Yesterday was Matt's post-op appointment with his surgeon. Everything checked out ok. He has this one spot on his chest that sticks up at the top and the doctor said it was internal stitches that will go away with time. He gave him more pain medicine for when he needs it. He said that he will be able to drive in about 4-6 weeks. He said he still has a 5 pound weight limit for about 4 more weeks, then 10 pounds for 2 weeks, then no restrictions and he can start working out. He thinks Matt still needs to leave his port in place for another couple of months just to make sure that everything stays in the clear. With that being said, it limits how much he can work out because he can't do any bench presses because the port could break and be in his chest cavity floating around somewhere?? Whatever. I am just glad that we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Probably in about 2 weeks he will start radiation therapy which will be every day for 3-4 weeks. We have his next oncology appointment on Thursday the 12th so we will keep you posted with any new updates.

Today we had a wonderful day with our kids. Our neighborhood is having a garage sale so we went around and checked it out this morning. We didn't buy anything but we still had fun. After that we went out to Taveres and went to Wooten Park. They have this really big wooden play ground on a lake and it is all shaded. It was a beautiful day, but very hot. The boys brought their baseball gloves and ball and Matt threw the ball to them a couple of times until they decided they were hungry and ready to go home. When we got home, we ate and took a nap. After that the boys helped me clean the house, then we played with play dough and they ate dinner. Carrie Schuessler made us dinner and it was wonderful! Thank you very much Carrie!! Ok, I think my kids are ready for a bath and bed they are starting to get grouchy. More later...

Hallelujah!!!

I passed all of my tests!!! I feel so much better. I crammed until 1230am and then woke up early and studied more. It was like dejavu from nursing school. When I was done, I came home and took a nap because I have had this headache for a week now and I can't shake it. Keeping the hours I've been keeping probably has not helped either. Anyways, my nap felt great. Matt took a nap with me too. He said he had a remedy for my headache... if you know what I mean. When we woke up, we picked up the kids from Claudia's house and went to McDonald's. We got everyone a hot fudge sundae and took it to my mom's house so we could swim. (Yes, this one time they were allowed to eat desert before dinner.) We swam for about an hour and then we ate dinner. Matt thought he would try swimming and floating on a raft. Let's just say he concluded that he should wait a while before doing that again. My mom made London Broil and it was delicious! My nephew Reece was there with us. The kids had a great time playing together. About 9pm we put the boys to bed. They were totally worn out from today's activities. Now we are home. I have to work again tomorrow, bright and early. To be honest it is more like the butt crack of dawn that I have to wake up...430am to be exact. Matt has his post-op appointment in the morning with the surgeon. So far he is doing relatively well for being 2 week post-op. My mom is going to take him because he still cannot drive. Well I have to go and get ready for bed. I will write tomorrow and let you know how Matt's appointment went.

Busy week...

I will start with yesterday the 2nd of June. Happy June by the way! It was my first day back to work. Who Who!!! It was kind of a busy day for me. I only had one patient but she was a little bit of a complicated case, but her family needed even more attention I think. They kept me very busy and of course I am a nice, wonderful nurse and want the patient to have a great experience in the hospital, so I catered to her family as well. (I deliver babies if you didn't know that already.) Anyways, I got home about 830pm, ate dinner, showered, and fell asleep while Matt was reading us the bible. (Sorry about that. I was just so tired.) Mr. Matthew had a relaxing day at home watching movies all day. His friends Steve and Julius came over and hung out and watched one with him in the afternoon. When I got home, we hung out until I fell asleep on him. Again, so very sorry about that. I will try to not let that happen again... no guarantee's though.

Today I sat in a class for 8 hours and I feel very overwhelmed by everything I just learned. Of course I have been studying for over a week now and I still feel overwhelmed. I was in a class with doctors and nurse practitioners who already know how to run codes and do everything like it's a piece of cake. I only do on average about 1 code every 3-4 months in Labor and Delivery. (We are a high risk facility so we get a lot of sick patients.) A code means someone has basically died on you and you are trying to get them back. Anyways, pray for me tonight as I cram more knowledge into my brain for my test tomorrow. Matt folded my laundry for me. He made sure he didn't hurt himself. He took his first pain pill at 530pm. That's really good because it means his pain is more manageable. He hung out and watched 2 war movies today. The kids were with Claudia and my mom Sheila. Ok, I need to study. More later...

Sorry I didn't get a chance to write yesterday. We had a very busy day. We took the kids swimming at my mom's house in the morning and ate lunch there. When the kids woke up they went to Carmen Aker's house and played all night with her and Kendrish and then they spent the night. Matt and I went on a dinner train in Eustis through Mt. Dora to Lake Gem and back again. It took about 3 hours total. It was Gabe Butschek's (Matt's dad) 60th birthday get together. Matt's brother Scott and his girlfriend Michelle, Matt's parents Gabe and Janis, and Matt and I went. It was a fun evening together. When it was over we walked down to the lake and took pictures. Matt and I came home and had a lovely evening at home to ourselves.

This morning we slept in and then went to church. Carmen brought the kids to church so we got to see them there. After church we picked up lunch and came home. The boys ate really good then they went down for a nap. Lt. Marty Cyphers came over and brought us money that station 36 "A" shift raised for us. We had a nice visit with him for about 30 minutes. To all of the men on "A" shift, thank you so very much from the very bottom of our hearts. You don't understand how overwhelmed we were and what a huge blessing it was to receive a gift like that. Thank you!! Anyways, when he left, Matt and I took a great nap with the kids. (You must sleep when you can with kids.) Tonight we are going to go to my parents house later because the kids have to spend the night over there. Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow. I leave my house at 0545am and that is too early for everyone to get up. Since Matt can't drive or lift anything, my mom will take them to Claudia's tomorrow morning for me. Well I hear little pitter pattering feet upstairs so someone must be awake. Thank you again for everything everyone has done for us.

Ok, so I really need to give props for those people who go to school with children. This studying thing stinks anyways, but you throw kids into the mix and whew... it's a whole new world! I am really having a hard time trying to balance being a wife, mother, homemaker, friend and now a student (just for a week). I don't know how people do school on a full time basis with kids. I've got to hand it to them. I guess you can tell what I've been doing today.

We went and picked up more pain pills for Matt this morning. I guess he is having so much discomfort because he is young. They said that younger people have more intense pain receptors than older people because the older you get the duller the receptors get. (Matt say's "that means that Pat's pain receptors must be dead.- that's my dad.) He is doing really well though. Today he went out front and played baseball with the boys. I had my nephew Reece today so the boys loved it. They rode their bikes intermittently too. (Not Matt, just the kids.) They are so adorable. The big boys were trying to do their own thing and Logan was trying so hard to hang with them. After all, he is a big boy too. In case you haven't seen him, he weighs as much as my 3 year old. He will be a linebacker one day. Noah is tall and skinny. He will be a baseball player or a drummer. Anyways, we are doing really well today and I thank all of you for your continued support and prayers!

Busy Day...

I finally took Matt to get his chest x-ray this morning. We don't know what it says until we have his post-op appointment on next Thursday. After that Matt and I got breakfast together and enjoyed our quiet morning without the kids. I cleaned up the house, did laundry, and studied more for my class next week. Matt went upstairs and got a nap. Our night was not very restful. Logan was up from 2-4am because he wanted to sleep in our bed and we wouldn't let him. Noah woke up about 4am because he wet the bed so we had to change him and change his bed sheets. Our house doesn't sleep very much. It's kind of a zoo. A good one though. Anyways, my sister Jenny came and picked me up around 1245 for her doctors appointment. She is pregnant again and I am SO EXCITED!!! Today, Noah (my oldest) told her she had 2 babies in her belly. A girl baby and a boy baby. We laughed because he is so cute. He really loves babies. (My sister is only 8 weeks pregnant.) Anyways, the doctors appointment went well and then we picked up all of the kids at Claudia's house. When I got home, Joyce and Lisa (dispatchers from the fire department) came over and made us dinner and ate it with us. They were so nice. Joyce brought us a yearbook of the fire department which was really cool. She also brought us food to put in our freezer for later. What an awesome idea! Lisa cooked a killer meal! We ate poppy chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and fruit. They left around 630pm after they cleaned up the kitchen. Isn't that sweet. I didn't know what to think. After they left, Matt realized that he didn't have enough pain pills to get him through the night so we went to my mom's house to get some pills we left there for when he stays over there. The boys were "choosing" to have a very disobedient day today (because life is all about the choices) so we came straight home and put them in the bath and then put them to bed. Noah went right down with no problem. Logan... well lets just say he's still battling it out with himself. I guess I should go tend to him. More tomorrow...

This morning we woke up and it was a beautiful day out! Of course the only thing that would have made it even better would have been if we did not hear the neighbor's rooster crowing. Oh well! Our friend John came over today around 9am to hang out with Matt. They had a good time just visiting and cracking jokes about each other. Around 1130 I got a call from my friend Veronica from work and she told me she was in labor and wanted me to come and be there for her delivery and help her. I was so excited for her, so of course I went. I got to the hospital around noon and she delivered at 515pm. She was a champ! In the mean time, Matt toke a long nap and then he read a book until I got home. My mom had the boys so on my way home from the hospital I picked them up. They went swimming and ate pizza over there. When I got home, we all ate pizza that Linda Thompson bought us. After that the boys went for a bike ride around the neighborhood while Matt and I walked with them.They are so cute I can hardly stand it. (No I am not prejudice, they really are cute!) When we got home, Matt's dad Gabe was waiting in our driveway for us. He was in town on business so he decided to stop by for a visit. The boys were very surprised to see him. We had a lot of fun together. Of course the boys were totally wild and he loved every minute of it. Gabe helped me put the boys in bed and then he had to go back to his hotel and do more work. Matt is watching basketball now and relaxing. Which is good for him because I keep catching him trying to do things around the house. Anyways, I need to go and study more for my ACLS class next week. More updates later...