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.