Finding Joy in Him

Through Every Season

Year: 2011 (Page 5 of 9)

Resting Up

June 10, 2011 / / 0 Comments

I’ve been getting a lot of questions.. so here is how my days have been shaping up..

I slept in my own bed almost 4 hrs. last night.. big accomplishment.  It’s super soft and I use a bunch of pillows to keep me still.. I wake up stiff and sore in different places. 

Got up, bathroom, moved to the recliner, slept 4 more hours.  The recliner is more comfortable.. but gets old.. I spend most of my day there.

Wake up, bathroom, water, bowl of rice and enjoy sitting on my back porch on my new patio furniture with the ceiling fans on, my promise Bible, and many geese and birds to entertain.

Mike comes out and spends a few minutes with me before going off to work.  I kiss him good bye and walk around the house a bit before moving back to my recliner and resting up for breakfast then a shower.  Maybe in week I’ll have enough energy to cook my own food.

Shower takes all my energy.. time to rest again.  Been riding 15 min. to acupuncture appointment then home again to spend the day in the recliner watching “I Love Lucy” and my favorite old movies.

Blogging yesterday was challenging.  Today, the computer is much easier.

Rested all of yesterday afternoon so I could go out with Mike to Chick-fil-a for dinner.  God reserved a parking space right by the front door for us.  I went straight in to sit at a booth, while Mike ordered and brought the food to the table.  It was just challenging enough. 

Today, I am hoping to go out with my mom to a small local store and get some organic vegetables.  Definitely not ready for anything as big as Walmart.  Ha.

I am not allowed to lift anything over 5 lbs. until August.  I am not allowed to unload the dish washer.. So nice to have my mom here.. wish my kids were faster than her at doing their chores..

The doctor said, be patient and give your body time to heal.  🙂

So glad I have a lap top and things to hand sew (although, I am not up to that yet).  And as always, seeing Mike at the end of my day is the highlight.

I am so blessed!

Jenny

A Good Report

June 9, 2011 / / 0 Comments

God gave me so much peace the day of the surgery.  I can’t believe how well I handed it all.  Having Mike with me every step of the way has been such a comfort. 

In the pre-opt room, I learned that the surgeon’s team had been working for weeks on my case, making sure everything was as corn free as possible.  I was happy to wake up 11.5 hrs later to hear that surgery went well.. and that I had had no bad reactions.  Yay!

The week since has had it’s ups and downs.  It was such a blessing to have my mom stay 24/7 with me in the hospital.  The lortab that I had had specially made without corn gave me hallucinations so I ended up taking some not so corn free percocet instead.  Returned home from the hospital Saturday afternoon.

Sunday was a good day.  Monday another story.  Vomited all day long.  Bye,  Bye, nice, pain meds.

Tuesday, I went to see Dr. Paula Gilliam, a chiropractor, to see if she could help me with acupuncture.  Loved it.  It helped with the nausea and my post surgery lungs (risk of pneumonia) which were worse after a day of vomiting.

3 AM Wednesday morning, I couldn’t stand it any more.  One of the stitches holding one of the drain tubes in under my arm was ripping through my side, felt like a fish hook.  I went in the bathroom to take a look and sure enough it was bleeding.

My choice was to take it out right then so I could get some sleep, or to wait another 36 hrs till I could drive 2 bumpy hrs. down to see Dr. Fix during his office hrs. to have him take it out.  I had been off the drugs for quite a while at that point, which made it easy to make a rational decision.  

I was so happy once I had the first stitch snipped and drain tube out (almost did a little dance), that I decided to pull out three more.  I left the last one in that was still draining quite a bit.   Luckily for me, one of my drains had lost suction in the hospital and I knew what to do from watching them pull that one out.

My body wasn’t as happy as I was to be rid of them and I ended up even more nauseous than before.  Acupuncture to the rescue again.  Wednesday was my first good day.  I ate, I watched TV for the first time and felt half alive.  Thank you Dr. Paula Gilliam.

Today was even a better day.  More acupuncture, a good pathology report, and Mike and I are off to Chick-Fil-A to celebrate.  Thank You, Jesus!

Memorial Day Weekend

May 31, 2011 / / 0 Comments
We had a really nice weekend.  Spent it working on the yard and patio.
I am actually thankful now for the little bit of damage the tornado did to our house.  We got to shop for new patio furniture.  Bought some chairs and a table with a fire pit from Amazon. I’ll post pictures when they get here.
Mike and the boys put down some new mulch and planted some impatiens.
 

We didn’t realize it until much later, but we think the storm killed our tree.  We found damage low on the trunk.. we think that it must have been blown to the ground then popped back up.

We started from scratch looking for the best tree for our yard.  Based on the direction of the wind and the location of our tree and our house we decided that we didn’t want too big of a tree.  🙂

If you want to buy plants in Huntsville, we discovered that Bennett Nurseries is the place to go. They have free BBQ, drinks, live music and a miniature train.  It’s like going to a picnic.

A very nice man there spent a lot of time with us showing us and educating us on different trees. We learned that the fact that if you dig a whole in our yard it will fill up with water might not have been too great for our tree either.  He suggested several trees that would do well there and took the time to show us grown ones in the nursery.

 

 
We got a Shantung Maple.  Isn’t it pretty?  It came with the heart already carved in the bark.
I’ll write in “Mike n’ Jenny” in when it gets big enough.  🙂
We added a special soil mix into the clay to help with the water problem.
If it doesn’t make it, we are going to try a River Birch next.
Hot puppy.  It’s in the 90’s now.  In Texas, where Judi’s been, it’s been 111.  Crazy.

We took this picture before Judi left as a last ditch effort to get a family photo.
Sun’s in our eyes.. can you tell?  🙂
We normally take family photos in October.
It turned too cold too quick and we never got a good one.

I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers.
They plus the nice distractions God and Mike arranged for this weekend
are definitely helping.  I am doing very well.  Slept 8 hrs. last night.
Just the fact that I had to pack and clean and that my mom is coming would have
normally made me crazy, but I have a mightier God-peace about the surgery, tomorrow.

I am so thankful for my life and all God has blessed me with and
so glad that He has promised to be with us in the storms,
and that He works everything together for our good.

I have a couple of extra prayer requests:
My mom and Judi are on their way.  Made it to AR … and discovered that something is wrong with their brakes.  Pray they’ll have wisdom on where to take it and favor to get it fixed quickly, and enjoy the unexpected delay.

When I went to my last Thursday to my first pre-op appointment, we were told that the cat-scan showed two spots on my liver.  They don’t think it’s related to the breast cancer, but they were too small to tell anything and want to check it again in 6 months.  It was a little hard to take in, but Mike and I both are feeling from God that it’s nothing to worry about.. never hurts to take it to Him in prayer.

My confessions for today:
By your grace I am able to glory in times of trouble, knowing that they develop perseverance,
 and character and a joyful, confident hope that does not disappoint because of the love that You have poured out in my heart through Your Holy Spirit.  Romans 5:3-5

As I get to know Christ, who called me to and by Your glory and goodness, Your divine power gives me everything I need for life, making a glorious display of Your virtue in me.  2 Peter 1:3

Love,

Jenny

 

On Board..

May 27, 2011 / / 0 Comments
Another “We were here.”
 Our cabin is just to up and to the left of this life raft.
 Mountains
and more mountains…
This picture is making me miss them.
Mike, 
Thank you for the wonderful trip and for the 
wonderful husband and father you have become.
Enjoying every moment with you.
Love,
Jenny

Victoria, BC.. Canada

May 27, 2011 / / 1 Comment
 
Hanging out on our favorite deck with a sea bird.
 Miles and miles of ocean.  
There are whales, dauphins, and seals in there.  
I know because we saw them. 🙂
They order and plant over 300,000 tulips from Holland every year.

 The Butchart Family was in the cement business.

This used to be a rock quarry.
See?
Bleeding Hearts
 Love these.
 Cherry Trees!
 Believe me about the tulips?
 Love the contrasting colors!
 Original Butchart Manson
 Tired of flowers yet?
 How about a waterfall?
 
 
 How about a tree?
 Not just any tree.. a REDWOOD!
 Me and my tree.
By the bay.. the Empres Hotel
And government buildings.
… This was our last port before returning to Seattle.
We had such a WONDERFUL time!

Ketchikan, Alaska

May 27, 2011 / / 0 Comments
 Want to move to Alaska?
Ketchikan was my favorite Alaskan city.
 This floating village will follow you where ever you want to go along the water.
 Eagles Galore
 Wow!
Guard Island Lighthouse
 Our ship, the Norwegian Pearl.
Doesn’t it just look fun?
 A house by the bay?
Back out to sea.

From Skagway to the Yukon

May 27, 2011 / / 0 Comments
 Road the train up the mountains..
It was beautiful!
 Seamed like no matter how high you went up there would be more mountains.
 Crossed over into Canada
Beautiful Yukon  River.
A little windy up there.. time to get out our hats.
 We were there.
Ran into Sarah Palin while out shopping for souvenirs.

Juneau, Alaska

May 27, 2011 / / 1 Comment
 Beautiful mountains in every view from the ship.
 Day before getting on the boat, I thought, 
“Holy beans! What was I thinking when I told Mike to sign us up for the zip line excursion?”

It’s easy to sign up for stuff when it’s a year away.. 
 amazing how different you feel when it’s actually around the corner.   
 After learning how to fly straight and how to hold on 
while swaying 80′ up in the tree it was fun.
Sun was up 4:30 am – 10:30 pm.

Seattle Highlights

May 27, 2011 / / 0 Comments
Can you see the Space Needle?  It’s down the street right between our heads.  😀
Way up in the top of this tower (The Smith Tower) taking in the sights.
  
This is the only day that it rained on us our whole trip.
What’s Seattle without rain?  It normally only gets 35 inches a year.
Some places in AK get 200 inches a year.. but had sun just for us.
Miraculous!  Thank You, Jesus! 
 
See the round, white ball?  It’s a radar.  Mike has something to do with it’s existence.  🙂 
 They have grass and trees growing on some of the roofs!
We learned that their average tempreture in 
the Summer is 70 and around 40 in the Winter.  Not bad right?  
Also they only have 50% humity and the bugs don’t like the dry salty air. 
We were surprised by how much we liked Seattle. 
On the cruise ship, ready to sail away….
Seattle Part Two (Land Ho!) Cruise photos coming in next post.
We walked 3 miles to see the Space Needle up close this time.
Several glass rain covers around town.
Such a pretty city.
Our hotel room was huge.
View from our room
Sight seeing again.  Don’t we look like we had a great cruise?
Surprising Seattle
So impressed by the Chittenden Locks.
Need a ride down to the sea?
This toll lives under the Fremont bridge.
  He’s holding a real VW Bug.
Loved our time away!
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