Not broken..

Jeff just called, her nose isn't broken, she just has a contusion (basically just bruised)... It's swollen, turning blue etc.. but not broken... Thankfully... They'll be home soon.....

Trip was OK

Ok, so I've been asked to make a much needed update! I made the rushed trip up to MI to attend my grandfathers service. We left here on Sunday afternoon driving all night and arriving there on Monday. His service was Monday at 1:30, and then we had a big dinner at my uncles house afterwards. Then we left MI Wed. around 6Am to drive back home. There were about 100 of us there for dinner I suppose.. Maybe less. it was a good time.. But let me say this was a reminder as to why I moved out of MI. Lets just say I have some family members that just can't seem to grow up and be adults... But it was good to see most of those in my family...

Jeff is at the ER now with Aleena. Today after church she went home with our Pastor to spend some time on his farm, and was riding there horse along with his son Luke, and they got bucked off. We think she may have broken her nose. :-(

I'll keep you all posted.

OH... A great blessing.. We have 2 cars again!!! I truly have some angels in my life right now and feel blessed beyond words for the people that surround me today. Thank you all so much for always being there for me.

Going to MI

My grandfather is having a service now. Not a full service, but a family visitation and gathering. So my sister and I along with a few other relatives are loading up and heading up there in a few hours. I'll be back late Wednesday night.

So tired!!

After getting the phone call from my mom at 2:30 this morning I ended up staying up until 5 this morning. We had 2 games today as well. I've talked to several people in MI and they all seem to be doing pretty good. I found out a bit ago that they are in fact having a family visitation. No funeral service, just a time for family to get together up there. SO now I'm trying to figure out how to get up there. I could get an emergency ticket up there but can only really afford 1/2 of the amount. My sister is going to see if we can get some others from down here to maybe carpool and get up there, and just pitch in on gas. If that's the case we'll need to leave tomorrow. I just don't know how much it'll cost and if others can even take off and go up there. We'll see....

My Grandpa in March of 2006
My Grandpa in May of 2007

If you look at the above pictures you can see how swollen his neck is. He had Lymphoma, and all of his lymph nodes were filled with tumors. You can see the bandage on one side where one was removed. They were huge and took up his entire neck, and were in other areas all across his body.

May 5th, 1923 - September 15th, 2007

My mom just called me to say that my grandpa just passed away. Thank you all so much for your prayers. I'll post an update later..

((HUGS))

Still here...

My grandpa is still hanging on, but not for long. My mom and Aunt are getting on a plane in a few hours and I pray they can get there in time. He's in a coma right now, his liver is shutting down. The nurse said she's suprised he's still alive, that he must be waiting on something. I'll keep you all posted..

thanks..

More prayers..

I seem to have you all flooding the heavens with prayers for me.

My Grandpa as you know was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago as well. Hospice is with him now and they don't expect him to make it through the night. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers...

I don't know if I'll be making a trip up or not. Hes asked for no funeral or services, and to just be cremated. His ashes will be buried between his mom and dad I think.

My grandma is home, and still very weak. She just fell a bit ago scratching herself up some.

Thanks.

A year already??

Friday was Joseph Rogers "birthday"... It was a year ago Friday that Jeff adopted Joey. In some ways it seems it was just yesterday I was stressed and worried, and in other ways, it seems it's always been this way!! And my baby, well 13 yr old baby, has his first "job". He'll be a soccer referee this season. He took his classes this weekend and passed the test last night. So this week we'll be buying his jerseys and other gear, and hopefully get him started next weekend. He's really excited!!! It pays well too. $14/game, and he'll be working 3 games a Saturday! So that's $52 a weekend! For 13, that's a fortune.

Here's a picture my aunt took of my Gma yesterday and sent to me via cell phone. She's got her NG tube out!! That's great news!!!

Out of ICU

My grandma got moved to a regular room last night, she passed gas!!!! WOOHOO that is awesome! My aunt just text messaged me a picture of her and from the picture it appears her NG tube is out!!! So I'm assuming they'll be starting her on a clear diet soon, and slowly work in food... All of her vitals have been good, no fever etc...

Here we go again..

We're back down to 1 car... I so don't know what the f*$& we're going to do.....

She's in ICU!!

Surgery went well. She had scar tissue wrapped all around her small intestine that was decompressing it and not allowing anything to go through. DR said it went well. She's in ICU now and we are hoping to see her soon. Still keep praying. She's at risk for many things to go wrong still. I'll keep you posted. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. They worked..

((HUGS))

Waiting is the hard part....

They pulled her back 2 hrs ago and still no word.

Pray Pray Pray!!

My grandmother is having surgery in the AM. Her DR reminded her today that she might not make it through this surgery, but she knows if she doesn't do it, she won't make it. So please pray that everything turns out OK. And for our strength as a family! I'm taking off tomorrow and will be at the hospital, and bringing my laptop to hopefully read some emails and make updates as I can. I took the kids to see her today and spent over an hour with her. She was trying to show my kids how to do the Charleston Dance. They inserted a PIC Line to feed her and load her up on Insulin. Please keep us all in your thoughts...

Creating Memories...

Today was a great day!! I walked in the room again to find my Grandma sitting up in the chair. So we of course took it as a great time to take pictures. :-) You can view them here



http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7n1mbgn.4kqmp8dz&x=1&y=8yi1cs



We are still waiting! Today she passed gas, and we all shouted with joy!! :-) So keep praying that it just opens up. The Surgeon will be coming back in tomorrow to talk with us. I'll keep you all posted..



I can't belive this 3 day weekend has already come and gone! Jeff's at work right now at his part time job. I've been so busy with the hospital and relatives in town, I've neglected my house, husband and the boys. Aleena hasn't left my side all weekend. The boys are doing well though, Jeff's done a ton of things around the house; he's such a great partner to have when it comes to going through things like this...

Just wait and see..

I started this post last night but my PC crashed so here I am again this AM doing it. My grandma had some tests run on her colon and after several people looked at it they came in to talk to us. She has an obstruction about 1/2 way through her colon. They can't tell what kind of obstruction this is without going in and looking at it. She's not a candidate for any kind of major surgery. They are still hoping that the blockage might be some kind of stool or something there that might work it's way down. There's a small chance it might be a tumor, it could be a decompressed colon. For now, we just wait. They are going to keep her off of pain medicines for 3-4 more days and see if the blockage moves on its own. After that, family will need to discuss with her what she wants to do next. they could do it Laproscopically (spelling?? I don't have time to check that out), which would be less invasive, but still risky. they don't know even doing it that way, if it'll work. She's just got so many things going against her right now; Asthma, COPD, Diabetes, Pancreatic Cancer, Chemo, Radiation, etc.... She doesn't want to do anything that's going to lead to a colostemy (sp? again?) bag. And we'll all respect her decision. without it being fixed she can't eat, drink etc. He colon can't process anything. Below are some pictures.

Aleena rubbing Grandma's Shoulder
My cousins Amy and Regina, and Aleena making a picture board for GMA's Room
Aleena with my Aunt Becky from MI
Aleena with my Uncle Keith and Keith JR from MI
After the hospital we went to Jeff's parents to sort meds, and here is Aleena taking care of her PaPa by shaving his face. She truley adores this man. She's in his lap every second she gets.

Please keep Aleena in your thoughts and prayers. She's persistant she wants to hang out at the hospital with me now, which means she's involved in some pretty tough conversations at times. She's taking it well, but anytime she sees an adult crying, she starts crying with us. She understands what's going on, and as with all of us, it's hard to absorb. And please don't flame me for bringing my baby girl with me. Yes she's young, only 9, but this is something she's wanting to do, and sadly what we are dealing with is life. I've always been honest with my kids in things that are going on and not sugar coat things too much. I'm glad that she's able to spend all of this time with my Grandma now, while we can.

Thanks.
Carrie

1st day of school

Here are some pictures of the kids on there 1st day of school

Aleena pouting because Joey needed to leave to catch his bus
Aleena and Peyton ready to head out the door
Daddy wetting Peyton's hair down
Peyton with his teacher Ms. Hammonds

Happy Birthday Jeff..

Jeff's birthday was over a week ago, so I thought it was about time I put some pictures from our day on here. It was also the 1st day of school; my grandma was in the hospital, we had to work etc. So it was a rushed day to say the least.

Dad with his Sticker on his head
Jeff reading his card from me..
Aleena made brownies for Dad
Huff and Puff and blow that candle out.

He likes to think he's still 29, but add 10 more years to that and that's how old he really is. :-)

It overall was a great day... Love you honey!

Personal DNA

about you
You are an Analyst
Your attention to detail, confidence, sense of order, and focus on functionality combine to make you an ANALYST.
You are very curious about how things work, delving into the mechanics behind things.
Along those lines, how well something works is usually more important to you than what it looks like.
You find beauty and wonder mainly in concrete, functional, earthly things.
You are very aware of your own abilities, and you believe that you will find the best way of doing things.
Accordingly, problems do not intimidate you, as you believe in yourself.
You trust yourself to find solutions within the boundaries of your knowledge.
You don't spend a lot of time imagining how things could be different—you're well-grounded in the here-and-now.
It is important for you to follow a routine, and you prefer the familiar to the unknown.
You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.


If you want to be different:

Try to embrace the imaginative, creative part of your personality more often.

Try moving beyond the things that you find comfortable—open yourself up to a broader range of experiences.


how you relate to others
You are Encouraging

Your outgoing nature, understanding of others, and directness make you ENCOURAGING.
You want others to do well for themselves, and you generally believe in their abilities.
You often know what's good for people because of your caring nature and your worldview.
When you care about someone, you don't keep it to yourself: you are good at letting people know that you're thinking of them.
Because you trust people, you take violations of that trust very seriously.
You thrive in social situations, and even though you know who you like and who you don't like, you can interact well with many different types of people.
You have a healthy respect for people who have earned what they have, and you strive to be similar to successful others.
You are a loyal friend and a good listener.


If you want to be different:

Sometimes, in the course of being encouraging, you can be a bit judgmental—this can make it more difficult for others to follow your advice.

While you are an expert at getting the most out of the world and taking advantage of many experiences, you might gain some insight by taking the time to be alone, reflect on things, or just observe the goings-on in the world.

On again off Again

Yesterday I was so excited when I received a phone call that my Grandma's colon had decided to "join the party"... They removed the NG tube last night and she was doing well. Last night some nurse decided it was a good idea to give her 2 morphine tablets!! HELLO can you not tell from her chart she has ILEUS.. Pain medicines shut her down, DON'T give it to her... A big oops on the nurse for not paying attention, but it was to late. She threw up all morning and begged for the NG tube to be put back in. I didn't go see her yesterday knowing she had a ton of visitors around. But when I went up there to see her today it broke my heart. She looks miserable all over again. What happened to my alert grandmother I had just seen 2 days earlier? She's not in as much pain as she was a few days ago, but just doesn't look well. SO, we now have to let her colon relax again, and try to wean her off of her NG tube and VERY slowly wean her back on to food. It's been almost 2 wks, she's exhausted..
There were many tears shed again today. I have family in town from Michigan and they haven't seen her in over a year. She looks really bad to them I'm sure. We've watched her decline over time, but for them it was a big shock I think. My grandmother is truly the true matriarch over our family. It's hard to describe how pure and great this woman is. She doesn't have an ounce of bad spirit in her. She is just remarkable and great. She has 13 kids, and about 80 grand and great grand kids; we've always said that the day something happens to her, there were be many tears shed. We all know she won't be here forever. Just noone wants to let her go. If it means pain over going, I'll choose going obviously.. But she's ONLY 76... I remember when I was 10-11 yrs old I would have thought 60 was ancient. The older I get, the older old gets. 76 just seems so young. Her step mom (and aunt, I'll explain that later) is going to be I believe 88 in November.
Her kids Becky, Keith and Susan arrived last night, along with Becky's daughter Amy and Keiths son Keith JR. Tonight my cousin Jennifer and her daughter Makayia, and Jennifers sister Regina are coming in from MI. She'll have several people to visit her, and I know she's enjoying it, although she's tired.
Tonight she'd just glance over at one of us and give the hugest smile. I told her I was cold and I was going to climb in bed with her. shortly after I lied next to her in bed, and she pulled her hand out of under the blankets and began rubbing my back and touching my hair. I immediately broke down in tears and had to step away. I've been an emotional wreck all night.. It's been hard.. I know it's only going to get harder.
So you all pray for poop!! Pray that her colon starts working, that she doesn't get an infection, and that she can go home and restart chemo to keep her cancer at bay. I have a photographer that's willing to come out and take pictures of her as soon as we get her home and she's feeling up to it.
I'll keep you all posted. ((HUGS)) Thanks for all of your prayers.

Why I love my husband!!

He's such a goofball sometimes.. And other times can be the sweetest man. He's always been romantic, nurturing and just loving... He's a great father... We've had our problems but I truly do love him, and am so glad that things are looking up for us.. Well this morning I told him I wanted to eat chicken spaghetti for dinner and he asks me if I'm going to cook it. I said I didn't know how that he could.. So he sends me the following msg...

you boil noodles
kiss your husband
you boil chicken
hug your husband
you drain the noodles
play with your husband
you cut up chicken it bite size pieces
you nibble your husbands ear
you mix noodles and chicken together
you kiss your husband again
you open cream of soup cans
you diddle with your husband
you mix the soups with the noodles and chicken
you play with your husband
you pour in cheese with the other mixture
you drive your husband crazy
you pour chicken skitti in bowls
you kiss your husband again somewhere
you eat
we go to bed!!!

Pretty simple really don't forget the onion

He's such a nut!! But I love him..