Yes, I know, it's been awhile. Not posting my excuses. Graham has been doing great! Everytime he goes to the doctor, only good things come out of it. So good in fact (still crying over this one) that Dr. Rosenblatt is NOT renewing his handicap placard. No more close movie spots, Wal-Mart parking, and what hurts the worse, no more close parking during the holiday season!!! His current placard ends in November (what!!!!), all because the Dr. says, "He needs more exercise." Please, Wifey needs to shop too! But, I will trade Graham's health over 2 miles of walking to the mall.
Graham went again to clinic today. Lung functions were up to 60% (omg!!!), every little step is soooo awesome. His levels of anit-rejection meds have been all crazy though. Friday they were really high, and today were really low. Don't know if they will ever level out, but what's changing the medicine box every few days when you get a whole new lease on life.
And because of this whole new lease on life, Graham has become the energizer bunny. Up at the crack of dawn, running and playing and doing whatever until he goes down around 10. This last week, he's walking around moping, thinking he's hit this "brick wall" and has the doctor test him for colds, infections, etc. when all it was...HE WAS TIRED! Hello...people do need rest. New lungs or not, you can't just go and go and go. Lesson learned, we think. But again, he was dragging wife and child all over the place over the weekend. We had a great weekend planned: breakfast at "Our Place," pumpkin patch with cousins, then birthday cook out for our sister-in-law (this was just Saturday). We had a great breakfast and were on our way to the patch when we learned that it was closed. This was not ok for Graham...he began looking up more pumpkin patches and didn't settle until we found one. Thankfully it was right by our house. By the time we got there though, it closed due to weather. So we headed on down to Cleburne and made a day playing with my side of the family. We talked, played, ate, carved pumpkins (Graham's was NOT G Rated...those that know him, most likely received the picture) and had a blast. Thank you Andrea for such a fun party! On Sunday, we went to Church for the first time as a family in a very long time. It was so nice. I have been waiting for this day for a really long time. We get in our Sunday best, get to church, sit in the pew and Jordan looks at me, "Momma, I need to go potty." Are you kidding me...ugh - I decided to wait. Five minutes later we smell her toot. I ask if she still needs to go and she says yes. So we depart. After a successful potty trip we are on our way back down the aisle, pastor giving announcements (so congregation quiet) and Jordan starts hollering, "DADDY, I POO POOED IN THE POTTY!" at least 3 times. Several people congratulated her - Welcome Back Johnston's to Church!
After church we met our friends at the Pumpkin Patch and J had a blast. She bounced, and mazed, and rode a pony...she listened to stories, rode a hay ride and a Daddy piggy back ride. The highlight was picking her own pumpkin. We had such a great weekend! I would have NEVER imagined doing all this pre-transplant and still having Graham up and sitting next to me (with energy) today.
But sadly, my duties of care taker are not over. Our poor little Boston Terrier might lose his eyeball :( He and our other dog, who is significantly bigger, were playing. Bo accidentally bit Roscoe's eye. Roscoe is blind, and we are now medicating the fool out of his eye trying to save it. Thank you to Cassie for driving and helping us take care of our sweet boy. Poor dogs can't play with each other anymore.
But it's been a great couple of weeks. His Aunt Sharon came and helped out the first week I went back to school. Thank you sooo much! She drove him all over the metroplex...doctors, cars, alarms. Probably more than she bargained for, but they had some great times. And now his Dad is here. Graham has been released to do almost everything (doctor even says for a haircut too - hahahaha), but the company is nice to have - so thank you Dad!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Our Thank Yous
Hopefully from here on out, this Blog will get more and more boring for y'all (just means nothing but progress is going on). I will keep writing because I have found it to be a calming thing for me though. For a quick update: we were here on Monday for all his tests and visits. His blood work came back that almost everything was normal!!! That means kidneys, vitamin levels, lung functions improved to 48%, fluid was slightly reduced so no tap this week, and cholesterol was looking good - he's eating better :) The only thing a little off was his Prograf (anti-rejection med) was slightly low. Remember last week it was toxic high; so they changed his dosage again and sent us on our way. This could be a life long thing of constantly changing his dosage - if you could only see my sweet, OCDesque, husbands face when they told him there might not ever be a set dosage, haha, this bothered him; but he has new lungs, no complaining. Now I want to take sometime to thank everyone - specifically. Thank you notes to come, my mother raised me better than that, but I wanted to share all the great things that others have done for us.
First and Foremost, thank you to everyone who prayed and sent positive, happy thoughts our way. I couldn't imagine doing any of this without God, and your thoughts and prayers certainly gave him a positive influence. Up until his surgery, I wondered if he would ever make it. It was November of last year that a doctor at St. Paul gave him a year to live. Now, doing the math, by that doctors mouth, he didn't have much longer (and come to find out, his favorite doctor had similar thoughts). And then came the surgery, that without the amazing anesthesiologist sweating bullets for 8.5 hours, he wouldn't have made it either. Prayers were definitely answered...THANK YOU!
The Zahradik Family: Thank you for taking in Jordan for that first week. Because of you, our little angel had a warm, happy place she calls her second home to go to. She was happy and didn't think anything of her Mommy and Daddy being gone. I was able to focus all my thoughts on Graham, and never once did I stress and have a bad thought about J. Y'all took her in without question, and considered her your own, we'll never be able to thank you enough.
The McMillin Family: Before there was J, our babies were Bocephus and Roscoe. Without thinking y'all watched over our dogs and not just feed them, but played with them so they didn't get too cooped up. Y'all didn't stop there either, thank you for all the upkeep to our house, cleaning, mowing, Brandon being Handy Manny, and my favorite...all the great distractions Stacy and Kendall gave Jordan and I. In a time I didn't think I could smile much, I smiled A LOT! J and K are so funny. And I'll never forget that Friday night of poster making, paint and masks. We love y'all and thank you sooooo much for everything!
The Rash's: Words will never be able to explain just how much y'all mean to us. No matter how much we begged that y'all really didn't need to be there, y'all came every time no matter the hour and helped pass the time in the worst hours...waiting for those lungs. The second trial will always be my favorite, all of us crammed into that tiny room, "sleeping" in the most awkward positions, and literally laughing through the entire wait. Without y'all, all three waiting periods, would've been horrible...we might've said we could do it without you, but Graham and I agree, we couldn't, you are both members of our immediate family.
Our Families: Thank you for all of your patience this past year. All the "on calls" and vacations on hold, the missed parties, baptisms, births, and graduations. Contrary to popular belief...we REALLY wanted to be at them all. We were so lucky to be at our Cousin's wedding (getting the third degree from the doctor meant nothing), and hopefully can make up for lost time within this next year - get ready, Graham's favorite bathing suit is! Thank y'all also for entertaining us all those times...taking us to eat, shopping, swimming, parks, endless hours of sitting and waiting. We love y'all all so much, and would've never been able to do any of this without y'all.
The Kelly's: I know y'all are family, but all the help y'all have given us over the past couple of weeks needed another note. Thank you for helping J through all of this, she sooo loves y'all and her cousins and we love that everyone is getting to know everyone better. Y'all were amazing distractions for her and will thank y'all for many years to come. Thank you also for all your help with the house, all the set ups of cleaning, moving of furniture, moving it back, mowing and edging our yard, Holly, dinner, phone calls and allowing me to cry, hospital visits that might've scarred your eyes (hahahaha). We love y'all!!!
The Reid's: OMG! Thank you thank you thank you! Because of y'all, we were able to get our house clean enough for Graham to come home and stay home. This was one of the biggest stress relievers and we'll thank you a thousand times before we start over.
Barbara Boulware: We LOVE our good luck pillow cases. They are still on our bed. They brought on a smile when I didn't think I had one. The cowboys and cowgirls fit our personalities well and the horse shoes really brought us some good luck. Thank you also for all the treats and magazines...I had completely forgotten how great Cheez Whiz was - and now I'm keeping a steady supply in the pantry :)
Sam Pettit, Rene Kirchoff, Sondra Thomas, Scott and Kathie, Michelle Meister, Angie Stevens, Tammy Ledesma, Cassie Rash, Rachel Kim, Bryan Kelly, Mom Kelly: Thank you for all the yummy food or gift cards to get food! I didn't realize how hard it would be to care for 2 people and cook at the same time, I tried and cried and am REALLY GRATEFUL for all of y'alls food! It has been wonderful and greatly appreciated! Graham is beginning to put weight back on (wahooooooo) thanks to y'all (so am I, but it's worth it), thanks again.
To all of you for keeping in touch with us...through phone calls, visits, text messages, facebook, emails, cards. I don't think I can put into words how much this has helped us through everything. A big fear of ours has been that because of Graham's health and our lack of being social, we have lost contact with some. So even what you think is a simple text, it gave us a smile and warmed our hearts. It was not just a simple text, card, message...it was sooo much more!
Our families at work: We are the luckiest 2 people to have such supportive and loving co-workers. God really knew what he was doing moving me all over MISD and Graham to Wachovia. We love y’all very much and can’t wait to be back!
To anyone I may have forgotten, it is not lack of appreciation, but my abundance of spacey-ness. We thank everyone who helped us out on this road!
First and Foremost, thank you to everyone who prayed and sent positive, happy thoughts our way. I couldn't imagine doing any of this without God, and your thoughts and prayers certainly gave him a positive influence. Up until his surgery, I wondered if he would ever make it. It was November of last year that a doctor at St. Paul gave him a year to live. Now, doing the math, by that doctors mouth, he didn't have much longer (and come to find out, his favorite doctor had similar thoughts). And then came the surgery, that without the amazing anesthesiologist sweating bullets for 8.5 hours, he wouldn't have made it either. Prayers were definitely answered...THANK YOU!
The Zahradik Family: Thank you for taking in Jordan for that first week. Because of you, our little angel had a warm, happy place she calls her second home to go to. She was happy and didn't think anything of her Mommy and Daddy being gone. I was able to focus all my thoughts on Graham, and never once did I stress and have a bad thought about J. Y'all took her in without question, and considered her your own, we'll never be able to thank you enough.
The McMillin Family: Before there was J, our babies were Bocephus and Roscoe. Without thinking y'all watched over our dogs and not just feed them, but played with them so they didn't get too cooped up. Y'all didn't stop there either, thank you for all the upkeep to our house, cleaning, mowing, Brandon being Handy Manny, and my favorite...all the great distractions Stacy and Kendall gave Jordan and I. In a time I didn't think I could smile much, I smiled A LOT! J and K are so funny. And I'll never forget that Friday night of poster making, paint and masks. We love y'all and thank you sooooo much for everything!
The Rash's: Words will never be able to explain just how much y'all mean to us. No matter how much we begged that y'all really didn't need to be there, y'all came every time no matter the hour and helped pass the time in the worst hours...waiting for those lungs. The second trial will always be my favorite, all of us crammed into that tiny room, "sleeping" in the most awkward positions, and literally laughing through the entire wait. Without y'all, all three waiting periods, would've been horrible...we might've said we could do it without you, but Graham and I agree, we couldn't, you are both members of our immediate family.
Our Families: Thank you for all of your patience this past year. All the "on calls" and vacations on hold, the missed parties, baptisms, births, and graduations. Contrary to popular belief...we REALLY wanted to be at them all. We were so lucky to be at our Cousin's wedding (getting the third degree from the doctor meant nothing), and hopefully can make up for lost time within this next year - get ready, Graham's favorite bathing suit is! Thank y'all also for entertaining us all those times...taking us to eat, shopping, swimming, parks, endless hours of sitting and waiting. We love y'all all so much, and would've never been able to do any of this without y'all.
The Kelly's: I know y'all are family, but all the help y'all have given us over the past couple of weeks needed another note. Thank you for helping J through all of this, she sooo loves y'all and her cousins and we love that everyone is getting to know everyone better. Y'all were amazing distractions for her and will thank y'all for many years to come. Thank you also for all your help with the house, all the set ups of cleaning, moving of furniture, moving it back, mowing and edging our yard, Holly, dinner, phone calls and allowing me to cry, hospital visits that might've scarred your eyes (hahahaha). We love y'all!!!
The Reid's: OMG! Thank you thank you thank you! Because of y'all, we were able to get our house clean enough for Graham to come home and stay home. This was one of the biggest stress relievers and we'll thank you a thousand times before we start over.
Barbara Boulware: We LOVE our good luck pillow cases. They are still on our bed. They brought on a smile when I didn't think I had one. The cowboys and cowgirls fit our personalities well and the horse shoes really brought us some good luck. Thank you also for all the treats and magazines...I had completely forgotten how great Cheez Whiz was - and now I'm keeping a steady supply in the pantry :)
Sam Pettit, Rene Kirchoff, Sondra Thomas, Scott and Kathie, Michelle Meister, Angie Stevens, Tammy Ledesma, Cassie Rash, Rachel Kim, Bryan Kelly, Mom Kelly: Thank you for all the yummy food or gift cards to get food! I didn't realize how hard it would be to care for 2 people and cook at the same time, I tried and cried and am REALLY GRATEFUL for all of y'alls food! It has been wonderful and greatly appreciated! Graham is beginning to put weight back on (wahooooooo) thanks to y'all (so am I, but it's worth it), thanks again.
To all of you for keeping in touch with us...through phone calls, visits, text messages, facebook, emails, cards. I don't think I can put into words how much this has helped us through everything. A big fear of ours has been that because of Graham's health and our lack of being social, we have lost contact with some. So even what you think is a simple text, it gave us a smile and warmed our hearts. It was not just a simple text, card, message...it was sooo much more!
Our families at work: We are the luckiest 2 people to have such supportive and loving co-workers. God really knew what he was doing moving me all over MISD and Graham to Wachovia. We love y’all very much and can’t wait to be back!
To anyone I may have forgotten, it is not lack of appreciation, but my abundance of spacey-ness. We thank everyone who helped us out on this road!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Nothing Can Bring Us Down
We have been having the best days since Friday! Graham finally got to come home to his own home, bed, dogs, FAMILY...and we've just been smiling ever since. Jordan's day on Friday would bring a smile to the saddest person's face. As I picked her up from school I asked her, "Guess who's at your house?" She said, "Daddy?" Daddy's at my house? DADDY'S HOME DADDY'S HOME!" She began screaming in the car and flapping her arms and kicking her feet. When we pulled into the drive way I told her she had to wash her hands really good then she could go see Daddy. She ran into the house chanting, "Must wash hands, go see Daddy; Must wash hands, go see Daddy." And she washed them Good! She sang her whole wash hands song, quickly dried her hands and ran into the bedroom screaming DAAAADDDDDY! It was awesome! She gave him the biggest (softest) hug and it was chaos from there on out. Daddy do this, Daddy do that, Daddy I have trash, Daddy I'm eating...Daddy Daddy Daddy! I can't tell you how happy we all were, my family was finally under one roof.
We went back to the doctor Friday morning for lab work, and by the afternoon he had his new Prograf dosages to take. We were able to give him a shower Friday night and by Sunday he had perfected doing it all by himself (Wahoo! It was hard bathing him and chasing a 2 year old at the same time without me getting wet and trailing water all over the house - all the while our Boston Terrier chasing me and barking at me too).
Friday we also had a nice surprise, our neighbor friends bought poster board and paint for our two girls to make "Welcome Home" signs for Graham...that in itself was hysterical. They had so much fun, and when we came back to the house to give them to Graham, everyone wore masks. Imagine two 2 year olds, covered in paint, giggling and trying to keep the masks on. Made the night even better.
On Saturday, we watched the Longhorns lose to OU...we kind of expected it, and were happy it was a closer game than we predicted, but nonetheless, HATE seeing them lose. However, we were still smiling - Nothing could bring us down :) And you know that time, the time that is the most inconvenient how am I going to fix that now time? Well...our microwave broke, guest toilet is leaking everywhere, freezer blew a circuit and we lost OUR ICE CREAM (but luckily last season's deer meat is still good!); all we did was smile and plan a trip to Lowes (oh and press the reset button). If we could get through the past 6 weeks, pretty sure I can learn how to reheat left overs in the oven. Even though IT IS A PAIN! You never realize how much you use your microwave until it dies on you, and then you wonder what they did in the pre-microwave era!
We are back at the hospital today going through all the different labs, PT, X-Ray, tests and Clinic mambo jambo. Graham is dreading getting his lungs tapped. All I can do is look at him and say "Really? You just went through one of the most painful experiences ever and you are afraid of a needle in the back?" He just smiles and says, "I Know." I'm so glad he's home :)
We went back to the doctor Friday morning for lab work, and by the afternoon he had his new Prograf dosages to take. We were able to give him a shower Friday night and by Sunday he had perfected doing it all by himself (Wahoo! It was hard bathing him and chasing a 2 year old at the same time without me getting wet and trailing water all over the house - all the while our Boston Terrier chasing me and barking at me too).
Friday we also had a nice surprise, our neighbor friends bought poster board and paint for our two girls to make "Welcome Home" signs for Graham...that in itself was hysterical. They had so much fun, and when we came back to the house to give them to Graham, everyone wore masks. Imagine two 2 year olds, covered in paint, giggling and trying to keep the masks on. Made the night even better.
On Saturday, we watched the Longhorns lose to OU...we kind of expected it, and were happy it was a closer game than we predicted, but nonetheless, HATE seeing them lose. However, we were still smiling - Nothing could bring us down :) And you know that time, the time that is the most inconvenient how am I going to fix that now time? Well...our microwave broke, guest toilet is leaking everywhere, freezer blew a circuit and we lost OUR ICE CREAM (but luckily last season's deer meat is still good!); all we did was smile and plan a trip to Lowes (oh and press the reset button). If we could get through the past 6 weeks, pretty sure I can learn how to reheat left overs in the oven. Even though IT IS A PAIN! You never realize how much you use your microwave until it dies on you, and then you wonder what they did in the pre-microwave era!
We are back at the hospital today going through all the different labs, PT, X-Ray, tests and Clinic mambo jambo. Graham is dreading getting his lungs tapped. All I can do is look at him and say "Really? You just went through one of the most painful experiences ever and you are afraid of a needle in the back?" He just smiles and says, "I Know." I'm so glad he's home :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)