I'm baaaaack!

Wow! It's been a long time! Things have been so crazy around here for the past several months, but I think life is finally starting to settle down a bit (as much as possible with 4 kids anyway). We officially moved into our new house on December 18-without running water-and are mostly unpacked now. Our internet finally was installed on Monday and, if all goes at planned, we will have water today! What a relief that will be!
Just a couple of pictures in case you forgot what we look like :)
Hope everyone's having a great Wednesday! Be back soon!

Change of plans

Looks like I will be staying here on more day. My INR levels have not come up to where they need to be for me to go home. We're almost there, so please pray that tomorrow brings good news. I think my kids are reaching the end of their patience for having me in here-I know I am losing mine.
I don't want to go home too soon, but I am really ready to get out of this place!

Thanks for all the prayers!

Going home

The Dr. C just came in to let me know that I will be going home tomorrow. I am so excited to get out of here. There will be lots of follow-ups and tons of lifestyle changes that I am going to have to do, but it will be so nice to be able to do them at home.

Thank you all so much for the kind words and prayers! God is good!

I've started and stopped this post about ten times now and keep getting interrupted. Insulin shots, blood pressure checks, Dr.'s rounds, make for a continuous flow of people in and out of my room. That's how life goes in the hospital I guess.

I am still hanging out here at the heart hospital. I am feeling tons better, but am not yet ready to go home. The levels of blood thinning medication that I am taking have to reach therapeutic levels in my blood before I can leave. I'm still holding out hope for being discharged tomorrow but the pharmacist who came in to talk to me earlier said "if you get to go home tomorrow." I haven't seen the Dr. today yet, so I really don't know what to expect. I think he tends to make his rounds later in the evening, so it may be a while before I see him.

Dr. C gave me a clot busting drug yesterday to help break up the clots. There is a danger of bleeding with the drug, so they transferred me to the ICU yesterday morning. If I were to get injured right now, it would be very dangerous, so they are keeping me pretty still. I had to be in bed except to go to the restroom for 24 hours. That was pretty much torture for me, especially after being allowed to roam around my room freely Monday and Tuesday. So going back to having to call for help for every little thing was disappointing.
I was finally able to get up this morning around 10 and take a shower. I had to have an escort, though, so I was so happy that Daniel made it back from breakfast in time. I don't know that I could have done it with the nurse assisting me. Since I've been out of the shower, they have allowed me to sit up in the chair, which is a wonderful change. It's the little things, right?

I think the hardest part of this whole thing has been that I don't feel sick. Even on Saturday when I first went in to the ER, I didn't feel bad when I was being still. It was only when I was up and moving that I was having trouble breathing. So, sitting around in the hospital bed feels kind of silly. I absolutely hate having the poor nurses and Daniel waiting on me hand and foot for every little thing-move my bad up or down, bring me water, cover me, uncover me, etc-that I really should be doing for myself. The nurse I have today is pregnant. Her due date was yesterday. I keep thinking that I should have her get into the bed and let me take care of her instead, the poor thing.

I really felt bad Sunday and Monday when our family and friends were driving all the way here to see me and were so worried. I feel like they disrupted their lives just to come here and do nothing. I really appreciate them doing that for me, but I just feel bad that they had to take time out of their holiday weekend. If I had been in surgery or really bad shape, maybe I would feel differently. But when they got here, I was stable, talking and laughing with them.

I really do feel great right now. I'm breathing great-even when I get up and down-my blood pressures are staying in the 120's-130's, my blood sugars are coming in under 200, and I am more rested than I have been in a long time. That's why it has been so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that I am, in fact, very sick. It is a very realistic possibility that had I not gone to the ER this weekend (especially on Sunday) that I could have been gone today. A pulmonary embolism, the technical name for what I have, can cause death when not treated promptly. Wow! I can't even imagine that.

So I guess I will stay put and follow the doctor's orders for now, no matter how I may feel. I'm pretty sure my family would like for me to stick around for a little while longer at least.

Prayers my way please.

I was brought by helicopter on Sunday to Oklahoma Heart Hospital. The doctors discovered that I am suffering from multiple blood clots in both lungs. We don't really know what has caused them because I haven't traveled, had surgery, or any other of the things that usually precede this condition and because I am young. Pray that we can find the cause and find a treatment that will take care of them without causing other issues (there's a fine line between just enough blood thinner and too much and there is a chance that one of these clots could still break free which would be really dangerous for me.)

They tell me that there is a lot of waiting time when treating these clots, so I will have lots of time to update here as we learn more about what's going on. Thanks for keeping me and my family in your prayers.

Miss me???

Hey Blogging friends! I'm back! Did ya miss me?


We've had lots going on this summer. We finally finished moving out of our house in Stillwater and got everything settled here-in a storage building. We are in the process of buying a house, but it's taking more time than we expected. So, we are hanging out with family for now. We alternate staying a week with my mom and staying a week with Daniel's parents...more on that in a later post.

It's been a challenge to keep the kids busy since we've been here. Living in someone else's home and not having access to all of our things makes it hard to do the things we would do if we were at "home." We've also had some really high temps this summer, so we've been stuck inside a lot.

So, what do you do when you need to entertain four kids and it's 108 degrees outside? You make "crabby patties", of course!
First, gather your ingredients. 1 box of vanilla wafer cookies, 1 bag of peppermint patties, 1 can of vanilla frosting-half colored yellow and half colored red. Put the colored frosting into a zippie bag and snip off one corner.
Next, gather up some helpers. Here are mine.






Next, have your helpers squirt the "ketchup" and "mustard" on the bottom cookie "bun". Add the peppermint pattie for the "meat". Squirt more must and ketchup on top of the peppermint pattie and add the second cookie "bun" on top. (You can also add shredded coconut colored green for "lettuce" if you want.) Make sure you have your camera handy to capture the fun!

Let the crabby patties set until the frosting starts to harden.




These are so yummy! My kids loved them. But, I'm warning you, they are SUPER SWEET. One is more than enough. We put our leftovers into a zippie bag and had them for snacks over the next few days. The cookies got a little soft, but we liked them that way.

Now, go make some for yourself!

Goodbye Miss Mary

Yesterday, I took Landon and Sierra to our very last storytime at the library here in Stillwater. Landon and I started going just before Spring Break and we've been every Monday since.

Storytime has been so good for Landon! The routine is the same every week. As the kids walk in, they find their nametag on the wall and put it on the "who's here today" board. Miss Mary always starts with the song The More We Get Together. Next, there are always exactly four stories, each followed by a song or fingerplay. After the kids stretch and wiggle, Miss Mary turns on the filmstrip (which, the kids LOVE). When the lights come back on, it's craft time. Landon does best when he knows what's coming and the storytime routine was just perfect for him!

The first time we went to storytime, Landon had a hard time going in because he thought I was going to leave him like at school. After a time or two, though, he was walking happily in by himself and finding his name. It took about five weeks before he would participate in the songs. He usually likes to sit on my lap rather than on the floor with the other kids, but sometimes he will when there are just a few.

I wish I had a picture of Miss Mary to show you, but I forgot to take my camera with me yesterday. I will tell you, though, that she is the perfect children's librarian. Miss Mary has the most soft and gentle voice and when she reads, you can help but be drawn into the story. She's very patient with wiggly kids, but insists that they behave. Miss Mary says things like "that's wonderful" when the kids show her their artwork, and she means it. I've always thought she reminded me a little of Mrs. Doubtfire.


I think the thing that made the biggest difference at storytime for Landon is that Miss Mary always has a smile and is genuinely happy to see each child who comes in the door. Landon was so used to people expecting him to have problems with behavior. When he went to school, you could see it in the teacher's eyes that they really wished he wasn't there. Miss Mary always has a smile for Landon and when she says "I'm so happy you came to storytime today", she really means it. It makes such a difference in a child's behavior when they know that people are happy to see them.

So, goodbye Miss Mary. We will miss you!