Brandon May 7,2012

Saturday night Brandon came to ER after landing flat on his back in a bike accident. He was scanned head to toe and his only injuries are to his back and buttocks muscles. When the muscles are traumatized they break apart and the protiens and enzymes are released into the blood. The only way to clear them is for the kidneys to flush them out. Some of the proteins can be very large and hard to flush out that is why he has to be hydrated and keep fluids going so that his kidneys have plenty of liquid going through to flush. Unfortunatly his labs have doubled since yesterday. He was normal when he came in, under 100, yesterday 600, today 1200. The most common possible complication is renal failure, although he had lots of fluid yesterday and urine looks good there is still the possibility of labs going up which would mean kidneys aren't able to flush system of proteins. If he were sent home today the possiblity of dehydration and kidney failure is very high. He will be checked again about 4:30 tomorrow morning and if his numbers level off or are going down he can go home. His pancreas is normal, they were watching lypase because a common occcurance with this kind of injury is the pancreas breaking in half due to the trauma. Thankfully his is fine.  Brandon is not good at staying down and is bored. Fortunately the only real casualty was his skinny jeans they had to cut off of him, He will be mourning them until he can find a suitable replacement.

Saturday Morning we left for Las Vegas Dennis flew in about three so we just met him at the airport, then we checked into our hotel, changed clothes and left for Jordan and Jessica Jaramillo's wedding. It was held at The Grove Reception Center which is a very nice place. The wedding was very nice and there was dinner and dancing after. It was a lot of fun so see the Jaramillos as it has been a long time since we have seen them all. They are all grown up! After we drove down the strip but we were all so tired we just went back and went to bed.

Friday Morning we went with Annette to Santa Barbara to the Mission. Of course our exit was closed due to construction. We drove in circles looking for the mission but I think we were circling the golf course! The homes in that area were beautiful and so it wasn't all bad. We ended up going downtown to the train station to get out and stretch our legs. There is a huge fig tree on the grounds of the train station that has been there for a hundred years give or take!

We finally found the Mission and it was well worth it. This building stand on a hill overlooking the ocean. It is hard to imagine the sacrifices that the people must have made to come to this new place and try to build a life from scratch.

Although this isn't the original building, there are parts of it that still stand. This fountain was built in the 1800's. This porch is across the front of the building next to the church. The doorway leads from the chapel to the cemetery. The skull and crossbones let you know there is a cemetery. Two of the carvings are replacements but one is original and is a lot more weathered than the other. The inside of the chapel is very ornate. And long. there are burial sites located under the chapel floors and monuments throughout. the pedestal at the back ( front of the 4th pic over) must be the holy water. It looks like a thick piece of plexiglass over some kind of medallion, but when you touch it--and you just have to-- it is water and kind of startles you! Annette did it too, but she got to laugh when she saw me do it cause she went first!

After we went through the mission we drove out on Stearns Wharf, it is kind of fun to drive out over the ocean like that. We just wandered around for a bit through the shops and then went down to Ventura to meet up with Gregg and Landon.

Gregg wanted to get Shark burritos as long as we were there, so we ate at a little Mexican restaurant by the docks. After lunch we walked down to the Channel Islands visitor center. Then back to the cars to head to the beach again. Zach and Landon had a blast playing in the water, but it was a little too cold for more that just our feet. We did pick up a bunch of shells and had a good time.

Thought I would just update from our latest adventure. The end of September we went to California to spend some time with Annette's family. Britney, Zach and I made the trip and after getting lost thanks to construction and ramp closures, we finally made it! We were greeted by Annette, Paul, Gregg and Landon, and after dinner we just hung out and visited. Thursday morning we took Gregg, OK, lets be honest we made him drive, and we went down to Long

Beach to the Queen Mary. I had been there before, but never inside. Gregg took us over the big bridges to get to the ship. That is one huge ship! We went on the Ghosts and Legend tour and then the Haunted Encounters Tour. The first one was kind of cheesy. The guide must have been an out of work actor. They did take you down into the first class pool area that is supposed to be haunted, and even though they did some silly sound effects and lights it was still cool to see the old pool.

Very art deco, the entire room was tile and the ceiling was mother of pearl. This pic is looking down the slide into the pool. After that tour, we went to the other end of the ship to catch the Haunted encounters tour. This one could have been really good. There was one other family on the tour, but our guide seemed like she had done this a million times and wasn't very talkative or happy. When we asked her questions she did answer and seemed a little more pleasant. This tour took us down into areas that are supposedly haunted and that the regular walking tours don't go into. It was kind of cool just to see the inner areas of the ship. There was a huge ball room that they use for large functions that is in the area that once held giant boilers. They also took us back to the pool area so we could look around and go into the dressing rooms. One thing about the ship is that they had to fit alot of stuff into a tiny area so the dressing area was just a narrow hallway with showers off to either side. She took us to

one of the rooms that they don't use anymore because they had trouble with ghosts so we could see what the rooms were like. then she took us to a suite that is still in use, I would love to go stay a night there, most everything is just as it would have been when the ship was a cruise ship. Workers were busy setting up for the haunted house they have in October so we did get to go through some of that. In the light! After the tours we could go throughout the ship on the walking tour and explore It was really cool to see the things that are on display and think about what it would have been like back when the ship was first put into use in the early part of the 1900's.

Unfortunately we both forgot our cameras so these are mostly pics I got off of flicker. Except this one.

After the tours we could wander around the ship I think my favorite part was the long skinny halls. Down in the bottom of the ship is a room they have built so that you can see one of the huge propellers that were used to move the ship. There were tons of coins that people had dropped into the water so of course we dropped our fair share. When I was gathering coins to throw I found a CTR ring that Kaysha had left in my purse so there is now a CTR ring sitting on the propeller of the Queen Mary.We explored for quite a while because we don't know if we will ever get back.

After that we drove down the coast to Huntington beach. we walked through the shop area of town and then down to the beach, Zach was so excited to get in the water that he and I went straight there while Brit and Gregg walked on the pier. We found a ton of sand dollars and shells. I even got a phone call from my visiting teacher and I think she was very surprised to find I was standing in the pacific ocean!

This has been our longest stay in the hospital to date, and we aren't done yet. A little setback today--More pain--so now he has to be off pain meds for 24 hours before he can have anything to eat or drink. Another scan today looked a little better and was encouraging. The doctor said to expect a few good days then maybe a bad one, hopefully this was it. Dennis is feeling much better and is able to walk around the floor, he does a few laps every couple of hours. He is watching a little TV which doesn't sound like much but up until now he has been in too much pain to focus and the noise was too distracting. He is very particular about having the room dark and total quiet when he sleeps so being here makes it hard for him to get a good nights rest. He is in the first room down the hall so everyone that visits the floor passes his door. When they have a "private" phone call to make they stand outside his room by the window and then talk real loud. The food carts also pass by and they have a new thing where you can order food at any time and they will bring it to your room so there is a constant stream of food going by. Other than that things are going well. Going without food isn't as hard as it sounds when you know the pain it can cause. He did get to eat a clear liquid diet Saturday and Sunday then full liquid on Monday even though he didn't eat much. Gotta take baby steps.

I know I never update this, but it is much easier than trying to remember who I have told what.
Dennis was admitted to Utah Valley Hospital on Sunday July 3 with an attack of Pancreatitis. It came on suddenly and was one of the worst attacks I have seen him have. When this happens there isn't a lot that can be done, except to manage the pain and try to make him comfortable. Right now it is Wednesday and even though he has had a ton of pain meds he is still enduring alot of pain. He is given a double dose of Dilated(?) every 4 hours. At about 3 hours the pain kicks in. He is being pumped full of fluids to try to flush out the swelling that is in his system. The most important part right now is lots and lots of rest so that his body can heal. He can NOT have any food or water until his pancreas calms down which in the past has taken about 5 to 7 days. His white blood count is up so they have him on an antibiotic, and he is also on oxygen because his breathing is shallow to help ease the pain. Tuesday he had an ultrasound of his pancreas taken and there is definitely swelling. His numbers are amylase and lipase numbers are coming down but while the swelling is still there he is miserable. Unfortunately this is one of those illnesses that is very difficult to diagnose. He does not have any of the usual reasons for this to happen, such as, diabetes, gall stones (that was removed on the 2nd attack) and he is not an alcoholic. This leaves out all of the easy answers and we are now looking at Autoimmune Pancreatitis. The first test for this has come back negative, however there are still more tests to be done. His let arm IV just gave out this morning and he now has one in his right arm. If he has problems there they will probably do a PIC line. He had these on the last two stays.
This is the 4th time he has been hospitalized for this problem. The treatment for Pancreatitis is always the same, rest and no food or water to stimulate the organ. He still has a sense of humor and his biggest worry was that his guys at work got paid for last week, thanks to Tim, that happened!
He spends most of his time sleeping right now and can get up for bathroom breaks on his own. When I know more I will post again. Thanks for all your love and concern. Marlene

Sunday Walk

Sunday September 12, 2010
Today Dennis and I thought we would go down to the lake for a walk, after noticing the car was out of gas thought we better go to Payson to fuel up. When we got out there we decided to drive up Payson Canyon and hike to the Grotto. Neither of us had been there before so we had no idea how long or hard it might be. We started up the trail about 3:15. There were a few people here and there going up and down the trail lots of different ages so we figured we could handle it.

We could hear the water coming down out of the canyon and it sounded like a small creek. At the crossings there were these cool log bridges to walk over.

It was very shady and

cool in the canyon.

Perfect day for a hike.

So I tried to take one of those cute pictures all the kids take where they get close, hold the

camera up and get a cute shot of
themselves with a friend...

Didn't work!

But I kept it anyway.

Dennis was a good sport to stand in the pictures, Maybe

someday he will learn to use the camera so he doesn't have to

be in all of them!

We were wondering what the Grotto was and if we would know it if we saw it or if it would be like the dirt road that suddenly ended (see Vernal post). We came around a corner and the rocks started to close in and Dennis said "I think we are here." Sure enough we went around the corner and saw this Got another Pic of Dennis,
and tried the cute picture thingy, I think this was better, I wouldn't go so far as to say good, but definitely better!Then some dummy saw kids up on top and wanted to see it from up there. This is the trail up.
And here is the trail down. As you can see that tree is barely hanging on. Guess who the dummy was? When I got up there which was above the falls, the kid (wearing a cast already)told me you had to either go this way and jump down or go that way and climb down the tree, either one was doable. I make it a rule never to trust a kid in a cast. So I went back and slid down the trail on my feet. Dennis waited at the bottom but I'm pretty sure it wasn't to catch me, only to identify the body.

It was a fun "hike" and we were back at the car within 30 minutes, I think we will take the kids next week.