Happy New Year

Jim and I will be ringing in the New Year together. I got permission to stay through midnight tonight so we will be together as 2008 begins. The very best to everyone as we move into a new year.

Patty and Jim

7 Months and 10 Days

We are almost to 2008 and I am really glad. The last 7 months and 10 days have been really hard on Jim. The holiday season is always a trying time according to the doctors. Dr. Liggitt had told me to work really hard at keeping his spirits up because so many times patients fall into deep depression during this time. I have been positive and upbeat with Jim and it has worked. Today when Dr. Hume came in Jim actually joked with the doctor. He had the doctor really going and laughing. It was so good to see.

We were working on his exercises and there is one where he has to hold his arm up and wave like the queen. This ones always brings up a smile. The other good one is when he has to open and close his had. Well today on the second set of 10 he gave me the finger and just laughed and said see I can still do it. It was just that kind of day today.

Dr. Hume said to keep plugging away because he is doing great. He is going to have Megan reevaluate his swallowing this week and see if he can get upgraded. He wants that cheeseburger so bad. Maybe by the end of the week.

Please be safe everyone as we get closer the the New Year.

Jim's A Little Scared Today

I'm not sure of the reason but Jim is very nervous today. When I got there today he said we had to talk. This always makes me nervous because you never know the reason. He went into quite a bit of detail about his breathing. He felt that he could not get his breath. He had all the times in his head. Resperatory and his nurse came in and everyone tried to assure him that things were fine. They even brought in his chart and showed him all of his levels. His oxygen was 99 all day. I saw the computer printout. Sometimes he just gets nervous. This has caused him to have an upset stomach so he doesn't want to eat. And all of this throws him into depression.

I try to do everything to make him feel that everything is OK and there is no reason to be nervous. They gave him a shot for the upset stomach and he said he would eat later for Mary. All I can do is assure him that everything is OK and not to worry. I try to cheer him up in every way. I actually got him laughing today with my trials of trying to find Teresa and Bob a Wii. I missed one today by one person. With any luck I'll have one by the new year. Several places expect them in and I'm wait listed at one place. He was laughing when I was telling him what it did.

Right now Jim is the best he has ever been. Now if we can just get him out of this funk and get him eating all will be good and then maybe I will get out of my funk too. He was even talking to Misty today.

Christmas Miracle

Jesus has performed another miracle. Jim is still fighting to come back to us. Today he was smiling and in good spirits. He was in a chair and breathing on his own. Last June I would never have believed we could get to this point. He ate French Silk pie minus the crust today. Merry Christmas to all. Like they said in church last night. We must believe in miracles.

Not the Christmas I had hoped for

This is not exactly the Christmas Jim and I had hoped for. When we moved to Florida we had so many hopes and dreams for our new life. A joyous Christmas with my family was one of our dreams. Now Jim is in the hospital and both of my nephews will not be with us. My sister is sad for this is the first Christmas without at least one of her children. I am happy to spend Christmas with both my Mom and sister even though we will be spending a lot of time at the hospital. We are all trying very hard to get in the holiday spirit but it is very hard.

I have transformed Jim's hospital room into a festive room in hopes that this will cheer all of us up. I also make these layouts to get me in the spirit of the season. It's moments like this when you see such magic in children's eyes that you find the real spirt.

My plan is to spend Christmas Eve with Jim. Just the two of us watching old Christmas movies on TV. I'll turn out all the lights and just have the Christmas Tree lit. I'll bring Jim an Eggnog milkshake and some munchies for me and we'll try to be in the spirit.

On Christmas day Mom, Jackie and I all plan to go to the hospital about 11:00 and open presents with Jim. Caroline and Nancy I will bring the box you sent and I hope this brings a smile to his face. We'll have Christmas dinner at the hospital. They have a celebration planned. I plan to stay at the hospital until about 5:00 and then go to Mom's for her Christmas dinner.

We have a plan but I just need a little cheer. Hopefully tomorrow I'll find the cheer. Jim's doing fine but he is refusing to eat and I don't know what to do about this. All I can do is keep trying.

Jim had a Steak & Shake Milkshake

Today was a milestone day. Megan (speech therapist in charge of Jim's eating) said Jim could have a milkshake from Steak and Shake. McDonald's was too runny and Wendy's too think. S & S is perfect and luckily just down the road. I went and got it for him and he loved it. He drank about half and we put the rest in the freezer for later. What a treat for him to have something normal.

Dr. Liggett was in and she said Jim is very stable and progressing along. She said Jim's just doing his thing and we just help him along. About 5:00 he told me to go home and get some rest. I guess I look a little tired. So I'm home now and going to just relax tonight.

This layout is about the Christmas Flamingo Santa I took to Chicago for my grandchildren. I don't think its something you find in Chicago. Jack, Josh and Luke just loved it. He sings a song, Here I come . . . and dances to the music. I think Teresa and Bob have gotten a little tired of listening to him but I am sure these 3 precious boys are still playing with it. Teresa, do you need more batteries.

Peace, Love and Joy to all during this holiday season. Remember us in your prayers as we remember all of you to keep you safe during the holiday and into the New Year.

Christmas Lights Have Put Me in the Spirit

I love looking at the Christmas Lights. My sister took us to this amazing light show. There must have been one million lights and over 150 trees. They were all set to music and I was enthralled by the show. I have been twice in the last week. Once with Mom and Jackie and then with Donald and Holly.

I am working on getting Jim in the spirt of Christmas. It's hard but his room looks a little like Christmas. There is a tree, red bows and Mom brought in a stocking for Misty and it's hanging on the bulletin board.

They put the wound vac on Jim last night. They have it at a very low setting because they want to make sure that it does not overpower his lungs. So far so good. Jim ate lunch but wanted nothing to do with dinner. He said his stomach was upset so the doctor prescribed something for this and hopefully he'll eat tomorrow. Today he told me to stop fussing over him. I can't help it. What am I to do. If it's nice tomorrow I am going to try to get him outside. He needs a change of scenery.

Thanks Jackie for dinner again. I love it when you cook.

Deck the Halls

I am having such fun making these layouts. I can't wait until after Christmas to print them all out and have a very special 2007 Christmas Book. I hope you are enjoying them.

Today Jim is doing about the same. He is still off the vent and this now makes 5 days. His blood pressure is much better today so I think we dodged that bullet. It was really low yesterday and they just watched him. They did not want to give him any levocet if they didn't have to. They hoped it would resolve itself. Today's were all in the normal range.

As for eating not so good. At lunch he had some yogart and that was about all. For dinner I got him to eat 3 bites of each item. It's a start. You just have to coddle him into it. I think pureed roast beef may taste good but it is not great to look at. He slept a lot today and the doctor tells me this is good because the body heals better when he is resting. When he's sleeping I don't wake him up. I have things to do at the hospital so I either read or do puzzles.

Thank you Jackie for making dinner tonight. I loved it. You can cook for me anytime. Love you.

Santa Arrives in 7 Days

Today I got everything in the mail. (Except for Tom, I don't have your address) So with any luck everything will arrive by Christmas. The post office was jammed and I spent some time in line but everyone was in great cheer and it was not bad. I should not have waited so long to get this done but you now how behind I am.

Today Jim was doing great. They even took the ventilator machine out of his room. They have not done this for awhile so it is a very good sign. The only problem will be with the insurance company. BCBS will probably start giving us problems next week but the doctors are very much against moving Jim to a skilled nursing facility. So we will be fighting BCBS.

Jim ate very little again today. It is hard to start eating after so much time. The doctor says this is normal. He is drinking the Dan Active and for dinner he ate a little mac and cheese and some yogart. He also drank his milk. Other than that we just hung out and played with Misty.

Bingo was tonight and I won 3 bingos and did not have to share with anyone. The other players were ready to throw me out. Hope everyone's holidays are going great and that my Chicago friends are not freezing. I hope you enjoy my digital layouts. I have such fun making them.

Jim now has a doctorate in the Swallow Test Arena

Jim has now been off of the vent for 48 hours and once again he has passed another swallow test. That means he can eat nector thickened foods. The foods are pureed and the fluids are nector think. He did not eat any lunch but I got him to drink a glass of milk and a glass of cranberry juice. That is all he wanted. We he hasn't eaten in a while it takes him a few days to get back in the swing of things. Today he was alert and talking. Baby steps are all we can ask for and that is what we are getting. Let's hope he will eat tomorrow. He really needs the nutrition that food gives him. The TPN has nutrients but it is not the same.

This digital layout is of Donald and his girlfriend Holly. The snowman should be made of sand since there is no snow in Florida.

But I must say it was really cold this morning. The weather man said 42. Baby it is cold outside. I even turned my heat on for a while tonight. Hopefully, tomorrow will be warmer. No more emails from you guys up north. I know this is not cold.

Football Sunday

Jim had two TV's going again today. He had the Colts on one TV and the Cowboys on the other. He's got his own sportbar going on in is room. He was happy and content. He had his dressing changes without much complications. The wound vac won't be in until tomorrow. Dr. Hume was happy. And guess what. He was off the vent the whole night. That means he has been off the vent since yesterday morning. This is great. He might be able to have water and eat tomorrow. He really does want to drink something.

I'm a little behind on my 25 days of Christmas. This photo was taken at the Windy City Scrapbooking store in downtown Chicago. This is Danelle Johnson and she is my hero. She is from Iowa and was in Chicago teaching. I was lucky enough to be able to take 3 of her new Creative Cafe classes. It was a great day and I learned a lot of new techniques.

It's getting cold here. We are supposed to have a high of 61 tomorrow. Right now I have the window's open but it's getting a little cold so I might have to shut the windows. Iknow 61 is not cold to most of you but here in Sunny Florida 61 is cold. Our low tonight will be in the 50's.

Hanging Out on Saturday

Misty and I spent the day with Jim. Misty had her first rawhide chew bone. She completely devoured it during our day at the hospital. Jim and I watched two movies. First Pirates of the Carribean and then we watched Our Big Fat Greek Wedding. We laughed as hard this time as we did the first time.

Dr. Hume was in and we reviewed our plan for the next couple of weeks. The wound vac will be there on Monday so we'll see what happens. Dr. Hume agreed with this plan and said that Jim was very stable right now and we are going to work on getting him off the vent.

I had not shared with everyone Jim's special birthday day. I was in Chicago so I could not be there to share the day with him. The first thing in the morning all the nurses came in to sing Happy Birthday to him. Mom came in and brought Jim a Notre Dame fleece that she had made for him. She found the fabric at Joanne's. Jackie went in and cheered him up late in the day.

Surgical Update

Well Jim and I met with Dr. Van Winkle tonight. Boy does he have an entirely different opinion on the surgery. He said right now we would have to do both options 1 and 2 and it would be very dangerous.

He says that if you introduce the muscle/blood to the wound it would be fine for the top layer but everything underneath would absese. No good because now you have to clean up underneath and you now have all that muscle. If gives this only a 50 percent change of success.

What he would like to do is put a wound vac on the wound for 3 to 4 weeks and see how much infection they can pull out. He said the wound is much improved over the past month and he thinks this is the best. Then after the first of the year we revisit the surgery option to see where we are. In that time also we can get Jim off the vent. He wants to try another medication that may make JIm's pulminary issues better. He said all of this will greatly increase our chances of success.

Ok so now we have another opinion. What do we do. WE talked with the wound care nurse and she said to go with the plastic surgeons opinion because that is his specialty. So that is what we are going to do. So in the next day or two the wound vac will go on and we will hope for the best.

Donald, Holly and Jackie were there during the doctor visit and they said the doctor made a lot of sense.

I said goodbye to Donald tonight and that was very sad. I will really miss him.

Let It Snow

I did this quick layout this morning remembering my day in the snow.

Christmas Celebrations

Today we mostly just hung out. Jim and I watched a movie. Mooseport was really funny and kept us enterained.

No news on when the surgery will be. I am hoping we will know something tomorrow. Last night we all went to the Christmas show at the club house. It was put on by a local high school. The kids really got us in the Christmas spirit.

More when I know something.

Dr. Schiro's Report

Jim and I met today with Dr. Schiro. He is the cardiac surgeon who did Jim's bypass surgery. He is also the doctor that opened his chest on September 12 and found all of the infection. He said we have three options.

1. We can do nothing and the worst will happen. It will be slow and it will be painful.

2. We can open the chest cavity and remove a portion of the sternum and clean out the area between the sternum and the heart. This is a very strenuous surgery. There is no way to tell if the stiches will hold inside. He gives this option a 50 50 percentage.

3. We can get in a plastic surgeon and between Dr. Schiro and Dr. Van Winkle they will remove muscle from the pectorial muscle area and put it into the chest cavity and then sew it up. Infections do not heal without blood and this area is not getting a lot of blood. I did not know this but muscle is full of blood. Introducing blood to this area will pull the infection out. I don't know how but this is what he said. This option the doctor put at 90 percent success. It is not as hard on the body.

Jim and I have talked about this and we have decided on Option 3. Jim does not want to continue the status quo. He wants to be aggressive. He wants to live but he does not want to just lay their and let this infection take over. Jim is fully aware of his situation and the doctor explained all of these options to both of us. It is ultimately Jim's decision and he told Dr. Schiro he wants the surgery.

The two doctor's offices are talking and are trying to coordinate their schedules and hopefully the surgery will be at the beginning of next week. He will be transferred to Sarasota Memorial Hospital for the surgery. If the surgery is Monday, then the best case senerio is that he will be back at Healthsouth by the end of the week.

Dr. Schiro was very upbeat about this. He said to Jim, "Let's get this fixed so you and I can go to a Yankee spring training game in Tampa."

Yes I am scared. But this is the first time in a long time that I feel there might actually be some hope of Jim getting better. This chest infection is what is holding him back. Even Dr. Hume was excited about this procedure. He was totally against surgery on Monday. As we all believed, we thought our only option was the second one. Ok one more time. Big prayers are needed.

A perfect Winter Day

I am sorry to my winter friends and family but Sunday night was a perfect winter evening. This picture was taken at 5:30 in the evening. It was 82 degrees and the sun was setting. There were about 30 drummer on the beach and the beach visitors were given a perfect sunset.

Jim is still the same. The chest wound is not healing and we do not know if it ever will. Dr. Schiro is meeting with us tomorrow morning to see if there is anything he can do.

Bingo tonight. Donald and I both won a bingo. Yeah for us.

I took Donald and Holly to lunch today. Spent some time with Jim. Zero chores were accomplished. But you know what. I am not going to let it stress me out. This week I am hanging out with Donald.

Christmas Day 11

It was a little late last night so I skipped the blog and went straight to bed.

Jim is doing fine but he was a little tired yesterday and his vitals were a little off so they kept him on the vent most of the day. I saw him around noon and he just wanted to sleep so I only stayed a little while. Later I went back with Jackie, Donald, Holly and Misty. He was more awake and enjoyed our visit. Last night Mary told me that he watched the entire football game and that he enjoyed that.

I saw the movie Fred Claus last night. This is a fun family movie and really gets you in the holiday spirit.

This layout is from Saturday's Newby Management employee party. We went with Jackie and had a good time. Jackie and her co-workers won the best community award so we are really proud of her.

Donald is Here

Donald and Holly are here and it is so good to see them. Can you believe I did not take one picture of them. I will remedy that tomorrow. We all had breakfast together this morning and tonight we went to Barbara's Christmas open house. What fun.

The rest of the day I spent with Jim. I wanted to take him outside again but he said no. It is football Sunday and he was going to watch the games. He's about the same. Off the vent and vitals all normal. Tomorrow we are going to see what Dr. Shiro has to say about Jim having surgery.

Off to bed.

18 Days to Christmas

And you guessed it I have 60 days worth of stuff to get done. Well guess what it is not all going to get done. I have a half decorated tree. Hopefully it will get done. My Christmas card situation is a mess. In February my hard drive crashed and burned and I have no address book. No addresses is my situation. Plus nobody had my address so cards may be a problem this year. I'm not even thinking of baking. My house is out of control and I am almost out of underwear. Yes I am stressed. But starting right now I am going to let it all go. If it doesn't get done oh well. Since I have not been sleeping the past couple of days I have got to change that and that will be my focus. Tonight sleep and no one is going to wake me up in the morning.

Oh and did I say no air conditioning. That's right. This has quit on me and currently it is 81 in my house. All the windows are open and all of the fans are on. A can't do anything until Monday.

I think my stress level is based on the fact that Jim and I are going to be facing some big decisions. Unfortuately we did not talk to the doctor today but will tomorrow. This surgery decision is looming on us. Jim was fine today but he did not want off the vent. They said there was no reason except that he was really tired. I guess the time outside yesterday wore him out.

My nephew Donald and his girlfriend Holly will arrive late tonight and I can't wait to see them tomorrow. I bet they wake me up. Oh well who cares. I can't wait to see Donald.

A Little Time Outside Today

Tonight I tried my hand at digital scrapbooking without the help of my teacher. I did this layout completely from scratch. There are 27 items on this page. I can't believe I was able to do this. Now it only took me 2 hours but yeah I did it.

Today Jim and I spent an hour and a half outside. It was really great. He was off the vent and we just hung out. As I told the doctor it was almost normal for us. Misty was with us and she was sitting in Jim's lap and he was petting her and talking to her. We talked about Christmas and what we were going to give each of our families. He said get some paper so you can write this down. The fresh air is good for him. After awhile we just need fresh air and he has had so much artificial air that this time just perked him up.

Dr. Liggett said that Dr. Winkel would be in tonight and she had called Dr. Shiro so we are waiting on all of this information. She said that Jim is the best he has been throughout this ordeal. So we'll see where we go from here.

I took my sister and mother to Mrs. Chin's tonight for dinner. Then we went to see a house that has at least 150 christmas trees all set to music. It was beautiful. More later as it is now 1:00 am and my sister is picking me up at 8:30 to help her mail 50 boxes to Iraq.

A favorite moment

As many of you know I have just returned from Chicago. This photo is one of my favorite moments. I spent the day with three wonderful little boys on my birthday. Jack, Josh and Luke are absolutely perfect. You can not imagine how I felt when I met Jack's school bus on Thurday and he ran off the bus yelling Grandma Your Here. He ran into my arms and we just hugged. Josh waved his arms and said grandma in his little voice. Now Luke is not sure about me. He doesn't remember me like the other two. He kept watching me and wondering why his two brothers were always on my lap and giving me hugs. He slowly warmed up to me and soon he to will be saying grandma.

Spent a lot of time with Jim today. They took him off the vent so we could talk. He says, It's about time you're back. He really missed me. I told him all about the trip and said did you bringme a hot dog. I said no but when the doctor said he could have a hot dog I would get one for him.

He had some chest pains this afternoon. To be safe they did an EKG and a chest X-ray. They even gave him some nitro. Dr. Liggett assured me that his was probably pain from his chest wound and not heart related. She ordered enzymes to be sure because as she said, "I'd look pretty silly if he really did have a heart attack."

We also discussed the chest wound and how we should proceed. She feels Jim is strong enough to consider surgery. She is calling in Dr. Winkel and is going to get a consult with Dr. Shiro. She discussed this with Jim and I and we are going to look into our options. Basically the situation is the wound is not getting better and if we don't do something it may never get better. This is saying in a few words what we discussed for over an hour. Jim is totally alert and understood everything she was saying. I will keep you updated as we consider the options.

Spent time with Misty today, went through the stack of mail and just relaxed this evening. I'm off to bed. 4:00 was way to late last night.

I'm Back From the Frozen Tundra

Just wanted everyone to know I'm back from Chicago. Leaving Ohare yesterday was a trial. The plane was delayed because of the snow. Then when we were finally loaded there was no one to put our bags on the plane. Finally the ticket agents did it and that was after sitting on the plane for an hour. Then we had to wait in line for another half hour just to take off. Then because of the delays we stopped in Orlando. Another hour delay. My very sleepy sister picked me up and I think I finally got to sleep around 4:00. Misty did not want to go to sleep. More later. I've seen Jim but not for very long. They wanted to change his pick line and do his dressings so I ran home for awhile.

Chicago Report @2

Jim misses me is the report. He is still on the vent but they hope to take him off tomorrow. He is only on pressure support today and he is doing fine. No fever and all vitals are normal. All the blood tests have come back normal.

Today he wanted to know where I was and I had to remind him that I am in Chicago and will be back Wednesday night.

As for me I am having a little fun. I have been hugging my grandchildren so tight. I think Teresa would notice if I took them back with me. I tried to bribe Jack with a trip to Disney World but he is still not up to it. Maybe next year.

Tonight I went to the CCBA board meeting/Christmas party. It was fun to see everyone and laugh a little. I need laughter and this trip has really given me some much needed laughter.

Some say snow tomorrow. I certainly hope not because I have a day planned with the kids. we are going to see Santa.

Snow in Chicago

It snowed today. Then there was an ice storm. I was out in this and it was awful. When I got to Bob and Teresa's I parked the car in the driveway and started to get out and the car was sliding down the driveway. I had to park in the street so the car did not slide away.

I got to talk to Jim and wish him a happy birthday. The boys all sang to him and I am sure he was smiling. Happy birthday honey. I love you.