Scary

Well - tomorrow is the day!! I have decided that I would much rather have 20 minutes notice pre-surgery rather than 2 1/2 months. Especially when the doctor tells you it is going to be a very painful recovery!! Words you don't want to hear from a doctor. Today I cleaned my bathroom, washed and changed my sheets, vacuumed the whole upstairs and mopped the kitchen floor. I also went and visited my dad, and Jill and Bruce and Becky!! And I bought a cute pink outfit (jeans and top) a pair of lavender jammies and some infant sized tights for a baby shower that is this Saturday (for Rachel Hatch)!! I have about 16 meals frozen in my freezer and almost 3 gallons of milk and several loaves of bread. I think I am ready to take the next couple of weeks off!!

I finally had Shawn come over on Saturday and give me a priesthood blessing and I feel much better about it all. I am so thankful for these blessings - Not only have saved my life in the past but they have helped me feel peaceful and comfortable about what was happening that is totally out of my control otherwise.

Shawn and Kris and kids all showed up at my house tonight too, with dinner and family home evening lesson, fun game, and dessert. Plus a gorgeous bouquet of flowers - that I think Kristanne arranged for me! And we had a ball tonight!! Kristanne said they figured this way I would be so glad to enjoy the peace and quiet of laying around the house with nothing to do after having her herd here for two hours!! I thoroughly enjoyed them all. They are such a precious crew and everyone of them were on their best (though noisy) behavior. We played a Book of Mormon game and it was us three females plus Ethan against the guys. The guys won but since the winners had to dish up the icecream we gladly let them do it!! I can handle those kind of wins all the time.

I will be so glad to get tomorrow over and done with though. Even though I won't be able to stick my fingers into the hole in my belly any more....amazingly no one else wanted to feel the opening!! Wonder why!

I am stating here and now that since I was in the hospital in 2003 for gall bladder, 2005 for pneumonia, 2007 for partial colon removal, this is my 2009 surgery !!! NO ARGUMENTS ALLOWED!

I have appreciated all your emails and phone calls and visits. Your Dad will probably send you an email tomorrow night telling you all is well - I hope I don't have to stay overnight in the surgical center cause she said they don't have much food - that the families are invited to bring in shakes or soup or such!! If they ain't gonna feed me, I ain't gonna stay!

Pay it Forward

A blogging game...This one involves getting free stuff. Nice huh? I signed on through Kecia's blog. She owes me a handmade gift. The first three people to leave a comment on my blog will receive a handmade gift from me. You most certainly will not get it tomorrow and probably not even next week, but you'll get it! Here's the catch...if you want to get free stuff, you have to pay it forward and make the same promise on your blog. (You must have a blog to participate.) So if you want to get something from me, you have to give to three people. Who's it gonna be?

University of Utah - Diabetes Clinic

As all of my kids know I just spent Thursday and Friday at the University of Utah hospital. It was year two of a four year study on the neuropathy of diabetics.

When I got there on Thursday morning I was 12 hours into a 12 hour fast so that they could do an A1C which is way to see how well a diabetic is controlling their sugars. My last A1C in july was 5.3 - they like it to be under 7 so the doctors were pleased with my diet and exercise. The A1C tracks the amount of sugar in my blood. This record changes as old red blood cells in your body die and new red blood cells (with fresh hemoglobin) replace them. The amount of A1C in your blood reflects blood sugar control for the past 120 days, or the lifespan of a red blood cell.

They probably took about 3 quarts - oh! I mean 3 vials of blood for various tests. Then they gave me time to empty my suitcase and put my clothes away as I was staying overnight. Over the two day period they ran laser tests on my nerves and heat tests and cold tests and sweat tests and pin prick tests. They also removed small areas of skin on my hip, by my knee and by my ankle which they will study for nerve damage. And last but not least they took pictures of the back of my eyes to check for macular degeneration which is a big worry with diabetics. My eyes looked good they said.

To me the pin prick tests told me the most. When the doctor poked my big toe with the sharp end of a safety pin I couldn't feel it. When he pricked the top of my big toe I could feel the pressure but no prick. When he pricked about two inches about my big toe and about five inches above my big toe it felt like a ball point pen. Finally when he pricked the front of the ankle I felt the 'pain' of a needle prick!! Also on the hot and cold nerve studies on my feet I was at 97% - that meant 97% of the people tested felt more than I did!! I only 3% of the people felt less!

The studies at the University of Utah are to track the increase of neuropathy in extremities of diabetics over a four year period. The main focus is to be able to find tests to pinpoint diabetes BEFORE it does any damage. Hopefully there are other studies going on out there to help AFTER the damage is done but right now the doctor said there is no way to recover what has been lost.

They treat the patients in the study royally with good food and friendly helpful staff. A few of the tests HURT, some of them were uncomfortable and some of them downright interesting. I will go back in a year and let them poke and prod my poor hands and feet some more. All in the interest of science.

Snowed in!!

From all reports of the Weather man we were supposed to get 1 or 2 inches of snow in the valley with this last storm. I agree that the lawns were already several inches deep but this morning I couldn't see my driveway or my cleaned off sidewalk or even the road!! This was supposed to be a nothing storm. Poor pity those who had to drive it it this morning because it is almost 1 pm and there hasn't been a road plow in sight!!

Thank Heavens that today was a get lots of meals in my freezer day and sew my new nightie day!! At present I have chili cooking on top of the stove, I have ribs and sauce cooking in the slow cooker and I have funeral potatoes going in the oven. I also have the makings for a big batch of spagetti. All of this is going into meal sized containers for 2 to feed Ed and I with just the help of a microwave over the next couple of weeks.

I WAS going to go up to my dads and out to see Jill but only if they send a snow plow !!

Sad day!! A naked tree

I'm taking my Christmas tree down today and that is always a sad day for me!! Usually it doesn't come down until the 15th or later but since that is the day I am scheduled to have my incisional hernia repaired I figured it needed to come down this week. I love a Christmas tree. I wouldn't mind putting one up and leaving it there all year just changing to ornaments to Valentines Day and then St Patrick's Day and then Easter, etc. I love the soft glow at night when all the other lights are off and I can just enjoy.

As I undecorate it though (as when I set it up), I take a minute to enjoy the ornaments I have. Every time we go someplace new I buy an ornament for my tree!! I have a sailboat and a lighthouse from Portland Head,Connecticut, a gorgeous butterfly and hummel figurine from a little German village on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River where it runs past Cincinnati, An ornament from the Statue of Liberty and a big apple that says Empire State Building, New York. I have a mannequin head in silver brocade and an actor's masque in purple and gold and green from New Orleans. I have an old fashioned Santa that I bought at the Old Post Office in Washington DC. I have a seashell from one of my trips to Hawaii and a wooden nativity cut-out and and a gold metal cut-out that says "the Cradle of Liberty" from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I have a Lennox china snowflake from San Marcos that I bought at the factory outlet stores just South of town. I have a blown glass hummingbird and a birdfeeder that reminds me of my mama and several trains that remind me of my dad.

I have a metal Cinderella Castle that Dirk and Da brought me back from their Honeymoon to Walt Disney World. I have ornaments that Ed brought me back from Germany and I have a beautiful glass ball full of sand from the Cayman Islands that Kelly and Jamie brought me from their cruise in November. I have other ornaments that Mauri and Kecia have given me through the years. Mauri gave me some darling glass snowmen that will remind me of our fun mom and daughter dates. I am also crediting Mauri with some cute red metal ornaments that look like a tricycle and a childs rocking chair with adorable bears sitting on or in them. Kecia gave me a cute snowman from California while on her mission. And Kris and Shawn have given me some wooden ornaments with pictures of my grandkids in them. I also have one of Adrie Anna when she was about a year old. Then there are the jewel like ornaments that I think Kris helped Mickey make. And then there is the crystal heart she gave me the year my mother died - with the heart came a beautiful poem that tells me she is waiting for me on the other side - and that she still loves me. I have snowflakes that I saved from my sister Merrilee's ornaments - and little tiny nutcrackers that remind me of my growing up years. I have a counted cross stitch ornament that I myself made about 25 years ago! I have a crystal that hangs on a thin wire and catches the lights as they glow. I THINK I bought it in Arizona but I am not sure. One of my close friends gave me a gingerbread man in a brown paper sack that is sooo cute; Even the pink sparkly [:-)] poinsetta flowers are a memory because they were part of a whole bunch of corsages I made for our Ward Christmas Choir the year I sang in it... and ended up with pneumonia!!

What I am saying, in my wordy over much way is that it is a tree of memories. Each time I look at the different ornaments I am taken back to a place or time in my life where I have happy memories. Ed and I have had a lot of fun traveling to a lot of different places here in the US of A and each of these ornaments reminds me of those different trips. This is just one of the reasons that I love Christmas so very much - and why I hate to take my tree down as the season comes to a close. I gave Kecia my big tree last year and got me a tall thin one that I love (and it doesn't take up so much room), but the tree is getting more crowded each year. I keep thinking that I need to stop buying memories...but I enjoy them so much I just can't.

Grandma Gets to Babysit

Kecia drove up to Layton today (January 2, 2008) to get her hair cut and I got to babysit -





















I am sure these aren't the first pictures of Emma in 2008 but they are the first ones I have taken - so enjoy!!












She entertained me for hours and then got to go home to Aunt Jamies house while mom and dad went to the Jazz game!! Wonder how Jamie and Kelly are holding up!

Fun Day

Merry Christmas to Mom from Mauri!

Mauri gave me a day out with her for Christmas and we had fun! We went the morning of New Years Eve...we hit the movie theatre first and watched National Treasure - Book of Secrets. Good movie. We both learned something though - DON'T buy the large drinks - 44 0z - we both had to run out a couple of times during the movie to the ladies room!! Bummer!! Trying to figure out a slow time during the movie when we wouldn't miss too much - not fun!!

After the movie we went to Marie Callendar's for lunch. We talked and visited and ate and had a good time. Then we shared a slice of their caramel cheesecake apple pie! YUMM!! Thanks for the fun time Mauri, I love you.