Public school

This, my friends, is why my kids go to public schools.

So they can lern how to spel good.

NKF Transplant Games

At the end of July I had the opportunity to go to Madison Wisconsin for the NKF Transplant Games. They are like the Olympics for transplant recipients. It’s really awesome to have recipients, donor families, living donors, transplant professionals and other supporters all gathered together in one place to celebrate the gift of life. I had an incredible time since am a donor family member, a living donor and a transplant professional. When I went I really thought that I had processed my dad’s death and that I was OK. Being there is such an emotional experience that it really got to me at times and really affected me even for a few weeks after getting home. I will never forget the amazing families I met there, their stories, their loved ones, their spirit. It was awesome. I hope to go again. I went with one of my co-workers that I am really close to and one of our donor families. We had so much fun. And Madison is so beautiful (except the humidity).

On the left is my co-worker is Alana. The others are the donor family that my company took to the games this year. They are Eric and Deanna Scalzo and their sons Jasen & Gibson. Their daughter & sister Madison was killed by a drunk driver 4 years ago and was an organ and tissue donor. They are an amazing family and it was an honor to get to be there with them. This picture was taken after the 5k.

This was the most amazing Brushetta I have ever had in my entire life! It had avocado slices on it which made it soooo yummy.  

It's what FUN is!

Why, yes, that is an umbrella to protect the kids from the waterfall

For Christmas last year Brad’s parents bought Lagoon season passes for all their kids and grandkids so we have spent a lot of time there this summer. We even went to Lagoon-A-Beach twice where I discovered that I still do not like waterslides. The boys just love Lagoon and would be happy if we could go every weekend. I don’t have many pictures and most of the ones I do have are from my cell phone, thus are crappy. Since Tyler is big enough to ride the rough rides Brad usually takes him and I hang with Trevor in the kiddie rides. Poor Trevor wants to be a big kid though and will get off a ride and say “let’s go on something faster Mom!”  For those of you familiar with Lagoon, Trevor’s favorite rides are Tidal Wave, Dinosaur Drop and the Dragonfly. Tyler likes Wicked, Colossus, Samurai and any other ride that I think he should be too small to ride. Lucky for Brad Tyler is fearless and will ride anything with him so they have tons of fun together.

I really do need to get more pictures!

Tyler's hospital stay

On July 23rd Tyler complained of a headache at 9 a.m. It's not the first time he has had a headache so I did what I normally do (turn off the video games/TV, lay down in a dark room, eat a snack) to see if it would go away on its own. It didn't. So I gave him Tylenol. Still didn't go away. 4 hours later I gave him Motrin. Still didn't go away and it seemed to be getting worse. The way he was describing it sounded like when I get migraines. Come 7 p.m. he had a fever and headache with no relief. My gut was telling me something wasn't right so I took him to the After Hours urgent care and fortunately they got us in quickly (probably had something to do with the lethargic, crying kid). They tried some stuff but every time they checked him his fever got higher and higher until it hit 104. He didn't have a stiff neck so they weren't really sure what to do. Eventually we decided to should take him to Primary Children’s ER because something just wasn't right. When we got to the ER we only had to sit in the waiting room for a few minutes before they got us into a room (again, his appearance, crying, lethargy- it was evident something was wrong). An IV, several exams by every level of medicine possible, an attempt at drinking juice which resulted in vomiting, and lots and lots of observation and they just didn't know what to do. He looked like meningitis but without the stiff neck. After being there all they decided to admit him to the RTU to watch him overnight. I was grateful to have a place for me to lay down and see if we could get some sleep (we both got very little). The next morning he still had headache and fever and now he threw up with every movement. I asked the doctor to please do an MRI of his brain, the Dr. wanted to do a spinal tap instead. We did, I stayed in the room to be a comfort to Tyler but it was really hard for me to watch on my own child go through this, and when I saw the fluid was clear I thought we were out of the woods. 30 minutes later the doc comes in in full protective clothing. Tyler was now in isolation because he had meningitis. We didn't know if it was bacterial or viral. Bacterial and he was being admitted to PICU. Viral and he would be discharged home as soon as his symptoms were under control. Several hours later it was determined to be viral but took about 24 more hours to get his symptoms under control. He spent the next couple of days at home resting and recuperating and is now back to his normal self. We were very fortunate to have caught this and had such a good outcome. This was scary and an emotional time because I was schedule to leave on a business trip within a week and didn't know if I would still be able to go. The moral of the story and the advice I would give to any parent? Trust your gut. He didn't have the classic stiff neck symptom associated with meningitis and yet he still had meningitis. Today he is back to his normal self but he still has occasional headaches so we will be seeing the pediatrician about this.

Sorry no pictures- my brain was somewhere else

100k

My car hit 100,000 miles and I just so happened to catch it on camera, along with my dusty dashboard. J  I never thought I would drive a car to 100k but now I'm hoping to get a lot more miles out of this one. I can't afford a new car and I love my car.

Brad's insulin pump

This Summer Brad got an insulin pump. He's wanted one for a few years but his old endocrinologist didn't seem too interested in helping him get one. Now he has a new (and incredibly amazing!) doctor who has done a lot for him including this pump. It was very expensive and our health insurance didn't pay near as much as we expected (about 1/3 of the cost) but we think this will help in his long term health and that is what is most important. He changes the catheter site, either on his back or stomach, every three days and refills the reservoir with insulin every 6 days. He can give himself a dose of insulin so fast that I rarely even see him doing it anymore. And it is even user friendly. There have been times that we have been driving and he has had me dose him. But I have had to get all over him about dosing himself while driving because it is akin to texting while driving and is completely unsafe.

 

I didn't want to gross anyone out by posting a picture of how it attaches to the body so if you want to see all those details just google image "medtronic insulin pump" and you'll get plenty. It's not really gross, it just gives some people the willies.

Double Surgery Deja Vu

Before

A couple of days after the funeral we were faced with the biggest challenge of the summer: double tonsillectomies for the boys. Didn't we do double surgery once before?  (Check out this link!) Hadn't we learned our lesson then? Apparently not because it was a nightmare around here. Tyler had had multiple strep throat infections over the prior 2 years and after 6 cases in 4 months we decided it was time to get those tonsils out! The ENT felt that Tyler's strep was hiding in his adenoids and not ever totally going away and would continue coming back unless we took those buggers out. Near his surgery date (we put it off until school got out), Tyler began having episodes at night where if he rolled onto his back in his sleep, his tonsils were so big that they would flop back and gag him and he would throw up in his sleep. He didn't even wake up! Not only did he ruin his fairly new mattress but I was terrified he would aspirate the vomit. Trevor didn't have a ton of strep infections but he did have such ginormous tonsils that they would close off his airway when he was sleeping and he would have apneic episodes. If you know me, and know what I do for a living, you'll know that I was pretty nervous about this too. So going in to the surgery I knew it was necessary but not any less scary. We had it done at the new Primary Children's satellite center at the Riverton Hospital. Our ENT is very experienced and we felt comfortable with him. After the surgery both boys refused to swallow the liquid Lortab or Tylenol with Codeine so they only took regular OTC Tylenol. That was the first problem- their pain was never under control. We were able to get Tyler to eat and drink enough to be OK but Trevor refused everything- including popsicles. I took them to the store the night before to pick out popsicles, jello, pudding, Gatorade, etc but Trevor refused it all after the surgery. We barely got him to drink enough water to stay hydrated. Tyler was back to normal after two week but it took Trevor three weeks and I didn't think that I was going to survive. It was so bad that the potential of having to go through it again may be enough to make me decide against having more kids. We'll see.

After

A rough Memorial Day weekend

Ok, so my last post was written during a little emotional breakdown. You'll be happy to know I am back to my usual self. That's not saying much but take it for what it's worth. Back to the Summer catch-up...

Over Memorial Day weekend my Grandpa Thacker had a massive stroke and died a few days later. It was very sudden even though his health had been declining in the previous months. I was fortunate enough to have been able to drive out to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center twice to see him before he passed. It was harder for me than I expected because I considered him a connection to my Dad. They looked similar, their voices were similar and when Grandpa would laugh it was like looking at my Dad. Something about the way his tongue would touch his bottom teeth. His funeral was out in the Uintah Basin where he and Grandma both grew up and now live and he was buried near Heber. The funeral was beautiful and I am so proud to be his granddaughter. He was an incredible man and I am grateful to be a forever family. It also makes me happy to think of the reunion he had with my Dad and my uncle Clyde who was killed about a year and a half after my Dad. Grandpa had lived nearly 14 and 12 years respectively without his two eldest sons and I bet that was an amazing reunion. I will love you forever Grandpa!

Paul Kenn Thacker

May 11, 1931 ~ June 2, 2010
Hometown: Mt Emmons, UT

Paul Kenn Thacker, age 79 of Mr Emmons, passed away June 2, 2010 in Provo at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

Paul was the 12th child of 14 (six brothers and seven sisters) of Rawlins and Zella Wright Thacker.

He was born May 11, 1931 in Altonah, which is now Altamont.

He married Lois Jean Childs February 25, 1948 and they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple May 1, 1962.

He worked as a plumber, truck driver, concrete contractor and home builder in Carbon County, Salt Lake City, Murray, Sandy and Riverton, Utah.

He served in the Salt Lake, Provo and Vernal LDS Temples. He loved the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the temple and his family. He also served as a missionary at the Heber Valley Girls Camp near Heber, UT.

He is survived by his wife, Lois, Mt. Emmons; three sons, Kim (Sue) Thacker, Altamont; Roy (Kelly) Thacker, St. George; Paul (Cami) Thacker, West Bountiful; two daughter, Christine (Kevin) Tate, Riverton; Zelda (George) Jensen, Bluffdale, two daughters-in-law Pat and Melanie, 36 grandchildren, 64 great grandchildren, and three sisters.

He was preceded in death by two children, Clyde, Jim and 10 siblings.

The family wishes to express a profound and heart felt thanks to the doctors, nurses and staff of the Timpanogos and Utah Valley Hospitals for all their courtesy, professionalism and sympathy.

Funeral Services held Monday, at ll:00 am at the Altamont LDS Church where there will be a viewing Sunday from 5-8 pm and Monday from 9:30-10:30 am.

Interment in the Charleston Cemetery at 3:30 pm.

Dad, you are a wonderful man, husband, brother, father and friend. Thank you for your example of diligence, hard work, loyalty and love of life. We love you and will miss you till we meet again. Mom and the Kids.

Grief. Does it ever get better?

My heart is broken and I am beginning to wonder if it will ever heal. I know that everyone handles grief differently. Never was that more apparent than when my Dad first died. But here we are nearly 14 years out and I have moments where I can barely function. Driving to work there was a man mowing the lawn out in front of the Little America Hotel. The smell of that freshly cut grass hit me and the tears came immediately. I spent so many years working with my Dad at the retirement center mowing lawns so that smell is synonymous with my Dad. I have this ache deep within my soul, a desire to hug my Dad, to smell his smell and see his sparkly green eyes, and this ache is so great that sometimes it is as physically real as if someone had punched me in the gut. I would give anything in my life to be able to turn back the hands of time to that weekend before the accident. I would do anything to re-live those happy days with him again. This time I would make sure I told him how much I loved him. I would hug him again and again. I would have him tell me all the stories about his childhood and his church mission that I do not know. I would have him moonwalk across the kitchen floor or scare the heck out of us while we were "camping out" on the trampoline. I would repeat all the things we did and do all the things we never got to do.

I've never told anyone this: I hate thunder. I didn't used to. But now when I hear thunder all I can think of is the earth being rumbled and jolted and my Dad's body being in the earth. I know it is crazy. I think I am going a little crazy. Actually, I think I need some help but I have tried many counselors and none have helped so I've given up on therapy.

I'm plagued by this awful fear that our forever family is in jeopardy. I'm afraid that my Mom will decide that she loves her new husband more than she loved my Dad and that she will choose him over our family in the hereafter. I know it sounds ridiculous but I am sure it could/has happened. I am so scared that will happen and then what? What happens to this forever family that was created when they were married in the temple? I have to choose which parent I will be a family with? I know that I am a family with Brad and the boys but I want to be with my parents, brothers & sisters and their families too. The thought of my Mom choosing to be with Garry sickens me because I want her to still love my Dad as much as I do. I want her to miss him. I want her to remember him. She doesn't seem to.

Could this be a sign of burnout? Maybe I am dealing with too much death through work. Or, maybe losing my Grandpa Bankhead last year and Grandpa Thacker this year has just been too much for my feeble mind. Or, maybe I never came to terms with my Dad's death like I thought I had. I don't know but I sure don't think the pain will ever get better than this.

Are we there yet?

Trevor is the king of "Are we almost there?" and "Are we there yet?"

Last Sunday we were leaving to go to Grandma & Garry's house and before we were even half way backed out of the garage he says "are we almost there?"

Brad and I just looked at eachother and burst out laughing. What a nut!

Alaskan Inn

Back in April Brad and I got away for a weekend for a little marriage retreat/getaway at the Alaskan Inn in Ogden Canyon. On our way there we witnessed a pretty bad accident that we would've been in had we been a couple seconds faster at the green light. It was scary and I felt shaken for the first few hours up there. We got to stay in a cute little cabin and had breakfast delivered to our room.

The food at the seminars we attended was catered by Rooster's Pub and it was good too. One night we went into Ogden to have dinner at my favorite restaurant, Tona. If you ever find yourself in Ogden I highly recommend you eat there.

I'm mad at myself for accidentally deleting the picture of my dinner. It was beautiful! So you're stuck with a picture that I am in. Just look at that yummy food though. Brad got sushi but since I am not a fan I got a Bento box with teriyaki chicken and rice, a salad with an amazing ginger dressing, cucumber salad, vegetable tempura and steamed veggies. It was so good!

Two nights without kids plus good food plus good company makes for a great weekend!

Trevor turned 4!

Clear back on March 21st our Trevor-boy turned 4-years-old. We celebrated with a little party at both Grandma & Grandpa Newman's house and Grandma & Garry's house as well as going out to dinner as a family. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted all he requested was something orange (it's his favorite color) so I made him a cake and tried to frost it orange but it turned out more of a peach color. I didn't feel like going out to buy some Wilton orange that night so I decide to just stick with the peach and he didn't seem to mind. We got him a Spiderman scooter which he loved!

***

"Smile for the camera"...

"Eyes were closed, let'a try again"...

"Ok, can you make a real smile?"...

"Oh I give up!"

***

Here are some things you may not know about Trevor:
He loves animals. A little too much sometimes.
He loves the color orange.

He is an excellent eater and will eat anything and lots of it!

His favorite "food" is fruit snacks and we have to limit how many he eats in a day.

He loves to jump on the trampoline at Grandma's.

He is outgrowing any fears he had- like riding water rides at Lagoon

He has a great personality and is always making us laugh.
He has more gas than anyone I have ever met. And it stinks really bad!

He's an excellent sleeper; he'll sleep 12 hours at night (if able) plus take a nap (if allowed). It's awesome.

He talks cute like saying "darf" instead of "barf" and "Chik-A-Flay" and thinks he's pronouncing them right.

He loves babies (which includes any child younger than he is). He talks to them, coos at them and wants to hold them.

He loves preschool.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!!

There's that smile!

Funny church story

Last Sunday Tyler was giving a talk in sharing time in Primary. The theme for this month is "Jesus is the son of God and he is a God of Miracles". The little girl before him who also gave a talk spoke of....

The ten leopards!

Brad and I were sitting on the back row of the chapel giggling so hard but trying not to because we didn't want to make a scene. I swear not one of the other adult leaders were laughing! Maybe they are just used to the kids saying funny things? It was a good laugh because later in the day things were not so happy.

Tyler did a great job on his talk! He is such a good little reader. We are so proud of him.

And the winner is....

Commentor #1...

Crystal

Congratulations! Now you can be all dolled up when you go in to labor! :)

Email me your mailing address and I'll get this out to you. You're gonna love it!

Saving money....one of my favorite things!

Want to get extreme savings at local hotspots (not just in Utah)? Check out this website called Groupon:

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu2667193

How it works:
1. Each day we feature something cool to do at an unbeatable price.


2. You only get it if enough people join that day.

3. Check back the next day for another awesome Groupon!
 
Seriously great deals!

Best. Husband. Ever.

So Brad entered me into a contest and I won free Lasik for Mother's Day. It's being done tomorrow (Friday May 7th) at The Eye Institute in Murray. I am so excited and nervous / sick at the same time. Channel 13 will be there doing live coverage of me and the other three women who won during the 11 a.m. hour and then Channel 2 will be doing a little story about it on one of their evening news broadcasts if you are interested in seeing it. Personally I am not real thrilled with the idea of being on TV with no makeup, wearing my glasses and being my usual overweight self. But I want the free Lasik so I'll comply with their wishes. Isn't he a nice husband to enter me into this contest? I was lucky to win, apparently they had hundreds of entries and my name was drawn. I have wanted Lasik for years but haven't been able (or wanted) to afford it.

No more contacts or glasses for me....Yipee!

100th post GIVEAWAY

I've been blogging for probably 2 years now but I'm lame and don't post very often so I'm barely hitting my 100th post. In celebration of this momentous occasion I am giving away one of my favorite things...

A Loreal Lash Boosting Serum and Double Extend Mascara
to one lucky reader!

Anyone can win, just leave a comment and a winner will be randomly selected on May 21st. Even if you have never commented before or are a blog lurker and don't know me personally, it's OK, you can still enter to win (I'll be mailing the prize so you can live anywhere). This is an equal opportunity giveaway!

Good luck!

Little Black Raincloud

I've got a little black raincloud following me around. I seem to have a case of the blues that I can't quite kick. I think Satan is working double-overtime to get the best of me and sometimes he wins.

I had a little run-in with a jerk at the gym who was cheating the system and making others wait longer than they should've had to to get on a machine. It wasn't fair and I called him out on it. Now he gives me death-looks and I never want to be leaving the gym the same time he is since it is a dark parking lot. He scares me. Of course, I now foil his little plan by intentionally signing up for the treadmill he is on so that he has to end his session after 35 minutes. I know, I'm rude but he should have to play by the rules everyone else does.

My car turned to 100,000 miles. I guess I am a snob and never thought I would drive a car long enough to get to that (judge me as you will- I deserve it). The car is 10 years old and is in awesome condition and I am so thankful to no longer have a car payment. I just wish I could afford a newer, even better car but 100k miles or not I will just be grateful that we have it.

Every day I feel guilt/frustration at not having enough time to do all the things that I need to do. Right now instead of doing soccer or swimming lessons for the kids I am focusing on taking care of myself and going to the gym. I hired a personal trainer and everything. I can't get up and go early in the morning before work because, well, I am lazy and I like my sleep too much. I have a hard enough time getting up to go to work and they pay me to be there at least! So I try to go in the evenings but I end up having to take the boys to the childcare center there two nights of the week because of Brad's work schedule and that costs me another $13/month. (I won't even tell you how much my gym membership and personal trainer has cost me...let's hope it's worth it in the end). On those nights when Brad is at work I end up picking up the boys from daycare, running home and giving the boys a snack while I change and then heading to the gym. Another drawback to these two days is that I am limited to an hour so I don't get time to do cardio and weights. But I digress. So then after the gym we go home, I make dinner, help Tyler with homework and then do whatever else we need to before bed (showers, bed time routine, etc). But I don't have many quick recipes so I feel like I never have anything to feed the boys and I don't want to feed them a bunch of junk. See? Satan wanting to squash what little self-esteem I do have and keep me from feeling better about myself.

Tyler is having a tonsilectomy and adenoidectomy on March 31st. He has had strep throat three times in the past 4 months not to mention all the times he has had it in the past year. So after this most recent case I called the ENT who did the ear tubes for both boys and asked about getting the T&A for Tyler. He said that Tyler has definately had it enough to "qualify" so we are going ahead with it. Thing is, ever since we made the appointment I have felt all nervous and upset about it (even though it was my idea in the first place!- I know, call me crazy). I know this is a very common procedure and the ENT has done it hundreds of times, it's just that I know of every possible complication because of the job I have and the thought of my little boy under anesthesia and then in pain afterwards makes me want to cry. So, is me feeling this way a sign that we should cancel or postpone it or am I just being neurotic and should go through with it because he will be better off in the long run? I mean, my internal dialogue tells me that there are mothers who have to watch their children be taken into far scarier surgery than this one and I am being a super-freak over this? Sheesh!

Maybe this little black raincloud feeling is because I am going through Olympic withdrawals. For two weeks it was routine for the boys and I to watch some of the Olympics before bed each night (and then I would stay up way past my bedtime and keep watching!). I love the winter Olympics and loved watching them with my boys. Tyler was totally into them and asked great questions about the sports, Olympians and countries. It was awesome to see him so in-tune. I also have a little crush on Apollo Anton Ohno so seeing him skate several times didn't hurt either. You know, he trains at the Oval here by my house....maybe one day I will run in to him. Tyler wants to learn to ice skate so as soon as life settles down we are going to let him take some lessons.

Trevor's birthday is in less than two weeks and it is killing me. How can my baby be 4? The time has gone too fast since he was born. I don't even know if I am done having kids but the older he gets and the more nights I have without having to wake up with a baby and the further away from diapers I get the less I am going to want more! Ahhhh, too many decisions.

There are potential life changers coming up in our lives but I cannot talk about they yet. I am waiting to see what all plays out. Hopefully some really good things will happen so that life will be a little less stressful.

Thanks for checking in on us. I know this was a long post. I am feeling a lot better physically since my appendix surgery....now I just need to feel better mentally.

Just call me Frankenstein

Last Thursday evening I started having abdominal pain which isn't uncommon for me and luckily it was Brad's night off his second job so I was able to take a pain pill and go to bed. I woke up Friday still hurting but able to get through my day. By Friday night though I wasn't feeling well and it got real bad about 5 a.m. I didn't want to wake Brad up so I suffered through it until 8 and then told him it was time for me to go to the hospital- this wasn't like any ovarian cyst I had had before.

After a CT and blood work the doctor came in to tell me that it was appendicitis and that it had to come out today. Like in the next two hours. That's when things got really interesting. The surgeon came to see me, we called my brother-in-law Jeff to see if he could come give me a blessing with Brad, made arrangements for the kids, I called my boss, Brad called his boss, they did pre-op stuff. You know- it was crazy. At least by this time I had morphine on board so the pain wasn't as bad.

The surgery was successful and my appendix had not ruptured. The doctor said it was probably within a day of rupture so it was good I went when I did. She also said it looked as though it had been infected and inflammed for several days and we think that antibiotics I was taking for something else had held it at bay. Otherwise I could've had this done on my birthday! I was admitted to the transplant floor for post op care and it was nice and quiet up there. I had trouble with my respirations after the surgery so I had to stay in the PACU for longer than expected and then on oxygen the entire night which was totally annoying. I think if I had been able to take the oxygen cannulas off my face I would've slept a lot better that night but they had to wean me from 4 liters to room air throughout the night and every time they took me to room air my sats would drop into the 70's. In the morning when my breathing had stabilized and I was able to use the restroom on my own I was unhooked from all the machines and that was a great feeling. I ate breakfast and got out of there as quick as I could.

Now I've been home resting and healing. Today I feel like I have started to turn a corner. I still feel crappy but a lot better than I did on Monday so it's progress. I'm constantly worried about work and need to knock that off. My boys have been going to their normal daycare and school so I have been home alone and then Brad has been home in the evenings until tonight. This will be my first night caring for them since the surgery.

The good thing is I have now lost all non-essential organs:
Tonsils: gone in the late 80's
Gallbladder: gone in 2000
Appendix: gone in 2010

And, at least my 2-piece swimsuit days are over because my abdomen looks like Edward Scissorhands got to it!

On a side note....I'm one post away from my 100th post and I will be doing a giveaway so check back soon. You won't want to miss this!

They say it's your birthday....

I turned 31 last week. It's been a little bit of a bummer because I realized that I met none of the goals I set when I turned 30. None. That's a way to make me feel like a loser.

But I did win a birthday cake and that was fun because until that day I had never had a professional birthday cake. Not even from Walmart. I entered a drawing here http://www.4theloveofcake.blogspot.com/ and won! The cake was an awesome chocolate with raspberry filling and it was the best cake I have ever had. It even tasted better than my wedding cake (because it was chocolate, of course). The cake decorator gives away a cake every month so if you want to enter visit her site the month before your birthday and register. But you should check out her website just for the fun of it too. She does great work.

Here's the cake:

We celebrated my birthday over at my Mom's. Lilly (Jennifer's youngest), me, Mom and Jennifer all have birthdays in the same week so we had a big ol' celebration. We had a repeat of Thanksgiving (minus the stuffing and yams-boo!) and it was so darn tasty and then stuffed ourselves on two cakes. It was great!

Christmas 2009

We had a nice Christmas this year. The season was busy with parties and shopping but Christmas eve and day were really nice and spent with family.

We did Christmas eve like we always do with my Mom but this time it was at her new house. I am still having a hard time adjusting to this new way of life with her. I am not comfortable in Garry's home and miss the way life was before she got married. I miss her. But I digress. We had a great dinner and gift exchange and stayed up way too late. They gave me a Lion House cookbook that I love and Brad and cool flashlight that has a tripod for a handle. How cool is that? And then money for the Bosch mixer that we are saving up for. My life will be complete once that appliance joins our family. My sister Janeen just got her Young Women medallion again since she is in the YW in her ward. For one of her projects she transcribed my dad's journals and had them bound and a copy made for each of us. It was the most amazing, treasured thing anyone could've ever given me. These journal's were written when I was young and to hear how he talks about his love for us kids and his hopes and dreams for us was incredible. He also expressed the love he had for my Mom and he loved her in a way I didn't even realize. I hope Brad loves me like that. He was also so hard on himself and had high expectations for himself and it was painful to read some of it. It also made me understand him more. It is a beautiful and bittersweet memory I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Christmas morning we opened gifts at our house before going to Brad's parents for breakfast. We tried not to go overboard on spending this year and I think we did pretty good. All Tyler wanted was "100 sets of Lego's" (that's an exact quote) and Trevor really didn't have any specific thing he wanted. They both go Zhu Zhu pets which are my kind of pets. Brad surprised me with a pink Creative Zen mp3 player. It's pink! And he got me a rice cooker/steamer and a hot cocoa maker. I love them all! I got him a Blue Ray player and a Guitar Hero guitar.

After we filled ourselves with food we did presents with Brad's side of the family and that was fun. Lynette made me a Family Home Evening assignment board which I have always wanted and Lynn & Margaret gave us all season passes to Lagoon. I guess we will be spending a lot of time there this summer.

We missed great-Grandma & Grandpa Newman at breakfast. Grandpa wasn't feeling well from the Christmas eve party he went to the night before so they stayed home. Turns out he was having a heart attack and wound up in IMC's Cardiac ICU later in the day with 2 new cardiac stents. Little 90-year-old man gave us a good scare. He's doing excellent now. We got another treasure of a Christmas gift, this time a book made of life stories written, and typed on a type-writer, by Grandpa Newman. One of Brad's cousins then illustrated each story and it was hardbound. Too special for words!

Wanna know what my best gift this year was?? Trevor deciding to potty train. Oh yes folks, it's finally happened. I thought he would be wearing diapers into college. It was our Christmas miracle.

Overall a great ending to the decade.

A call for action, a plea for help

Dear family & friends,

As many of you know I was a living kidney donor in June 2004. Recently, the gal I donated to contacted me in a panic because she had just learned that Medicare was going to stop helping cover her immuno-suppressant drugs and she could not afford them on her own. Without these drugs her body will reject the kidney I gave her and she will need to go back onto dialysis and eventually be re-transplanted. This is a terrible loophole that kidney transplant recipients fall in to and right now we all have a chance to do something about it. I am asking you to contact your local Senate and House representatives and urge them to support Section 1232 of H.R. 3962 (also know as the Affordable Health Care for America Act). There are lots of details to this bill and I won’t go in to the here but if you want to know more I’d be happy to share them with you.

These are not lazy people looking for handouts; in general they have returned to great health after being on the brink of death. In the case of Mia (my recipient) she is now able to work again but her private insurance will not cover immuno-suppressant drugs because it is considered a pre-existing condition. It makes no sense that the government will pay for them to be on dialysis and get a transplant a second or third time but will not pay for the medication they need to keep their first transplant from rejecting!

All I am asking you to do is contact your Senators today using one of the two methods below and ask them to "urge conferees to include Section 1232 of the House bill, H.R. 3962, in the final health reform bill." Section 1232 extends Medicare coverage for immunosuppressive drugs for the life of the transplant to ESRD patients who have received kidney transplants.

1). Call the Capitol Switchboard to call your Senators and Congressmen at (202) 224-3121

2). Click on the following link to locate and contact your Senator: www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Click on the following link to locate and contact your House Representative:

http://www.house.gov/

I thank you with all of my heart. One day it could be one of us who needs a transplant.