Life Happens...

It has been a very busy and eventful last few months.  Time sure flies when you're having fun!  :)

In the late spring and early summer Rich had been having another bout with pneumonia that just wouldn't resolve - similar to the summer of 2004.  I had been gone off and on for the births of our Hyrum the Elder and Hyrum the Younger...and for their blessings...and for the most part Rich seemed to be coping and enduring as always.  However, in August he really didn't feel well.  Dr. Dimeo, his pulmonologist, had already had a CT scan done of his lungs in June because he thought the pneumonia might not be just pneumonia but rather be blood clots - that scan was negative - so when we returned because Rich wasn't doing well he very nearly didn't order another scan.  Luckily he put Rich in the hospital and ordered the scan anyway and found blood clots in his lungs and dopplar discovered clots in his legs in addition to the pneumonia.  Antibiotics, heparin, coumadin, prednisone and the ever constant nebulizer were the miracles he needed - along with having his name in the temple, our combined faith and prayers AND a priesthood blessing :)

After nearly a week in the hospital he was released to come home but has been on short term disability since.  We've been assured that this will resolve but that it will probably take a few months before he feels "human" completely.  Ever since then our weeks have consisted of multiple coumadin checks at the labs, pulmonary appointments, primary care appointments, cardiology appointments, VA appointments, and a never ending stream of lab and medical tests.  I think we are nearing the end of them - at least the frequency of them.  Hallelujah!  This week his cardiologist told us that the tests they had taken had shown that he had escaped with no damage to his heart and while there is often an odd beat pattern, it is not the A-fib that plagued him after the respiratory failure of 2 years ago.  As Sharreen Touchet so often said, "Blessings! Blessings!"

In the meantime I had started my three week round of synvisc injections for my knees, had a root canal and three crowns.  Gratefully I am almost through with all of that and my knees are beginning to respond somewhat to the injections.

A few days after Rich got out of the hospital Wanda, Mary, Ruth, Moroni, and Hyrum came for a couple of weeks.  That was fun...and I think it allowed us to focus a little bit on them instead of it ALL being about us.  Wanda and I went quilt store shopping and she found a fun pattern for a quilt for her bed and so with LOTS of work and many late nights she got it completed...bound too...BEFORE she left for home! LOL  The poor kids didn't get to do too much - went out to eat a few times, went to the Dixie Stampede,