Wednesday, December 19, 2012

November 10th was a BIG day

Tylissa got a very important packet in the mail.  Here she is opening it!


Reading the letter - yep my baby girl just got accepted to the University of Montana.  This is exactly where she wants to go to double major in Forensic Anthropology and Chemistry.  



NOTE:  We just found out today that she got a scholarship to the UM.  It is a small scholarship but we will take whatever we can get, she will get $1000 a year for 4 years.  

This is becoming too much of a reality!

It finally happened and too cute!

Tylissa is officially the short one of the family.  Are we surprise . . . not really.  Chad is excited but he still seems so small around his classmates.




How cute is this . . . before seminary Keston's hood look so inviting so I just plopped Maggie in and look how cute they are.  


Mother did NOT know best . . . ugh!

The timeline of events is as follows:

Thursday the week before Thanksgiving the school calls me at 2:45 p.m. to tell me Chad is not doing well.  My first thought was, "Seriously, he can't wait 15 minutes and ride the bus home" but I hurried over to the school.  Chad's stomach was not doing well and he did spend the night removing all of its contents. 

Friday.  Val had the day off so he stayed home with Chad and even though he was not losing his lunch anymore we kept him home thinking that he just had a 24 hour bug.  The thought of the appendix came to mind but he never complained or grabbed his right side.  He was able to each soup and drink a lot of fluids.  That night he went to bed and I told him he would wake up feeling much better.

Saturday.  Val go up and went hunting.  Chad came up to our bedroom shortly after 8:00 a.m. in tears saying that his stomach really hurt.  OH NO . . . so I hurried and ran through the shower and called Urgent Care because I was feeling too cheap to take him to the ER.  I think Chad thought we was going to die waiting for it to open at 9:00 a.m.  Luckily the wait was not very long.  The physician's assistant did his assessment and hooked Chad up to an IV to help with the pain and drew some blood for lab work.  They were thinking it was appendicitis and took some x-rays (still wondering why on that one).  It was so hard to Chad to stand up straight he hurt so much.   They then sent us across the street to the hospital to get an ultrasound.   The poor technician had a hard time because Chad's stomach was clenched and he wouldn't relax.  The technician got another person for a consult and they kept talking about fluid . . . that didn't sound good so I was starting to think his appendix had burst.    Low and behold that was the case and they were just waiting for the doctor to review the ultrasound to confirm.  In the mean time we were sitting in the hallway, Chad was curled up in a extra large wheelchair when the house supervisor found us and immediately took us up to a room.  There are perks for working at the hospital and having people know who you are.  They got Chad admitted and comfortable in a bed. 

In the mean time I was trying to get in touch with Val to let him know that Chad would be going into surgery as soon as the doctor arrived.  Luckily Val happened to be on the top of a knoll, had his cell phone on and got service and got my texts.  They hurried home and he pulled in just as they were wheeling him to surgery.  He was mostly out of it when he said "hi dad". 

They wheeled Chad into surgery at 1:00 p.m. and they said it would be a short surgery depending on how bad the perforation was.  So Val and I grabbed a sandwich and I started calling and texting everyone.  My boss was so great and ready to come down if I needed her.  She is so good to me.  The doctor came back and said that everything went well but Chad's appendix had perforated so he had to wash him out with 3 litres of antibiotic stuff and they did need to leave in a drain.  The pictures are from his surgery . . . sorry if you just ate.   The first one is the perforated appendix, the brown stuff is not good.  The second one is the appendix right before he took it out.  Notice all the brown liquid on the left, that is what was leaking and can be very toxic to his little body.  The last picture is the surgery all done.  It is amazing what they can do with just three little slits in the belly.  The doctor said he perforated sometime during the night.




 After the surgery and our visit with the doctor, Val headed back out to hunt.  I made it up to recovery just after Chad woke up and one of the first things he said was "what about basketball".  The nurse said that Chad came out of the anesthesia almost instantly, his eyes just popped opened and asked where I was.  Chad was so thirsty so they were feeding him ice chips. 

We went back to his room and we settled in for our stay.  He did great, but he hated the drain, it would pull and tug anytime he moved.  Keston and Tylissa came up to the hospital and when Val got home he picked up food.  I finally got a hold of mom . . . teach her to go to relief society.   Everyone was so great and texted words of comfort and love.  Thank you to all.  Ken and Tracy happened to be in town to grab stuff for their house so they stopped by for a quick visit.  Here he is after his surgery hooked up to too many tubes and wires.  He is not looking so great but the first time he was really relaxed and not in pain.




We watched Toy Story 3 and then went to sleep.  We both hate IVs in the night.  First the battery was dying so it started beeping, then it ran out of the meds, and then something else but I don't remember.  Dang beeping thing. 

Sunday was an up and down day, he would be doing great and then he would have a hard time.  We laughed because he was still on a liquid diet so he got coffee for breakfast . . . did they not read that he was a peds patient and who wants chicken broth for breakfast.  After a while they said he could try solid food so we ordered up some pancakes and it tasted so good he ate too much to fast so he was in a lot of pain.  The doctor came over and they took out the IV but had to leave in the drain but he would check back later in the afternoon. 

Chad had a rough afternoon so I called Val and he grabbed our friend D and they gave him a blessing - why we didn't start with that I don't know.  After the blessing we got Chad some better pain meds and things started looking up.

The doctor came back late in the afternoon and removed the drain.  Here is a picture of Chad's little belly right before they took the drain out.  Chad was amazed how far the drain was in.  Can you see all three incisions?  The hole where the drain was had to heal on its own, they didn't stitch it or anything just some gauze. 
 

Chad's deacons quorum came up after church and brought cards.  Chad was feeling pretty good so they had a nice visit.    

Chad was doing to good and we were up walking around the nurses station so the doctor said we could head home.  We headed out right at shift change and got home just after 7:00 p.m. 

We are so blessed - the timing was perfect.  Chad was hunting out in the boonies the week before.  I can't think what would have happened if they were out hunting.  With it being Thanksgiving week it was a slow week at work so I was able to take the time off without hindering anyone.  Also Chad didn't miss too much school because of the holiday.  Chad had a slow week.  We watched a lot of movies.  Needless to say it was a slow couple of weeks but Chad is back to normal and even made it for the last week of basketball.

So for all you mothers out there the point to all this rambling is this . . . THE WHOLE STOMACH CAN HURT WITH APPENDICITIS it doesn't have to be just the right side. 

Basketball - short style

 After football season Chad announced that he wanted to play basketball to keep in shape for track.  It was only a 6 week season and he was excited about it.  He did great for this being his first year playing and then being out for half of it (see other post).  Chad did great and scored a basket in his first game.  He did great but if he does this next year we will have to buy some basketball shoes because he was sliding everywhere.  His team did great going into the final school tournament with a 5 - 2 record.  The tournament was great, they didn't do as well as they hoped but one game was very exciting winning in overtime.  The very last game was Chad's best game.  He played a lot of the 4th quarter (which he had never played) and they did great. 

 I really appreciated his coach, he was not a side-line-yeller.  Chad really learned a lot from him.


I keep thinking he will grow but next to his teammates he seems so small.

Shooting the free throws . . . he was very close.

First Band Concert

Keston looks so good in his tux.  I love the new camera that can zoom in when you are in the balcony seats.  It was a great holiday concert.  Keston really loves Mr. Slater.  He is now gearing up for the pep band. 





Canada in 3 Parts - Part III

Part III is all about the family.  

Saturday we headed to Magrath to watch a volleyball tournament.  Both Paul and Alyssa played but I didn't get a picture of her.  There were some great games and if there is ever a dull moment Grandpa Paul will help out introducing you to the "cute" guys on the team. 



The teenagers on the car ride home, they are very excited, can't you tell?


 Alyssa with her favorite aunt . . .


The kids hanging out.  Kendall got home from his mission and he is looking good but always cold.  What is that all about?

The fun began when we went through some great clothes.  




Tylissa loved this flapper hat.


The three little boys . . . I love that they still love hanging out with each other.  It makes us all sad that the "little boys" are now almost all teenagers.

The three lovely ladies.  They keep the boys in line or at least make a solid attempt.

Kendall and Preston
This is what happens when Sherylee calls for everyone to get close for a picture.  
The Beibs . . . I think I like this dude better as a red head. 

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Canada in 3 Parts - Part II 1/2


First Keston and then Chad demonstrate beautiful back flips.


Here is Keston's one and a half.  He does need to work on entering vertically, keeping his toes pointed, and keeping his legs together . . . I'm just saying.  We had lot of fun on the diving boards.  This old mom and still rock the one and a half as well.

 

Here are the boys in the balls . . . they had a fun time and it was was amusing to watch them. 

Monday, December 10, 2012

Canada in Three Parts - Part II

Thursday evening on our great Canadian adventure, we hit the Southland Leisure Center.  We met up with our friends, the Torens and had a great evening.  What could be more fun than human hamster balls.  This is Chad, he just crawled in and getting ready to be inflated. 



Chad thought the hamster ball would be cake . . . um not.  He found it more difficult to walk on the water.  It was fun to watch him try to run and then flip around in the ball.

 Here is Keston and Chad. 

 They did have a fun running around in those things.  For a Thursday night the pool was crowded - don't kids have have a bedtime anymore?

If you look really close, tip you head, and squint you can tell that is Keston in the ball.  Tylissa wasn't feeling great so she did not swim.  It made me sad that she could not enjoy the swimming pool with us.

Can you guess who their mom is?  Yep, I have passed my diving talent to my boys.  Keston can do a mean 1 1/2 and Chad does a great back flip.


The Torens hanging in the little pool until B worked her way up to the big pool.

M getting ready for a fun time in the ball. 
I think this is the cutest picture on B waiting to get blow up.  Unfortunately Tylissa liked the zoom feature and we didn't get a good picture of B in the ball but she had a great time.

B trying to shoot D with the water gun.

Here are the two girls in the balls - K and M had a great time.  In fact, they got in line again and did it a second time.

They also had a big blown up obstacle course the kids could play on.  All in all it was a great night.  The last hour of the evening they put the toys away and turned on the waves.  We had a great time in the playing in the waves.  I will upload the videos soon.

Canada in Three Parts - Part I

In October we made the journey up to Canada to go to the Calgary Temple Open House, see Kendall as he just got home from his mission in the Philippines, and see Monte and Sherylee because they came up to see their boys.

We left Wednesday after Tylissa got off work and made a quick stop at Granny's then headed up to see Kendall.  He forgot that he was Canadian and complained of the cold.  They introduced us to Duck Dynasty and I really don't have a comment about that one.

Thursday morning we headed up to Calgary with Granny and Grandpa Paul.  A quick stop to grab a slurpee made the trip better especially when we added the Timbits from Tim Horton's in Fort McLeod.  Chad can spot a Tim Horton's from a mile away.

Grandpa drove us right to the temple with a trip down memory lane with Grandpa.  We saw the church he helped build, the street he used to live on as a little boy, and other fun things like the Calgary Tower. 

The Calgary Temple is in an area of Calgary that you wouldn't expect and true to Southern Alberta, it was windy!  It is a beautiful temple and I love how they did the baptismal font.  Val wanted the mural and I wanted the chandelier.   
 This is us getting ready to go in.



 Wheat was a reoccurring theme throughout but they got the windows wrong - I have never seen the wheat standing up, it is usually at a 90 degree angle.

A view from the "Cool Runnings" bobsled run from the temple.  Sorry but we had to throw it in.

The beautiful garden.  Can you just imagine all the wonderful wedding pictures taken here.


 Have I mentioned how much I hate the wind?  Actually the weather was very nice for October.
 Our favorite Granny and Grandpa Paul - thanks for coming with us.  It is always more fun with you.

Look at this cute couple. 

As we were leaving we ran into Aunt Bernita and Uncle Jerry, I haven't seen them in years and they really haven't changed much.  Also watching the dedication of the temple we were excited to see President Monson sitting in the same room that we were in just a few days before.  Our tour guide was also in the choir. 

From the temple we picked up Uncle Brock and Aunt Diana and went to dinner.  We got just a glimpse of what their rodeo week must be like.  They sure have fun when they get together. 

The trip was great so far . . .