So, we are waiting...

The next couple of days will be slow and the same.  Every 2 hours vitals. Shift changes. Figuring out schedules. Time is fast. Then slow.  But we will work all this out.

If you want to come see Dean please let me know and we can arrange some time.  Afternoons are better than mornings for visitors.

Thursday.

Dean got all the outstanding things he needed from after surgery, his personal items and a bed cover.  Not what we were expecting but it's a good air mattress.  I went home to get some things and play with Jack and Buddy. And bring Jake to see his Daddy. First thing he asked is "Daddy! Are you all better?" Sweet kid. We got to eat together.  One of Dean's friends, Dale, was able to visit, and it was nice.  After Jake and Mother left I hung around a little then went home to sleep.

Friday.

I got up early and beet the traffic to get to the hospital at 6:30.  Dean had some visitors today. Dean's mom Linda and niece Linda Jean came by just before lunch. Deans friend Brian Galloway came by shortly after.  Dean's brother Doug came by in the afternoon.   

We got to talk to his surgeon and discussed the follow up.  He does have some infections and will be treated with IV drops for 6 weeks or more. Jake and Mother came up and we had one of the casseroles I made,  tater tot casserole with veggies and ground beef. Was delish! Jake of course charmed everybody he saw and got candy from a doctor and ice cream from Dean's tech. He is really being a good boy.  I went home last night to get some sleep. 

This Lego was put there Tuesday. It has not moved since. Not sure what's holding it

Friday morning.  I haven't been stopped by a train in a long time!!!

Surgery went well

After a really long day, all said and done, surgery went well.  A follow up surgery will be Wednesday next week.  We have decided its' best to stay in the hospital for the week.  Send me a message if you would like to know which room.

After we got him checked in and in pre-op, we waited.  And waited. And waited.  Apparently the first person on Dean's surgeon's schedule was quite a complicated case. Then, the 2nd one took a good amount of time as well.  They took Dean back abut 5 pm and he was finished around 7. I got to go see him around 8, then we got to Methodist around 9pm.  Settling in for the first night being so late is not easy, but we managed.

Houston Medical Center - it's nice from the 19th floor of the Methodist OPC building.

I was able to have dinner and enjoy a yummy treat while waiting for Dean's surgery to finish.

It was a pretty tough first night, as it usually is the first night in the hospital.  His bed is "on order", he's getting an air mattress bed that helps with healing and is special order.  He just got a more accessible call button so he can call the nurse himself, which he couldn't last night because maintenance was closed for the evening.  So, all in all, the staff here is doing a pretty good job so far.  They are listening to us at least when we tell them what we want them to do.  Hopefully the shifts will stay a little consistent so we don't have to repeat ourselves every time.

Now, the healing and waiting game begins.
Thank you everybody for all your thoughts and prayers.  They are appreciated!!!

And, just in case you haven't heard, here's the latest on Durwood (Dean's Dad) from Linda (Dean's Mom)
7/23/2014 10 pm:
Had a better day. Increased strength in right side, enough to pull out the ventilator tube! Nurse said it was no accident! He didn't like it! Had to reinsert a secondary tube for meds and future tube feeding . Naso-gastric tube is out also. Has remained off sedation all day. All he had was a oxygen mask and will have B-Pap machine tonight. When David & I Spoke to him and held his hand, he tilted his head and tried to open his eyes and squeezed my hand! I needed that Lord! The nurse said his right side was significantly stronger today, yet a bit weaker than left. Am thankful for this encouragement.

Here we go

Well, we are here. Methodist Outpatient building.  We had to be here at 7 to check in. We got here at 6:58. Thank goodness for valet parking!!!

A big hurry up and wait. Never any fun.  Then, they decided today was a great day for a fire dril. At least we were already up here on the 19th floor. Lots of sports pictures up here! Berckman, Schaub. Cool! 

Oh and built in patient lifts!! What a great idea for a hospital to have!!!

An hour later, and now we wait. We are checked in pre op and are 3rd on the schedule. We will get to see the surgeon before he goes in.

More later... 

So, what ELSE is going on?

Hello Friends and Family.

NOTE:
I wrote the below post yesterday before my Father-In-Law, Durwood, had to be rushed into surgery for his fall yesterday afternoon.  I've revised it a little (if you already read it).  If you want to know more about Durwood, please feel free to ask.

As far as helping out with meals, I was able to cook up a couple of freezer meals this weekend, and in some twist of faith, one of Linda's friends cooked up 12 (yes that's a dozen) freezer meals for us, which will really come in handy now that Linda may need some too!  She was going to store them in their deep freezer anyway.  Please pray for Linda and Durwood as they are also going to go through some rough times.

Original post about Dean:

I know some of you know this, and some of you don't, but I thought it be best to keep everybody updated with what's going on in my blog.  This seems to be the best way people are sharing information these days that need to go to a wide range of people, and it helps the poster (me) to get a few things out there and ask for a prayer request without crying multiple times a day.

So, what ELSE is going on? 

Dean is going to be having surgery Wednesday, 7/23.  We found out he may have a bone infection.  This is a treatable condition, but how severe or not can only be determined with surgery.  Basically, the usual way antibiotics are delivered to the body to fight infection is in the blood, but the blood doesn't go through the bone, so it needs to be surgically explored and cleaned.  We will not know the extent of any infection until after the surgery, but based on the X-rays, which is not always completely reliable in cases as these, it looks like there is an infection.  Again, it could be small but it could also be big.  

Also, we learned last week that after surgery, his recovery may be more that just a few days in the hospital then come home to heal and recover.  He most likely require a long term stay in a facility designed for extensive wound care, and of course there is not one really close to our house.  If we need to use a long term care facility, it's been recommended to use Kindred.  It's funny, coming from a "country girl" who had to drive 30 minutes to the nearest small town, 30 minutes in the Houston Area seems so long to me now.  There is a facility in the medical center, one in Spring, and one in the Heights, all around 20 to 30 minutes away.  There is a Kindred Rehab hospital (ironically it's a SCI/Brain Injury rehab facility) but they do not specialize in the wound care we may need.  So it will most likely be another facility around Houston.

There are pros and cons to Dean staying at a long term care facility.  Pros like he will be cared for 24-7, they specialize in healing, so it *should* be good (Note: if they are not I will make sure they are!), stuff like that.  However, the biggest con is he will not be home.  This is of course the worst part.  It will be hard on both me and Jake, and it's something I am not looking forward too.  But, if the healing is somehow better at a place like this, then we can get it over with and (hopefully) not have to think about it again.

Now, I know all of you are wondering "How can I help".  Right now, we are so in Limbo that we don't really know our needs.  But, believe me, we will ask for help.  If I've learned ANYTHING about the situation we are in, we welcome and ask for help when we need to.  For now, please pray for the surgery to take place as scheduled, as the doctor does not have another opening for 3 months.  Also, pray for the surgery to be successful and be able to clean up anything and take care of anything that is needed for healing.  And, pray for me and Jake to have the strength to support Dean in anyway we can.  Easy cook or freezer meals are a good idea - ready made crock pot recipes where you dump and turn on are awesome for both of us too.

To top it all off, My PHONE DIED!!  :(  Hopefully I didn't loose too much.  I'll be getting a new one tomorrow as it was still on warranty. 

Pixel - You Are My Sunshine

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey

You never know, Pix, how much I love you

Please don't take my Pixel away

When I was probably around 5 years old, my parents thought it would be great if we got cats for me and my brother.  We thought it was a great idea!  What it probably was is that a friend in town had kittens and we had a country home so cats would be great for us!  What I didn't know is it was a start of a beautiful trio of black felines, each bringing such joy to my life.

First there was Inky.  he was my first black cat, dark as midnight with golden eyes.  Loved him so much!  He would sleep with me at night as I clutched him like a stuffed animal, and he loved it.  Truly loved it!  I fell asleep to his purr and found it hard to fall asleep otherwise.  He was a great cat!  Then, a few years later, I came home from school to the worst news ever.  He had gotten into something, or possibly bitten by something, that was poisonous.  My parents rushed him to the vet but living out in the boondocks, they didn't get there in time and there was nothing that could be done.  I was devastated.

Fortunately for us, another family in town had kittens to give away, and wow, they had a black one!  I was overjoyed!  I named him (of course) Inky Junior.  I wrote his name down "Inky, Jr" and, well, Dallas was big at the time, and I asked my parents if I could call him JR.  They said whatever you want!  And, there you go.  HE was the best cat ever!  But, he had a diva side!  He would get mad at me and "leave" for weeks at a time.  We believed he lived down at the barn in the front pasture (told you it was country living!) but we never knew for sure.  Once he was not mad anymore, he would come back like nothing happened.  He would sleep with me too, not quite like Inky, but he would sleep on my bed.  He was with me though High School and then I left home for college.  My 4th year of college I moved into an apartment for the first time and I choose to bring him with me.  This was the best decision ever.  I thought he would have a hard time transitioning from a farm cat to a house cat, but he was old and wanted to be with me so it worked out.  Then, one day, he wouldn't come out from under the bed, and he stopped eating.  He was 15 years old and sick.  I had to make a horrible decision one month before my wedding, and my Mother graciously took him to the family vet at home and put him to sleep.  This was the worst day ever.  I was actually trying to figure out how to get him to be in the wedding.  So, it hit hard.

Dean and I got married in 1995, and were living in College Station for about 6 months and I said, "Hey, I want a cat!  A black one, can I?"  Dean said "Sure!" so I called the animal shelter there in College Station and asked if they had any black kittens.  They said, why yes, we actually have 2!  I was overjoyed!  I went to the shelter that moment, saw the first black cat (not a kitten, he was about 2 or 3) and then this estimated to be about 3 months old black kitten that was apparently found nearby.  I stuck my finger in the cage, he purred and rubbed it and that was it.  Love at first sight!  Poor Dean!  He thought it would take weeks to find the right cat, not the same day I asked if we could get one!  We named him Pixel.

Now, Dean didn't grow up with many pets, so he wasn't so sure about this one.  He made silly rules like he can't ever sleep on the bed with us.  Dean actually thought a closed door would keep him out of our room.  Pixel had something else in mind, he would sit by the door and paw the door non-stop in perfect rhythm.  Bang Bang Bang Bang.  He would do this until we opened to door.  He would Never Stop!  So, he got his way (and mine) and slept on the bed with us. :)

Then, being the young college student married couple we were, we moved often.  I mean OFTEN!  We started out at (1) Lincoln Square apartments, then to the (2) Silver Spur apartments.  After I graduated, Dean's job moved us to Denver, Colorado, and Pixel had to ride in the cargo area of the plane!  This was fun!  I couldn't find him when we got to Denver, but all was well.  He was frantic!  I don't think he liked it much.  While in Denver, we moved into (3) Mill Pond apartments.  Then an unfortunate accident happened and we had to move to (4) Lakewood, but I don't remember the names of those, we were only there 6 months.  But, while Dean was in the hospital, Pixel visited him often.  Was really good for all of us.  Then, once our house was finished in (5) Castle Rock, we moved there.  This is when Dean made the HUGE mistake to get another cat, and that would be Jack!  That's a whole other story.  After a while living there, we decided it was time to move back to Texas, so we moved in (6) "Tom's house" on the Ranch my parents were working on.  Once I got a job in Houston, we moved to (7) Kingwood in yet another apartment.  This was just until our 2nd home was built in (8) Humble, which was in 2005!  So, from 1995 to 2005, Dean, Pixel and I lived in 8 different places!

Pixel lived his older years out happily and playful.  He and Jack only got real close when we got Buddy in 2008, then in 2010 we were blessed with Jake.  We just KNEW Jack would love Jake and Pixel would have nothing to do with him.  Boy were WE WRONG!  Pixel LOVED Jake almost as much as he loved me, which warms my heart.

A few months ago, Pixel started slowing down.  Jake would take care of him with such sweetness.  Pixel fell of the couch arm one day, so Jake put his blanket under it because it was soft. And, one awesome afternoon, Jake took an nap with Pixel laying in his bed at his feet.  So very glad I got the picture.

Last week, we noticed he was not walking as well as he was, and he was staying in one place for longer times.  Then, over the weekend, he stayed in only one place, just under Dean's desk, and only got up to get some water or use the box.  Then, Tuesday morning was the last time he ate something, so we called to make an appointment for Wednesday to see if we could help him.  By Wednesday afternoon, he could no longer walk, so we knew this appointment's purpose had changed.

Pixel had kidney failure, which is the number one cause of death for an old cat.  When we took him in, he laid on Dean's lap the whole way.  He tried a couple of times to get up, but wasn't able to.  We talked to the vet for a while, then discussed our options and we both felt the best thing for Pixel is to help him slip away.  At approximately 5:30 pm on May 7, 2014, at 18 years 9 months, Pixel slipped away peacefully.

Every time I took him to the vet, I would sing "You Are My Sunshine" with his name in the song.  I just couldn't do it this one last time.  He took my Pixel away.

Pixel was the best cat ever!

Pixel laying on Jake's bed while he naps

Mid March - at the vet getting a check up

Halloween 2013

I loved dressing him up for Halloween!

This was probably 2000, Castle Rock Co

in our first apartment in College Station 1996

He got his head stuck in a Kleenex box once!  Yes OF COURSE I took pictures, then helped him get out!

around 1997

Santa (aka Dean) got the Cats these little beds.  They used them probably about twice.  Buddy actually used them more when he was a puppy.

Humble, Tx about 2005

Halloween picture from 2004 - Kingwood

Halloween I believe a few years ago.  Probably 2010

He was about 4 or 5 months old here!  College Station, TX

His first Christmas Tree in College Station, 1995

He LOVED the tree and climbed it every year until we got Jack in 2001.

Not sure why that made him stop?  Jack never climbed the tree.

Castle Rock, soon after we got Jack.  Probably early 2002.  HE HATED JACK at first, was so mad at me for about 2 weeks.  He would growl and hiss at me every time I walked in the room.

College Station around 1997

He would always get into the computer box if Dean took it apart!

Gosh, I miss him so!