Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday......me. My bday was on Thursday. I have to tell you, the best part of the day, besides all the bday wishes I received, were the things my kids did for me. It started out with bday wishes texts. Then when Ray and I got home from our run Keanna had put a sign on the garage for me (she left for girls camp that morning). Then when I went to work, as usual, Ambrea met me as I clocked in. She always goes with me to the office to get a radio etc etc. But today when we got to the front of the store two other employees were there and the three of them started laughing. I couldn't figure out what was so funny. I finally turned around and Ambrea had made me a Happy Birthday poster on neon green poster board that every one had signed and had it displayed at the front of the store.

Then not long after I got home from work Nate and the kids came. Such a great gift. Poor little Jaxon wasn't feeling too great though. But after some tylenol and some loves he was doing better and we headed to the water park. I know, we go there every year, and every year we post pictures from there, but its a fun place to go. And when you live in the kind of heat we have here (100 plus this time of year) the only way you can stand to be outside is to be wet. So we ate pizza and played in the water. But new this year is a carousel. So of course we had to go for a ride.

The pics are kind of blurry but in the first one you can see Savannah in the front and me Jaxon and I think Nate in the back. The second pic is of Ambrea and her cute boyfriend :) Tyson.

Updates.....

Where do I even begin. I had to come home on Sunday. It was so hard to leave mom. But I needed to get back to work, and back to the family.

When I got home Sunday we had a bbq, and Ray made homemade icecream. We always think of dad when we have it. Then that evening we did fireworks.

On Monday mom sent me a text saying she was going to be getting released. Woo hoo, or so we thought. The next thing I knew Sherri sent me a message saying the xray didn't look good and she needed a chest tube put in. Are you kidding me??

In the meantime we headed to the lake. We had such a good time, till the clouds rolled in with lightening. We decided it was time
to get off the lake then. But we had all been on the wave runners
and had bbq'd hot dogs. They always taste so much better when
you're out like that.

When we got back I talked to Sherri. They weren't able to sedate mom to put the chest tube in because she had eaten. They gave her morphine. She said it was horrible. I can't even imagine. We found out today the reason they were in such a rush to get the tube put in is because her lung was starting to collapse again.

On a little lighter note, Ashton had the PICC line pulled today. Ambrea went with Ray to take him. She went for moral support but also because she loves to see stuff like that. Just like Ray. Dr. Millar is one of the Thoracic surgeons here in St. George. He originally didn't want to see Ashton because he is pediatric and he only works on adults. We just needed him to help us treat the wound that wouldn't heal. We finally got into him and now he says Ashton is his favorite patient (a lot of nurses and drs say that). After he had pulled the line out he layed a big kiss on Ashton's forehead. It took him by surprise. What a silly dr he is.

We hope when you read our blog you don't think we are always whining. We have really had a lot put on our plates over the past two years. Sometimes we wonder how we are going to get through another day, especially when we are still trying to deal with something and we are handed more. We know one thing that helps us to continue on is all the prayers that are offered on our behalf. Please know we appreciate all that is done for us and we pray also for you.

This is the worst part for Ashton, getting the tape off.

Whew, all the tape is off. Almost ready to pull the tube out.

This is the line that went from his arm into his heart. It is about 18 inches long.

This is Dr. Millar with Ashton. He is all decked out in surgical wear because he had been in surgery this morning.

We are so thankful to have been guided to so many good Drs. Without them and much faith, fasting and prayers, we wouldn't be where we are today.

Such A Big Day

Mom has had such a big day today. She had physical therapy, occupational therapy, a back treatment (this helps keep things moving so her lungs don't get clogged again), a bath and then the chest tubes were pulled. She said it didn't hurt as much as she had thought it would. I put two pictures on of the tubes. The one shows the tubes themselves. From the end of them to wear it is kind of dark (thats the sutures that were holding them in place) is what was inside of her. It's about 12 inches. The other picture is of the container that holds the fluid that drains out of the chest. They monitor how much is draining with this container. (It's hard to believe Ashton had 6 of these in him.)

She has also had quite a few visitors today. Everyone was so good to keep their visits short. We appreciate that so much. It can be so wearing, but it means a lot that you would take the time out of your busy schedules to come and visit.

Saturday Morning Update (I think it's Saturday) :)

Mom had a pretty good night except for one time. She was getting sore from being in bed and wanted to sit in the chair for a while. So she rang for the nurse and a guy came in. When she told him what she wanted he told her the nurse would come in sometime and help her with that. He didn't even offer to go find the nurse for her. She was mad and complained about him. The nurses felt very bad. I would have complained also. It makes me wish I would have stayed the night with her.

They are trying to wean her off her oxygen today. She is on 2 liters right now. She just did physical therapy and she said she did feel a little more winded, but he also had her walk farther today than yesterday. We really like this particular P.T. He is really cute with mom. And he is happy and cheerful. So far most
everyone has been really good. Its just the ones who are happy and bubbly are so much more pleasant to be around.

Mom is still in good spirits and determined to do what they ask of her so she can heal. Like she said, the dr. did his part, now she has to do hers. You don't just have surgery and its good. There's a little more to it than that.

We got the report back the other day from her surgery and they were able to get all the cancer out. No chemo or radiation. They will follow her very close though to make sure it doesn't come back.

Update.....

Once again I stayed with my cousin (and best friend) last night. My mom wasnt feeling very well yesterday because of the collapsed lung. This morning they put a scope down her throat (how awful) and suctioned mucus out of her lung that was blocking the lung so it couldn't inflate. As soon as she came back to her room she said she could tell a differance. She has had a busy day. After the scope she was able to eat some breakfast. Then she slept for about 3 hours. After her nap she had a little lunch, then the physical therapist worked with her for about 30 min, a chest xray and after all that, another nap. Now it is dinner time. Food tastes a little better to her today. Yesterday she didn't want anything. She is also in good spirits. A good attitude gets you a long way.

Surprise

I drove up north this morning and surprised mom at the hospital. I couldn't take it any more being so far away. I have too many questions and was driving Sherri nuts telling her what to ask. Thankfully, once again, my wonderful boss let me take more time off so I can spend some time with her and get my questions answered, lol.

I left Ray home with Ashton to finish up his antibiotic. Woo hoo the last dose is at 11:30 tonight. This getting up in the middle of the night is rough. Not sure how we did it when we had babies. Guess our age is showing, ha ha ha.

One Year Ago

It was one year ago today that my dad passed away. I can still remember that day so well....Ray calling to tell, and how hard it was having him be so far away, having to tell the kids, calling and talking to Ann (my sister-in-law) about it because she was there when he died, Natalee coming over and crying with me....

There hasn't been a day go by that I haven't thought of him. Some days are easier than others, obviously. There are times I wish so bad I could pick up the phone and call him to get his opinion or advice. Or sit on his lap (yep, I still sat on his lap, even at my age) and have him tickle my back or play with my hair. He was the best at that. Make peanut butter cookies and dunk them in milk when we ate them. There are so many things we miss about him. We need to be thankful every day for the people in our lives and the blessings we receive daily. You never know what tomorrow will bring so as the saying goes, live each day as if it's your last.

Doing Good

Moms surgery went well today and she is at the hospital in ICU receiving good care. Ray called and talked to the nurse to get the low down on everything. She said they hope to try to get her up a little later tonight. It's such an important thing to do. That's one of the things we really had to work on with Ashton. Jim was with her until they took her to surgery and then both he and Sherri were there when she woke up. Their visiting hours are quite strict so they couldn't stay with her long. Jim had to go back home tonight but Sherri will go see her tomorrow. And our cousins Mike and Bev dropped by for just a quick second.

A little update on Ashton....he continues to still do well. Although yesterday when Ray was changing the dressing on the chest tube wound he noticed something blue. Yep, they had left a stitch in. No worries though. Ray got it right out. We are so excited to be done with the antibiotic on Wednesday so we can start sleeping through the night again. This getting up in the night is rough. Guess that's why we had our kids when we were young.

Praying....

A couple of months ago my mom was diagnosed with cancer, carsinoma. It is in her left lung. Luckily it isn't anywhere else. She is having surgery tomorrow morning to have it removed. We aren't sure yet if she will have to have chemo or radiation. It will depend on what the surgeon finds when he does the surgery.

I wish I could be with her. My boss said I could take the time off to go up to be with her but I've already taken so much time off and when I don't work I don't get paid. My brother Jim and my sister Sherri are with her, but how I wish I could be also.

Since I can't go up we will all be praying for her. We love you mom.

Side Effects and Starting Over

Ashton has been having some side effects from the antibiotic. The one we are most concerned with is ringing in his ears. Yesterday they drew blood and did labs and all the numbers came back really good. We have been in contact with the cardiologist and he is keeping track of Ashton and we are doing some tweeking to see if we can get a handle on it.

We had a nurse from Home Health come to the house yesterday morning. She is the one who drew the blood, changed the stat lock on the PICC line and made sure everything looked good. She will probably have to come one more time before the line is pulled.

Now my story of starting over. After we got home from Ashtons first surgery one of the first things I wanted to do was get back out on road. It had been about a month since I had run but I figured I had been running for two years so I would just continue from where I left off. Needless to say I injured myself. I strained a muscle in my thigh. Instead of backing off I just kept going. So then the strain ran to my knee and up to my groin. I still kept going until finally it hurt to even walk. So I started going to the chiropractor. After being treated for about 3 weeks and more time in the hospital to keep me off it, it has now been a month again since I have run. Ray and I went out this morning for an easy 3 and I'm happy to say it was almost pain free. Hopefully I can tape it like the dr taught me, icing and stretching I can get back to where I was, soon. The issue is we are signed up for the marathon in October. We are so behind on our training. I had set a goal and I'm having a hard time accepting I might have to let that goal go this year. For me running is a lot of mental training. I guess if we can't get up to par Ray and I will walk the marathon holding hands. Now wouldn't that be cute? ha ha ha

So far I can only think of one good thing that comes from not running.....I have all my toenails :). Not even a loose one. In my opinion loose toenails are worth being able to log the miles.

Good Friends

You know, we really have a ton of really good friends. People who truly care. We are so blessed for this. And we continue to make more friends. Since Ashtons surgery in April we now know 3 more families who are experiencing situations similar to ours and we consider them our friends. Two families are from California and one is from Hawaii (ooh maybe we need to go visit that family :) ).

We want to say thank you for everything. Your frienships mean a lot to us.

And how can we forget family? We also have family all over the country who give us support. We thank all of you also. Between all our family and friends we have people all over the world giving us support. We truly are blessed.

Home Bound

Woo hoo, we are almost ready to be on our way home. We are ready to be home. Just wish it wasn't such a long drive home.

We have run into one little glitch though. Home Health told us everything was worked out with Home Health in Utah also. But apparently not. So we have been on the phone trying to get it all worked out. Hopefully by the time we get home it's all done.

Mom & Dad are the Nurse's

This is the IV we have to hook Ashton up to 3 times a day. It takes almost 2 hours for it to finish. Which isn't too bad because he can take it with him if he needs to get around. The worst part is, we have to get up in the middle of the night to hook him up. Then get back up to unhook it. Dang, I thought we were through getting up with kids in the middle of the night :).

PICC Line Trained

We are all PICC line trained now. We learned all about how to care for it in the hospital. Then the Home Health nurse came and taught us how to put the antibiotic in. This has to be done every 8 hours, or 3 times a day. It takes about 2 hours for it to run. But its really cool because he can be mobile while its pumping in. He can just put it in his pocket and go about business. As I think I've mentioned before, one of the main things when giving the antibiotic is keeping every thing clean. The reason is because this line goes right into his heart. We will be using a lot of alcohol pads. :) The nurse was a very good teacher and very patient while I took notes and asked a lot of questions. But we feel good about everything now and are comfortable to do it.

Outta Here.....

Woo hoo, we are released from the hospital.

It took forever to get back to the hospital this morning from the Ronald McDonald House. We are still amazed at the traffic here. Do people ever get use to it? Once we got to the hospital everyone was busy doing what needed to be done to get us released. One of the major things was having the drain pulled. Both Mary and Anita came to do it. They are both so nice and good to Ashton. Mary is so good to explain everthing to Ashton because he gets so much anxiety for things. But they got it pulled and it looks good.

The second big thing was getting the dressing changed on the PICC line. You have to keep everything very clean and keep the line in place. We got it done with the help of the nurse.

So after we got those things done and they had confirmed that everything was coordinated with Home Health (here and in St. George), and we have someone at home to pull the PICC line next week, they said we were good to go. Aahh, its a sort of freedom. Don't get us wrong. We are so thankful and blessed to have found such a good team to work on Ashton. But it is so nice when you don't have to measure intake and output, monitor vitals every hour or two, things like that. Everyday we are aware of Ashton and how he looks. If he doesn't feel good its more of a worry than if its one of us who doesn't feel good. But we try to give him as normal of a life as possible. We've tried not to baby him. He has resposibilites just like the other kids. He will never be "normal", but hopefully we can come close to it.

So now here we are relaxing in our room at Ronalds waiting for Home Health to come teach us how to administer the antibiotic.

Pool Parties and PICC Lines

Here we are hangin out in the hospital, still. We spent some time in the Teen Room where Ashton beat me at a game of pool. Then later we went outside and threw all eating precautions out the window and splurged on ice cream. I'm sure I'll really regret it later since I've been injured and haven't been able to run. But oh well, ice cream and sunshine. It was great. Ashton really enjoys getting out in the fresh air. Actually, we all do.

Then a while later we started our PICC line training. We really aren't too worried about it. The main thing is keeping it clean, clean, clean. And remembering all the steps.

We have been "apps"etizing today. Ashton and I are passing levels on Angry Birds and Ray beat my high score on Bubble Birds. The things we do to stay entertained.

Ashton continues to eat very well. Just like he was doing before we came back for surgery. He has gained back the weight he had lost from his other surgery, woo hoo. Which puts him at a whopping 72 lbs.

Maybe another movie night tonight and hopefully be discharged tomorrow.

Progress & Moving

Well Ashton was able to get another iv out (we pulled it out for the nurse). He has been eating great every meal. He is now 73 lbs. That is progress. The hotel we were staying at is sold out as of Monday. Ashton is due to be released on Monday after the chest drain is removed then the home health nurse is going to train us how to administer his medicine. So we had to move to the Ronald McDonald house. The picc line is a line that goes to his heart, so it has to be very clean and carefully put in. We will have to do this on tuesday, by ourselves, so they will let us go home on Wednesday. Ashton has to have this medicine for 10 days. After that the picc line can be removed. Dr. Millar in St.George has agreed to remove the line. He actually said Ashton is one of his favorite patients (everyone that works on Ashton feels the same way). He is such a good kid.

Another Day

Good morning everyone. Another day here in the hospital. We had a much better night than the previous one. We actually got some sleep. Ashton is feeling good, just getting a little cabin fever. We will get him out and walking around today. We got him out yesterday for a little while and he said it felt so good. Theres nothing better than the warm summer to help you feel better.

We had a good night last night. After our walk we had some dinner, then we had visitors. Yep, even though we are far from home we had visitors. The missionaries came to visit. Ha, and they are both from Utah. They gave us a thought, bore their testimonies and had a prayer with us. They were great visitors. Then we had a
movie night. I got in bed with Ashton and cuddled while we watched the movie Daddy Day Camp. Oh, and we did some snackin while
watching it. It was a pretty cute movie. At times I did doze a
little but given the fact I didnt sleep well the night before
what do you expect.

Hangin' Out in LA

Well here we are still hangin out in the hospital. We probably won't be home till Tue or Wed. We need to be trained about the PIC line and they can't train us till Monday. Then we need to be here a day to make sure we can do it and then it's a big deal because we will be going home to a different state. Goodness this is becoming difficult. But we need to know for sure what we are doing. The PIC line goes right into his heart so we can't just head out of here uneducated.

In the meantime Ashton has had a pretty good day. He has had most of the IV's pulled and is now on a regular diet. Thank Heavens he didn't loose his appetite this time. Well, it came back this afternoon. We really need to get some meat back on his bones.

Sleep??

Sleep? Who needs it? They say rest is one of the best medicines. Then why the heck can't you get any sleep in the hospital? Ashton is in a private room, which is much quieter than ICU, but still, they come in every hour. We understand why they do what they do, but it sure makes it hard to get any rest.

We ended up being in recovery for about 8 hours. First, because they had to sedate him, again. Second, we had to wait for a room to open up. Then when we got to the room it seemed like every nurse, dr and whoever else came in to do vitals and ask questions. The same questions over and over. At one point a guy came in to draw blood. WHAT?? So dad was right there figuring out what the heck was going on. He asked "who ordered that?". The guy pointed to the dr who was in the room, a young girl btw, and dad said no way. He had already had like 5 pokes that day and had to go back into surgery. He has 2 IV's in one arm, and an ART line and the
PIC line in the other arm. And he had had to have an IV on Wed for the CT scan and a blood draw on Tue. He's not a pin cusion for heavens sake.They were able to draw the blood through the PIC line. Oh, and ya, that was what we were doing at midnight. Fun times at all hours of the night. Want to come join our party? Good times in LA?

PIC Line

Well, surgery went well and Ashton was in very good spirits out of surgery. Then we were informed they need to put a PIC line in. Why the heck they didn't do it while he was in the OR is beyond us, and some others. So he had to be sedated again and taken to a procedure room to have this done. We thought we might be home this weekend but now who knows. He has a drain in similar to a small chest tube to drain the area where they did surgery. Not sure if the heart surgeon in St. George will remove it so we might have to stay here until it can be removed. The PIC line will be to administer an antibiotic. It will be a 10 day antibiotic so we will be taught how to administer it and care for the line. Well,one nurse thinks we will have to have Home Health come do it. Those people who now know us from the previous surgery know that we will be able to learn how to do it and ya, actually do it.

So here we are again, living the hospital life. At least now we are familiar with this hospital and the dr.s. Familiarity sure makes a differance.

Out of Surgery

Ashton is out of surgery. Everything went well. The dr was able to find what was keeping the incision from healing. The bad news, he has to stay over night. He is not going to be happy when he finds out. Ray is in the first recovery room with him. I will go as soon as he moves to the next room.

Surgery

Ashton is now in the OR. He gets so nervous when we get to the hospital. Nervous about everything. Getting the IV, going to sleep, waking up. And to top it off it took three pokes to get the IV in. The same thing happened the last surgery. The poor kid has been poked on Tue, Wed and now three times today. I think I would be nervous also.

We will update as things progress.

The Early Bird Gets The Worm

We will definately be getting the first worm tomorrow morning. Surgery is scheduled for 730. Not that big of a deal. But we have to be at the hospital at 445. AM that is. Not sure why we have to be there that early, but they said we need to be there so we will. So Ashton is going to wear his "Angry Birds" shirt for the Dr.'s. Ashton and Carolyn have been (apps)etite with angry birds while we wait for appointments. :)

We finally got the CT scan done. Because they are squeezing us in for everything the times have been kind of crazy. They thought the scan would be done this morning, then we found out this morning it would be later. So since we were all ready to go but time to spare we ran to the beach for a bit. It was fun but we had wet pants from the water and wow, the humidity and my hair do not get along. If I lived here I would just have to let it be curly.

Times

We have some times now. Well, kind of. The CT scan is scheduled for 3 today. Surgery will be tomorrow. We don't have a time for the surgery yet. We have to call later today to see what time surgery will be. So I guess we are off to play for a little while before the CT scan.

Surgery

Well, Ashton will be having a CT scan and surgery tomorrow. The problem is, we don't have any times yet. They are putting this all together very quickly for us.

We met with the surgeon earlier today and after looking at the incision he thinks it is probably just a stitch that hasn't dissolved. But to be on the safe side he wants a CT scan done to make sure he can't see anything else. If everything goes well it should be an outpatient procedure.

So this evening we enjoyed the cooler air (St. George is so hot right now. No wonder Keanna spends so much time at the lake :). We walked around the UCLA area, went into a few stores and tried to relax. We are staying at the Tiverton House. It'a hotel to stay at right by the hospital for people who are having to be at the hospital. I'll tell you what though, their prices aren't what the Ronald McDonald prices are. But it's within walking distance of the hospital and they will also shuttle us back and forth. The area around UCLA, and especially the campus area, is so nice. We love the diversity of people, and it's fun to see the enthusiasm of the students.

Well it's off to bed now because undoubtedly tomorrow is going to be a big day. We will try to keep updates posted.

We Made It......

We made it to UCLA. Just waiting to meet with the dr. We will try to keep the blog updated with what's going on.