A Week of Sickies

Things often come in bunches. This week has seen a bunch of medical problems for our family. My sister, Maryanne (pictured on the left) had surgery on her knee on Monday. It is something that has needed to happen for a long time. I'm happy that she had it done, finally. She seems to be on the mend now, at home in Utah with her hub, Bob.

My daughter-in-law Dorothy (Carmen's mother) Had surgery on her neck Thursday, to remove a growth in her neck that was becoming uncomfortable. It was not considered a major problem, but was a sensitive issue for that family after the recent loss of Carmen. I stayed with Reed at Kaiser hospital in Antioch to make sure all went well. As I was waiting there, Mom was taken to the hospital in Pleasanton for various reasons.

So I rushed from Antioch to be with her. Her blood volume was down, she was anemic and had several other little things going on that accumulated into a big effect. She was finally placed into a room of her own that evening. So I spent the total day in hospitals! My sister's son, Bryan Berrett, flew through Oakland on his way home on Thursday. He visited with Mom and it raised her spirits 100%! You see him in this photo of Mom.

Dorothy (pictured above with Reed) is home now and doing fine. Mom is now also looking good and will return to the convalescent home tomorrow. I would love to bring her home instead, but the doctor says she needs too much help right now for us to handle. So she will go to the home for several weeks, where she will receive therapy that will, hopefully, get her back on her feet in time for the trip back to Colorado, where she can enjoy the summer at home.

Today (Sunday) was Invitation Sunday at Church. Members of the ward were asked to invite friends to Church for a special service devoted to presenting them with an overview of the Church and Gospel. The chapel was packed! I believe everyone was surprised in the happiest way to see such a response. Layne spoke, among others, and did a surperb job. There was a strong spirit there. I believe we could not have asked for a better experience.

So the problems of the week have ended on a happy and blessed note. Plus, in case you are wondering, I feel fine!

Easter and Hips

Easter is a wonderful time. Lately it is especially so for me as I ponder the meaning of it as I haven't before. I feel quite tender about Christ and his amazing gift to the world.

We had our annual Easter Egg hunt in the yard. Layne and I are just observers now, as the rest of the family has taken it over. So I was free to watch and take as many pictures as I wanted. Here you see Scott with more than just his basket. Hum. Also pictured is Reed and Ben in our kitchen. We had a wild and wonderful gang of children running through the yard in hunt of eggs, and, later, we had a family gathering inside.

Things seemed to be going along pretty normally until Monday night. As I was preparing mom for bed, she FELL! We are not sure how it happened; perhaps her hip broke first, or perhaps last. But her hip broke. We didn't know that when we tucked her into bed for the night. And we didn't know it when we placed her on the potty the next morning. There she turned pale and sweaty, heaved and babbled and generally scared me to death. I lapsed into a bit of hysterical sobbing (me, the non-crying woman!) and then we called 911. Later we discovered that those frightening symptoms were a result of pain. So much pain that her mind went into overload. If we had only realized what we put her though we could have saved her from some of it.

She went into surgery Tuesday night at Washington Hospital. As it turns out, that hospital is known for its excellent hip surgeries. How blessed we are! Mom went through the surgery fine but is experiencing lots of pain in the recovery process. She chipped her teeth about feeling as much pain after the surgery as she did before and why did she bother going through all of that just to feel the same discomfort. Ah, Mom.

She spent Wednesday and Thursday in the hospital and today she was transferred to a convalescent home in Pleasanton that specializes in physical therapy. She will stay a month, then we'll take her home to Colorado for follow-up therapy. My prayer is that she will be back on her feet quickly and regain the strength that she worked so hard to achieve after the stroke. My week has been full of thoughts of Mom and how much I love her. I hope things work together for her benefit. We will work to make that happen as best we can. Time will work out the rest of this story.

Dancing and other blessings

Our friends the Larsons are dancers. They invited us to dinner at their home in Modesto and later to a ballroom dance class they were beginning. You may or may not know that dancing is not Layne's favorite thing to do. But we went and had a wonderful time. I think Layne even enjoyed himself. Brooks Larson is a great dancer. I danced several times with him and loved it. It has been a very long time since I've danced with someone who really knows how. It was a little bit of heaven. I wonder if I can talk Layne into attending more of their classes.

Layne planted our Carmen grove. Here you can see one of three trees that he planted within view of our kitchen window. They are lovely trees; I hope they live! I can picture a little bench under those trees and imagine myself sitting there on sunny days.

I counted our sympathy cards. We have heard from over 50 people regarding Carmen's passing. Each message is a treasure that makes us feel so much less alone. Loss seems to be a part of life, as I am discovering in greater abundance as I grow older. I have decided that mom has about reached her maximum abilities since her stroke. Perhaps I am not working her enough, but it seems to me that she is tiring of putting in so much effort. She is still her lovely, patient, accepting self, but I am beginning to see that her recovery will be quite limited. She will need us for the duration of her life now. In spite of the time it takes to help her, I don't mind. She is a person that blesses those in her space even during her struggles.

Our grandson James turned 11 this past month. Son Ben turned 32. And he is our baby! Time is guaranteed to change things. Our family continues to grow and, for the most part, make us proud. Allegra earned her Young Women in Excellence award and she is just 13. That is quite an accomplishment. Here you see her wearing the YW necklace. I love her reddish, curly hair. She is a lovely girl. We have much to celebrate!