure is mounting! I "think" I got everything dealt with at home and didn't forget anything. Work has been more of a challenge as I have been training all week and it just wasn't the best week to be doing that, but oh well.
I get off work in less than two hours, then I'll walk over to the Kahler to pick up my shuttle to go to MSP. My flight is at 9:11pm tonight. I get into Sacramento at 11pm PST, 1am my time. Hoping to have my own row on the plane, looks that way as of now. If so, then I'll stretch out and crash. For some reason, I sleep pretty decently on a plane. You wouldn't think so since the seats aren't terribly comfortable, but, I manage.

A former colleague of mine who is pursuing an open adoption got her baby last night. He is gorgeous and they couldn't be any happier! Many years of infertility and this blessing literally landed in their laps. All things in His time! Hard to wait some days, but the payoff is so worth it. Congrats Wendi and JB on your gorgeous Isaac!

Anyway, no blog entries from me until I get back(5/19).
Later!

Vacation is coming!

WAHOO!!!!

Next Thursday, the 8th, I depart for my vacation. I will be flying to Sacramento to spend four days with my brother(Mark), my Dad & Sandee and my grandparents. I haven't seen most of them since September when my cousin got married and they haven't seen me since my surgery. Mark is picking me up that night and I'll crash at his apartment the first night. Grama and Gramps are picking me up Friday morning and we are going SHOPPING! Grama Booth said she'd help me with getting some of my new wardrobe. I am not quite to my goal, but, everything I currently own is pretty baggy or falling off of me. I'll need a few interim clothes and other things, I think I'll buy a little on the tight side and "grow" out/into them. Monday, Grama and I will do pedicures and manicures. The rest of the weekend is pretty unplanned, but will be spent spending time with my grandparents, my Dad and Sandee, and hopefully some time with my Aunt Lynn & Uncle Matt, as well as cousin Mel & her new husband Angus. Mark & Ashly have a church meeting most of the weekend, but hoping to see them some Friday night and then Monday night we'll have dinner at Grams and they'll take me back to their place as I have an early Tuesday AM flight to Portland.

On the 13th, I am taking a puddle jump up to Portland, OR, to go to a church meeting with my Mom and my sister. Mark will join us for a few days as well. I'll be there until the 17th, so about five days of time there and while the meeting takes up a good portion, we'll have time to explore and check out Portland too. I was there about ten years ago and absolutely enjoyed the area, so am looking forward to all that has changed since I visited last. Also looking forward to seeing some friends from the Sacramento area, as well as other churches. These meetings tend to be the way most get to see each other since we are all quite spread out.

Mostly, I am just looking forward to time away from Minnesota. Spring is having a hard time making up its mind whether or not it wants to stay. It is SO annoying. We had snow last week and there is a chance of it AGAIN in the forecast. SERIOUSLY, its May!!!! I know winter isn't officially over til July 4th, but we had such a long winter, we really need SPRING!!

Anyway, I'll be around for another week, but then I'll drop off for awhile. I promise to post about my adventures.
Have a good weekend!

It's official, I am an old lady

Well, yesterday I had a Fibromyalgia consult and lo and behold, the reason I am so old at the young age of 30. Fibromyalgia sort of covers a broad range of symptoms, but it basically is the diagnosis when doctors can find no other cause for them. I have consistent pain, especially with extremes of different tasks, I am majorly fatigued, have very little energy, have constant headaches, very poor sleep patterns and poor concentration. I had 18 of 18 tender points, so its full blown.

I will have some educational sessions to learn some ways to deal with the symptoms and even improve or fix them altogether. I also will be seen in the Pain Clinic and go through a three week daily program of how to cope and do things in a way that works for me.

While I was hoping this wasn't the case, I at least have a reason for feeling like an old lady and there are some ways to make it better. The surgery and after effects seemed to have intensified my symptoms, so hopefully with all the things I learn, I'll be better able to cope daily. The thing I hate the most is the lack of energy or the ability to do things for long periods of time. This stems mostly from my poor sleep patterns, and they will address that during the three week rehab program.

Please just keep me in your prayers. Things can only get better now that I have a diagnosis and a plan of attack.
I appreciate all the thoughts and well wishes.

Favorite Foto Friday 05/02/08

My nephew Jess again is the topic this week. This is a more current picture. He has grown so much and is too darn cute!!!
Have a good weekend everyone!

Favorite Foto Friday

A friend of mine does this on her blog, an idea she got from someone else, so I guess this is at least the third rip off of the idea. Heather usually picks a theme and posts many pictures, but I think I'll just choose one per week since I don't have my own kids that I take photos of. I'll post pics of my siblings, nieces, nephews, friends, or whatever strikes a spot for the week.

This week, I am choosing a photo of Jess. I cannot believe he turned one yesterday. The year went so fast!! He is such a cutie and yet, can be a little devil too. This picture is from the day he was born, I'll try and scan a current picture so you can see the difference sometime.

Due to technical difficulties within Blogspot, I'll have to upload the photo later!

Surgery Posting, Part 7 ~ Finale

Surgery Posting, Part 1
Surgery Posting, Part 2
Surgery Posting, Part 3
Surgery Posting, Part 4
Surgery Posting, Part 5
Surgery Posting, Part 6
******************************

By the end of my first week since surgery, I was doing pretty good at keeping to my schedule and taking my vitamins and medicine as directed. However, by Saturday, I began to have horrible cramping and diarrhea. The cramping was similar to my experience with food poisoning, so I thought I had eaten something wrong, but I was barely eating anything in the first place, so I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. The diarrhea was the worst, every hour on the hour. This kept up into Sunday, so I decided not to go to church with my grandparents, but they did stop by to take me with them to lunch. I thought I was better, so I had a cup of soup and some mashed potatoes and seemed to be doing good until we got home and it resumed. The cramping was so intense that I was crying and just praying to God to make it go away. It continues into Monday. This was the day I was going home to my own house, so it’d be my first time back in Rochester, so I called the doctor when I got to my house to see what I should do. I could not understand what would be going on as I was sticking to the plan. The resident called me back and asked a bunch of questions and wanted me to go in and get a bucket to do a stool sample. I guess the thought was I could have an infection or something and that would tell them what. Well, by the time I returned the bucket with my sample and got back home, I had my diagnosis without even hearing from the doctor. My period had arrived. It wasn’t time, so it didn’t even dawn on me that it could be the reason, and I think because of all the trauma in my abdomen, it just made the cramping worse than normal and of course, diarrhea is a symptom frequently, I think again, due to the trauma, I had a worse case than normal.
So, Tuesday I rested with a heating pad and pain pills. I then made a few calls because the contractor was scheduled to start working on the house, but I told him I was leaving town. I had made up my mind to go to my Mom’s for two weeks. I had my ten day followup appointment on Wednesday morning, so I left Wednesday afternoon to head in that direction. I stopped at my Uncle Bryan’s to break up the trip, he lives just outside of Chicago, and it is about six hours from my house to his. I did really well on the trip and my Grama and Grampa were down there again and she had homemade mashed potatoes waiting for me upon my arrival(along with meatloaf, which I couldn’t have). YUM! So Thursday morning, I left to go the rest of the way; it is about four hours to Princeton. I got to the house and noone was home because the kids had Co-Op that day and Mom and Mike were working, but, they had left the house unlocked for me, so I got all my things dragged in and settled in for a nap until everyone came home. I spent the next two weeks hanging out with the kids during the day and doing church stuff and just spending time with my family. Got to see Grama & Grampa Wood one day too.
I returned home on the 22nd of October, construction was due to start the next day. So much for that! They didn’t get started until the week I was due to return to work, November 7th was to be my first day back, they started the prior Monday, so very little was done while I was around. The whole point of scheduling things to happen during my surgical leave was so I could be present for questions and conflicts and what not. But that is another story.
At any rate, my remaining surgical leave was spent at my home, resting and progressing through my food/drink schedule. At three weeks(while I was still at my mom’s), I was able to progress from pureed to mechanical soft diet. This meant I could have hamburger, tuna, cheese, cereal, rice, pasta, and toast. Foods had to be soft and tender and moist. Chewing very thoroughly and eating over a period of 30 minutes. This lasted four weeks when I then moved on to the soft diet, meaning I could have small pieces of tender food like fruit and crackers and eggs. I was also progressing in how much I could eat at a time. I was now up to four ounces per meal 4-5 times a day. This lasted an additional four weeks and then I moved back to a regular diet, meaning anything and everything is game again, but I do need to be mindful of my fat and sugar intake as that can and will cause dumping if you eat too much. I am also slowly progressing to eating up to a cup of food at a time 3-4 times a day. What I missed the most, oddly enough, was salad and raw veggies! Not being able to have crunchy foods for eleven weeks was pure torture!

It has now been six months and I have had no real complications from surgery. My scars are healing quite nicely, I put Mederma on them twice a day in the hopes that they’ll fade and not be so red and raised. Only one scar is raised, the one where my drainage port was, which I find very odd since it was one of the smallest! I have only run into a few things I can’t have, Pizza Hut pizza is one. I can eat any other pizza, but not from there. And Triscuits and raw carrots get stuck. Not a pleasant feeling. I eat 8-12 ounces of food 3 times a day now, it really depends on the food and if I space it out over the 30 minutes like I am supposed to. It is sometimes hard to remember I can’t eat like everyone else, I have to pace my self and chew thoroughly. Probably my biggest complaint is not being able to eat and drink at the same time. Prior to surgery, I’d drink a couple of glasses of water, tea, soda, milk whenever I ate, can’t now. I do have about an ounce or two with meals to sip as it drives me nuts not to.
I had my six month checkup last week and they are pleased with my progress this far. I don’t go back again until one year postop. These next six months are crucial to getting the rest of the weight off as their evidence shows that after a year past surgery, success dwindles. I am pleased with my weight loss as well, but it is definitely not just falling off anymore. From this point on, I have to work for those pounds by going to the gym and being more active. I still have quite a bit of fatigue that the doctors can’t explain, but I am trying to be proactive anyway.
Thanks for following my story, I warned you it was long. I typed it all out in Word and posted separate stories to break it up, but I am half way through page 11 already, so you can get the general idea that it was a lot to type! Thank goodness I am good at that!
I hope to post a picture of my current self soon. For those of you closest to me, you have seen my transformation as I have so far lost 58 pounds. I went from a 26/28 sized shirt/dress to a 14 so far. My ultimate goal is an 8-10 in woman’s clothing. I don’t need to be a size 2 to be happy, in fact, I think I’d look funny at a size 2 since I am just not built small. I might be short, but I am built like a linebacker, big hips, broad shoulders. Not going to look good in a size 2. Everybody can see it in my face and other areas too, but I still have my double chin and until that is gone, I won’t be satisfied! I hope not to have to have plastic surgery, am trying to tone as I lose, but there may be a few areas of need as I get closer to my goal, we’ll see how it goes. I haven’t bought much in the way of new clothing, everything is really loose and baggy. I have to wear a belt with my pants/skirts/shorts or there would definitely be a serious problem with them falling off. It feels good to know I am making progress even though I don’t “see” it like everyone else does. I think it is that seeing yourself every day vs. someone who sees you once a month or whatever. Change is more subtle to them because of the length of time between visits.
At any rate, I am thankful that God has really blessed me throughout my recovery and hopefully, I’ll be saying goodbye to all my fat clothes soon!

Surgery Posting, Part 6

Surgery Posting, Part 1
Surgery Posting, Part 2
Surgery Posting, Part 3
Surgery Posting, Part 4
Surgery Posting, Part 5
****************************
Monday
I woke up in the morning and began to pack my things. My grandparents were supposed to come by around noon to pick me up and take me to their house for a week. We figured it would be best to have someone at my disposal that first week since I had no real idea of what to expect from a recovery standpoint. I have never been in a hospital, well, except when I was born, so I really have no idea how things will be. Now I had heard of people who had this surgery vomiting for days or experiencing nausea and the dumping right away and being just miserable. Up until this point, I hadn’t any problems. While I was packing, I had my first wave of nausea, followed by a hotflash and the urge to puke. I never really did puke, I had dry heaves, so it is about the same thing, just nothing comes out. That lasted about ten minutes or so and then I was fine. I started to drink some liquids and began to feel better, so I resumed packing. I realize at this point, that while dry heaving sucks as much as puking as far as the feeling goes since you go through the motions, I am not connected to my full stomach anymore and thus, the acid factor is gone! No taste, no smell! This is a good side effect of surgery, let me tell you!! =)
I still had to see the dietician before leaving and the resident was supposed to come by one last time. I got all my discharge instructions for caring for my incisions and who to call if any complications arise. I was told ahead of time I would need vitamins after surgery, however, noone mentioned they needed to be chewable those first 12 weeks, so I still needed to pick those up along with some prescriptions for pain medicine and acid reflux. After my dry heaves experience that morning, I decided I had better ask for a puke bucket to have in the car just in case, so the nurse had to go find one for me. Also had to get a stash of the little one ounce cuppies that I was to measure my food in. Was not supposed to use a scale or anything else to measure, only the cuppies. So, Grama and Grampa Gardner arrive and we loaded me into a wheelchair(dang hospital policy) and they carried my stuff and we went out to the car to get the heck out of dodge! FREEDOM!!
First place we head is to my house. I needed to drop off all the hospital paraphernalia and then repack the things I was going to need for the week of staying with my grandparents, we sort of made that decision in the hospital, so was not prepared ahead of time. So we dropped off a bunch of stuff and went out with some more! =) Us girls, you know how we pack!
After that, we went to Walmart to pick up the vitamins and meds that I needed, and then we were on our way. It is about a three hour drive to my grandparents home in Wisconsin, and I slept part of the way.
By the time we got home, I was pretty tired, but glad to not be in the hospital. I napped for awhile before resuming my eating and drinking 2.5 hour rotation. For the rest of the week, this cycle continued. It turns out I was mostly able to care for myself, I was tired all the time and took frequent naps, but I had to be careful of my schedule. At this point I was eating every 2.5 hours and drinking in-between meals since I can’t eat and drink at the same time. I had pre-purchased a stash of baby food consisting of fruits and veggies, definitely not the meat, although I did buy a few “dinners” like mac ‘n cheese and chicken and rice thinking those couldn’t be that bad. Well, needless to say, baby food is baby food for a reason. Babies don’t know any better, so of course it tastes good to them. ME on the other hand, I am a salt-a-holic, self-confessed, it runs in my family. I tried to add salt or sugar, depending on the item, there was no amount that could make it edible. So I ditch the baby food plan(suggested by the diet booklet) and decide to give it all to Jess, he just started on baby food, he’ll enjoy it. So my next task was to find food I could tolerate. Not so easy when you can’t have Splenda(sucralose). Splenda has pretty much replaced aspartame as the main sugar additive for sugar free or lite products of almost all companies. So, I am at Walmart scouring labels trying to find food that I can have that doesn’t contain Splenda. I was there for nearly two hours! I ended up buying yogurt that had sugar in it, I just found the one kind that had less than the others. I bought applesauce without sugar, I am okay with this flavor, so that was alright. I bought Malt O Meal, which I have a childhood aversion too, but since it was something I could semi-tolerate, I did it. I bought a box of Sweet ‘n Low. I bought tea bags, decaf, as directed. I bought frozen fruit to puree into a smoothie. And I bought a box of instant potatoes, so I could make those in bigger batches and eat as needed. I bought chicken broth. I bought split peas, I like pea soup, so we made a batch, it has a protein content, so yay! I bought cottage cheese, which once blended, tastes similar to sour cream, so by adding a little Lawry’s seasoning salt, tasted good. It also had a protein content, so since I wasn’t eating meat, it was a good way to try and get it. My Grama made pot roast one night and it had potatoes and carrots in it, so I mashed them up and enjoyed that for a few meals. The taste of the meat in the veggies made me hungry for the roast, but the flavoring of it at least helped. I bought orange sherbert. I bought sugar free jello and pudding, oddly enough, the grocery store version has aspartame and not Splenda, so I have no idea if the hospital had it wrong or what. I rotated my diet amongst these foods over the week. I did wake up nauseated every morning that first week, I had to eat something immediately upon waking or I’d have the dry heaves problem. Most of the time it worked. I had a few sessions in the afternoon too, no apparent reason, just the trauma of what happened I think.

Surgery Posting, Part 5

Surgery Posting, Part 1
Surgery Posting, Part 2
Surgery Posting, Part 3
Surgery Posting, Part 4
*******************************************

That evening, the resident comes by and says, okay, I think you are ready to move on to pureed foods. Orders go out. In comes the bland food with no flavor whatsoever! =) I got pureed chicken, mashed potatoes and mashed carrots. Almost all of it looked gross! I am still on two ounces at a time over an hour. I had to salt the carrots and potatoes to death in order to tolerate them, but I have one ounce of each, eating very slowly. I did not touch the chicken. It looked nastier than baby food and didn’t smell much better. Of course the diet booklet they give you encourages protein as a major part of your diet, ummmm, not eating pureed meat, you can’t make me!!!
The nurses on this floor were highly competent and willing to oblige my needs. By this time, I am walking unassisted and had started to take walks periodically as recommended to prevent clotting issues from happening. Usually I’d walk around the ward once or twice and then hit the room that had the ice machine, coffee, tea, jello and ice cream. They had some other snacks in there, but I of course was on pureed foods at this point, so I was pretty limited in what I could have. That evening, I was still exhausted from my breakdown earlier in the day, I fell asleep pretty early and didn’t wake up except when the nurses would come in to take my vitals or change out a medication.

SUNDAY
Sunday dawned and I was feeling a little bit better in regards to my pain levels. It is breakfast time. Prior to checking into the hospital, I made sure my record stated that I was allergic to Splenda(aka sucralose). Do you think dieticians can read? For the love of God! My tray arrives with a small bowl of malt-o-meal, a packet of Splenda, a four ounce tub of juice, a 4 ounce carton of skim milk, and a bowl of jello. SERIOUSLY? I question the poor delivery lady, she doesn’t know what happened, she takes the tray back and I assume, goes to fix it. Nope, she brings it back in, the Splenda was replaced with Sweet ‘n Low, that was the only difference. So, I proceed to ask her if the jello has Splenda in it? My how to booklet given to me prior to surgery detailing my food schedule strictly state sugar free or no sugar in all foods, so you have to know it has artificial sweetner in it, right? Guess which one???? $5 million dollars to the winner, yep, it is Splenda. She takes it away. I proceed to eat my malt-o-meal with Sweet n’ Low for flavoring. I set the skim milk aside, the nurse comes in to check on me at this point, she asks whats up with the milk. There has been a nurse switch since this morning, so she doesn’t know about my skim problem. I told her I needed 1%. She leaves, comes back two minutes later with a carton of 1%. Wow! She is amazing! She gets it! So, you’d think that every tray I got the rest of my hospital stay would be corrected to not have Splenda in or on any of my food and to give me 1% milk. The delivery lady made a phone call, my nurses are aware, you would assume the dietician ordering my food had gotten the message. Are you sensing my sarcasm at all? You got it, EVERY blasted tray had to be corrected in some way. You know what they say about people who assume?? Well, yeah, you get it. I still can’t believe I paid for this service!
The resident came by to check on me again and said my catheter could come out. I was ELATED!!! He also said I should be going home in the morning, YEAH! So, the nurse finally came in and took that out and then the only tube left on me was my drainage tube and my IV. My nurse asked me about a shower and I agreed to it for two reasons: a)I smelled like the hospital and b)thought it would make me feel “brand new” so to speak. So, the nurse unplugged my IV and we taped up my hand so it’d stay dry. It didn’t matter if water got on my drainage tube, so that just dangled. I was able to wash everything but my hair and my back on my own, the nurse helped me with that. It is rather embarrassing and almost demeaning to have someone else do that to you or for you, but she handled it with extreme professionalism and I didn’t feel as embarrassed as I thought I would. It felt good to just stand there under the hot water. I finally emerged from the bathroom in my own clothes(hate those darn hospital gowns) and felt like a new person. There is nothing like wearing your own clothes! Bet you’ll never guess what happened once I got back into my bed??? Can you figure it out??? Yep, my IV failed again! We had taped my hand to keep it dry during the shower, but apparently, that didn’t work too well. For about an hour after my shower, I watched my hand swell to double its size and finally decided I should go talk to a nurse. So I walk out to the desk and one look at it, they knew. I had blown another IV. I knew I was going to be released the next day and I told them they were not sticking me with any more needles, I would take any medication orally. My pain level was okay at this point; it was mostly muscle ache, so I was just taking Tramadol and was still on the Benadryl. The nurses said both could be oral, and agreed to leave the IV out after talking to the resident. Thank God. I swear I was their pin cushion! I pretty much spent the rest of the day vegging in front of the TV, napping, reading and walking or getting drinks or snacks. I had no visitors, but lots of phone calls.
For my entire hospital stay, my cell phone had what appeared to be one bar of signal, but it did absolutely nothing for reception, so while my phone would ring, I couldn’t answer anyone OR call anyone. Getting my hospital phone number out to people was quite the chore, but finally everyone who wanted to check in on me figured out how to do it. My Grama in California and my Dad in California called daily, as did my Mom. My brother Mark called, and my Aunt Lynn & Uncle Matt called. Grama Gardner called every day too. Laurie, Ang and Sara all checked in via phone as well. I even got a call from my roomie’s parents and sister. I am so glad for all the friends and family I have!
I fell asleep late that night and had an uneventful night for a change.

Obituary

My Grampa sent this today, thought is was pretty close to the truth!

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Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, why life isn't always fair, and how, on occasion, maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student; but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

Tuesday Funnies ~ Kersten

I am going to start a new feature on my blog. I'll tell something funny hopefully every Tuesday, but we'll plan for most Tuesdays. Laughter is the best medicine! I hope you giggle too.

My niece Kersten is SO funny and WAY too smart some days. She'll be three June the 8th. Last week she learned a new song. What the song was and how she sang it was TOO funny. The song is "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!". Kersten's version?? "Lori, Lori, Hallelujah!" and then she looks at LoLo(whose real name is Lori) and her Mom(whose name is Laurie) and says, "Mommy, LoLo, that's your song!"

Lately, she has been picking up some of her older siblings' bad habits. For instance, when you ask her something or ask her to do something, instead of doing or answering like she normally would, she looks at you and says "Huh?". She has learned that if she pretends she doesn't hear what you said, she might not have to do it. So her Mom started saying for her birthday, she was getting her hearing aids. So now, anytime you ask her what is Mommy getting you for your birthday, she'll say "hearing aids". Well, that kind of backfired on Mommy the other day. She asked Mommy a question and Mommy answered with a "Huh?", simply because she didn't quite catch the whole question. Kersten comes back with "Mommy, you get hearing aids too, I get little ones and you get BIG ones!"

A few months ago, Mommy & Daddy and Cody had a Christmas party to go to for work, so Kersten, her baby brother Jess and the two older girls, Samanatha and Cadi came to my house. I had to work until 5, so it just worked out better for them to drop them off with me and we switched vehicles so I would have the car seats. When they got there, the weather and roads were just fine. The plan was that I would feed them and then I would head back to their house to put them to bed in their own beds instead of mommy and daddy having to wake them. So, after we got dinner served and cleaned up, I started to get everything together and load up the van. It had started to snow by now, big fluffy flakes of snow were coming down heavily! I love when we get that kind of snow, its perfect for building a snowman or having a snoball fight! Anyway, I get everybody loaded and start the normally 45 minute trip to their house. Now, having grown up in Wisconsin and living in Minnesota nearly ten years, the snow and ice RARELY phase me. I know I need to leave more space inbetween cars and give myself extra time to stop, but otherwise, for the most part, you should be able to drive normally. Well, apparently there are many who never ever understand this concept, so its inevitable that you are going to come upon some idiot who is the cause of most crashes in this kind of weather. So, me, not being afraid of the roads, carefully check for oncoming traffic and proceed to pass. While doing so, I look at the other car and say "IDIOT!". Kersten pipes up in the back and says "Yidiot!". I crack up laughing. The rest of the way home, I didn't say anything while passing the rest of the idiots, but she called it out to every single one! It is not the worst word a two year old could pick up, but its not great either. So like a week later, I show up at their house before church so we can all ride together and apparently, seeing me triggers Kersten's memory. Every time Daddy passed a car, she'd yell "Yidiot!". Her Mom couldn't figure out where on earth she got that from. I had to confess! Its funny still and she still does it anytime I am with her and we are going somewhere and we pass a car.

I am so thankful for my beautiful Kersten, she really makes my day whenever I see her. She is always excited to see me and runs to hug me or snuggle with me. I hope this continues for a long time, but I know its inevitable that she'll grow up way too fast.

Surgery Posting, Part 4

Surgery Posting, Part 1
Surgery Posting, Part 2
Surgery Posting, Part 3
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Saturday
Morning came a little too early, but, that is just the way things go sometimes. I am still on clear liquids at this point, so I continue drinking, or rather sipping. I get my next heparin shot and then the resident comes by to check on me and rates me good enough to move to other liquids. Orders go out, and my first glass of milk appears along with thinned cream of chicken soup. Guess what kind of milk it is? Skim(aka colored water). I don’t drink skim and according to the handbook, we can have skim or 1%. 1% is what I drink at home, so hurray! Well, try getting that order to be fixed! The nurse was able to find me some 1% milk finally. I was still on a two ounce per hour intake, so I had two ounces of soup and put the milk on ice and drank it during the following hour.
So the day progresses, my grandparents come by one last time on their way to their house, which by this time, its been over two weeks since they have been home as they came to my house directly from one of their monthly Indiana treks. They promise to come back Monday or Tuesday to pick me up, depending on when I got discharged.
So, later that day, the nurse asks me if I want to shower? Now, I showered the night BEFORE surgery, knowing I probably wouldn’t be up for or get one for a day or two. At this point, I still have my catheter in, am still on continuous oxygen and I have a drainage tube hanging out of my abdomen in addition to my IV. I looked at her and said, “seriously?”. I said, you get the tubes out of me, I’ll take a shower. Well, needless to say, the tubes did not come out that day. They had to make sure I was peeing enough before they could pull my catheter. Let’s think about this for a moment. If you drink two ounces of fluid an hour for 12 hours, how much do you suppose comes back out? Well, in a normal person, probably most of it, but in a dehydrated person, very little. Remember, the only fluids I had in me was saline up until 7pm the night before. The catheter remained the rest of that day and into the next.
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By the afternoon, my IV had failed. Go figure! So, they call in a vampire tech to put in a new one. At this point, I am running out of places to stick, so this girl decides in the bend of my wrist(bend towards you) is a good spot. I told her right away that it wasn’t a good idea, it is my wiping hand, my dominant hand, and it’ll come out. Did she listen? NOPE! Three sticks later, it is in my wrist. So I am sitting up in my chair watching TV when I feel the urge to go to the bathroom. Can you guess where this is heading? Yep, my IV failed! So, again, I need a vampire to come by and place another one. I was thinking at this point that if it’s that same lady, I am going to punch her. Nope, different girl. First thing I tell her is, if she doesn’t think she can get it on the first try, she better turn around. I have just about had it with being poked to death. I am just like all the rest of the women in my family that I know and if my veins even get a whiff of a needle coming, they run for their lives! So, she is like, I think I can. Well, she thought wrong! Three sticks later and I still don’t have an IV in my arm. I have now been without my IV for over an hour, thus meaning no pain medication on board. I am in tears at this point because the first stick she tried felt like she was stripping my veins, not just trying to place a needle in it. I am basically having a breakdown because I am so tired of the incompetence. I mean seriously, this is what they do for a living! I asked for a flight nurse and they looked at my like I was out of my mind. I said the flight nurses know how to put in an IV while flying in a vibrating machine; I am pretty sure they can handle a patient in a bed and get it THE FIRST TIME. They can’t do that they say. So I am balling my eyes out, sick to death of being a human pin cushion. A different vampire tech walks in and tries to calm me down. I asked for a warm blanket to be placed on my arm. This is supposed to help the veins pop up and do their thing. They bring one for each arm. So I sat there for about five minutes, soaking up the warmth, hoping to God this would do the trick. The vampire comes by again and feels my veins and she is pretty sure she has one. Well, two sticks later, she did, but it must have been the smallest vein in my arm, it hurt like mad having the needle shoved in there. Finally, the drugs start flowing back into my system. I drift off into a two hour nap from the trauma of the whole afternoon. Rebekah was still with me when I woke up and left around dinner. She was awesome about everything the whole time she was there. She wore my pajamas because it wasn’t planned for her to stay with me, her kind soul volunteered when I was having such a bad day on Friday. She slept on a combination of a chair and ottoman pushed together with a couple of pillows and think hospital blankets. Not sure how well she slept, but I appreciated her being there very much. So because I was feeling a little more “normal”, Rebekah left that afternoon and I was on my own.

Surgery Posting, Part 3

Surgery Posting, Part 1
Surgery Posting, Part 2
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So, the tech goes to look at the films, comes back in the room and pronounces that I can go back to my room. Let’s start the transferring. Needless to say, it is still painful, and I cried again from the tilt table to the transfer table. When I got back to my room, Laurie, Kersten and Jess were waiting to visit, but they had to leave for a minute while I got resituated. Upon getting in my room, I noticed that two of my work buddies had swung by to visit me(they left a note on my whiteboard) while I was down for my swallow study and this caused me to be even more tearful because all I wanted at that point was someone who cared about me to be with me and I had missed them. I was already in tears from the transfer down in x-ray and of course cried again when I realized the disappointment of missing my friends, and from the transfer to my bed, so Kersten was concerned. I tried to put on my brave face, but she is too smart for her own good and new that her “Mamie” wasn’t herself(red, puffy eyes couldn’t have had anything to do with it!). Jess on the other hand, loved all the hoses, tubes and wires sticking out of me! He had a blast checking me out. Kersten finally did give me a hug to make me feel better. Unfortunately, they had come while I was gone and had been there awhile already, so couldn’t stay very long, so once they left, I cried some more.
The witch of a nurse still wouldn’t let me drink anything because the doctor hadn’t seen the report yet, so I continued to swab my mouth with ice water. Not too long after Laurie and the kids left, my friend Angela and her two littlest girls came to visit. PEOPLE! People who like me! Oh it was so good to see them! They stayed for awhile until my friend Rebekah showed up. Rebekah will forever be my hero. She made what was a miserable experience in the ICU, be somewhat tolerable. I went for my first walk around the ICU nurse station at this point. I asked to do it. Getting out of bed this time, wasn’t quite as bad as those morning transfers, still painful, but not enough to make me cry at least!
So I figured the results from my swallow study should be ready by now, its about 2pm, but I continued to wait. Patients are supposed to get transferred to the regular surgical floor that first day. Little did I know, they had cancelled my transfer order. It was 6pm before the resident came back to tell me the results of the swallow study, I was fine and could start on clear liquids. HALLELUJAH! Well, so then I asked when I was going to be moved and they said they cancelled it, it was too late. It is now 6pm. At this point, I have had one of the worse days of my life and now they are telling me I am stuck up here ANOTHER night!!! I begged. I won’t lie. So, the resident, bless him, called in a transfer order and within the hour I would be moved. Meanwhile, my first “meal” arrives. At this point, its time for me to get moved to my new floor. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I haven’t eaten or drank in two freaking days and now its time to move!? Seriously people. So, all my stuff gets packed up and down to the new floor I go. Rebekah is still with me, thankfully, so I was able to cope a little better than if I had been on my own.
So we get in my new room, we get me situated, I meet my new nurses. Right away, I know I am going to like them. They have a sense of humor and are willing to please! Thank you Jesus!
I finally get to have my first taste of liquid, I had one ounce of chicken broth and one ounce of cranberry juice. It took me an hour, which is the way they wanted it. Take small sips, see how it goes. Take my time. So right now, every hour I can have two ounces of liquid. I was up late! And Rebekah, being the sweetheart that she is, offered to stay with me. I am forever indebted to her because my horrific day in the ICU left me very traumatized, and while I was pretty sure things would be better on this floor, I was still not quite ready to let “my people” leave me. My grandparents did come to visit again that afternoon and stayed one more night at my house. Susan also came to visit.
The rest of the evening was mostly uneventful, I drank my liquids, I watched TV, I chatted with Rebekah. I also did two more walks up and down the hall. Gotta keep the blood in my veins moving, we do not want clotting. The nurses did vitals checks and of course had to give me the dreaded twice daily heparin shot. I also still have to wear the TED stocking and the dreaded air pumps. I think it was close to midnight when I finally felt tired enough to doze off for good. Little did I know, hospitals are LOUD. I had read something about this and thought how bad could it be, I mean, they know we are all trying to sleep, right? They don’t care. They do whatever it is they do with no concern for how loud they might be. Mayo supposedly did a study about this in order to address it, but I guess they missed the floor I was on. And for the life of me, can you figure out why they need to draw blood at 3:30AM?? They wake a blissfully sleeping patient to draw blood. For heaven’s sake!
It is at this point that I realize I am awfully itchy. My whole body was itchy, but my nose was the worst. I couldn’t stop touching it. Literally! The nurse comes in to check on me and notices my constant itching and wiggling. She is not sure, but she thinks I might be experiencing a reaction to the morphine. Having never had morphine before, how could I know that it’ll make you itch until you peel your skin off? So, she gets the doctor to switch me to Fetanyl and adds Benadryl to make the itching better. So I try to go to sleep, but am still itching and wiggling………..was not very successful.

Surgery Posting, Part 2

Surgery Posting, Part 1
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I am told that I was wheeled into recovery around 5:30. I don’t know exactly what time I started to become aware, but the first thing I can remember is being in pain. I remember repeating “Pain” over and over. They must have given me some more pain meds, because once that wasn’t bothering me, I then realized I was thirsty. Now you have to remember, I haven’t eaten or drank all day. The nurse tries to explain to me in my sedated state that she can’t give me anything to drink. I kept repeating the word “THIRSTY”. I was going to get a drink!! Finally, she runs a swab in my mouth of cold water, felt wonderful, it was SO parched. I don’t know how long it was after that, but the next thing I remember saying was “I want my Grama!” So, I hear them say, okay, she is ready for transfer to ICU.
I guess it was around 7pm that I was finally situated and got to see my grandparents. Susan, my roommate, was there as well. I don’t remember much about the evening, I know I babbled a lot, but have no recollection of what I talked about. Not one word! I know at some point my grandparents went back to my house, and it was just Susan in the room, and I must have dozed again, the next time I woke up, she had gone home too. I believe it was around 11pm at this point. My bed that first night was in the ICU, doctor’s preference that all patients go there after surgery, it was not because I had complications or anything fun like that. I was however on oxygen initially because I wasn’t satting quite as well as they would have liked. I also still had
The rest of that night and into the morning, I was up off and on. I wasn’t on continuous pain medication, I had to push a button to get it, so as you can imagine, you get pretty uncomfortable if you went too long between pushes. You had to wait 15 minutes between pushes. I still to this day do not understand why for at least the first day or two, they can’t make it continuous, but that is a whole different tale. My nurse that was with me all night, was very nice, except that she had to give me a shot of heparin(twice a day so I don’t have blood clots). She also got me extra pillows and a blanket, and assisted helping me move around(couldn’t get comfy) since I was still a little woozy from all the drugs. She also had to take vitals several times, and of course, they had to do bloodwork to make sure all my counts were ok. I also had these air pump things attached to my legs, they would blow up and release every ten second or so. Was rather annoying feeling, so sleep wasn’t really on the agenda.
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Friday
By morning, a new nurse had taken over and most of the rest of my day was hellacious. The resident came in around 6:30 to tell me I’d be going for my swallow study(this is to make sure there aren’t any holes or gaps in my newly rerouted intestines) this morning and after he reviewed the results, if all was well, we could start me on the clear liquids. Little did I know, that their idea of morning and mine, differed by about 4 hours! I am still very thirsty as we are now into day two of no food or drink. I practically had to bribe the nurse to get a swabber to swab my mouth with ice water. I couldn’t drink it mind you and I was to use it sparingly because they don’t know if I can have liquids yet. I guess she assumed I was two years old and couldn’t follow directions because she was downright rude about it. It was 11:30 before they finally came to wheel me down for the test. I was NOT amused. I was trying to use the swab sparingly, but my mouth was DRY, it needed moisture. I am pretty sure the drugs they gave me have a side effect of dry mouth on top of not being able to eat or drink for nearly two days. My grandparents had come back that morning to visit and were with me up until I went for my swallow study.
So, going to do the swallow study required me being transferred from my bed to a transfer bed. This was not pretty, let me tell you. I was in a lot of pain at this point and they were asking me to do the impossible. Roll. Sounds simple enough, but when someone has been poking around in your insides, NOT SO MUCH! I was in tears by the time I finally got on the transfer bed. I was in a lot of pain, and noone seemed to really care! I get down to the x-ray room and again, I have to transfer. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? So, over I have to roll and slide to what I am now aware of is a tilt table. Again, in tears. They begin to take pictures and then I have to drink some contrast. They tell me it tastes bad, I actually didn’t mind it. Not sure if it was the drugs or if it really tasted ok, might of just been tasty because I hadn’t eaten or drank in two days. So after drinking a little bit of it, I had to sit for a few and then they tilted the table to get pictures of the liquid moving through my system. I have to keep sipping repeatedly while tilted so they get adequate pictures of it moving through to make sure there are no holes or cracks or leaks. So, you’d think being on a tilt table they could strap you in or something. Not at Mayo! I had to bear weight and hold myself upright on that table. At this point, I haven’t been out of bed except to transfer, certainly not any weight bearing exercises. My legs were like Jello and I was forced to stand for what seemed like forever and hold myself up all the while swallowing contrast. I was nearly in tears again when I finally told them if they didn’t put me back down, I was going to collapse. The tech looks at me and says, “oh come on, don’t be a baby!” OH REALLY! Should we change positions and see how you like it???? I proceeded to convince him that my legs lacked the strength to hold me when he realized I wasn’t joking and managed to “catch” me and put me back into a lying down position.

Surgery Posting, Part 1

WARNING: This story is very long, it will come to you in pieces.

Well, we’ll start from the beginning, gory details not to be spared! The night before surgery, I had to stop eating by 5pm. Due to circumstances beyond my control, last time I ate was about 11:30am. I meant to eat again, time just ran away from me. So it is 5pm, I had to drink two bottles of the nastiest, most foul tasting liquid to clean out my bowels. I could only drink this “stuff” and water the rest of the evening. It was so nasty, and one bottle truly was more than sufficient! I am sure I can spare you those details. So, September 27th dawns, I show up at the hospital as scheduled, at 7am. My grandparents, Wayne & Louise, were there to support me, with my deepest gratitude.
We were escorted to a room upstairs where I changed into one of those “beautiful” hospital gowns. They then weigh me, take my pulse, temperature, blood pressure, etc. They said someone would be in shortly to put in my IV. The first stick, she got in, woohoo! Then a nurse came in and put me in a pair of TED stockings, these help your legs not to clot from too little inactivity. I then was told they’d transfer me to preop as soon as the surgeon was ready, this was about 7:30 am.
At 11:45am, they finally were ready for me to move to preop. I was not very amused, the day was not on a good path. I told my grandparents goodbye and that I loved them and went off into the depths of the surgical floor. I was placed in a big room with other patients waiting to go into their surgeries where they gave me a mild sedative to make me sleepy, only, that doesn’t work very well for me. Never has worked, why start now? I am wide awake, looking around, waiting my turn. Finally around 1:30, they wheel me into the surgical suite. They discover my first IV has now failed and decide they need to redo it. Fortunately for me, they decided they could do this after I was put under anesthesia. Woohoo! So, they put the mask on my face, and out I went. I don’t remember much, I know I was only in there maybe five minutes that I was awake, the rest………..blissful oblivion! I have no recollection of the breathing tube going in/out. I have no recollection of the urinary catheter going in. I have no recollection of the new IV being placed. And most thankfully, no recollection of the surgical procedure itself! This was one of my biggest concerns, that I’d be awake, but paralyzed with no way to communicate. Thank the Lord Jesus, that did not happen to me. Imagine my horror when a few weeks later they release a movie called “AWAKE” which is about that very topic. I refuse to see it. EVER!

Audrey is in Heaven

If you haven't been to Todd & Angie's site yet, Audrey has gone to be with Jesus. She had just over two blessed hours with her parents and sisters. They are doing as well as can be expected. Please keep them covered in prayer over this next week as they deal with the funeral and memorial and the ache of missing their sweet baby.
To God be the glory!

Bring the Rain

Hello faithful blog readers~
I have a heavy heart today. I have been reading Todd & Angie Smith's blog for the past few months, heartbroken with every entry. Todd is the lead singer in the Christian group Selah. Todd & Angie are due to give birth to their fourth daughter, Audrey Caroline, today. Audrey is only 32 weeks old and has been diagnosed with several fatal conditions. Audrey has no fluid in her sac, she has an enlarged heart and polycystic kidneys. The doctors have said if she survives being born, it would be a miracle in and of itself, but the likelihood of her surviving much beyond that is not good. Angie goes at 4pm for her C-section.
I know our God can do miracles and I have been praying all day today that He would have His way, but am still hoping that He'll give them their way and let them keep their daughter. I know its a privelege to be with Jesus, but at the same time, our selfish desires say please don't do this to us. I know God will use this situation for His glory no matter the outcome. This family is in desperate need of your prayers to lift them and comfort them. If you have a moment, please think of them and their entire family and say a prayer. You can click on their link to follow their story.
Blessings to you all.

Sacrifice

My friend's 13 year old daughter wrote this. I think she is very insightful for a teenager in today's world.

Sacrifice

When I say the word ‘Freedom’, what comes to mind? A description, a person, a country, or something else? The word that comes to my mind is Sacrifice. Many know that freedom comes at a price, but they don’t realize it at the same time. Freedom is not free, it costs a lot, it takes Sacrifice.
In a book I read, called The Giver, there is a town where they have almost no freedom. They didn’t get to live with their birthparents, only family units, they can’t choose their job, they are given one when they turn twelve, they can’t even see color or have normal human emotions. They don’t know true happiness or terrible sadness. Only one, maybe two people can have actual memories and feelings and the ability to see color.
People died, it happens, it’s sad, but it’s the cost. Same with the war, I know a lot of people say we shouldn’t have gotten involved with Iraq, and that more people died. No, they care that more of our country’s people are dying than if we had not gotten involved. Well, I for one love living in a country where our leader doesn’t only care about us, but about the well being of other countries as well. We have been learning Interdependence, our country cannot survive without the other countries because whether we like it or not, we depend on them as much as they depend on us. And what happens when they need help and no one gives it to them, they lose their trust and try to break away from us, and if enough countries do that, then what happens? We get weaker. By helping them, even if People do get killed, that’s the cost, and it cannot be helped. Freedom will always come at a price. Many people have died so that I may live with freedom.
Many people don’t understand what it means to be free; we think it’s no big deal. But what about Iraq, more people than you think are happy we came to help, even if it doesn’t seem like help at times. They don’t know freedom like we do, they crave it, and they want the ability to make basic choices on their own, not be told what to do all the time. Sometimes people, when they are free, don’t know what to do, they are happy, but confused. They don’t need a ruler or a king or anything like that. They need a helping hand to show them the way until they can do it on their own.
Rejoice in your freedom, be glad that you have it, but don’t flaunt it, don’t show it off. We weren’t given freedom at the cost of millions of deaths just so we could rub it in other people’s faces; we were given it so that we can choose to do what we want with our lives, to spend it helping others, or to spend it helping ourselves. I know what my choice is, even if you think I’m mean, even if you hate my guts, I would still help you if I was given the choice, but you have to create that choice first.

I am back............

Just thought I'd let you know I'll be using my blog again.
I'll post an update on my surgery and the past six months at a later date.

If you are still around, thanks for checking in!

Aimee

Less than ten days......

Well, it seems like I waited forever to get a date for surgery scheduled and now it is a mere ten days away! I am fairly busy at work trying to anticipate everything that I possibly can for while I am away, I am mostly ready, just a few things to train my deskmates on and I'll be set there.

At home, I have a TON to do! Tonight I meet with the contractor to pick out linoleum, countertops and siding. We will also firm up measurements for the new windows in the basement and the new cabinets in the kitchen and place orders. Approximately four weeks from ordering, we should be able to start the remodel. Meanwhile, I need to strip the wallpaper off the walls in the kitchen and pack up most of my dishes and food supply. All the cabinets are being replaced, so basically we are gutting the kitchen, thus its kind of like moving! I bought a new gas stove over the range microwave and undercounter dishwasher that will also be installed with the new cabinets. The only appliance staying is the fridge. It isn't very old, so it will do for the time being. Eventually I'd like one with the ice/water dispensor on it. Grampa Gardner needs to install the gas line hookup for the stove, but he'll be here next week and am hoping he can tackle that then.

I already bought paint for the kitchen, but I need to go pick up the wainscotting and trim yet. I also think I am going to pick up a pint of white paint and touch up the frames around the windows. I need to see what kind of crown molding Home Depot lined up to go with my cabinets so I can use that around the rest of the kitchen ceiling too.

I also need to get the last of the goodies out of my garden and get them canned. That is quite a chore, but it is worth it to have fresh garden goodies that you know where they came from and how they were tended the entire time. The garden was alot more effort than I imagined, but having the organic produce has been a good reward.

Grama and Grampa Gardner are coming to stay with me before the night of surgery and accompany me to the hospital and be there when I come out of surgery. Not sure if they'll stay a few extra days or not yet, but it will be nice to have them around. I have wonderful friends too that will be helping. My temporary roommate Susan is there of course, and Laurie, LoLo, Sara, Rebekah and some people from work have all volunteered to come and/or help out if I need anything. I have awesome friends and I am so grateful!

Well, keep me in your prayers. I have my pre-surgical appointment this Thursday and then the countdown really starts!

Thanks for checking on me.
Aimee