Welcome Back Home

Dear my friends and family,

I just wanted to give you a quick update about everything that has been going on with my grandfather. 

First of all, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the prayers that you sent up for my Papa's surgery. When I posted the prayer request on Facebook, I was amazed at how many of you sent encouraging words and/or said that you were praying.  That in itself was encouraging to me and my family. But more so, thank you for all of the prayers that you sent up. God answered! My grandpa is doing so well right now and he has been healing with no real complictions. All praise be to God!


The day of the surgery was very long. (I wrote some about that below, but it is pretty scattered because I was really tired when I wrote about everything.)  When the doctor finally saw us he was really worried about risk of a stroke. He had actually thought that my grandpa may have had a stroke during surgery. He did not really come out and say this directly, but made us aware of the risk. This was weighing pretty heavy on our minds. We still had to wait another two hours before we could see him. We saw him and his face was pretty swollen and he was still pretty out of it due to the anesthesia. He was able to squeeze our hands though and that was promising.

We had to leave, but when we came back in a few hours the hospital had taking the tube out of his throat. He was talking to us and he knew who we were.  No stroke! Praise the Lord. Plus some of the swelling had gone down in his face and he was already looking a lot better. He was even able to move out of the recovery hall the next morning.

  

 This is him a day or two after his surgery.  He looks even better than this now.

We took this picture to show to my grandma since she is the nursing home and couldn't visit.

Everyone told us how much pain he was going to be in after the surgery. The nurse recommended that he ask for pain medicine every four hours. However, he actually had very little pain at all. He hardly took any pain medicine. He was talking to us, walking, and sitting in chairs by the next day. It was hard to believe that he had actually just had a major surgery. It was amazing how well he was doing.

He was slightly confused at times. This was a little unnerving, but he always knew who we were. They said that was normal since the anesthesia was still wearing off and he wasn't getting much sleep. It is hard to rest when they are constantly checking your blood sugar levels, temperature, and such.  And he quickly got over the confusion in about a day.

We actually was able to bring him home yesterday. He's doing wonderful! He looks great and is back to his normal self.

I just wanted to give you all a quick update to let you know all the God has done for us and thank you again for all your love, prayers, and support!


Jenna

P.S. I am back at school now, and one of my roommate's grandmother is pretty sick as well. If you could please say a quick prayer for her recovery!

Hospitals Part II

We've been at the hospital all day. We woke up around 3:30 this morning. We got ready and left for the hotel around 5:00 am.  Papa, Uncle, Me, and Mom parked entered the dark waiting room and went straight up to the 4th floor. Here, a most excellent nurse took us in and started the basics pre-surgery stuff. She had worked with us the day before too. We only got to sit with him for roughly thirty minutes. We told him see you in a little while. Then he went to pre-op for about two hours. They told us this would be the best time for us to leave and go get some breakfast before the operation actually started.  The real open heart stuff didn't actually start till around 7:30.

We got back and began the waiting.  The Chaplin keep us updated, but it was just a constant sit and wait for updates. It wasn't till closer to 4:00 that the doctor finally met with us. He talked to us about everything and risk, but said that he was doing okay now. We'd know more once he began to wake up and we couldn't see him for another two hours.

So we waited some more...this last couple of hours dragged by. We finally got to see him. They let the whole family go into his room. He had just began to wake up. We talked to him but he couldn't because he had a tube in his mouth.  He could squeeze or hands. That was a great news. We all were in tears though. It was just hard to see him so swollen, plus relief of seeing him.

When we came back later that night, the nurses had taken the tube out of his throat. He was talking again. He was still very tired, but it was nice to talk to him. He knew who we all were and he was doing so well.

I was going to write more, but I only got three hours of sleep last night. I beat. Praise the Lord that he is doing so well. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness. Praise the Lord for great nurses and doctors too! They all were super impressive.

Hello Hospital, I don't want to see you any more anytime soon.

We're sitting here at the hospital. In the heart wing. Waiting. And waiting. We'll probably be here for multiple more hours. I am not really sure how much longer really. I just really know that my grandpa is having open heart surgery.  He is having a triple bypass and aorta valve replacement.

The Chaplin just came and spoke to our family. He's the man that gives us all the updates. He said that everything is going well so far. Good news for sure.

So many people have been so supportive and prayerful. That means so much to me.


Now I need to try to get some more of that crazy homework that I've due done while I wait.

Yoga Time

I just finished working out to Yoga X from P90X. Whew, let me tell you something Yoga X is NO joke.  I think I sweat more in Yoga X than in almost any other program.  No sir, no joke at all. Well...actually...I guess the joke about it is watching me trying to do these incredibly hard moves. My body sorta lacks balance and some coordination...two things that are sorta helpful in yoga...just saying.

|Photo Credit|

So it may or may not be a secret that I've been trying to lose a little Christmas weight. Well that...and maybe a bit more couldn't hurt either. And I don't particularly want to do it by following the example in the above picture. Because, I can be honest here, I really enjoying eating. And one water and a salad is not going to always cut it for me. So I am trying to eat a little better, cut back on the amount of soda I drink, and pick back up with some good "working out" habits. Good plan right? Well I hope so.

Being back at school has brought its strengths and its own weaknesses to this equation. I recently changed my major (more on that soon) so I've been extremely busy with hardier classes. This makes my extra free time less available and less available. Especially if this free time comes late at night because I have 8am classes four days a week.  Bleh! However, the strengths include inspiration from friends and of course walking back and forth between classes.  The roommates and I have dropped the campus meal plan and have decided to cook for ourselves. This has been challenging, but better in taste, quality, and may even venture to say in health. It has to beat eating pizza hut and/or chic-fil-a once a day (if not twice), right? 


Believe it or not...I actually enjoy working out. Especially after a few days into the routine and your body starts getting use to everything. It is nice to start to feel in shape. It makes you start feeling better and that helps your mood and than if you continue it helps you start looking better too. Win, win. It's just getting started, and keeping it a habit.

# 30 I want to build a snowman

So one of my goals on my to-do list for 2011 was to build a snowman.  So I present to you the snowman! he's sorta cute...right?  I realized that my snowman building skills aren't that good. poor little guy, give him a break, he thinks his frosty. But...

It wasn't that I didn't try to make him bigger..I just struggled.

Well I'm going to count him as as accomplishing #30 on my to-do list.  # 30 I want to build a snowman. Build a snowman for the WIN!

Also, I wanted to share this little beauty with everyone. We went sledding down the hill next to our apartment....and well I'll let the picture speak for itself...

My To do List: Goals For This New Year

32 Things I Want to do in 2011

1. I want to improve my cooking skills.
2. I want to finish at least ten books - simply for the joy of reading.
3. I want to improve my blogging skills - write more often.
4. I want to make no less than a B- in all of my classes that I will be taking.
5. I want to go to summer school to catch up on the classes in my new major.
6. I want to visit a haunted house in October. 
7. I want to go on a roadtrip.
8. I want to sketch more often
9. I want to get in real good shape.
10. I want to learn how to eat healthier.
11. I want to see California
12. I want to be more independent
13. I want to be a better friend.
14. I want to go to bed earlier, so I can wake up earlier
15. I want to improve my personal fashion.
16. I want to become a thrift store junkie.
17. I want to see a concert.
18. I want to turn Sunday's into my personal spa day.
19. I want to organize my France pictures
20. I want to have a more self confidence
21. I want to make more friends
22. I want to see an imax film
23. I want to eat breakfast before class
24. I want to figure out what I want to do with my life
25. I want to learn to sew
26. I want to believe that I can succeed
27. I want to go white water rafting
28. I want to see the sunrise on a beach
29. I want to run a 5k
30. I want to build a snowman
31. I want to win a million dollars :)
32. I want to go dancing

Happy New Years

I got to spend a few days including my New Year in this wonderful place:

New York

I got to visit this great place with one of my best friends.  We left Tuesday night at around 8 and did not arrive till around 5 or 6 am on Wednesday morning. My friend did all of the driving because she is a master of the road and can handle the long drive. However, I was a pretty good co-pilot.  

We got to spend a lot of time with her great family. I know she misses them a whole lot while away.

We also went shopping in the city and got to see the show Stomp while there.   



Stomp was the show we saw and it was pretty awesome. When I say pretty awesome I mean freakin' amazing!!

We ate at the cheesecake factory one night. So good. I had the pasta along with the simple yet delicious plain cheese cake for dessert. Of course, I ordered mine with the chocolate sauce on the side. It was like cheese cake heaven.

However, our suitcases could not take the long road trip and got a little car sick. Hence why they have thrown up all over our room once we finally arrived.

New York is an amazing place and I cannot wait to explore there again someday. Our trip was great and I had a good time, well except for the part about getting lost on the subway for an hour and half. Ahhh...