OH NO!!!

Marsha and I arrived at Mom's late morning and found out that Mom fell this morning. Someone had left her call button draped across her bed table and it was pushed away from the bed. Mom needed to call for the aide and thought she could maybe reach it. The bed rail had been left down (after having informed the director upon Mom moving in that I wanted the rail up at all times). She is finally on an air bed, which inflates and decreases at different areas all over the bed, to help ease the pressure on her bed sores. This type of mattress is very slick which resulted in her slipping out of bed onto the hard floor. Her arm got caught in the rail and she is bruised from that but otherwise, praise the Lord, she is just sore. Tomorrow she will really feel the effects of the fall, at least, that's been our experience in the past. When we arrived Mom told us how "all of a sudden the room was filled with people, from the administrator and the director of nursing down through the ranks to several aides. It was amazing how fast everyone acted!"

We've been going through her room here at home and cleaning out some "stuff," as well as getting her king size bed out of the room. We are making room for the hospital bed once she comes home. She still wonders if she will ever make it home and we keep assuring her that we are fully expecting her to recover enough to do so. Regardless, early December she will be home, one way or another.

Update on Nana

We received excellent news on Sunday. News that sent our spirits soaring. Mom has not been doing well at all. She hasn't been able to eat. Nothing tastes right to her. She has been experiencing a ton of nausea and overall generally feeling bad. With all the belching she has been experiencing I went and talked with one of the nurses. I asked him if she could be checked for an ulcer. He said he would have blood drawn and see if she had "h pylori" (sp?). I reminded him that not all ulcers are of the bacteria kind. There are those which are caused by acid reflux. So, if the blood work came back negative I wanted to make sure they continued to seek out what was making her so ill.

Sunday morning I went to be with Mom while everyone else went on to church. The results of the blood work was in and she does have H Pylori. This is really great news because it is treatable with an antibiotic! We feel sure once she is over this setback she will begin to improve by leaps and bounds!

Mom still has a long way to go but we are so encouraged after finding out what has been wrong. We are rejoicing!

Mountains first snow of the season!

We have had a definite change in temperature over this weekend. It brought lots of rain to the valley floor but the mountains received their first snow fall of the season! These are pics which Pilot took while hiking today with Pilot C up in Pilot's beloved mountains!  

A Chance to Win!!!

A Blogger's Dream Come True

All of you bloggers out there have a chance to win a totally new design from Susie at Bluebird Blogs! Here's the quote from her page....

Autumn is my favorite time of the year, and it's just right around the corner. To celebrate the beginning of the season, I'm having a contest for 2 lucky people to win a totally free, completely customized blog design from Bluebird Blogs.

Information on how to enter:
- Send an email with your name and blog address to bluebirdblogs@gmail.com.
- Entries will be accepted from 7:00pm EST on Thursday 9/14/06 until 11:59pm EST on Friday 9/22/06.

*Bonus* - Mention this contest in a post on your blog and receive 5 extra entries into the drawing!

The winner will be announced on Susie's Bluebird Blog on Saturday, September 23rd, 2006. Good luck to everyone!

Finally!!!

Oh Happy Day!!!

We are pleased to announce that Pilot passed his final check ride today which makes him "Mission Qualified!"

It has been a very long road of intense preparation for two years to reach this destination. We salute you Pilot for achieving your goals. And for all your future plans may you always realize that even when you are "the Pilot" you truly are the co-pilot to God!!! May all your missions be successful!

A Spiritual Revolution...

Repentance means altering one's habits of thought, one's attitudes, outlook, policy, direction, and behavior, just as fully as is needed to get one's life out of the wrong shape and into the right one. Repentance is in truth a spiritual revolution. ~ j.i. packer

Update on Nana

I'm glad to report that Mom is back mentally once she got started on the antibiotic for the UTI. :) This is such a relief to me! And another relief is my sister will be arriving in a few hours! What a relief it will be for me to have her here.

The progress of her walking is very slow and the pain is still very intense. If the Lord brings her across your mind, would you pray for her recovery? It sure would be appreciated.

I'm exhausted. So I'm heading to bed. I have an early morning appt. so I can't sleep in!

Quote for the day....

Our sense of sin is in proportion to our nearness to God. ~ thomas d. bernard

Friday Feast

Feast One Hundred & Ten

Appetizer
Name 3 things that you are wearing today.

My capri's, a top and my sandals

Soup
Who was the last person you hugged?

I hugged my Mom upon leaving the care center but then I hugged my hubby when I got home. :)

Salad
What do you like to order from your favorite fast food place?

I really like Fries and fry sauce to dip them in. But then again, I do love really good onion rings...very crispy!

Main Course
What time of day do you usually feel most energized?

Usually, my best time of day is in the morning unless I've stayed up too late the night before. There are times, however, when I can get really energized around 9:30 pm and accomplish a lot before I fall into bed. If I'm on prednisone, for my asthma, then I'm energized all the time, 24/7 but just feel really crappy the whole time. But I do accomplish a ton when I'm on prednisone. *sigh*

Dessert
Using the letters in your first name, write a sentence. (Example: Sweet unusual spaniels are nice.)

Catchy lyrics always intrigue recluse experts.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Care Centers 1…. The marjority of people in them are elderly. 2.... Most of the aides and nurses are very caring. 3.... Most of them seem to be understaffed as compared to a hospital. 4.... The people who are living there need to be treated with dignity. 5.... Actually, the food is quite tasty. And, they don't charge me if I eat right along with my Mom. 6.... It doesn't seem that the patient information (like, what is wrong with them) gets passed down to the aides who will be caring for the patient. Thereby resulting in more pain for the patient. 7.... Some Care Centers are cheerier than others. 8.... This particular CC doesn't have an "odor" which is typically associated with CC's. 9.... The people in the CC still need to have friends and visitors come to see them. 10.. It's always nice to send a card on a regular basis. 11... It's nice to drop in with flowers too. They could be ones grown in your own garden. 12... It's nice to say "hi" to the other residents too. Some of them are starved for visitors. 13.. Remember someone could see Jesus shining through you! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Uh oh...Out of control?

I know. It's late and with all that I have to do during the days I do need to be in bed. I had good intentions. Everything seems to be swirling around me. So much coming at me from all directions. It has been difficult for me to focus. I function much better when everything around me is in order. So really, it is no surprise that I am still up and going strong.

You see, it began once I arrived home from seeing Mom at the rehab center. By the time I finished talking with my sister (who DID give me strict instructions to wash my one load of clothes and then go. to. bed!) and I walked through door, I had every good intention of doing just that. I started the clothes washing and unloaded the dishwasher, fixed Pilot Dad's lunch to take to work and remembered that tomorrow is garbage day. I opened the refrig to clean out any old stuff (like Mom's little tidbits of leftovers) and it began. I kicked into high gear. There was no controling it! From the refrigerator I moved to my mom's bedroom. I thought I would just make room in a drawer for her holders of meds. Well, that led to bringing a garbage bag in and...and...I just couldn't help myself! I emptied this drawer where she had stashed a bunch of garbage er, stuff that she will never miss. Then I moved to the top of her desk. And then it was to a tv table tray that some "overflow" was on. It seemed like I was out of control but let me assure you I wasn't!

I cannot tell you how much better I feel! I can honestly say it is the best I've felt since this whole awful fall took place on August 20. My mind is clear. There has been a weight lifted, albeit maybe it's only for a short while.

The more I see of mother the more I feel it is going to be a very long process. Oh, don't get me wrong. I do see progress. Progress every single day, but it is in very small increments. Now, I do realize that she is 90 years old and frail so I should not expect huge strides each day (no pun intended). Honestly, I feel she will be able to come home again. I pray to that end, anyway, knowing that it is the good Lord who is sovereignly in control. I just don't see her coming home anytime soon. More like...months.

The other good news is now that it is Tuesday morning, it is just one week till my sister arrives. And just a couple of weeks till Pilot and Pilot's former roommate arrive. His roommate (I'll call him Pilot 2) has never seen the Rockies so they are coming out to go hiking AND Pilot is requalifying on his little plane in which he got his private pilot's license in what seems like eons ago! Do you realize what that means? We will get to fly again with Pilot!!!

So, in the midst of all the daily "getting through" there are blessings falling all around me for which I am so grateful. It comforts me tremendously knowing that all of "this" has first passed through His hands before it ever touched my mom or me or our family. And because He has allowed it to touch me, then I know that I will be able to move through it victoriously, as long as I keep my eyes on Him.

Okay. NOW I am heading off to bed to get some sleep. I have to get up early for my 8am appointment. Catch you all later!