Finally, the patient

Good morning to all. I couldn't sleep this am so decided to get up and get stuff ready for my hospital stay. Sophie is keeping me company but everyone else is snoozing. Would love a cup of coffee but of course that's a No No today. I wish the surgery had stayed at the origional time as things would already be underway. I will thank everyone ahead of time for their prayers and visits as I figure I will spend the next couple of days sedated. Please disregard anything I may tell you during this time as Les tells me I can come up with some weird stuff.
Last night was great to take my mind off today, plus it's so good to see Les and Jack together, they are quite a team.
That's all for now at least from me...I'll be back soon to comment on hospital stay etc. We nurses are not the best patients in the world and really keep an eye on things.
Many thanks for all your prayers (we've got all denominations covered), good wishes and support .

I gotta give my bestfriend some Kudos.....

I can't let this blog go on any longer without giving a "HUGE" shout out to my very best friend in the world...Sharla. For those of you that do not know...Sharla and I are complete opposites in a lot of ways, she is a corporate chic that travels ALL the time and as most of you know, I am a nurse....for whatever reason, it works for us. We met some 13 years ago in a bar because she was jealous of the way that I had the bartender make my margarita (ya just never know). I want to say to Sharla....you are like another daughter to Mama Jane (but you knew that already)...it meant a lot to her tonight that she actually got to talk to you. We both look forward to when you can get down here to Athens and spend some time with us...you might just need to tell Steve Hill that this is something "that you HAVE to do"...because even though we aren't blood, we are the next closest thing to it! Both MJ and I love you very much!!! I seriously don't know what I would do if i didn't have you in my life...you are a true blessing!!!

No matter the situation, we still love to entertain...

It's the night before surgery and we still love to have a great time!!! Our friend Kathy is without her husband (he is off fishing with her Dad up North somewhere) and daughter Kate is at the beach with friends, one son is off in the South China Sea with the Navy, the other son is in Flight School with the Navy in Corpus Christi, Texas...SO, we invited her to come and hang out with us tonight! Oh yeah, she also brought us Chicken Enchiladas & Chili to put in the freezer and cook later.

I think this evening is good for Mom...she seems more "normal" than she has in a longtime...maybe we are taking her mind (and ours) off what is to come when the sun rises tomorrow!

Tomorrow is ALREADY getting longer....

Well...Mom got the first call to change her time of arrival at Saint Mary's at 9:15 this morning to be there at 7:30 instead of 6:30...which would have pushed the surgery to 9:00am. The second call from Saint Mary's came at 1:45pm with the newest arrival time now being 9:00am which we think will push the beginning of surgery to around 10:30am. It is now 7pm so we don't think they will call and change it again unless they call us in the morning...we are seriously hoping that they don't. If surgery starts around 10:30, we probably can't expect to see Mom until the very late afternoon or early evening. I will be updating the blog as we get news from the OR or from the recovery room!

Mom is doing REALLY well tonight. She took her pain medicine today like she should be taking it...Jack arrived at 4pm when we were initially expecting him around 6pm (a VERY nice surprise for Mom).

I worked till a tad past noon...brought lunch home for Mom and I, then we changed the sheets on her bed so that she will have "fresh" sheets when she comes home from the hospital. Then I took off "again" to take care of some "me" things so I wouldn't have to worry about them for the next 3 weeks...when I got home, I am home to stay until tomorrow morning.

With Jack and I being here together we definately have to "light the grill" and the cuisine for the evening is going to be black angus burgers. It is so good to have my brother here...we will wander together tomorrow, for hours and hours.

Thanks again to everyone for your good thoughts, prayers and positive thoughts. Someone told me today that if you worry about stuff, you are praying for the "wrong" thing to happen, SO..nothing but positive thoughts coming from 260 Mallard Pointe Way!!

A special "thank you" to our friend Kathy Callahan for taking the above pictures, just this evening!!!

Laughter is the best medicine.....

Gotta love the 4-legged grandkids...Sophie is praying for Mama Jane in one picture and then in the other she has the look of saying....."You better think good think good thoughts about my Grandma cause she has the BEST lap in the world"! On the other hand...there is Tiki...just wanting to act silly with the new parrot that I got her this past weekend...she named him "Big Red". She is looking forward to showing "Big Red" off to her Aunt Sharla when she comes to town!! Aunt Sharla and Tiki have their "special" games that they play and Tiki just loves it!!


Thanks to Julie for the pre-op visit tonight....Mom really enjoyed it!!! You, Vince and your family are very special to us!!!

Less than 48 hours to go....

Well, the "less than 48 hours to go" the countdown is truly on. It seems that all Mom and I can do in the evening is sit here at the table, have a few cocktails and talk....food doesn't even sound real good to either one of us but she is going to eat her left over Filet from this past Saturday night (we want that hemoglobin as high as we can get it).

After a very productive day at work I visited one of my new most favorite stores...Nature's Outppost where I purchased "another" squirrel proof bird feeder and 2 more iron hooks...we now have 2 bird feeders and a humming bird feeder hanging off the edge of the deck. Watching the birds are fascinating and I want there to be plenty around when Mom comes home from the hospital!!! (See picture above for the bird feeder display)

I worked a full day today and tomorrow (Tuesday) I will only be working until noon....after that I am "checking out" until further notice. Again, thank you to my awesome boss, Gail Hutchins and all my wonderful co-workers for being so understanding and supportive!!!

Mom and I are looking forward to brother Jack arriving tomorrow evening, we just wish it was for a different reason!!

Laundry Fairy

This will be the last time Mama Jane's laundry fairy visits for awhile. At least ironing gives me an excuse to keep up with the French Open.
Hope everyone has enjoyed the updated pix of the grandsons. They are growing up much too fast.
Leslie (awesome daughter) has been more than awesome, cannot begin to explain how much she has done for me and she doesn't hesitate to tell me that I can't do something.
Enjoy the blog. Keep all those prayers and good wishes coming....nurses do not make good patients as a rule but I will try to behave myself. I will write more once surgery is over to keep you advised of my progress.
Hugs to everyone