Happy Holidays

WOW Christmas went fast, eh? The snow came fast and time went faster. We had a lovely 21 inches of snow at our house not to mention the 4 ft snow drifts from the wind. It trapped us and we were unable to join the rest of the family for Christmas celebrations on Christmas eve. We were all very disappointed but it just wasnt possible. We stayed home safe and warm, made cookies for Santa and just enjoyed each other company (after the tears stopped)

Christmas day we had a great time, my sister and brothers family suprised us with a visit. They all have big vehicles so they made it thru the snow without trouble till they got to our driveway. OH MAN!

Our neighbor brought out his bobcat and plowed our driveway well enough that would could finally get out. (we were seriously out of things like milk and bread.

We have a lot to be thankful for this season. Ron is nearly recovered and has been given the ok to return to work! He will start out part time and I know he is looking forward to getting out. I cant image what it has been like for him.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Being thankful

Hello Everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, we certainly did. While fixing dinner for Ron's family this year I had time to reflect and remind myself we have much to be thankful for. Things have been rough and we continue to struggle with health issues and everyday worries we also have to count our blessings. Family, friends, talented doctors, medication and the grace of God.

There has been many times in the last 4 months that I have questioned the reason this is happening to us. I have decided that the answer is "why not us?" It could be worse and it seems as though our prayers have been answered. Ron continues to improve everyday. He still struggles with pain and swelling. His PIC line came out on Thanksgiving morning. (We joked that the option care nurses just work on holidays so they can make the rounds on yummy food all over the county) The IV antibiotics worked and his wounds have all healed over and are scabs now. (gross I know) He is now using an air cast to help stabilize his foot while walking, in the hopes that the limping will subside and he has more support. His blood sugars have been under control and he dropped his A1C (that's an average blood sugar test for a 6 week period) from a 14 back in August to a 7 just last week. AMAZING!

The girls have both been sick and are currently on antibiotics, steroids, and breathing treatments. When they get a basic cold it goes straight to the lungs and flares up their asthma. Amaris has missed 3 days of school and Madeliene missed 5. Both seem to be on the mend now after battling it for almost 3 weeks. The doctors want them both on a preventive medication for the winter and made sure they both had their flu shots.

Ron's mom is in the hospital after having shoulder replacement surgery. She did very well and is expected to come home tomorrow or Friday. Ron's brother Randy and I have made a deal that he will supply the food and I will make the meals so they don't have to worry about cooking. I know that it was a huge concern for her that she wouldn't be able to fix Richard meals for a week or so after she gets out of the hospital. Its not much trouble to just fix a little extra and send it on down the road. They have helped out so much in the last 4 months its my pleasure to return the favor.

My mom is selling her house and has decided not to decorate her place for the holidays so she has donated her Christmas decorations to us. We had lived in an apartment for 9 years and never had the opportunity to decorate outside so it has been fun for us all to put up lights (yes that means me on a ladder) and I even put garland around the poles on the porch. We have an artificial tree and we put that up last night. I even got my scrap booking/stamping stuff out and made Christmas cards.

Have a great week!

Where has the time gone?

November is almost over, already. Time for us has gone by at a quick stand still. These last few months have been a roller coaster.

Madeliene seems to be recovering from her bronchitis/asthma flare up just in time for Amaris to come down with almost the same exact symptoms. She is home from school today sick. A 103.9 fever, terrible barky cough and headache. She was up most of the night coughing but the albuterol and Tylenol seem to be helping now.

Ron continues to do his IV infusion 3 times daily and his wounds look better than they have since surgery. He is due to have the PIC line taken out on Thanksgiving, a home nurse will come out to the house and remove it. I suppose I should plan her for dinner huh?

Speaking of Thanksgiving and dinner, we had a generous donation of all the fixings for our meal. Madeliene indoor soccer coach, his family and church family supplied everything we will need for Thanksgiving and then some. I had no idea they were coming but just stopped by and said the church had put together a Thanksgiving basket for our family, of course the tears came streaming down. We don't know any of those people, yet they gave so graciously to our family. We have certainly been blessed with loving friends, family, and sometimes complete strangers.

This pic is from the Lynden Park AKA Million smiles park. I took the kids and a couple of their friends there this weekend. Its a great place to walk or let the kids get out some of their energy. Oh and its FREE! :) The sunflowers were freshly picked from my garden. They are called ring of fire sunflowers, I just love them!

Update on Ron

He is home now! It seems they have a good hold on the infection as his blood tests came back within the "normal" range. They put in a central/PIC line that goes directly to his heart before he left the hospital so that he could continue with IV antibiotics every 7 hours. An option care nurse comes out every other day and checks his IV site as well as changes the dressing and brings more antibiotics.
He is such a trooper, the healing process has taken forever and he is still not completely out of the woods for losing parts of his foot. I guess this is the hard truth about being diabetic. Nothing is taken for granted when you have had the disease for so long and for too long it has been untreated.
Just keep him in your prayers, thanks to everyone for their thoughts, help and prayers.

Prayers needed

Just when we think there is a light at our tunnel, its darkened by another infection. Ron was re-admitted at St Joseph hospital tonight. It seems the infection is back and the 3 antibiotics they have him on are not strong enough to kill it so they have started a central line that goes to his heart and allows the IV antibiotics to work better. They will be doing another MRI and ultrasound to rule out a blood clot and determine if the infection is throughout his leg again.
He has gained 15 lbs in 10 days because infection is pulling the fluid out of his blood and he is retaining it. It has now lead to dehydration and his kidneys are working extra hard with the lack of fluids. Its all a vicious cycle, that has obviously taking its toll on his body and his mental health. He is sick and tired of being sick and tired. :(
I just wanted to give everyone an update and ask that you keep Ron in your prayers.

random pics

Madeliene was a hippie chick for halloween, Amaris at her first soccer game and some fresh veggies from our garden and then the cutie with braces!

Some serious stuff

These blogs get posted weird so the first blog you read at this point is the most serious and painful at this point. I will have to post one after this just to lighten the mood a bit..
I remind myself daily, hourly sometimes that things can be worse. These last 2 months have been very difficult for our family as many of you might know. On August 20th Ron got very sick. He went to work like usual, but woke up that morning feeling "off" as he said. He told me if felt as though there was something stuck to the bottom of his foot and his sock felt tight. I asked him to take his sock off and look at it but he was busy doing his work stuff and didn't. He came home that night (by the grace of God he made it home, I don't know how he would have otherwise) pale, feverish, barely able to walk and talking crazy. He was burning up with fever and when I got him on the bed to evaluate what was going on with his foot (he was now complaining his entire leg hurt) I was shocked! It was shortly after that he passed out and was unconscious. His leg was the same size from the knee down and I needed to cut his sock off to reveal a very obvious infection. I called 911 and Ron was transported via ambulance to the ER. Within 2 hours they had him hooked up to IV on 4 different kinds of antibiotics, and into emergency surgery. As I signed the consent form for his surgery the doctors words and explanation of what was happening was both a blur and as loud as a train wreck. "At this point I don't know how much of his leg I will be able to save" Those words still echo in my head every doctors visit, every other day when I drive him to the doctors I worry we will hear those words again. The diagnosis...Flesh eating bacteria. Ron came out of surgery 3 hours later, with his entire leg still in tack, however, they did some extensive cutting to remove all the bad flesh and bacteria. This all started from a small cut on the outside of his foot. Being diabetic he had less feeling from a condition called neuropathy, so while this cute was getting infected Ron didn't notice until it was too late. The outcome of this is still up in the air and we are taking it day by day. He is currently on 3 antibiotics and they are trying to be conservative when it comes to doing more surgery. The flesh eating part of this infection is gone but he is dealing with bone infection and secondary infections of staph. He cant be on his foot for longer than an hour or he is in so much pain from the swelling that occurs. The other side effect to this diabetes is the fact that the bad blood circulation makes healing more difficult. Wounds such as these need good blood flow to the capillaries and when that is lacking there is a slower healing process. Ron is currently under the care of 4 doctors...A wound care specialist, an infectious disease doctor, his primary and the surgeon. They are all amazing.
What I must add here is that without the help and support of our amazing friends and family we would not be handling this as well as we are. My mom has been staying with us, helping out with the girls when I am at the hospital with Ron. I don't have to worry about taking them out of their normal environment or breaking up their normal schedule, that's very important. Our soccer family OH my gosh, they have been amazing. They have brought tears of joy to my eyes on more than one occasion in this last month. I love you guys. Thank you so much.

The kids

Since I started this thing I thought I would post an update on the girls. I was thinking about sending one of those Christmas letters that I have received from friends and family but this is blogging thing is something everyone can check in with on a regular basis. That being said here are some of the updates with Amaris and Madeliene....
Amaris started Kindergarten this year, her schedule is full days Tuesdays and Fridays and half days Wednesdays. I volunteer in class Tuesdays and just recently for her in class Halloween party. It just so happened I manned the same when I volunteered for Madelienes Halloween party in Mrs Posts class Madelienes kindergarten year. The cookie decorating station, messy but fun. Its amazing how those kids can make a cookie disappear under spoon fulls of sprinkles and m&m's. OK, back to Amaris. She is loving school, wakes right up in the morning and loves riding the bus even more. She has lost her first tooth, with 3 more to follow here shortly. She also just finished her first season of soccer. She loved it, and boy does that girl have a power kick! She has learned from sissy how to talk to her team mates when passing the ball and such. She loves to read, sing and dance and we often find her in front of the big mirror on the closet in our room. Her imagination station is always on!
Madeliene, oh that girl is my screen-ager. She loves her phone and the computer! If she isn't outside playing soccer or jumping on the trampoline she is almost guaranteed to be on the computer or in her room chatting on the phone. This is her first year in middle school, yep 6th grade already. I cant believe it. Walking into Mrs Posts class on Amaris' first day of kindergarten brought back memories of the day I did that with Madeliene and it seems like it was just yesterday. Now she is 5'8 and wears a size 9 women's shoe. She graduated from glasses to contacts and is loving that. She has finished fall outdoor soccer and has started indoor soccer at the sportsplex. Its a nice break from the cold, windy weather that will be our typical weather here soon. She is doing fine health wise with the exception of a knee effusion she has. It seems there is a boy at school that likes to trip cute girls and Madeliene fell victim to his cruel flirting and she fell directly on her knees on the cement. Her doctor says effusion caused by injury such as this usually resolves on its own but if not she will need to have it drained (effusion is a pooling of blood and fluid under the knee cap) OUCH.
So there ya have it. A little update on my girls. They have been little troupers these last couple months. With Dad being sick and things being a little stressful its nice to know they are flexible enough to flow those times when Ron has to go to doctors appts or when he has been in the hospital. (I will blog on that soon)

Copy Cat!

So I have usually considered to be myself to be a leader. It's not like me to sit back and just observe, however, when it has come to this blogging thing I have taken a back seat. Perhaps it because I consider my life to be mundane, nothing to "write" home about. But every ones doing it, so I thought I would see what all the hype is about. Call me a copy cat.