Thankful

Hello...out there. Thank you all for your support and comments and prayers and cards and good wishes. You all are so good to think of me during this time.

This has been a real eyeopener for me in terms of P-A-I-N. I have never had so much pain in all my life. First, the doctor says he believes the surgery is successful. Praise the Lord!

It's been a long two weeks. I was so ready for the surgery that I wasn't even too scared going in that day. I had family and church friends there. Magnolia Sun was coming to see me the next day. So when they wheeled me into the operating room, I remember asking what these cases were that looked like drawers and I remember the nurse saying something about more instruments. Then I was out. They didn't give me any warning or countdown or anything. Next thing I know I'm waking up in recover. I think the surgery was right on time, about two hours total. I stayed in recovery for a little longer because they were trying to get me a private room. I remember there being more pain than I had with the hysterectomy. But the hysterectomy was done laparosopic so this was much different. My incision in this surgery goes straight up and down from the belly button to the pubic line. I had 23 staples holding it together and a drain tube and some stitches. I also had the nephrostomy tube coming from kidney out my back and now I had a catheter coming from my bladder. Talk about uncomfortable.

I got to my room later in the day and I know I did not move until the next day. I used every bit of the pain pump medicine they had me hooked to. I remember the nurse and nurse assistant coming in all the time to do vitals. That clock on the wall moved so slow. Thank goodness for pain medicine!

The doctor came by and I told him I didn't want to move out of the bed. He said if I didn't get up, I couldn't go home. He also said I would be staying a couple more days longer than he thought. So Aunt Sue came up to visit and she and the nurse helped me sit on the side of the bed and get up. I stood up and it hurt so bad. I thought I was going to throw up, so they got me the trashcan and the nurse made me sit back down. So no getting up that day!

On Thursday Aunt Sue came back and I did get up and we walked around the halls. It hurt. I had both catheter bags and the drainage tube bag hanging on my walker! I was a sight...didn't even bother to brush my hair and had on the ugly hospital gown. I did not care a bit. So Aunt Sue and I walked and then the husband came up that night and he walked with me.

Friday morning, I went by ambulance to another hospital where they took out the nephrostomy tube. I have never been in an amubulance before. It was bumpy. I got the bill in the mail already for that ride and it was $705.00. Ouch. I don't know yet if insurance will pay or not. The doctor was on my floor when I got back to the hospital near my house and he apologized for me having to go by ambulance and to another hospital. He said it should have been done at this hospital. So I had the nurse manager get to the bottom of it and she said that the doctor (radiologist) that put the tube in and took it out wanted it done at the trauma hospital just in case there was a problem. Better safe than sorry.

I walked some more on Friday and ate a couple of bites of real food on Friday. I had only had liquids since I had the surgery. So after eating a few bites of real food, I got a stomachache that evening. I was sick. I also had sweat so much for the past few days. I don't know if that was pain or medication or just my body reacting to the trauma. But I was really feeling dirty.

Saturday came and I was released to go home. Oh boy....let the pain begin. The husband came and got me and it's only three minutes to my house from the hospital. I was so wiped out. I got in the shower and that felt so good to get clean. Then I got in my bed. But the pain was so bad just from doing so little I was hoping I had not done something to damage the surgery. I have been in bed almost 24/7 since then.

Every day I get a little better. My incision still hurts and getting up and down is still a bit hard. I came home with the catheter in my bladder which was so uncomfortable. It hurt to walk around or sit down with that in..not to mention just the incision an my body hurt. So I was in bed a lot. I went to the doctor later in the week and he took out the catheter and the staples. Now I don't have anymore tubes or drains or staples coming out of me. I do have a stent in my bladder that is uncomfortable. It will stay in for a month and then it will be taken out.

I have so much to get caught up on reading everyone's blogs and seeing what you all have been up to. Thank you again for all your prayers and good wishes and cards. Thanks to Magnolia Sun for posting about my status.

I just have to say that prayer and faith in the Lord got me through this. I know my family prayed and my church family prayed and some of my friends and blogging friends prayed. I am so thankful that the Lord loves me and all of us to bring us through these tough times. We may not always get the answer to our prayers that we want, but we have to have faith in the Lord that he is all knowing and whatever the answer is, is the right answer for whatever reason.

I'm so thankful to have a surgeon that was experienced and knowledgeable about my problem and was able to perform the surgery without further complications.

I've been doing some reading since I've been in the bed. I'll try to post all the books I've read lately soon.

Surgery today

I'm leaving here in a few minutes to go have surgery today to hopefully fix this problem. The doctor will reimplant the ureter into my bladder. I may be away for a few days. Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts. I'll catch up with everyone soon...Lord willing.

The Wedding May 16, 2009

The Wedding...May 16th at 5:00 p.m. Everything was beautiful and went so smooth. The weather was good and around 320 people were there. The bride and groom were happy and the food was good and the cake was YUMMY.

Here is my favorite thing in the world...Wedding cake. Why is it that no other cake tastes as good?


Flowers in the church foyer

Inside the church. There was a pianist and organist and harpist. Pachebel's Canon in D major was played as she came down the aisle. The last piece of music was played on the organ and it was so dramatic that I turned on my video to catch some of it. I might try to load it in a few days and share it here.


front doors of church

Exiting after ceremony.

outside of the church


The twins and their parents in the crowd.

First dance for the bride and groom

Some of the outside seating at the reception.


wedding portrait


Best friends! I think the bridesmaids dresses are lovely.


The candy bar...this was the take home favor. I loved it. So pretty and plenty of candy for everyone!


The buffet tables. Grouper margarita and chicken and green beans with almonds and salad.

Roast beef with rolls and sauces.

Mashed potato bar outside...all kinds of toppings.

Dancing after dark.

Cutting of the cakes! My favorite part of the reception.

The grooms cake University of Florida Gators

The band was really good.

rehearsal dinner May 15

Friday was the rehearsal dinner for the niece's wedding. It was a beautiful evening. The food was so good. Husband even liked everything.

Here is the niece and her fiance for a few more hours.

Table full of bridal party.

buffet table

Plenty of wine and beer.


I'll be back with wedding photos shortly.

Destin Camillia Grill and fish fry

Today's post has lots of photos.....


Thank you all for the sweet comments on our anniversary picture and also all the "happy birthdays" I got yesterday! I had a big day yesterday. Aunt Sue and I went over to Destin and ate lunch. And then the fish fry last night at my SIL and BIL's house.

Here is the groom-to-be...one more day before he marries our niece. I didn't get a picture of niece last night but I will tonight at the rehearsal dinner.

Here is the food from the dinner last night. It was all so good. My favorite were the baked beans. They had some good BBQ meat in them.

Here are the guys that cooked the food. They are retired and do this for a little extra money. Seems like a fun thing to do.

Here is one of the twins eating a lemon. He seemed to really like it! They are so cute.

Aunt Sue and I went to Destin yesterday. It's about 45 minutes from here on a day when the traffic is not too heavy. There is a resort condo there called Emerald Grande. There is a shopping/restaurant area there called HarborWalk. We went to the Camellia Grill. This place is a replica of the original that is in New Orleans. I have always wanted to go to the one in New Orleans but just haven't made it there yet. So it was nice to see what it was all about. The food was very reasonable which is surprising in a resort area. The waiters were very friendly. We were in there early so there was not a crowd yet. They serve diner food and lots of breakfast items, too.

Here are the waiters that waited on us. The blond one is the one who cooked the hamburgers so maybe he is a cook and not a waiter. They all just kind of stood around and talked to us as we ate.

Chocolate cream pie.

Chocolate pecan pie....yummy.

Here they are cooking.

Inside view. Not very much space in her. All counter seating.

Hamburger!

Hamburgers on the grill.

Windows outside of Commanders Palace in Destin. I bet it's so nice to have a window seat in there and look out on the blue waters.

The original Commanders Palace is in New Orleans and the husband and I have been there. It's so pretty and really you have to go eat there to see what it's like. It's just hard for me to describe. I'm not sure how they can really recreate it in this location. I hope that it does well in Destin.

Here is the menu.

Jet Skis ready for riders.

Boat cruise! Maybe they were looking for dolphins. Not sure where they had been.

The pool area at the Emerald Grande. This would be a great location for a bloggy meetup some day. They have 1, 2, 3, 4 bedroom condos with full kitchens.

Lobby of the Emerald Grande.

Pool area again.

The condos facing the pool and waterfront.

The bridge we cross coming into Destin.

lunch with Magnolia Sun

Yesterday, Tuesday, Magnolia Sun took me to lunch for my birthday which is on Thursday. We went to a new little seafood restaurant that I think is owned by the local seafood business in town. It was good. We both had the fried shrimp dinner. I ate all of mine...she had about half of hers! It was a good time to catch up on what's been going on with us...which is not much with me until I can have surgery and get well.

Here is Magnolia Sun's new blackberry. She pulled up my blog so I could see that it really does that. I am clueless about these gadgets. It really is a neat thing.

Our fried shrimp dinner....which I had some of that now.

The front of the restaurant. Very casual, walk up and order.


Tomorrow is the first wedding-related dinner. A casual fish fry at the home of the bride's parents. I hope to take pictures and post them soon.

The lady that is making the wedding cakes was in the paper today talking about wedding cakes. Here is her blog. It just has pictures, no day to day talk.

15 Years

Today is our 15th anniversary. We went out to dinner at our favorite A*egean B*reeze.

I miss Holly Dolly Baby

It was a week ago today that our Holly passed on. I have missed her so much. I guess I didn't realize how much I looked for her to help her out during the day and make sure she was okay. So after she was not here, it really was such an empty feeling. After one of the puggies leaves for the rainbow bridge, you can still feel the way their fur feels or feel the way you held them. You still can smell their smell. You still hear their bark and all the little things they did each day...the way they look at you or move their ears or twitch their nose or blow in your face like they do. After a while, you lose these senses. I want to hold on to them so much and not lose it. But I know in reality it's not going to stay with me after time passes. But the memories will.

Here is sweet Holly in her Punchy original Easter dress. I loved seeing her in this dress.

We had Holly cremated and this is what we get back from the Gulf Coast Pet Crematory. The man that owns this place is so nice. He came to the house at midnight the night that Chichi passed away. He was so nice to us. So he is who gets called when ours pass away. This is the container that her remains are in. Chichi and Tiny and Baxterman all have a container that looks just like that.

Here is the box that the husband picked up at the vet's office with her remains in it.

This is a certificate. We have one for everyone that's passed on.



Today is the husband's and my anniversary. We are going out to eat tonight. This week is a big week around here with our anniversary and my birthday and the niece's wedding. We have wedding activities on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Magnolia Sun is taking me to lunch today. I hope to have pictures tomorrow to show!

Angel wings for our Holly Dolly Baby

These little angels come into our life for a short time...sometimes shorter than others like with little Holly. AM and Jason gave her to us in December when AM left to join Jason in Korea. I knew when I got her that I would not have her a long time but didn't know how long. While she has had some ongoing health issues with her skin and she couldn't see and she couldn't hear, this past week she developed a swollen face. We noticed it this weekend. I took her in to the vet on Monday (yesterday) and the vet was very concerned that it was something bad...like probably cancer from the way it felt and looked. He said there was a chance it was an abscess. I took her in this morning (Tuesday) and they put her anesthesia and did a biopsy. The vet called me and said it was cancer...and that it had really spread and gotten so big so fast and that it was all over her jaw, that the best thing to do for her would be to let her go peacefully while she was still asleep under anesthesia. So that's what I decided to do.

I knew from how she looked yesterday and what the vet said, that today might not turn out well. When I took her in this morning, I had a little talk with her like I did Chichi when I knew she was leaving. I told her I loved her and she was a good girl.

She had recently had x-rays on her spine because her back legs will go out. The vet said the radiologist said she had spondylosis. He vet said it looked like there was something else showing in the x-ray that he thought might be cancer or infection. He said the treatment for all this was probably going to be too painful at her age to recover from and would include a complicated operation to reenforce her spine area (something like that). Last week I took her in because she started losing hair in spots. The vet thinks that if that was cancer in that area of her spine, then it probably spread to her jaw.

It does not matter how these little ones leave us when it's their time to go...it hurts out hearts no matter what. I loved that little Holly (who we called "baby" a lot of the time. She just seemed like a baby to me. I'm glad we got to have her live with us for the short time that she did. I think she liked being around the rest of the pugs and sleeping in the bed at night. She loved loved loved her dinnertime. She put on a few pounds while here but not too much. She was a trooper and could keep up with the others moving around the house. I will miss her. She will soon rest in a place of honor with Chichi and Tiny and Baxterman on the sideboard in the dining room.

Thanks to AM and Southeast Pug Rescue for their part in her life, too. I wrote AM an e-mail and told her but I know it's middle of the night over there, but I wanted to go ahead and post this now. I'm sure AM needs some hugs now hearing this news...so please go visit her and send her hugs.

Holly in the tent!

Holly enjoying a chew.

Holly in the sun.

Holly in her Easter dress made by Punchy!

Angel wings for Nyla and Cowboy

What a sad weekend for Magnolia Sun and family. Their sweet old girl Nyla passed on to the rainbow bridge Saturday morning. She was a pretty and sweet girl. I know she was lucky to be in their family and they were lucky to have her, too. She will always live on in the hearts of everyone who knew her. Shane was especially close to her and will always carry her in his heart forever!

Our little pug friend Cowboy passed on to the rainbow bridge about four weeks ago. He had developed cancer and was to the point that he needed to leave his loved ones to go on and be with all our other friends at the bridge. I sure love the thought of all our "children" playing together and feeling better. Big Casino (Herbie) has come to stay with us twice since Cowboy passed on. I know he misses him. Big Casino's human brother and sister are both going away to school in the fall so he will be in a quiet house then...maybe he will need to come over here more often!

This is Cowboy a few years ago when he was staying with us. He was lounging in the bed when I took this picture. His face was so black back then! He was a good old boy!