He’s AWAKE!

Me
Surgery #4 went well.  They were able to close up his abdomen, and things are looking good there.  They were able to wean him of the sedation and let him wake up giving him power to breath on his own.  It took about an hour of me helping him slowly wake up, we didn't want him to wake up too fast or else he could have gone into shock again.  He's now able to have ice chips, and is enjoying that.  He's doing a lot better emotionally, lastnight was a pretty scary night for me.  He's alert, but can't speak very well yet, but he's patient and resting. I can't beleive it's been a week. The scariest, fastest, and slowest week of my life, all rolled into one.  There's a…
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Surgery #3 Update

Me
Kevin had surgery #3 tonight, it went well, it was just to check on things and to irrigate the cloudy stuff that had gathered.  We hoped they could go ahead and sew his belly together, but he's still too swollen, so PLEASE pray that his swelling will continue to decrease, and they can seal him up with his next surgery.  The gap gets smaller with each time, so here's hoping... He's doing nicely, as well as can be expected for all he's been through. I was going to stay the night with him, but realized it wouldn't make much difference to him, but it would make a difference for me to sleep at home and be with our kids in the morning.  Plus I know he's in excellent hands, I…
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Surgery #2 Update.

Me
Thank you everyone for your responses and well thoughts, they're appreciated SO much. Kevin came out of surgery this afternoon about 4:40 (went in about 2:30), they've been able to reattach his bowels, and then they left him open with a wound vac because he's still really swollen and because they want to go back to check out that the bowel is attached well and healing.  He's very heavily sedated, but is still trying to wake up and remove his ventilator again. I'll try to answer questions as I can, but I'm kinda swamped, and overwhelmed.  Feel free to ask again, or email me.
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Kevin is in the Intensive Care Unit

Me
Kevin is in the ICU.  Short version- ruptured intestine (Crohns related), sepsis infection, kidney failure, BP 55/22, emergency surgery 1:40 AM Saturday morning, ICU, ventilator, sedated, wound vac (meaning they didn't close him up), I stepped out to get some rest, Kevin pulls out ventilator, because Kevin can (almost) breath by himself they let the sedation wear off, Kevin wakes up, labored talking for about 3 minutes, BiPap (aka respirator), now Kevin can't talk, but is wondering what on earth is going on.  Kevin still desperately needs his rest to keep his vitals OK so he can continue to heal and fight the infection, but he needs to know what on earth is happening (wouldn't anybody?) bad games of sherades... Going into another surgery tomorrow (Monday) afternoon, looks like it's…
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Our Getaway

Me
Last Friday Kevin had a day off, so we decided to get away one last time before life changes, and we're on our own again. Thursday night we went to Salt Lake and checked in at the Plaza at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  We got a room on the North West side, and this was our view from our window.  I thought the room was a little pink and outdated, but comfortable and we had a mini fridge and microwave. This view was significant to me because my grandparents lived in the building straight ahead on the left, or straight west from the conference center, for 21 years.  My other grandparents served a mission here, and lived in a condo in one of the slanted high rises, best…
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Life is absolutly CRAZY!

Me
The last week has been hard, and good in different ways. My parents celebrated their 28th anniversary last Friday.  Happy Anniversary guys!  For their anniversary they decided to take off and go visit my Mom's sister Marlene in Wyoming, they also visited Jackson Hole and the Tetons. While they were gone a nasty cold caught up with me.  I was pretty miserable for a few days. Once they got back I started to feel like a person again, and then Sunday night Kevin said his belly felt weird.  "Doesn't hurt, just feels weird."  Next thing we knew he spent the night throwing up, and was severely dehydrated by morning.  He called in sick and I debated on taking him to urgent care or trying to get him into the doctor. …
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We Put Another Offer Down

Me
And are looking to put another one down in the next 5 days or so, given it receives the "handyman Dad's approval." We almost put two offers down the other night, but decided not to at the last minute.  The house we changed our minds about just wasn't right for us, and would have needed some major renovations fairly soon, plus the current owners are gung-hoe on DIY projects, and I was concerned on the stability of some of those given I could see some tale-tale signs that they'd not followed all the proper steps in their projects to ensure good condition long-term. Still no informative word on offer 1.  It's still our favorite, though the second offer is a stunning house in a great neighborhood, it's farther from work…
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House Hunting

Me
We still haven't heard back on offer #1 as we'll affectionately call that house now.  It was 4 weeks lastnight since we made that offer and we were told it would be a couple weeks... So my Realtor and I went out yesterday to find some more prospective homes.  What Kevin and I didn't understand is you can make more than one offer, so we saw about 6-7 houses yesterday, and I came home with 4 houses that I would put an offer on and two that I fell in love with.  After looking into it one of those four is not right for us, and that leaves three, one of witch I'd go CRAZY over and love to pieces we hope to write up an offer on that one…
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A year ago Today

Me
Hurricane Ike Today Michael doens't remember it.  He remembers sunshine while it rained while we lived in Texas, but not the hurricane.  Don't know why.  I doubt the other boys have much of a memory of it at all. I remember fear and frustration, then relief that things would be OK.  I'm very grateful today to not have to worry about that anymore.  Not that it was a big threat, but it was big enough to become REALLY real.
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