Merry Christmas Everyone!

Well this Christmas is a rough one for me or us. I ending up having to have another MRI which was rough also. Then this week I got a call from one of the doctors. Result is, I have another ruptured disk. Another surgery will have to be done. This will make the fourth one.
I go to see the orthopedic doctor next Wednesday to get things set up for it. 
I am still using my walker to get around. 


Hopefully in a few days I will be feeling better.
Thanks for all the prayers you all have sent up in my behalf. 
You all are great folks.


Merry Christmas to everyone and if I am not back online by New Year. Have a great New Year. May everyone have a blessed one.
Helen




 

MRI yesterday

 It was really rough . One foot and leg was leaning outward and I wasn't allowed to move a muscle or they would have had to start over, plus it felt like that hip was pushing through the flesh. When they rolled me back far enough to put the contrast stuff in the IV I told him about the foot and leg and he pulled the foot over and buckled it to the other foot.

Then when I finished I couldn't get up. The technician ran and got the other man and they both pulled me up. Around 45 minutes in that thing.  One told the other one that he could feel my body jerking as they were pulling me up. It was hard to start back walking even with my walker. Next Monday is doc day.

 

Today has been a rough day,

Thanks for your prayers, 

Helen

Back troubles again

Good morning everyone. Once again it's been a while since I have made an entry. Seems as if all my entries for a good while have been health related.

Well Ken has been doing great after his last surgery. Been waiting on me a lot.

 I will have an MRI done here next Monday on my back then see a Doc on the 12th here. He will report his findings to the other doc that did my last back surgery 3 years ago. It is just a wait and see thing now. They are neurosurgeons. If they can't fix it then I will ask for a orthopedic doc referral. I would have to go to Birmingham  AL for any kind of surgery.
I have been down in my back and using a walker since the 28th of Sept. 2011, two days after Ken came home from his last surgery. I would certainly appreciate prayers and good thoughts and thank you. 

Have a blessed weekend.

Helen

Ken is coming home today

I talked to Ken this morning and he can come home after awhile. He is still in a good deal of pain and the doc say he will continue to have it for several weeks. Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts. We both appreciate them very much. 

Have a blessed day everyone. Helen

Ken

We have the computerized board here in the waiting room in the hospital telling about a patients progress in surgery, thing was Ken's name was on there to start with then I was watching to see what time they actually started surgery. Well his name didn't show anywhere, one of the nurses called me and said the surgery had been going on about 15 min that she has been really busy and didn't get a chance to call me. His name never showed up on that board anymore. She did call every hour though. The last time she called I told her that board wasn't working right. She said it was working right from where they were. She told me they liked about 30 min being finished and then the doc would call but I looked up in about 30 min and there he was had just come in a door at the back. They have a special room where you go and talk to doctors but some of the Doc's just came on in and talked to the patents where they were sitting. Guess it was quicker that way. But as soon as I looked up and saw him I got up quickly and went where he was.

Ken had a rough night. Fever and chills for a good part of the night. His throat was so sore he could hardly talk to me. Finally they gave him a couple of Tylenol and got the fever down a good bit. He didn't sleep much. His doc will be around early this morning. I doubt he will get to come home today. Things will have to get a lot better today if he does.

Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts and your comments.

Have a blessed day everyone, Helen

Ken and surgery.

Thought I would let everyone know that Ken came through the aneurysm surgery fine today. Took a long time and he only did one, said the other one might hold out for 10 more years but would keep a check on both of them. He was in a good deal of pain when I left a mid afternoon. Thanks again for your prayers and good thoughts.

Getting bloodwork done today.

Ken is getting blood work done today for his Aneurysm surgery next Monday, Sept 26. Guess it will be early enough for us. 5:00 Am is when we are supposed to be at the hospital.

Prayers and good thoughts Please.

Thanks in advance,

Have a blessed day everybody. Helen

Things about Ken

It didn't take long at all at the doc's office today. In and out in less than 30 min. He already had a large graphic on the wall where he drew what he was going to do. A thing where he could draw on it then wipe  it clean.

One aneurysm is larger than the other one. They plan to do one at a time or if conditions are right then they will do both while they are in there. The largest one will be done first. Then if they have to wait the other one will be done about 3 weeks later.
The last couple of weeks they have come out with a new material they are going to use. They are going to get the team together and do it on the 26th of Sept if they can get all four doctors together at the same time. Two surgeons, one heart surgeon, and one anesthetist person plus the nurses.  Some of the doctors will have to come from other cities.
I am going to be optimistic and pray that things will go right.
Prayers will be appreciated.

Thanks for the prayers you all have already sent.

Love to all.
Have a blessed week.
Helen

Things are looking up.

Finally we have a couple of answers. 

Everything went well this morning, No sign of cancer in the colon, thank the good Lord. He also told us the two aneurysms were not very big but when we go back to his office on Aug 30th we could decide if we wanted to go ahead and put stents in or wait until it grows more. I vote for having it done before they get big.

He still has to have the prostrate checked out. The doc. could feel they were enlarged some.So we have to find a good doc and have that checked out. 

Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts. 

Have a blessed afternoon Everyone. 

Helen

Times are not so good.

Good morning everybody. It's been quite a while since I have made an entry. Like everywhere else it has been so hot here in Alabama. We are having a time keeping our grass cut in this hot humid weather. That grass is growing twice as fast as it normally would.
Well I am asking all of you for more prayers our way. Ken had a scan done on his abdomen a couple of weeks ago. Our regular surgeon has left his practice and went on to higher things. So we went to see the surgeon who helped with the surgery when Ken had his ruptured aortic aneurysm. The doc who sent him to get the scan thought he had a aneurysm now. Well it turned out what they were seeing was the repair work that was done before. Only thing is when this surgeon looked at the scan, (he could pull up scans from the hospital) he could see where there was an aneurysm below his groin in both artery's going down toward his knees. He scheduled another scan to be done on the 3rd of August so he could tell more about them. He said they can sometimes put a stent in an aneurysm to help that. I pray that they can do this on Ken.  Also he scheduled something similar to a colonoscopy to be done on the 10th only Ken just has a few inches of his colon left from those two cancer surgeries. He will check that part out to make sure it is still ok. 
In the meantime our regular doc had called for more blood work on his prostrate reading so the nurse called to say he had a 35% chance of having prostrate cancer. He will wait until these two other things are taken care of to see an urologist about that. So you can see why I am asking all you to send up prayers and good thoughts for him.  
Hopefully one day I can make an entry when things are going ok.  Well things have been going pretty well this summer. Ken has been wracking his brains trying to think up interesting things to do on hiding those geocaches. He has been enjoying that and has made quite a few interesting ones to hide. We have hunted a few geocaches which is always a fun thing to do. We haven't hunted as many as we would if gas wasn't so high now and if my back was in better shape.

By the way our den used to be a carport when was enclosed to make a den so just right outside this door is the real carport. Anyway I can hear a cricket making it's noise because it has eased under the door coming in here. Those things are hard to find LOL.


I will update this entry when we have some news on what is going on with Ken.Thanks in advance for your prayers.


I hope everyone has a blessed weekend.
Love to you all,
Helen

Good morning!

Good morning everybody,
Today is going to be a beautiful day but tomorrow will be even prettier.
My daughter is going to spend some time with us this next week due to her school is having spring week.
Hopefully we can get out and geocache some while she is here.
Ken and I went out and hid a couple last week but the week since then has been rainy and cold. It was cloudy and cold yesterday until way on in the evening. We were glad to see the sun come out. After the front yard dried off a bit then Ken cut the grass. The back yard is still soggy wet.
Here are a few pictures from the last geocache hide.
The crab apple trees have been beautiful. They were getting past their prime a bit before I took any pictures, this is from the first of the week while we putting out some geocaches.

Here is a short video of a stream not far from the trees. 

Have a blessed weekend. Helen

To long

It's been to long since I have updated. We are still getting out geocaching and putting some out also. The weather has been perfect for that. Now we will have to be careful and watch for snakes while in the woods and weeds. Some people have already seen some around here.
I got some new glasses this week which makes everything look so much bright and crisper just in time to see all these pretty flowers and flowering trees this spring. There are some beautiful flowering crab apple trees downtown but I forgot my camera when we went to get my glasses. Guess they will be gone before we get back down that way. We had a frost last night which will probably get them. We have had some beautiful days in the 80's though for several days. I am loving them.
Here are a few of my spring flowers and some wisteria from when we went geocaching yesterday.

Have a blessed weekend everyone. Helen

I am still around.

I am still hanging in there folks. Ken and I have been doing a little geocaching since Christmas. We needed to get out and do a few things and not sit here at home so much. My back has been holding our fairly well. We have run into some interesting places to go not far from home either. People can hide these things in the oddest places. Some we find and some we don't.

Here are some of the places we have went and things we have found.
I have no idea why some of the words have background colors. It won't let me fix the either.

                                                  This one is called a Nano. There is a tiny log rolled up inside that you sign your name and the date. Some of the pictures I just realized are on Ken's computer. I need to put them on mine also.

My daughter is still recuperating from some surgery on her neck for another tumor she had done a few days before Christmas. It split back open and the nurses have been coming to school twice a day to pack and dress it. They are coming to her home on the weekends doing it also. It is leaving a pretty large place but is gradually filling in. Her doc said yesterday it was about half filled in. It has been really hard on her teaching school and doing all she has to do but with God's help she is making it.  

My DIL has been sick for two weeks but is better. I am asking for your prayers for all them please, and for my son who has been out of work for a few days. I pray that he finds another good one close to home with health benefits. When some of his employers found out  about having to soon provide for health insurance they have been going out of business which makes it hard to find a good one. He was out a month before Christmas but then worked a month or so and now is out looking for another one. Some of these companies move from place to place. He is in Welding. 

Will everyone remember Sara, Jeff and Oreo in your prayers.

They have lost there beloved dog Misty which they dearly loved.

They are going to really miss their girl. She was so pretty and sweet. Rest in peace Misty. You will have no more sickness and pain. Misty is the tan and white one in the picture. Beautiful dogs and well trained. They will appreciate your prayers.

I hope everyone has a blessed week. Thanks in advance for all your prayers. Helen

Happy New Year

 

I would like to tell everybody Happy New Year! 

I hope this year brings happiness, good health, peace, and more jobs to everyone.  

Helen