Hey Everyone!!

I'm terrible about keeping up with this blog. I just noticed that it's been June since my last post!

Here's my attempt at catching you up on what's been going on in our lives since then...

JULY

In July, we took a one day vacation to Charleston, SC with some friends from church, Rhea, Rhonda and Monty. We ate awesome seafood, walked the market, and spent some time on Folly Beach. All in all, it was a great little getaway!

This is Monty, and his Sand Legs!

Monty, Rhonda and Rhea at A.W. Shucks

Me and Dan at A.W. Shucks. I really wish I had some of their shrimp right about now!

August

August was by far the busiest month I've probably ever had!

First of all, Dan's cousin, Ashley, had her wedding in Alabama.

I was honored to be asked to be a bridesmaid, and this is a picture of Ashley's bridesmaid's luncheon.

The is Mrs.Ingram (Dan's mom), Mrs. Ingram (haha!), Ashley Davis Watkins and her mom, Ivy


While I was in the gump for some bridal festivities, I met up with some Faulkner friends that I haven't seen in ages! We met at Olive Garden for dinner, and then went to see

The Time Traveler's Wife

at the Rave. It was a really good movie. Bring the Kleenex with you though!

These are just a few of the ones who were there.

Laurie, Taryn, Wendy, Bambi, Brooke, Me, Leigh, and Shanon

August was also the start of school for me. I am in the Respiratory Therapy program at Spartanburg Community College. I'm loving the classes, and being an asthmatic myself, I'm learning so much about how to make life easier on myself too. These are some friends in Lab. We had some free time and a camera, so ya know,..

Me, Deanna, Taylor, Audra, and Ashley

The week after school started, I went back to Alabama, this time with Dan, for the wedding. It was at Lake Martin at Children's Harbor. It was a truly gorgeous wedding and we had a great time. This is the bridesmaids with the bride, on the dock.

August was also one of the saddest months of my life.

See, My mother had been having some heart problems for a while, and was having test after test to determine her course of treatment. At one point, we were waiting for her to have a pacemaker implanted (but thanks to answered prayer, that was deemed not necessary after all). About the same time, my papa had begun having some problems with his health. He was very sick to his stomach and we couldn't figure out why. One Tuesday night, my mother was at Greenville Memorial Hospital, while Papa was at St. Francis Hospital down the road.

I chose to go sit with Mama and see that my dad got some dinner,

and thought I would go to see Papa the next day after classes.

The next morning, I woke up with a wicked sinus infection. I went to the doctor, and then to the pharmacy to get my antibiotics filled. While waiting in line, I called Daddy to check on Papa. As they were getting Papa ready for an exray, they were moving him to a

stretcher from his bed for transport, and they believed he dislodged a blood clot.

He was rushed to ICU, and we were waiting on word.

When I got home, I recieved a call from my mom that he did not make it to ICU, but passed away on the way there, most likely from a pulmonary embolism.

He was 79 years old.

Grandma and Papa at a grandchild's wedding

September
With the month of August behind me, I just dove headfirst into my studies and work. It's so much easier for me to deal with the death of a loved one if I'm too busy to come up for air, let alone think about how he's gone.

October

Dan and I took a break, and went back to Charleston for a few days. We relaxed, and ate great seafood again, and enjoyed the perfect weather. We went on a Graveyard Ghost Tour, which was fantastic!! I truly recommend it. This is the guy we met while waiting for the tour to start. He was nicer than he looks. haha

When we got home, we found out that my mother doesn't ventricular tachycardia like they thought, but she has atrial fibrillation, which isn't super, but it's got a better treatment plan and quality of life associated with it than VT.

As far as November goes, I'm just back to studying nonstop, working nonstop, and wishing I could sleep! We've had some health issues with Moose, but it looks like he'll be okay.

We are going to Montgomery as usual for Thanksgiving next week.

Then my finals are the next week.

Then it's time for a break!!

I'll try not to wait so long to post again.

I hope you all have a

GREAT THANKSGIVING!!

Hoooowwwwdeee!!!!!

Last week I had the priviledge of working at Palmetto Bible Camp for Second Week. This place is incredibly special to me, as my family has been involved with camp since my parents met there when they were around 14 years old. (Insert “awwww” here).

It was wonderful to spend the week with old friends, and even new ones, and to be surrounded by the Word of God so completely. I have a ton of pictures that I want to share with you, but they are not all accessible yet,.. so here’s a few that I can show you so far. I hope you enjoy!!

PS- A little update on Dan!
He had a doctor’s appointment with Dr. Lijewski on Friday, to get the biopsy results. He has no diseased tissue whatsoever!!!! Dr. L said he went 5-6 ft inside Dan’s colon during the colonoscopy (yeah, try not to think too hard about it,.. it’s gross), and didn’t find anything wrong, and he took 4 random colon biopsies and they all came back 100% healthy!! He said “Dan, you were a seriously sick man, and there was definitely something showing up on that CT scan. I fully expected to see a diseased colon, but I didn’t. As a physician, I can’t explain it. There is no explanation. You’re just cured and that’s all there is to it.” How amazing! It is so humbling to know that God listened to our prayers, and the prayers of our friends and loved ones, and even strangers, and He saw it fit to heal him and take away whatever was making him sick. Thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts, for your cards, thoughts and prayers.

Love,

Trudy

Movin' on Up...

Movin’ on Up…

My younger sis is moving this weekend to a cute little house in a cute little neighborhood (be very jealous). She lives in Johnson City, TN, and if you know us, you know that we can’t do anything without it being a total family affair!! My parents are going to rent a big utility van today, and my older sis is going to get some furniture out of storage, and I am bringing my elbow grease, and we are all headed up to TN tomorrow to help Heidi move. I felt like I should be bringing something cool to the table for the occasion, so this is what I put together last night. Tell me what you think…

The Waiting Room Chronicles: One-Legged Yard Chickens

Sitting in the waiting room, I hear alot of things. Tonight, I was priviledged enough to catch this end of a wonderful conversation. See if you can correctly answer the multiple choice question following this statement.


"You know how bad chickens are about getting out in the yard? Well, you know, if you don't keep em couped up good they'll wander off and stuff? Well, Jimmy told us that if you chop off one of their legs, that'll keep em in the yard and they won't wander off as far. So that's what we did and I swear to you them chickens when we ate em, they was as tough as they could be. It was like eating cats!"


Question: What is wrong with this statement?

A) Chopping off one of the chickens' limbs was easier and seemed more logical to this person than paying for chicken fencing from Lowe's.

B) This individual took advice from Jimmy that involved mutulating their chickens to make sure they didn't wander off, where they could get hurt.

C) This individual speaks of eating one-legged, free-roaming yard chickens like it's nothing.

D) This individual is familiar with the taste and texture of eating cats.

E) All of the above.

If you answered, E) All of the above, you are correct!!

Your prize is knowing that no matter how bad your day gets, you don't have to chase one-legged chickens in your yard for dinner! Thanks for playing!

No, no. Stop that. Put that back on.

While we were in the hospital, Dan would ask me about Moose (our dog) every so often. I didn't go home every day, and if I didn't go home, I would have either my parents or Lavinia run by and check on him. The first night I went home, which I believe was Sunday night (the night I first wrote about what was going on), Moose couldn't figure out where Dan was. He found one of Dan's tshirts lying around, and he drug it with him from room to room, looking for Dan. It was pitiful. He slept on it, he layed on it, he whined on it. He was totally heartbroken that Dan wasn't home. This went on the whole time Dan was inpatient. When Dan asked me how Moose was, and I told him how sad he was, he'd say "Poor thing, He probably thinks you took me back to the pound!" haha.
Last night, when we got home,.. oh boy! I really should have recorded Moose's reaction. He saw my car, and his little head popped up out of the grass. He slowly got up to his feet and saw that Dan was in the car too. When Dan opened the door, he came bouncing,.. yes, BOUNCING up to the gate! He was running around himself in circles and jumping and panting and licking. Pure joy! I just smiled and thought to myself "I know how you feel, Moose. I know how you feel!"

Today, Friday, we got up and Dan had an appetite! He was so excited, he took me to breakfast at Denny's, and then to the grocery store to get some foods that he can eat. When we came home, I cleaned out the fridge and threw away all of the bad foods, and hid the Pepsi. He's decided to try to quit. I'm so proud of him. He hasn't had one in a week now, and you'd just have to know him to know hwat a huge thing that is. Words cannot express.

I have to tell y'all the funny thing that we laughed about in CCU on Tuesday. It was 6am, and I wasn't supposed to be in Dan's room yet, but if they didn't want me in there, they should have locked the door better. :) He was just waking up, and I was standing by his bed, holding his hand and we were talking. This really loud nurse walked by, a tall guy, kinda young. Dan said "You hear him? All night long, he kept yelling at the guy in the room next to me." I was kinda intrigued, so I asked what he was yelling about. He said "I don't know. He just kpet saying 'No no, Mr. So-and-so, Stop that. Put that back on." I was really intrigued now. I asked him "Don't you want to know what it was he was doing in there?!" and Dan laughed and said "I most certainly do not!" I told him I had a mental image of an old scrawny man, standing in his hospital bed, gown wide open, swinging his blood pressure cuff by the cord and shaking his hips with a micheivious grin on his face. It has kinda turned into our inside joke now. We just randomly look at one another and put our hand on our hip and say "No no, Dan. Stop that. Put that back on!"
We are so weird. haha.

Now that Dan is doing fantastic and seems to be on the right track for getting better and better everyday, I would like to ask you to focus your prayers on the Tesnear and Tracy families, as their loved ones are still in critical care. I'm not sure about the Tracy family, but Ms. Tesnear was to have brain surgery today to alleviate some swelling. They were trying at all costs to not have to do surgery, because it would be a very dangerous and difficult case, but apparently that was not how things turned out. I haven't heard the results of the surgery, but I have seen all of your prayers work this week and I know they could sure use them. Thank you again for everything. You are all the best!!

Much Love,
Trudy

There's No Place Like Home!!

We just talked to Anita, NP, and she said we are being discharged today afterall!!! Dan and I had taken a walk around the floor, and he said it felt so good to be up on his feet, he wanted to walk some more. So we went downstairs and walked around the hospital cafe, the gift shop, the lobby, bought a drink and sat down for a while, and when we came back, Anita was waiting on us with DC papers!! Yes!! She said they are decreasing his TPN to 50% for an hour. Then they will cut it off completely for an hour. Then check his blood sugar, wait about 30 mins for results and orders, and if it's in a healthy range, we're out of here!

I saw the Tesnear family a while ago. No changes in her condition. Her daughter is here now, and she's holding up wonderfully. Such a strong, sweet family. They are still in Neuro ICU.

I also talked to the Tracy family. He's having a rough time, but the doc said he'd be okay eventually. They are still in CCU.

Maybe the next post will be from 111 Country Place Dr!!
Love,
Trudy

Wakey, Wakey, Eggs and Bakey!

When we were kids at Palmetto Bible Camp, we had this amazing counselor who used to wake us all up in the morning with "Wakey, Wakey, Eggs and Bakey!" to get us up for breakfast. This morning, Dan ate yes,.. you guessed it,.. EGGS AND BACON! I can't believe it. Dr. Lijewsky (Loo-Ess-Key) the gastroenterologist, called this morning to check on us and said that all we need now is to slowly come off the TPN (total parentel nutrition) through his PICC line, and increase his oral diet, and then we can go home! If not tonight, then tomorrow.

Again,.. I could never express my appreciation and love for all of you who have called, texted, emailed, sent cards and facebook/blogspot comments, etc. We are so humbled and grateful, and I feel like everything happens for a reason. I have already seen some of those reasons manifested in ways that only God could have planned. How blessed we are to be His children!!

Also, and update on my friends. Ms. Tesnear's condition is sorta improved. She's still on a ventilator, but they are weaning her off of it. Her daughter graduates high school on Tuesday, and her heart is breaking for her mother. Ms. Tesnear is responding to commands by wiggling her toes and blinking, so that is where she stands as of 11 am today. Mrs. Tracy's son is still in CCU with some internal bleeding that they don't know where it is coming from. He's been given two pints of blood this morning, and that's the last I heard on him. I will check on both families after Dan finishes eating lunch and we take a walk around the floor. I'm excited. We're calling it our "date night". haha. I might just put on makeup for this!! (Does it matter that I'm wearing the same jeans I wore for the past three days on this date? I do'nt think so. haha.)

Miss Patsy, our sweet nurse, just told us that we are not going home today. We're really not that dissappointed though. I kinda thought it would be too soon to wean him off TPN that fast anyway. So it's looking like tomorrow. That's still good news to us!

Love to you all!
Trudy and Dan