Camilou and Kids Too

Wild Ride

2011-12-03T20:26:00.009-07:00

I am putting this information on here mostly so we can remember the events and timeline of everything that happened. Most of this post are text messages that were sent from my dads phone to us kids and friends to keep us updated. Alot of it is just my dads texts and not any responses so it may be hard to understand. I also was going to try and put the times the texts were sent but that became too tedious so I am just going to try and put the dates.

This was the Sunday before the surgery:
Cami. Tori. Mindi. Sunday afternoon mom wants to have a dinner which will include Pulled Pork Sandwiches salad chips soda pop Home made ice cream Baked Beans. Mom wants those who want to to fast sunday and then we will have a prayer and eat at 3 pm. Tell ur kids if they want to participate and give us an idea of how many will be coming from ur families? The dinner is going to be simple and easy for mom to prepare

This was soon after the surgery after she was in her hospital room:
Doing alot better. Getting more alert every hour. Seems to be getting back to normal. Carisa is here with us

This was the day after surgery:

Yes we are using it (incentive spirometer, a device that "exercises" the lungs) 10 times per hour. Oxygen level right now is 96% She didnt sleep well. Only dozed on/off. They got her up at 6:30 and walked around the bed over to the chair. They took catheter out also this morning. She is now sitting in the chair and feeling good. They are taking her off pain button thing at 8 and starting her on Percocet. Things seem to be going good. Will update u later this morning. Have a good day.

No pain, just couldnt get comfortable. She cannot sleep well on her back and with all the stuff on her she couldnt get comfortable on her side. she only pushed the pain button 2-3 times all night

The oxygen level wont stay up so they put her back on oxygen. Earlier tried to walk her but mom felt too weak. However in last 15 min she walked to bathroom by herself and also walked completely around big circle of hospital by herself and did really well so hopefully things are improving.

Oxygen level is not staying above 87. Mom has to really work by breathing to get it back up. Only stays above 87 for couple of minutes at a time. Just went on a long walk of about 15 min. Circled hospital carpet areas 4-5 times. She did really well

Doctor Reynolds just left. Mom is going to stay another night. He says this is not that unusual for someone moms age so he is not concerned. Hopefully she can improve over night. i think she is more relieved than anything. I'm going to walk her for 5-10 min each hour tonight for the next 3 hrs Not much pain and she feels good. She also has eaten good for both lunch and dinner. Her only problem is the Oxygen level. Everything else is good.

Well. So far this morning is an exact repeat of yesterday. Doctor came in at 7:30 and said she had a very good night since oxygen was only on 1 liter and stayed above 95% all night. He said since oxygen usually drops when u sleep we should have no problem getting her weaned off it by noon. But Doctor took off oxygen and then left and within a couple of minutes oxygen drops below 87. She cant keep it above 87 for more than a few minutes without doing the heavy breathe in/out thing. Doctor will be back around noon??????

Doctor checked lungs and they seem fine with no obstruction or anything. He seems to think she needs alot of walking etc. They also are going to give her a Nebulizer Treatment this morning. Doctor said blow blow blow on lttle machine and walk walk walk this morning. Once it starts beeping at 86 she does deep breaths and it comes back to mid 90s in just 4-5 seconds.

(Me talking here) Well that's an improvement from yesterday when it went to the 60"s

hey have really been doing alot of stuff on mom the last hour. They have taken 5-6 blood samples for blood analysis to really measure the oxygen in the blood. They now just took her to get xrays to look at her lungs. So i guess they should find out whats going on Doctor just called and talked to me. He said xrays and all blood test except one came back normal. The one wasnt bad but just slightly irregular. So he is giving her another test. Its a CT scan of lungs to ensure she doesnt have any Blood Clots in the lungs. He doesnt think she has this but is being overly cautious just to be sure. If the CT scan comes back ok then he will release her. If not he will discuss how we treat the blood clots.

They just took her for the ct scan. Mom is an absolute nervous and upset lady. Also very depressed. I sure hope there isnt any blood clots.

I ran home to change and doctor called me and before i got back the nurse came in and told her about the blood clots and ct scan which upset her. When i got here and told her what doctor told me and he was being overly cautious etc then she settled down. We will be fine and i will let u know results of the test. Stay at work. Im confident we will be going home this afternoon. I hope. Lov ya Hey u dont need to miss work. Moms sleeping and very calm and relaxed now. We are just here in room doing absolutely nothing. Stay at work hon. I dont think doctor is coming until late afternoon. Nothing going on here They are going to give Mom some anxiety pills and something to help her sleep now so i will keep u informed on how she is doing thru the night.

(I left work anyway and went over to the hospital. About 1/2 hour later, the doctor came in and told us she had 2 blood clots in her lungs and about the 5 cm mass in her upper chest and another mass on her adrenal gland)

This was later the same day:
They think she can probably go home sat and then we will go to Huntsman Cancer Institute on Mon or Tues. Its going to be a very long 3-4 days. Lov ya all. She doses off/on. Hasnt taken anxiety pill yet because nurse says it will put her to sleep so she wants to wait until about 9 Mom will need to give herself two Lovenox shots in her stomach at home each day when she is released. She has told the nurses here that she will ask one of her daughters to do it. Which means one of u two Cami and Mindi. Is that ok?. I suppose u guys are willing to do that?

Ok they are giving her one tonight at 9. And then one in the morning before she leaves. But will need one tomorrow night and then one in morning and one at night starting Sunday. The doctor was in about 10. They are in process of checking us out. Setting up Oxygen. Giving us prescriptions etc. We should be leaving here by noon.

This was Monday morning, the day after Mom was discharged to home:
Huntsman Cancer just called and they cannot see Carolyn until Tuesday Nov 29 to do the Biopsy. Obviously Carolyn is very upset to wait the week and continue on Oxygen and all this medication but we have no other options. I will keep u informed. Mindi is coming over at 8 to give her the shot. Doctor Reynolds is having pharmacist work with Insurance to determine what med to prescribe because she has to continue on this px until she goes to Huntsman Cancer next Tues. We should get new px. I text Dr Reynolds since i havent heard from Pharmacy about the Lovenox px refill. A few minutes later pharmacy called and said they had negotiated with our insurance and they agreed to pay down the cost because Doctor says she needs to get shots for two more weeks which is 30 shots for 2/day for 15 days. Im going to pick up px within hour. Next shot needs to be given around 8 pm tonight. Cami can u do the shot tonight?. Also mom very concerned about having to take shots for 2 more weeks and she knows its expensive. Lov you guys

(This is a text from the doctor to my dad) "Yeah I spoke to him (cancer doctor) and we will consider regular heparin or conversion to oral medication depending on further recommendations after the biopsy is done- those methods require more labs and more possible side effects so we didn't start with them but we can switch after we have the whole picture. Thanks Ps I hope you are doing ok and we will keep you all in our prayers." I have to say it scares me to death when even the Doctor sounds like he feels prayer is the only option. Lov ya all

This was on Thanksgiving:
Yes she did great. Went to mailbox. Then half way around neighborhood. Then to grocery store and walk around for 30 min in the store Mom says u dont need to come over until 1:30. She is sitting at table cutting up stuff and feels fine. She says its good for her. Im running around getting stuff and doing what she tells me. Stuffing done, i will get turkey going in another half hour. So at 1:30 we can peel potatoes cook vegetables make sweet potatoes etc etc. So see ya at 1:30.

Saturday after Thanksgiving:
Mom is very depressed. She wants to know how many times per day and how long should she walk. She thinks Last night Mindi told her to walk at least 4 times for 15 min each. Does that sound about right??. She is super depressed that she is bleeding again. Even tbough Dr Reynolds told her all was good and the clots showed the Lovenox was working it still freaks her out.

Sunday, 1 week after coming home from hospital:
Your mom is in kind of a fragile shape today and really not up to coming over to your house to get the shot. Is it possible for you to come over here about 8 pm to give her the shot? She has pain and has taken 3 pain/insomnia pills. so she is groggy and not very mobile.

(Me talking) Why is she in so much pain now?

I don't know, I just texted Dr Reynolds and waiting for reply?

He talked with her for 10 minutes and had me take blood pressure and pulse. 110/70 but pulse 114. He told me to take her to Riverton Hospital emergency to have her checked for infection or internal bleeding. I will keep u informed.

Just got her downstairs. The pain had a sudden jump about 10 minutes ago and she says it now has completely stopped. so she wants to sit here for a while and recheck blood pressure and pulse again before we go. Dr Reynolds mostly concerned about high pulse and possibility of infection.

Ya I would be worried about the internal bleeding. Tell her to feel her abdomen and see if it's bloated or hard.

K well I'm nervous to give her the shot because I don't know whats going on.

I understand. Lets see what happens in 30 minutes and if I don't go to emergency room, then I will text Dr again.

Do you have blood pressure thing at your house to check moms blood pressure??

No I thought you had one at your house

We do but everytime I use it on mom, it comes up error.

Has it done that before?

No, and it works on me but not her. Unless I'm doing something wrong.

I tried it on the other arm, upper and then on other arm lower and it seems to be working fine until it gets to 80 on way down and then it suddenly goes down really fast and flashes error.

(This was about 8:30 pm on Sunday. Also, on Monday, I found out just how bad things went while my dad was getting her to the emergency room. He tried to walk her downstairs, she could barely walk. She had to rest after every step. It took him 45 minutes to get her down the stairs. Then when he finally got her in the car, she was mumbling and was incoherent and then wouldn't even respond to him. He then realized something was very wrong and looking back, he said she was dying right in front of him. It freaks him out to think what would've happened had he not taken her to the emergency room when he did)
Pain came back. We are going to emmergency

Mom is in being checked in emergency room right now. They are just starting. No word yet I think we are here for a while. They are having her drink something so they can see and they are going to do ct scan to see whats going on in there. They are putting in a catheter right now. Her heart is beating very fast. Just go to bed because it is going to take over an hour to drink the stuff before they can do ct test. I will text u guys in morning around 8 Okay. But i just talked with Doctor who said she would be here about 3 to 4 hours because they cannot do ct scan until she has drunk all of the special liquid. So get to bed.

This was written on Monday morning after she had been admitted to the University Hospital:
Mom is now resting and doesnt seem to have any pain. Mostly just sleeps. Talked with doctor and she said first goal is to get bleeding stopped which should now be happening since its been 24 hrs since last lovenox shot. Then need to get moms pulse to drop to normal range and third is to decide what to do about preventing blood clots Had a very difficult sunday and especially sunday night. Carolyn in extreme stomach pain starting at 5 am sunday. I gave her two pain pills and she slept till 10. Then again woke up and was weaker than she had been but ate a good breakfast and took a pain pill and seemed to be getting better. Then about 2 again had severe pains then they relaxed but about 5pm again really severe pains so i text her Doctor and told him what was happening. Doctor Reynolds then talked to carolyn for 15 min on the phone and carolyn was doing pretty good. Next Doctor had me take blood pressure and pulse with our machine and blood pressure was normal but pulse was 125 so did it again and it was 132 so he had me take her to emmergency at Riverton Hospital. We got there about 8:30 and they decided to do a ct of stomach by injecting liquid substance in veins so ct scan would show up. Discovered she was bleeding internally and had lost over 4 units of blood and the bleeding was pooling in between carolyns muscles of outer wall of stomach and causing severe pain. About 3am with vital signs erratic and pulse still over 130, Doctor Reynolds came to me and said i feel we need to Air Flight her to univ of utah med center due to concern over high pulse, bleeding and especially the risk of more blood clots forming and going to lungs or heart. They air flighted her via univ of utah air med helicopter and she is now in Intensive Care here at Univ Med Center. Big concern is not the tumor right now but getting her pulse down and blood to stop bleeding. But then the big concern is blood clots going to chest and heart. Going to meet with Doctor in an hour to see if he has decided to go in her vein in groin and go up and put in filter to collect any blood clots from getting to lungs or heart. As Doctor said its a double edged sword were facing. We need to use blood thinner to prevent more clots and dissolve the two already in her lungs but we cant because she will bleed internally. Doctor tells me now she is here in Univ Med Center Intensive Care that it is not life threatening but its going to take time to solve this and could require surgery to drain blood in stomach wall if it doesnt stop soon and pulse goes down from danger area. I will keep u informed

This was after the cancer doctor talked to them and told them he felt the tumor was not cancerous:
Just got back in carolyns room. She is feeling pretty good and of course much more optimistic. The bad news is they gave her another unit of blood at 5 and they are now giving her another unit now so we are up to number 7. As Doctor said we can work thru this. She will be okay Mom is sleeping well and so far this morning all is well. She is tired because alot of doctors and nurses disturbing her all night. But so far so good. Blood count is still normal so hoping stays there. So far today is good. Im just sitting here reading paper and watching her sleep. Have a good day. No need to come up here today since thank goodness its pretty boring right now. Hope it stays that way. Lov ya

Cautious optimism continues. Doctors just left and decision has been made to not do surgery or vein dye tests today because so far blood count still up in acceptable range even thougb not totally normal. Kidneys working a little better also. (This is when I found out that she was in kidney failure. In fact, they had already written an order to start dialysis, but doctor decided to try to jumpstart her kidneys by giving her alot of iv fluids at a fast rate. That seemed to do the trick).

Just gave carolyn a pain/sleep pill so she is sleeping right now. I have to share a crazy thought that just went thru my mind, if no one tells carolyn. As i sit here watching her sleep and getting excited with every drop of Pee that runs down the tube into the bag hanging on end of bed. I just promised i will never again give her a rough time for all the times i complain every time she makes me stop for Potty/Bathroom break on the way to st george. Going to the bathroom has never been one of her weaknesses. Hope that ability returns soon. Crazy what you appreciate sitting in intensive care room watching ur wife sleep. I hope good news can continue with kidneys and bleeding. I will give u update this evening. Lov ya all One update on visitors. They just asked me to not have any visitors at all the rest of the day. They have closed door to her room and put sign on door saying no access without going and talking to the nurse. The reason is carolyn has only has about 2 hrs sleep in last 48 hrs so they want her to have total privacy to sleep. thanks for everyones concerns. Lov ya

Tuesday evening update. So far today we are doing okay and holding our breath it continues. Blood count still staying in acceptable range so no additional blood transfusions needed tonight. Its been 18 hrs since she had the last and 7th transfusion. Doctor told me carolyn had lossed over 52 per cent of her total blood in her body. Its amazing she made it. We are going to be okay and better days are ahead for us. Although told me we are looking at best scenario of 7 to 10 days in hospital after she gets out of intensive care and then about 5 to 6 months recovery at home. She will be quite Immobile for 4 to 6 weeks and alot of pain due to all that internal bleeding and all that blood takes months to be absorbed by the body. Oh well we will worry about that when we get out of here. Just did sugar level again for sugar for diabeties and it has jumped up to 143 again. So i guess its back to insulin shots. Level should not be above 119.

The therapists are in there working with mom now. The goal is to get her up out of bed and walk to chair in the room. Sit there and then walk back to the bed. Hope they succeed.

Back in room. They have a room for mom but there isnt enough nurses on that floor so we havent moved yet. Maybe not till morning

Thursday morning Carolyn update. The only bad news today is we are still in Intensive Care but everything else is wonderful this morning. The reason we are still in intensive care is the hospital is so full they do not have a room available. This morning Carolyn is sitting up in a chair out of bed and for those of u who know her that makes me elated. she is watching one of her favorite shows The Price Is Right and Regis and Kelly. She flips channels back and forth and doesnt miss a thing. She is alert talkative and her pulse has dropped into normal range yesterday it was 115 to 120 and mon and tues it was over 130. Well today it is right now 103 which is in normal range. That means no bleeding and blood returning to normal level and count and enabling her to regain her strength. Urine flow continues to get better although still not normal. Still requires oxygen and will until tumor in chest is removed because it is pushing on and restricting her breathing path in her neck. Also diabetes continues and they are giving her insulin shots ever 3/4 hours to control it so we dont know what the outcome will be as they say it could be temporary and it could be permenant. Next step is get into regular room then address blood issue and finally address the tumors. Two blood specialist Doctors are suppose to come to see her today and give us a recommendation regarding how to treat and balance the clotting vs thinner problem. But we are doing well and finally all carolyns vital signs etc have returned to normal.

Her body is settling down and working again. hope it continues. we are going to be okay. appreciate your support

They just moved us out of Intensive Care to the Acute Internal Medicene Unit B and we are in room 4314. The doctors told us about an hour ago they feel mom needs to have a filter inserted to collect any blood clots that might occur to keep them out of the lungs and heart. It is just a 30 min procedure and goes through vein. I believe they would do this later this evening. They did say if she gets the filter inserted she probably can go home in 2 to 3 days. They also said they would not take out the tumor for 3 months because it is not cancerous and they want the blood situation solved and totally controlled first. She is now sleeping and very nervous about filter insertion procedure even though they are telling her it is not a difficult procedure and done commonly every day. Now sleeping deeply so im going to leave the room and they have sign on door to not disturb and see nurse first. Will keep u informed. Nothing will happen here with procedure for 5 or 6 hours or more because she just had lunch an hour ago and they now have her on no water or food in preparation for the procedure.

Carolyns surgery of putting in the filter is over. Doctor just came into waiting room and told me everything went well and she did fine. He said she should be back in her room in about an hour. Thats a relief. I will keep u informed as she comes around and starts talking etc. All is well here now with mom. Doctors from intensive care just came in room and talked with me. There were 7 of them and they said now that she had the protection of the filter that today was a rest sleep relax day and get moms anxiety to ease. Maybe later this evening physical therapy will come in and see if they can get her body moving a little. They said as long as blood pressure, pulse, blood count etc continues as it is right now and with protection of filter, then the only thing we need to be sure of is regaining her strength, becoming mobile enough to get to bathroom with some help and her own confidence level returning and he would feel okay about her going home. He said lets strive for late saturday afternoon or at the latest sunday afternoon. Wow thats great but also scary for me. I have been with her all the time but its been great for me to grab a nurse or nurses assistant if it got difficult. Oh well. I will survive. But looks like we are almost ready to get out of here. Carolyn has not been able to even sit upright without assistance and couldnt come close to getting out of bed, let alone walking so i hope she can do all of that in the next 24 to 48 hours. Otherwise im going to be awfully nervous by myself with her at home??? She ate good at about 2:00 and she has been sleeping better for almost an hour than i have seen her sleep for more than a week. Mom is finally sleeping and resting well. She has been deeply asleep for 1 1/2 hours

Fri. Dec 2nd Carolyn Update. Carolyn still doing better. Eating well, talking well but not alot of energy, blood pressure good. But doctor didnt ever send in physical therapist and we just found out why??. Doctor just came in at 7 pm this evening and told us she is still very anemic and heart is having to work too hard trying to get limited blood supply with good oxygen throughout her body. So u wont believe this but Doctor has just ordered TWO MORE FULL BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS. Doctor showed us ct scan dvd of the giant reservoir of blood that bleed internally and as she said, "This is unbelieveable and i havent seen anything like it before. I have never seen the body bleed this much blood before." Doctor said u actually have as much blood pooled in this giant reservoir that fills stomach walls from just below her chest all the way down to her groin, as u do in the rest of ur body. As doctor talked and explained it was amazing. So Carolyn cannot be released until her heart beat slows down and stays down to 100 or less for a sustained time. Her heart beat did go down briefly yesterday but last night i noticed it was 120 or higher and tonight right now it is 119. So they feel by adding two blood transfusions that will increase blood level to point it will be easier on the heart and lower pulse to around 100. We cannot get out of hospital with this high of heart beat. So i guess we are still here. They are getting first blood transfusion hooked up now which they said will take 4 hours and then follow up immediately with 2nd transfusion for another 4 hours. So this brings it doctor said to an even 10 transfusions. Doctor said u actually have almost double the amount of blood the body needs but the problem is half of it is in the wrong place and u dont have enough yet in the veins going thru ur body to give u strength oxygen and make u healthy. Hope this does the trick. We are getting tired and discouraged. They are giving carolyn anxiety pills and sleep pills so i hope she just sleeps thru it. So the Saga continues. I sure hope we are getting close to the last chapter. I sure hope we are still not in 1st or 2nd Nephi or even Alma. Will let u know more tomorrow. One good news, the A1C test came back and doctor said if your 7.2 or higher u have diabetes and carolyns was 6.4. Sounds pretty close but doctor said u dont have diabetes

Carolyn Update. Sat Morning. I guess the only word to describe both Carolyn and I is Discouraged but still hopeful. They finished the 2nd Blood Transfusion at 5 am and nurses and assistants in room every 15 min all night monitoring and doing vitals etc all night. The concern is the High Pulse Rate, Low Oxygen Level and she is Anemic. The hope is the two Blood Transfusions done in the night will add additional blood with more Oxygen to put less pressure on Heart. They feel if they can do that, then Heart Beat should decrease and should also breathe easier with less effort and regain some strength. We are sitting here looking at monitor however and her current Pulse Rate is 120. So hopefully it takes more time after Blood Transfusions to kick in. But it gets pretty depressing just watching the monitor and nothing improves. Thank goodness Carolyn cant see monitor so she just asks me every hour or so and i have to admit i knock a few points off when i give her an answer. Lets hope we get some improvement thru out the day. Will keep u posted.

They havent told us anything that might make us think that. They just keep saying it should go down and the loss of blood was such a gigantic experience that it has really disrupted her body. Doctor yesterday said are u aware we have completely changed out ur total blood supply. You have total new blood and body has to adjust. This has been a major event for your body and it takes time. Highest. 137. But that was last mon and tues. Lowest. 110 at about 6:30 this morning. But it has usually been 114 to 119 the last few days. Then jumps to 120 to 122 for a while then drops a little again. Thurs even after they told her about putting in the filter it jumped up to 130. But they werent too concerned and expected it to drop back down yesterday afternoon below 110 but it didnt.

Carolyns Main Attending Doctor who was in charge in Intensive Care and will continue to be her Doctor just came in and talked to us. We both really like him and he gives u a feeling of confidence. He said blood transfusions went well and should show benefits by this afternoon. He also is sending in two physical therapists to get carolyn out of bed in a chair and walking. He feels the high pulse rate may be result of Carilyn being taken of her high blood pressure medicine when she went on the blood thinner medicine after the Hysterectomy and blood clots in her lungs two weeks ago. He said often when patient goes off the high blood pressure medication quickly it can increase pulse rate. So new plan 1. Start her high blood pressure medication immediately 2. Get carolyn up out of bed into chair 3. Try and get her to walk a little 4. By tomorrow get her to walk to bathroom 5. By tomorrow after back on high blood pressure medicine for over 24 hrs and impact of two more blood transfusions start to kick in. Then maybe late sunday afternoon we can send u home. Sounds like alot of ifs to me but thats the plan. Like i said this doctor is an optimist. I sure hope he is right???. Will keep u informed

Cami, Tori, Mindi. I hesitate to tell u this info cause it has only been this way for an hour. But about 11:30 the nurse came and gave carolyn her blood pressure pill Atenolol. This is the pill the doctor said needed to be taken again since she no longer was taking blood thinners. He felt that could be the reason her pulse rate was so high since she has not taken Atenolol since Nov 18. Well, and again it has only been this way for 45 min so may be misleading but Moms pulse is right now 97. First time it has been below 115 all week. Lets pray it continues. Dont put on facebook or anything. Lets see if it holds until 6 pm. Lov ya

Good news so far. Mom is up sitting in chair and not plugged into monitor so we dont have info continuously until she gets back in bed and gets plugged back into monitor. But nurse just came in and took vitals and pulse was 95. Yea. Hope it continues.

No doctor told us we would make going home decision sun morn when he came back to see us. All depends on Pulse Rate and moms mobility. Can she get to bathroom if she goes home?? Therapist is coming back in morning and she is to train me on what to do when i get her home. So we are here until at least tomorrow afternoon

Therapist got her up and she walked with walker down the hall and back with therapist right behind her. She sat in chair for 4 hrs and she is now attempting to go to potty on the toilet in her room with assistance of aides getting her there.

This is on Sunday, the day she was discharged from the U:
Main doctor came in 30 minutes ago. He is releasing her and we just signed the release papers and are waiting for someone to call and help us out. we should be home about 3:30. Yay. He wants her to just recover, do as much walking as she can handle, and increase as she can. We see him on Dec 20 at 2 to discuss next steps which are getting her weaned onto some kind of blood thinner, deciding how long to leave filter in her main artery, discuss when to schedule surgery to remove growth in her chest. He felt we should count on chest surgery which will be at Huntsman Cancer Institute in mid March. We go home to recover and wait for next step.

Update as of December 23:
Well, she now has developed a conditon called C diff. Clostridium difficile (klos-TRID-e-uhm dif-uh-SEEL), often called C. difficile or C. diff, is a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Illness from C. difficile most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or in long term care facilities and typically occurs after use of antibiotic medications.

In recent years, C. difficile infections have become more frequent, more severe and more difficult to treat. Each year, tens of thousands of people in the United States get sick from C. difficile, including some otherwise healthy people who aren't hospitalized or taking antibiotics.

Mild illness caused by C. difficile may get better if you stop taking antibiotics. Severe symptoms require treatment with a different antibiotic (From mayoclinic.com)

Its one thing after another! Good news is, she is getting around without the use of a walker, and is getting stronger everyday. She is even walking on a treadmill everyday. Way to go mom!

2011-10-24T20:29:00.016-06:00

Rielly was so distracted by all the scary things at Gardner Mill, he wouldn't look at the camera or smile. I still like the way these turned out though. Now I need to get Emili out and take her pictures!

I have no idea why he likes to spray himself in the face

Look at those legs!

How cute!

tp://2.bp.

2011-01-10T23:03:00.015-07:00

Nothing exciting to report, just some cute pictures

He thought it was fun the first time, after that, he wouldn't stop crying

Breanne was SO thrilled to be celebrating her 16th birthday, what is wrong with her?

He thinks its hilarious to put his hand through this and look at it, should I be worried?

The master of facial expressions

Pumpkin Pickin Time!

2010-10-16T09:46:00.006-06:00

Have I ever told you how much I love this kid?

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2010-05-26T00:12:00.004-06:00

Whats new? Well, for me, I've had a son turn 20, passed 2 kidney stones in 2 months, been to New York, and worked my butt off!

This is the face of someone drugged up with 15 milligrams of Morphine. On my last day in New York, I felt another kidney stone coming on. This would be my 8th one I believe. I was ok until 3 days later when I was at work and felt the pain coming on again. The pain was so bad, I could barely talk and was crying. My wonderful coworker Denise wheeled me down to the ER where they did a CT scan and found that I had a 5 millimeter stone. For those of you that don't know, THATS PRETTY BIG! A 6 millimeter stone is considered impassable, they have to go up and retrieve it. I was scared, mostly because I don't want a doctor that I have to deal with at work to have to go and mess with anything in that area. I would have to go and hide everytime they came in to the hospital. When they did the scan, they told me that there were SEVERAL more stones in both kidneys. What? This is exactly what they told me 10 years ago when I had my first one, and I've passed 7 or so since then. So just how many are there up there? So, they gave me Percocet and sent me home and the next day I did pass it. Then, last week, I woke up to get ready for work and kinda felt like I had another stone. The pain wasn't unbearable but it was definately there. I got to work and passed another stone. I'm becoming an expert at these things.

Now, when you are passing a stone, it feels like it has to be at least the size of a golfball. Then it comes out, and its this itty bitty little thing, but it causes the worst pain! It sure is an ugly little thing.

2010-05-25T23:37:00.006-06:00

Its been over a month since I've updated. Wow! Rielly is such a happy boy, and he sure makes me happy. He is finally walking!

Rielly over the last couple of months

2010-04-05T20:58:00.007-06:00

2010-04-05T20:49:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday1

2010-02-26T19:45:00.002-07:00

Happy birthday to my ma. I love you! I know today wasn't the best day to have a birthday, but tomorrow we are going to lunch and we will just pretend like tomorrow is your birthday, ok?

Grandma

2010-02-26T19:37:00.004-07:00

Here is my Grandmas obituary

Mom

Bre, Morg, and Ri. Rielly was her only great-great-grandchild. I wish she could have met him.

My sweet Grandma

Grandma

2010-02-26T18:48:00.009-07:00

Grandma, next to my Grandpa Grange and Grandpa Cowley

Rielly, Breanne and Ty

My Uncle Pete, saying goodbye

What a pretty lady

This is a letter that my Grandma sent to my Grandpa when he was in World War 2. If you look above his name, you can see that it says "Deceased". The military sent a stack of letters back to my Grandma, and all of the letters said "deceased". This is how my Grandma found out that her husband had been killed in the war.

This says "This returned letter marked "deceased" was how Marie (Grandma) learned of Petes death. No telegram was sent to her! Her sister in law who worked in the post office got the bundle of returned letters and rushed them to Marie. Such a terrible way to learn of Petes death."

2010-01-17T22:48:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday Breanne! 15 years old! Can't believe it!

Party Here and Party There

2010-01-16T22:05:00.010-07:00

I have been meaning to post pictures of Riellys bday party on here. Now Breannes bday has passed and I'm finally getting around to it.

"The Incredibles" was the party theme because we think Rielly kinda looks like Jack Jack. What do you think?

I love the look he is giving Grace. Hands Off Sista!

Of course he had more fun with the wrapping than the actual gifts

I think he got more toys than all of my birthdays combined

It's nap time!

My NY's Resolutions

2010-01-02T20:50:00.005-07:00

What? How did it get to be 2010? Time again, for hope of becoming a better person. I do like this time of year, a chance to set some goals and try to at least attain one of them. These are going to be pretty generic, nothing real specific. I need to start out small:

1. Be more patient
2. Be more calm
3. Make better food choices
4. Exercise a little more (well any exercise would be more at this point)
5. Be more positive
6. Be more helpful
7. Cook a little more (ditto from #4, I think I've forgetten how to cook)
8. Be more spiritual
9. Spend less
10. Save more

Now on to cuter and more pleasant topics. This wouldn't be a post from me if I didn't include pictures of Rielly.

2009-12-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

2009-12-26T14:11:00.001-07:00

Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T12:28:00.011-07:00

More Christmas Eve

2009-12-25T01:22:00.003-07:00

Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-24T16:57:00.003-07:00

Little Santa meets Big Santa

2009-12-22T09:53:00.005-07:00

Morgan, Rielly, and I waited in line yesterday so Rielly could see Santa. We were excited because it was his first time seeing Santa, and because the line wasn't very long. As soon as we get in the line, they told us that Santa was going to go to lunch and would be back in one hour. I was ok with that because I thought this close to Christmas, we would be waiting much longer than that. Well, I had a good attitude (not very common when I'm at the mall) until this loud mouth lady freaked out because Santa was taking a "pee break" as she called it. She went on and on about how ridiculous it was that we had to wait in line, and the same thing happened to her last year, and etc, etc, etc. She even called the mall guest desk, the mall management, and the management company for the Santa. She was also offended that they didn't take her suggestion last year to give out numbers when Santa takes a break so we could go and spend some money. By the time Santa came back, I was about ready to ring her neck! It was worth the wait just to see this look...

2009-12-21T23:02:00.005-07:00

Rielly freaking out from being put in the bathtub. I don't know why he was so afraid. He's starting to be afraid of more things lately. Maybe it's because he has been sick. He's cute even when he's screaming and has a red face.

All nice and clean and ready to go to the doctor

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIELLY!

2009-12-06T17:22:00.009-07:00

Sorry, I had to throw in the butt picture, but isn't that the CUTEST butt you've ever seen?

It was a year ago today that this boy decided he had had enough and wasn't going to wait any longer. They had successfully stopped labor at Jordan Valley Hospital on December 4th 2008 and Morgan was taken by ambulance to the University Hospital and put on strict bedrest. She was only 23 weeks and 5 days pregnant. The next day went well until later that evening when her water broke. They still said that even though her water was broken, she could go weeks in that condition as long as she didn't develop an infection. Well the next day, the doctors said things were looking great and the labor was still stopped due to the medications she was taking so they let her go for a walk in a wheelchair. By the time she got back to her room, she felt like she was having labor pains again. She told the nurses but they didn't want to listen to her and so they didn't do anything. They didn't even check to see if she had dilated anymore. I was not at the hospital at this time either but wish that I was. Morgan had called me and I was on my way up. So by the time the nurses realized that Morgan was serious, Rielly was well on his way out. Everyone freaked out and rushed her back to labor and delivery and he was born 10 minutes later at 4:51 pm and was 1 lb 11 oz and 12 1/2 inches long. He was immediately intubated and we were unable to see him until he was stabilized. We were scared to death. Morgans nephew Leo had been born 3 weeks prior at 2 lbs 5 oz and was in the same NICU but he wasn't doing very well. This made us even more nervous because we could see all the problems that went along with prematurity. Amazingly enough, Rielly didn't have hardly any complications. He had one heart surgery (minor) to fix a minor issue and it was pretty much smooth sailing after that. It was a very slow process to get him home, but he didn't have the ups and downs that some babies do while in the NICU. So, needless to say, this kid is a true miracle and we realize what a blessing he is. We love you Rielly!

Here Comes Santa Clause

2009-11-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

Only 30 days until Christmas!

AUSTIN AND MORGAN

2009-11-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

Sepia

2009-11-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

Random Rielly Boy

2009-11-25T15:46:00.007-07:00

So Many Things Going On!

2009-11-22T11:20:00.010-07:00

There are so many things for me to blog about today, where do I start. To my friends, these are in no particular order and I have many best friends so please don't be sad or offended.

Today is a big day for two of my best friends. Stacie came home from the hospital and it's Tammys birthday. I was able to be Stacies nurse on Monday and let me tell you, it was one of the most amazing things but also one of the most nerve racking things ever. It was something I don't know if I ever want to do again. It was great to be able to care for a best friend but it got very stressful when things weren't looking too hot for her healthwise and when she had to endure some invasive procedures that were both very risky and very painful. I feel sorry for my other patients who were neglected that day! I wish I could have been her nurse 1 on 1. So anyway, it's both amazing and a miracle that she was able to come home so soon. She is an amazing friend, mother, daughter, wife, nurse, and person. She is loved by so many people, including my family. I feel so lucky to even be on her list of friends. Love you Stac!

Happy birthday Tam! I won't mention how old you are but man, you are getting up there! Some of the things I love about Tam:

1. She is a great friend, mom, wife, and person
2. She REALLY KNOWS how to blog, makes me jealous
3. She is freakin hilarious
4. She drove my butt around in high school when I didn't have a car, even though it was a klunker and it was purple (the perfect color for you though. Do you have any pix of that car, I would love to reminisce).
5. She is GORGEOUS!
6. She is an amazing piano player and seamstress and house decorator. She is so stinkin talented!

Love ya Tam!

I have the flu, don't know if it's H1N1 or Heiny as it is now known to me (get it? put i's in place of the ones = Hini or heiny), or the regular flu. I had the symptoms for 3 days and I guess after 3 days, it's too late to do the heiny swab or to even treat it with Tamiflu. So, they gave me a shot of Toradol (an anti-inflammatory) and Decadron (a steroid) because I had the worst headache and backache of all time. It helped and I am feeling better. At least my head does. I should've kept my mouth shut, last week I was saying "Geez, all the staff at the hospital are sick, I am in contact with sick patients all the time at the hospital, and my kids are sick. How come I never get sick? I must be Superwoman or something." Well, I spoke too soon. I just hope Rielly doesn't get sick because I was loving all over him the other day. I'm also mad because Stacie needs major help right now and I was only able to go see her once in the hospital and am not able to help her right now. We all know how stubborn she is, especially when she is sick. So I want to be with her and make sure she takes it easy.

In n Out Burger opened! Wow! How can it be after years of wishing they would come to Utah, they finally do, and to my city even! I must be living right. I attempted to get a burger on opening day but it was way too busy. By the 2nd day though, I decided I was going to sit in the line and wait no matter how long it took. It only took about 45 minutes and it was worth it.

Grandma Cowley

2009-11-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

My Grandma Cowley is in a care center and is on hospice and doesn't recognize any of us anymore. It makes me very sad. Her appearance has changed quite a bit, this doesn't really look like her to me. I was going to go see her today but am sick so I wasn't able to. I miss my Grandma.

Customizing

2009-11-11T15:52:00.002-07:00

Wow, that was ALOT of work but I just changed the font of my blog. I really like it. What do you think?

2009-11-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

Dad and Ruff

2009-11-07T14:28:00.004-07:00

My dad loves my dog Ruffles, and Ruffles loves him too. Ruffles gets so excited when dad comes over. He loves to lick him like crazy, and from the looks of it, dad loves it too. I have no idea how he can stand it. He calls it his "shower".

11 Months!

2009-11-07T00:04:00.006-07:00

Rielly is 11 months today (11/6). I can't believe that this fragile baby, whose chances of ever being normal or of even surviving were pretty slim

has turned into this cute, happy, and perfect baby

We love him!

2009-11-06T20:34:00.010-07:00

Funny!

2009-11-04T09:12:00.002-07:00

This is one of the funniest commercials I've seen

2009-11-03T22:37:00.002-07:00

How is it that Braden has owned more cars than I have in my whole lifetime, and he's 19? Here is his new car. Acura TSX

2009-11-03T20:52:00.015-07:00

Tori and I went to Cali last week to see one of the greatest bands around, U2.

We also went to the Ellen show where we got to see this man, who seemed reserved compared to previous interviews I've seen, but still hilarious

And this woman, who is very pretty by the way

We also got this for free! (Don't tell anyone of my kids, it's a Christmas present)

And Faith Hill gave us all a bottle of her new perfume! It's actually smells pretty good.

You can see a clip of the Ellen show here and if you look real hard, you can see me

2009-11-03T20:04:00.011-07:00

My goals for today WERE

1. Get this goofball off to school

2. Read through all these emails that have been piling up

3. Start digging my way through all this laundry, and at the same time start washing a pile just as big as this one

4. Clean out this closet (this is the 4th closet I've gone through since yesterday, which is why I have all the extra laundry to do. Nice to have hand-me-down clothes though.

INSTEAD, I ended up picking up this cutie pie and Morgan

And going to this place

How does that happen?

Fall 2009, Little Cottonwood Canyon

2009-11-03T00:05:00.006-07:00

2009-11-02T06:24:00.010-07:00

Trick or Treat!

Give me that CANDY...
And noone gets hurt

Has there ever been a cuter monkey?

I love everything about this baby

I love these pictures

2009-10-19T22:25:00.001-06:00

2009-10-13T20:00:00.003-06:00

Ah, ba ba ba ba barbara ann
Ba ba ba ba barbara ann

Oh Barbara Ann, take my hand
Barbara ann
You got me rockin and a-rollin
Rockin and a-reelin
Barbara Ann ba ba
Ba Barbara Ann

Remember this song from the Beach Boys? Well Barbara Ann is a real person, the wife of a music producer who the Beach Boys themselves credit for "discovering" them. Barbara Ann works with my dad at Macys. She is 85 and is retiring next week. We visited my dad today and she happened to be there working. Glad we were able to meet her and get a picture of her with Rielly.

Dad, the sorta famous guy lately

2009-09-23T17:54:00.006-06:00

This is my dad in the Macys Department Store magazine. He was honored as one of the top store managers in the country. Macy's also came out and took photo's of his store for all the managers as an example to show the correct way to lay out the merchandise. Way to go!

My dad was golfing in St George a couple of weeks ago. Some random guy came up to him and asked him if he could take a picture of him golfing. He said sure. So look at where this picture ended up. On the front cover of a Senior magazine in St George. Hilarious!

Good Ole Days

2009-09-20T22:08:00.002-06:00

Here is an old picture of me and the sistas. I'm the one holding Mindi. What cuties we were.

I Love This

2009-09-19T16:50:00.001-06:00

2009-09-16T20:43:00.002-06:00

This is so sad, but so cute. Rielly hates loud noises and it always makes him cry. This pouty face is too much to handle.

2009-09-07T21:50:00.001-06:00

Rielly loves this bouncer that he got today from Tori. Thanks!

2009-09-07T21:42:00.002-06:00

My mom made these cute bibs for Rielly. Thanks mom!

2009-09-03T21:17:00.002-06:00

This is Kevin. This is Kevin being a turkey. Kevin makes us laugh, ALOT.

Messy Boy

2009-09-03T20:50:00.002-06:00

This boy likes his food!

Patrick the Horse

2009-09-03T18:56:00.003-06:00

Well, I was hoping to tell you that Breanne was the proud owner of a new horse, BUT, the seller backed out of the deal for now, but still had us come and take him for a test ride, which made it even harder. Why would you have a potential buyer come and look at how great your horse is and then say, oh, by the way, I can't sell him. Grr. I guess he was going to buy a horse last week, but his seller backed out also, so he didn't want to sell Patrick just yet. If the seller finds a horse this weekend, he will sell Patrick to Breanne and then we will all be happy. This is a GREAT horse. He is so sweet and listens to all the commands that he gets. You say walk, he walks, you say trot, he trots. He backs up on command and doesn't try to go back to his stall or eat at any chance he gets. He can be ridden Western, English, or on trails and in water (Breanne rides English). He loves it all! He also loves his current owner so much that he will come and rest his head on his owners shoulder. I want this horse! He also won first place for all of Utah when he was 2 years old. Everyone say a little prayer that the owner will decide to sell! Patrick the Horse, and Breanne (first thing we would do if we get the horse is change his name!) We took Breanne to the stable this morning instead of taking her to school like she thought she was going to. We were going to surprise her and tell her that this was her horse. She was so dirty that we had to go home and change before she finally was able to go to school.

2009-08-30T19:49:00.002-06:00

I love this new thing that Rielly does. (Don't look at the messy bed)

Surprise!

2009-08-29T21:46:00.004-06:00

The little stinker has been so cranky the past couple of weeks. Now we know why.

2009-08-25T22:06:00.000-06:00

Birthday Dinner

2009-08-25T21:44:00.002-06:00

For every birthday in our entire family, my mom asks us what we want, and to celebrate she makes us dinner. We get to choose everything. She has been doing this for years. I had mine last Sunday and boy was it good. Lasagna, green salad WITH avocados, jello salad, and cheesecake! Yum Yum. It was very good. Thanks mom!

2009-08-24T22:06:00.001-06:00

2009-08-24T22:06:00.000-06:00

2009-08-24T22:05:00.000-06:00

2009-08-24T22:04:00.000-06:00

Ri and Morg

2009-08-24T22:03:00.000-06:00

Ri

2009-08-24T22:02:00.000-06:00

Rielly

2009-08-24T21:57:00.000-06:00

2009-08-24T20:34:00.001-06:00

OH MY GOSH! I CAN BARELY CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!!!!!

First Day of School

2009-08-17T08:46:00.004-06:00

I hope this morning isn't an indication of how the school year is going to go. Ty was onery, stubborn, and SLOW. He wasn't in a hurry at all to get to school. This picture was the only time I saw him in a decent mood. UGH!

2009-08-17T00:58:00.002-06:00

My night started with thoughts of how bummed I am that Tyson is going back to school tomorrow (Breanne starts next Monday), all the mornings waking up early, dragging a sleepy boy out of bed, all the homework that will have to be done, all the complaining I will have to hear, all the lunches that will have to be made, all the driving around I will have to do. Then I read Nie Nies blog again and I cried and cried some more. Then I went down to look at Ty sleeping and snatched a picture of him.

I no longer feel like complaining.

2009-08-16T17:11:00.002-06:00

This baby kinda creeps me out sometimes. He doesn't sleep with his eyes closed. What is up with that?

2009-08-14T20:25:00.002-06:00

We gotta thumb sucker in the house. He gave up on the binky because he can't keep it in. Now he's obsessed with his thumb.

Rielly boy

2009-08-13T22:11:00.000-06:00

2009-08-13T19:58:00.000-06:00

Nice looking rainbow

2009-08-13T19:00:00.001-06:00

Just experimenting, this is a collage of pictures on the day Rielly came home from the hospital.

2009-08-13T18:41:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to ME!

2009-08-13T16:56:00.007-06:00

The day started out slow, kinda boring, but then Rielly came over and made us all laugh. Then we went to Texas Roadhouse, it was fun and the food was really good. Morgan decided to be sneaky and tell the server that it was my birthday after I threatened them not to. And then they thought I was going to sit in the silly saddle that all birthday people do. HA! Fat chance! At least I still got the free dessert.

I LOVE this face!

Riellys first feel of the grass. He loved it, until a spider crawled onto Morgan

and she screamed, which scared him...

...to death

2009-08-10T02:42:00.003-06:00

After some editing...

2009-08-07T21:18:00.004-06:00

Breanne started horse lessons again and we are so happy about it. My friend Alishas mom is teaching her. Hopefully soon, we will be able to get her a horse so she can start competing in horse shows.

Alta, Little Cottonwood Canyon

2009-08-07T20:17:00.012-06:00

We picked the wrong day to do this because it was FREEZING but I still like the way the pictures turned out.

2009-08-07T00:13:00.003-06:00

Rielly is 8 months old today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARISA!

2009-07-30T17:57:00.003-06:00

Today is Carisas 23rd birthday! What an awesome daughter I have. Gorgeous, smart, funny, happy, nice, caring. What a breeze she was to raise. Happy birthday!

What I'm Grateful For Today...

2009-07-29T12:51:00.011-06:00

HCG: if you don't know what this is, find out. It's the most awesome thing that has ever been discovered. Now, if only I had more willpower.

Sprite Zero, strawberries, and grilled chicken: to make it easier for me to be on this diet.

This kid...

who has suddenly cared about having things clean and who makes sure the house is clean when I come home from work. She also tries to keep her brother from making any messes while I am gone. Wow! What a good kid

This machine...

to cover up my freckles and make it look like I'm tan without getting skin cancer.

My job: even though I complain about it and hate going, I'm grateful to at least have a job that is flexible, that lets me only work 3 days a week (1 to 2 in the summer), so that I can devote more time to my real job (my kids).

This game...

I'm addicted, and so are all my kids.

Tysons friend Conner...

The random things that come out of this kids mouth are hilarious! I never let my kids yell out the windows of the car when I'm driving but this kid LOVES to do it and the only reason I let him is because of the funny things he says to people. Just some of what he has said:
To someone walking down the road "I love your scooter!"
To someone else walking down the road "I want your cheese grater!"
To some construction workers on the roof of a house "Be careful!"
To someone at a skate park "I love your skateboard (the other kids flips him off) then Conner yells "I love you!"
While driving past the kids school "Theres that piece of crap we call school"

And last but certainly not least...

Probably the reason why I am grateful for all of the above!

2009-07-23T11:49:00.001-06:00

2009-07-23T11:48:00.001-06:00

Ruffles is going to miss him

2009-07-23T11:47:00.002-06:00

Tyson is off to camp