Ruth.....

An update on Ruth....



Ruth was home from the hospital for 2 weeks and seemed to be doing good and getting stronger every day...til new years eve - I went up to relieve Bev at 4:00pm and she said that Ruth had been cold all day and was coughing. So we asked how she was feeling and felt her for fever..she seemed a little warm. So I ran home and got the thermometer. When I checked her she had 102.4 fever and when she got up to use the bathroom she was so weak I had to hold on to her - I wasn't sure I was gonna get her to the bathroom....so we called the home health nurse and she said to give her Tylenol and that we were probably would be making a trip to the ER....I then called Judy to come see what she thought we should do. Judy came out and we decided to head to the ER about 6:30pm....Judy thought that she had maybe picked up the H1N1 virus being that it had come on her so quick and that she was so weak. When Judy and I got her down there they did blood work, a flu test, an EKG and a chest xray and then we waited.......when they got her blood work back they told us her blood count was up to 19,000 and that she had a bladder infection. Then as the rest of the test came back the doc also said that she had pneumonia and CHF again and that she was going to be admitted. They finally got her to her ICU room about 10:45 pm...yeah we have learned that there isn't anything fast about an ER visit!! They jokingly said that 2nd floor said that ICU could have her..I guess she had scared the 2nd floor staff the last she was in!!

She stayed in ICU until Saturday and then was moved to 2nd floor...then when Dr. Cullen came in Sunday he asked her how she was feeling and she said pretty good and he asked her how good and she said really good! So he said that he was going to release her! They increased her lasix and also sent her home with 2 antibiotics. She seems to be doing really well since she is home and her strength seems to be as good or better as before she went in this last time.

Ruth has been talking about wanting to stay by herself at night for awhile....so yesterday we had a lifeline installed and she stayed by herself last night....we had stayed and helped her get to bed and then was back up there at 8:00am this morning and she was still in bed. I guess we will see how it goes.....hopefully everything works out!

Christmas 2009

We opened our Christmas gifts the Saturday before Christmas because Jeremy was leaving with Chic's early the next morning to go to Florida....we opened them very quickly before we went to the Graber Post supper.....
My boys :-).....as u can see they are not real excited about mom wanting pictures!! Oh - but I still LOVE them...it's hard to believe that they are all teenagers......

Jordan with his hat.......

Josh with his hat......just what he wanted!!

Jeremy with his under armour....mom didn't get exactly what he was thinking... oh well thank goodness for receipts....

Ernie and his clothes and shoes.....

Well this was a SURPRISE!!

With Ruth being in the hospital, we didn't get much shopping done for the boys, so they got $ to spend...which we didn't hear anyone complain!!

Ruth....

A little update on Ruth.....


Ruth was in the hospital for 26 days. It started out with flu symptoms, she was vomiting every day and not wanting to eat. So on Nov. 26th we went down to the ER to check things out. They couldn't find anything besides congestive heart failure, so they admitted her. They finally decided it probably was the flu and she was just to weak to fight it off. She stayed for 5 days coming home on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The doctor wasn't real sure about letting her come home because her CHF wasn't totally cleared up, but went ahead and released her. Sue and Leroy had came up that week to spend time with her so they brought her home from the hospital. Sue made some yummy chicken noodle soup and apple crisp that night.
She was home Thursday and Friday, then Friday night about 10:30 Ruth called and said that she was having pain on her right side. So we headed back down to the ER again, the doc thought right away that it was her gall bladder. They gave her pain medicine and about 3:00am they admitted her again. She continued to have pain for about 24hrs. After they took her off solid foods it stopped. They also found that she had pneumonia and CHF. They did lots of test and decided that it was her gall bladder that was causing the pain, but because of the pneumonia and her heart condition they would not do surgery at that time. They gave her some medicine to help her digest her food better. She hasn't had any problem with pain since.
They were trying to get her CHF and pneumonia cleared up, but it seemed that in the next week it kept getting worse, they tried a bunch of different antibiotics using 2 and 3 at a time. Then on Friday when they had her up for her walk she had a spell and and couldn't breathe very well for awhile after they got her back in bed, but later that evening she seemed to perk up and was feeling pretty good. Then Saturday morning Dec. 5th, Lil was still there from spending the night and Judy had went down so she could be there when the Doctor came in. When Judy seen her she could tell that Ruth was worse and not breathing well. She told the nurses but they didn't think at first that anything was going on. But she continued to get worse and they called they family to come down. She laboured hard with her breathing and it continued to get worse for several hours. They gave her a different diuretic and a steroid to help her lungs and it helped her, they also moved her down to ICU to watch her more closely. The doctors are not sure what caused her to fill up with fluid so quickly, they said her heart could had possibily quit beating a few beats. Joyce, Johnny, Erica and Alleah came down Saturday evening and Sunday to spend some time with Ruth.
She stayed in ICU till Tuesday evening, then they moved her to 4th flood for rehab. After she moved up there, her pneumonia and CHF continued to get better. She was in rehab for 9 days and they released her to come home on Dec. 17th. The Doc said that she would need to have around the clock care to start with till she gets stronger.
She has been home now for 11 days and seems to be doing well. Her color looks real good, and she seems to continue to get stronger. She has a doctors appointment on Jan. 4th, shes hoping he will let her stay at night by herself. The Doc did say that she will need day help to do her housework and cooking and to take care of Sonny due to her heart being so fragile, which she probably needed for a long time now.


The day she was released they let her order a steak dinner for her and who ever was taking her home..which was me!!

Ruth enjoying her meal....

Steak, baked potato, slaw, hot roll and apple pie...everything was delicious!!

Kendell Turns 3!!!!

Kendell turned 3 on Nov.16th.....He had his bday party at Mr. Gatti's Saturday night...It was so fun to watch him...He was so excited about everything!!!

He loved his cake Grandma Kemp made for him...He couldn't keep his little fingers out of the icing....

When we asked him how old he was ...This is how he held his little fingers up...Too cute!!

Happy Birthday Kendell...Hoping you have a great year...We love you!!!!

Playing around on picnik...

Having fun playing with picnik! I love the intense look and determination showing on Jeremy's face....

Leaves...Leaves...Leaves....

We had a fun time last night at grandma and grandpa's doing leaves....I remember when we were small we would come home from school and start raking the front yard, it seemed we would never get done. Even now with all the modern equipment it still takes time!! But it is always fun to work together with the family....

Grandma and the little guys ran errands for us.......

Dannielle using the leaf blower.....

Josh and me dumping a load of leaves.........

Grandpa manning the mower......

Keith and his precious cargo.........

The guys working hard in the dark, Ernie, Josh and Chic.....

Jeremy and Kendell keeping the fire going......

Grandma had yummy taco soup ready.......

and pumpkin cupcakes.......

BR SPIRIT

This is my senior displaying his BR SPIRIT at the Volleyball Regional......which they won.......
And again at state...which they didn't win...but they had a great season!!

Life is great being a senior!!!!