"I sent for this..."

Last weekend Stella, Emily, my mom and I went to St. George to visit my grandparents. My grandpa has lost about 60 pounds since his surgery a year ago and hasn't been doing great. He can't eat much at all due to his enlarged heart. However, I've got to hand it to him. When we got there he was working out lifting weights. He sure tries! And with all he has going against him I never hear him complain. He is happy where he is, sweet to my grandma, and has such a positive outlook. 

He was absolutely thrilled to see his princess Stella. He had tears in his eyes when she hugged him. It took about 5 minutes before he even acknowledged the rest of us! And she sure loves him. She is very tender with him.I love watching the two of them together. 

While we were there we went to dinner both nights with my grandparents, did a little shopping at the strip mall and Tai Pan, watched movies and went swimming. We decorated their condo for the holidays and they were just tickled (a word my grandma often says). She had bought a Christmas church decoration for her table and she said at least 10 times while we were there, "I sent for this. I don't remember how much it was. It's smaller than I thought." When she repeated it yet again on Sunday Emily and I couldn't help but laugh quietly at the redundancy. What surprises me is with her memory going her thought process and wording is exactly the same every time. 

I'm so glad we made the time to go see them! I didn't want it to be something I wish I had done after the fact. The hardest part is leaving knowing that it could very well be the last time. I hope not. As hard as it is to watch their health both mental and physical decline, I'm not ready to let either one of them go! I'm selfish like that. My grandpa just has a way of making you feel special and tugging at your heart-strings. Our goal is for him to get through the holidays and then we'll make another trip down!

I look like Santa!

Last Thursday our cute little Stella underwent her first surgery. She was put out to have 5 teeth extracted and bands put on to help bring down her permanent teeth. Bill had met with Dr. Urban after she'd gotten her braces put on. However, I had never met him before. That didn't really dawn on me until we got there for her surgery. I hoped he was a good choice and luckily he was. Poor Stella had to be fasting so she was starving before we even got there. Unfortunately when we got there he was an hour behind already so we had to wait.

She went back at 10:40 and they started getting her nice and drugged up. She was most nervous about the IV. She certainly didn't love it, but it was better than she had built it up in her mind to be. She was pretty funny. Nothing that would make AFV, but still entertaining. After about 30 minutes the doctor kicked us out and told us to get her meds filled while we waited. We grabbed a burger while we waited for her medicine to be filled. As soon as we got there the nurse pulled us back. They had just finished her surgery.

She was very out of it. She has having a hard time waking up. As I asked the doctor about her meds he took a big ole needle and shot several more shots. So gross. I tried to stay up by her head because I don't deal well with this kind of stuff. When Bill switched me spots I could see the holes in her gums and all the bloody gauze hanging out of her mouth. I looked around and spotted the garbage can thinking I was going to be needing that. Just then I got very light headed and next thing I know I can hear the doctor saying, "Just leave her on the floor." I felt the cold concrete floor, felt my legs elevated, and someone fanning me. "Oh. My. Gosh." You have got to be kidding me. I passed out. I kept telling them to just go back to Stella. I felt better after that, but not 100% Stella was still struggling to wake up. 

They moved her into a recovery bed and we waited for about an hour before we could take her to her orthodontists office to get the chains on. When I took a picture of her while in recovery she looked at it and said, "I look like Santa!" Made me laugh. Stella cried on the drive home finally starting to come around. She had some fun surprises and yummy treats waiting for her from some very good friends. I felt so completely grateful everything went well and it was over. And grateful to have such caring friends and family who went out of their way to make Stella feel extra loved. And she did. Hopefully we are past the worst part of it.