Happy October!

I can't believe it is fall already, It seems like it came a little too fast although the HOT of summer did seem to drag on for way too long. Maybe it was just the lack of air conditioning in the car for the last month. Last week we went on a grand adventure up to see the leaves changing colors. Zach was out of school, Dennis had his forty, and I only worked a few hours so it was the perfect opportunity to get away. We finally left home about noon and after a quick lunch we headed up the canyon to Sundance. Friday was a Kaysha day and Zach invited his friend Mitchell, so we had a full car, which still seems so weird because we have always been able to take everyone and still have room for more. As we were getting close to the resort, we were talking about all the gorgeous colors and how quickly the leaves are changing, pointing out the oranges, pinks and reds. We asked Kaysha if she would like to take a leaf home to her Mom and she said yes so I asked what color she would like and Kaysha replied that she thought her Mom would like the green ones best! So much for the beauty of Autumn! We rode the chair lift to the top and then got off so we could take a little side trip and hike to Stewart Falls. We had been afraid Kaysha wouldn't like the lift and the heights but she loved it and had Grandpa on edge as she kept squirming up to lean forward. The hike started out great, Zach and Mitchell took off ahead and kept coming back for us slowpokes, Kaysha marched along and loved seeing all of the rocks and bugs and leaves along the trail. The side was pretty steep in some places and it was a little scary to see her say she could do it herself but she did just fine. Next we came to a meadow and it was just easy walking but by this time little legs were getting tired and only wanted Grandma to carry them. After several minutes of fighting it, we were now heading down hill and Grandma was having a hard time carrying herself. Finally Grandpa just picked her up and went. She screamed bloody murder for about a quarter of a mile and I am sure the other hikers were enjoying the peace and quiet. Finally I gave in and carried her the last quarter mile. Down Hill. Over Rocks. Huge Rocks. And Stumps. Yes, big ones. Finally within sight of the falls she told me she had to go home so she could go potty. Going in the bushes was totally out of the question. The boys played around near the water and took some pics and Kaysha and I sat on a rock. I don't even know if she even looked at the water falls but by this time I didn't even care. We stayed there for about a half an hour then decided to hike back down to the resort since the lift was back up and we weren't sure when it closed. Back we went on the trail and Kaysha marched away like she did this all the time. Dennis carried her on the steep parts and over the logs, but she did most of the return trip by herself. By the way she did wait to go until we got home. Hiking is a great idea but I asked Dennis to shoot me in the head next time I suggest it! Actually it was a pretty good day. The boys had fun, Kaysha still loves the mountains and I do need to get out more.

looking up

Yep, I have failed in the keeping up the blog department. But on the bright side I have found a ton of really cool blogs to follow! Just a Dennis update: Colonoscopy on the 6th came back with two polyps that were removed and found to be benign. Diverticulosis. Not Diverticulitis which is a very painful infection, but what can be the beginnings of this. Dennis will have to be careful and eat a fiber rich diet. Yeah, right I can see that happening. And last but not least hemorrhoids. I'm sorry but on the last one I can't feel real sorry, after carrying five children and dealing with them every time with no sympathy from him, it's payback time! Just like the time he had to wear a paper gown in the doctors office to have a procedure done. He said it was the worst most demeaning thing and how in the world could they expect him to wear that? Sorry, once again no sympathy here. I have worn more than my fair share of those lovely gowns. The bills are flowing in, guess how much an eleven day hospital stay with one MRI, multiple CT scans, a heidascan(?) and gallbladder surgery is? Okay well I forgot, I do try to block out the ugly things. Our part of just the hospital is $1300. Thank Heavens for health insurance, and vacation days. No family trip this year, but at least we still got paid while he was down. ( Okay, it was in the forty grand neighborhood, and that didn't count Drs, anesthesiology and anything else they can call an add on)

Two weeks

I can hardly believe it was two whole weeks ago that we went to the hospital. Sitting in the room waiting for numbers to go down can seem like an eternity, on the other hand, so much has happened it hardly seems like it could all fit into two weeks. Tons of people asked about Dennis at church today, it is so nice to be surrounded by people that really care. Our newlyweds are doing great, but then its only been a week! Hopefully Robins family has recovered they really did a ton of work to make sure it was a really nice day for Jason and Robin, then they turned around and did it all again for Robins cousin that was married in Hawaii a few weeks ago, this time at their house. Dennis is still recovering from the double whammy that was the better part of eleven days without food or drink, followed by gallbladder surgery. He says now all he wants to do is eat, but his stomach still feels really tight. Sneezing is still not an option, although his nose didn't get the memo. He is still having pain in the pancreas region that we are hoping is just from this long term attack. We will still see Dr. Alsolomain at least one more time and he will set him up to have a test done where they will go in with a sonogram type device and really be able to see what is going on with his pancreas. Dennis is scheduled to go back to work on Tuesday, hurray for the long weekend! He will be back out to Saratoga Springs High School, which is only about a sixty mile round trip each day. We rode out there on saturday just to look around and see what had been done. I'm not sure if that was such a good idea, it may have just been better to just show up and deal with it when he got there on tuesday. Now he will have had 3 days to stress over it. He is very bored and I keep telling him there is plenty to do around here but he really isn't in to picking up rocks or pulling weeds either. We did get the pipe and everything to put in a drip line in our garden but since he had a pic line they said playing in the dirt wouldn't be a very good idea. Maybe next year. One of our garden boxes is planted and the weeds are doing quite well. We pulled weeds the monday before he went in and they are now taller than the plants again. Its amazing the changes in the garden and the yard in the last two weeks, you can really feel like you lost alot of time when you aren't here much to see the changes, or to stay on top of it all. Dennis' arms are still quite bruised and battered, he still has pain there but he won't admit to it. The only time you can really tell is when you accidentally grab them. No really I didn't mean to. The hair on his stomach is growing back in and it is scratchy, but he hasn't complained about that yet!

What the What?

It's crazy how worn out you can get just by having someone close to you in the hospital, yesterday I was so tired and could hardly type but I wanted to check something out on E Bay but I accidently typed in E Gay and guess what, There is such a web site! Fortunatly I didn't go into the site, but that would have been entertaining!!! thatz ow u no iz tyme too kwit!

Home

Yeah! We're officially back home! This morning about 6:15 Dennis called to say the Dr. finally gave his approval and he could go home. Now we just have a diet of soft foods for two weeks while he adjust to normal food again and hopefully we never have to hear of pancreatitus again.

We're still here, not going anywhere...fast.

Nothing personal but this hospital is boring. Today is day 10. Double our last trip here in June. It's amazing how many other things you can think of to do when you can't do them. Hopefully this will be our last night. Numbers are staying down, but food is another issue. Clear liquids on Monday seemed to sit ok, little pain, lot of nausea. Hard liquids today, I guess that is things that kind of hold their shape. Oatmeal and juice for breakfast stayed down ok, but chocolate pudding for lunch wasn't a hit. I hate to tell him I just bought two packages of chocolate snack packs for when he gets home I guess Kaysha and the boys can enjoy them. He spends his time walking in circles around the floor, can't go far but it hurts to sit too long. They do have better TV here but he isn't in the mood to watch. I can tell he is having a good day when I come in and the TV is on. Dr. Duros just came in and said maybe tomorrow. Everything looks good, as long as the food can be tolerated.

I just forgot...

Dennis blew another IV. This time they put in a pic (?) line. He said it was really cool to watch them put it in, but I 'm pretty sure he doesn't ever want another.

Sunday--a day of rest?

Yesterday was a good day. Dennis was able to leave the hospital for about 2 hours to meet us after the temple. When we got out he had found a nice shady place to sit. The temple was great, Jason and Robin both looked so happy and we are very happy for them. We took pictures or about an hour and then Denny and Suzanne drove Dennis back to the Hospital. The rest of the family wen tover to the Glahns and had salads and sandwiches. Jeannie outdid herself as usual and made 4 salads as well as put together 2 meat and cheese trays. I really appreciate her help! Thanks Jean and Kris and Flip and all the Meyers! We then went and helped set up for the reception. The backyard it was in was amazing, Cool playground for all the kids to keep entertained, plenty of room for tables and dancing. Britney brought Dennis over just before the reception started and we were able to get some pics with him in. The reception was very nice, lots of food, great decorations and of course the cutest couple ever! The Murrays definately like to have fun, but the Glahns are a partying machine! After the line was time for dancing, and dance they did! It was a lot of fun, the 3 little girls were so cute spinning around in their princess dresses, and Jason and Robin had a blast dancing and singing and it really was just like a dance party. After they walked through the tunnel of bubbles we blew for them they climbed into the truck that had been decorated so expertly by the young ones, and off they went, guess
this is one of those times that no news is good news! I'm sure they are having fun! (I do send him the update texts that I send the other kids).
This morning brought good news and the numbers stayed down so we were able to have surgery around 1:00 this afternoon. The surgeon came out and talked to Barbara and I after and said everything went really well. There was some thickening in the wall of the gallbladder but that didn't sound to unusual. They didn't see any stones or any reason for the ducts to be blocked so hopefully this will get rid of the pain. He said there was still a chance that this wouldn't help and a very slight chance that it could make things worse. But the best case will be if it cures the problem, only time will tell--oh yeah, and the test Dr. Alsolomain has ordered for 2 weeks from now.

saturday

Oops, we left the laptop home yesterday and everyone that came out forgot to grab it so sorry no Friday update, but I will fill you in now. Numbers were way up Friday morning so no surgery. If they try to do the surgery when the numbers are up it can make things worse and damage the pancreas so we had to wait. After being poked so many time trying to get an IV started, Dennis' arms have started to swell and he has lumps where the needles went in. Hot packs make the pain worse so he is basically toughing it out. Today they are doing better. The Doctors have agreed that if he promises to stay away from the food court he can leave to go over to the temple and then come back for fluids then leave again for the reception. I think after this long he just wants the surgery done so bad he is willing to starve a few days longer. Dr. Duros has asked Dr. Alsolomain to come in and have a consult with us. Since they still aren't sure what has caused all of this they want a Gastroentorologist to come and give his opinion and see if he has any other thoughts on what this may be. Today being the big day, you know wedding and everything Dennis is in pretty good spirits but maybe that has more to do with having a 700!!! Yeah Hopefully that means he won't have alot of pain and will be able to enjoy the day. He seems pretty rested, but restless because he is dying to get out of here. I got here about 8:30 and he was ready to get showered and dressed, even though I told him he can't put on his clothes until right before he leaves. He has been able to go outside and walk around a bit but this will be a real treat, to get in the car and go for a ride. Britney is in charge of him today and I will have to remind her to put the child lock on the windows so he doesn't hang his head out and pant.

heres the plan

Ok, nothing is ever final until it is done, right? Surgery tomorrow afternoon IF his numbers don't go up overnight again. We met the surgeon about an hour ago and she already has a full schedule at AF hospital, so she will be here as soon as she is done over there. Hopefully this surgery won't make his pancreas freak out again, that is why they have to wait for the numbers to be down. Lots more pain tonight, the HIDA scan really aggravated the pancreas. We had to move the Family dinner to tuesday night so Dennis can be there, but everything else is still going on as planned, the only addition may be a hospital bed next to the dessert table.

Saw VI

Its official, we're having surgery. Dennis' gall bladder isn't working, it's not squeezing like it should so it has to go. We were given the option of leaving tomorrow and coming back on Monday, or staying and having surgery tomorrow, He has missed so much work that we had to rearrange a few things and have it done tomorrow. We will have to find a comfy chair for him to park his Butt in at the reception. We are still waiting for the surgeon to come and talk to us before it is a done deal, but we should be good to go.

thursday?

It gets pretty crazy trying to keep up with a home and family and keep track of what is going on at the hospital. I gave up on work and didn't go again today. About 8:30 they came and got Dennis and took him for a scope. He sounded like he had a pretty good night, seemed more rested than yesterday. He still has alot of pain in his stomach though. To do the scope they have to give them alot of drugs. These aren't just any drugs, these are the kind that some people use recreationally. Aside from making him tired, they make him loopy. By the time they came and got me out ot the waiting room he was already up in his room. The Doctor said his stomach looked fine, no ulcers so that was good, but still no reason for the pain, that was bad. His numbers are way down, but he still has pain so they just took him for an other scan. This one involves nuclear medicine, yeah radioactive man! When I got up to his room he was standing up getting ready to go outside. which was fine until he asked me if I was the banker. I put him back in bed and went out to talk to the nurse about his next test, when I got back he had his mind set on leaving. I led him back to bed and tried to persuade him he needed his rest, I fought with him for about 20 minutes, I even moved all the chairs in front of the door but he is stil bigger than me, and he was very determined. When I finally gave up and we walked outside, he was a little unsteady on his feet but we made it ok. I tried to convince him to wait for Jason but he thought I was lying about him coming, then when I told him we could get ice cream (a lie) if we went back up to the room he believed me. We did have a pretty interesting talk while we were walking, he told me it was kinda fun and felt like old times and he wanted to walk down the grass hill because it reminded him of camping. Then he was mad because Zach didn't come when he called him and I told him Zach's at school, he can't hear you, but he didn't believe me. He told me he needed to get back to talk to the Doctor so he could get a note and go back to work. I have to write all this down because he won't believe me--I wish I had a video camera with me. We made it safely back to the room, just in time to see Jason pull in the parking lot. We put him back to bed and got everything ready for a shower and Jason stayed to make sure he could handle it. It's one thing to shower a 3 year old but completely different to shower a grown man that is still loopy, and can't move his left arm. I'll take the 3 year old any time! We finally got him settled and He slept until they came to get him for the test at about 12:45. Keep in mind I use sleep very loosely mostly I think it is just closing his eyes. There is alot of beeping and buzzing going on and even with the door shut you can still hear it all. Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I think he's going to be Superman!

Well, here's how it all happened. Sunday morning Dennis said He had a pain, kinda felt like it did last summer when he had pancreatitis. He said he would stay home and rest. Next thing I knew he had taken a bath and was dressed and ready to go. About halfway through he asked me if I was ready to go and out he went. We got to the hospital about 12:30 and went to the ER. Even before they took his blood we knew they would keep him. His levels were at about 1600, last time they were at 1700. The ER doctor said he sometimes would send someone home with 500-600 but that was very "guardedly". They gave him a pain killer that put him to sleep, it's a good thing because at that point no more food. Every time someone would ask if he needed anything he would say yes, a cheeseburger. Needless to say he didn't get one. Monday morning his numbers had come down but still very high. He mostly slept, but I don't think he really rested. Monday night Jes, Kaysha and Zach came to visit. Then his mom and dad both came. We put him to bed about 8:00 and went home. Tuesday morning his numbers were down again and they still have no idea why he keeps getting this. He has had tons of blood tests, 2 CT scans an MRI and a needle biopsy. Hopefully they will be able to figure out something. Wednesday morning numbers were down again and now clear liquids are an option. Unfortunatly all he was offered was water and Sprite--which he hates. About 7:30 the CNA brought him some chicken broth and jello, not his idea of a gourmet meal, but I think it hit the spot. Dennis hasn't watched TV much I think its because every commercial is for food, and every channel had cooking shows. We have gone walking a lot, we must be bored.

May 13, 2009

Well, its not friday, but maybe the 13th will bring good things. Dennis' numbers are down today, 900's are good for him, he started out in the 1600's and normal is under 200. He had a long night last night, More pain in the stomach, but he did get a cortizone shot in his shoulder so that should help with that pain. Monday he had an MRI of his abdomen and his shoulder where he has had pain for months. He was scheduled for a shot at the Doctors office for today, but I'm sure this one will be way more expensive than the one he would have gotten in the office, so that's a bonus. I kept telling him to just buck up and deal with it, but it turns out he does have a tear in one of the ligaments that has tried to heal but hasn't, Doctor Mom calls it wrong again, two points for me!