Heart to Heart

An unforgettable birthday! I must admit I really wasn't prepared for what I experienced that day. I told myself that everything was fine, and the cardiologist wasn't going to find anything wrong with my arteries as he threaded a catheter from my groin to the heart. It was only heartburn, right? WRONG! What did he mean? 90% blockage, and he put a stent in! This was serious, I told myself, and in a way, hard for me to comprehend. I didn't think it was that big a deal to have heartburn now and then, though the pain radiating to my jaw was a little discerning. I must also admit that thoughts of my life ending sooner than I had envisioned became more of a possibility. Well, those thoughts did cross my mind as I laid still in a hospital bed for almost 12 hrs. waiting for my clotting factors to be low enough to reassure the nurses I wouldn't bleed from the site.
Of course, I didn't bring anything but my contact case, to spend the night in the hospital...no brush, no toothbrush, or toothpaste, no change of clothes. And then, I found out there are two other areas below the blockage that are forming plaque, and will have to be watched.
The blockage was in the upper part of the left coronary artery.
So it was home, to recover and take it easy for a few days. But the next day, I started having body aches, and chills, and increased pressure in my sinuses. Friday, I was determined to get out of the house for a little while, so Earl and I went grocery shopping. That's about as long as I could take being out, as I felt awful with body aches. Saturday, I ran a fever, and was all wrapped up in a blanket all day. By Sunday, I started feeling a little better, and as the day went by, I was baking cookies(low fat oatmeal-choc. chip), and went for a walk with Earl and the dogs. I've been reading a book about heart healthy living, and looking at recipes for both of us to follow. I've actually lost 3 lbs. since Tuesday. So begins my new life!
And my family...what a blessing to have a family that cares...thanks for all the phone calls.

June Bugs, continued

It was a nice ceremony, not too long, for having over 300 grads, and Raquel was beaming! She is such a neat, wonderful young lady, with the most beautiful smile, and loving person. She will attend St. Cloud University, maybe pursuing a nursing degree.
Friday, after making some food for the graduation party, I, also, made food for a potluck for the gathering of Chris and Chuck's friends at their neighbor's house, the Gundersons. It was a happy, sad affair! And it was hard on Chris, to say good-bye, as they move on to Colorado to start a new adventure, new job, new way of life. They gave them a beautiful framed saying about forever friends, and a photo of almost all of their friends as a memento.
Saturday, we headed to Elk River to celebrate Raquel's graduation. It turned out to be a beautiful day, 80 degrees.
What a great family we have. There is such love and caring for each other. We even were good sports and played volleyball, tho all were not in the best shape for it, and injuries occurred.

It was also Aidan's birthday, and we brought his gift with us, too. Happy 7th Anniversary, Danielle and Shawn.
Monday was spent helping the Johnsons get packed up, and loading the truck with all their belongings. I said my goodbyes, and vowed i wouldn't cry, but, gosh, it was hard to hold back the tears on my way to work. The next day, I went to Lorrie's and took care of her little munchkins. As i left her house @ 4:00pm, I thought about them on their way to Omaha, the first night's destination. I found out later that they didn't leave til 7:30 pm, and made it to Sioux City the first night. I think God was watching over them, as the next night, tornados, and severe storms hit Iowa, after they had headed west. They arrived Tuesday night.
So, Wednesday came, and I had my testing done, after trying three times to start an IV in my hand. They injected radioactive dye, and took pictures of the bloodflow in my heart, resting and after exercise. Also, I got my heartrate up by walking on a treadmill, and having it recorded. My doctor was there, and then showed me my tracing, and said it showed some abnormalities. During the activity phase, my heart showed signs of stress, poss. decreased oxygenation. She wanted me to see a cardiologist. Before I could think too much about it, I was handed an appointment card with a time to see the Doctor the next day.
Thursday morning, I greeted the little munchkins @ my house, and fed them breakfast. Then, Earl went with me, as Grandma Karen watched the kiddos, and we talked with the cardiologist. He suggested strongly that I have an angiogram as soon as possible. So, now I am spending my birthday, going to St Cloud for this catherization, and if there is a narrowing or blockage seen, he will put in a stent, and I'll have to stay overnight. I'm having a hard time dealing with all this at once, as I wonder to myself, is this serious or just precautionary. What a family history of heart disease....my mom, dad, her mom, and dad, her sister-Lorraine, my brother. I guess it was bound to affect me, too. Trust in the Lord, in all you do. I'll give Him all my worries, and trust in His care of me.

May Days & June Bugs

A month ago.....where did it go...Mother's Day, Tanner & Sharyn's birthdays, last of school, Memorial Day.
Here is how I celebrated Mother's Day with 2 of my daughters...we gathered @ Chris's and ate dessert! Cheesecake, chocolate covered strawberries, flavored coffee. What could be better! And phone calls from my other children.
We took Tanner out for breakfast after his birthday, and then let him pick out something he wanted for a present from us. Dad sent Sharyn a bouquet of lilies for her birthday. We bought flowers, and planted, and weeded, and plowed a garden. Besides work, we attended meetings we are a part of from Church. We attended Matt Onnen's graduation party from HS. My, how he's grown up. And lastly, we went to a Memorial service @ St. Pat's cemetery, and prayed, and honored our veterans who serviced our country.
June started with my annual physical, and mammogram. Fun, right? Besides changing my presciption from Vytorin to Zocor, it was uneventful, until I mentioned having occas. heartburn radiating to my jaw. So just to be thorough, she decided to schedule me for a Cariolite stress test, or nuclear scan of my heart to see blood flow @ rest and with exercise. They sceduled it on Wednesday, June 11th. Meanwhile, my sister, Sandie, finally had a hip replacement done after having a great once over health check-up. She came thru it with flying colors and is recuperating at home, while doing rehab. I found a new book by my sister, Barb's favorite author, and sent it to her for her birthday. She was surprised! Thursday, June 5th, we drove to Rogers to attend our oldest granddaughter, Raquel's HS Graduation. They were calling for severe storms, and luckily, we only had light to moderate showers to and from there.

May: green grass, tulips, warm weather

April ended with Lunch with Jonnie for Grandparents Day, and playing a game with him in his classroom. Then, since Chris was leaving for Colorado, and Tanner had his choir concert, I decided to go listen to him sing, while Dad went to a meeting @ St. Mary's church. He sang with his class, and also a small group of boys, but he was hidden behind taller kids, and I couldn't get a good picture of him. This is the best I could do:
I really enjoyed his concert of 5th and 6th graders, esp. the history of rock and roll tunes. We did meet up afterwards, and also, met up with Dad, who got to talk with Tanner, too.
Then, it was working all weekend @ the hospital, escorting a couple who lost their full-term baby home, after she ruptured her uterus, and the baby lost too much blood. Tragedy can happen in an instant. Caring for two premie babies, who are learning how to eat to gain weight, and trying to give encouragement to the parents. So by Tuesday, I was ready for a day off. I've been working on a quilt for Raquel, and slowly am making some progress. Also, Dad and I are looking at flooring for the porch, so we can get that done. Wednesday, we looked at Home Depot, and found the flooring we both agree on. Now, do we go light or dark? Back to work Thursday and Friday, except I got sick Thursday night, and couldn't wait to get home, and go to bed. Called in sick Friday...head clogged, body aches, fever, intestinal cramps.
Missed Allison's grand march for prom, but got to see photos of her gown-just beautiful.
Saturday was another day...and a better one for me. No more aches, less cramping, so we went to the Civic Center for the garage sales. Both got some good sales, then we got groceries, and I had enough of shopping, and couldn't wait to get home. Sunday, I was the song leader, and begged everyone to sing out, as my voice was not my best, and there were 7 young people making their first Communion. All went well, praise God!
Since it was a beautiful day, we decided to take the dogs to the trail, and walk. We put them in the kennel together in the car. They both liked it. We went for a three mile walk...I felt good, Dad's legs ached, and the dogs.....
they were thirsty. We then got Subway subs, and relaxed @ home.
Today, was another great day....I even got an on call for days. We even went for another walk with the dogs.

Springtime, at least for Today

Yes, it is true! The rhubarb is coming up, and my tulip bulbs are growing leaves...now if the rabbits will leave them alone, I may have some spring flowers. Saturday, I spent the day raking up the fenced in part of the yard, cleaning up the debris from the dogs, and sticks from the trees over the winter. Then I raked along the south side of the house, and tackled the flower bed in the front. Needless to say, I could hardly walk straight the next day, from bending over, picking up piles of leaves, using muscles I hadn't used for a while. But it sure felt good to spruce up the yard. Steve and Kory stopped over to borrow the truck. They needed to pick up supplies for their bathroom that they are re-doing. Earl decided to wash the car,and theirs, and power wash the driveway. What a gorgeous sunny day! Hurrah! Then, Sunday, despite the aches and pains, we took an hour long walk with the dogs down to the park, and let them run around the ball field. They could hardly make it home. Monday, we went to a parish meeting, to discuss what the future is going to be for our churches, and Area faith community, in five years, when we may only have 1-2 priests for the four area churches, and what we felt was important ministries for everyone. Tuesday, I went to a baby shower for Katie, and her baby boy, who works with me. I presented the quilt we made her, plus a tote bag and outfit I made. Some of the younger nurses brought their little ones, also. As a friend reminded me, it didn't seem that long ago when I was in their shoes, toting around a bunch of little ones. Now, they remind me of my daughters, and their children, and I feel contented where I am at life right now, and can just be an observer, and a holder of babies. Later that night, we went to Alaina's orchestra concert, and listened to her play her cello. She was right up front, but wouldn't look at us much. She really was glad we were there.
Meanwhile, Jonnie and Grandpa were having a discussion about his jobs as a policeman, and firefighter. It was so great to see them talking together so intently. And Sawyer sat next to Mom, ate gummybear snacks, and lasted thru the 5th graders, and wanted to leave. We gave Alaina a plant of multicolored chrysanthemums to plant outside in her garden, and hopefully, they'll continue to come up for years to come.

Will IT EVER End?

When is it going to be Spring around here! That's the question I wonder as I watched the snow falling, and the wind whipping around on Friday, and Saturday. Just the day before, the ground was bare, the grass beginning to turn green, and the robins chirping away. But all that changed in an instant. Isn't that how life is? We are surrounded by change all the time. Maybe God wants us to take a break, and reflect on that.
I watched as the birds scrambled to get food in this storm, and was glad I went out on Thursday, and filled the bird feeder with seeds and fruit. Friday night, when I went to let the dogs in from the garage, they were running around the car, looking for something. It turned out there were two robins up in the rafters, trying to get out of the storm. I left the back door open so they could fly out when they wanted.

There was a bright spot, tho, as I was reading the newspaper Thursday morn. I spotted an article about how ARC had sold all these many dozens of roses for people with disabilities. I remember someone had asked me if I would be interested in buying some roses from them for ARC back in March. Somehow, we never connected, so as I was reading this article, it said there would be extra roses for sale @ Skylark Mall. So feeling bad I hadn't gotten some, I called Earl and asked him to stop there after work and get some roses. He brought home the most beautiful bouquet of rose of various colors. There are still in full bloom today, and I smile when I see them.

Dad went to Marshall on Saturday, for his secular franciscan class, and I went shopping. I got the material for Raquel's quilt. I'll tell all of you what you can do to make it special for her later. Then grocery shopping...the price of food increasing is making me sick! Along with gas! But that didn't stop us from going to St. Cloud Sunday after hearing the Children's Choir @ St. Mary's, and eating out at Olive Garden, shopping @ Sam's Club, and going to Crafts Direct.
Sunshine, and melting snow! Now that's the way to end a great weekend! Thanks be to God!

Time Flies when You're living your life.

With the busyiness of preparing for Easter coming and going, I am feeling the joy of the Easter season. After looking for a new vehicle for several weeks, we traded our 2000 buick with 144,00 mi. for a 2005 GMC Envoy. What amazed me was how easy it was to get a great rate, and within our pre-conceived payments. It's been a struggle for us the last few years, and our diligence to improve our credit has paid off. This SUV has so many nice features that Earl and I are still trying to figure out. We finally got to travel in it together to Marshall on Sunday, and enjoy the comfortable ride.
Mac also got into the Easter finery with a desperately needed haircut. Isn't he cute!
After working the beginning of the week, I've been able to have a week off, and catch up on things. Thursday, Earl and I went to Mass before our Social Concerns meeting. We were running late, and I was perturbed that we would miss half of the Mass before we got there, and Earl has been obsessed with keeping the gas mileage the best we can get, and going 55 mi/hr and no more. But as I've come to learn, things don't always work out the way we think it will. Our priest was very late, and hadn't started Mass when we arrived, so no problem there. Our meeting went well. Friday, I met earl after my dentist appt. where I lucked out again, and got an appt. right away due to a cancellation, because I lost part of my back molar to decay. He said I came in just in time to prevent a root canal. I collected the last of the quilt squares from my co-workers to make a baby quilt for a colleague, and went to Mass @ St. Mary's. Earl then took off to the county jail to give communion to the inmates. He had 10 inmates to give out communion and say rosary with. His voice was hoarse when he got home, from saying the rosary over and over again to different groups. Then, saturday, we called Steve and Kory, and invited them to lunch @ Grizzley's. Afterwards, we explored the Home Depot, and Menard's dreaming of what we'd like to do with the kitchen.
Oh I didn't tell you that we, along with Steve and Kory, booked rooms @ the Marina in Superior for August for the Maritime Festival, and see the Pride of Baltimore that is coming there then.
Danielle offered her place to stay,as rooms were filling up fast, or costing a fortune, but as it is our anniversary that weekend, we opted for hotel rooms.
Then Sunday, we helped with Dad's Belgian Waffles @ the Kandiyohi community center to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. This was a joint effort of the area churches-Tripolis Lutheran, Ebenezer Lutheran, Church of Christ, and St. Patrick's. We supplied the coffee and creamer, sugar, and some workers. We had a nice turnout, and enjoyed the joint venture. Of course, St. Pat's never seem to have a great showing for these events, but we do what we can. After that, I went home and typed up my minutes from my winter board meeting in bird island, thinking we needed them for our Spring Gathering in Olivia next week for CCW. After typing three pages of minutes, and calling our President, she informed me that she didn't need those from the board meeting. Uhhhg! Oh well, they're done anyway.
Then, I went with Earl to Marshall for a Mass at the Campus Ministry Center, where some people were becoming Secular Franciscans. He has been interested in finding out more about this, and met with the leaders afterwards, and given a journal to read and study about this group. He is thinking of becoming one of them, and it involves a three year study, and trips to Marshall once a month. He wants me to join too. I'm not sure what to do, and so am praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit as to what I should do.
Monday til today, I've been working on the baby quilt, and trying to get it done.