Stinky Stink

Hooked Up

Just a quick update.... I'm home as of last night.  I'm hooked up to home I.V.'s.  I am feeling very happy, and exhausted at the same time.  I am pretty sure my lungs are not any better.  Even though my antibiotics have been switched, I am not too nauseous.  I am on two meds for nausea, one of which is oral zofran.  I am hooked up to a pump, so I am getting a decent amount of sleep.  The plan is to continue for another week, and go up to Stanford next week for a follow up appointment. That's the latest.  It really does feel good to be home.

17 days in.

I'm still not doing any better!  I am scheduled to be discharged on Monday after three weeks, no matter what my PFTs are.  If the are still bad I will do home I.V.'s.  If they are 40% or up FEV1 I get to go home on just oral antibiotics.  I started steroids, and my blood sugars are outta whack, like 246 after just a sandwich, so I may have to start insulin tomorrow.  Seth and I climbed the stairs a lot today for exercise.  I'll post any progress that I might make, hopefully.  As for the future, hospitalizations don't seem to be very effective at all for my lungs anymore, and I feel as if the meds are not touching me.  I think in the future I will do home I.V.'s more instead of the hospital.  They both don't seem to be that effective, but I'd much rather be home than here!  I still have 3 days to make a u-turn while I am here and I pray that that happens!  I pray this is not my "new baseline", and I pray I don't get too stressed out!  Levi is stoked I come home in four days, along with myself, and I think some quality cuddling with him will do me some good!  Until next time....

Stanford Hospital Blues

So, yes, I am back in the slammer.  I have finally mustered the mental energy to post a blog.  I came here into the hospital last Monday, eight days ago.  It has been a decent visit so far, although I caught a cold when I first got in which wiped me out for awhile.  I'm on Tobramycin, Zyvox, Meropenium, Zithromax & inhaled Colistin as far as antibiotics go.... and so I have no nausea on those.  Yippy.  Those plus all of my other millions of usual medicine..... and I hardly notice a difference yet. In fact, there is no difference yet.  P.F.T.s were today, and I got 37% (0.99 L).  So, no change yet.  I felt good coming in though, so at least I don't feel bad!

I am also very sick of hospital politics, but what's new there?  So keep praying for me, those of you who are.  I appreciate it.  It is a roller coaster here.  Sometimes I feel very happy, sometimes very 'blah' and depressed.  Pray also that I am a good witness to people because in this situation it is sometimes difficult for me to be nice to people.  I don't know if I will update again while in here because I haven't really been in the mood to.  Stay tuned for after though.

Merry Christmas!

So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

Frog Friendship

So we have had two frogs for the last four years.  We started out with three, but the third died years ago.  We have always been amazed that our two little frogs had lasted so very long.  We got them when Levi was a tiny baby...  I always said that when one died the other one would die soon after.  I think they kept each other going.  Frogs from Wal-Mart are just not supposed to live as long as these little guys did.  Earlier this week Seth found one of them belly up .... he had died.  A couple days later, just as we had thought the second one did too.  Seth and I were thinking that is pretty amazing even tiny creatures such as frogs have such a powerful effect on each other. What makes Wal-Mart frogs live four years and then die with a few days of each other?  We fed it like usual, and it was in the same water as usual....  God's creation is so complex... even in tiny frogs.

Santa Claus

We told Levi that Santa Claus is not real right off the bat, and that he is just pretend like Elmo or Thomas the Tank Engine.....   He was very excited to meet him nonetheless.......

(He asked him for a new red rocket and "trains with no faces" on them)

Quick Update

Busy, Busy, Busy.....!

I am so busy, and behind on so many things!  I keep wanting to post on here, but have no time! Thanksgiving came and went.  We took a quick trip to Southern California on a spur of the moment, and had a great time.  Rebecca has gone in and out of the hospital.  I have had a doctors appointment, my PFTs are down, so I started some new meds, and there might perhaps be a hospital visit for me in the future if they don't work. I have been asked to speak yet again at Calvary Chapel San Joses' Purity Seminar, and still have to put my testimony together.  I went to a Womans Christmas party this week, and was blessed by that.  I also went to an "ugly sweater" Christmas party the night before.  I am also keeping busy Christmas shopping, wrapping,  decorating the house and tree and figuring out Christmas cards too. Today I participated in an opinion research study up in San Fransisco.  They interviewed me for 45 minutes about my experience with different nubulizers.  I gave them input on the best types of design, and what kind of things I would like in a nebulizer, and they gave me a nice chunk of change for my time.  Seth is busy, busy with work too.  He is also scheduled to teach on a Thursday night in January.  So between all of that, and our usual chores we are livin la vida loca right now.  Besides being swamped we are doing well, and looking forward to Christmas!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ode to my "Great Graham Cracker"

Two weeks ago my great grandma Alicia broke her hip. She had to go under for surgery Thursday before last. They ran into some complications during the procedure, but she has made it through, and seems to be doing o.k. now.  Please keep her in your prayers.  She was moved back from the hospital to the nursing home.  She sits at the nursing station answering phones, if the nurses don't answer them quick enough.  She is funny.  She says that she has been working at the nurses station answering phones for awhile and they "have not paid her yet!"  All that she has gone through lately has got me thinking about her a lot recently, and the times we have spent together. Here are some of my memories... 

We call her GGGG. (Great, Great, Grandma Gomez) She is my great grandma, Levi's great, great grandma. She was married and has two daughters. She was a preemie. Right now she is a mere 80 pounds. She built things, refinished furniture and drove up until her 90's. Even when she was in her 80's I remember her climbing up on top of furniture to clean or fix something.
She tells me I am beautiful or pretty every time she sees me. She tells me she loves me every time too. She says over and over that when she lived in Fallbrook near us was the happiest time of her whole life. She is 95 years old now- that is a lot of years of life. One time my sister and I got scared for her health because she smokes, so we hid all of her cigarettes in different spots all around her apartment.  My mom got a phone call later that day. I never fessed up to it, so Bec took the blame. I used to sneak donuts from her cupboards while she was in the bathroom. When she sees a man who she thinks is hot she tells him. She is not afraid. She tells Seth how handsome he is and that he looks like Brad Pitt. In the 90's she had a "shrine" of Brad Pitt magazine clippings on her wall. She would kiss his face. Other boys my sister or I liked over the years that she thought were cute she would tell them that if she were younger she would be "making eyes" at them. She might whack your butt with her cane.  She is full, 100% Mexican. One day I asked her if she thought in English or in Spanish. She said she thought in Spanish. I thought that was amazing. She ate a meal one time with Poncho Villa. Her grandfather rode with him. When I was very little I remember eating Mexican food for Thanksgiving. She is feisty. She has a bigger than life personality.  She would cuss out people under her breath in Spanish.  I worked with her at her thrift stores, several different ones, and remember spending hours there.  She taught me tap dance that she learned when she was little.  She would walk around the house in her bra on sweltering hot days even though I was there.  I learned the phrase "como se dice...." from her just because she used it so often trying to think of the English words. She doesn't like to write letters.  She likes to do crossword puzzles. She would take my sister and I roller skating outside. She took us swimming, she took us to Carl's Jr. and the liquor store. One time my mom never made it to pick me up after school. I think I was crying because I didn't know where she was. Great Gram came and drove us home.  Sometimes when she drove us I was not sure if we would make it safe or alive to our destination. I would stay at her house all day every Thursday while my mom was working. I got to watch cable, and she would cook me giant meals- and I mean GIANT. If I said I liked something one week, she would add it to the menu for next week, and there on after. My lunch every week kept growing and growing. I never could finish it. She likes ginger snaps.  She likes mango ice cream. She listened to the Mexican radio while cooking up a storm. She introduced me to menudo. I liked it. She didn't tell me what was in it. One day I found out, and I don't like it anymore. She sometimes danced and played the castinets for me. She is notorious for one time skateboarding on her grandsons skateboard.  She would tell people if they smelled bad or good.  She missed my grandfather after he died.  She would give me honey with lemon to make me feel better.  She laughs often. Sometimes she snorts by mistake, and that makes us all laugh even harder. She has a very, very funny sense of humor. She loves me so much. I love her so much. My great grandma is tough. She is loving. I look up to her, even though she is now very much shorter than me. She speaks her mind, doesn't get into too much trouble for it, and is loved by us all.