Another Lazy Day

It's a four moose kind of day! Two of them weren't even memorable enough to take photos of. LOL  I've been seeing lots of tracks in the yard, but we haven't been seeing them until the last few days.  When Cy and Michael were shoveling the path out to my compost bed they mentioned the tracks went right up to the bed. They said it appears I've been serving a buffet to the moose population. They may have a point. This little one was cute. 

Snow! I opened the door (this is 9 a.m. BTW) to go to the chickens and rabbit and was met with a wall of snow.  It didn't snow overnight. It warmed up yesterday, it rained yesterday afternoon and evening and the snow had begun sliding off our roof. It makes an amazing noise when it does this. I had to dig out a path to the chicken yard and then shovel out the door as the snow had piled against the coop. We've learned to park my car away from the house, so it doesn't get buried....

At the back of the house there isn't much we can do to avoid the mess. This was a clear path on the 25th. Today it's a pile of snow. LOL 

Remember that clearly defined path to my garden/compost bed? It's still there, after the hill of snow is navigated. LOL  It was 31* this morning...things are going to melt and be a mess. I much prefer snow to ice. 

The sunset was beautiful this morning - 9:41 a.m.

An Allie update - For the first night she and I slept through the night. I woke her at 7 to get some Tylenol in her as it had been 9 hours. She was happy to take the Tylenol and get ice for an hour before she got up and showered. She kept her Tylenol OR Ibuprofen down to every SIX hours...this from alternating meds every three hours. She was up more today, but still spends quite a bit of time sitting with an ice pack. Her throat feels better.  Her appetite is returning. She's getting bored. She insisted on making lunch today. Slow and steady. She's doing great. 

I got a late work out today...and as I trudged away on the elliptical this gal jumped right over the retaining wall and headed down the nicely shoveled path to the compost bed. Yep, she enjoyed a leisurely lunch before moving on. 

Michael and I filled the day with shoveling. He also worked on a puzzle and we both helped Grandpa. I wrote several September blogs and linked a couple which may still be of interest on Facebook. My goal is to be current with 2021 on January 1st.  The girls spent hours on the couches writing. They are both working on novels. Grandpa took a long nap. He's paying a price for his Christmas sugar indulgence. 

Jared called. 

Nolan, the girls and I watched "Arsenic and Old Lace." 

Another lazy day drawing to an end. 

Relaxing Days of Christmas

December 26th was to be our annual Christmas Adam Tea.  This is a tradition Mom started in 2015.  Obviously, a Christmas Adam Tea SHOULD be on Dec 23rd. Both Carrie and Krista had to work and so we set the tea for late this afternoon....and then we got FREEZING RAIN today and the gals from Anchorage can't drive out to the valley anyway. 

All that to say the girls and I had made some pigs in a blanket for the tea. Yes, I said girls. Allie insisted she could roll some up and she really wanted to be part of the prep. While we were rolling, we heard our phones going crazy...and by the time we were done baking them the tea had been rescheduled for the 30th. We were supposed to go into town on the 23rd to hang out with Krista and maybe get some shopping done. Allie was sick and we opted to change the date to the 30th. I have been thinking a full day in Anchorage would be pushing Allie's recovery...so switching the plan to a tea here at home where she has the ability to join in and sit down with ice when needed is a good plan.  We put scones, cookies and 2/3 of the pigs in a blanket into the freezer....  I got out a tray and filled it with goodies from a friend at church and some pigs in a blanket. I hoped the sausages would draw out the men folks.  Michael was game. Alex sat with us for a brief amount of time. Grandpa opted for a nap and Nolan was at work. Ah well - we had a mini-tea. It was good to quietly sit together. We're all still processing the past week. 

Pill cups and water are the newest rage in tea parties

We deliberately slow our pace for the "12 Days of Christmas," from Christmas to Epiphany (Jan 6th). We plan things to connect with each other. We don't do quite as much extra running or even entertaining. We take off, or lighten, school. We prep to finish the winter strong! This afternoon was very relaxing. Michael spent hours on a complicated puzzle. Grandpa napped and talked to Nate and Heather (my brother and his wife). The girls and I sat down to relax in the living room. We watched Beauty and the Beast (most recent version). 

I have found if I edit photos or blogs while I watch t.v. I can stay awake.  I'm usually up at least once a night with Dad. He actually slept last night, but I was up a couple of times with Allie...down from every three hours! She is feeling better. I've asked her to get up and do a lap or two around the kitchen every hour. 

Millie takes guarding GG very seriously. She hopes he will slip her some food - unfortunately, he does. 

Christmas Fun - Part 3

Today is Christmas. There are 12 days left of Christmas, and we feel no rush to open gifts on the 25th. However, Michael and I couldn't resist giving the girls this gift tonight.  Allie read it first, followed by Stacia...their reaction was fantastic.  We shopped local for our household gifts. We wanted to support our town's businesses, but that meant we didn't have the selection we are used to having, we don't have a big box store in our town. I saw this sign and thought it would be perfect for the girls. I would have missed it if I was at the big box store. LOL 

Laughing hurts Allie - in hindsight should have waited

The backstory is Stacia runs around our home speaking Japanese and Allie runs around signing back.  They are teaching each other, and we are all learning a smattering of both Japanese and ASL. 

We originally thought we'd do a family gift exchange today. Stacia was shocked. This would have been the first time she could remember opening gifts on the 25th. BUT THEN....we couldn't all make it at the same time on the 25th. We shopped around for another day to host our family gift exchange - the one where we draw a name and share gifts. We "plan" to have the family gift exchange on January 8th.   We "think" our household gift exchange will be on the 10th day of Christmas. Our odd ball practices saved our bacon this year as the past week was simply not conducive to shopping. snort:: This year we filled kids' stockings and didn't fill the adults' stockings. We bought the adults a gift. 

Wood stove is off when grands visit so we could
hang the stockings

We also filled stockings for the who live at home: Nolan, Alex, Allie and Stacia. We need bigger stockings. 

There is so much fun and giggles over these little gifts. Danny loved his monkey....belly giggles. 

Danny & Arielle

BreZaak - Gideon, Bre & Jojo, Izaak and Annie. Bella sat over with  Carrie and Jamin. 

An Uncle win!

Jamin and Bella

Bre and Jojo

Annie got down to business.

Livie

Livie and Benny help Danny open his package. 

Back Story...Jamin had a Taz when he was younger. He loved the thing. Jared eventually loved it too and he gave it to Jared.  During one of our moves Taz disappeared. I promised them Taz would show up when we unpacked. He didn't. 

I've looked all these years to find a Taz and keep my word....it turns out Taz is now a "vintage toy".  I wonder how that makes them feel to know their toys are now vintage? Anyway, I bought the "boys" a Taz....

The girls got these wearable blankets. They're not wildly attractive but they are cozy and fun for Alaskan winters.  They even have a big pocket for snacks. 

Sometimes, for brief moments, I wish we were in a place to be able to wildly spoil every Gherkin and Grand-Gherkin. Watching the fun and laughter over simple stockings makes me realize simple may well be best. 

Happy Birthday, Jesus! - Part 2

Birthdays mean cake creations. Stacia did not disappoint for Jesus' birthday. Many things "flexed" this year, but this tradition carried through as planned. Well, sort of. 

Stacia baked a couple of yummy 8-inch chocolate cakes. She has a recipe that's moist and beats any boxed cake I've tasted. Millie must agree, as she ATE THE JESUS CAKE.  Stacia determinedly made another cake, cooled and froze it. She added a crumb coat and then began the decorating. 

This fondant stable is darling. 

She went simple and cute!

Livie put the sparkling candles on the cake when it was time. 

It was beautiful. 

We gathered around and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus - Gospel Service style... it was a sweet moment. 

Christmas Gathering - Part 1

 Everyone wanted to gather for Christmas - starting with these two. We were afraid they were going to take out the sledding platform. 

Christmas Morning!

Allie I bunked out another night and I kept her meds going every 3 hours. She is moving slowly but is up.  Her throat is sore from intubation. She was happy to exchange her scrub pants for her Christmas PJ pants.  Krista and Luke were due at 10:00 for breakfast. 

Millie sports her new "cookie tester" fashion statement. The other side says, "Every cookie you bake, I'll be watching you." 

The gift is even more appropriate after she ATE a whole plate of monkey bread last night. I got up early and got another one done. Michael built a cage around it and set about guarding it. 

Stacia squeezed orange juice. KrUke brought bacon and two pans of cinnamon rolls.  I helped Allie and Dad through morning routines while Krista made breakfast.  It was a fun way to begin the day. They left to pick up his children and go to his family's home. 

We relaxed after they left. Allie, Stacia and Nolan played Story Cubes. It was fun to compare the story they made up today with the ones which used to be created when the kids were little. 

Check out Jamin's Christmas sweater! Ye Gads! A unicorn...with tassels even. I purchased the Grinch PJs for Nolan and Alex. They humored me and wore them. 

Allie retreated to the recliner. She was ready to sit with some ice after being up a couple of hours. 

I think all the parents had talked to the grands about treating Allie carefully, honoring personal space and not jumping on her. Livie arrived first. She nearly tip toed in. They gave Allie some flowers and a stuffed panda. 

Benny walked in and asked, "Did it hurt when they cut your skin and took out your owie?"  Bella was really excited to see her "Auntie that got cut." ::snort:: 

We played games and visited. 

Well - most of us did. Josiah asked Michael if he needed help with snow or something...next thing I knew they were shoveling snow off the roof of and away from the sides of the greenhouse. Then they shoveled out a path to the fire ring and around it too. 

It's all ready now for a New Year's Eve bonfire and fireworks. 

Livie had brought a little nativity cut out for the kids to put together. It's really cute and they had fun working on it together. 

In the midst of the fun - THIS happened. Jamin was in my nook with the children.  He came out with the stool stuck around his neck. WHAT? "Annie did it." 

And now we have another Jamin story for the parenting workshop. ::snort:: We helped him extricate himself. 

Cory cooked all the taco meat for dinner.  Carrie brought a ton of toppings and dinner nearly made itself. Cory is great about putting Danny to sleep. 

Our Christmas Eve Story

This is our Christmas Eve story. The one where plans go awry, and we remember anew how much we depend on God and which things ultimately matter most.  The one where Allie experiences her first and second doctor visit, her first antibiotic, her first strep, covid, mono, flu tests, her first ER visit, her first blood draw, first IV, first CAT scan and first surgery. Sometimes one plans and prepares for events which refuse to stay planned and instead they go on a medical adventure. 

 Allie does not have a family doctor. We are in the process of setting her up with one. She retells episodes before she moved in with us, and we have observed an episode 2 months ago, which we were not comfortable chalking up to "normal female things."   When I say cramps....one needs to picture white as a sheet, dizzy, excruciating pain. This isn't normal for a young woman. Allie wanted to get to the bottom of feeling bad, we shared it may not be possible for the docs to figure it out unless they saw her in one of the episodes. Nonetheless, we were committed to trying.  Her appointment as a new patient is scheduled in the new year. 

Meanwhile Allie had a sore throat. We'd treated it at home with all the remedies.  She developed a fever on Monday. I called our medical clinic, as Allie had a sore throat and was told they are not seeing sick patients - we should go to the Urgent Care. What? Yep, doctors not seeing sick people due to covid fear.   It was evening by now and we were comfortable treating the fever and going in on Tuesday.  Allie still had a fever on Tuesday and so we went to urgent care.

 Would you believe the doc was a personal friend? His family was part of our produce co-op in San Angelo, TX. They loaned the kids their trailer when we moved up here until we could move into the house. He has retired from the Air Force and was our urgent care doctor. What a small world. Allie was in good hands. We were dealing with the sore throat. I told him we were getting her set up with a primary doc in January and we did have a health issue we'd like to investigate at that point.  Allie was tested for covid, strep, flu and mono. It was determined Allie has Strep. We discussed her family medical history and came home with Allie's first ever antibiotics (and I stopped off for some top-of-the-line pro-biotics, too).  Her throat felt better. She handled the meds fine. 

Something unexpected happened. Allie had one of her episodes late Wednesday night.  She told me they always pass - usually within 20 - 30 minutes.  I gave her a heating pad, and we waited. At lunch she was still in pain.  Michael was out, we had an appointment to check this out in January, but it was acting up NOW.  It seemed maybe God was answering prayers to get to the bottom of Allie's medical concern. I called Michael and told him I wanted to take Allie to urgent care as her episode wasn't resolving.  Michael knows I don't rush to doctors and if I was saying she needed to be seen, he agreed. He came home and stayed with Grandpa. He observed Allie and told us he thought it may be her appendix. I suspected the same or an ovarian cyst. 

We saw a new doc, as one often does at Urgent Care.  We had to work through the typical assumptions before they began to really listen to what we were saying, Allie wasn't talking much at this point. He examined her and asked when her last food had been eaten. He then told me she shouldn't eat or drink and he wanted to transfer her for "expert evaluation." I knew at that point what he was thinking. I called Michael and told him we were heading to the hospital. He said he'd call Allie's parents, we sent a text to Pastor and her older brother. She and I read the doc's findings on the way to the ER and confirmed he thought it was most likely appendicitis and not an ovarian cyst, but those were his two thoughts. 

Our first encounter at the ER was with a triage nurse who was more concerned at Allie's unvaccinated state than her current pain. I tried to redirect her twice and she just kept on with questions about vaccines and saying it is important for Allie to get vaccinated. I finally got firm. "I've told you this is her first experience with a doctor appointment, when do you think she would have had vaccines? We aren't here to talk about vaccines, we have been referred to have your doctor look at her appendix." 

In preparation for our doctor visit in January Allie has been watching a you tube doctor.  She has picked up the fact that good medical personnel will look you in the eyes and listen to what you say. Rob, Matt and the nurses at the Urgent Care had done this. Nurse X did not. She never looked at either of us and certainly was reluctant to listen. 

We moved on to a waiting room.  The doc, active-duty doc who does rotations at the local ERs, came in and met Allie. He explained he was ordering labs and a CAT scan. He told her it may be nothing serious but needed to be thoroughly checked out. He looked us both in the eyes. He listened when we shared what she has experienced, and he read the referral and exam findings from the past week at urgent care.

The nurse came bustling in and began to set up an IV. I stopped her and explained this was Allie's first medical experience. I told her until recently she'd never visited a doctor, and this was all new. I asked her to please explain everything she was going to do. She was WONDERFUL. She asked Allie questions to determine what I shared was true. From that point on they all took the time to explain everything they were going to do - from blood draws to IVs and CAT scans to surgery. 

Michael arranged someone to stay with Grandpa and arrived to wait with us. Allie was given a gown.  Remember, Allie is a young woman who is having pain...she was a bit worried about losing her clothes. I agreed she could simply remove her shirt and put on her gown. She felt better leaving her jeans and boots on. So, she did. We discussed she would probably need to pull her jeans down or remove them for the CAT scan. I told her I thought they would be able to see everything they needed without an exam, but I couldn't guarantee this. I told her we wouldn't consent to an exam without a really good reason. 

The team arrived to do the CAT scan. We waited some more.  The doc came back in and told us we, "Get a gold star for diagnosis." Chronic appendicitis, a grumpy appendix, can flare up and settle down. At some point it usually becomes acute. Allie's situation had become acute. They like to remove the appendix before one reaches this stage - the concern is rupture. He told us he wasn't sure when they would operate but they'd want her in the hospital, being observed and having her pain controlled until surgery. I asked if one of us could stay with her. He said they were pretty strict, and we should ask the surgeon, but he didn't think they would let us stay. 

We talked the situation over while we waited for the surgeon. The surgeon bustled in quickly. She had been warming her car when she got a message there was a minor with a swollen, angry appendix in the ER. She listened to Allie (and looked her and us in the eyes), we asked if at least one of us could stay with her and remain during her hospital stay. Allie advocated for herself,  we are so proud of her. The surgeon said we could BOTH stay with her all the way until she went back for surgery. She said we could wait outside in the surgical waiting room, and they would call us back into recovery. We could stay with her through recovery and if all went well, we could take her home if we would do care every 3 hours for 36 hours. SOUNDED GREAT TO ALL OF US! She didn't want to wait for morning, the team was on the way in, and they wanted to take this out before it could rupture. 

Within an hour of appendicitis being confirmed Allie was having surgery.  Michael went off to find the one lone vending machine at the hospital...it was 9 p.m. and I was ready for my missed breakfast and lunch.  We got a kick out of this sign on the way into the single stall bathroom. 

Be sure to social distance in the restroom

In about an hour the surgeon was back. Everything went well.  She gave us pictures...the appendix was enlarged, angry, pus was starting to collect...she was very pleased they were able to remove it all and said it would have ruptured if we hadn't gotten her in when we did.  She explained the photos and told us everything else looks great.  Once again Michael's adage about pain being a messenger and indicator that something is not right, proves to be true. 

Everyone I have met tends to be uncomfortable worrying what they will say while under the influence of anesthesia. Allie worried, not about swearing but about what she may share of her life. She was worried enough we talked it over with the anesthesia doc to confirm nothing Allie said would shock her. When we went back to recovery Allie was laying still. They said she hadn't talked. I took her hand, she squeezed and then I noticed...Allie was SIGNING UP A STORM. I told them she was communicating - check out her hands. They asked if they needed a Deaf Interpreter. "Oh NO! She wasn't deaf when she went into surgery! What did you DO to her? Someone slipped!" ::snort:: 

"No, she's saying, I love you.  Thank you. I'm a unicorn. Wait... that is... I'm fine."

Michael and I have learned a few signs. Allie was moved to a new room and continued to sign.  We discovered Michael can do finger spelling. Allie smiled each time we got something right. It was a great game.  She hadn't consciously made the decision to sign, it's just a part of her and her hands were working way better than her throat. Eventually, we were told we couldn't take her home until her eyes were open, and she was talking.  

Allie's throat hurt from strep and from being intubated. She was content to sign. I hated to force her, but leaned close to her ear and told her, "Allie, I need you to use your words now so we can go home." She opened her eyes and began whispering. It counted and we were able to bring her home. 

GG's chair lift is a God-send

Stacia was worried she wouldn't wake up if Allie needed help. We were worried Millie would try to climb into bed with Allie. She's sensitive to the girls' emotions. Stacia and Millie moved to the living room, and I moved into Stacia's bed. This made it easy to give her meds every 3 hours. Allie said it was like a girl's sleepover. LOL 

Before surgery Allie was sure she'd be up to attend this evenings Christmas Eve service. I told her we'd see how she felt when the time came. We missed the service, but Allie is handling recovery well.  She's been up in a recliner, which feels better on her shoulder and back. 

This Christmas the fun girls' trip to Anchorage didn't happen, the youth coming over to make gingerbread didn't happen, stocking stuffers aren't all purchased and wrapped, a traditional Christmas dinner morphed to Tacos...and yet we are incredibly thankful! Thankful for grown kids who arranged a Taco dinner and said being together was more important than traditions. Thankful for the awareness to listen to that still small voice and take Allie back in (Michael tends to be quick to doctor's, I'm slower - we balance each other out). Michael is proud of having the right diagnosis before any of the rest of us. ::snort:: We are thankful things were handled at home so Michael could be with us at the hospital. We are humbled and grateful when we realize how God has protected Allie through her past episodes to surgery. We are incredibly grateful for all the prayer, care and love shown to Allie and our family over the past couple of days. 

Even when our plans don't turn out as expected, God remains faithful and true. The important things fall into place...God with us. What a great time of the year to be reminded how very much we humans need God to be with us.