Family Journey

Hi Everyone! This is a blog that tracks my families journey through my mothers recovery from a ruptured brain aneurysm. Its purpose is to share with you our pain and our triumphs. Our highs and our lows. To remind you how precious life is, and to give you another reason to hug the ones you love. Thanks for stopping by!

5/13/13

Hi friends! Hope all of you Mommas had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday!! I know my Mom did 💓. We took her to the fire company breakfast and then to see my Nana! That was nice, and my Aunt Joanne and her family was there too. Then my Aunt Sandy came over to see her and spend time with her followed by a BBQ with my brother and his family! She sounded sleepy last night but said she had such a great day and I could hear her smiling 😉! She certainly deserved a good day! And I’m so happy my Aunt and Dustin could all work together and give Marilin some well deserved time with her family for the day!!

Moms doing so well. Things keep going up and up. Always worried and waiting for the step backwards, but celebrating the progress every day. She has now moved on to intense physical and occupational rehab back at Good Shepherd. She started there on Tuesday of last week and will go every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday morning for 4 months and which time she will need to be evaluated. She is sore and in pain, but we try to keep reminding her this is GOOD pain. Easy for us to say 🙊. I honestly don’t think she will be in that wheelchair for another year. So freaking awesome. She continues to come around mentally as well. Still gets a little funky when she’s sleepy, but who doesn’t. She is just amazing.

She’s also been out and about! She went to the annual derby party at Chris Kohlers house, which she goes to every year (thanks again for having us 😉). Aunt Joanne and myself went to the Trexler Zoo a few weeks ago with the kids! She’s been to our home a couple of times now and the kids were so excited to show her around. We have date night every Thursday, either here or at her house. She’s been going to acupuncture on Fridays! Aunt Sandy is taking her to Roosevelt’s tonight! Marilin takes her here and there! And has been enjoying some fresh air this beautiful spring! Life is good and continues to get better and better every day. Thank you so much for your hopes, prayers and support and please – stop on by. She sure does love her visitors. Thanks again!! Xo

Here we are on Mothers Day! This picture means so much to me 💓

Here’s a few from our zoo outing! Love the penguin pic! LOL.

Ad here’s the gang hanging out on the porch on Date Night 😍! Followed by the kids putting on a show!!

And Marilin with her new buddy!! 🐶 Have a great day!!!!

4/22/13

Hi friends!

Can’t believe how long it’s been since the last time I wrote! Time flies when you’re having fun 😉 Everything is wonderful. Mom continues to improve every single day. Brent hasn’t been there in a while and went with us last night. Not gonna lie – he may have cried…twice! He said he was just so blown away with how well she is doing. He said it was like he was talking to *Linda*! Then he saw her walk for the first time and the big softie teared up again. It was so good to see. Tears of joy and happiness when for so long we all cried tears of sadness and worry. We have come so far. And time and time again she knocks our socks off and teaches us over and over to NEVER GIVE UP HOPE. Ever. 💓

A little bit ago she had some imaging done of her brain. Dr. Campbell reviewed it and is so pleased with her progress. He did not adjust her shunt for fear that it could actually make her go backwards. No one wants that! So he left her alone and we are happy with that. Her physical therapist comes twice a week. I spoke with him on the phone the other day and I can hear in his voice that he is over the moon. He told me that if she consistently remembers her left side and can focus/concentrate on what she needs to do that there is nothing stopping her. Can you believe it. Where we have come to where we are. Every single day I’m so thankful for the turn this roller coaster has taken and I pray it continues to stay on this track. We are so lucky. Can’t say it enough. And then her as a person is coming along too. She’s starting to ask more and more questions. Put things together. Wonder about things she hasn’t cared about like where’s my mail, how are my bills getting paid – just daily things. Her handwriting is on point. It’s amazing how something so simple as watching her write out my grandpas birthday card could bring me to tears because I never thought I’d see that handwriting again. I saved things that she wrote on when packing up her things because I didn’t want to forgot her handwriting. Strange I know. Now I can chuck all that crap out. 😜

Now the calendars. Oh my were they a success. There is a long list of people to thank, however, my phones going to die so I will do that next time I write. But thank you to everyone who helped to sell and bought calendars. It was pretty cool to see how many people won. Lots of repeat winners too! It was such a great idea and I thank my Uncle John for coming up with the idea and making it happen. He did such a wonderful job from finding a friend to print the calendars to the drawings and mailing out the checks. Thank you SO much! Let me know if you all are interested in doing this again? Was thinking of making it a yearly thing! But I would love to hear your thoughts!

We still love out Marilin and could never thank her enough for the wonderful care she gives Mom. She truly has become part of our family. The kiddos love to spend time with their Memaw and their Marilin. PS – Molly says her name better than all of us! 😉

Gonna leave you with a few pics of another reunion from today. Hope all is well. Thanks for the visits, thoughts and prayers. Xoxo

She loves that dog! The. She got some ink!

And her and her buddy were having se serious conversations. 🙊

4/10/13

Beautiful day today!! Hope you all enjoyed this beautiful weather! Xo

4/5/13

I think spring is finally here my friends! Have a great weekend! Xo

4/2/13

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend and a very Happy Easter! We sure did! Went to Brent’s family on Saturday and spent the day with my family on Sunday with a BIG part of the day spent with Mom. Lots has happened since the last time I wrote and its all GOOD!! 🙏

Well, the medication is all taken care of. It turns out that those two medications that were missing pills, my Aunt Sandy picked up for us so she got it all taken care if and CVS gave her the missing pills so we are good to go! Way to go Aunt Sandy!!

In addition, Mom is now moving both her left LEG ANNND ARM!! Talk about AmAzEbALLz!!! I know I mentioned it the last time I wrote but I can’t get over it! She can basically stand up with very minimal assistance to move from wherever to the wheelchair or vice versa. She even started taking steps with her physical therapist! She’ll be the first to tell you it’s ugly but who CARES – it’s happening!! She also started moving her arm a little bit. In fact, she can get from her wheelchair to the couch all by herself! Now I haven’t seen this stunt in person thank goodness (sounds scary) but she did it about 5 times the other day. And shes getting around in her chair by herself and is becoming quite the driver!!! LOL. Her spirits are very high! Her hair is growing out. In fact, she called me today (Marilin helped her dial) and I was taken back because she sounded like my old Mom!! So freggin excited!!

So it’s been going AWESOME!! Then on Sunday we took her to church! What a great time. Mom sang her little heart out – all of our Easter favorites. Pastor Carol gave her a big shout out during the service. I’d tell you what she said but I don’t even know because I was bawling like a darn baby! Then she said something about me – LOL, however I don’t know that either because by this point I was embarrassing myself! But it was so so wonderful! Ahhh. I’m just so happy. Here are some random pics:

Standing basically on her own!

Kids basically use her wheelchair for a jungle gym! 🙊

Love this picture so MUCH. The kids are really coming around which warms my heart like no other. They get excited to go now. When I here Molly chant Go Memaw, Go or Max say You Can Do It or Memaw You’re Getting Better or Memaw, You Talk Fast Again – I tear up. You know it’s real when a 3 year old says it and if that’s not motivating I don’t know what is. 💓

And of course we painted EGGS!!

And had our very own Easter Egg hunt!! It was a great day. Forgot to mention one little thing!! Our favorite Marilin struck it big! My cousin, my Aunt and Marilin took to the casino for the day to celebrate my Aunts Birthday we had a big WINNER!!!

Congrats!! 🎉🎈🚨 You certainly deserve it. Could NEVER thank you enough for all that you do. Xoxo. Love this pic!! PS – she didn’t win 100,000 although I’m sure she wishes she did 😜Ok! Think that’s about it! Thanks for continuing to follow this incredible journey with us!! Have a great night!! Xo

3/13/13

Hi friends!! Big news to report here. Mom is MOVING her left leg like you wouldn’t believe! She can wiggle it, move it, kick it, lift it…you name it and we are over the 🌛 with happiness and excitement for her future. This shunt adjustment has been amazing. She is so full of life! So full of energy. It’s unreal!! This movement all started yesterday. What a freggin roller coaster. Never ENDING highs and lows but thankfully we have been having more high. With that being said, when she’s full of energy, she’s full of energy, which led to another face plant yesterday. 😳👎 but she is fine. Just the usual, I forgot I couldn’t do that anymore stunt. Little bump. We had a talking to her. It’s so hard because I know it’s hard for her to remember her new limits – but for goodness sakes we don’t need another set back because squirrly decided she needed to pick something off of the floor. I continue to be filled with hope and excitement for her future but this whole situation is hard work. Now Marilin (please refer to her as Marlene because that’s as close as out whiteness can pronounce her poor name 😉) can’t leave her alone for a second. And the never ending medicine, phone calls, letters, phone calls, bills, phone calls have me under a tremendous amount of stress. But at least it seems to be getting us all somewhere which really helps.

But on a serious note – I’m having an issue. Her medication, which I put in her pill boxes days in advance has become a problem. Her insurance would only approve her meds for 3 months. Some jars have 90 pills, some have 180. One pill has 360! Well her anti depressant and her blood pressure medication (both taken twice a day/both say 180 pills on the jars) do not have enough in them. I only have enough to get her through march 25th meaning I don’t know what happened to the rest of the pill which are supposed to last until mid may. I spoke to both pharmacy managers today and they swear they put the correct amount in the jars. I have NO IDEA where the remaining pills are and CVS and her insurance won’t give us more. I have no clue where they went or what to do. Any advice here would be GREATLY appreciated as I am at a lost. I meticulously load those pill boxes and don’t know how 120 pills have disappeared. Please help!

On a happy note – the kids and I gave Marilin a well deserved break for a few hours today!

Went for walks, had a tea party. It was a ton of fun. We also celebrated my birthday tonight with a pizza party 🎉🎈😝. Her spirits continue to be up and she is once again a good time to be around although her frustration is evident at times. And the biggest news of the day is that my brother and sister in law are going to be giving birth to another beautiful baby GIRL!!! 💓👶👭👙🎀👛🍼🌸💝👚👯👍. Huuuuuray for little girls!

Dropping the kids off tomorrow at the inlaws and Brent and I will be meeting on Friday for the weekend to see Kenny Chesney in sunny Florida!! Will be in touch sometime next week!! ☀🎶🌴 Have a wonderful weekend my friends and Happy Saint Patricks Day!! 🍀

3/10/13

I’m sure Mom would be ticked off at this picture BUT….

*Little* different from how she was at the Trexlertown Fire Company breakfast just 4 short months ago. Ahhhhh. 💓💓💓 Looked at this picture all day. I’m just so happy for her. Thank you SO MUCH for taking her Aunt Sandy. What a great idea 😉 Xoxo

3/8/13

Sick of me yet 😉 Look at how beautiful Mom looked today.

Took her to get a brace for her left ankle. She is completely different!!!!! So much better!! Just like right after her last surgery. I’m so happy I could 💩💩💩!! Just had to share. Happy weekend friends! Xo

Brent’s Birthday Celebration!!

We had SO much fun. Oh my gosh we laughed. Mom said she hated her beer but drank every drop stating she ‘refuses to believe that she no longer likes it’ and ‘its her worst nightmare’. LOL. Brent was a great sport. As always! Hope all of you had a great night too. 🍻😉🎂🍴🎈🎉💚

3/6/13

Hi friends! Just a real quick update with some awesome news for Momma. First, speech therapy had its last visit. They think Mom is well. I’m not sure if they know or not but Mom hasn’t used her feeding tube ONCE since she’s been home and feels great! She’s regular (sorry if TMI 💩😜). She seems to be putting on a *little* weight. Hope to get that tube out stat. Then the nurse called and said she is THRILLED with how Moms doing. She said she thought for SURE her tailbone was coming out. We can thank the one and only MARILIN that it didn’t! She said she was very impressed with the whole situation and does not feel the need to return again. Oh my that was music to my ears. And THEN my brother took her to the Dr. today and there is even MORE good news. We told her about how she seemed to be going back a little bit with her energy and whatnot. He said he expected this, her x-ray was perfect, did a shunt adjustment and in a week or two she should me MUCH better and we should see major (and he said major) improvements!! 🙏 She had a catscan Monday as well and that was good too! We are DOING it! It’s gonna work! I can just FEEL it! Ahhhhhh!! I’m so happy!!

Tomorrows Brent’s birthday! 32! 👴😘💓 Going to tour Martin Guitars! 🎶🎸🎶Then this weekend some friends and a pub crawl!! 🍻💚🍀Life is beautiful and filled with hope! Hope I didn’t jinx it but its too hard not to get excited about the great times. Thank you for continuing to care about my Mom through all of the good and bad times. And sharing all of the happiness in the great times like this. Have a good week/end. Xo