Medical updates & more

Yes, Mom has once again been allowed to leave the hospital. I talked to her late on Friday and she said they were sending her out again. I just haven't had time to blog since then. She also told me that she didn't have to go in now this week for the pre-op tests she was scheduled to have since they did all of them while she was in there last week. Now we have only 1 week till the surgery.
As for Mark's nephew, Nick, he is also making a rather remarkable recovery at this point. They have moved him to a rehab ward for teens with head injuries. (The scary thing is that there are so many of this injury they require their own ward?!) He does answer questions and can get up and walk around with some assistance. He seems to recognize people; however, he wakes up very disoriented as to where he is. Each time it might be somewhere different, including the army. This seems like a rather good recovery for such a short time.
This Thanksgiving, we have so much to be thankful for. It is amazing that we have had 2 close calls to losing people who mean a lot to us and yet we still have both of them. God is definitely answering prayers around here!
I think we are staying home for the actual Thanksgiving day. We have a gift of food from someone at church. Everything but the turkey. Then Mark called to say that a guy he works with has the turkey for us! It may even be a wild one, I'm not sure.
We are working on making arrangements to visit Mom over the long weekend though. If Mark can get Friday off, we will go up then. Since Tammy's place is rather small and Rich isn't much into company, we have asked if we can spend time visiting at Lake Ann Camp which is less than 5 miles from Tammy's. This way the kids can play in a different room or run around outside while we visit too. It is supposed to be in the mid-50's (that is up 40+ degrees from late year) so they may even play a few holes of disc golf while we are there. We don't know yet if we will go up on Thursday and stay with part of Mark's family that is up there or if we will make it a 1 day trip.
I also need to contact brother Mark and see what his plans are for next week. We are still making plans. We are thinking of my Mark and I going up Monday afternoon and then he would return to GR after the surgery. I would then be able to stay till Thursday as I am scheduled to work on Friday. Of course, if she isn't doing well, I'll stay longer but will make that call when the time comes. We have friends who are willing to help with the kids we just have to tell them when we need them.
For those who come by for Nascar talk, it was a pretty sad day around here on Sunday. Not only the disappointment of Jimmie Johnson winning the championship but also for the coverage that NBC had where you would have thought Johnson was the only in the race and in contention. My husband is not the least bit sad that NBC will no longer be covering Nascar so that cars not driven by Hendrick Motorsport drivers will get their fair share. Stephen's major disappointment was 10 weeks ago when Tony didn't make the Chase but he was a bit impressed with the Chase anyway. Now that Kevin & RCR are getting things together maybe next year for him which would make Mark happy. Of course, Rachel would prefer to see the 8 car in the winner's circle more often. Just can't please everyone in this house, no matter who wins!

Mom's back in the hospital

We received a call last night that Mom is back in the hospital. She was having trouble breathing when she got up yesterday morning. Aunt Marlene drove her to the hospital because Mom didn't want her to call an ambulance. It seems her oxygen level was low, her blood pressure was low, and her heart rate was low. They gave her oxygen and she seemed to improve quite a bit. She seemed good when we talked to her last night. We don't know what this means for her surgery, whether they will move it up or not or whether they will just keep her in the hospital until the surgery. Everything is all up in the air again.
As for Nick, he has been moved out of intensive care to a regular room. He is eating and doing "some" talking. They say that they still don't know how much damage or how permanent the damage was. Still just need time.

Comerica Park is done!

Well, Stephen (and I) has finished building Comerica Park. It isn't what I would call great but then again it was Stephen's project and his work. Once we got the basic structure of the park down and convinced him it was going to take a posterboard of pictures to actually show most of the details, I let him do it all from there. He was up way to late last night finishing it but hopefully it made it to school safely. Tonight will be Michigan Night for us to go see what all the other kids learned about and how many parents did the work on the projects. When we went to Rachel's 2 years ago, her's looked a little pathetic because so many of the parents had done the work on the other kids. It gets a bit frustrating but we have also talked to some of the teachers about it and they know. They take whose work it is into account when grading the projects. I know that it is really hard as a parent to step back and let the kid do it, but how else are they to learn.
Rachel is headed to her science partner's house after school again today. They are going to finish working out any kinks to a poem that they are presenting by way of a puppet show tomorrow. They had a third girl join their group on Monday after most of the work was already complete so they need to do some adjusting. We'll pick her up on our way to Michigan night.
I'm still doing all I can to push my Avon business. I will be working a craft show booth on Saturday. I'm also working to make sure that customer's have books to order from while I am gone around Mom's surgery. 2 more orders before Christmas and I really want to take advantage of them. I hope to have both sets of books labeled and ready for delivery on Monday so that I have them out before Thanksgiving. I do have someone else that wants to sub-sell for me so maybe that will help.
I think the most exciting news this week is that our church is planning on breaking ground next Monday on our property for phase one of a project. This phase will only be clearing the property, paving a drive and parking area, and building a pavillion to bring in all the utilities. We hope that we will be able to hold lots of different activities there in the next couple of years even though our church building is 1/2 mile away. Hopefully the ground won't be frozen by Monday. We approved the plans back in June or July but it has taken a ton of red tape to get through so that the work could actually start happening. We received a letter yesterday that they are planning a special dedication and ground breaking ceremony for Sunday afternoon after the morning service.
Well, I have lots to do. By they way, "no news is good news", right? We haven't gotten any news on Nick yesterday so all must be as good as can be expected.

Mom's Surgery

Just wanted to let everyone know that they have now scheduled Mom's surgery. It will be on Tuesday, Nov. 28th. She doesn't have to go in until that morning. They say that they won't know exactly what all they will do until they are in there. They are looking at possibly replacing the mitrial valve, at least one bypass, and then repairing the hole if they still need too. It is healing well and may not need much work by then.
She said that they only let 2 family members in the surgical waiting room so there is no since in me coming until a couple of days after the surery. Yeah, right, like that is going to happen! NOT! I plan to be right there. I had already warned Meijer that I might need some time that week and the way it is currently scheduled, I work on Monday and not again till Friday. I haven't got it all worked out yet but I only learned about it about 10 till 5 this afternoon and I had to spend most of the evening making Comerica Park with Stephen.
P.S. - Mark's nephew, Nick, has been brought out of the coma but is still rather out of it. He will attempt to respond when told to squeeze a hand or something else but not consistently. He is off the ventilator as well. If things go well, they will remove the pressure monitor from his head tomorrow as well as the chest tube. These are all encouraging signs but he is still far from healed. They really haven't even been able to determine a lot yet about any permanent damage. Mark's sister has another chemo treatment tomorrow. She went home this afternoon which is the first time since Saturday. Mark's mom stayed at the hospital. Geri plans to go back if she is up to it after her treatment tomorrow.

Family news

I've talked a lot about Mom and what is going on with her. I believe I also mentioned Mark's sister is currently undergoing chemo for her second bout with breast cancer. Now we have something else to add to list.
On Saturday, Mark's 16-year-old nephew, Nicholas, was struck by a full-size van on Van Dyke in Detroit (actually Sterling Heights). He is currently in critical condition at Children's Hospital of Michigan in downtown Detroit. He has a severe head injury, broken collarbone, cracked ribs, collapsed lung, and an ankle injury. They have drained some fluid from the brain because of the swelling and fixed the collapsed lung with a chest tube. He is currently in a medically induced coma because of difficulties when they try to bring him out of it. They also have removed his ventilator at one point but decided it best to put it back to let his body just focus on healing and not any extra work. The do think that there is some central nervous system damage but really don't know much until he comes out of the coma but for now they can't let him come out. It could be a quite a while before they know much (with Mom's heart it was the first 48 hours but with the brain, it can continue swelling for up to 72 hours before starting to heal).
Mark went over early Sunday morning and returned late last night. He was only allowed in the room briefly and not until just before he was leaving. He said that Nick has more tubes and monitors than Mom did! He spent most of the time supporting his mom and sister. His mom is taking the blame on herself which she does often even in situations where she had no real control. Mark's sister is holding in there. It is tough because she also has 2 more sons at home to think about as well as her own health. Because Nick's dad died almost 5 years ago and Mark's mom lives with Geri and the boys, they have granted Mark's mom full access to Nick as well as Geri. This will help a little because then when Geri is gone, Ruth can get in yet. They are very strict about any visitors at this time and either Ruth or Geri has to go in with the visitors.
The kids and I stayed home as we had a busy day scheduled at church as well as the fact that I was scheduled to work at Meijer's. Our kids know what is going on with Nick. We have tried not to be too graphic yet honest. Rachel seems to be taking it the hardest at this time. She went and found some picutres of Nicky from 7 years ago and has been carrying them around with her. She was going to put one up in her locker as a prayer reminder. The boys seem to understand it is serious but are doing fine. I also notified all their teachers in case there was any problems at school from the stress of the situation.
We know that God is in control. All we can do is pray and wait. We have seen a miracle recently in the fact that Mom is still with us and now we are watching for another one, if He sees fit. So that is the news from here. I'll try to find something more encouraging to write about soon. Maybe I'll get a digital picture of Stephen's Comerica Park later this week that I can post (after he gets it built that is).

No school...again

Well, the kids are all home from school again today. This week it is for Parent Teacher Conferences. Joshua was home both yesteday & today but the other 2 had to go 1/2 day yesterday. Rachel went to another student's house for the afternoon as they have a project to do together. This student lives in Rockford (which is quite a drive from here) so the mom picked Rachel up when she picked up her own and then brought Rachel back to the school around the time we were finishing up with all the conferences. This saved us all a lot of driving.
The conferences went well. Stephen's was probably the best conference we have ever had in his school career! This teacher really seems to understand him and they get along great. We are so thrilled with her work with him. Joshua is having a slight difficulty understanding that when the teacher or a parent assistant want him to do something he needs to do it whether he wants to or not. He is just being stubborn and wouldn't count past 10 for them when he was being assessed. Last night, though, he counted to 100 for us at home. Rachel is doing well too. Her biggest struggles are with Spanish and the fact that she missed 2 &1/2 days of school during a busy time. The strange weekend of us going to TC probably didn't help any either. She is doing so well in band on her saxophone that the second year students are a bit ashamed of their playing. The director told them they could either quit or practice harder if they didn't like that she was doing better then them.
Now, this morning has been spent with me helping Stephen work on a history project--Comerica Park. This is due on Thursday, Nov. 16 so this is the final weekend we have available. It is quite a project. So far we have the field itself made up. Now we just need all the seating and walls as well as it's extras, such as ferris wheel, carousel, and statues. It's going to be a long weekend.
The latest on Mom: She had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and the doctor was rather pleased. The only vital sign that they are having to keep an eye on because of a couple of poor readings is her oxygen level. This week she saw the cardiologist, next Wed. she sees the surgeon, and then she sees this doctor on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving again. She is still getting lots of company. Aunt Marlene is there with her all the time but Uncle Paul & Aunt Bette say they are staying in Alpena until her surgery is over and they come spend at least a day a week with them in TC. She also had a visit from her friend, Fran, who just moved to the UP in the last year or so. They spend time reading and doing puzzles. She sounds rather encouraged and content with the situation which is better then she was doing with her stay in the hospital.
We voted on Tuesday but are a bit disappointed with the outcome but we know that God's in control.

Mom update

It is my turn to post the update on Mom. She is being released in just a little while to go stay at cousin Tammy's house. The doctors looked over their test results today and were willing to let her go as far as Tammy's but she is to have constant supervision. Aunt Marlene is there and plans to stay with Mom as long as is needed. Mom will also be having weekly doctors visits to keep an eye on her condition. Mom assures me that she won't hesitate to speak up to Marlene if something doesn't feel right (we'll have to see on that one). As you can imagine, Mom is very happy. It isn't Alpena but at least it is out of the hospital.
Mom actually has given the nurses something to laugh about as she put on her jogging suit at least one day this week. Then she was sitting in her room visiting with Marlene & Tammy or they went to the family room and worked on a puzzle and the nurses would come in but couldn't figure out which one was the patient because they were all dressed. The nurses may have gotten tired of tracking her down and helped get the doctors to let her out! Of course, Mom may also haved headed to the kitchen to help out if they had kept her much longer too!

2 posts-1 day

How amazing is that!? I just wanted to make sure that everyone noticed the new link at the side. Now you can look over the latest Avon catalog that I am taking orders from. If you are interested in anything, just send me an email and I'll get it for you. The other way to order it is to go to www.Avon.com and order the items then when it asks for your rep's phone number put mine in.
Also, I better use this chance to say happy birthday to 2 brothers, Tim on 11/1 and Mark on 11/2. It was good to see both of you recently even for just a short time. Keep in touch, guys & have good birthdays!

Catching up again

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while. I've barely sat down at the computer very long except to read the updates on how Mom is doing.
We are trying for some semblance of a normal life, all the while awaiting a phone call saying that Mom had another problem and that they are heading to surgery.
The kids did well while we were gone to TC. They stayed with a couple from church that have sort of adopted them as extra grandchildren. I'm told that Rachel was a big help especially on Sunday evening when Joshua just couldn't stop crying. There were good reports from school as well which is a big relief.
The kids are having some crazy weeks at school. This week there is no school on Thurs. or Friday because of teacher inservice. Next week, they go just 3 & 1/2 days, except for Joshua who only goes 3 days, for Parent Teacher Conferences. There will be one full week of school but then they have another 3 day week due to Thanksgiving.
For those of you that don't know yet, I am working at Meijer in the bakery department decorating cakes. I asked for 10-20 hours a week. Supposedly I was going to work evenings when Mark would be home with the kids but they asked if I could train in the mornings. I agreed and now I hope they keep me on mornings. It is really working out well for me to go in from 7-11 a.m. The only thing that they don't like is that I have to leave at 11 to pick up Joshua and can't stay late if we are behind. This schedule gives me evenings at home with my family yet or I do my Avon then. They also aren't exactly thrilled that I have been there just one month and have called in twice (one for the Sunday we were in TC & then Fri Stephen was home with a cold). They will just have to deal with that though.
I'm trying to figure out when I can get back to TC to see Mom again. It doesn't look like this weekend though. Mark has a prayer breakfast Sat. morning and then will be going to work till 2 p.m. I could get someone to cover at church for me on Sunday but am scheduled to work at Meijer from 1-5 p.m. I don't want to call in too much for babysitting favors from friends at church right now either because I know I'm definitely going to need it when Mom has her surgery.
On the other side of the family, Mark's sister, Geri, has recently gone through a second masectomy and has started more chemo. We haven't heard from them recently to know how it is going but we are praying that they have better meds now then when she had it 5 years or so ago.
So that is about it. School, work, and church--and phone calls and trips to TC. Stephen has a field trip on Monday to Lansing which Mark is going on then he also has a project to complete for Michigan night at school on November 16. I have to call for a physical for Rachel since she is wanting to try out for the vollyball team in January. There is just always something more to do.