That is what I have been doing folks. Not much of anything. It has been great.
Alex has been in school for just shy of a month, and she loves it. She is doing very well and I am excited to see her first report card sometime this month. While I am still not a morning person, the getting up at 5 A.M. has not been that big of a deal, once I got used to it. I have started sleeping until almost 6 however, since that is when Jack leaves, as I simply can not tolerate his happy happy joy joy self in the mornings lol. The only down side to her being in school, even though it is one I totally expected, is that she brought home a cold almost immediately, and it mutated into a super virus in me. She and I have lived cut off from 98% of the population at large for three years, venturing out to my parents every so often or a rare trip to the store or out to eat ( Jack usually picks up groceries on his way home from work so I seldom leave the house ) so I knew the first cold would be brutal. She got over it fairly quickly, other than the sniffles, but I have had flu like symptoms for a couple of weeks now. Luckily, she IS at school so I can rest and not have to worry about taking care of anyone but me during the day, and I love that.
I have even gotten into morning TV, sorta. I watch Good Morning America and Regis and Kelly and The Doctors and The View every day ( altho everything past Good Morning America is really just background noise lol ) and then I either put a movie on, turn on the radio, or turn it to the Create channel and listen to cooking shows. I clean a little, read a little, eat a little, and play around on Facebook and read blogs and chat with my friends. I have projects I want to do, but I have been taking time to just decompress from 3 years of Alex care, 24/7. I have been cooking some fantastic meals for dinner. One day last week, the oppressive rain and humidity took a break and it was cool one morning, and I even went for a 2 mile walk. Once the cooler weather is here to stay, and I am not so sick, I intend to make it a morning ritual. Put her on the bus and take a walk.
My son turned 12 on the 26th of August, and we had a little party on the 28th at my Mom's, which was nice. Mike had a friend over, and Mom made a wonderful cake. ( Her cakes are the BEST! ) We stayed from 10 A.M. till 8 P.M. and it was a great day full of laughter and good conversation and good food.
Malorie is out of the hospital, and is in physical therapy, and doing great. They should be back up here in October, and are going to take classes at a local college up here and start FSU in the Summer, for which both Mal and my cousin Shelby have scholarships. My cousin is going to be a Dermatologist and I think Mal wants to be an OB/GYN, if I remember correctly.
It is Labor Day weekend, and Jack took a 4 day weekend. He has two weeks of vacation built up, but he is the type to take a day here and there, especially during hunting season and income tax time, as opposed to taking it all at once. So he has Monday off anyway and took Tuesday off so we could have a day alone once Alex goes back to school. She is NOT happy about not getting to go to school tomorrow! She informed me this morning that she "did not like this bacation ( vacation ) stuff" lol. She still has no concept of the fact she will be in school for the next 12 years, minimum, so she still has it in the back of her mind that one day we will say she can not go anymore. I may or may not exploit that way of thinking with the occasional " If you do not clean your room you can not go to school tomorrow!" statement lol. Hey, she has never kept her room so clean , leave me alone lol...
Over the next couple of weeks I intend to do a complete overhaul on my blog, now that I am getting over the new and blissful feeling of having 8 hours a day to do nothing at all. New layout, new widgets, new content hopefully. I hope to have new pictures to post in the coming weeks, as I can feel the breath of Fall in the air, and I will be spending more time outside when it finally gets here. I can not wait to be able to open my house up and air it out! I also have more indoor painting to do, and some more weeding out of stuff in the house.
As it stands, I will not be able ( or really even have to ) go back to work until the first of the year. My truck has a flat tire, an invalid tag and no insurance, so other than on weekends when Jack is home, I am parked for a while, until income tax time gets here. I hardly ever go anywhere anyways, so it just makes sense to let my truck go until income tax time, and just keep his valid and insured, since his costs next to nothing to insure. Plus, if some things keep going in the direction they have been, I will not NEED to go to work, since all I was going to work for is grocery money. Plus with Alex's school schedule, and no one but me to get her on and off the bus, any job I had would have to be some pretty odd hours. It is hard enough to get a normal hour job around here with the economy, so finding one with the hours I needed would be next to impossible. So if all goes well, that will no longer be something we have to worry about.
I guess that about sums it up for now. I have wanted to blog but at the same time my brain just wanted some time off, and my body too since I have been sick, so I have been listening to it and doing what I felt needed to be done..which was nothing lol. It has been great, but I think I am about over that stage and ready to get some stuff done I have been putting off for the last three years. So let us move on to the next phase shall we?
Have a great holiday everyone!
Showing posts with label Malorie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malorie. Show all posts
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Update on Malorie
As I said at the end of my last post, Mal was to undergo surgery to place a rod in her back and to fuse some of her vertebrae, causing her to lost 50% of her upper body movement. She ended up going into surgery late this afternoon, for an 8 hour surgery.
I just learned that she got out of surgery two hours early and it went perfectly. The took bone from her hip and and fused at least one disc in her neck, and placed several steel rods to stiffen the neck to help fuse/support the tendons. She had indeed lost half her movement in her neck, but she can already move her arms and may even get to start walking as soon as tomorrow.
Supposedly it is one of the most painful surgeries to have, but she had pulled through and things seem to be going better than they expected.
My cousin is in high spirits so I take that as a good sign. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, they seem to be working, please keep sending them if you can, my family appreciates it!
I just learned that she got out of surgery two hours early and it went perfectly. The took bone from her hip and and fused at least one disc in her neck, and placed several steel rods to stiffen the neck to help fuse/support the tendons. She had indeed lost half her movement in her neck, but she can already move her arms and may even get to start walking as soon as tomorrow.
Supposedly it is one of the most painful surgeries to have, but she had pulled through and things seem to be going better than they expected.
My cousin is in high spirits so I take that as a good sign. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, they seem to be working, please keep sending them if you can, my family appreciates it!
School Girl...and a tragic situation...
Well my baby girl Alex is officially a school girl now! She started Kindergarten on the 12th and she is loving it so far! She has already made little friends and there is some little girl that rides the bus with her that hangs out the window when she gets off the bus yelling and waving " Bye Alex, see you tomorrow!" at the top of her lungs. It is so cute! Jack took off work for her first day, and he was a wreck! He cried all the way to her school after she got on the bus, and all the way home, and spent all day watching the clock lol. I was perfectly fine, which was unexpected!
The sleep schedule has been pretty easy to change, as I knew it would, now that school actually has started. She plays so hard and we get up so early she has NO problems going to bed, and last night was the first night she even mentioned not wanting to go to bed yet, but 10 minutes after she laid down she was out cold lol. I had some trouble the first couple of nights getting to sleep, but my body seems to have started getting used to it as well. I actually go to bed between 9 and 10 most nights, and I am up between 5 and 6 the next morning. I m still adjusting to being alone most of the day. I enjoy it but it is kind of lonely at the same time. I cleaned out my fridge the other day, and yesterday I cleaned Alex's room. I am not sure what I want to do next. Maybe paint the wall of the kitchen I have not done yet, plus, once I get a longer phone cord I am going to move my desk.
One thing I have enjoyed is day time TV...or "adult TV" as I call it lol. I get to watch the morning news shows like Good Morning America, and I guiltily admit I have gotten in the habit of watching Regis and Kelly and The Doctors lol. The rest of the day it is pretty much just background noise, or I will put on a CD or listen to the radio. I like the time to do what I want however, so it is all good :)
On the sad side, my 18 year old cousin's best friend, Malorie, was in a horrible car accident in while driving my parent's Suburban on Sunday. I do not know if I have given any background on those two, but my Mom's brother's oldest daughter Shelby and her best friend Malorie, also 18, have been living with my parents this summer, waiting for their college apartment to become available for them to live in when they start FSU in the Fall. These are two of the sweetest and funniest girls you will ever meet, and I love them both even though I have not gotten to spend a lot of time with them. They are just so likable and give off great vibes, everyone loves them. Well both girls are from the Ft Myer's area in Florida, South of us, and Malorie was driving my parent's vehicle down south to get the last of her and Shelby's clothes and groceries and all kinds of stuff since they were supposed to move into their apartment on the 21st. Mal was gone for not quite a week, and she was driving back up here on Sunday, and was a couple of hours away when the tread separated from the back right tire. It had been raining, and Mal steered the Suburban to the median on I-10, and when the front tires hit the soft wet mud on the median ( it has been raining daily like crazy here for a couple of weeks due to a tropical depression that refused to leave the area ) and ended up digging into the mud and it spun the vehicle around, and then it rolled it several times. They had to cut her out, she was trapped in the vehicle. She tore almost every tendon in her neck from what I understand, and had to have a lot of stitches in her leg and foot. The doctors were stunned that she was alive, and not paralyzed, and said that she must have a purpose because a fraction of an inch either way her neck would have been broken, leaving her paralyzed at best, or dead. I have a link with pictures of the vehicle at the scene of the accident HERE. Mal had some sort of surgery at 9:30 this morning, In Gainesville, at Shand's Hospital, which is where they took her after the hospital here could not do what needed to be done for her.
She will have to be in something called a Halo for 4 months, which is some sort of neck brace and had to be anchored through bolts drilled into her skull. I just heard that she has some disc out of place, and the surgery she is having could or will ( not sure ) cause her to lose 50 percent of her upper body movement for the rest of her life. Things are very serious, but she is fighting hard. She is only 18 years old, and was just starting her life. As a result my cousin has pulled herself and Mal out of school, gave up the apartment, and she is staying with Mal until she is recovered or whatever happens next. If any of you would be so kind to send prayers and healing for Malorie, and calmness and strength to my cousin, who will not leave her side, we would all appreciate it so much. These are special girls and my heart is breaking for what is happening.
I am going to post a picture of Mal, and hope if my cousin sees this she will not be upset, but they can use all the help we can give them, and I know a lot of us work better when we have something or someone to visualize. This is a pic taken Monday or Tuesday of Mal in the hospital. The doctors said this type of injury was 99% fatal, and the fact she was alive, and that her reflexes were so good, was a miracle.
She is strong, and is fighting to survive and recover, so any thoughts and healing anyone can send would be wonderful. My cousin has said that she will not return to school until she knows Mal is okay and will hopefully go with her, so for many reasons I hope Mal makes a wonderful recovery. Most of my waking hours are spent thinking about these girls and hoping everything goes well.
You entire life can change in the span of a heartbeat, so be sure that you let the people you love know how you feel. You never know what tomorrow might bring.
Stay safe everyone.
*Update* I just spoke to my Mom, and the Halo is not doing what it is supposed to do, so they are putting in a rod and fusing everything, so she *will* lose half of her upper body mobility. She also has a blood clot in her chin they are having to remove, it is some how affecting her breathing. Shelby and her parents, my Aunt and Uncle, are on the way to my parent's house now to get the girls stuff to take back to Ft. Myers. The girls will hopefully get to start school in the Spring. Mal is still in surgery so please keep her in your prayers!*
The sleep schedule has been pretty easy to change, as I knew it would, now that school actually has started. She plays so hard and we get up so early she has NO problems going to bed, and last night was the first night she even mentioned not wanting to go to bed yet, but 10 minutes after she laid down she was out cold lol. I had some trouble the first couple of nights getting to sleep, but my body seems to have started getting used to it as well. I actually go to bed between 9 and 10 most nights, and I am up between 5 and 6 the next morning. I m still adjusting to being alone most of the day. I enjoy it but it is kind of lonely at the same time. I cleaned out my fridge the other day, and yesterday I cleaned Alex's room. I am not sure what I want to do next. Maybe paint the wall of the kitchen I have not done yet, plus, once I get a longer phone cord I am going to move my desk.
One thing I have enjoyed is day time TV...or "adult TV" as I call it lol. I get to watch the morning news shows like Good Morning America, and I guiltily admit I have gotten in the habit of watching Regis and Kelly and The Doctors lol. The rest of the day it is pretty much just background noise, or I will put on a CD or listen to the radio. I like the time to do what I want however, so it is all good :)
On the sad side, my 18 year old cousin's best friend, Malorie, was in a horrible car accident in while driving my parent's Suburban on Sunday. I do not know if I have given any background on those two, but my Mom's brother's oldest daughter Shelby and her best friend Malorie, also 18, have been living with my parents this summer, waiting for their college apartment to become available for them to live in when they start FSU in the Fall. These are two of the sweetest and funniest girls you will ever meet, and I love them both even though I have not gotten to spend a lot of time with them. They are just so likable and give off great vibes, everyone loves them. Well both girls are from the Ft Myer's area in Florida, South of us, and Malorie was driving my parent's vehicle down south to get the last of her and Shelby's clothes and groceries and all kinds of stuff since they were supposed to move into their apartment on the 21st. Mal was gone for not quite a week, and she was driving back up here on Sunday, and was a couple of hours away when the tread separated from the back right tire. It had been raining, and Mal steered the Suburban to the median on I-10, and when the front tires hit the soft wet mud on the median ( it has been raining daily like crazy here for a couple of weeks due to a tropical depression that refused to leave the area ) and ended up digging into the mud and it spun the vehicle around, and then it rolled it several times. They had to cut her out, she was trapped in the vehicle. She tore almost every tendon in her neck from what I understand, and had to have a lot of stitches in her leg and foot. The doctors were stunned that she was alive, and not paralyzed, and said that she must have a purpose because a fraction of an inch either way her neck would have been broken, leaving her paralyzed at best, or dead. I have a link with pictures of the vehicle at the scene of the accident HERE. Mal had some sort of surgery at 9:30 this morning, In Gainesville, at Shand's Hospital, which is where they took her after the hospital here could not do what needed to be done for her.
She will have to be in something called a Halo for 4 months, which is some sort of neck brace and had to be anchored through bolts drilled into her skull. I just heard that she has some disc out of place, and the surgery she is having could or will ( not sure ) cause her to lose 50 percent of her upper body movement for the rest of her life. Things are very serious, but she is fighting hard. She is only 18 years old, and was just starting her life. As a result my cousin has pulled herself and Mal out of school, gave up the apartment, and she is staying with Mal until she is recovered or whatever happens next. If any of you would be so kind to send prayers and healing for Malorie, and calmness and strength to my cousin, who will not leave her side, we would all appreciate it so much. These are special girls and my heart is breaking for what is happening.
I am going to post a picture of Mal, and hope if my cousin sees this she will not be upset, but they can use all the help we can give them, and I know a lot of us work better when we have something or someone to visualize. This is a pic taken Monday or Tuesday of Mal in the hospital. The doctors said this type of injury was 99% fatal, and the fact she was alive, and that her reflexes were so good, was a miracle.
She is strong, and is fighting to survive and recover, so any thoughts and healing anyone can send would be wonderful. My cousin has said that she will not return to school until she knows Mal is okay and will hopefully go with her, so for many reasons I hope Mal makes a wonderful recovery. Most of my waking hours are spent thinking about these girls and hoping everything goes well.
You entire life can change in the span of a heartbeat, so be sure that you let the people you love know how you feel. You never know what tomorrow might bring.
Stay safe everyone.
*Update* I just spoke to my Mom, and the Halo is not doing what it is supposed to do, so they are putting in a rod and fusing everything, so she *will* lose half of her upper body mobility. She also has a blood clot in her chin they are having to remove, it is some how affecting her breathing. Shelby and her parents, my Aunt and Uncle, are on the way to my parent's house now to get the girls stuff to take back to Ft. Myers. The girls will hopefully get to start school in the Spring. Mal is still in surgery so please keep her in your prayers!*
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