Saturday, June 27, 2009

Josh's B-Day Celebration

Well not so much of a celebration as a crappy way to spend your actual 30th b-day...

Josh and I had a combined 30th b-day / Graduation party on the 13th of June (my actual b-day btw) so on his actual birthday (6/26) we didn't really have anything planned. We knew he would be home from the hospital but I didn't have a cake or ice cream and we weren't really prepared to have anyone over to the house. Josh's mom brought over a Brownie with cream cheese frosting and we cut him a slice and added candles. I know it's lame but we didn't even have enough money (still don't) to buy him a small cake or anything. So here's his b-day pictures...

(I don't know why it underlined all that...and I don't know how to fix it...)


Daddy tried to help

Josh tried to help by clipping Dani's nails...he accidentally got a big chunk of Dani's thumb :o( We tried to just put a bandaid on it but she kept biting it off, so we had to do a huge bandage she wouldn't be able to pull off. Yes that's blood on her shirt, we couldn't get it to stop bleeding my poor, poor baby!!!!

****Viewer Discretion is Advised!****

Ok - so I've been told people are actually following this blog for Josh's information...and I need to update.

It's been a while because well there is a lot going on, with Josh home there is so much to do to keep kids under control and of course the bathroom is still being worked on. Here's the update...We got home on Sunday. He's been in a lot of pain, but if he keeps on the schedule of pain medication it's not so bad. He is on 20mg of Oxycontin 2 times a day and 10mg of Percocet every 4-6 hours as needed...and it is NEEDED.

Monday and Wednesday I took the kids to the YMCA for a couple of hours to give Josh a break, and myself. I didn't think Josh being home would throw off our schedule so badly but it did, we're trying to figure out what will work while he's home.

On Thursday Josh had his first post operative surgery with Dr. Horton (the devil himself). His appointment was at 8:45am, we were the second people in the waiting room. We dropped the kids off with Andrea around 8am. The waiting room slowly started filling up, until there were no seats left and people on crutches and in braces were standing in the halls, it was ridiculous. We met the Workman's Comp. Nurse that will be following Josh's case, her name is Vicki and she was pretty nice.

We finally got into a room (after I complained) at 10am. A nurse came in and started putting on gloves and getting out the staple remover kit...Josh and I looked at each other and I asked her if she was planning on taking the staples out and she said Yes...then we informed her that it had only been 6 days since his surgery...she looked at us funny then said, oh yea we don't want to take them out just yet. COME ON people don't you read the charts?? We would come to find out, they don't.

Josh had heard from Carlos the representative from the company that makes the rod that the Dr. had set it for 6cm, Josh leg only needs to be lengthened 3.6cm!! While we were waiting Josh asked to see a copy of the Operative report, sure enough it says, "the patients length discrepancy is believed to be 6am..." Josh was furious. He's studied this surgery for over 3 years (that's how long we've fought Workman's Comp. to get the surgery for Josh, first they wouldn't approve it saying it was cosmetic and then we told them we didn't want Horton because he was an ankle specialist and had never done one of these surgeries before) so he knows what is supposed to happen when and what "proper procedure" is. He asked Dr. Horton, why was this set for 6cm? Dr. Horton got defensive and said we'd just take a look at the X-Rays and see what was going on. He left the room and Josh went back for X-Rays.

The X-Rays indeed showed that Josh had already lengthened about 12mm. That is a little much considering the ideal situation is 1mm a day and we were 6 days out. The Dr. said he wanted Josh to not exercise at all and now since the monitor wasn't working he has to go back every week to check the length. Josh knew that if the leg wasn't exercised at all for more than 3 days there is a possibility that the bone could grow back and that it won't lengthen anymore. When he tried to ask the Dr. about this the Dr. just basically said I'm the Dr. listen to me.

Then Vicki tried to ask why the rod was set for 6cm and the Dr. basically snapped that this is more of an art than a science and that we would just have to watch the x-rays and when Josh felt like his leg was long enough he would do ANOTHER SURGERY and pull the rod out and replace it with what he called a 'walking rod.' From Josh's research he found that the rod should stop lengthening at the amount set and then you wait for the bone to heal completely before the patient has the OPTION of having the rod removed.

I know you're thinking medical malpractice...we are too! We had our lawyer over that day to talk to him about all of this. He said it depends on the actual outcome, if the Dr. can fix his mistake (although he won't admit he made one) then we don't have a case. Both Josh and I are upset because it means another surgery in 3-4 weeks we were not planning and a longer recovery time. I just hope he's able to walk by the time the baby gets here in late Oct. or early Nov.

The whole office was mismanaged, it was horrible. I ended up cursing at the scheduling person because she snapped at me and I was so upset by everything (we won't get into that story...let's just say it wasn't pretty). I was actually shaking when we left the office because I was so mad.

Needless to say Josh is pretty upset, but at this point we have to take it day by day. Give him a call, send a card, just let him know he's in your prayers.

I'll update next Thursday with what ends up happening that day, unless something major happens between now and then.

Waiting for the Dr. to come in on Thursday 6/25/09 - our appt. time was 8:45am we didn't get put in a room until 10am!!
Apparently the Morphine Josh was given in the hospital made him itch - he did this in his sleep...yuckyThis is a picture of his whole leg - This is the first time I saw it on Wednesday when he was able to finally get down to take a shower. The bathroom remodel upstairs was supposed to be done before he got home from the hospital, they're still working on it...hopefully only a couple more days. ******NO Josh is not using the toliet in this picture, the lid was down...geez people...he can't stand very long and he was getting tired of me taking pictures while I should have been helping him get dressed and back upstairs, he just had to sit on something and the easiest thing was the toliet*******
Lower Scar - a little blurry I apologize

Upper Scar
Another angle of the upper scar

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Overwhelmed - in short supply of patience!

Well it's only been 2 days since Josh has gotten home and I'd have to say that it's a little bit overwhelming. We cleaned the house really good expecting to not be able to do it as often and it's a mess in only 2 days...I guess we didn't realize how much the kids destroy!

I'm also tired, and in short supply of patience, so that's a daily prayer of mine. Luke is jumping off the walls most of the time and last night he woke up at 1:30am and wouldn't go back to bed. Josh I think has way less patience than I've acquired over the last couple of years staying home and he had about enough today with Luke climbing his walker and Dani just complaining every time her brother looked at her wrong. He asked me what the heck was wrong with the kids and I told him this is pretty normal. He then asked why I wasn't begging to go back to work! LOL

Today was a little rough, I had morning sickness hit me I think because I had to get up with Luke and I was pretty tried. So I did have to lock myself in the bedroom for about half an hour and get over being sick so I could function....meanwhile praying the kids could take care of themselves because I knew Josh would fall asleep on the couch! I know he's on medicine and I know it makes him sleepy (combined with lack of sleep with Luke) but it's a little frustrating when I'm trying to talk to him (in a conversation he initiated btw) and his eyes are rolling in the back of his head.

Thankfully the church has set up meals for a week and tonight Lisa Creek is bringing us dinner. She's also offered to watch the kids all day for 5 days over the next month, which will be quite helpful with Dr's appointments. I also hope my mom will take the kids either on Fridays or Saturdays for the next month...but we'll see if she agrees to that or not. I hope she sees that it's an emergency kind of thing, and not as though we're taking advantage of her.

OK...well that's it for now. Lisa just dropped off dinner yeah...smells good and it's warm so I'm going to have a bowl :o)

Dinner!

Thanks to the Slayton's for bringing Dinner to us Monday night :o)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Josh is HOME!

Josh was released from the hospital around 1:45pm today! WOO HOO...sort of.

Danny & Jeannie came over and watched the kids, who miraculous decided to both take a nap at the same time today! It's pretty rare that Luke takes a nap at all. I got to the hospital and shortly afterwards they came down with Josh, we put him in the back seat pushed all the way back and the front passenger seat moved all the way forward...it's times like these that having a minivan with a huge sliding door is a really, really great thing. He was able to get in without any problems. Josh was pretty much dozing off the entire ride home, he's on a lot of medication. He would fall asleep then wake up yelling, "What, where are we, what's going on..." It was rather disturbing actually.

We dropped off his prescription at Walgreen's at Sterling & 23rd. I drove the van up to the door and helped Josh get up the stairs and inside...it will take some upper arm strength to do that better in the future (can't wait for 'handicap arms'!) I got Josh all set up and then had to go back to Walgreen's to give them the workman's compensation prescription card that we were sent a couple of years ago. We figured it would be great, it's supposed to take care of all our medications...well turns out they don't have Josh in the system! I couldn't believe it because they were the ones that set up this surgery, didn't they KNOW he would need pain killers??!! So stupid. Anyway it was a fight with Walgreen's and a nasty mean pharmacist that didn't know what she was doing. I even asked if we could just get one day's worth of pills until we could call workman's comp in the morning and she said no. I said my husband just had major surgery and if I didn't get him something for the pain then I might as well take him to the ER, the BEEP had the nerve to say, "well maybe that's the best choice." NO BEEP it's not the best choice, the best choice is for you to let me pay for ONE day's worth of pills, that's like 5 pills lady, give me a break. Then after we got everything figure out (not great for us, but it would work - we had to pay out of pocket then be reimbursed tomorrow) she said, "Well let me check to see if we have these in stock." I was shocked, what an idiot to be fighting with me about how to pay for these prescriptions if you don't even have them in stock! I was so mad. I asked her to call another Walgreen's and took my prescriptions and left. I got them filled at another Walgreen's but now that I think of it I should have just gone to CVS.

Josh is now resting on the couch with ice cream, his throat is still sore from the breathing tube. He talks funny and they even took off a chunk of his lip when they pulled off the tape so that's bothering him. I haven't seen the scars yet, I don't know if/when I'm supposed to change his bandage or anything. We have a doctor's appointment on Thursday so maybe they will do it then...and give us lots of bandages.

Ok, just wanted to update you all. I have to go fix the bed, Josh is tired, so am I. If I can convince Luke to go to bed I think we'll all crash at 8pm!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Food Storage Giveaway

Can't Beat FREE Stuff!
I recieved my LDS Living email today and what was in it...a GIVEAWAY!

Entry #4 means i have to blog about this website:http://www.shelfreliance.com/blog/?p=104&cpage=28#comment-1473

Hospital Visit

We went to the hospital to see Josh today. He looks good, but is still falling asleep at the drop of a hat. The kids liked climbing all over his bed...but what can you say it does look like a jungle gym! We could only stay for an hour, that's pretty much the limit with small children, they got bored.

Josh should be home tomorrow, yea! The bed is super comfortable without him (we have a crappy bed that when he's in it, it makes me roll toward him and I hate that) but I miss him just the same.

I still don't have pictures, I can't seem to find my camera's battery charger!! That sucks so bad.

Hospital Update

Josh has moved to room 4309.2 (with a roommate).

Phone number is (913) 588 4337

As it is a shared room there is a cut off on visiting hours. Please plan to leave around 8 pm but you can come in as early as 7am. You can also call Josh on his cell phone (816) 616 6342.

Friday, June 19, 2009

QUICK Play by Play :o)

While I waited I wrote out a nice long detailed description of what was happening...but the hospitals Internet connection sucked and I wasn't able to upload it...I also forgot to put it on a thumb drive to bring back home, so I thought I would do a quick play by play and you'll get all the little details later :o) I also forgot the camera so I'll take pictures tomorrow as well.

Hospital - 5am
Check In - 5:15am
Took Josh back 5:20am
Brought Trish Back to be with Josh 6:30am
Had to do 5 tries to get an IV in :o(
Surgery started 7:30am
Told surgery would only take 1 1/2 - 2 hours
Surgery ended at 11:15am - complications getting old hardware out of his leg
Room 1503 by 1:30pm
Lots of pain medication...falling asleep in the middle of talking to me
I had to go home to kiddos by 4pm

If you want to call him just dial 913-588 (I don't want to put a whole # up because of "spy ware or whatever) then his room number. He's still really groggy so don't feel bad if he falls asleep on the phone with you.

If you want to visit him here are the directions: find your own way to the hospital 3900 Rainbow Blvd, KCKS, use whatever map software you like http://www.mapquest.com/. Then go to the main entrance and up the escalator on the right. Turn right and go down that hallway, look for the blue sign that says something like "patient visitor rooms 1501-15..." then turn Left down that hallway. Josh's room 1503 is all the way down at the very end of that hallway.

His room is TINY and doesn't have a bathroom (weird toilet comes out from below his sink...kind of gross if you ask me) and they only have 1 chair in there. I guess he got the "crap room" that they give people that are only staying a couple of days. We expect him to get out of the hospital by Sunday evening, or sooner if his pain is under control...but he's not wanting to jump the gun this time he's done it in the past and regretted it.

I'll post more tomorrow.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Touching Story

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm. We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Josh's Surgery

Josh is scheduled for surgery on Friday at KUMC. He's getting the hardware in his leg taken out and they are putting in an ISKD that will lengthen out his leg so that he doesn't have to wear the leg lifts anymore.

Both Josh and I are excited, but it will be a long road and very painful for Josh. I'll have to step up and do everything around the house and I'm hoping the stress and the pure work of it all won't be too much for me being 20 weeks pregnant...hopefully he'll be able to start helping with the kids and house again before too long.

We thought about waiting until after the baby for this surgery, but there's never a good time and it will be nice when he can finally walk without shoes and not kill his back.

Call us on Friday night or Saturday or stay tuned to this blog I'll post pictures (I have pictures from every single surgery...that's the dork photographer I am :o)

Remodel started

We've traded some stuff with a couple of professionals to remodel the bathroom upstairs to put in a shower!!! FINALLY! I'm excited, but it's hard to keep the kids at bay when there is so much excitement happening.

We're in the backroom right now watching TV and playing until bedtime...hopefully soon!

I'll post pictures when it's all done...we've estimated the cost of the bathroom (both remodels) is going to be around 5k...but it should be totally worth it when it's done. I was able to talk Josh into getting a whirlpool tub with the heat option so it will always stay warm when you take a bath at our house! I'm really excited about the tub and think during labor it will be the place I'll want to hang out the most :o)

Sunday, June 7, 2009

THANKS!

Thank you to everyone who attended or donated for my Mother-In-Law's benefit dinner. We were able to raise $5,211.00 WOOHOO! I am so grateful for wonderful friends and family. I know that Jeannie will make it though this and we will be a closer family because of it.

I bid on a few things and wanted to tell you about them.

The first thing was a mural from a friend of mine Gina Wheeler. I was so excited when she decided to donate it and I was bound and determined to win it! LOL...I had a bit of a bidding war, but I ended up winning it...yea! I am excited to finally get Luke & Dani's room professional done...I'll post pictures when it's finished.

Josh bid on a meat and cheese tray! LOL...what he needs a $45 meat and cheese tray for I don't know...we're still trying to figure out what to do with it because we need to call the grocery store a day in advance and then pick it up in RICH HILL! It's a hour and a half away from where we live...so we really really want to have meat and cheese when we order that.

Another thing I was super excited to bid on and win were 2 dolls made by Veda Hess, that's Jeannie's mom. She passed away when Josh was on his mission. I have seen and heard stories about these dolls so when I saw them there I was super excited. I will always treasure them and be able to pass them along to Dani and any other girls I have. I am very sentimental when it comes to things that family members have made, it's our heritage and needs to be passed down.

I also bid on a $100 gift certificate for a make up application from a good friend of mine up here, Amanda Plattner. I wasn't going to because honestly I don't know when I will use it, but it wasn't being bid up as much as I would have liked...so I bid it up...and won it! LOL... now I guess I'll have to figure out when I'm going to do that.

I did win the lighthouse Scentsy warmer, which will go along with my nautical bathroom so that was pretty cool too. Shawn Harwood donated that.

Overall I'm so grateful for my wonderful friends that donated items, or their time and talents. It's tough times like these that make it all the more apparent. It's easy to give when you have plenty and harder when things are tough. I know our family has tightened our pocket strings and buckled down, it would have been easy to keep the money we brought and made our next couple of days waiting for Josh's check a bit easier, but we love Jeannie and want to help in any way we can. We can live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while, but the blessing of last night's event will warm our hearts for a long time.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Baby Names

Well I think I'm pretty much in love with the name Zackery Scott. Josh is convinced it's going to be Jonas, but I want to get Scott in there and I don't really think Jonas Scott sounds that great together. From what I've been told Zackery Scott was an actor in the 40's that my Grandma said was, "pretty good looking from what I remember." I'll let you be the judge:



For a girl we've always talked about Julianna, but now Josh threw out Alexandria and that's growing on me too...but I don't want to keep having kids to get my name in ... lol ...

Luke Lost

Why oh why must my boy give me a heart attack??

Luke was being really quite so I decided to figure out what he was getting into. I went into the living room...not there...His bedroom...not there...My bedroom...not there...and it was about this time that I notice the front door is open...not uncommon I like to leave it open to let in light. But the problem is that Luke can get out of that door and I'm always on alert if I hear it close, but with the window AC going in the back room I can't hear much of anything in the summer. Well I start to freak out that Luke has decided to adventure outside...FREAK OUT TIME...I'm outside looking for him and then I remember another time he's done this to Josh and I and was asleep under the kitchen table. So I decided before I call Josh and the Police I will do an inch by inch search of the house one more time. I check his bedroom, closet and all...no Luke. I check the living room, under the dresser, behind the couch...no Luke. I almost decide he's not in my room because the TV isn't on and that's usually the case...but I go in there and check the closet, the bathroom, the floors...then I decided to take the pillows off the bed...THERE HE IS! He's curled up under all our pillows asleep on our bed...LUKE I COULD BEAT YOU...if I wasn't so thankful you didn't wonder outside (guess once in a while he listens). I called Josh...we really, really need some sort of lock on the doors so I don't have to go through this again.