We all are able to now ski the intermediate slopes. Sam and Margaret have come a very long way this week. Today we skied from our side of the mountain. Katy is upset because her brother and sister are starting to be able to do things that only she could do in the past. Reese and Brandon came up and stayed one night with us and skied with us today. We stayed Saturday night and ended up stranded up there until Tuesday morning.
Margaret had an elaborately planned Scooby Doo birthday party. There were clues all over the house, in “ghost” balloons, a cryptogram, puzzles with secret writing on them. Katy and Olivia were the arch villains that would have gotten away with it had it not been for the meddling kids.
So, while we were waiting to see my dad every few hours while he was in ICU, we toured Jackson a bit. We saw the Frank Lloyd Wright house, Fountainhead. We also saw where Eudora Welty lived most of her life.
Just a quick note from my parent’s about my Dad’s upcoming surgery. I am going to Mississippi tomorrow to be there for it. I will post again when I know more.
We had our final consultation with doctors at the VA before the surgery which is scheduled for 25 Jan. The doctors estimate that their will be one or two days in intensive after the operation and then about a week in the hospital. We look forward to being able to get on with our traveling again. Our first trip outside of Mississippi will be to visit our grandchildren in Calif.
For those of you who do not know, Jesse’s bladder will be removed because of bladder cancer.
UPDATE 1/25 9pm CST: Just got back from the hospital. He was awake, still on the ventilator, and highly drugged but awake. The ventilator should be removed tomorrow.
UPDATE 1/26 10:45am CST: He is off the ventilator and awake and talking. Looking great. He will be ICU all weekend where he can get better care. We are all very relieved.
UPDATE 1/28 12:50pm CST: He is getting better each time we see him. He has been up and sitting in his chair. They are gradually getting various tubes and what-not disconnected from him.
UPDATE 1/29 11:00am CST: He has lots more tubes removed. The big one was the one through his nose into his stomach. He will be walking and moving upstairs to a regular room today.
UPDATE 1/29 6pm CST: All is well, he is in his regular hospital room
UPDATE 1/31 3pm CST: He is walking more, eating real food and doing very well. He is expecting to go home tomorrow (Thursday) or Friday at the latest.
UPDATE 2/1 6am CST: He is home and doing well.
On New Year’s Day this year, my entire family skied. It was pretty much the most fun I have had on skis. We were there with the Schwartz’s and another family. We have been back and we all skied another day as well. Sam is now convinced he is ready for the rest of the mountain, but not quite yet. Margaret is still hesitant to go up the second lift on the bunny hill even though Margaret is a better skier than Sam at this point.
Again, just a few random pictures from the trip to Tahoe the week after Christmas. This is one Marcella took out of her bedroom window in the Castle. Also, there are a lot of pictures of her with her god-kids here.
For Christmas, Susan got Elizabeth a raclette machine for Tahoe. Looks like wikipedia defines the term as a type of cheese (which it is). It is also a type of cooking where you heat the cheese at your table and eat it. Similar to fondue, but with a grill and not a pot of oil (or cheese). Turns out the kids really loved it. Make them cook their own meals for a change.
Just a few pictures from Christmas day.
We went to church this afternoon for the Christmas Eve children’s pageant. Sam didn’t want to dress up again this year but Katy and Margaret were angels. Click on the photo for more pictures.
Sam had his Christmas concert at school today. This one was better than most because they had someone playing the organ and you could actually hear the kids sing. I got a few pictures, Elizabeth got video of most of it.