Last Day of 2009

2009 has been a challenging year, but I've been dramatically reminded to thank God for our blessings! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Had a wonderful 2 days of family fun at our house! Too tired to write much, so will just post a few pics for tonight.....

12-22-09

Getting ready for lots of company at our house after a very busy November/December, and looking forward to being with family! Another post-op checkup for Danny this afternoon, neurology checkup soon, pulmonary checkup for me, fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! Gong Gong and Pop Pop are headed south to San Antonio for a few days. Mom and I had lunch and window shopped at NorthPark Mall on Saturday, which was so much fun. We took photos by the Anthropologie window, shown above. The line at the cash registers (I guess that's an obsolete term?) was probably 20 people deep! It was so nostalgic, having taken Kevin and Danny to see the same Santa Claus there for so many years. His beard used to be strawberry-blonde, but now it's completely white, and he looks like a true Santa Claus! The minute we walked into the mall, we saw a "mall walker", which reminded me of Papa. The only other "Christmasy" thing we've had time to do is drive around town looking at lights one evening. Andrew has been so helpful with everything, even putting ornaments on the tree when I was sick. Kevin and Rachel will drive up on Christmas day; his company is moving offices this week, and he is excited about getting his own office with a window. Danny is making progress with his arm, rotator cuff injuries and post concussive syndrome. He is even playing his guitars, making Jimi Hendrix proud.

Wed 12/16

Sorry to anyone whose call I haven't returned.. It's just a little crazy around here, trying to work (busy time at the photography studio!), rest & recuperate, Christmas shop (thank goodness for online shopping!), wrap presents, etc. Not sending Christmas cards this year, which I love to do, just no time. Trying to count blessings, focus on the important stuff, and not sweat the small stuff, which is hard for me since I tend to sweat the small stuff, the medium stuff, the big stuff... Hopefully the new year will bring a little more time to keep in touch with everyone...

Monday 12-14-09

Word of advice... don't tempt fate by saying something stupid like we did in November... "we still have a little money left in our medical spending account since we've hardly been sick at all this year!" Now that Danny's on the mend, I had a little excitement of my own on Friday. My left arm had been hurting and I had some sharp chest pains, so when I came home from work on Friday and mentioned it to Andrew, he immediately called 911 and within minutes we had a livingroom full of firemen, taking my vital signs, hooking me up for an EKG, etc, with my blood pressure at 168/104...trip to the hospital in an ambulance...5 failed attempts at starting an IV... several tests and a CT scan later... I have pleurisy and pneumonial bacteria. Nothing major, just need to take an antibiotic and take it easy a few days. So, we needed a little FUN around here... Kevin & Rachel came up to go to the Cowboy game at the new stadium... Rachel's boss gave them 2 amazing tickets as her end-of-year bonus. Danny is trying to play his guitar again, which is somewhat painful, but he is working on stretching his wrist and fingers.

Who did it?

Who took the amount of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and condensed it into what seems like 3 days?!?

Update 12-9-09

Surgeon says Danny's range of motion in his wrist is better than he expected, and he may regain 90% of it, and not even miss the other 10%. He is really proud of Danny for not using the narcotic pain reliever for more than a couple days right after the surgery; said most people have to use it for that much pain. He's still taking a non-narcotic prescription pain reliever and anti-inflammatory, but can start trying to taper off, and should be off it in a week. He has some pain in his right shoulder area and also in his left elbow, that the surgeon said would hopefully just subside within a few weeks. He removed Danny's outer layer of stitches on both sides of his arm, and said he could start showering without trying to keep it dry as he's been doing. He won't be able to drive until he's off the pain medication, so that will probably be incentive for him to taper off and quit sooner. Danny thinks he's still having memory issues - his example was that he had to look at the calendar 3 times today to remember what day it was. I hope that's mostly a matter of just being so off his normal schedule AND being on the pain meds, which do make you drowsy and can make you dizzy, too. I haven't noticed his being forgetful. The neurosurgeon had told us to come back ONLY if he was still experiencing memory problems in a couple of weeks.

Update 12-7-09

Danny's still in pain most of the time, but his dizziness and headaches have subsided. He goes to the surgeon for a followup checkup tomorrow afternoon.

Slowing Down

Danny is recovering slowly but surely. Thankfully, he thinks his 2 new 6" long incisions will make for impressive scars and possible "chick magnets." When he is not in pain, his sense of humor is still intact, which is a blessing. This whole incident has left me a bit shell-shocked. My normal rushing-around-trying-to-make-the-holidays-perfect has been replaced with nothing-is-more-important-than-sitting-on-the-sofa-giving-Danny-a-foot-massage-to-ease-his-pain. As tough as this has been, it has also been a time to thank God for the blessings... his injuries could have been so much worse. So I am trying to not stress over the things that really do not matter in the grand scheme of things - the fact that I won't have time or money to buy just the right gifts for everyone this year, the fact that my house isn't decorated for Christmas, my oven is broken, my carpet needs cleaning, etc. Danny has always liked falling asleep on the livingroom sofa; it's in the center of the house, so trying to let a sleeping person stay asleep, it's hard to do the dishes and laundry and generally get stuff done. So, here I sit at the computer as Danny sleeps and my sink is full of dirty dishes. "Chilling" is not something I do very well, but I'm just having to learn to do it...

update on Danny 12-01-09

Danny had surgery on his 2 broken bones in his left arm today, and is home asleep. The surgeon inserted 2 metal plates and screws in his arm. The surgeon also discovered that Danny had partially dislocated his left wrist. He may always have stiffness and some loss of motion moving forward and backward. He should regain rotational movement. He will have to work at stretching his fingers to regain full motion. Thankfully he has no cast, since there are metal plates in his arm, so maybe he can regain finger strength by playing the guitar that he so loves to play, one of these days. Andrew and I will take turns working half days while he's recuperating. I'm sure that Danny will love hearing from friends and family in a few days when he's awake a little more and not in so much pain. Thanks for your love and support. Danny's cell is 214-864-1000 - a "hello text" would be great!