Back to the Routine

I'm back on track now that the laundry is caught up.  However, my scrapbooking is waaaaaaaaaaay behind!  Don't know if I'll try to catch up or not.  I really need to!

Today was Tim's day off, so we did our usual Thrift Store hopping and ate at KFC for lunch.  I took the camera with me and took a few pictures, but nothing to write home about!  :D  However, I totally forgot to take a picture of Tim and myself.  I haven't taken one of us in awhile.  That will have to be the next picture I take.

Well, back to working on scrapbook kits for the store!

I'm Home!

I was going to post some more pictures tonight, but I'm tired, so it will wait til another day!

Liz had her dr appt. today.  She is 4cm dilated and 70% effaced!  HOW COOL IS THAT!!!  Little Miss Abigail could be here ANY TIME!  I asked Liz to give me at least a week at home before calling me back again!  :D

I left her house at 3 and arrived home at 7:15.  Not a bad trip.  I just hate driving it by myself!  I'd MUCH rather be sitting in the passenger seat playing on my computer while Tim drives!  :D

Hannah is not feeling well.  She went to school on Monday and when we picked her up she had a cold and underneath her nose was all red and irritated where she had been wiping it all day!  Poor baby!  Liz had to go and get her from school today.  Pray that she keeps the cold to herself and that it is over as quickly as it started!

Busy Weekend

Left NC Friday morning for WV where there was to be a baby shower for our 3rd child on Saturday who is having her 3rd child in April.  This child, a girl, will be our 6th grandchild.  We will have 3 GRANDsons and 3 GRANDdaughters at that point!  Have I mentioned that I think our GRANDchildren are GRAND!!!

Anyway, Liz had a very nice shower and got LOTS of girlie gifts and outfits!  Sure hope the doctors know what they are talking about when they say this baby is a girl!  :D  The baby's room is a Dr. Seuss theme, so that is what we (Jessica, Stephanie and I) did the shower in.  It turned out really cute!  Stephanie's son, Dylan, even drew a cat in a hat on the white board that was in the "fellowship hall."  Very good job, Dylan!  Keep up the good work!

The rest of the day on Saturday, we spent recouping!  And it was an early-to-bed night.......actually, Michael and I were up til midnight!

Sunday, believe it or not, we actually got to church before it started!  Not bad considering all of the showers that had to be taken that morning!    We had a delicious roast for lunch,  relaxed and played a bit in the afternoon and back to church last night.  Waited on Nat to come before Jessica had to leave to go home.....he stood us up!  It was an even earlier night to bed!

Today, Liz, Ryan and I met my dear friend, Susie, for lunch at Applebees.  We had a leisurely lunch and time of chit chat before having to leave so we could stop by KMart really quick and get back to pick Hannah up from school.  When we got home, Liz and I worked on some sewing projects and iron-on transfer projects.  She fixed some delicious BBQ chicken for supper.  The kids ate, but she and I were still full from lunch.  Before we knew it, it was time for the kids to get their baths for bed, I read them some books and lights were out.......wait, actually the lights weren't on..........because it was STILL daylight out!  Ryan complained about this!  I told Elisabeth that the complaint sure sounded familiar!  I believe I remember her telling me that her kids would not have to go to bed before the sun went down!  Funny how things change when the kids become the parents!  :D  And, need I remind those kids that they didn't have to go to bed til 8:00 p.m.........NOT 7:00 p.m.!  :D

The last thing I want to do before retiring for the evening is look for a "fruck," which is a truck to Ryan, to paint on his Big Brother shirt.

Tomorrow I will watch Ryan and pick Hannah up from school as Liz goes to her OB-GYN (weekly) visit!  Only 4 weeks and counting DOWN!!!  (She happens to be packing the hospital bag tonight.....what she can, anyway!)  Then I will head back to NC to my lonely husband!  :D  See you soon, Babe!


Here's a few pictures from the events of the weekend.

Hannah really enjoyed hoisting Sawyer around this weekend!  As you can tell, he is a BIG little boy!  9 months old and wearing size 18 months clothing!  He is soooooooo tall!  Wonder where he gets that from!  :D

Sawyer LOVED watching the fish!  Look at that cute grin!  He has 7 teeth!  He is pulling up to EVERYTHING! 

You will see what this creation of the cat in the hat's hat was all about............

Jessica told everyone about the games, etc of the shower.  The tables were decorated with Dr. Seuss plates and napkins, books and balloons.  You can see Dylan's drawing of the cat in the hat up front on the right.  Below, the plates, napkins and some of the game cards.  Bowls of colorful candy sat on each table.

Stephanie found the plates and napkins.  Too cute!

Jessica found this on the internet and I created it from 2 sheets of stiff paper.  It reads the same on the back, too.

It wouldn't be a Dr. Seuss party without green eggs and ham!

Not to mention Thing 1 and Thing 2 and their blue hair!  Thanks to Stephanie for the green eggs, ham and things cupcakes!  :D

What a CUTE cake Stephanie was able to get!

I didn't get a picture of ALL the presents after everyone got there.  There were more on the table and the floor around the table was covered!

Time for the first game......using the letters in "BABY SHOWER" everyone had to guess the items found in the bag that began with each of the letters.  Liz got to keep the bag of gifts, of course!  Linda Whittington got the prize for having the most correct guesses, if I remember correctly.

I made some "Thing" items for Hannah (Thing 1), Ryan (Thing 2) and Abigail (Thing 3).

Hannah helped mommy with some of the gifts.

Our PURRfectly round little cat in the hat momma!  :D

Later that night..........I enjoyed something every grandma loves to do.........nuzzle with a sleeping baby!

We woke up to a dusting of snow on Sunday morning!  Pretty chilly ALL day!  Of course, the heaviest thing I brought was a sweater!

Feeding Sawyer his breakfast.

Playing in the floor after church while waiting on lunch.

Sawyer enjoying a sucker before heading for home!

Hannah had to lean waaaaaaay back to hold Sawyer, but she didn't mind!

Ryan and I played cards this morning before leaving to meet my dear friend for lunch.

Love ya, Susie Q!

Ryan stacked bingo chips while we waited on Hannah.

Ryan took this picture of me this afternoon while Liz and I worked on sewing projects.  Then..........

he took these pictures of himself!  :D

LOLOLOL!  Too funny!  I'll spare you the picture he took of my rear end!

THE END!

Joey is Leaving the Hospital!!!

WOOHOO!  Praise the LORD!!!  I just talked with him and he is excited, as you can imagine! 

THANK YOU all, once again, for lifting him before the LORD in prayer!

As my MIL put it, from death's door to home's door........God's miracle for all of us!

Quick Update on Joey

I wanted to call Joey before I went to church this evening.  He is sounding better and better!  I can tell he is feeling pretty good, too!  First thing he told me was that they took the catheter out!  WOOHOO!  I asked if he had been up walking and he said a little bit.  I asked about the pneumonia and he said the doctors talked like it was cleared up.  He is not using the oxygen any more.  They have given him an antibiotic ointment for his nose, so hopefully that will clear that problem up.  He said the nurses all talk like he will probably be going home in a couple of days!  PRAISE YE the LORD!   Rachel was feeling better and came back to the hospital today.  She was there while I was talking to Joey.  Praising the LORD for His goodness today!!!

He's Still Answering Prayer!!!

Yesterday afternoon as Tim and I left the hospital I said, "It sure would be nice if they would remove that tube from his nose!"  Even though it wasn't said as a prayer, it was a prayer............and it was answered, Thank You, LORD!  Today when we went to the hospital the first thing I noticed was that the tube was gone!  I asked Joey when it had been removed and he said last night!  WOOHOO!

Today, Joey's voice was much stronger and I'm assuming his throat was better, too, because he ate almost all of his breakfast except for the biscuit and gravy!  Wonderful news!!!

After taking the tube out of his nose, they gave Joey a different oxygen mask.....much smaller and could fit right on his nose.  However, today when we were there, his nurse changed that out and rigged up the kind that the tubes go behind the ears and 2 little spouts kinda sit in the nostrils.  But, Joey ended up taking that off because his nose is still oozing.  He may have to get that cauterized before he goes home.  He had his nose cauterized when he was in college, but I guess this incident has messed him up again.

The physical therapist asked Joey if he was up to a walk, so they took a trip down the hall.  She said, "Now, make sure however far you walk that you are going to be able to make it back to your room because you are a big fella and I won't be able to carry you back!"  He saw how pretty it was out and kept walking to see more sunshine!  He said, "I'd sure like to be out there working!"  So, they walked about 3 halls and he decided it was time to go back.  She said that he did an excellent job!

He was doing some "fishing" and asked the nurse if she had heard anything about how long he would be in the hospital.....2 weeks? he asked.  She said I haven't heard, but, I'd say probably just a couple more days!  Needless to say, he was thrilled!  Keep those prayers going heavenward and pray that he would be released on Monday...........if not sooner!  :D

Pam, I gave him your message!  He said thanks and he loves you all, too!

Here's a few pictures.  You can tell by looking that he is feeling pretty good!  Thank You, LORD!  His beard is growing back quickly!  AND, it sure is white!  :D  IF he had hair, I think it would be whiter than mine!  :D  I like that he gave everyone a wave!  Thanks again, everyone, for your prayers on Joey's behalf!

Joey's "Upgrade"

Joey's voice was alot stronger today and he said his throat felt better, praise the LORD!  He improves more and more each day!  What an answer to prayer!  However, Rachel, his wife, woke up with a sore throat this morning, so she went home to try and get over it, rather than take a chance on Joey getting something to set him back.

Joey was also moved out of MICU to a TCU room, Praise the LORD!  One more step closer to the door!  :D  For those of you who don't know (although, I'm probably the only one who didn't know what it meant) the "T" in TCU means Transitional.  He also was brought some REAL food!  He actually got a real meal last night, but I think I forgot to mention it.  But, they are still feeding him 2,000 calories through the feeding tube, so he really has no appetite when they bring him the food.  And they have said the sooner he is eating more real food, the sooner they will take him off the feeding tube.  Sounds like a Catch 22 to me!

Joey's left nostril is still bleeding.  More today than it has been.  Sure would be nice if they would take that tube out of his nose!  Pray to that end!  Pray that he gets to go home real soon!  Thank the LORD for His gracious answers to prayer on Joey's behalf!

Anyway, we picked Tim's mom up for lunch and she was thrilled because she didn't realize she was going to get to see us for the 2nd week in a row!  :D  I didn't take any pictures of Joey today, but I did take one of Tim's mom and me and one to show you the weather.

Joey is doing GREAT!!

Tim and I are visiting Joey in the hospital this weekend.  When we arrived, his bed was raised into a sitting position.  The only tubes left are the feeding tube in his nose, which will probably be gone tomorrow, the oxygen, which may also be gone tomorrow.  He is receiving antibiotic for the pneumonia.  His voice is hoarse due to the vent tube being taken out after a week, and his throat is somewhat sore.  He is still having problems with his nose bleeding, but that should stop as soon as they finally take that tube out of his nose.  The caramel-colored fluid they are feeding him is 2,000 calories!  He said he didn't feel hungry, but he told the nurse he wanted a steak and potato after she fed him some applesauce and pudding to test his swallowing.  I trimmed his toe nails and rubbed lotion on his feet.  I can't believe he let me do all of that without one flinch of tickle!  Tim's dad and step mom came for a visit, too.  We left at 3:30 so he could rest and so we could get something to eat.

Here's a few pictures from today.  I told him I liked his dress!  He said modesty has gone out the window!  I told him that is what happens when you have a baby, too!  :D

This is the speech pathologist who asked him about his throat and fed him the applesauce and pudding.  She had him clear his throat after taking a bite so she could listen to see if he was strangling on the food or not.  She wanted him to try a cracker, but he didn't want to.  Does he look like dad, or what?!

 This is the lung doctor and he wants Joey to start exercising his lungs, which will help strengthen them and help to get rid of the pneumonia.  He wanted him to do 7 or 8 deep breaths every hour.  Joey did really well with the doctor, but an hour later when I tried to get him do it, he didn't do as well.

 Here's a close-up of the breathing exerciser.  I remember having to do this when I had pneumonia, too!  The doctor started it on the 1000 mark, but Joey reached that with no problem, so he moved it up to 1500!  That was a different story!  All in all, Joey is doing GREAT!  Praise the LORD!

More Good News for Joey

The nurse told Rachel today that they were afraid they were going to lose Joey the night of his heart attack!  All I can say to that is THANK YOU for the prayers that began EVERYWHERE at 6 p.m. that night!  God heard and answered the prayers of His people!  And He graciously allowed Joey to be with us yet today!  Thank You, LORD!

Don't stop praying for him yet, however.  Rachel told me tonight that Joey has double pneumonia and the left lung is worse than the right lung.  They took a blood specimen to run through a culture to find out what strain of bacteria is there so they know exactly what anti-biotic to administer. 

The nurse I spoke with earlier today said they might take his breathing machine from him, but tonight she is recommending that he remain on it one more day.  They take Joey off the ventilator at 11 p.m. and let him breathe on his own through the night and his oxygen level remains in the 90's during that time.

The doctors told Rachel that they did not see any reason why Joey could not return to his construction job.  It is actually his job that has helped his body to be strong enough to withstand a massive heart attack the way he has!  Praise the LORD!

There must have been 4 stands with 3 or more bags of meds, etc. when we were there last Thursday right after his heart attack.  He is down to 1 stand and 3 bags, praise the LORD!  They are using the tube that goes into his nose to feed him with, so that is another bag.  Rachel says his little tummy is even smaller now after a week of not eating.  Not the preferred way to lose weight, obviously!

They had to sedate him more today because he was getting agitated with the tubes that remain inserted.  So he has slept more today.  Once when he was awake he let Rachel know that he had to pee.  I guess he did not realize he was catheterized.  She told him as much and said, so just let it go!  He did and then gave her a thumbs up!  :D

Also, the nurse said he could receive flowers and that he will be in the same room for probably the rest of the week if you want to send flowers.  If you do, send me an e-mail at vickyday13@gmail.com and I will give you the information.

I meant to post this picture after we got back from visiting Joey last week.  It is good to know that he does not look like this now!  And, he now gets to wear one of those cute little nighties the hospital love to give you when you spend the night!  :D  He looks a little different now as he has been shaved.  Because his nose is still bleeding a bit, his beard was getting a bit nasty so Rachel had them shave him so the blood would be easier to take care of.  YUCK!

Update on Joey

Just talked to Joey's nurse and she said he is doing really well!  They are talking about taking the breathing machine off of him today.  He is able to write notes to them.  If they take the breathing machine off then he will be able to talk!  I'm sure his throat is gonna be really sore, though!  His nose is still bleeding a little.  They still have him strapped down and will until they take the breathing machine off, I assume.  Praise the LORD!  I asked the nurse if there was a possibility of him being moved to a different room soon.  She said she hoped that he was that much better by Thursday!  I meant to ask her if they had figured out how to feed him cuz Bro. Ellis said that was a concern yesterday and that they might feed him through the thing that was in his nose, but they took that out, whatever it was!  I'm sure he is feeling like a mack truck hit him!  But Praise the LORD for the wonderful improvement!

 

I'm going to call back later today and talk to the nurse again after the doctor has been in.  It is noon and his doctors still have not been there!

Praise the LORD, Joey is STILL improving!

They took him off paralytic today!  But, he is still in restraints.  He opened his eyes more today.  And he could obey and respond to simple commands like opening and closing his eyes, squeezing their fingers, etc!  The night nurse told me he was doing great!  Praise the LORD!  Continue those prayers!  God is so good!

Update on My Brother, Joe Brandenburg

Friends and family and anyone who has been praying for my brother Joe.............

Let me back up a bit to fill in a gap for those who don't know what has happened.

Got a call at 6 pm Thursday that my brother, 18 mo younger than me (he will be 54 in April) had a massive heart attack.  We traveled til 3 am to get to the hospital near Cincinnati (Edgewood, KY).  He was very unstable as fluid filled his lungs and he was bleeding after the cath.  He awoke at one point and thrashed and fought the 4 or 5 nurses who were trying to hold him down.  They had no choice but to paralyze him so they could strap him down and work with him.  They forced ventilation air, lots of it, to help force the fluids down and out of his lungs.  They also gave him 180 cc's or mg's of lac ix (sp??) whatever the measure would be.  The bleeding ended up being from his nose.  They were not worried about it considering everything else.  They also had a pump working with his heart to help his heart rest.  I don't understand most of what was going on, but his vitals had begun to improve by the time we arrived at 3 a.m.  They kept improving through the night.  On Friday the Drs started weaning him off of the meds and machines just by small amounts.  For example, instead of 100% ventilation, they brought it down to 80% and 20% was him breathing on his own.  He was still paralyzed when I left at around 3 p.m.  The paralysis will be one of the last things they "reverse."  They say there was very minimal damage by the heart attack.  He actually had the heart attack while they were checking him at the hospital and they acted quickly, which is probably why so little damage was done, praise the LORD!

Tim and I decided that since Joey had been improving consistently that we would return home.  But, having not slept since Wednesday night, we were BEAT!!!  So, after we left at 3 p.m. on Friday, we went to our daughter's house in WV to spend the night and get some rest before traveling the next 4 hours to home.  Needless to say, we don't really remember our heads hitting the pillows last night!  I don't even have any idea what time we went to bed, but it was not late.  And we were up at 7:30 feeling so refreshed!  We hung around with Liz and the family for awhile before heading on home at 11 a.m.  We got back home at 4 p.m.

We (Tim) had called the hospital this morning to get an updated report on Joey.  They told him there had been no change!  I knew that could not be true, but decided to just wait and call again tonight.  I just called and the nurse gave me a few statistics, but I asked if Rachel, Joey's wife, was there and he handed the phone to her.  Rachel was able to give me "the rest of the story!"

The pump that was helping Joey's heart (so the heart could rest some) was removed today and his heart is doing just fine and pumping on its own with no problems!  PRAISE the LORD!!  The oxygen was lowered to 40% today, which means he is breathing 60% on his own and his vitals are still great!  They took him off the heparin, lowered the dopamine and saline.  Another x-ray proved that his lungs are even clearer than yesterday's xray-!  The fluids are STILL coming off, too!  He opened his eyes 3 times today.  The doctors said he is fighting the paralysis.  Rachel said he seemed agitated, so she went to his bedside and stroked his cheek and talked with him and told him everything was OK and that she was there and wasn't leaving.  She said tears began to run down the side of his face, but he relaxed and went back to sleep.  Tomorrow they are going to begin taking him off the paralysis medicine to see how he does!!  PRAISE the LORD for answered prayer!!!

THANK YOU, everyone for lifting him up before the LORD!  Please continue to do so!  I'll keep you posted!  Don't bother to send him flowers yet.....let's wait until he is at a point of being awake and able to see the results of people thinking of him!

Eventually, I'll get back to my regularly scheduled program of layouts!

My God, My Refuge

This week's Providence 365 verse is Psalm 16:1 - "Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust."  Our challenge was to scrap how the LORD protects (preserves) me.  He protects every day, but while pondering what I could scrap about, the incident of a little over 10 years ago came to mind and I decided it was the perfect thing.  Liz, I hate to bring up any nightmares you may have finally gotten over from this incident, but I am just so thankful to GOD for His protection in both of our lives in this wreck!  You will see what I mean when you read the journaling.

Thy Law

Thanks to Liz for the books on cassette, I've been able to forget about my walking while I'm walking!  I used my "Love, the Greatest of These" for this page.

Amazing Love

The more I think about the love of God, the more I realize how much I don't deserve it!  It boggles my mind to think that He was willing to die that I should live!  WOW!

I used my "Summer's Romance" kit and add-on mini kit for this page.

All Caught Up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, I got caught up on my pages today!  Enjoy!  All made with my kit, "Spring Time is Mine!"

Still More Catching Up.....

I didn't get to work on as many layouts as I wanted to today.  On Saturday's I always clean Tim's bathroom and gather all the towels and laundry is the chore of the day.  However, today I also added remaking the guest bed.  I had washed those sheets after Tim slept in them while he was sick and while Kara was here, but I had not made the bed back!  I also cleaned up the kitchen.  I also stripped our bed to wash the sheets and blankets.  Then I worked in the check book.  Laundry in between all of these.  I also cut Tim's hair tonight.  I also worked on a gift for Liz.  Tim and I walked first thing this morning, so I think it gave me a boost of energy!  Two of these layouts I did yesterday on our trip home from the WV preacher's meeting.  I had started the 3rd one, but had to finish it today, along with the last one.  All were made using my new kit, Spring Time is Mine!

More Catching Up

Tim and I were running around all day today, but I finally did get some more pages done!  WHEW!  2 more days of February to do and then start on March!

All of these were made using my new kit, "Spring Time is Mine!"