Another Near Miss

Jeremy is feeling alright today. Pain is being managed with Ibuprofen for the most part. We met with an Orthopedic surgeon today and found out that - once again - Jeremy is lucky. He has a medial clavicle break most likely. The doctor only sees this severe collarbone break every 10 years or so. It dislocated to the front of his chest which is really good, since if it would have gone the other way - Jeremy would not have made it. Usually (50% of the time) the heart or artery is punctured. I don't know about all of you, but hearing that my husband was so close to dying yet again is not getting any easier.

You can see the helmet damage from the first picture - the major scrapes, the clip is pretty much gone (my finger is pointing to it) and the protected chin flap has a good sized gash. He can be the poster child for wearing a helmet when skiing. That Natasha actress wasn't wearing hers and only took a minor fall. Jeremy would have been a goner...

Noah captured the next 2 pictures of the ski patrol loading him up. Jeremy has no memory of this part. Noah says he was pretty ashen and didn't open his eyes.

I have to confess I get a little bit angry when I look at these pictures. Not to make this about me, but I have been looking at major scars over my daughters body and then to see Jeremy in pain and his chest all malformed - I feel like puking. Jeremy is quite a stud - he handles all this with ease. He wasn't being reckless - this was just a freak accident. His odds are actually pretty good - he has been skiing 33 years and this is the worse thing that has happened. That actress was on the bunny hill and it turned out much worse for her.

I guess when you lead an active lifestyle things like this will happen. Thank God for good drugs and insurance. I believe I have now met our out of pocket for both Samantha and Jeremy now - probably even the family amount. LOL

The doctor tried to get an idea of what his condition was exactly, but the x-rays didn't help. His shoulder is pushed down near the ribs and there is too much confusion looking at all the bones overlapping in the x-ray. Tomorrow we go back to the hospital to have a CAT Scan done which will give the doctor a better idea of what is going on. We will then meet with the doc again on Monday afternoon to find out the exact plan of attack. He will definitely need surgery and the doctor said is it pretty neat (his exact words) repairing this type of injury. Once the bone is put back together you can see the chest go back to it original shape.

I tried to capture the extent of the injury - You can see from the profile picture how is pec is flat and his shoulder bone is pushed back and down. We joke that he is the hunchback of Westminster... The front picture shows the bruise and how much lower his left nipple is than his right. What you can't see is how that whole muscle is kind of slumped down. Picture a landslide - everything gathered in a pile at the bottom of the hill. That is sort of what it is like. His jaw is still pretty swollen and a bit black and blue on the left side. He has been eating soup all day today...

All in all - he is doing great. He feels ok and is taking it easy. I think the toughest part of this whole thing is the fact that he will be sitting on the couch for another weekend (at least). I suspect the surgery will be on Wednesday but I will post again when we have all the details on Monday.

This could have turned out so much worse - we are blessed. I hope my Papa is feeling better (he is battling pneumonia). Love to everyone!

Just when you think you are out

Just when I thought I was done with injured family members, doctor visits and hospitals - I get sucked backed in...

Jeremy broke his collarbone skiing today. He doesn't remember how it happened - his friend Noah saw him go into some rocks. Jeremy didn't just fall a little bit - he fell hard. Thank God for his helmet - which had the straps torn from it. I don't know if you can see from the pictures but he landed on the left side - his face is swollen and you can see the bruise where the collarbone is broken. It looks much better in the picture. You can't tell that it is thrust forward about an inch. He broke his bone all the way thru. We are meeting with an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow and I suspect that surgery will follow soon after.

He is doing ok now - comfortable for the most part. I will post again tomorrow to let everyone know how the doctors appointment goes.

Other than this latest drama, everyone else is doing well. Samantha went back to school on Monday and is happy to be back. She is pretty sharp and catching up on her class work like a pro.

Daniel was mad at me a bit today because he thought the news about Jeremy was an April Fool's joke and he thought it was a bad one. Isabella is glad to be back in school and hanging out with her friends. We signed her up for Kindergarten next year and she is getting really close to reading. She is still fighting it a bit - but I catch her sounding words out when she really wants to know what it says.

We are getting snow again - everything is white and crunchy. :)

Guess we are back in normal waters again - doctors appointments scheduled, prescription bottles on the counter and a glass of wine sitting next to my computer.

Stay tuned for Jeremy updates - until then...

Love to everyone!

It is about Time

Would you believe that every night I look at my computer and think I should post about today... But instead say - 'I will do it tomorrow'. Well tomorrow is finally here.

We are all doing great. Sam had a doctors appt last Thursday (the day of the BIG snow here in Denver). She was pretty apprehensive about getting her stitches out but Dr. Heare just said - DO IT! She was happy in the end. Since her stitches are out and the leg is looking fantastic, she was able to get a waterproof cast this time. That made her day - her month even. She went into the jacuzzi for the first time in 2 years. I cleared a path thru the snow. :)

Here you can see a picture of Sam' leg. I may look a bit frightening to some but to us it is absolutely beautiful. The main section there is her muscle flap. It is pink and healthy and the skin is filling in perfectly.

The scars look dramatic here but as a whole her leg looks so much better than before with the infection and uneven healing.

Once we got home, I cleaned up her toes a bit and painted them a perfect color of pink (what else?).

You may have heard we got some snow. I was actually going to post on Thursday night with the title "Dumb Ass". Daniel of course thought, 'what is a little snow - everyone is over reacting!'

Well here is my son looking so 'cool' meeting us at the van which he got stuck in the snow. He wasn't even wearing a coat. Jeremy and I had to dig out the van and bring him home.

Here is a picture of our front walk on Friday morning.

Last weekend Jeremy and Isabella went skiing - so I included a picture - so cute!

Saturday was a pretty fun and busy day as well. We visited the Denver Art Museum as a family. It always amazes me to see all that talent. Then later Samantha wanted to get her hair cut and colored. She chose a natural black color with red undertones. She feel fantastic and of course looks beautiful.

Isabella could not be left out - she used some of the money she earned to buy a pink hairpiece of all things. She wore it for 2 days straight. Jeremy just walked around shaking his head - but he was the one who gave her the money to spend. :)

Today was a great day as well. Jeremy is feeling healthy again - he spent the day skiing. I sent to kids to the movie (Monsters vs. Aliens) and I spent the day cleaning the house and making spaghetti and meatballs. My cousin Kelli and her boyfriend Rich came for a visit. We had a wonderful time - I am just hoping that the house full of kids didn't overwhelm them too much.

I know it will take her some time to get used to Colorado - but I am super happy she is here. She looks beautiful and it was a lot of fun talking with her and Rich.

Spring break is finally over and I for one am super happy. Samantha is going back to school tomorrow - she is a bit nervous but excited as well. Isabella will have an adjustment going back to school but I think she will be happy to see her friends regularly again.

Other than that - we are waiting for the snow to melt and the spring bulbs to bloom. I will try to do better on the updates...

Love to everyone!

We have a ROCKSTAR that Pees in the toilette

I love being home! I was actually preparing mentally to come home on Tuesday. The usual stay for a big surgery like this is 4 to 5 days. Samantha made it 3. About 1 pm today she decided she would rather be home. Last night was a rough one - not because of pain - but because we had a pump malfunction that beeped continuously and another machine that sounded like a fire alarm every time her oxygen level dipped below a certain point (which was usually wrong).

The night nurse had to take blood and her IV wouldn't draw so they had to poke her again. On top of all that - 7 am (daylight savings time) came so fast - I wasn't prepared. At least Sam got to go back to sleep until 11:30 am or so, but I had to work.

She took her percoset expecting that when she moved it would hurt more - but it turned out that she had too much pain meds and she was feeling a bit dizzy. Once she ate a bit she felt much better. Then the nurse removed her catheter - letting us know that once she peed in the toilette she was cleared to go home.

We were super excited when that happened - hence the blog title...

So we are home now - Isabella is in bed after her bath and book - Sam is relaxing watching a Harry Potter movie - Daniel is hanging with his dad tonight watching a basketball game. Jeremy of course is working so I decided to take this time to update.

We have the next doctor appointment on Thursday where she will get the splint off and a cast on.

Hopefully I will have some pictures (x-rays) of her leg by then as well.

Until then - Love to everyone - especially my Rockstar of a daughter!

A Little Ornery

You know Sam is feeling good when she is ornery - and she is with a capital O! The surgery on Friday went just as it should and she now has a bone in her leg. Yahoo!

She managed pain fantastically all weekend - today they took the epidural out and she is on oral pain meds. Tomorrow we will see Dr. Heare again (I am going to ask for x-rays) and I assume we will be going home tomorrow evening or Tuesday afternoon.

Sam did her nails today - and is currently (at 10 pm) eating a piece of tandoori chicken while watching some late night TV.

This time around - Sam's choices for boredom busters are the Gossip Girl season one set of DVDs and Harry Potter movies.

It is getting late so I am going to finish quickly tonight - 7 am comes even quicker with this Daylight Savings thing we have going on.

Night and Love to everyone!

Out with a Bang

I woke up this morning - arrived at the hospital - checked Sam in and we all were feeling so happy. I have had such a good feeling about this lately so we were a bit surprised when Dr. Heare came to talk to us after only 2 hours. It turns out that about 2/3 thru the procedure the cadaver bone split. They were putting the rod thru the inside of bone. Dr. Heare was pretty upset - but things happen. Samantha as you can see from the picture is feeling fine. The epidural is working fantastically!

The 7th floor (oncology) was full so we are not in our usual spot. The nurses so far are really nice and doing a great job.

Tonight's post is going to be kind of short - 4:30 am came quickly - even my hospital is looking comfy. :)

Her next (and hopefully final) surgery is scheduled for Friday at 1 pm, until then we will just hang out and keep her comfortable.
Night!
Love to everyone!

It Has Been Two Years Today

So as I promised here is Daniel's logo he designed. There is this Tapas restaurant and lounge in Denver and his challenge was to come up with a logo for this company and to present it. Tapas are Spanish appetizers this place is named after a bar made famous by James Michener's novel "The Drifters" in Spain. It was a favorite hangout for poets and artists.

The restaurant here in Denver is known for their Spanish wines and lounge like atmosphere. My favorite version of the logo is the top version because the glass of wine is red as well as the number 9. The musician has the Spanish feel and the glass of wine conveys what the restaurant is famous for. The current logo is 8 purple, red and orange rectangles (http://9thdoor.com/events.html). I am probably biased but I am so proud of Daniel and I think his logo is fantastic.

I tossed and turned last night - uncomfortable - and woke up feeling off. The day flew by as I did all the things I was supposed to do today, but I kept flashing back to the events of this same weekend two years ago. We had just learned that Samantha did in fact have cancer. The fear was indescribable - to this day nothing matches it except the fear that it may return. I have watched my daughter grow up the last 2 years from a girl to a young courageous woman. Even with all the complications and the multiple scars covering her body, she is a one year survivor! Thinking on it - I decided the whole family are survivors. Samantha had the worst of it - but Daniel and Isabella and Jeremy have paid a price as well - I sometimes forget....

I still read the Caring Bridge sites and I still hear of children whose cancer has returned for second and third times. Two of Samantha's friends from her cancer teen group are always in my thoughts - one young man so full of life who always has a smile is battling for his third time and another girl's mother is battling with the decision on how to handle her daughter's last days. Each and every day I am grateful that Samantha is still cancer free.

I know our family is stronger than we were - I hope my 3 children realize it as well as they grow and are able to look back with perspective. I will not lie and say life has been easy these past two years, but we got thru them and we will continue to get thru them. My hope is to make sure my family laughs more than we cry and that the arguments are short - some days are better than others...

Samantha is feeling alright - a bit restless but who can blame her. Daniel teaches me daily the importance of keeping my mouth shut :) and Jeremy is still a bit sore (it has been barely a week) and a bit restless as well. Isabella had a full weekend - friends and parties - oh my!

I was all exited to have a chance to clean the house in a nice and relaxing way; however, between Isabella's social calendar and Daniel's impromptu requests to get some new clothes and a hair cut, nothing was accomplished. As I sit here I am amazed with that even though I barely sat down all weekend.

Oh well, it was still a good weekend. And now that it is over, I will say goodnight and love to everyone!