Here We Go Again

So, Dean met with his surgeon on Friday and he did recommend and schedule another surgery. He will have his surgery at Memorial Herman on October 7th and have a follow up on October 14th. It will be the same surgery as last time, go in, clean up, put in antibiotic beads for a week then remove them and plastic surgery (if needed) to stitch up and then get to healing.  We do expect him to be at Kindred for about 6 to 8 weeks after the 14th. We are not sure if it heals faster than that he may go home earlier than 8 weeks.

Dean feels okay about this 2nd surgery.  We could postpone it but we feel it's better to get this done now.  We now know what to expect but the bad part is his extended stay at Kindred.   HOWEVER since his move to the 3rd floor he is being taken care of now.  We heard from a few of the staff that there is a group on the 4th floor that do not work on different floors like the rest of the hospital's nursing/CNA staff. Apparently because they do not get along with anybody else. Sort of a clique that do not work well with others and love to say "that's not my job" if you know what I mean.  So we are wondering if it was just REALLY unlucky that he was placed on the 4th floor and the rest of the floors are different.  We have been wondering how the hospital is running with as much neglect he was dealing with, but if it was isolated on the 4th floor it makes more sense.  I'll be sure to let everyone know if his good care over the weekend continues.

In other news...
I went to a lovely luncheon on Saturday for my lovely niece Linda. She is getting married in 2 weeks and we could not be happier or more proud of her! She and her future husband Brendan, are really wonderful people and they were lucky enough to find each other.  I offer up best wishes for her and I know they will live happily ever after!

Jake stayed with our good friend Louisa and her family. Jake had a lot of kids to play with but I'm afraid he's still weary about staying new places without me.  He was fine I know and I thank Ms. Louisa and her girls and Bubba for having him over.  We always have so much fun with them!

I also listened to a very disappointing (at the time) Aggie game on the way home from this luncheon.  By the time I got home the Aggies were 1 touchdown behind. Then it was a blur of yelling and jumping up and down for the most AWESOME COMEBACK WIN EVER!!!! WHOOP!!! And what a great fast score followed by some awesome defense in OT! Way to get it done, Ags!

Super Marvel Sunday!!!!

As stated in my last post, Spider-man and Captain America were at the zoo! Jake and I got to the zoo at 11 which was packed in the parking lot!  Then the line to the meet and greet was long but that's why we're there. So we got in line.  An hour later we get in the building only to discover there was an even longer switchback line. We waited inside for an hour and a half INSIDE. But at least it was air conditioned.   We did get a great picture, so that was all worth it!

Spider-man and Captain America!  They were really great!

And the Texans had a come from behind win too!!! FREE SLUSHIES!!!

After the game, Dean had a nice surprise guest!  His mom AND his Dad came to visit!  Dean had not seen Durwood in person since before his surgery and before Durwood's accident.  Durwood was doing really great Dean was so happy to see him again!  We also were able to share our dinner I brought up since I had so much, and had dinner together.

Doctor's Orders

Well, it's been another tough week.  Dean's numbers for infection testing have stayed the same, which  probably means it's being caused by the small infection they found still from the MRI.

The bad news is we are expecting the surgeon to say he does need surgery.  Dean talked with his wound care doctor on Wednesday.  He said that since the remaining surgery spot is still not getting better, he suspects the spot on is bone that's infected is causing the problem.  He has suggested surgery.  Dean meets with his surgeon Friday Morning at 7 AM to get his opinion.  At this point, we are fine with more surgery, so we can get all this taken care of instead of going home too early and have anything linger and cause future issues.

The only hard part to grasp about all of this is the longer stay at Kindred.  Apparently one of the better nurses mentioned that some of the other staff complain about Dean being too demanding.  They apparently don't like that he requests to drink more water than half of a 6 oz cup every once in  while, and that he has requested to be turned every 2 hours.  If you read that and are thinking what we thought when we heard that, you are right.  Dean has not requested being turned every two hours HIS DOCTOR HAS PUT IT IN HIS ORDERS!!!!  So, basically, some of them are complaining that the doctor has asked them to do something, but they don't want to, so let's put all the blame on the patient and not do it as requested.  We also learned that if he asks the staff to do something later (like something private while he has visitors) they will put it in the computer that the "patient refused the care" and never do it.  This is a PERFECT solution to covering yourself for not doing your job!

I do just want to say that not all the staff are this terrible.  He has some really great people helping him, although they are few and far between.  There is even one guy that comes in all day Sunday to keep track of his Fantasy Football players and talk football with Dean!  He gets lots of attention when that happens.  Also, while Jake and I visit, Jake has 2 jobs.  1.  Lower and raise the head of Dean's bed when he needs it.  He LOVES helping!  yells, I'LL HELP!!!  Then listens to Dean when he says stop.  2.  Turn off the nurse call light when we either test it, the nurse comes in, or we accidentally click it.  However, this makes us nervous since the "CODE BLUE" button is right next to the cancel call button.  He is very careful not to push it.  HOWEVER, one of Dean's nurses at night accidentally pushed it!  Dean then realized how to get everybody in his room at once! ;)

On a much lighter note, the weather has been really great this week!  Jake and I got to play outside with Buddy.  Look how tall he is!  When we first got the slide, his head was not up to the bottom of that circle!  Now, he's almost as tall as the top! :)

He also has been helping out around the house, letting Buddy outside in the morning, and letting Jack out, and helping with the trash can!  He moved the trash dumpster ALL BY HIMSELF!  We are so very proud of him!!

 

And something that made me giggle, the Aggie CT who famously blocked the SMU player from running into Reveille VII has not only been in the news nation wide, but all the way to the UK!  Read this article for a giggle!

Brave Young Cadet Saves Lassie From Certain Death at American Football Match

My favorite part:

Nice to see that after years of Lassie saving humans, the favour is finally being returned.

This will be another busy weekend!  Have some plans to have a luncheon AND I've heard some really SUPER friends will be at the zoo this weekend, so we will be checking that out for sure on Sunday!  Maybe we will see you there!  And, to my UH friends - Shasta's birthday party is this Sunday as well!  Go Coogs!

Houston Zoo Event

 

Another Weekend

I'm not counting the days, weeks, or anything, but it has been since August 6th or so that Dean has been in Kindred.  It has NOT been easy as he continues to fight battles and doesn't usually win.

I did post on Facebook the results of the MRI, but I'll post them here just so we are all on the same page.

We heard from Dean's doctor. He still has a small infection spot on a piece of bone. The doctors will discuss with his surgeon Monday.

They said its up to surgeon to decide whether its serious enough for surgery or not. So its literally either have surgery to take that infected bone out (its small) or leave it and he's done with antibiotics. Which could mean he can come home soon. The Surgery is considered easy but we don't know recovery time.

Please keep praying for Dean to be able to come home soon with no more surgery.

So, we did hear from the Doctor again on Sunday, and we tried to clear a few things up.  Of course he cannot answer for the surgeon, but we wanted to better understand what may come in the next few days.  So, the doctor came up with 3 options.  We were told the infection is small so...

1. The surgeon may "not be impressed" meaning its not a very big deal, and he may opt to not do any surgery at all.  This is the option we are hoping for as it means that the wound care doctor would have say when he can go home, which could be soon.
2. The surgeon may say okay, let's go in and clean up/remove the infected bone.  This would most likely mean a much longer stay at Kindred than we even want to think about.
3. The surgeon may give us a choice, he could recommend the surgery, but would give US the choice if we want to go through it again or not.  Then, Dean and I would make a decision, but not sure what that would be.

Please pray that we get good news from the doctor and that if we need to make a decision, that we do the best thing for everybody.

Jake and I got to go to the Museum of Natural Science on Sunday. It was Jake's first time, but we had not gone in such a long time that I was surprised by how much has changed!  The fossil exhibits were AWESOME and in a new warehouse than I remember.  However, it was even MORE EXPENSIVE that I remembered!  1 kid 1 adult, parking, museum and butterfly tickets = $60!!  WHAT????  Butterflies were worth it.

In the gift shop on the way in.  Fuzzy, but fun picture.

 

Jake saw these and said "are these rolly polly bugs?" went around the other side and yelled "THEY ARE ROLLY POLLY BUGS!"

Hungry lion!

he asked "Mommy is that lion trying to bite the Zebra's tail??"

Can I touch it?  NO Jake, you cannot.

The new fossil hall.  Fabulous!

I Have a Big Head and Tiny Arms...

 

Triceratops and a Giant Sloth. This sloth was FREAKING HUGE!

We went to see the Butterflies!  This was really great!

Jake in the planetarium waiting area with the black lights on!

That big piece of petrified wood was just too big and heavy to lift!

Oh, and remind me to put my camera back in my purse as my phone is just not doing it for me Anymore! goodness!  Bad pictures!  Sorry!

Highlight of the weekend:
The Aggies did win this weekend, but THIS guy is the highlight!  "Texas A&M cadet to be rewarded for saving Reveille"  WHOOP!

A Tough Week

This week was a tough week.  A few things happened.

I'll start with the good.  Durwood went home the day after his birthday on Tuesday, 9/16!  They are now in the stage of getting used to "not having the nurse call button".  A phenomenon I'm quite familiar with.  But, all in all, Durwood and Linda are glad to be home.

For the not so bad, a little good.  Dean's surgical spot that's having trouble healing is in fact getting better, but it's going very slowly.  He has had some improvement since they took the wound vac off, which wasn't helping because of a specific reason I won't go into right now.  And, of the two numbers in his blood work they were watching for his infections, one is normal (YEY!) and one stayed the same for  couple of weeks, but it did go down a little, but not to normal yet.

They did take a swab sample last week, and they didn't find anything serious, but they have found another bacteria that is better treated with another antibiotic, which they switched to this week.

For the bad, but may turn out good.  Since his infection level has not gone down to normal, even though it did go down, they ordered an MRI on Wednesday.  This is the scary part, and we need prayers.  We were told if it looks like the infection has cleared up, we will not hear the MRI results until early or mid next week since the techs take their time filling out paperwork and their initial findings.  If we hear this week (today or tomorrow) then, basically, the infection is still, and we will need to get a surgical opinion. That could mean another surgery and another 6 weeks (give or take) recovery.  PLEASE pray we don't hear anything until next week!!!  NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS for these MRI Results.

And, for the bad.  Really bad.  I had a dear family friend pass away.  I say friend but he was more of a father figure in my life.  Growing up, when my parents would go on business trips (or even some vacations) during school times, my parents would have Monica and Emil take care of us.  Sometimes it was for weeks at a time, but mostly a week or less. Mr. Emil passed away this week after a long battle with Cancer.  He was fortunate enough to be able to come home from the hospital and be with his family and friends (and cows :) ) and died at his home with his wife by his side.  I was able to go to the funeral with Jake and Monica was able to meet him in person for the first time.  She is a lovely Christian woman and could really use some prayers, as she also just had knee surgery.

I always hate that funerals bring people and old friends and family together.  I often wish we could get together without it being so very sad.  But, it was good so to see so many familiar faces that I remember from my childhood.  Jake was an absolute saint the whole time!  He is such a good boy!  He only started acting up when we went to the grave site, starting running and giggling when the Priest was saying his final words (not good) but everybody understood.  We went for a little walk, but didn't get too far as they had someone play silver taps for him and well, Jake loves music.  They also had someone play "In Heaven there is No Beer!" on the accordion.   By request of Mr. Emil himself! Very fitting by the way.

Downtown Sealy.  The "tall" building was where my Dad's office was.

The Park where Dean and I got married.  It used to be the JC park, then it was the Lion's Park. 

Now, it looks like it's Levine's Park. :)

Just because sometimes we need a smile...

MILK MUSTACHE AND SOUL PATCH

Well, there you have it.  I'll update when I can, probably after the weekend.

Gig 'Em Aggies!  BTHO SMU!
Go Texans!

Way to go Altuve! breaking the Astro's hits in one season record!  213 and counting!

News, Visits, Football, the Zoo, and Glasses

So, coming up with titles is actually the hard part about blogging about something not fun to report on, especially when they are all basically "News about Dean". :)

Monday, we found out that the ID doctor said that of the 2 numbers he's watching in Dean's blood tests, 1 is now NORMAL, 1 is the same from last week (which went up from the week before).  So, good news there.  I believe he has 1 more week of antibiotics and we hope that number goes normal.  We also found out that he will be at Kindred for at least 2 more weeks.  Confused?  Well, last week it was 2 weeks because of blood tests, so we were hoping/expecting to come home next wee (week of 9/15) but now that's been extended at least 1 more week, so we hope to come home the week of 9/22.  Prayers for healing as that's what's holding us in the hospital right now.

He also had his PICC line accidentally pulled out about 6 inches 4 or 5 days ago by one of the night staff Tech/Nurse when he was being re-positioned.  He asked the nurse during the day to have a look she said, "it's not my job, ask the supervisor."  Nice, huh?  Anyway, it was early, he forgot, and when the ID doctor came by to check his IVs on Monday, he noticed it was pulled out.  So, he had to have it removed and they put in a midline, which is same thing, just shorter.  Hopefully he won't need it too much longer anyway.

My mother came up to help me around the house, get ready for Dean to come home when he does, and just spend time with me and Jake.  We had Sushi last night!  YUMMY!

Jake eating the "Chick Fil A" Roll.  It has chicken, cream cheese, cucumber wrapped in rice paper.  Dean's favorite, and Jake INSISTS on eating Sushi (not chicken nuggets) when we go to the Rising Sun in Fall Creek.

Top roll - can't remember the name, it was mother's and has tempura soft shell crab (YUCK!)

Middle roll - mine!  (but i shared) tuna, cream cheese, cucumber, topped with strawberries, kiwi, and mango sauce

Bottom roll -THAT's the Chick-fil-a roll.  It's really good actually.  Chicken and rice, YUM!

Tuesday, we found out his glasses we ordered online to replace his 3 year old glasses the nursing staff broke came in!  So, I did a quick trip down there just me and helped him do some things.

Thursday, my dad came through town, he was meeting with his Accountant and then going fishing with some Friends.  We went to see Dean at the hospital with some YUMMY Fajitas from Julia's Mexican Grill in the Fall Creek Area.  EXCELLENT restaurant, delicious tortillas!

I got home Thursday night and realized I LEFT MY PHONE at the Hospital!  DOH!  Poor Dean had to deal with the pings and beeps and alert sounds all night!

Friday, since I left my phone, we (my mother, Jake and I) visited for dinner again.  It was designated left over night, as we have a ton of left overs in our fridge!

Saturday was quite long and boring!  The weather wasn't good so we all stayed in the hospital most of the day.  I had planned on watching movies with my computer only to find out the DVDs just didn't want to play without an internet connection.  So, that went bust!  And, the Aggie game was really late this weekend!  But, at least we won!  GIG 'EM Aggies!!!

Sunday, what great weather!  Jake and I went to the zoo and had a great time!  I mostly let him see what he wanted, which can be very frustrating because he tends to sometimes just want to run around a tree trying to figure out how to climb it.  Some Highlights:

 

So, this was the entrance at the zoo when we got there around 1pm.  The lines were HUGE to buy a ticket!  And, as one of the zoo workers was talking about "If you had a membership you could be walking in right now" as we walk past here!  I said to her "It's days like these i'm glad we have a membership!"  BEST. GIFT. EVER!!!

 

Look at that beak!

Thai the 49 year old Asian Elephant.  He is the largest living elephant in the United States!  

A few selfies while watching Thai.

Monkeying around.

we left the zoo around 3:30.  THIS was the crowd to get in!

Also while at the zoo, I finally brought in the antlers my parents gave Jake to give to the swap shop, they are sheds they tracked down for one of the hunters who least the property.  Last time we brought something in, we got 650 points!  That was for a rattle from a rattle snake over 2 inches long, and a horny toad skull in perfect condition, and some knowledge points.  He spent a few points last time we went on some fool's gold.  This time, he got a few more points than that.  When the volunteers were ready to tell him how many points the told us, well, you are going to get a ton of points!  HE GO 6000 points for those antlers!  Way to go Jake!  He also got 20 points for some of those white snail shells, and 50 KNOWLEDGE points for knowing the Antlers were from a white-tailed deer and they fall off every year so they can grow new ones!  Way to go!

So, Jake saw a HUGE "Lion's Paw Shell" last time we were there, but they are worth 2000 points, so he was happy he got the biggest one! It's about 6 or 7 inches wide and he's very proud of it and showed it off to his Daddy later! He also picked up 3 small pretty shells, and some Bornite aka Peacock ore.

We also got to go see Papa for an early birthday while the Texans were beating the Raiders (YES!!!).  It was good to see him in the Cafeteria watching the big screen instead of in his room.  Jake brought him balloons, a card and a movie.  We also got to see Uncle David too!

More blood and test have been taken, but we have not heard anything yet.  Once we do, I'll post again!  We hope he is out of there next week, but these tests will tell.

Books! let's talk some books

Facebook is a fun place!  I do love it so.  But, i'm shocked I have not been challenged with the Ice Bucket challenge yet.  But, I was recently challenged by Brian Galloway to share 10 books that have stuck with me in some way. This was fun!  It was posted on Facebook, but I thought I'd post it here too.

I also passed the challenge along, and asked Kathy Bisbey, Shanae Gryner, Julie Jackson, Havilyn Gaither, and Joe Bisbey to do the same...

1. Books I haven't read but should as I enjoyed the movie:

• Gone with the wind. When I was a teen (probably about 16) My mother MADE me spend an entire Saturday afternoon watching this movie. Still one of my favorites, see next book listed.
• The Notebook. Seriously the best love story ever told! Two strong willed people fall in love but "shouldn't" have. Part ways, find other people, but never forgot, fall in love again and the ending in the MOVIE is different from the book ( I know because I read the follow up book) but the end of the movie is omg so bitter sweet. Most MFEO couples feel they should go that way, at the same time. Very touching

This list is probably longer, but these two let me to read books related to these in my list below.

2. Gone with the Wind spin offs

• Scarlett - by Alexandra Ripley. She had the impossible task to write a sequel to Gone With The Wind. Wow, this book, WOW! Of course it's all about Scarlett and picks up at Melly's funeral and goes on a grand adventure of wanting r Rhett to come around but not waiting for something to happen. She goes back to her roots and meets with cousins and family in the states as well as in Ireland. Really a great read! But, if you are reading for Mr. Butler, this book is not for you. It's titled Scarlett for a reason, and it is all about her. Hint, she finally grew up.
• Rhett Butler's People - by Donald McCaig. I was in a mall and a book store was going out of business and this book was 70% off. This book is set before, during, and after as Gone With the Wind, and you find out how truly in love he was with Ms. Scarlett and ALWAYS was, and how deeply he wanted to have children. Good read!

3. Heir to the Empire - by Timothy Zahn. This was Dean's book. He bought it in High school, and never got thru it. Flash forward several years, to the year 2001, and we are living in Colorado and the neighborhood is having a garage sale. We pack all the books we have that we have read or didn't care too much for, and Dean put this book in. The garage sale was slow, so I just picked up this book and started reading. Long Story Short -I started with the Thrawn Trilogy (by Timothy Zahn) in about 2001, I just finished (almost) all the books in thru the New Jedi Order last month. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_books#New_Jedi_Order_Era) Also, this was the introduction the one of the most Bad A.. Woman heroes in the Star Wars universe - Mara Jade!!!!!!
That being Said:

4. ANY of the books in the Expanded Universe - The New Jedi Order. You see, I've always loved Star Wars, and these books were GREAT to read. A few stand outs after the Heir to the Empire above:

• Vector Prime - by R.A. Salvatore - the beginning of the New Jedi Order and the introduction of the freaking scary Yuuzhan Vong. AND the first Star Wars Book that made me cry. If you want to know I'll answer, but it was the biggest loss in the Star Wars Book series ever! I've read where the author actually was told to do it, but didn't want to and almost didn't write the book because of it. But he did. Like I said I cried.
• Outbound Flight - by Timothy Zahn. GREAT book and some insights on Luke and his love life.
• The Courtship of Princess Leia - by Dave Wolverton. Han had some tough competition. Really tough competition, but she chose her Scruffy Looking Nerf Herder after all!

My Star Wars book collection.  I don't have them all since I started reading them from the library at one point when we moved to Kingwood in 2003, but most of them are might here

5. Back to the Sappy - Nicolas Sparks - my favorites:

• The Guardian - it's about a widow woman and her great dane. YES a GREAT DANE! Husband dies and leaves her gifts - a great dane puppy and a promise to always watch over her. GREAT STORY!
• The Rescue - single mother of a child who can't talk very well. I'm not sure why I love this one, but it stuck with me. Maybe because the kid finally said I LOVE YOU MOMMY, and well heart melts!
• The Wedding - the "sequel" to the Notebook, that follows Noah and Allie's Daughter.

6. Jennifer Crusie - LOVE her! Her wit is awesome! Some faves:

• Bet Me - funny little book about great shoes, and chicken marsala
• Welcome to Temptation - great book about making a video in a small town. The sisters talk in movie quotes, need I say more?

7. Harry Potter Series - by J.K. Rowling (7 books)- Just like Brian Galloway posted on Facebook, I picked up the 1st one just to see what the fuss was all about, and was addicted!!! The books are not about evil witches and demons and the like. It's actually not too far away from The Wizard of Oz! It's about good vs. evil, courage, strength, friendship, and some child hood mischief. All good stuff. I loved the Sorcerer's Stone, just a really quick and fun read, and fun introduction to the Characters.  I also really liked the Goblet of Fire.  Tri-wizard tournament was cool!

Note:  I would recommend for kids to read them at the age Harry is in the books. IN NO WAY SHOULD A 11 year old read all of them at once! The last few are dark and scary! Keep them in the same year, 11 for the first, 12 for the 2nd, etc. 

8. The Twilight Saga - by Stephenie Meyer (4 books). I know, Usually HP fans HATE Twilight, and Twilight fans HATE HP (which is funny because Robert Pattinson is in both movies!) Anyway, there are some serious flaws this book can teach young girls - basically, Bella needs Edward to live, and vice versa. This is not good. HOWEVER, I have to admit I could not put them down.  They are "good" vampires AND fight for what is right and live in peace with humans. I have read them each at least twice. Oh, and just to note, the first 2 books, not as good as the last 2, same with the movies. I usually don't watch Twilight when I'm in the mood for the saga.  It in my opinion is a little awkward, and it was just made fun of too much ("Say it!  Out LOUD!" "VAMPIRE!"  dun dun DUN!).  I usually start with Eclipse. New Moon has an AWESOME fight scene, but the Movie "ending" in Breaking Dawn 2 I believe should have been included in the book. It was a total shock in the movie, and GREAT fun when you realize what happened!

Harry Potter and Twilight books co-existing on the SAME BOOK SHELF!

9. LaVyrle Spencer - what a story teller!!! I've loved each book I've read from her! I recently found a book  at half price that I haven't ready yet and I'm reading now and have to force myself to put it down! Most of her books are more historical which I tend to like a lot! My mother and I read most of her books we could find together.

• Morning Glory - reading now - about a "crazy widow" and a ex-con finding love and family. It's going really well now for them, so I'm waiting for the shoe to drop. I have a pretty good idea what's going to happen too, and it will SUCK!  But the ex-con is from Texas.
• That Camden Summer - about a divorced woman with three daughters returning home (Maine) and is looked down upon. Great read!
• Hummingbird - a bandit and gentleman both vie for the girl. Guess who wins! Great story!  Based in Colorado.
• Small Town Girl - my mother and I SWEAR this is could be based loosely on Reba McEntire's life! Story about a country singer who meets a guy who has a daughter (who can sing) and well the story is great! And, I actually got an AWESOME yummy casserole recipe from this book too!  Based in Nashville.

10. Rebecca - by Daphne Du Maurier - Dean bought me this book. He saw online that people who like gone with the wind would like this book. HE WAS RIGHT! GREAT BOOK! Young bride marries a rich older widow, she doesn't know him well and has to live in the shadows of Rebecca his first wife. Haunting book!  I even read the sequel titled Mrs. deWinter by Susan Hill. Loved BOTH!

And, on a related note, Jake wanted me to read this book apparently.  Found it in my purse this morning.

Not sure what is more awesome, the fact that he likes this book, the fact that it's a Star Wars book, or the fact that my purse itself is AWESOME! :)

Short Week and fast weekend

So, that week went by fast!  Being only 4 days always makes for a busy and fast week.  Dean is doing well, we are all trying to cope with the extended time at Kindred.  He again after this weekend had some complaints, especially the night staff.  He talked with a supervisor again about it, and she was so mad!!!  She actually told Dean that she had 4 or so other complaints about the night staff the Saturday when Dean complained, and 2 or 3 on another floor the day before.  She actually said to the nurse "No More complaints today!  I am done with this!  I need everybody at 100% today!"

Again, the situation improved, but we shall see for how long.  It seems to go in cycles, it gets good for a while then they "slack off" until he complains again.

So, now what?  Wish I knew!  We are on a holding pattern until we hear results from blood tests and after Dean sees his wound care doctor (usually on Tuesdays).  Right now it's just getting thru day by day.

Some weekend fun/highlights:

Saturday morning, a friend, Jaime Windfont, brought over some food for us!  We enjoyed some pot pies this weekend!

We went to Discovery Green on Saturday.  Wanted to go somewhere different not the zoo so we went downtown.  It was nice, not too too hot, but warm, and a little over cast. Jake has been wanting a Popsicle for some time, so we got him one!  Sponge Bob!

  

This dripped and dripped ALL over him!  It was horrible!  But, isn't a boy supposed to get sticky and messy at the park on a hot summer (in September) day? :)

Our brink at Discovery Green!  It's one of the first ones along the wall next to the snack bar there. And, you can see just how messy that sponge bob Popsicle was.

So, after the popsicles we ran around the green grass in the park.  We saw some young boys playing soccer and he wanted to play!  I told him to ask to play, all 3 boys said YES so they went to running!  He and another boy got to the ball at the same time running full speed and bumped heads.  Well, the other boy was 5 and Jake is 3 1/2 so Jake started crying.  All three boys came up to Jake and asked if he was ok, but it was too late, the tears and crying had begun.  Took a while for them to calm down, but then he didn't wanna play anymore, he wanted to go in the water park.  So, we did...

 

Well, sort of.  He went to this big water fountain, and had a great time!  Until it started raining and thundering and they turned it off.  Oh well, so we headed back to the hospital where he fell asleep in the car so hard he didn't even wake up on the way to Dean's room.  And, slept for a hour and a half.  Good Nap!

Sunday was GRANDPARENTS DAY!

 

Doesn't Durwood look GREAT!!!  He was in his chair sitting up watching the Texans beat the Redskins.  Jake of course found Nonnie's phone, and well that's what he did for a little bit.

After the visit with Nonnie and Papa we were going to go to the Zoo, but I forgot my membership passes in my other purse so we were going to just go to the park.  But, as we left TIRR, the storm clouds came in! We just headed back to the hospital.  Jake watched Umi Zoomi with Dean, we watched some football, played with toys, had an early dinner and came home.  Jake fell asleep just as we got home since he didn't nap that day.  However he woke up on the way to his bed.  We ended up watching Tangled on the couch together and he went to bed around 9pm, after much debating actually.

 

Playing with his cars and trucks.  ALL the hotwheels he had at the hospital are either in, on or on the trailer of his Duck Dynasty truck, being towed of course by Mater! :)

Of course the BEST news of the weekend ~ our sports teams did AWESOME!

Texas A&M BTHO Lamar 73-3.  I'm just glad they got their field goal in the beginning, it always sucks when you have a blow out "blown" in the last few minutes.

The Texans WON!  They beat the Redskins 17 to 6!  You know what that means!  FREE SLUSHIES

And, the ASTROS WON their 63rd game!  What does this mean?  They cannot loose 100 games this season AND, Mattress Mack had to pay out big time!  Not that we get anything from this, but this is always good to see!

The weeks have increased

I sure do wish I had better news to report.

After Tuesday's blood tests and visit from the wound care doctor, we have found out Dean will be in Kindred for at least another 2 weeks.  His numbers went up slightly, which did not bring up too much alarm from the doctors other than wondering why, but still not good news.  But, his surgery spot is getting better, even if it is slow going.  Anything getting better is good!

But, the care at Kindred and the food they serve is really starting to be hard on Dean, and me and Jake as well.  He has to continue to fight and practically beg for the most simple of daily necessities.  In fact, Wednesday morning his Tech came in put his breakfast on the tray and said I'll be right back.  A long time later, she came back noticed the tray was not touched and said, "Didn't you want breakfast?"  First of all, she should (1) know his condition and (2) know what it MEANS.  He actually had to tell her, no, I haven't had my breakfast yet because I'm a quadriplegic!  She said OH, I'll be right back.  Again, nurse talk for "I'm not coming back until you turn on the call light."  He had to do that, another nurse came in, saw the tray and right away offered to help.  Turns out this absolutely 110% UNQUALIFIED Tech was what they call a "agency tech".  Which means when the supervisor can't fill the schedule with the regular people who are employed at Kindred, they call an agency, and these people are not qualified to work there.

Jake had a hard time with me being upset at the nursing/tech staff last night.  So, I talked about it while in the car and Jake said as loud as he could "SO! SAD! NURSES!  I'm going to put you in time out even if I have to carry you!  I'm strong!  I'm VERY, VERY, (repeated very 50 times), VERY disappointed!!"   This kid is 1 in a million!  He really want's everybody around him to be happy.

To top all this off, the nursing staff broke Dean's glasses a couple weeks ago, broke one of the arms, but not so bad that he couldn't sort of fix them and wear them.  They are not real sturdy in the first place, and about 3 years old, but still, they broke them handling them too rough.  So, I was going to take them to our glasses place to get fixed and I pulled them out of my purse and the other arm had broken in my purse!!  ARGH!  We are replacing them, but it will take 10 business days or so to get them.  Let's hope our glasses place can somehow fix them.

Lets hope the next few days get better.

Labor Day Weekend 2014

We had an eventful weekend, and were surprised at the decent help Dean had at the hospital.  We were sure there would be lower staff than usual because of the holiday, but it was good!  And, Dean had 3 days of good home cooked meals instead of the "food" they give him.

We were pretty much expecting to hear news on Tuesday if Dean will be coming home this week or not.  He has had multiple blood test done and we are waiting on his ID doctor and his wound care doctor to have a say in when he can come home.  He will most likely be on the wound vac and have a sand bed at home (rented) for a while.

Update - Later Tuesday afternoon we found out his numbers have not come down to where they are comfortable with and he will be in Kindred for another week.  Let's hope it goes by fast.

Saturday - Jake and I got there early, and Jake played with all the toys we bring up for him, his hot wheels and cars/truck are a big hit.  He had his loopy loop hot wheels track, and played on that most of the morning.  He made a nice big ole mess in there too!  Cars and track everywhere!

We also took the afternoon to go to the Zoo.  It was overcast and windy, so it was a nice day to go.  Also, it wasn't to crowded either, which is nice. I actually got a free parking spot this time!  Just as we were walking in a street magician was setting up so we stopped!  Jake got to be the volunteer for the "money in the lemon trick" and he was fascinated by the fact that he ate a balloon. He wasn't all that good, but it entertained Jake.

 

 

The carousal was being cleaned so it was closed.  We went to the Children's zoo and played there for a while, we saw the lions, tigers, giraffes, including the newest baby giraffe, the elephants, meercats, and got to pet Billie the leopard tortoise!  She was 24 years old and has a life expectancy of 80 years!  The giant tortoise from the Galapagos tortoises can live up to 200 years!  The zoo keeper said the bigger the turtle, the longer the live expectancy.  Very interesting!  Jake loved it and allowed her to walk over his toes.  We also got to see for the first time the Sponge Bob Square Pants 4D movie!  It was short and a bit expensive for what it was, but Jake liked it.  It had bubbles and sprayed you so it was a big hit.

 

Lions and the Wild Dog

 

Giraffes.  Look at the little BABY!  well, he's over 6 ft tall, but so cute!

  

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!  

The Bald Eagle at the Children's zoo

 

Billie the Tortoise

After we got out of the zoo, the Herman park train was there so we hurried up and bought tickets and jumped on just in time.  I had no idea it was a good solid 20 minute ride thru the park.  It was good!  Jake liked it but was concerned there was not a seat belt, so he held my hand the whole time.

All Aboard!!!

  

 

This is the park we rode the train to a couple of times.  The sidewalk above is where my mother was hit by that guy who followed us to Herman Hospital.  Nice memories!

Sunday - Again got there to give Dean some breakfast, and after lunch we ventured out to the Children's museum.  Wow, was it CROWDED!  We took our time, playing at his pace.  We sat at a table and used the scissors to cut paper for about 20 minutes.  He enjoyed it though.  He also loved the water works, and didn't want to go in even when i tried to convince him that it was just too hot and we needed to take a break and get something to drink.  But, we got to go in, bought him a toy at the gift shop and watched a movie while there.

Waterworks!

 

Cutting Paper - one of his favorite things to do. :)

And, Dr. Jake Audirsch taking care of his patient carefully in the ambulance at Kidtropolis

Monday - Labor Day
This morning, Jake found a crack in Daddy's food tray table at home, so he had to go find his tools in his room.  He RAN in there, and yelled back at me "HOLY COW!  I FOUND MY TOOLS!" then he set up to fix the table.

fixing Daddy's Table

David came up to visit Dean, so Jake and I let them talk a little.  They discussed what's coming up for their Dad and other important stuff like the Astros and their future! :)  So, Jake and I went to the waiting room to give them space.  Jake manages to play and have fun no matter where he is.

 

 

Playing catch with Jake's Teddy bear named Chuck E. Cheese in the waiting room

I had made a nice labor day lunch of hamburger sliders for us to enjoy!  And, no labor day would be complete without potato chips and Dean's French Onion dip!  It was nice.  As we drove by the zoo on the way to the hospital, Jake asked if we could go again.  I said yes, Dean thought it was a good idea, so we went back to the zoo!  The difference, today was a holiday, and HOT!!!  so it was packed.  I actually had to park in the Herman parking lot again.

Labor Day Sliders and chips

 

at the zoo

We got to ride the carousel today!  Wow, it was shiny and had a new coat of lacquer!  Looked GREAT!  And, feed the Giraffes, visited the swap shop (had nothing to swap, next time), looked at all the bugs in the bug house, and got to see the flamingos.  It was really hot so we didn't stay long, and stayed mostly in the children's zoo.  Jake got to see the Prairie dogs and called them "little puppies".  We got some popcorn and a third round of water on the way out.  The popcorn ended up all over the floor in Dean's room, what a mess!

One more week, I know we can make this!