Las Vegas Fev 2016

Cherry of a Ride

Well my brother Jared and I did a ride in The Dallas called a Cherry of a Ride. It was through the Cherry orchards and along the Gorge. It was so FUN! We rode his tandem and went 64 miles.

This was somewhere before mile 20 and look at

my brothers mad skills, photographer while riding!

We are at about mile 42 here...

Yes we rode up this hill from all the way down at the river

and the farthest point of the mountain in the background

and them some you can't see on the other side of that mountain.

The picture doesn't do the uphill trek justice

we are really far up, we really are!

It was so beautiful and not raining!

Beaver Freezer

Last weekend Ryan and I did the Beaver Freezer a Sprint Triathlon in Corvallis at Oregon State University....The Beavers thus the name The Beaver Freezer.

We went with a couple friends and had a great time.

My Goal was to finish in 2 hours or less and I finished in 1hr 54min.

I ROCKED the Swim and the bike and run where fine. I could totally improve my time here! Ryan had the same goal to finish under 2 hours and a secret goal to beat me and he did both! 1hr 49 min!

Good Times!

What you find when you download pictures from your 10yr olds camera!

I haven't posted about Eliza in awhile. She is so much fun! She is getting older and not so much underfoot anymore, so I do not have as much material to work with for her as I do with Mary. However, tonight I was loading some of her pictures from her camera onto the computer and this is what I found.......

I think she may have too much time on her hands as you can see faces on her her BFF's feet!?!

Oh maybe she has all that time because her room looks like this! And yes she took this picture! I am not sure why.

Another way that girl can spend time is with her imagination. I didn't even know this happened and I have to admit I laughed out loud when I saw these pictures! I just picked a couple to show, but she had about 30 on the camera!

Mary Get's Her Ears Pierced

Today Mary and I had a mommy daughter date. We first picked out a dress and some new shoes. Then we went to Build a Bear and Mary made a pink puppy she named Ruffie. She was so thrilled we got some puppy accessories. Then we were off to get her ears pierced.

Daddy and Mama Sherrie met us at the mall and Mary had already picked some princess crown earrings.

She was super excited about this day. She had been waiting to get her ears pierced for a couple months now. She did an excellent job, no tears. After she was done she was walking with dad and said that the tears were coming but she had to use a big 'current' to push them down. I think she meant courage, how cute is that!

Seriously!?

Do you ever wonder; am doing the right thing, or am I over reacting? Well I do all the time! I would say I question myself daily with should I or shouldn't I do this or that. And then feel guilt about my decision second guessing myself. Last Wednesday night however I was extremely glad I just went with the prompting to do it and didn't question and have not had guilt or regret.

Lets see if I can give you a quick update and story. I am not very good a quick when it comes to a story but lets see ;-0

So my mom aka Grandma Troy had surgery at the end of January. She had a sphincter that was too tight and not letting food into her stomach. The food was getting caught in her chest and so she really wasn't eating because it was too painful. The Surgery was to fix this, it went ok. She did suffer some major bruising from the intubation tube on her tongue, and more bruising around her neck, chin and forehead which was from them anesthesiologists trying to get the tube in. This trauma was more painful than the abdominal surgery.

She went in for her post op appointment 1 week post surgery and had blood work done at the same time. Mom really wasn't feeling well at all this day, it was by far the worst day after surgery and it was day 8. She told the dr and they decided that she may have had a stroke so sent her for a head CT. Rachel was with her. When they got home my mom's stomach was really hurting, what could this be? "GAS?! That is what it must be", my mom said. So I ran and got some medicament's for that to get the ball rolling down there but still no relief. Rachel left and the pain started getting worse, much sharper! I spoke with the dr about her head CT and everything was great there. But he really didn't have any answers about the abdominal pain. He said I would have to decide about bringing her into the ER because it is so hard to diagnose abdominal pain over the phone. I thought she was starting to get some relief and doing ok until she called me on my cell from upstairs and when I answer all she said is "Charity, help!" I run up there and she is moaning 'it hurts, it hurts'. I just start getting her dressed and we went to the ER.

They were great got us right in did a bunch of tests and we waited. Mom was pretty uncomfortable and was continuing to ask for more pain med, which they gave her. At one point she said just roll me like a baby and pull my butt out to help relieve this pressure. ( it was hilarious the way she said it) So I rolled her and she was facing away from me. The pain meds were starting to make her pretty loopy. Still in pain but very loopy. She started singing to the wall ' 3 little monkey's jumping on the bed one fell off and bumped his head...." she ended up singing this like 20 times. I asked her why are you singing mom? she answered oh I am? I don't know. Then continued right were she left off. Drugs are a funny and wonderful tool.

Eventually it was so determined she was having some bleeding around the surgery site and in her liver. We were in the ER all night, it was crazy, transfusions of whole blood and platelets, touch and go diagnosis', anxiety attacks and we are in the same room Grandpa John was in just 6 months ago when he passed. Not good for the stress or anxiety level of the patient especially when your symptoms are mimicking your deceased spouse of only 6 months! She finally made it out of the ER and into the ICU were she is now.

She has a significant amount of blood in her abdomen that the dr's are monitoring waiting for the body to take care of it. They were thinking of doing surgery but thought it was too risky for now. We did find out that this complication was probably due to the blood thinners she needs to take, to avoid a stroke, and they cause her to bruise very easily. So when she had surgery and they needed to move her liver to get to her stomach the liver got bruised. Then when she was back on the blood thinners the bruise broke open and she started bleeding filling her abdomen with blood and this caused the severe pain. She has needed another transfusion since being transferred from the ER to ICU. Today they say tests came back she has MRSA not anything to be alarmed about and it's not a set back she is probably just a carrier. So visitors and hospital staff need to gown up to see her. Seriously! How much more does my mother have to go through!

Even so, no regrets or guilt here for taking her to the ER. She kept apologizing all the way to the hospital "I am so sorry, it's probably just gas, I am just sending you on a wild goose chase!" Doctors said it was really good we brought her in when we did or the outcome may not have been the same!

Okay, so that wasn't very quick but there is a lot packed into this post....so glad mom is still here!

Quick Update on Mary's Pimple

I thought we were going to be okay this morning while we were getting ready for school, Mary hadn't even mentioned the pimple and it was very tiny almost gone. So I didn't say anything. While we fixing her hair, all of a sudden she gets real close to the mirror and says "OH NO it's still there!"

What I say what's still there? (playing dumb)

"My pimple, I can't go to school now!"

I had to convince her that you could barely see it and put some medicine on it. That seemed to work! And off to school she went. Happy as a clam!