Dad

They have moved him out of the ICU!!! We are so excited about that.

Good day!

So my dad is doing AWESOME today! He is very awake. He has seen the PT, OT, and SLP. He was able to stand, with help of course, and he was able to move to the right! He was also able to put his own socks on. He ate some apple sauce, but can't quite swallow thin liquids yet. He hasn't had to be tied down all day. He is only using a nasal cannula to breath with now! We are so excited.

Thanks to everyone who has kept my dad and family in your prayers. We are totally feeling the blessings and are so grateful. Please keep them headed our way.

Dad updated

Today they have extubated my dad. He has brushed his own teeth. He is able to suction himself. He was asking for my mom all morning. He pulled out all of his IVs again, so for that reason his hand has to be tied down still. He also asked for some water to drink, he is still NPO (Nothing Per Oral), so he will have to wait for that.
Yay! This is a good update!

A message from my mom (Karen)

This is from my mom:

This was Mark on the 22nd

and this is Mark today.

When I arrived at the hospital on Friday, Mark was completely unresponsive. I could not get him to squeeze my hand and he did not do his usual kick with his right leg that he can’t hold still. That is the typical response that his kind of head injury has (DAI). He is always tied down on his right ankle and his right arm. He has pulled out two IV’s, his arterial line, tried to pull the tube out that is down his throat, and tore off the cast he had on his arm. I have sat at his side almost constantly since this happened. When I leave, that is when all of these things happened. I know the nurses can’t be with him constantly, so they give him meds to keep him calm. I can’t stand it! The night nurse gave him too much medication so he could not even wake up the next day. She said, “I guess we can’t give him those meds together anymore.” I wish I could be there 24 hours a day!!

He ended up having to be intubated again and they had to put him on two kinds of antibiotics for pneumonia. He was able to wake up twice today while I was there and almost cried when I asked him if he knew what happened. He squeezed his sister’s hand over and over. He is so scared and he wants to have the tube out of his throat. He is my Mark with appropriate answers (well with a squeeze of the hand or he tries to nod his head). I know he will be back soon.

He was able to write LOVE and that made my heart soar. I have told him that everyone is so concerned and that everyone is praying for him. THANK YOU! I have felt the prayers too. I try to answer all of the phone calls, but I can’t get calls except when I am out in the hall. I owe so much to Amy for putting up with everyone while they were here. There were 15 of us here at one time! I have to hitch a ride to the hospital every morning and call for a ride home at night. Amy’s ward and her parents-in-law have also been wonderful.

Yesterday, Mark also had to have a feeding tube placed in his stomach. They could not get it placed down his nose so they had to take him to x-ray and have it stitched into his stomach. He is now enjoying JEVITY tube feeding.

P.S. On Friday, one of the first things Mark said was “Karen, get me a diet coke.” I said, “Sorry, you can’t have one” He said, “Then go look in their fridge and see what they have.” It made my day!

I will try to update with better news later, I am going to bed to get a fresh start in the morning (ha ha, what sleep?).

Thanks again for everything. Karen

poor dad

Yesterday was great! My dad was much more alert. He was answering questions, writing, and speaking, and, for the most part, we could understand the things he was saying; it was so awesome.

Today is a different story. He has been less responsive, and he was intubated again. He underwent bronchoscopy with suction to remove lung congestion. He was placed on another antibiotic for an infection in his lungs. He's been sedated all day. If he continues to bounce back, he is to be extubated either late tonight or in the morning tomorrow. It's been a hard day today.

My dad's sisters surprised us today too. They showed up at the hospital! It was great to see them. It is very nice of them to travel from Utah to show their support.


BTW--This is my 100th post! Wish it could be something much better, but this will have to do.

My dad today.....

Sorry the video is sideways

He's getting so much better everyday!

Dad

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my dad. Keep them coming.

Thanks to my sisters work (she's a flight attendant) we were able to come to Arizona. It's been nice to be with my whole family. It's also been good to be able to see my dad and talk to him, even if he can't talk back.
My dad has been extubated. The doctors think there is a good chance that he will have a full recovery, however they use the word "full" loosely. He will for sure need a lot of rehab. He isn't really able to use his left arm, and moves his left leg very little. He still is pretty out of it. He has a cast on his left arm because he has a broken finger. He has to be tied to the bed because he wants to pull all of the tubes and his cast and things off of him. When we talk to him he will respond by squeezing our hand or lifting his fingers. We know he's in there and can understand us, it's just hard to not have our dad the way our dad is, if that makes any sense.

I will have more updates soon.

More dad

Here are some pictures and a little update.

This is my dad before they went out

This and the following pictures are the after!

If you want a better look click on the image.

My poor dad. I hate seeing him like this, but it helps to be able to see him, because he's in Arizona and I'm in Utah.

So the latest is that they have been waking him up every 2 hours or so to see how responsive he is. Well, he will do the things they ask, like blinking his eyes, wiggling his thumbs, and holding up two fingers. He is still pretty medicated because he has been very combative, and he tries to pull the tube out of his throat. I talked to my mom this morning and she said that she would talk to him and he was trying to talk to her, he was moving his lips. She also said it looks like his left hand might be broken because it's pretty bruised and swollen. They, the doctors, are going to be taking him in for an MRI this morning, so now we are waiting to hear the results of that.

****UPDATE

Today is Monday (2/18) and we still don't know anything about my dad. We are waiting and waiting and waiting..................we are getting very sick of waiting.

Dad update

We have found out that my dad is bleeding in 6 places in his brain. He is in a medicated induced coma. His nose is broken, and his second vertebra is chipped. There is no sign of paralysis.

We got a second phone call and it looks like they found a mass on one of his lungs and the drs said it doesn't seem to be because of the accident (is this why he had the accident? So they would find the mass on his lung?)!

Please keep him in your prayers. I will update as I get it (not that many of you are reading this tonight).

Help PLEASE

My parents went to Arizona this weekend to visit my sister. My brother Dave and his family went to. Well, my bro-in-law, Dave and my dad all went to ride on my bro-in-laws ATVs today and my dad had an accident and had to be life flighted. We don't much about how he is doing we are still waiting to hear. Please, please, please keep him in your prayers. We can really use them.

My sweet Hailey is so cute. She saw I was crying and said "don't cry mama. Here are my bunnies. Do you have a happy face now? See your happy now!" Thank goodness for children.

Sew what? & Tutu fun!

Okay, so here is some of what I LOVE to do.

After I made this cape for my nephew Ryan's birthday (that was last July) I wanted to make one for Hailey.

Well, I just got around to finishing one for her. It isn't everything I wish it could have been. I really wanted to have a princess crown on it, but that got a little complicated and time consuming. So we settled for a star, I can do stars, I LOVE stars.

So, in an attempt to make it special, I used some fancy thread.

(click image to see fancy thread)

Hailey sure loves it, can't you tell? "Now I can be a super arrow!" said Hailey.

This one didn't involve sewing, but it was super simple to make. Thanks to my SIL Kristy, for how much tulle needed, and Google's search engine, on how to tie them, I was able to make them.

She HAD to wear this when we went to the library. Hey, pick and choose your battles! At least she looks pretty cute in it.

Couldn't leave The Peanut out. Perhaps it's a little long on her though. Still cute none the less.

Love my girls. They make me laugh.

Valentines Giveaways!!!!!

Hurry, enter here (<---click to go there) for lots of giveways! And a fun blog.

Sleeping Beauty

So every night before I go to bed I go and tuck the girls in. Well, last night this is what I found:

Hailey moved the pillow, she and her princesses are laying on, from the foot of her bed to the middle of her bed! That is Sleeping Beauty and Snow White lying next to her.

What a nut, and yes that is her chicky in her hand something she has had since she was around 5 months old (my SIL Kristy gave it to her for Easter '05)!

To quote Homer Simpson, "I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean S-M-A-R-T... "

Look what The Bug can do all by herself!

At least she got all the letters right! What a cute little stinker, cheese and all.

Seashells

Q: Why does the Little Mermaid where seashells?
A: Because B-shells are too small and D-shells are too big!

Ba dum, dum, ching!

Okay, so I'm completely done nursing and I am in need of a new bra. I am WAY over my nursing bra. So I was wondering about going to get "fit" for a new one. So, ladies, where does one go to get fit and what is it like (do you have to get measured in the buff)? Also does anyone have an awesome bra that they would recommend (padding IS welcomed esp for me after nursing two children)?

Two cents......

Okay so I am the Activity Days leader in my ward and I am in charge of coming up with the activity this Friday. We decided to teach the girls how to stitch/embroider/needlework or whatever you call it. Since it’s February we thought why not do a Valentines theme. So, this is what I cam up with (I can't claim it all as mine. I did copy borrow the little heart thing from somewhere else)! We are trying to keep it small so that it can be finished quicklyWell? What do you think? Should I do something different? Any color suggestions?

My little peanut

Just because she's only in the 1st percentile for her height doesn't mean she can't do stuff. She got this Bounce and Spin Zebra for Christmas and she has just figured out how to climb on it. It's so cute. Both her feet can't reach the ground at the same time (plus it looks funny cause her jammies are too big for her), and she's just barely heavy enough to make it bounce and spin! Enjoy.

Yes that is her "lovey" in her hand. It's a pink platypus and she has to carry it around with her EVERYWHERE!

Oh I wish.....

I wish I had this much energy. Please excuse Carly because she belches in this video. Also, if you don't want to become deaf make sure you turn your volume down to a level that is barely audible.

I also wish I had as long and skinny of legs that Hailey has.

New presidency

President Thomas S. Monson, prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor

Would you rather.......

John tagged me again, so here it is, to quote him, "it's a little more friendly this time."

this is pretty self explanatory.


•would you rather eat liver for every meal, or eat cow tongue for every meal?
Liver, although I've never tried either

•would you rather be continuously tired and not able to sleep, or continuously hungry and not able to eat?

Neither

•would you rather have to wear diapers for your entire life, or never able to go to the bathroom. ever?
Diapers

•would you rather do the running man whenever you talked, or the roger rabbit?
Roger Rabbit, I used to think I was so cool cause my BF at the time this dance was AWESOME couldn't do it and I could!

•would you rather fight mike tyson, or talk like him?
Fight him, I can't stand his voice

•would you rather have your eye fall out at random times, or have uncontrollable constant drool?
Eye fall out, cause you can always put it back

•would you rather wear a life vest for the rest of your life, or parachute pants for the rest of your life?
Parachute pants, a life vest would get in the way

•would you rather have one leg ridiculously longer than the other, or arms that don’t bend?
One leg longer

•would you rather have toes for fingers, or fingers for toes?
Fingers for toes

•would you rather have cheesy disney music play every time you enter a room, or begin every sentence with ‘scooby dooby doo’?
Disney music

•would you rather know everything in the world and no way to tell it, or know nothing and not being able to shut up?
Neither

•would you rather dress like richard simmons (greasy legs and all) for the rest of your life, or mr. t (hair-do and all)?
Again I'm gonna have to say neither

•would you rather have a deaf splitting ring on your cell phone you could never shut off, or never have a cell phone?
Deaf splitting ring, who can live with out a cell phone?

•would you rather burp pudding, or burp jello?
Yuck, but I would choose pudding over Jell-O, don't get me wrong, I like Jell-O, but I LOVE pudding

•would you rather eat a steak with a used band-aid under it, or be electrocuted? (this is a nod to so i married an axe murderer)
Electrocuted, cause I've already done that thanks to my uncle who told me (I was 12 at the time and very gullible) to grab their electric fence (they live in Kamas on like 35 acres of land with horses) with one hand and touch the ground with my other. Note...DO NOT GRAB AN ELECTIRC FENCE WITH ONE HAND AND TOUCH THE GROUND WITH YOUR OTHER, it hurts.


There it is. Can think of any others to add? Feel free to post this on your blog, only with your answers.