Merry Christmas!

We would like to wish every one a very Merry Christmas!

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Mom's second back surgery was a success, on Christmas Eve. The surgeon said he took another large piece of disk fragment from her back. He said he took a little extra time and looked around in there and made sure there were no other fragments. The doctor went ahead and informed us that Mom might need to go to a rehabilitation clinic for a few days because she is so weak. When the recovery nurses wheeled Mom back into her room, she told a few of us that she would need her rest. Some of us decided it would be best to go home and see her another day. Doug, Aunt Sherry and myself drove by the prospective rehab clinic on the way to O'Charleys for dinner. After we ate, we stopped by the hospital one more time before going home. Mom was awake, but not too alert. She began talking out of her head a little, so we headed home. Doug and I spent Christmas Day with Millard and Peggy. I knew several of our family members would be spending the day with Mom at the hospital, so I knew she wouldn't be alone on Christmas Day. June and KimAnn spent the night at the hospital and they said Mom did real good; however, the doctor and Physical Therapist wished Mom would push herself a little more than what she is right now. June told Aunt Sherry that the doctor got up in Mom's face this morning and gave her a piece of his mind. The big question this morning was, "is Mom going to rehab or not." The doctor didn't think they would accept her right now because she wouldn't push herself, but it ended up being a huge miscommunication between the doctor, nurses, Mom & PTs. Mom said she didn't know that she could get right out of bed after surgery. She said the nurses & PTs didn't explain themselves very much. In fact, it was confusing for us, family members, because one nurse would tell us one thing and a new nurse would have a fit and tell us the opposite. It was your basic "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing." It just leaves a warm feeling inside my chest. Oh yeah, it could be heartburn! Anyway, by the time I got to the hospital to visit this afternoon, because the doctor just knew the rehab clinic wouldn't accept her right now, Aunt Sherry called me and told me that Mom was being discharged from the hospital to go over the the rehab clinic. Okay! What is going on? According to Aunt Sherry, a lady from Lakeshore Rehab came over and evaluated Mom, she felt she was an excellent candidate for their clinic. Alright, here we go. We got her over to the rehab clinic and got settled in her room. I think it's the best thing for Mom. She will get the proper care she needs. I was aware to her surroundings and I thought it was a nice, clean facility. Mom's room is adjacent to the nurses station, which is a huge relief. Since the surgery, Mom's appetite hasn't been the same. She claims that everything doesn't taste good. Ryan says it's because of the anesthesia from the surgery, it can screw up your taste buds. She is so weak now, I just hope she will eat soon. Poor Dad seems to be a little scared to move Mom or have anyone else touch her, to move. He is so scared, like the rest of us, another piece of disk fragment will come out and she'll have to go through all of this again.

Was Santa good to you this year? He was very good to us again! Doug and I were so excited Christmas morning about Katie seeing her prizes under the tree. We both woke up around 5:30 - 6:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. I got up and turned on all the lights inside and outside of the house. I checked out my presents and soon here came Doug to check out all of his presents. Katie crawled into bed with us around 5:00. Doug said, he was checking on her, while he went to the potty and she wasn't covered up. As soon as he got the covers up over her, she woke up crying for Mommy. I couldn't go back to sleep, so after she dozed off, I snuck out of bed. By 7:30, I couldn't stand it. I wanted her to get up and check on her gifts from Santa. Around 7:45, I finally heard talking in our bedroom. I wanted Doug to video her walking down the hallway, but she insisted I carry her into the Living Room. Right off the bat, she noticed the candy sticking out of her stocking. "Mommy, Santa Claus." She got a chocolate Santa Claus in her stocking. I had the hardest time getting her away from the stocking in order to see the other stuff. She didn't know what to think when she saw the dollhouse. Once she got woke up good, she went right to playing with it. It was so hard getting her away from the dollhouse, in order to open up her other presents. I think Santa did a good job with Katiebug. The dollhouse and school house was a huge hit with her. She also got her Mermaid dress, nightgown, that she wanted so bad. As soon as she saw the dress, she wanted it on right then and there. In fact, it's still on her. I have a feeling that I'm going to have a terrible time getting the nightgown away from her, so I can wash it. Doug and I got her: clothes, kitty pillow/blanket, Snow White figurine, frog doodle board, Princess doodle board, Little People Pet Grooming, puzzle, and magnetic ballerina doll (like paper doll). Millard & Peggy got her a cash register, puzzle, a bear that tells "The Night Before Christmas" story, a vaccum cleaner, Dorothy ("Wizard of Oz") figurine music box, and a gold cross necklace. Doug received: clothes, wallet, Zune, Zune adapter for the car, underwear & socks. I received: clothes, perfume & a new cell phone. I made a Breakfast Casserole that morning and I tried a new recipe. This casserole recipe calls for crescent rolls instead of sliced bread. We are still eating on it, but I think I like it better and it didn't make as much as the last recipe I made. This recipe has 6-8 servings, whereas the other was around 10-12 servings. We had a big feast at Millard and Peggy's place. Horace and Joyce came over for a little visit. They were lucky enough to find a restaurant to eat lunch. Katie played with her new toys and when it got dark enough, we all headed out to see the Christmas lights. We got back home a little early because Katie was getting grouchy about sitting in her car seat. We ate a little bite after getting back to Millard and Peggy's house. Later that night, Henry and Sam came over to visit a little. Katie didn't know what to think about Sam. She won't talk to strangers, but she'll stare them down until she gets warmed up to them.