No room at Children’s Hospital again today. We could go any time though – even throughout the night.

I asked the doctors here if we weren’t waiting to get to Children’s, then what would be the plan for Amanda. So here’s the scoop. Even though her CO2 was down today, it still is at a dangerously high level. She is also using 3L. of oxygen during the day – so she is currently oxygen dependent. They are watching to see if the CO2 level can get down to normal levels. They are afraid if she goes home, it would work its’ way back up. When CO2 levels in the blood get too high you can go into cardiac arrest. The doctor feels that Amanda’s multiple handicaps, small size, and all the other contributing factors have just worn her down through the years. He doesn’t expect a full recovery – that she’s been breathing with comprimised lungs for a time now and it’s finally catching up to her. From my perspective, I believe there is a contributing factor – the neurological issue – that has contributed to her problems. It is my gut feeling that until I rule out any breathing problems due to central nervous system issues (like a plugged shunt or a Chiari issue – see previous blogs if you don’t know what this is) I will not accept that her lungs are failing her.

So that is why we are still here and not waiting at home. The doctors are respecting my desire to go to her previous Neurologist to check out those issues and even stated that there are good pulmonary doctors at Children’s. He also said he’d be happy to talk to them. If there are no contributing Neurological problems that we can fix then we have to go back to dealing with strictly a pulmonary problem.

So I slept at home last night while Ted stayed at the hospital.  Wait – no – scratch that – I didn’t sleep.  I think I passed out.  I was so exhausted I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

No phone calls through the night and no news is good news.  Actually, just spoke to Ted and he said pretty much that it was a quiet night.  She is slowing making ground.  I will be heading over to the hospital soon so that Ted can come home and rest and work a little.

So I must catch you up on the other two daughters.  Kristen is happy at work with her new job.  Thanks to all who prayed for her.  And Jillian has her white coat ceremony today.  For those who don’t know – when you are a freshman student at a medical school, they have a ceremony for the new class that is starting.  After settling into life in St. Kitts, she gets her white coat from Ross Veterinary School today.  They’ve been touring the island this past week.  Now it’s down to business and studying studying studying.

Continued prayers for Amanda please as she travels the road to wellness.

just Laurel

Just got home from the hospital after spending the night with Amanda.  We were hoping IV antibiotics, steroids, and bi-pap with oxygen would start to kick in and blow off this pneumonia.  Blood work from 6am to 11am showed things worsening so Amanda is in ICU with a breathing tube.  When she heard that she was going to be intubated, Amanda got super angry and started pounding her fists on the table.  I don’t blame her.  It’s not fun.  It’s not fun watching it being done to your daughter either.  Ted and I are both tired and numb.

I can still count the blessings.  Thank goodness we didn’t move her out to Canton where the distance would have exacerbated this whole predicament.  Thankful for a wonderful December full of family, friends, and Christmas celebrations.  So glad it happened on a Saturday under mine and Ted’s watch AND that it wasn’t a weekday where Ted was gone to Indiana.  So glad that we got her to the hospital right from the start – she had no symptoms until yesterday morning (that we could see any ways) except her being quite sleepy and tired over the past week.

Ted and I are fine – we make a great team from years of handling the hospital juggling vigil.  It’s not something you want to be good at.

just Laurel

This has to be a quicky blog … before I get back to the hospital.

Amanda hasn’t been feeling well and this morning she was not well at all.  When we checked her oxygen level with the pulse oximeter we have, she was satting way down in the 60’s and her breathing was rough and raspy – like she was drowning.  Yeah.  Off to the ER we went.

Definitely looks like pneumonia (again) but I guess we caught it early.  They hooked her up to a round of strong antibiotics and gave her a breathing treatment.  We have to spend the night but good chance of coming home tomorrow.

Not what I expected.

just Laurel

Have you read “Amanda, Perfectly Made”?  Yeah – ya know that dragon I wrote about.  Darn if he didn’t swoop low and catch us off-guard.

(This blog is the twelfth in the series about “Countdowns” as I count down to Amanda’s moving out and count down to the Celebration Concert.)

Sorry, readers, for not blogging for 2 days.  Thursday I had surgery on my hand so I was a little mentally foggy from anesthetic drugs as well as incapacitated by a large dressing on my hand that made typing a tedious challenge.  But surgery was all good and by the afternoon Ted and I were able to sign all the papers for Amanda’s apartment and get the keys.  That was all we were able to accomplish.

On Friday, the living room furniture was delivered to the apartment.  It looks great!  Amanda got a bit excited too.  But no more moving of stuff – still waiting for staff to get the ‘ok’ to start working.  We’re almost there folks.  Really.  Not that it took long.  It took years for us to get this far!  From thinking about moving her out, to checking out all the possibilities, to actually committing and seeing all the necessary pieces come together.  Whew.

So, the countdown is done for her moving out.  I will certainly keep you updated.

And the final countdown now is ONE DAY to the Celebration concert!  Tomorrow at 4pm folks at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Trenton.  Stop by if you can!  There will be some good music.  About an hour long.

And, our final song?  It’s called “Born is the King.”  I love this song and really tend to sing it quite enthusiastically.  It is just happy and joyful.

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise, it’s Christmas!
Born is the King, rejoice in the day, it’s Christmas!
Make a joyful sound, it’s Christmas!
Let His praise resound, it’s Christmas!

Thanks for joining me in this countdown blog series.  Hope to see you at the concert!

Then I will have to change directions and get the ‘ole creative juices flowing to see what I can come up with for my readers.

Hope all is well.

just Laurel

I don’t like bugs.  I would rather find a mouse in my house – than a big spider … or a centipede … or earwigs.  (Eeww)  If you walk into a room and there’s a mouse, he at least has the common sense to scamper and hide.  Bugs don’t.

Now I know that some bugs are beneficial to man-kind.  I read that the centipede actually will eat just about any other kind of insect – so they really are great to have in the basement.  Really??  We get visits from centipedes from time to time in the basement.  They are UGLY.  I try to strike a bargain with them.  I tell them they can eat as many bugs as they wish, just don’t let ME see them.  They are supposed to hide when they hear me coming.  They don’t.  I usually spray them with whatever I can grab (Windex, or GooGone – what ever is closest) or I smack them with whatever I can grab.  It’s really gross because those thousands of legs go flying everywhere.  I mean – I have to smack ’em dead, ya know!

We currently have this big fat spider outside of Amanda’s window.  I have provided a picture for you.  Amanda has decided it’s a ‘she’ and has named her Charlotte (yeah – not so original) but we have been fascinated watching her.  She’s been there a couple of weeks now.  She is a good spider because she is OUTside – where she belongs.  I can appreciate her as long as she keeps the window between us.  And I have enjoyed watching her build her webs, capture and eat her prey (gross – but resourceful), and grow big and fat.  Charlotte is actually quite beautiful if you take the time to really look at her.  Especially as she is getting so large – she is easier to view with the naked eye.

I am getting worried about our spider now.  It is getting cold at night and I don’t know how long she will last.  As other bugs die off, that means her food supply is dwindling.  And pretty soon we will have a frost and I don’t believe she will survive that.  I don’t know.  I guess I am just finally accepting of her, and look for her every day.  And as long as she stays OUTside, I have the greatest respect for her.

So I don’t mean to wax poetic about the noble life of a spider, but I think I can take this interesting arachnid and share a lesson here.  Perhaps you have people in your life that are a little ‘eeww’ – they may even bug you (pun – haha).  But for people who are different from us, I think if we just take the time to observe them a little, and maybe look for what makes them beautiful, we will find that they aren’t quite so bad or unlikable.

I just don’t understand how the bugs that DO get in the house know when Ted’s not home – and decide to surprise me every where.

Ick.

just Laurel

If you want to live and thrive, let the spider run alive.  ~American Quaker Saying

Our trip yesterday to the farm was wonderful!  It was so full of food, and Fall, and friends that I couldn’t help but notice how the common theme for the day was (in my crazy creative mind) “Sweet Transformations.”

The most obvious transformation yesterday was the changing colors of the foliage.  As we drove south into southern Ohio, the landscapes we passed were breathtakingly beautiful with leaves of golden-yellow, tangy orange, vivid red, all shades of greens, plenty of brown, as well as deep crimson leaning to plum.  Spectacular!  What a miracle of nature for the dying leaves to transform to such gorgeous hues.

There was a big fall fest going on at the farm with plenty of guests, in addition to the family we knew in attendance.  Lots of people necessitates plenty of food and here’s where I bet I’ll get you salivating. 

Along one wall inside the barn, they had a deep fryer set up.  Are you familiar with those tubes of biscuit dough that you whack against the counter so it explodes open with biscuit dough bloating out?  Alright, so those biscuits are okay to bake and eat in a pinch, but I never buy them.  However, they had a whole herd of these tubes and it was awesome how they transformed them!  Peeling off a raw biscuit from the popped tube, they would stretch and poke a hole in the middle and then plop it into the fryer.  After the dough had fried to a lovely golden brown, it was taken out and put into a brown paper bag with lots of cinnamon sugar.  The kids (and adults) got to shake their donut in the bag, thus coating the piping hot goody with sweet stuff.  OMG! – imagine this crisp cool Fall day (okay – I was freezing and my toes were numb) and biting into this warm, cinnamony, sugary, fried piece of dough.  Oh lordy, it was good!  And amazing how some refrigerator biscuit dough could be changed and transformed into something so good.

As if that wasn’t good enough, they had a wood fire going on the gravel driveway.  Over the fire in a copper kettle they were making (a favorite of mine) kettle corn!  Shortening and popcorn kernels were put into the kettle.  Once things got bubbling hot and popping, some salt and a big scoop of sugar were added to the kettle and then stirred with a long wooden paddle.  Instant kettle corn!  Hot kettle corn! I couldn’t-eat-enough-of-it kettle corn.  Another sweet transformation!  Starting with the simple ingredients of corn kernels, shortening, salt, and sugar – apply heat – and presto/pop = kettle corn!

Ted and I joined the party by helping with the cider making.  Lisa had gotten ahold of about 5 bushels of apples for us.  You don’t need pretty apples for cider.  The apples she got were from neighboring farms.  A little bruised, a bit misshapen, some worm holes here and there.  We spent some time before festivities began with washing and sorting.  Some of those apples were plain old ugly.  One worm hole didn’t stop them from passing inspection.  Several worm holes and extensive bruising made us cut into the apple to check its quality a little more intimately.  We opening up some and found white, juicy apple.  Other apples had been taken over by worms and rot.  (those went to the reject wheelbarrow)  But the fascinating part is how you put all of these ugly, roughed-up apples into the cider press, and out comes the sweetest cider of all!  From ugly and bruised, the apples transformed through grinding and pressing into sweet cider.

Besides Ted’s mom and dad, there was Uncle John, Aunt Marilee, 4 cousins and their spouses, and 7 children of the cousins.  That’s 19 family members there for us to visit with!  The rest of the crowd of people were strangers to us.  But then something really neat happened.  First a little background information:  Last summer one of the cousins’ children had come up to visit us with three other friends.  We took these college-bound young people sailing and shared a great weekend with them.  So jump forward to the fall fest – and I didn’t expect to see any of them – they were off at college!  Then I saw a young girl walk in and I immediately said, “That’s Daniella’s sister!  She looks just like her!”  Daniella had been one of our weekend guests. I was correct!  After speaking to her, Ted and I next got to meet her parents and then there was another set of parents belonging to another one of our weekend guests – Grant – and then Grant showed up!  Suddenly this crowd of strangers transformed into friendly faces.  It was wonderful.

Spring is the time of year when people clean up, clear out, and shine things up.  Spring Cleaning!  I think Fall should be recognized as the season of transformations!  As the leaves unveil before us a change of color – maybe it’s time you turned over a new leaf!  (haha)  But seriously – could you sweeten up a little over some bitter area in your life?  Has your behavior been ugly on the outside?  Is it time to show the inner sweet side that you are capable of?

Change is inevitable.  Might as well embrace and welcome it!

You just might welcome a sweet transformation.

just Laurel

2 Corinthians 5:17B  The old has gone, the new is here!

Galations 6:15B  What counts is the new creation.