An Emotional Update

As I told dad, I've tried writing this post several times, started to cry and deleted it.

The trip dad and I took to South Dakota ended up being more than we ever would have thought.

Dad and I left on the 9th about 6 am. We got to Lake Norden and stopped in to see Gramma, had Ronnie forward his mail to the nursing home, had him sign the papers for me to be his medical power of attorney, wash his new clothes, pack his bag for the hospital and went over with Ronnie what to expect the next day.

Dad and I got up about 5 am Thursday to head to Lake Norden to pick up Ronnie, we had stayed in Arlington, and head to Sioux Falls. Of course...CONSTRUCTION!!! I have to say, the directions to anything on the hospital campus more than stink. We went to the wrong location two times before we finally found where to go.

The surgery on his foot went well. They fused his foot in two different places, grafted an era of the tendon on the inside of his foot that had stretched and torn, released some of the tightness in his Achilles tendon and put a screw in the bottom of his foot through his ankle to provide extra strength.

We met Ronnie in his room after he spent time in recovery. He told them he had no pain. I soon learned that Ronnie has other terms for pain. Once I learned this, I passed it on to each nurse he had. For the record, my uncle is a very brave person who, despite the awful pain he truly had to be in, only requested a pain pill a couple of times.

Friday morning, I was coming out of the bathroom after getting dressed. (I spent each night with him in the hospital, not only so he would not be afraid, but to be sure he was well taken care of.) As I came out, Ronnie said something and I couldn't understand what he said. I turned around and asked him to repeat it. When he spoke, it sounded like his tongue was swollen, as he was speaking, he held up his right hand. I saw that his thumb had folded in to his palm and his fingers were folded over his thumb.

I went over to him, asked him if he could open his hand. He couldn't. I opened his hand and right away, they folded back to the position they were in just before. I put my index finger in the palm of his right hand, told him to hold my other index finger with his left hand and squeeze both hands at the same time. The left worked, the right didn't.

I then went out to get the nurse. Soon, the room was filled with people asking Ronnie questions. I stepped in, stated I could answer any questions they might have. The next thing I knew, we were off to have a CT scan. The scan showed that his left carotid artery was blocked 75-85% causing him to have a "slight stroke". I'm so thankful that I was there when this happened. Given his special condition, someone may have thought that when he had spoken with the "swollen tongue", it was normal for him to sound like that.

Later in the day, Friday, we had a cardiology consult. He felt that Ronnie should have surgery to clear the artery. Dad, Ronnie and I all agreed that surgery was best. We also agreed, along with mom, that gramma should not know about what had happened. She was already worried about him having the surgery on his foot, to tell her about the new events, we felt, would be more than she could handle.

Saturday morning, they did another CT scan, but this time with a contrast dye. It showed the same thing as Friday morning. Another cardiologist came by and wasn't sure if Ronnie should have the surgery. He wanted Ronnie to have another CT scan on Sunday morning. I told Ronnie he was going to have to ride "through the doughnut" again the next morning.

The third CT showed what the other two had already shown. For what ever reason, the cardiologist we saw on Friday, who was the surgeon, couldn't agree with the cardiologist, who was the physician, we saw Saturday on what the best course of action was.

Dad and I stressed the fact that we wanted to have it taken care of while he was already in the hospital versus having him come back at a later time to have the problem fixed. We felt we were lucky that nothing more serious happened and since grampa had had three heart attacks it was important to do what ever was needed as soon as possible. We said several prayers and Monday morning the two of them agreed surgery was the best thing to do.

He was transferred to the heart hospital in Sioux Falls. As soon as we got there, they took him to surgery. Everything went well except his blood pressure was all over the place, which is not unusual after surgery.

Tuesday came, and they wanted to release Ronnie to go to the nursing home. I became a "slight" squeaky wheel and they decided to keep him until Wednesday. Honestly, I pointed out the fact that in less than a week, Ronnie had two big surgeries, he didn't look like someone who should be released, his blood pressure was still all over the map, (even with meds), had only one meeting with the physical therapy people, (whom he saw when dad and I weren't there) so no one was really sure how to transfer him not to mention the fact that he was going to the going to have to ride for more than an hour to get to the nursing home.

Vicki, the nurse practitioner, bless her heart, saw where I was coming from. She said they had looked at him from a cardiac stand point and not from an overall stand point. She also said she was proud of me for sticking up for Ronnie and not backing down. I was doing what I had promised gramma, I was looking out for Ronnie.

Wednesday morning came and Ronnie looked so much better. Vicki said she couldn't believe how much better he seemed to be. The wheel chair van came to pick him up and we were headed back to Norden. Gramma was so happy to see him! We explained what had happened on Friday morning and she said she understood why everyone told her Ronnie had stayed in the hospital longer to get better pain control for his foot.

Thursday, dad and I moved Ronnie's computer, TV, phone and other belongings he wanted to the nursing home. Thankfully, his room is close to the nurses station. He has to have a bed alarm when he's in bed and an alarm on his wheel chair when he is in it. He sometimes forgets he needs to call for assistance when he needs to use the bathroom. He isn't supposed to put any weight on the left foot due to the surgery and the episode from Friday left his right side a little weak.

Dad and I hit the road for home Thursday about 4:30 pm. Since we had thought we would only be gone for two days and had only packed enough close for two days. Luckily, hospital had a kind of "family house" where you could rent a room and had laundry facilities as well.

Needless to say, dad and I are happy to be home and glad our "two day" adventure is over.

Pictures Noelle Editited :)

Hello! this is Noelle again :) These are some pictures i edited of Michael, The Boys, and Me! Please Enjoy :)

this one's my favorite :) I love you mommy :)

Sisters or Neighbors-You Decide

When Amy and I were growing up, we looked more like neighbors than sisters. The four of us, mom, dad, Amy and I went to the Royals game for her birthday. Dad took this photo with my phone, with some help from the nice lady sitting behind him, and Amy said "wow, we are finally starting to look like sisters".

Worlds Worst Blogger

I guess I'm in the running for that title. I have had some issues with this site, but I've also had a few things going on.

After mom, Noelle and I got back from our annual shopping trip, dad and I went to South Dakota. Ronnie saw the specialist and we scheduled his surgery.

That was somewhat of a crazy week:

• Mom, Noelle and I got back on Thursday
• Michael had a wrestling match on Saturday, (I spent that night at mom & dad's)
• dad and I left at 6:30 Sunday morning
• got to Norden about 3:30 that afternoon
• spent some time with gramma and Ronnie
• went to bed early because we had to be up at 5
  
• Ronnie's appointment was at 8. (did I mention all of the construction!?!)
  
• got back to Norden about 1
• dad and Ronnie ran some errands
• I straightened Ronnie's apartment then spent some time with gramma
• we were on the road home at 5:30
• I pulled in to my driveway at about 2am Tuesday
• kids started school Wednesday

So, the kids have had a little more than two weeks of school.

Noelle, who I'm sure would go to school year round if given the choice, is loving school. She has several friends in her classes and is making new ones as well. She tried out for the volley ball team and, sadly, did not make the team. I have to say I'm so very proud of her. Noelle never gives up. She always says she doesn't care if she makes it or not whether it's for sports, a play or student council, she gives 100%. She may be a little up set, but she moves on and is happy for friends that make it. I wonder how many of us can say that.

Michael is liking school, believe it or not. I think a big part of it is changing classes. He is in band and is thinking he wants to play the trumpet. We broke down and got him a cell phone early. He was going to get one for Christmas anyway. On nice days, he will walk home with his friends and it's almost a mile. We decided to get it after he couldn't find one of his friends he usually walk with and happened to see a teacher as they were going back into the building. All the doors lock on the schools around here when they shut, so unless you can catch someone coming out of the building or they happen to see you standing at the door, you can't get in.

Don't even get me started on school stuff, the locking doors is just one of many sore spots for a lot of us.

We are getting closer to getting the paint booth for the shop, we hope. Our goal was to have it up by the first anniversary of the opening, now our goal is the end of October. Don't get me started on stuff with the city either.

I have some photos to post, but I can't get them to upload for me.