A Jason update

Tuesday night Jason had a blood clot removed from his brain. The blood clot was causing a great deal of brain swelling so this was a good move. Once the clot was removed, Jason's brain began to go back to normal. Yay!!!!

Thursday evening Jason ripped his breathing tube from his mouth/lungs and began to curse up a storm! But he was breathing on his own, more coherent...a wonderful thing!

Today (Friday) Jason had surgery on his left arm. They took a large piece of his thigh and buttock for a skin graph. (I won't go into detail BUT his left arm is in such bad shape that he will have several, if not many, surgeries to repair it.) He's a little slow with his speech but he remembers everyone. This is soooo wonderful!!! Also, his hip and pelvis will not require surgery as first thought. Yay Jason!!

Tomorrow we will go and see him again..I can't wait!! Everyday is more good news and more blessings!! Please hold Jason and everyone on that unit in your prayers. There are more heart-wrenching stories on that Trauma ICU than a heart can bear. A 18 year old boy in a coma from being hit by a drunk driver; a 26 year old father of 5 paralyzed from the neck down from a car accident; a 32 year old man with a brain injury..it just goes on and on. These families have all become close, checking in on the progress of everyone in that unit day by day. Rejoicing when it's good news, comforting each other when it's bad news. It breaks your heart...

Anyway..I hope that everyone has a safe, happy and healthy New Year..

Peace.

An update on "J"

Jason remains in critical condition in the Trauma ICU of a NY hospital. His brain is still swollen, his left arm is very bad and his pelvis & hip are fractured. He's also bleeding internally, but less than before. They cannot make any repairs to his internal organs, arm or pelvis until the brain has returned to normal. This poor child faces months, if not years, of recovery and healing.

Herman's sister had Christmas dinner despite this. She knew that there would be alot of family who would want to visit J. She figured that we couldn't spend the entire time at the hospital and that somehwere along the line, we'd ahve to eat. A diversion..he was still fresh on our mindsbut it WAS Christmas..so we celebrated amidst the tears. It's been a rough year....

Anyway, thank you for your prayers. I tell them all the time that I have peope across the country praying for his recovery. And if you don't pray, well, hold a good thought for them. (All "positive vibes"gladly accepted! :)

Peace...

A request for prayers

Please keep our 17 year old nephew Jason in your prayers. On Wednesday afternoon he flipped his car and was ejected from it. He is in critical condition and is quite ill. Among his injuries: fractured skull, broken pelvis and a severely damaged arm. He will likely be in intensive care for a couple of weeks and then will face a very long recovery. This is the older brother of our nephew Michael, who was in a bad car accident back in September. The family could really use your prayers. To say that they are going thru a difficult time would be an understatement. I won't go into much detail (for their privacy) but my brother in law (their dad) is also pretty sick himself and is not well enough to visit Jason. Herman and I have been doing our best to support his sister but they live over an hour away and we both had to return to work today. We'll head up there tomorrow and be back home in time for Christmas Eve at my sister's. Then we'll go back up to his sister's for Christmas dinner. We'll take turns going to the hospital.

I'll keep you posted as best I can. Thank you in advance for your prayers. They mean so very much to us.

Peace.

The Sears saga continues..

Well, Sears called this morning to reschedule my appointment. When I told them that I was already rescheduled for Friday afternoon, they told me that I wasn't. EXCUSE ME??!! Then they had the sheer audacity to tell me that I wasn't home when the tech arrived on Saturday. They somehow turned this on me!! No, you're right...I WASN'T home when the tech arrived on Saturday...AT 820PM....Oh, I SOOO cannot wait for the manager to call me. (At this point I'm beginning to think that this will never be resolved.) Anyway...they put me in touch with scheduling or dispatch, who was able to get me back on Friday's schedule. Until, of course, some called me a half hour later to rescedule me!!! I said, again, no, I'm already scheduled for Friday...and she tells me that I'm NOT!! (Can you tell that a vessel is about to burst in my head?!) So, she says that someone will call me back...which they haven't yet. And it isn't even so much that the TV isn't working...it's the runaround I'm getting that is TOTALLY frustrating!! I'll keep ya' posted..

Christmas. Sigh. Not feeling Christmas this year. To the point that I burst into tears every time I hear a Christmas song. Really. May be that I'm sad that Jackie won't be home for Christmas. (Early "empty nest syndrome"?) May be that I'm so sick of the commercialism that is Christmas. Don't know. Haven't gotten a damn thing done yet. No tree, no gifts. (Note: Herman already took care of the girls and I took care of John in one single purchase at Sam Ash music store the other day. It's the rest of my family that hasn't been taken care of...) Can I run this by you?  Every year Herman and I say that we're NOT buying for each other. But yet, he buys me something and I have NOTHING for him. Which makes me feel awful. So...my question is: Even tho I told him that he is FORBIDDEN to buy me anything, should I buy him something just in case??!! He always catches me off-guard!! Answers anyone??!

In closing...anyone noticed that I've posted 2 days in a row?? (Don't they hand out awards for that? LOL!!)

I'm tired..and worn out from dealing with Sears...so...

Peace!

Pissing and moaning

Ok, let me first say that I'm pissed at AOL for switching to XM radio...because some of my favorite stations are missing!! All YES, All  Dave Matthews and the New Age station are ALL GONE! Damn it. First DirecTv goes to XM , now AOL. (I wasn't happy about losing my music stations on DirecTv, either!)

Secondly, I waited for 11 hours on Saturday waiting for a Sears techinician to come out and repair our HD tv. I was originally scheduled from 8am until noon. Fine. No problem. When he hadn't arrived by 1150am, I called Sears to ask if he was running late. That's when I was told that I was rescheduled for 1pm til 5pm!! No call, nothing. She sent a message to the tech and asked him to call me with an E.T.A. Now mind you, I was home by myself most of the day, so I couldn't get in the shower for fear of missing the technician! Well, he never called. I called several more times, only to be told (at 3pm!) that we were call #8 for him..the last service call...and that he had only just arrived at call #4!! I asked them (politely..I don't do the yelling thing) to please reschedule me for 1st thing Monday or Wednesday morning. Of course, I was told that it simply could NOT be done. They have NOTHING available on Monday in my area EVER and the next Wednesday would be Dec 27!! (I must note that out of the 6 customer service agents I spoke to, only 2 were not pleasant or helpful. One of them transferred me to a dept that was closed on the weekend. BITCH!) Finally, at 6pm I told them to forget about it, to schedule me for Friday afternoon (the 23rd) in hopes that the kids were out of school on an early dismissal. (Watch..they'll reschedule me for 8-12 and not call me! LOL!!) I told them that I couldn't wait because Mark & Heather's Annual Christmas Party was that night!! SO, at 820pm, I received a phone call from the tech who was at my house wanting to know if I could let him in!!! Anyway, I have a complaint in and SUPPOSEDLY a district manager will call me by tomorrow. We'll see.

Ok, the Christmas party! Oh what fun!! LOL! Can't say too much because I'll implicate too many people...but let's just say that everyone had a grand ol' time! They killed several bottles of vodka and lots of beer. Me? Well, I had a glass of Sangria, half glass of wine, 1 shot and many glasses of water w/cranberry juice. Which leads me to my next comment...

Did you know that you aresupposed to drink 1/2 your weight in ounces of water? I know I'm not explaining this right but bear with me... If you weigh 160 pounds, you need to drink 80 ounces of water per day, more if you're very athletic or active. I find this amazing! I know that you can count anything that has water in it (i.e. soda, juice, soup, etc.) but caffeinated beverages and alcohol dehydrate your body so you really should either eliminate them or not count them as water. So this is my new kick: DRINK LOTS OF WATER!! I've taken to adding just a bit of cranberry juice or pomegranate juice into the water just to take the edge of the water taste. Just a bit, tho. The only disadvantage to my new found love for water is that I was up peeing the entire night! ROFLMAO!! (Note to self: Cut the water intake at 7pm for optimal sleep.)

Finally, my last bitch and moan, is that my oven no longer works and I'll have to call in a repairman. I know that it's the flame ignitor so I don't wanna mess with it. Playing with natural gas is a "no-no" in my book.

I guess I'll have to start my Christmas shopping tomorrow. Ugh. Really not into Christmas this year.

Oh, one final thought. This whole "Happy Holidays" versus "Merry Christmas" is SO blown out of proportion. I look at it this way: When I say Happy Holidays, I say it to encompass all the holidays at this year so as not to exclude anyone. Not even because I'm trying not to offend anyone...I just want to wish every person of every religion a happy time during their religious holiday AND for the happy new year! If I know that you are a Christian , I WILL wish you a Merry Christmas regardless of who is around. If you are Jewish, I WILL wish you a Happy Hannukah. If I know that you celebrate Kwaanza, Ramadan or any other religious holiday, again..I will wish you a happy whatever it is you celebrate.If I don't know what you celebrate, well.....HAPPY HOLIDAYS! (There are so many types of celebrations at this time of the year that I feel this expression covers 'em all.) 

Ok...PEACE!!!!

Home, sweet (snowy!) home..

Well, Jackie was WONDERFUL!! What a huge change in her! She is much more mature and very devoted to her recovery. It was so amazing to see her like this! I just can't say enough good things about how she was!

Day 1: We arrived at Phoenix airport at about 1245pm. Drove to where Jackie works. Jackie came running out and we all hugged and kissed her. Went inside to grab a bite to eat (we were starved...airline food sucks!) and met all Jackie's co-workers. Everyone eas very nice and sweet. Went to our hotel to check in, leaving Jackie at work. Drove to Jackie's home at 630pm, met housemates and friends. Drove to her meeting where she received a "90 day" chip...days clean! Yay Jackie!! Went back towards hotel and grabbed some dinner. Crashed in bed. (Long day!)

Day 2: Picked Jakcie up at 10am. Drove to the Apache Trail in Apache Junction, AZ...about a 45 minute drive from Mesa. Drove on the scary ass road to Canyon Lake where we decided to take a steamboat ride around Canyon Lake. Just beautiful and peaceful! After the ride, we decided to take Apache Trail to Tortilla Flats for lunch. Very cool place! Had lunch at the local restaurant. There were dollar bills stapled on every ceiling/wall/window..everywhere!! They had some killer chili, too! Then we took a walk around outside. Back in the car, and drove back to Mesa. (Note: This road, Apache Trail, takes you alongside a deep canyon with NO GUARDRAILS! How do you say "panic attack"?! I broke out in a cold sweat and had a death grip on my seat!) We took Jackie food shopping and then it was time for her to return to the property. Herman and I went to Red Lobster for dinner. Mom passed.

Day 3: Picked Jackie up at 11am and headed for Old Town Scottsdale. Ate lunch at an Italian restaurant, which is exactly what Jackie wanted! Decided that we should head to the local mall to do some clothes shopping for Jackie. Spent the better part of the afternoon in the mall. Then headed back to Scottsdale for a very nice dinner at Houston's, a steakhouse. Jackie's sponsor met us there. We had a nice dinner! Jackie had to be back on property by 7pm so it was an early dinner. Then we (me, Herman and mom) headed to Tempe to see Mill Rd. We stopped at a haunted restaurant for a drink. We were disappointed in Mill Rd., as it turned out to be a college hang out. We even had someone ask us for money! About a block and a half into our walk my mom and I felt too uncomfortable to continue. So, we headed back to the room. Herman was disappointed.

Day 4: No Jackie. Me, Herman and mom headed 133 miles to Sedona, AZ. What a ride. Sedona was just awesomely beautiful! Red rocks, beautiful scenery! We decided to take a Pink Jeep tour on the Broken Arrow trail. It was so much fun! I just can't say enough about how much fun it was! My mom loved it, too! If you ever get the chance to do this, go for it! You won't be sorry! We headed back to Mesa at sunset. Had some dinner and then headed back to the room to pack.

Day 5: Stopped at Jackie's job to say our goodbye's. Caught a 1205pm flight home. Uneventful flight.

It was a great trip! The best part was getting to see how well Jackie is doing!

Peace!

Leaving, on a jet plane...

We're (me, Herman and my mom) are headed to AZ tomorrow morning to see Jackie!! I'm so excited that I'm numb! I'll post when I get home...

Peace!

P.S. I hope that ScreaminRemo guy doesn't pull us over! LOL!!