Day 1248 - Oct 30, 2011

We had such a great time on Friday night. We attended a banquet sponsored by MOAA at Knibbe Ranch and it was so fun! I was worried about how cold it was and it being held outdoors, but it turned out that there was a building there and there was heat inside. There was still a BBQ though and let me tell you - the food was EXCELLENT!!!

They also had a band and they were quite good. I am not much into Country, but they still were really good.

So here are a bunch of pics. Mary (our wonderful FRC) went too and Rene' was giving back to Kevin as good as she was getting that night! Loved it!!









On Saturday Breezy ended up breaking her finger while unpacking. She broke it clean in half, but luckily the bone stayed in place. She has it splinted for the next six weeks and today she told Kevin she has a new-found respect for him. She is struggling without the use of one tiny finger and here he has no right arm/hand. He, of course, rubbed it in that yes, he has major wounds and she just broke a finger, lol.

That pretty much sums up our weekend so I guess I'll catch y'all on Friday. Happy Halloween!!

Day 1245 - Oct 27, 2011

My goodness is it cold here! It is currently 54 degrees - YIKES! It figures too - we have an outdoor event to attend tomorrow night and it's supposed to be in the 40s. Not sure if any of us can handle it - especially Christian. I think we are taking separate cars now in case they need to leave early.

And we got some company last night! My friend, Rene, is in town! I picked her up at the airport yesterday afternoon and we came back to the house and made stromboli. We had a great visit! Here are some pics:





Somehow we missed taking one of her with Kevin, at least with my camera. Kevin actually took the pics of Rene and I so I don't know how we missed it. It's ok though - we have more photo ops over the weekend.

And this past week we really spent time getting all our pictures on the walls. I put Kevin to work too:



I did all the measuring, but had him do all the hammering. He had fun with it as we were both singing "Hammer Time (U Can't Touch This)", lol. There are still 2 more to put up but they weight about 50 lbs each and it's too hard for Kevin to hold one up with one hand so they will have to wait.

Tomorrow we have a pretty busy day. I don't think I mentioned that the store I was working at closed down? I went to pick up my paycheck one day and it was locked up by the landlord. Tomorrow the rental company is finally letting me in to get my personal things - my layouts most especially. I think my pay is a wash, but if I can just get the layouts I have in there I will feel better. Bummer, huh?

So I guess I'll sign off and head to bed. Kevin and I just finished watching Captain America and movies/tv always make me sleepy, lol.

Day 1241 - Oct 23, 2011

Kevin went to the dentist on Friday and it turns out he needs his wisdom teeth cut out. We are thinking that might be why his left ear still aches because there is no ear infection present at all. The dentist mentioned that they are going to try to get it done before the year ends and I sure hope so! That's too long to be in pain. I hope to hear from the oral surgeon this week - wish us luck on this!

We got Boo'ed on Friday too! An anonymous someone left a plastic pumpkin at the door filled with all kinds of candy and goodies! I guess you are supposed to do the same to two other homes in the community and eventually the whole neighborhood gets Boo'ed. Such fun, huh?

We babysat our little guy all weekend. Breezy and Chris were moving into a new apartment as they were only in a 1BR and now with Christian getting older they need a 2 bedroom. So they packed all day yesterday and moved today and are now ensconced in our guest room. The moving company moved all their big stuff today and when they got there the place had not been cleaned from the previous tenants. It was utterly FILTHY! After us being there maybe a half hour today, the baby was getting sick and I know my face/head felt full of dust and we agreed to just have them sleep up here until the apartment complex makes it right. I don't know how many years it's been since that place was cleaned well, but it was truly disgusting. Let's hope the complex gets it cleaned tomorrow.

And to end here are some pics. The first few are from back when we were in FL. It's the family:




The rest are Christian:

Day 1238 - Oct 20, 2011

Tuesday Kevin had another Botox treatment done at BAMC. It was a little bit rougher this time as Kev kept having spasms in his arm. The doc and I talked about whether it's because Kevin is no longer in occupational therapy and he says there's no way to know at this point, but that it could be it. We are going to see if it's any better or worse the next time and go from there.

So after we got home from the hospital Kevin and I were snipping at each other which is a sure sign that we need time apart. I decided to leave him with Johnnie and I went out with Breezy for dinner. We headed to a restaurant that should have only taken about 10 minutes to get to from where we met, but there was an accident and one of the major freeways in town was closed down completely. It was rush hour no less.

It ended up taking us an hour to get there and we then waited for our table, got seated, finally our drinks were put in front of us and I looked at Christian and he had blood all over the side of his face. It was coming out of his left ear at a pretty good drip. We hightailed it out of there and had to get across the city completely to her hospital and it took quite a while because all the traffic was still backed up. We even went on all these roads we had never even been on.

Anyway, when I looked in his ear at the restaurant I didn't see the tube he had just had put in (luckily), but I saw this blob of something that looked like fatty tissue. The doc at the ER said the same thing, but she didn't know what it was so she referred him to an ENT doc the next day and sent us home.

Breeze did take him to the ENT doc yesterday and he's not real sure either. They put him on an antibiotic thinking it might just be an infection and told her to wait a week and see if it stops bleeding when she puts the medicated drops in. I guess we'll know more in a few days.

In the meantime, here are some photos of my boys eating cupcakes:



Pretty messy, aren't they? LOL!

Day 1235 - Oct 17, 2011

We stayed home all day today. Johnnie and I worked on getting more of the garage organized so that we could pull the car in. It was so full of stuff that the car still wouldn't fit. Last night though, three cars in our neighborhood were broken into so it was imperative that we be able to pull the car in before they busted out one of our windows. I can be honest and say we don't keep anything valuable in the car, but still...you never know what they want.

Other than that, it was a boring day. Mostly they all are now, so I have decided to go down to 2 days a week in writing the blog. From here on out I will write on Sunday night (viewable Mon morning) and on Thursday night (viewable Friday morning). I know that many of you read daily, but there just isn't much to say anymore. Kevin is stable now and although things can still happen, it's not the norm anymore.

Understand that this was a hard decision to make. I have been rolling it around in my head for months now, but I didn't want to let any of you down and I wasn't sure if I could really 'let go' of writing daily. But if you have noticed, I have been skipping a lot lately - there just isn't much to say because life is settling down.

So, I am thinking my posts might be more substantial if it's not me sitting here trying to think of things to say. I am sorry if it hurts anyone's heart (like it's hurting mine right now and I keep thinking "no - don't do this!), but it really is a struggle to come up with things to say every day when we don't do anything exciting.

Anyway, to make it easier to follow, I created a 'follow by email' button that's on the top right of the blog. If you can remember to come and read on Mon and Fri - great! But if you would prefer to get an email when I post - go for it.

And last, I want to thank everyone once again for all the continued support and guidance. I have said it a million times that I couldn't have taken this journey without all of you and I really mean it. You guys all kept me going - especially during those really horrendous times. I have also made some FANTASTIC friends along the way via the blog and I really do thank (and appreciate) all of you!

So I guess I'll see y'all Friday morning!

Day 1234 - Oct 16, 2011

Today we had a "MAN" day. Kevin and I busted our butts doing all the 'man' stuff around the house - fixing squeaky doors, hanging curtains, organizing the garage and tons of other stuff.

I am so proud to say that I had Kev go to the garage and build the shelves that we bought a few weeks ago and he did it all by himself. (I was inside drilling holes in the wall to hang curtains.) Mind you - they were those plastic shelves that just kinda snap together, but he honestly put together both of them without any guidance whatsoever, then he moved the freezer over a bit and placed them where he wanted them. I then had him take all his fishing gear and all of our tools and organize them on the shelves. He done good! This mama is so proud!

So after working all day we got showered and took in a late movie. We went to see Footloose and I looked over at Kev at the end of the movie and he was grinning like a loon! He really loved the movie, but he did point out the differences and was very upset about the tractor/bus part (I won't say anymore as y'all might not have seen it yet).

It was really a good day. We just got so much done (I even finished another audit!) and so much organized. I even got all the mail opened and dealt with.

I will admit that it was a little rough on my rib to be drilling though, but I am seriously feeling much better and only had a few twinges of pain when putting my body into it.

Alrighty...I think I'll head to bed...

Day 1233 - Oct 15, 2011

I think I'm going to just skip tonight.

Day 1232 - Oct 14, 2011

Kevin called me in the wee hours of the morning and it turns out that somehow he dropped his iPad and it shattered! He was devastated! I drove around from place to place today trying to find a repair shop that didn't send it off for weeks and finally found one that would do it within 24 hours. We go back tomorrow to pick it up and both Kevin and I are so relieved!

Kevin also went out again tonight with Efren. They just went to one of Efren's friends' house to hang out. We just got back a little bit ago from me picking him up and I was very happy to see a cop nearly pull in our driveway because 'someone' was messing around our house at that hour. I am assuming that he realized it was ok when our garage door went up because that's when he went up the hill after all. I am just happy to see it because we live kinda out in the country - about 5 miles from the highway - and there's a lot of open space out here.

And now I'm off to bed. I am trying to sleep a little better and some nights I can - others Kevin just can't seem to get settled and calls quite often. It's ok though - that's what I'm here for...

Day 1231 - Oct 13, 2011

I went with Breezy today to take Christian for his check-up and to get his flu shot. He did great! Kevin stayed home with Johnnie and they played cards and watched movies.

I am able to breathe quite a bit better today and I believe I'm on the mend. I think I might have just bruised it - at least I hope so. It doesn't really matter as there's nothing they really do for broken/fractured ribs anyway. I will pay attention though for pneumonia, Kathy. It does still hurt to cough or sneeze, but I really am breathing better today as a whole. Thanks for telling me to watch for this.

And now I am off to bed. I have to get up early tomorrow.

Day 1230 - Oct 12, 2011

I am not going to really write much tonight either. Kevin and I were changing his sheets last night and to make it more fun we engaged in a pillow fight. It got a little out of hand and I was joking that he was killing me and I lie down on the floor in a fetal position and Kev decided to sit on me. Well, I don't know if he fractured a rib or what, but man am I hurting! It was pretty immediate when he hit my chest and I'm guessing that his 205 pounds did some damage.

So it hurts pretty bad - I can't drive too well and I can't pick anything up with my left arm, but I'm sure it will be better in a couple of days. If it's not, I'll go to the docs. Well, no, I probably won't, but it sounded good, right? LOL.

So I guess I'll sign off now.

Day 1229 - Oct 11, 2011

I am going to skip tonight.

Day 1228 - Oct 10, 2011

We had a nice rainy weekend! It just poured all night long on Saturday and we even had a visitor that took refuge on our porch - a huge raccoon. He was awful quiet, but it was storming so badly that Kevin kept having me come into his room. The one time I looked out his door and there it was just walking past. Scared the crap outta me! Here's a pic:



This was the best shot of the bunch. Our glass door is so dusty because they are building the roads and clearing the land for the next phase of this development and all the dust just comes at the back of the house like a wall.

That's pretty much it. Breezy and family came over for dinner last night and were here most of the evening.

Oh, but I forgot to mention on Saturday that Kevin had a great time out with Efren and Ben. I did pick him up and we very nearly hit a horse on the way home! Apparently someone's horses got out of their gate and they were standing pretty much on the road at the side. It's so dark out here and the horses were dark so you really couldn't see them til you were right next to them. Yikes! Now that woulda done some damage!

Day 1226 - Oct 8, 2011

Yay! Kevin went over to Colin's and watched movies with him and another neighbor, Bill, while I went up the street to 'ladies night'. I know I had a great time and I am guessing Kevin did too because he stayed over there almost an additional two hours after I came home.

It's been raining here nearly all day and hard the last 3 hours or so. The electric has been flickering so I think I am going to cut this short.

I am also going to skip tomorrow night as we have no plans to do anything tomorrow.

Day 1225 - Oct 7, 2011

Kevin went out with Efren and his friend, Ben, tonight and I have to leave in a few minutes to go pick him up. The three of them were having a great time here at the house and when Efren's shift ended they all decided to head to a club. I really didn't feel like having to go out at 1:30 in the morning to pick him up, but I had to set my feelings aside so that Kevin could go and be normal. I am totally going in my pajamas though, lol.

We didn't really do too much today otherwise. We did run to Sam's Club and that's about it. The neighbor, Jen, came over for a visit too.

Well, I guess I better get going. The club is about a half hour away and I have to drop some orders off at the Post Office on the way.

Here's hoping Kev goes and hangs out with Colin tomorrow night. I am really looking forward to 'ladies night out'...

Day 1224 - Oct 6, 2011

Just a quick note tonight as I'm tired and want to head to bed. I called the van modification company today and the rep said that since it started the day we moved in here it must be that someone else right around us is using the same radio frequency as the van does. She told me I just need to take it to a Dodge dealership and have the remote reprogrammed. I'm not sure if it's something you need an appointment for, but I'll check it out tomorrow.

We didn't really do much today otherwise - I got quite a bit of my scrap area unpacked and organized. I have a woman coming tomorrow evening to scrapbook so I had to get it at least clean enough to walk around in.

Kevin and Johnnie went for a nice walk this afternoon too. It's finally getting cooler here (around 90ish anyway) and there's been a cool breeze blowing which makes it really nice to be outside.

That's about it so it's off to bed for me.

Day 1223 - Oct 5, 2011

Today we had a meeting at the VA hospital to discuss Kevin's goals and treatments. Kevin has decided lately that he doesn't want to go to therapy anymore. I see his point completely, but my concern was how it would affect him long term. So I called the meeting with the docs, social workers (including our wonderful FRC) and therapists and we all discussed what is the best course of action.

Kevin did reiterate in the meeting that he doesn't want to do any of them anymore and the therapists agreed that when he comes and doesn't want to be there, he doesn't apply himself and it's a waste of time for everybody.

So Kevin has agreed to work more at home for a couple of months and we'll see how it goes. The one thing we can't have is him regressing. We have worked too hard and come too far to go backward now.

Honestly though, we work at home pretty much constantly anyway, so it won't be too much different. Just a whole lot less running.

So, after this meeting we met with a new psychologist and he talked to Kevin for about an hour and a half. I liked his demeanor and thought he was very intuitive into Kevin's way of thinking. We aren't sure if he and Kevin should meet regularly or not, I guess I need to think about whether it could make a difference or not. I think Kevin has truly adjusted to what has happened to him and for the most part I think he is still happy go lucky. He does have moments where he's sad about all of his losses, but who wouldn't? If you ask me, that's pretty normal.

So I just need to let it swirl around in my brain for a week or two and probably discuss it with Mary first and then we'll decide what's best. I'm always open to thoughts from you guys so send them along.

And Lorraine - tell Rick "Thanks". When we got up this morning the back door of the van was wide open. I am hoping to make some calls tomorrow and I now at least have a starting point.

Day 1222 - Oct 4, 2011

Today we ran some more errands and then we came home and grilled a late dinner. We were all sitting on the patio eating when the doorbell rang and it was our neighbors from across the street. They came over to tell us the van was running. This is the third or fourth time since we moved here that the thing has just turned itself on or we have come out or home to find the side door open and the ramp down. Not sure what's going on, I am guessing something electronic could be wrong with it? I'm not sure if I need to call Dodge or if it's the modification people. Anybody know anything about this kind of stuff?

Anyway, Jen and Colin (neighbors) were here for roughly 3 hours and it was a great visit! They are such nice people! And it doesn't hurt that he is a PA in the ER at surrounding hospitals, lol. He told us we could call anytime, but I sure hope we never have to.

Honestly, this neighborhood is so great. Jen and another neighbor walked around our house every day while we were gone and everyone kept an eye on the place. They also have monthly events - this Saturday is ladies night out and Colin offered to have Kevin come and hang out at his place while I visit with the other women. I am hoping Kevin will do it so that I can get to know some of the others. We shall see...

Day 1221 - Oct 3, 2011

We were pretty busy today. I am starting to really feel better so I took advantage of it and really got some errands run.

We also had a gentleman come today to give us an estimate on getting some modifications done to Kevin's bathroom. I want to put a permanent seat in his shower because his shower chair has a crack in it and keeps cutting into his thigh. We did get a new one from the VA, but it fell apart after just a couple of uses - thank goodness I hadn't thrown the old one out yet. We also need a shelf or something that sits at a certain height to have Kevin be able to lay his right elbow on so that he can put deodorant under that arm. Without one, he can't do it himself and obviously our goal is to get him to be able to be as independent as he possibly can.

That's pretty much it for tonight. I am watching Dancing with the Stars while I am writing this and for those of you that watch it - how about that dance by JR Martinez? What a tribute to all of our military members! And what an amazing dance by an inspirational person! He just reminds me so much of Kevin each week...

Day 1220 - Oct 2, 2011

Today we went to the South Texas Maize in Hondo. It's a cornfield maze and pumpkin patch and we all had a really good time. I have to thank the owners there as I called yesterday and asked if you could get through it on a scooter and I then explained our situation. Well when we arrived today they treated Kevin like royalty! Honestly, these folks were just awesome to the whole group of us!

I also have to thank the VA because without that scooter - we could never do things like this!

Anyway, as you can all guess - I took a ton of photos. I am going to just upload a whole bunch of them and sign off early. They have all been edited for print so I can scrap them this week.





Hehe. Christian just wasn't sure at first about the swings. He screamed bloody murder until I got down on his level and started saying "weeee". After that he loved it!








This next picture blows me away because that is the same look my mom gets on her face. I have never seen my mom in Christian before!















I'd say we plum tuckered this little guy out, eh? LOL!



This was just such a nice place and we can't wait to go back next year!

Day 1219 - Oct 1, 2011

We had a pretty lazy day today. I still haven't felt up to par, but I did manage to get some scrapping done this afternoon.

I am going to cut it short tonight as there isn't really anything to say. We have fun plans tomorrow if I feel up to it. Wish us luck!