Two Years

I can't believe I missed it! Saturday (the 3rd) was the two year anniversary of me starting this blog! I was planning on doing a big commemorative post but my creative juices have evaporated. So in place of something witty I will take a trip down memory lane and relive some of the past two years. We lived at the pool for about six months while the kids had swimming lessons.
We took a vacation that was so much fun we still talk about it.
We had,oh, maybe 300 dr. visits.
Because Regan needed surgery to remove a bone tumor.And Michael needed sinus surgery.
We had some major flooding in our region.

Grandma went home to be with Jesus.
It snowed.
We had some awesome holidays!


A HUGE family reunion.Some good eats.
And best of all we had a new baby join our family.

What a great two years we've had. Hopefully the next two will be just as good.
Well, minus the surgeries.

Marjorie Jean Wytcherley

Grandma passed away on Saturday night. She went peacefully in her sleep which is what each of us wanted for her. We will be having a memorial service for her on Thursday May 3 at 2:00. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us these past few weeks.

April 19, 2007

Today was Regans appt. with her opthamologist. She has a slight drift in her right eye and we have been working with her Drs. to fix it. Today her Dr. said her drift was at 12% that he could see (he also said most kids look better their first visit because they are nervous and trying to please) and he wants to see her again in two months to compare. I am afraid he is thinking surgery to repair the drift. I read some literature on it this evening and apparently the surgery isn't so bad. Kids are usually back to their normal routine in a few days.

The second picture is of a topiary they had right outside her Dr's. office building. There was also a turkey, a teddy bear and what I think was a fish. I took Regan's picture with all of them but they didn't turn out well. The Dr. had her eyes dilated so her eyes were really sensitive to the light. In all the pictures she was squinting and covering her face. Luckily her sunglasses were in the van so she was good to go for the rest of the day.

April 18, 2007

Today I took Regan to the dentist to get a cleaning and x-rays. They have been trying to get this done for over a year but she was scared and didn't want them messing with her. Well, today she had no fear! They were able to floss her teeth, clean them and add floride! She had NO cavities! She was going to let them take xrays but the litle cardboard thingies were just too big for her mouth and were making her gag. So we'll try that one again at her next checkup in six months.

Devon also had a Drs. appt today. It was just a checkup to see how she was doing with her medication and make sure she wasn't having any negative side effects. She is doing great! In the last three months she has grown two inches and gained five pounds!! Its a little funny because just this morning I had her change he pants because they were too short!

Oh, a social worker from the hospital called today and told us Grandma will be coming home tomorrow! Yeah!!! I'm not sure what time she'll be getting here. Hopefully it will be in the afternoon so I'll be home to help out.

April 16, 2007

Grandma was moved back to the hospital today. This morning the nursing home called and said they were having Grandma taken to the ER because she had shortness of breath and the swelling she had on her right side was now covering her entire body. After spending a few hours in the ER the Drs decided to admit her with Congestive Heart Failure and do some tests to rule out a heart attack.

I went to see her this afternoon and had a chance to talk to her Dr. about what the next steps were going to be. He showed me come pictures of her heart and lungs and explained that the years she has spent in bed has really taken a toll on her lungs. Her lungs are working at about 50% which explains the shortness of breath. Her heart has about 39% functioning muscle left. The swelling she is having is caused by her blood not holding in protein so fluid is leaking out into her tissue. To give you an idea of how much swelling she has...on March 14th the hospital weighed her and she was 128lbs. Today she was weighed again and is 197lbs. That is ALL fluid. So the Drs. have basically said there isn't really anything they can do for her and are recommending she come come on hospice for comfort care.

GOOD NEWS - She will most likely be coming home in the next day or two. Whether or not that is on hospice, we don't know. But we do know she will NOT be going back to a nursing home. When I was with Grandma today she looked really good. She chatted with me for about 45 minutes, took a nap, woke up so I could feed her dinner, took a nap and woke up to chat a little more.

April 14, 2007

Grandma has been in the nursing home for a few days now and seems to be doing good. She is definately looking foreward to coming home though! Michael and Devon are there right now helping her with lunch.

Yesterday the kids and I took Michael to Portland for his most recent follow up appointments for his eye and sinuses. We started with the eye Dr., then went for a CT scan and finished upwith the ENT. It made for a VERY long day but we all made it through in one piece. Michael is still having problems with pain, swelling and headaches. His Drs. think they have figured out the cause of that so hopefully the problems will be resolved soon.

I had an OB appointment on Thursday. Michael, Ryan and Regan went with me. Regan usually goes but I think this was Ryans first or maybe second visit. He was pretty excited to hear the heartbeat. He kept telling everyone there was a baby in his Mom's belly. My past few visits show that I am losing weight instead of gaining and the baby isn't growing as much as she should be. If things aren't better by my next visit I will be having an ultrasound to make sure there are no major problems. So please pray for healthy Mom and Baby.

Grandma was Moved Today

(This post has nothing to do with Ryan but I thought it was too cute to leave in a folder.)

This morning I got a call from the social worker at the hospital Grandma is at. She told me that Gram was being discharged and we needed to choose which Nursing Facility we wanted her to go to!!! I said we didn't want her in a nursing home! She comes home to us. Well, it turns out that her Dr. wants her on IV antibiotics for two weeks and she can't do that at home. I guess Medicare doesn't pay for home IV care. So I called around and spoke to some people who know about the nursing homes in this area. One of them just went through their annual State Certification so they had everything top notch. We picked that one! It also turns out that it is pretty close to our house so we can visit often. I think we are going to be going at least three times a day so we can feed her. The Nursing Facility has meals in the dining room three times a day. To have someone come to Grandmas room and feed her would mean having one less aide in the dining room to help. So We will be heading down there to cover her meals. Otherwise they would be trying to put her in a wheelchair three times a day with a BROKEN HIP!! Which reminds me...after six weeks post heart attack she will be able to have her hip repaired. That should be the end of this month.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We sure did. This morning we went to church and had an Easter egg hunt afterwards. Then we went to the hospital to visit Grandma. When we got home we had a nice Easter dinner. Now I am ready for a nap!! If only I can get the kids to cooperate!

Visiting Grandma

After church this morning we took the kids to see Grandma. Michael and I saw her last night and promised to bring the kids before they got their Easter clothes all dirty. While it was a short visit (Grandma has a roommate and we didn't want to bother her too much) the kids really enjoyed it. I think Grandma did too. Ryan kissed her quite a few times and Regan climbed up in bed with her.

I told her to hurry home cause we really missed her.

April 7, 2002

I spoke with a social worker from Harborview this morning and she said Grandma was being transfered back to this hospital down here in about two hours. Her condition hasn't changed but since she isn't in any danger of Necrotizing Fasciitis she has no real reason to be up there. So this afternoon she will be back home. (well, not home but in our 'home' hospital.)

This afternoon I will go down to see her and hopefully have a great update for you all.

April 6, 2007 pt.2

4/6/07 5:40pm- I just spoke with Grandmas nurse, Rosemary. She said Gram just got back from having an Echocardiogram and they should have the results tomorrow morning when I call. Her right leg is still red and swollen. Her kidney function is still inadequate but is a little better than yesterday. She has been put back on oxygen.

It may seem like Grandma isn’t getting any better but she is the Queen of Quick Recovery. One day her Drs. May be thinking she won’t make it much longer and the next day they are amazed with her and ready to let her go home.

April 6, 2007

4/5/07 7:40pm- I spoke with Meredith (Grams nurse) and she says the tests on Grams kidneys show decreased function of the kidneys. At this point they are just treating it with IV fluids. There is not yet a plan to treat the clot in her leg. Tomorrow morning after the medical team makes their rounds Dr. Sutcliff (Grams Dr.) is going to call me and let me know the new course of action for Gram and any new tests/results they have. At this point the swelling/redness in her leg is the same. She is alert and communicating with her medical team.

4/6/07 10:15am- Today Grandma has a nurse named Missy. She told me the Dr.s have already been through this am and have ordered some more tests. She is going to have a vascular consult. (Hopefully today) The most recent opinion on her kidneys is that her kidney function was decreased because of dehydration. She has developed a bladder infection that is being treated with antibiotics. She is getting short of breath easily. Just eating a few bites of food wipes her out. I will call back this afternoon to get another update.

April 5, 2007 pt.2

4/5/07 2:30pm- I just spoke to Grandmas nurse and she says that the tests revealed that Gram has a large clot in her right leg. Right now the Dr.s that are with her are going to contact the Dr.s at the hospital here to determine what is the best course of action to get rid of the clot. The test for her renal function was done about five minutes before I called so those results won’t be in until later. She did say though that her output is very low (150 cc’s at the end of the shift) and that it is very concentrated.
On a more positive note- I was able to talk to Grandma on the phone and she sounded great. Her nurse told me that they have found a room for her and she will be moving upstairs shortly.
So I may have one more update on her today(depending on where she is and what her Dr.s know) or it might be tomorrow before we know anything more.

April 5, 2007

4/5/07 10:00 am- I called this morning and spoke to Grandmas nurse. She said the Dr.s have been through already today and they think the swelling in her leg is showing improvement. They are still concerned that she may have a blood clot so they are going to run some more tests. Her kidneys are also giving them some worry. She only put our 100 cc’s overnight and it was a dark amber color. So they are also going to run some tests and rule out some sort of kidney blockage. She is still on the IV antibiotics and is getting lots of IV fluids to try to kick start her kidneys. She is getting oxycodone and Tylenol for pain.

I will be checking in again this afternoon to find out the results to all the tests.

Another Update on Grandma

Yesterday my Mom and I noticed that Grams Right leg was red, swollen, hard and warm. We called her home health nurse who thought it could be a blood clot or an infection and recommended a trip to the ER. So off we went! Gram was there for a few hours and the Dr.s there were worried she had something called Necrotizing Fasciitis. That is a flesh eating virus/bacteria. So they sent her up to Harborview which is one of two hospitals in this state that can deal with something like that. Today I was finally able to talk to her Dr. there and get some information. She does NOT have Necrotizing Fasciitis but she does have a serious case of cellulitis. So they have her on two types of IV antibiotics and are waiting for more test results to come in and give them some more specific information. So I will be calling them first thing in the morning and getting some more information on her. Please pray for Gram that this infection doesn't get worse and the antibiotics work right away.

Grandmas Home, the Kids are wild and Mama's lost her mind!

Grandma came home from the hospital on Tuesday. Hopefully that will be her last ambulance trip for a while. I think she will probably get another one in about six weeks when she goes in to get her hip repaired. During one of her past hospital stays the Dr.s discovered she broke her at some point. We think the original break is YEARS old but it is bothering her again so it might have been reinjured.

We had a couple sunny days last week. It was SO nice to get outside and let the kids play! But now it is rainy again and they are having some serious cases of cabin fever! And I am running out of ideas on how to keep them occupied while inside. Our mega stash of construction paper is almost out (time for another Costco trip!) and we haven't been to the library in weeks. I had actually planned to walk the kids down there today but the weather is not cooperating. Hmmm. Maybe tomorrow.

Michael has been doing pretty good at work. His eye is showing a little swelling so most likely he will stay on the same dose of Prednisone for this next week. (The Prednisone is whats keeping the swelling at bay) I think he plans on working on his new "Monster Truck' this weekend. (Thats what the little ones call it) Hopefully he'll be driving it to work next week instead of my van.

March 3, 2007

Whew! This week has just flown by! Michael is still home recovering from his eye/sinus surgery. Grandma is doing great. She has had a visiting nurse come by three times this week. I think that will continue for at least three more weeks. There is talk of Gram going up to another hospital and having a procedure done to help with her blood clots. Right now she is getting heparin shots twice a day to thin her blood. The procedure will put a filter of some sort near her clavicle to catch any blood clots that break free. Once she has that we won't need to give her any more shots.
In other news: Tomorrow I will be 28 weeks along! Only 12 weeks to go! Michael and I still haven't agreed on a name for this little girl. We might just end up calling her Baby Girl Kane.
Oh, I removed the cable box from the living room. My kids were spending WAY too much time watching TV. Since TV isn't an option for them anymore they have been forced to use their imaginations. Ryan has been getting very creative with the art cabinet. He makes little people out of construction paper. He even includes a mouth that opens for talking. Regan has been putting on puppet shows. Devon has been playing with the little ones a lot more. The fighting and arguing was getting out of control but now it isn't much of an issue. I'm sure it helps that things are back to normal here. Everyone is home where they belong.

Grandma's Home!!

Grandma came home today! She got here around 1:30. She is on oxygen now so the Lincare guys came and brought a big machine and got everything set up. She gets a nice air mattress delivered on Monday. Oh. When she got home she had 31 pages of discharge instructions! Can you believe that? She also had a bazillion prescriptions that were supposed to be filled today. My mom took them down to the pharmacy and they said they need 2 days to fill that many. My Mom said she needed them tonight so they said they'd try to have them done in two hours. She is still on a soft food diet so I am going to do some research tomorrow and find as many smoothie and juicer recipes as I can. Having only soft foods can't be that much fun so I am wanting to give her as much flavor and variety as I can.

Update On Grandma

This afternoon Grandma was moved OUT of the CCU (Critical Care Unit) and onto the regular medical floor!! This is a HUGE step! Just last week her Drs. weren't sure if she would make it home. Keep praying that Grandmas body responds to the medication and recovers from the pneumonia.

Feb. 12, 2007

Uncle Buddy went home yesterday. He flew up last week when we thought Grandma wasn't going to do well. It was really nice to see him again. He and Kathleen have been coming to visit in July for Grandmas birthday and again around Christmas for the past few years.

On Saturday we had a big family breakfast. Michael (my brother) and his family came over. We had Eggs (scrambled or fried), fried potatoes, pancakes, bacon, biscuits AND gravy!! Quite the feast. I'm still full!!

This is a picture of Uncle Buddy (left) and my brother.