Papa Joe Turns 90 Years Old

On Wednesday Papa Joe turned 90 years old. We celebrated by having dinner with the family. Shannon's brother John flew in from Virginia, but the rest of his family were not able to come along.

Today we had cake and ice cream at Papa Joe's house. Several of Papa Joe's nephews and their wives visited, as well as my parents. I did not get a photo of the entire group, but did get one with the great-grandkids.










Papa Joe passed his driver's exam,so he is legal to drive for the next two years. We're trying to convince him to stay within city limits.










Jackson was in charge of cousin patrol. What could possibly go wrong?

Riches and honor are with me, Enduring riches and righteousness. ". Proverbs 8:18


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Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

~State Football Playoffs.  Our first playoff game is next Wednesday.
~my Friday Spaghetti Ladies. 
~Bryce.  He helps me.
~the beautiful weather we had Monday for Jackson's Sr. pics.
~Shannon.
~my parents for helping out with the kids.
~that Papa Joe is much improved.
~soccer season and the opportunity to see my children run and play.
~email.
~Jackson's abs.  How else could he do this?

 "There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand." Proverbs 19:21

Checking In

It has been quite awhile since I have posted to my blog. I think about it regularly, just don't seem to be able to get around to it. I thought about promising to post every day this week, but I'm not confident I could keep the promise. So, we'll take it day by day.

Here are some quick updates:

Soccer is over. I'll try to get some pictures and highlights posted soon.

School is over, except for a few more math lessons for Chase. He's usually one of my first ones done. Not this year. He tells me he'll be done by the end of the week. Again. Regardless, I'm done with school. Pray for us, please, as we make decisions regarding next school year.

Bryce and Colton leave for Jr. Boys Camp tomorrow morning. Still doing laundry. Still packing.

Jackson and Chase are taking Driver's Ed this month. So far, so good. They are open enrolling through the Grundy Center school district. The instructor was kind enough to allow Chase to take the course, even though he doesn't turn 14 until July 24. Mr. Dirks agreed to drive with him after his birthday, allowing us to take next summer off. We really appreciate it.

Although we are not participating in any organized sports like baseball this summer, the three older boys are still quite busy. On top of Driver's Ed, they are expected to lift weights 4 times per week for football. They also have football drills several times a week. They have shooting practice for basketball three mornings a week, open gym one evening, and scrimmages another evening.

We have four baby kittens.

We bought a pool pass. The big boys took the little ones to the pool a couple times this past week. It was awesome. I got the house to myself, and the kids came back tired out.

My pregnancy is progressing as expected. My blood pressure began creeping up about a month ago, so my OB prescribed me some meds. They seem to be doing the job, but tend to make me irritable (or so my family says). I'm not liking that aspect. I'm counting down the weeks until I can stop the pills. Baby is healthy. That's what's important.

Papa Joe has been sick the past week. Wednesday night while he was home alone, his heart stopped, activating his defibrillator. He had been preparing for a colonoscopy which was scheduled for Thursday morning. We think perhaps he was dehydrated, or somehow had a reaction with his meds that triggered the attack. We don't have any clear answers yet. He was in the hospital until Friday, when he was discharged. Carrie and Jason, Shannon's sister and brother-in-law, took him home, but were uncomfortable leaving him, so they took him to their home in Huxley. He started acting as if he were having a stroke, so they took him to the ER in Ames. We received a call that we needed to get there as soon as possible because Shannon is his power of attorney and he was fading fast. When we arrived, he was stabilized, but in a coma. They decided to transfer him to intensive care, and by the time we were able to see him again, he was talking, moving his arms and legs, and relatively lucid. Saturday he was moved out of ICU, and basically has been just hanging out there over the weekend. Kind of like an expensive hotel room, without the amenities. Around 3:00 this afternoon, while playing cards, he became very agitated and started acting out of character. Apparently they're tweaking his meds some, so we're hoping his personality will revert back to his normal when they figure everything out. We're hoping to get some more answers when the doctors show up again Monday morning. It's been a bit frustrating trying to communicate with the hospital personnel. Please pray as we make decisions about what course to take with Papa Joe's care after he is released.

I also need to post pictures from Papa Joe's 85th Birthday Open House we hosted a few weeks ago.

This is getting plenty long, and it's time to change the laundry loads. More to come soon.



Here is a photo Alex took of a flower somewhere on our property, just because posts without photos are boring.

"By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches and honor and life." Proverbs 22:4

Christmas 2008

On Christmas Eve we spent the afternoon in Reinbeck at Grandma Shirley & Papa Ken's house. We opened gifts and had an early dinner. We left for home early due to blowing snow issues. We made it home without incident, but our road was filling up in a hurry.

Hudson's new tricycle

Naomi's geography game


Katie got a Fur Real dog


Colton got a Wii game


Bryce's Wii game


Chase


Jackson and Alex waiting their turns


Jodi

Shannon


Grandma Shirley


Papa Ken trying out his stadium chair

We spent the evening at home playing some of the Xbox and Wii games the kids received as gifts.

On Christmas morning the kids woke up about 7:30. We make them all gather in the upstairs hallway, then go downstairs from youngest to oldest. First they get their stockings, then we sort out the gifts. I was a bit of a Scrooge this year, and we didn't even put up a tree or any decorations. By the time we got an afternoon of decent weather, it was a week and a half before Christmas, and it seemed like too much hassle to traipse through the snow and chop down a tree. We took the money we would have spent on a tree and bought canned goods for a family that our church sponsored.

We didn't have a ton of gifts to open this year because we are giving the kids a lump of money to plan a trip (or trips) with. They get pick when and where, as long as it fits within the allotted budget. Our goal was to avoid buying a bunch of gifts just for the sake of buying a bunch of gifts, and allow the kids to create some memories, instead.

Despite the small volume of gifts, we still had a fun morning. After the unwrapping was done, we played with some gifts, then I settled in for my nap, and Shannon got started on preparing our Christmas dinner. Ever since I can remember, it has been our tradition that Shannon cooks on Christmas. This year we had lasagna and garlic bread. It was delicious. We got the crystal goblets out and had some sparkling grape juice, and the kids thought they were very special.

**Shannon and I were just discussing when the cooking tradition began. Back when we lived in Nevada, when I was about 5 months pregnant with Colton, we were expecting a house full of guests, and I came down with the flu. I don't remember ever being so miserable. Shannon took over, and did such a great job that I've allowed him to continue the tradition.**

Christmas afternoon we went to Papa Joe's to spend some time with Shannon's family.

Papa Joe

Shannon's sister Carrie

Carrie's husband Jason

Cousin Will

Cousin Ben

The evening ended in a trip to the ER. That's a tradition we hope not to continue!

Katie's lyrics to "Jingle Bells"
Jingle Bells, Christmas Bells
Jingle all the way.
How much fun
It is to ride
In a one foot Christmas sleigh.
Hooray!



"...and every man is a friend to one who gives gifts." Proverbs 19:6b

Another Update

On Monday Papa Joe was scheduled to have a defibrillator---okay, I can't think of a good word: installed, inserted, placed in his body?? What is the correct terminology? You get the idea. Regardless of what it's called, the surgery was canceled because his potassium levels were quite elevated prior to surgery. They kept him in the hospital overnight, and by morning the potassium was okay, but surgery couldn't be rescheduled until Thursday. He came home from Ames yesterday afternoon.

This morning Papa Joe called and said he was dizzy and had pain behind his eyes. Shannon's brother called Dr. Sorrentino's office and they said the roads were quite bad near Ames, and he should go to his family doctor in Conrad for a checkup. His blood pressure was very low, causing the dizziness. They decided to admit him back to the hospital in Ames. As of 6:00 tonight he hadn't seen a doctor yet. We assume surgery is still scheduled for 10:30 tomorrow morning.

We're thankful Shannon's brother John is here this week. He was able to take Papa Joe back to the hospital.

We actually had a pretty good day of school today. It has been sporadic lately with doctor's appointments, Papa Joe sitting, and lots of other distractions. I generally try to push the kids to be half done with their school by Christmas. Not going to happen this year. We'll get back into the swing of things soon.

"When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you." Proverbs 2:10-11

Update on Papa Joe

Last week included several tests for Papa Joe. Tuesday we met with the cardiologist, and they were able to do a chemical stress test later that day. Thursday and Friday they did a thiamine test to help determine how much viable muscle tissue there is in his heart.

The results came back in on Friday afternoon, and they weren't favorable for bypass surgery. Papa Joe doesn't have enough live muscle tissue in his heart to make bypass surgery an option. They scheduled an appointment with a different cardiologist to discuss a defibrillator for Dec. 16th.

Per the doctor's recommendation, we have had someone staying with Papa Joe since he's been home from the hospital. He spent two nights here with us, Angie (Shannon's cousin) stayed with him at his house one night, Alex and Jack spent Thursday night there, and Carrie (Shannon's sister) had weekend duty. Alex and Jack were back again with him Sunday night. Tonight Barry is staying with him. We're trying to convince him to come live with us. He hasn't made up his mind that he wants to do that, yet.

Today Shannon received a call from the Iowa Heart Center that they would like to move Papa Joe's appointment up to tomorrow morning at 8:00am. Shortly after that, they called back and asked if we could be there at 3:30 this afternoon. Barry (Shannon's uncle) and I were able to drive him to Ames for this appointment.

Dr. Sorrentino was quite blunt with us, and explained that last year his heart was functioning at a normal level of 55 (%?), but is now at 35, which is categorized as "weak". Even if they could bypass the clogged arteries, it wouldn't do any good because the heart isn't functioning well enough to pump the blood through the new vessels.

She is willing to attempt to implant a defibrillator for his heart. This would "jump start" his heart if it should stop beating again. We have this procedure scheduled for Monday at 12:30pm. We would appreciate your prayers for the surgeons and Papa Joe.

Shannon's brother, John, is making plans to come visit soon. He lives in Virginia.

Papa Joe is feeling well. He is okay with not being able to drive for awhile. The boys went grocery shopping for him today. He needs to reduce his sodium intake, but otherwise can proceed with life as usual, while limiting his physical activity. He's planning a trip to the casino with his buddies tomorrow night.

His Lifeline was installed Saturday. Hudson was kind enough to test it out by pressing the "Help" button twice yesterday while we were visiting. At least we know it works!

"For as he thinks in his heart, so he is..." Proverbs 23:7a

Saturday Update

Papa Joe is still in the hospital. We really don't have any new information. Everything is on hold over the weekend. We were expecting the doctor to stop in while we visited the hospital last night, but he didn't.

I had an error in my last post. There are four arteries involved, not three. Two of them are 100% blocked, one 90%, one 60%. There was sticky note on the paperwork left in his room stating we have an appointment with Dr. Ahmed on Tuesday at 9:00am.

We are planning to take the kids to visit the hospital this afternoon. Papa Joe is in good spirits, and I think we'll take a deck of cards along to get a game going while we're there.

"The rich man's wealth is his strong city, the destruction of the poor is their poverty." Proverbs 10:15

Update on Papa Joe

Papa Joe had a good night Wednesday night. Of course there were a lot of interruptions throughout the night, but his vitals remained stable.

Shannon and I were able to speak to the cardiologist around 12:30 yesterday. He explained that they would like to do an angiogram to determine what damage there might be to Papa Joe's heart. Depending on the results, there are several options. If they find blockage in only one artery, they will most likely put a stent in at that time. If more than one artery is blocked, then bypss surgery is an option, even at his age (83). He would need to be transferred to a different hospital for bypass surgery. Dr. Ahmed said there was an outside chance that he could do the angiogram late Thursday evening, and if not they would do it at 7:30 Friday morning.

We left the hospital at 2:00pm so Shannon could get back to work and I could get Jack and Chase to basketball practice. About 10 minutes after I got home, Carrie called saying they were going to do the angiogram at 4:30pm. Shannon wasn't able to reschedule his patients with such little notice, so I dropped the boys off in Gladbrook at practice and continued on back to Marshalltown.

They came to take Papa Joe to surgery at about 4:30pm, and we arrived on the surgery floor at 4:45pm. The nurse estimated that they should be done in about an hour. Angie and Tim went to grab something to eat, and Carrie was still in the process of dropping her boys off at our house and returning to the hospital.

At 5:15pm Dr. Ahmed took Barry and I to look at the pictures on the computer that he had taken of Papa Joe's heart. There are three main arteries. One of them was completely blown. Not even visible on the picture. Another was 90% occluded, and the third was 60% blocked. They did not do an angioplasty at that time. Testing needs to be done to determine if the blown artery is viable, or just dead tissue. If it is dead, then it cannot be repaired, even with bypass. Dr. Ahmed is going to consult with the cardiac surgeon today, and let us know what they recommend after that time.

Papa Joe will likely be released from the hospital today. We are scrambling to set up schedules of care for him. He's not one to lie back and take it easy, but he NEEDS to rest. He lives alone. We're also looking into getting him a Life Alert type thing, you know, the "I've fallen and I can't get up!" necklace thing. He'll just LOVE that.

Thank you for your prayers, calls and support. There were several prayer chains going for Papa Joe, and we certainly felt God's hand in the way events played out.

Our older boys have been great caring for the younger ones this week, and we really appreciate their help. The littles are missing their mama and daddy, and are making up for lost time by sleeping with us at night. Oh, joy.

We're attempting to get some good school time in today, and maybe even cook a real meal. It's taken me over six hours just to complete this post, so I'm not holding my breath on anything today.

I've vacuumed the house, folded 4 loads of laundry that has been hanging around in the laundry room since early this week, and I'm steadily attacking the mound of dirty laundry awaiting my attention. All in good time...

We discovered this week that Papa Murphy's 5-meat Stuffed Pizza is really good.

"As in water face reflects face, so a man's heart reveals the man." Proverbs 27:19

Heroes

Yesterday I left home at 11:45 with Alex, Jackson and Bryce. Shannon and I are doing a bible study with Julie once a week. The boys had haircut appointments scheduled at 2:00.

At 12:53 Chase called my cell phone and said in a shaky voice that Papa Joe (Shannon's grandpa) was lying on our garage floor but wouldn't say anything to him. His eyes were open.

Shannon immediately took off for home. I stayed on the phone with Chase and told him to get a piece of paper and pencil and had him write down our address. He knows this information under normal conditions, but I wanted to make sure he wouldn't forget it. I told him to hang up the phone, then call 9-1-1 and the dispatcher would help him through the rest. I gave the boys the check for their haircuts, then left for home (13 miles).

When Shannon arrived home at 1:04, Papa Joe had no pulse and was blue. As Shannon began CPR, Papa Joe took a big gasping breath, but remained unconscious.

When I arrived home, about 5-6 minutes after Shannon did, Papa Joe's truck and Shannon's car were parked out by the barn. I assumed the ambulance had been there and left already, but as I approached the garage I saw Shannon doing CPR on Papa Joe. I lifted his head up off of the damp garage floor, and he was able to raise his head and was moving his tongue, but he wasn't able to squeeze my hand. His eyes were wide open and unfocused. Shannon continued CPR.

A few minutes later the ambulance arrived. The ambulance crew loaded him up and left for Marshalltown. They picked up a couple paramedics outside of Gladbrook. Shannon followed them to the hospital, and I stayed home awhile to get the kids settled in.

Chase was shaken, but doing well. The 9-1-1 operator kept him on the phone until the ambulance arrived, which I'm thankful for. She kept telling him not to look out the window in the door, and to keep the little children away. I made some phone calls to Shannon's uncle and cousin, but they were both at work. I was able to get ahold of a friend of Papa Joe's, and he knew where they worked and was able to contact them. I also called the school to let them know the boys most likely wouldn't be at basketball practice. Grandma Shirley was able to get the boys to their haircut appointment and then home. Chase opted to skip basketball practice, but Jackson wanted to practice.

When I arrived at the hospital, Papa Joe was getting a CT scan. He was conscious, but not speaking clearly. Amazingly, within about 10-15 minutes he was speaking more clearly and moving his arms and legs pretty well. He was quite nauseaus, and got very emotional when he found out it was Chase that called 9-1-1 to save him, but overall made great improvement within a relatively short period of time.

Apparently Papa Joe had come over to work on the snowblower. Shannon had gotten it attached to the tractor, but hadn't put the belt on yet. Papa Joe remembers backing the tractor out of the barn, then the snowblower fell off. He drove the tractor to the driveway, then walked back toward the barn to get the snowblower. Chase says that's when he first noticed he was at our house and saw him out in the yard by the snowblower. We think Papa Joe tried moving the snowblower (VERY heavy) to the driveway, and something happened. He has no memory of coming back to the house, just backing the tractor up from the barn.

Colton found him inside the garage by the entrance door to the house and told Chase.

The CT scan showed no bleeds, and his labs showed very elevated potassium levels, but his enzymes were relatively normal. They at first suspected a stroke, but now are leaning more towards a heart attack or some type of arrythmia that caused his heart to stop. They admitted him to the ICU and will run a bunch more tests today. Papa Joe, of course, thought he was ready to go home by about 4:30 yesterday afternoon.

I'm very proud of Chase and Shannon. They kept their heads in a scary situation and literally saved Papa Joe's life. They're my heroes. Papa Joe has been the "rock" in Shannon's life, and would be greatly missed.

Shannon was able to get to sleep after about an hour of Xbox 360 to "decompress", and slept pretty well until about 6:00am. He got up, went the the fitness center (he has NEVER done that in the morning), and just got back. He's feeling better now and is getting ready for work. I've been awake since 3:00am.

Please continue to pray for Papa Joe, and for the rest of the family as we assess the needs that he may have and make arrangements to care for him.

"Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers." Proverbs 17:6

Lemon Face

Papa Joe took us out to eat the night before he flew out to Virginia to visit Shannon's brother John. This picture shows Hudson's first experience tasting a lemon. The funny part was, he would stick it in his mouth, get the classic "lemon face", then smile and do it all over again.







Chase was being photographer for the evening, and Katie gave him the classic "LOSER" sign while he snapped this one. Where do they learn these things?

"A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance..." Proverbs 15:13

Papa Joe

On Saturday the 11th Shannon had to take Papa Joe to the ER. He was short of breath, coughing up blood, and had been diagnosed the day before with pneumonia. When they got there, his oxygen levels were in the low to mid 80's and both lungs were 1/3 to 2/3 full of fluids. He was admitted to the ICU. He suffered from heart failure during that first night. Papa Joe doesn't remember anything about that, and none of the family knew until I took him to the doctor for a check-up yesterday and asked the doctor why they were planning a stress test for next week. He looked at us kind of funny and said they wanted to determine how much, if any, damage was done to Papa Joe's heart from the heart attack. Papa Joe and I were looking at HIM kind of funny, then. His EKG from yesterday was comparable to when he was in the hospital. His labs came back looking good. We straightened out some meds that he had been taking incorrectly, and have an appointment next Friday for another checkup. Please pray that Papa Joe continues to feel better and recovers completely. We have offered to have him stay here with us until he feels better, but he prefers to be at home.

"My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh." Proverbs 4: 20-22

Birthday Weekend

Memorial Day weekend we celebrated Papa Joe's 82nd birthday and Colton's 6th birthday.



We took Papa Joe to the buffet at the Meskwaki Casino in Toledo, his favorite place. Carrie, Jason & the boys, as well as Barry, joined us. We appreciate Papa Joe's VIP status that allows us to get immediate seating rather than waiting in line.




We celebrated Colton's birthday in Clear Lake with the Kambergers. We were able to attend church with them on Sunday evening, spend the night, and fellowship with their church family at IRBC on Monday. What better way is there for a 6 year old to spend his birthday than at camp? The weather was beautiful and the company entertaining. We had the privilege of hearing Jason Nightengale minister both Sunday and Monday. He does an amazing job of reciting God's word and making it come to life. You can check out his website at wordsower.org.


"Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him." Proverbs 30:5