Wednesday, January 5, 2011

NEW YEAR.....ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! WE ARE BACK FROM OUR SELF IMPOSED BLOGGING BREAK. Actually the break wasn't so much self-imposed as my body forced me into it. I spent September and October in bed with a severe Lupus flare up and an infection in my head. Back to work part-time in November and in December our grand daughter's kept us in Riley Childrens Hospital. Happy to report we all are doing much better; I'm back full-time, Mack is back to school and Madeleine is home re-cuperating. I'm retiring at the end of this school year, so if I can make it for 18 more weeks, we are good!
Madeleine had to have open heart surgery on the 3rd and was home on the 8th. The next week went well for her and then she developed pneumonia. Shawn took Mackenzie along for a visit with her pulmonologist and she was admitted, along with Maddie. Maddie had turned out to be a collection of blood in the bottom of her lung and under went another surgery to remove that. A painful ordeal for her and she was slow in recovering. Mack was given breathing treatments and IV antibiotics for 9 days. She is remarkably improved. The disease appears to have progressed from her kidneys to her lungs, causing real breathing issues. She has labs each week to determine the status of her kidneys and a transplant is expected before too long. Her doctors are less optimistic than Mack is about this; she has surprized them for 8 years and plans on continuing!
Our other kiddos are terrific; Caleb, Gavin and Shayla are happy and healthy, PTL, to quote Mack. Caleb is a first grader who likes learning and likes sharing his thoughts even more. He continues to be like his father, a real story teller. His big, beautiful brown eyes have saved his hide more than once over some of his tales. Gavin, the wise one, loves kindergarten, makes friends easily and is knowing beyond his years. He has the vocabulary of an adult and is a joy to listen to. He is naive and innocent and loves the world. On the other hand, he can meltdown into a raging mess if crossed. Also a trait of his father's. Our beautiful grandsons are such a conglomeration of our sons, often displaying traits of dad, then uncle until we wonder who is who. Being with these two characters is a joy in my life.
Shayla is an adult now, at 22, she is a beautiful young woman. Quiet and loving, Shay's heart is as big as the world. She feels the pain of everyone and is the most caring person I know. She has been spending most of her winter with her other grandma, helping her with a bad hip. As long as Shay has her cellphone and ipod, she is a happy camper. She has worried herself to death over Maddie and Mack's illnesses, checking everyday for any news. She nurtures us all. I miss our Saturdays together and hope to get back to them asap. For now she is much too busy.
Our grandson, Joe, struggles with life, but we aren't giving up on him. Sometimes it takes a long while for us to grow up and into who we want to become. I have faith he will.
Stephen King continues to love retirement and fills his days with "piddling around". Never, ever boring, he claims. I hope to travel a bit when both of us are retired, but really don't know if he will have time. We are eating our way through all his canned and frozen goodies from the garden and he is planning the next one...fewer green beans and more tomatoes. His corn is fantastic, where did he learn to freeze it better that I can? Maybe I can learn from him next summer. I'm looking forward to having time for him and his hobbies.
Our mom has Alzheimers and has struggled alot this fall and winter. My sster is a blessing for her and I hope to be able to help them more with retirement. Life can be so hard sometimes we wonder why? For what purpose do illnesses like Alzheimers, kidney failure, heart defects, addiction and lupus strike? What can we learn from our suffering? Difficult questions to contemplate -  impossible to answer.  
I hope to use this blog to reconnect with old friends, meet new ones and discover some of those answers.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE MAY WE ALL BE A BLESSING TO SOME ONE.

3 comments:

Courtney said...

I love you, Mom. You see the best in all of us and we are all so blessed to be yours.

Milk House door said...

Hedy, I'm so glad your back!!! I hope you are feeling much better, despite the dreary, cold winter days. So glad to hear from you. Hopefully a winter gaggle fest is in order some time this winter. May have to be postponed for a while, though. I won't say we are in snowstorm conditions, though it is definitely less than ideal conditions right now. Maybe a delay tomorrow. ;) Glad to hear all is going better than it was. You'll make it! Miss you and love you!

Nina said...

Courtney says it all. Love you so much..