Give 'Em Grandchildren

So Mom and Dad were on their own for Friday, but Saturday we got down to their home by 12:30! We needed to go down anyways Sunday morning to pick up Moe, so we just went down early to visit the grandparents! Here are some pictures I caught of the kids with Grandma:

Kenya and Grandma:

Naomi and Grandma:

Micah and Grandma being silly together:

We didn't come just for pleasure, we put them to WORK!!







WE LOVE YOU!!

Double Trouble

Angela here. I ended up leaving SLC around 1:20 on Thursday in the afternoon. I didn't have time to do a post before leaving. That day was a busy one. Dad and I left the house by 7:30 AM to have two of Dad's wisdom teeth pulled. We returned by 9:30 AM!! I couldn't believe how fast it was! Even though it was just a local, meaning they didn't put him under, it was still super fast. I felt so bad leaving both of my parents: Dad just getting his wisdom teeth pulled, and Mom fresh surgery!! Mom assured me that they would be fine. Above is a picture of my crippled parents!! The rest of the day was spent running errands to get them all settled with meds, things from the grocery store, an errand to the post office, etc and then getting "some" cleaning done. Good thing they had each other, and they did survive :)

Post-op Day 3

Last night did not go as smoothly as the night before, Mom did not sleep well because of the pain. I ended up giving Mom her pain medication along with the anti-nausea around 9ish and got her and Dad settled into bed. Well around 12:30 last mom woke me up as she was headed to the restroom, saying she was having A LOT of pain. For some reason this surgery the pain has been more intense, she's described it as a burning sensation. She did have one more incision with a bone worked on that I wasn't aware of before, I guess one more thing makes all the difference...So I first gave her a roll to eat and then another dose of the oxycodone, but not the phenergan (anti-nausea), because it wasn't time yet for that. Thank-goodness it all went smoothly with no nausea. Then I think it was around 6:30 she called to me as I was checking on her, saying it was really hurting again. I wanted to get some breakfast in her first, but she didn't want to wait for that, so I gave her some Tylenol (1 pill was all we had left, I need to buy some more today for her :) . That didn't cut it, so I gave her 1/2 tablet of the Norco that she had left over from her previous surgery with her breakfast a little while later. Still didn't cut it, and after getting her settled in the chair, she said her pain level was around an 7-8 out of ten! She didn't want to take any more, but I guess I won in this case because I ended up giving her 2 oxycodones, her baby aspirin AND the phenergan--I wanted to get on top of the pain! Well it did the trick=no pain; with extreme sleepiness being a major side-effect. That's okay, because she needs to be resting anyways. I've been watching her closely making sure her respirations are up to speed like they should be, and all is well in that area. I'm glad we were able to get her pain back under control, even if I had to zonker her! I've learned through nursing that being free of pain is a crucial aspect of the healing process. So now she rests. She's been so sweet through it all, always telling me thank-you and how much she appreciates me doing this. I couldn't have asked for a better patient...

UPDATE (11:30): Just got back from the grocery store, running errands. It was good because it gave both Mom and Dad some uninterrupted sleep! Also, I stand corrected! Mom said that I had gotten up one more time with her during the night, I think it was around 3 or 4 in the morning. It was a busy night, I think I was trying to block it all out, LOL!

Dad came home early from the mission, around 10 AM, because he isn't feeling well, guess I'll have two to take care of now! :) Hopefully he starts feeling better because I'm suppossed to take him in tomorrow to have three wisdom teeth pulled that Mom set up AND I'm supposed to go back home tomorrow! Busy, busy!

Post-op Day 2

Last night I got mom to bed and settled, around 9:30, but wanted to wait until 11PM to give her the pain pill so that she could take the phenergan (anti-nausea) with it (the phenergan wasn't due till then. ) I gave her the option of taking the tylenol around 9 but she said that she really wasn't feeling any pain. At 11 it was the same thing, and so mom went the WHOLE NIGHT without any pain medication and slept great! This morning though when she got up to use the restroom around 7:30, the pain was severe. We were able to get it under control with two pain pills, instead of the usual one along with the anti-nausea medication and aspirin. About three hours later I gave her Tylenol to take the edge off, and around 2 we will give the big stuff again :)

Mom said the pain seems stronger this time, so we are trying to stay on top of it. Also, the way the cast was cut this time was lower, so it has been digging into her toes, so I tucked some cotton balls under her toes (you might be able to tell in the picture), to help and she said that made a big difference. Also the area she feels the pain this time is different, and weird considering it isn't at the surgical site, it's at the base of her leg on the top! I'm trying to keep her foot elevated and ice off and on 20 minutes at a time. It's been great to be able to give back this time, since Mom has given so much to me mutiple times throughout my life. I've found the time relaxing, satisfying, and wonderful to be able to sit with Mom and just chat and have some heart to heart. I love my mom! She is an amazing spiritual giant and such a strong example to me!

Below is a side by side picture of Mom's feet and legs to show how she will look in a few! Dr. Morgan when he looked at her left foot yesterday said that her foot was still a little swollen, but that was to be expected and normal. Mom is just as cheerful and go-getter as ever! I've had to remind her several times to just take it easy, that I'm here to help her while she recovers. It has been a great honor to be able to do this for my angel mother. Now I need to leave to get her some vegetable soup, a roll and juice! Till the next update...

Even having surgery won't keep Mom down!! Here's a video of her after lunch cracking some walnuts she got from Aunt Coleen! (She doesn't know I'm video-taping her by the way...)

Day of Surgery

After checking Mom in (9:45) , get this, the lady didn't even CHECK her pictured ID!! Imagine that and all the stress over finding it :) I think the lady just forgot because there was a plaque there saying to make sure you had your picture ID with you when checking in. We did all of the pre-op stuff and waited a very long time. They were supposed to take her back at 11:20, but they didn't actually take her back till around noon.

After the surgery was completed, Dr. Morgan came out to talk with me and said that Mom did really well and that the surgery went great! She will have the same type of recovery as last time. Then I went to the recovery waiting area and at the very end they let me back to be with Mom. I have to say I was a little dissapointed. I wanted to see Mom silly and all, but she was pretty with it, just tired. They said that she couldn't sign any legal documents today, oh man! I wanted to help her put together her living will today with me as the main beneficiary LOL! Mom was released from the hospital at 2:45, we went straight to pick up her medications and then home. We got home around 3:40 and Dad had gotten home early from the mission to see Mom. He was a real sweetheart and drove the automatic wheelchair out to get Mom from the car.

Once at home, Mom just wanted to sleep! Imagine that :) Around 4:40 I got some vegetable soup, bread and juice for her and then at 5 PM we started her oxycodone, baby aspirin, and phenergan. I have to tell you that I was a little nervous because last time she got really nauseated and had a lot vomitting with the medication. So far so good....She's just extremely tired, she says more so than last time, and she says that the pain has returned a lot quicker than last time.

I took pictures at the hospital, but forgot to put the memory card back into the camera and Mom doesn't have the cable to upload the pictures! Hopefully down the road it will happen...

After we got home though I put the memory card back in and took these pictures/videos, enjoy!

(Above) Here's Mom's foot after getting home.

Below: Mom being silly showing how tired she is. Above her pretty smile in spite of being exhausted :)

Below: The x-ray Dr. Morgan took after the surgery.

The next video is of Mom showing off her crutches skills.

Will the surgery really happen?

This is going to be a super quick entry since we need to be leaving soon...BTW this is Angela using my mom's blogger account to keep everyone updated on Mom's status with her surgery. We will be checking into Tosh Othropedic Specialty hospital this morning at 9:45, so if you read this in a timely manner, please keep Mom in your prayers! She will be having surgery on her right foot. I will do my best to update as we go.

I flew in last night from Idaho (we had been camping up near Alturas Lake), and Mom and Dad picked me up at the airport around 7:15. Mom was feeling stressed because she couldn't find her purse and they said that when she checks in today she needs a picture ID. So when we got to their home, Mom and I set off on a mission to find either her purse or passport!

We looked for quite awhile but to no avail. We even called all of the siblings that had been in Mom's place recently to see if they had accidently taken the purse home with them. Nothing. We kept looking and eventually I found her passport out on a stand that she keeps her printer on. I felt like celebrating, so Dad and I had Creamies. But the stress had taken it's toll on Mom, and she just wanted to go to bed! Thanks to all those who prayed on Mom's behalf, we still have yet to find her purse, but a picture ID we have!

Please pray for Mom and the doctors. Until the next update...