Monday, January 26, 2009

Gillian's surgery

#2 for those of you keeping track. Life has been unbelievably busy around here and this morning we leave for the hospital in about 2 hours for Gillian to be admitted for her 2nd surgery. This is the surgery where they will create the J Pouch and then give her a loop ileostomy. The loop is somewhat different than what she has now as right now her ostomy is from the end of her small instesting and they are going to move that down and connect it to her rectum, creating a J Pouch. Then they will pull up a loop of her small intestine and that will be her new ostomy for about 6-8 weeks while the J Pouch heals and begins to learn it's function as a colon. In a bout 6 weeks they will scope her and if the JPouch looks healed they will go ahead and shoot dye up through there letting it spill into her bag to make sure the passage is clear. If it is, then they will close of the ostomy and she will be free to go to the bathroom normally. Well, what will become normal to her. 12-15 loose stools a day. They won' hurt and they will get better as the J Pouch learns what it's supposed to do.

So, I have been trying to read, keep up with MD appt's, and quilt. I am just trying to find things to do for myself. They still don't know why I am so swollen and when my regular MD comes back from maternity leave, hopefully they will run the "right" tests to show what is going on.

Katie is doing great in Kindy! She really loves it. Her teacher is wonderful and nurturing which is totally what Katie needs right now with her house ready to move in upheaval land again. This time Gillian should only be in the hospital 3-5 days rather than the 20 something she was in last time. This takes such a toll on Katie as she loves her sister and just wants her to be OK.

Now on a completely different note, how about that inauguration eh? Wasn't that something? I love Obama almost as much as I did Clinton. And not a more glorious site was to be seen when Bush got on his flight out of DC. Good bye and good riddance I say! I love Michelle Obama, her poise and grace are just what the white house needs right now. I have a feeling that we will hear more from her than we did Laura. I think that she will be visable as Hillary was. And what about her being made Secretary of State. Now that is just plain cool I say!

And TV! Anyone here watch LOST? I only watched the first hour, so don't give it away OK? And last night I watched A Very Duggar Wedding which led to some interesting conversations between Cheryl and I. I loved when Jim Bob took Josh off for his "man to man" talk and talked about cherishing women. Then they had to blow it al when during the ceremony they focused on him being her authority. GAG! And we are still die hard Jon and Kate + 8 fans. Can't wait for tonight for them to show where they moved.

So here is a high five to a new administration where hopefully we pull out Iraq and shut down Guantanamo Bay and finally start to lift this country our of the deficit that we are in! I am so hopeful!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Pure nastines

Well, let me start out by saying that I apologize for not writing for so long. My life continues to be consumed by my ever growing medical problems list and Gillian's second surgery is coming up on the 26th of this month. As you can imagine, things have gone to high alert in the family. Even though I vowed that I was going to just "Let go and let God" I don't seem to be following my own advice very well.

So, let me back up and fill you all in. Despite the cold and snow that seems to keep piling up, we had a very nice Christmas. I have decided however, that this is the last year that we are rushing through unwrapping gifts, hurrying to get dressed to head out to my sister's where we rush through opening up gifts so that we can hurry to Cheryl's mother's so that we can sit down and have dinner. It's too much. I just want to spend the day with my family, where the kids can enjoy their presents, and it can just be peacefull. I am all about peace this year.

Speaking of Christmas, Santa was good to everyone this year. He brought an American Girl doll for Katie with a couple of changes of clothes for her. Her new doll is named Amanda and has her very own canopy bed. I just got done finding her a mattress and picked up some cute floral fabric to make a sheet set for the bed. There were some other small things, including a Hello Kitty Camera that I can wait to download the pictures from to see things from her perspective. Gillian got an Ipod Nano. We were going to get her the shuffle, indeed had already bought it and then decided that we would go for the Nano for her and I would keep the shuffle for myself. She seems to be plugged into some kind of technology at all times. I guess that is a teenager for you! I bought Cheryl a new camcorder for her Christmas/birthdat present and she has been having a ball making memories for us. I can't wait to download some of the videos's and share them. I got my most coveted Christmas present of all. A Tassimo coffee maker. Google it if you want to know more, but basically, you fill the well with filtered water, and then buy these little disc's that the machine reads and brews a perfect cup of whatever you've put in there. And does it ever make good coffee, latte's, and even Hot Cocoa. We have a monthly plan where they send you more coffee every 4 weeks and I am just in heaven. No more trying to guess how many cups to make. This just makes it one cup at a time!

Well, I have to go, with so much more to write. Cheryl's mom fell and broke her wrist and I need to take her to her follow up appt to make sure it's healing OK! I will be back later with some pictures and more about my life in general.

Wendy