WARNING: SPIDER PICTURES

What kind of spider is this? Other than a dead one, of course. It was hiding in the apple bowl. It had 8 legs before Alan got it. It moved REALLY fast.

In KS

We've been in KS for quite some time and I think Grace is starting to like running around like a country girl.

Here she is hanging out on a country road outside the town my mom lives in. Notice the wind? That's considered a light breeze in this neck of the woods.


Here is a house in Kingman. Gives new meaning to having a basement.


Grace in the new wheat.


The road two blocks down from my mom's house.


Swedish Baby.


Random pretty KS countryside pictures.



My mom in the hospital being visited by the Headrick kids.


Grandma and Cortland at home.


The amazing pretzel baby.


Cortland and Joycelyn, his girlfriend. They were born on the same day.

Home

She's home and doing great!

Well Poop

Well damn. My mom won't be able to go home until at least tomorrow. She's doing great but she's retaining a bit of fluid and they want to keep her for another day to make sure it is not a symptom of a bigger problem. Right now they don't think it s, but better safe than sorry. I'm headed up to the hospital right now to hang out tell dirty jokes.

She's Baaaaccccckkkkkk...

Yesterday this little nurse came into my mom's room and told my mom she had some consent papers to sign concerning putting in the defibrillator. My mom got a funny look, and, dramatically clutching her hands to her chest loudly said, "They going to do WHAT???"

The nurse leaped backward narrowly missing landing on the bed on the other side of the room, as my mom followed up with, "Oh yes, I signed all of that yesterday. We're good to go."

After the nurse checked the file and saw that my mom did indeed sign everything yesterday, she left with a nervous little twitter. I told my mom that they were probably filing orders at that very second to ship her to the 9th floor funny farm.

My mom's response? "If they can't take a joke, screw 'em."

Yup folks, she's baaaaccccckkkkk!

Update

I feel like I've been drive by blogging.

The doctor came in today and confirmed that my mom will have the defibrillator put in on Wed and SHE GETS TO GO HOME ON THURSDAY!!!!!!

Update

Mom's been moved to room 4051. She's no longer in the ICU. Yah!

Update on Mom

More good news, her MRI came back and there is no damage to her brain. She looked good and was sitting up in a chair when we came in this morning.

Thank you again for all of your prayers. It is simply a miracle that she is alive.

Update

My mom had the ventilator removed this morning. She's doing great. We still don't know why this happened, but we know how to prevent it from happening again with a defibrillator.

All of the family is here and we're a little tired. We're so glad that she's alive and that she' seems to be recovering very well.

Dr. Grace

dear mommy
my fee for my diagnosis on granma is TWO biscuits instead of
one. i am glad i was of service.
please tell my consulting doctors they are no longer needed
as dr. grace is ON. THE. JOB.
(notice i smiled with my eyes?)

Grace

Grace has been emailing me since we've been gone. She's been staying with Tanya and Tanya has been kind enough to let her use her computer. Here are some of the emails Grace has sent this week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subject: Grace 5/6/09

dear mom and dad...i like camp.
camp is fun. i get to play in mud pits
when nobody is looking.
but after i play in mud i have to get a bath in the sink
and aunti tanya is afraid to get water in my ears so
she does my head with a spray bottle and i don't like it.

aunti tanya says i am going to get a facial after work
so here is what i look like after a day in mud and a day in
the rain. i just woke up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subject: Grace Last 5/6/09

dear mom and dad.
camp is not so bad. i am ready for my day
i have had my hair brushed-tanya brushes it
every day and found a web site that says to be SURE to
keep the comb down and do NOT flip up at the end of the
stroke so my hair doesn't break.
i am sorry i am brown...mud tends to colour me a little
but she says i am getting that taken care of TONIGHT.
she is getting better with the bows, i kept yesterdays in all day
long. too bad i got rained on because i had old kinky head
from my bow when my hair dried.
i look a little better now.
i posed pretty for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subject: Grace 4 5/6/09

dear mom and dad
where are my treats? should they not be in the bedroom with ME?!?
do i HAVE to go alllllll the way into the kitchen for a treat?
this is like a prison. without the bread and water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subject: Grace Ann

5/3/09

dear mommy-
tonight i played i was a fero furo furyo a mean wookie! i chased tanya allllll over the den and hall and kitchen and bedroom and up on a couch and then i grabbed her dishtowel and tried to shake it to death and then i barked and barked and barked and it was really really really fun!
i miss you but i am having a wonderfee time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mom is more responsive today than yesterday. She's been awake for about 30 minutes now (since we got here) and is more demonstrative when I talk to her.

She's still on the ventilator and the lung doctor said that she'll stay on it at least for another 24 hours. Today is supposed to be all about rest so we're trying to keep quiet when we're in her room.

No News is Good News

We are getting ready to head to the hospital. I'll update when we get there.

Upside-Down Update on My Mom

Is the term unresponsive the new PC term for coma? If so, then my mom is finally responsive again. She woke up this morning and recognized me and tried to ask what happened. I could only tell her what didn't happen since they still haven't figured it out. They have her heavily sedated again so she doesn't fight her breathing tube, but awake is awake and I'll take whatever I can get!

She tested negative for an embolism and her heat cath showed that all of her arteries are clear. The CAT scan was unremarkable at this time, and they said they will do another in a couple days. She has pneumonia from aspiration during CPR, which is normal. They did a bronchoscopy and are draining tons of fluid and other crud from her lungs.

My Mom stopped breathing Saturday night and from what I understand her heart stopped. That's what it means when they say she coded twice and they had to use defibrillators, rght? To me that screams heart attack and it did to the medical team, too. She is at Via Christie St Francis in the cardiac ICU, but I'm still unsure if it was technically a heart attack. Thankfully she wasn't alone and medical attention was administered right away. Thank you Carl's mom and HanJoon. I will forever be in your debt. She was unresponsive from Saturday night until this morning.

I have never seen her look as beautiful as she did this morning when she opened her eyes.

Regards, Cortland

Hello everyone! Let me tell you what we've been up to.

We played on the beach again yesterday. It's my favorite place to hang out. I sleep and sleep and sleep.

After my nap my Granma and Grandpa and I hung out and smiled at people walking by. They all thought I was pretty darn cute. Grandpa kept worrying that the umbrella was going to blow over, but it never did.

See that down guy there? He looks like my long lost twin doesn't he? I'm the one with the drool. That's Great Grandpa Elmo. You know, the Elmo mommy wanted to name me after. She still calls me that when no one is around. Shhhhh, she says it's a secret. I can't remember what we're looking at, but it was apparently quite amazing.

We also went swimming. At first I wasn't so sure about it, but after a few minutes I started having fun swishing around.


But mostly we just kicked back and relaxed wearing cool hats and froggie-wear.