On the edge...

If a Dr. comes to you, bearing 8 x 10 glossies...do not look - there's no reason to see them.  If the Dr. insists, turn and run.  Fast.  I think that is where the real terror began. The words brought icicles to my heart, but, seeing the photos, that deadly menace inside of my Kimmy...put me over the edge...

10/21/10

"Hi everyone...sorry for the late update, but to quote Pete Townsend, it was 'another tricky day'...I get no cell reception in the hospital (clever design) and between contacting the school to keep tabs on the kids, calling Rincon Vista to cover Kim's shift and Barnes & Noble to cover mine, I have low battery/no minute syndrome, not to mention nothing left in my tank.

Kim's gall bladder surgery went fine, but while in there, Dr. Atikinson, her surgeon, saw something with her liver that he wants to further check out. This caused the operation to be 1 1/2 hours, instead of 15 minutes.

I just got home and she is resting comfortably and is doing much better since having her gall bladder out. We took a few spins around the hospital and she did great. They have her on morphine for pain, which helps (she needed more after seeing the Phillies game, unfortunately).

Tomorrow, at 10:30 a.m., Dr. Tsai, Kim's G.I. Dr., will perform an upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy to further research her liver. She will be in the hospital until Friday. St. Joseph's has been great - the doctors are fantastic and the nurses are attentive. She's only able to eat broth and jello, so she's staying hungry, having only eaten an apple for breakfast yesterday.

The bambinis have been super too. I picked them up at school and hustled them down to see their mom. They were able to knock out their homework their and enjoy some fine cafeteria dining, as well. They miss Kimmy and we hope to get her home soon. I wore out a rosary today over there. She is even served communion and they have morning and evening prayer over the intercom.

 

Our neighbors have been great, taking the kids in the early evening so I can stay longer with Kim and we get them into their own beds to keep things as normal as possible for them. The schools have been great as well. In fact, Tonio's and Autumn's principal, Ms. Bryson called me personally to ask if she could cook for us or let me know if I needed her to help them with homework after school she'd be glad to. But they are doing fine.

 

I will be heading back down to see her after I drop the kids at school in the morning and will do my best to keep you all in the loop - bringing a notebook tomorrow to better write down the Dr's findings, please excuse the spellings.

 

Kimmy sends her love to all! Love, Dave"

 

 

And one from Autumn, to her friend Hadley...

 

Hey dude! What's up?! How was school? My school day was pretty good. My mom had her operation! We are going to visit her in a couple of minutes. She is coming home tomorrow I think. The doctors have to do a few more tests on her. We got up at 5:00 A.M. today!! The only reason we did was cause we saw my mom before school. Well, GTG! I just wanted to tell you! Autumn

 

....my little Kim...our optimist! 

 

    But, later, she found out more...

 

Dear Emma,

What's up?! It's so so ok! I understand! That's awesome your in band! Sorry your teacher is mean. Awesome, a funny music teacher!! I saw Mrs. Rienstra today! I am so so so super sad though! My mom is in the hospital!! Sorry I didn't e-mail you the night it happened. She has been there since Tuesday. Her ribs have been hurting for a couple weeks and it kept getting worse and worse so she called her doctor and she couldn't get her in to Monday and her doctor said if it was that bad then go to the emergency room. So she did, she went to St. Joe's hospital and had to get or gall Bladder removed. She is still in the hospital even though her gall bladder is removed. They found something wrong with her liver and she has blood clots too I think. I am so sad! I don't even know if she will be home for the weekend!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! She has been gone for 3 days, I think this is the third. Well, I got to go now. Sorry I didn't e-mail you in such a long time!

Your BFF, Autumn

 

 

And one to my District Manager, Tom:

 

 "Tom, another day down...feels like a week...I keep waiting to wake up from this bad dream and time is moving pretty strangely.

So, Kim's upper endoscopy and colonoscopy had to be canceled this morning, as the liquid they gave her last night to cleanse her system did not do their job. They decided to do a cat scan of her chest this morning and discovered multiple blood clots and a mass in her left lung. At the time, they had suspicions that she had either TB or advanced valley fever, but further tests ruled them both out, which was our good news of the day. She was moved to ICU, placed on oxygen and blood thinners. Now, they must get rid of the blood clots and get her back off oxygen before they can proceed to treat her liver and lung. They are also wanting to do a CVC and PTscan to figure out where else she might be affected...on top of it, she is in a lot of pain, despite morphine, from her gall bladder surgery.

She is such an amazingly positive person and has kept a great attitude during this whole thing...we're praying tomorrow brings some answers on how to help her get healthy and back home. We've had tremendous support and help from friends and neighbors, including you and the team at the store, for which we are so appreciative.

I'll keep you updated. Thanks again, Dave"

 

And by this time, the rush of support was incredible!  From our  Southwest family, Viro's, our 'hood, our schools, our church and the Knights of Columbus...

          The 'time thing' that I mentioned to Tom, how it moved strangely...it still does, in a different way...seems like we just do all we can to get through the day - I get the bambini to bed, avoid sleep...especially now...and hope, when I do sleep, that the dreams do not go back to these days last year...

 

         I'll try to include all of the email updates that I sent out, prior to us building her blog together - she wanted me to print them.  So, when she was feeling better, she could read them all...Here is one I missed from 10/19/2010:

 

"

Hi everyone,

Kimmy has had some stomach/rib pain over the last few days...she called her Dr. this morning, who asked her to proceed to St. Joseph's Hospital. They've just decided to keep her and schedule gall bladder surgery. I'm rounding up some stuff for her and the bambinis are headed next door (Autumn to Brian and Betsey's and the boys to Tom and Amy's). I'm going back to the hospital now and will keep you all posted.

Love, Dave"