White Christmas in Vermont

This vacation has been busy! We have been able to spend a lot of family time together. We cooked, baked, ate and played. It's been fun!

Peanut Patties and Gran Turismo

We haven't updated for awhile. We have made 4 batches of Peanut patties this year. They are so good! I have eaten a ton and Rob has done well with only eating a few =) I also added me playing gran turismo with kasumi on my lap. Every time I turned a corner, I would hit her head. It was funny.

Christmas!

This year we figured out that we had no room for our christmas tree in the living room unless we moved stuff around. So instead I slid the kitchen table forward and now have it in our kitchen. It's actually pretty cute in front of the bay window. Kev helped me put the lights up on the tree. Then we were able to put up all of our ornaments! Now the challenge is to keep our cats out of the tree....

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun at the farm polebarn and ate lots of food!

Kimi, Kimi, Kimi

Today Rob and I brought Kimi to the office because he's been a good kitty lately. =) While we weren't paying attention poor Kimi found one of those sticky mousetraps and put his paw right onto it. We found out he did this because we heard loud bangs and realized he was flinging the mouse trap around trying to get it off his paw. Luckily it was a non toxic mousetrap (thank you Mike for that) and after pulling kimi's paw very hard, we got his paw off. But we had to get all the sticky stuff off and that was difficult. So after that traumatic event, Kimi has been sleeping all day.

I also included a picture of my baguette bread. I'm super excited I'm all done. I started yesterday at about 10am and am finished at 10pm tonight. I have decided that maybe it is worth it to buy it from the store for $1.99. It was definitely a lot of work. But it's very good though!

WEEEE!

These are a lot of fun at the pole barn so thought everyone would enjoy a picture of sophisticated Rob on a tiny mini cooper!

New glasses!

Rob got new glasses today. He's never had glasses so he's enjoying them. Isn't he handsome?

Our new kitty

We waited about 45 minutes in line to get our Leopard. The best part of it was getting free tshirts! So far it's awesome. It took over an hour to load onto our computer. Happy leopard day!

Something I've never seen!

I would like to thank Stephen Colbert for writing a book. I have known Rob for about 5 years now and I have never seen Rob read a book. I have seen him read magazines and on the computer, but never a book. So I had to document this occasion. I have read a little bit and it's very funny. I'm waiting for Rob to finish.

Rob's doing well. We take one day at a time. He sleeps a lot, but slowly being less tired. His voice is getting much better. It still isn't back to his normal voice, but it's nice to be able to hear him better.

Practice makes perfect

Landon, and his life long pursuit of the perfect smile has inspired me
to work on my own. I figure no need to start from scratch, so I
started with Landond's "walking down the hall and I see a patient"
smile, which we call the Dr. Suess smile, and then tweaked it just a
little more to fit my handsome mug!

WE'RE OUT!

Tonight Rob's surgeon came in and told Rob whenever he felt good enough to go home let him know. So Rob said, I'm ready right now! We are now in the hotel. It took awhile to get the prescriptions at the hospital. We'll go back home tomorrow. Rob is super happy to be out!

Rob's diet

I thought this was funny =) Rob is doing well this morning. He's been trying to sleep. They are taking iv's out and things preparing to go home soon. Probably tomorrow! He's looking so much better then yesterday.

Life is good =)

Rob had another ct scan tonight to make sure everything looked good. His hematoma in his right shoulder seems to be a few milimeters larger, but they were glad to say Rob wasn't bleeding into in his chest. So they finally let him eat. It's been 48 hours since he last ate. They are giving him blood right now. He's looking much better than this morning. They are now shooting for saturday morning to be released.

Sleepy

Rob is pretty swollen from all the fluids going through him. They have been monitoring him well and been doing a few tests. Rob's blood seems to have gotten a little too thin again. They ultrasounded his shoulder area because they noticed something there after surgery. They said it was a precaution to make sure it stayed the same as yesterday. So we'll find out more later. All seems good though. They were going to release him today but now they say tomorrow.

out of surgery

Rob is out of surgery. We met with the surgeon and he said it was difficult. Rob's vein was only 2 mm and so they needed to use a part of a vein from his leg. We will see rob around nine. We're just so glad he's out!

still in surgery

Just a little update. I guess Rob went in at 2:45 for surgery. We keep getting different times on what time he went in, so I think 2:45 is right. Poor rob hasn't eaten, so I'm hoping he did ok waiting. We haven't seen him since 12. We're waiting in the floor he will come to and stay. We're very disappointed because he doesn't have a private room and we requested one. It seems like they like to have a ton of double rooms here. So we sit here confused. Hopefully we'll hear something soon.

update- probably about an hour or so left. He's doing well. They're harvesting his vein from his thigh instead of using dacron. We're worried about that.

In surgery!

Rob went in for surgery about an hour ago. We left and got something to eat, but are back now. We haven't heard any updates yet. We'll let you know as soon as we find out more!

Surgery today

We're at the hospital. We got a call on monday letting us know they moved Rob's surgery to wednesday. So here we are! We are just waiting for them to call his name. Rob's tired, but glad to get this all over with!

Rochester

Hello! Today is our last day of being here this week. We're excited to go home and see our kitties! Rob and I were able to get room service yesterday since our day didn't start until 12:45 for an appointment. It was fun to have it on a table, but our room really didn't have much room for it. The other picture is our view from our hotel room. That is the hospital. It is so close! It's been very nice to just walk across the street. We meet with the ent today about Rob's voice. I think it's just a consultation so we'll see what they say on what to do. Rob had a ct scan this morning and they put in an iv in his ankle and he said it was the most painful iv he's ever had. =( So luckily that is over with!

A day of waiting

Rob was able to get his aneurysm in his arm looked at today with an ultrasound. We saw a surgeon and it looks like Rob will be having surgery on it next week. We'll know more soon. We're hoping tomorrow we'll be able to get into a few tests that they ordered today. All the doctors down here have been very nice. Rob is doing well. He's been tired because he's been getting up earlier then he's used to and they poke at him all day =) Our hotel is right across the street from everything so it has been a very easy walk. It's pretty cool here.

Mayo Clinic

We are waiting here at the eye exam Desk west 7. We started this morning at 7:30 am. He had an echocardiogram and that lasted 2 hours. Then it was off to the lab so they could take 5 viles of blood. At 10:30 he had a chest xray followed by an EKG. We were able to sneak off to Noodles for a yummy bowl of mac and cheese and then come back. Jen was here for a little bit and we'll see her later. We're now off for a consult. Great fun!

Nicole's birthday!

Saturday was my sister Nicole's birthday. I bought this pan almost a year ago specifically for Nicole's birthday to make her a baseball cake. I am actually really impressed with this pan I have made some pretty cool cakes from it. So it was a baseball birthday for Nicole. It was fun!

Rob is doing well. He is busy working on his r/c cars. He has been sleeping a lot. We'll post pictures of his r/c car when he gets his rc car back together. He had to get a few new pieces for it from a little crash. It's a little too fast. =)

Hello!

I was organizing Rob's pills on monday and Kimi ended up on my back. He's a funny kitty. I think he thought I was playing with treats and he needed some. Rob is doing well. He said that his numbness in his hand is a tiny bit better. The bump on his arm (the aneurysm) is still the same size. So we're just waiting around. He just got a new cart yesterday to hold his r/c stuff. He's really excited about it. He has been airbrushing some cars too.
I am busy taking care of Rob. I was able to sew another valence yesterday and will put it up when I can find someone who can help me =) I think I might be able to figure it out though. Next on my list is to sew a cover for my bench pad thing and maybe placemats.
The other picture I thought was adorable. My sister nicole is probably thinking that is picture number 50 of those cats on the grey chairs. They just do such cute things on those chairs. =)

Some pictures

Just a little update. Rob is doing well. He has been icing his arm and leaving an ace bandage on it. His fingers are still numb and he gets pretty frustrated with that. I would too... But he seems to be finding ways around it. We had a friend drop off brownies and once they left, Rob got some milk and sat right down and ate two! The other pictures are the rc track they put in the front driveway. Then the other picture i thought it was cute how kimi was watching Rob work. He's definitely a boy cat. =)

Emergency Room

Today Rob and I went to a doctors appointment for a routine check up. Rob had been saying the his right fingers were numb so we brought that up to the doctor. Well the doctor looked at his upper part of his arm and there was a bump. So he pressed on it and Rob felt it down to his finger tip. The doctor immediately said this is an aneurysm or a pseudoaneurysm that was probably afffecting his fingers. He said you need to go down to abbott to have it further looked at today. So off sad rob and sad marla went. I called mike and said I'd like to meet him at the house so we all drive down together. We drove down to the ER and got in. It was about 8 hours said and done and we're back home now. He does have a pseudoaneurysm in his arm, but they're saying to keep an ace bandage on it and keep a watch on it. It should go down. He also had a ct scan on his chest and neck area and they said his neck looked miraculously better than 3 weeks ago. We had good news. We're all happy to be home and not in a hospital anymore. We'll just have to keep a watch on his arm and hope that Rob's fingers will regain their feel.

RC cars

I'm sure everyone is wondering what Rob is doing to recover. So here's your answer! Our kitchen table has turned into a rc car repair shop. We drove an hour to a rc car track today. It is outdoors and Rob was super excited to race with people. But it started to rain. So he's hoping he'll go down next week. It was pretty fun to see the other guys with their cars. Rob has to make his car faster though, the other guys could jump three bump things and his could barely do two. =) But that would probably be more money so maybe I shouldn't be saying this =)
As for me, I'm reading the stephanie meyer series books. They're awesome. So now I have to wait for Melissa to finish the third one so I can read it. But I am rereading the first two so I don't bother melissa to make her read faster =) Thanks to Melissa for letting me borrow them!

We're home!

Hello! We are having a few problems with our internet so we weren't able to update yesterday. We are very happy to be home! We have been playing with our kitties. We were able to go to the new Saint Michael clinic yesterday and get his blood checked. It is around where it should be, so we have another appointment today to see if it went up or stayed the same. Luckily they have the finger poke thingy there so they don't have to take a whole thing of blood.

Thank you to everyone for all your prayers and comments. We really appreciated them. We'll still be updating when fun things happen. =)

WE'RE GOING HOME TODAY!

Hello! Here are some fun pictures. The nurses are Nancy and Tina. Our favorite from 7a Cooley. We are leaving today! We are very excited. Rob has been counting down the hours and days for awhile now.=)

Pictures of our Hotel

I thought everyone would love to see our views from the hotel. Aren't they great? It is really nice to have a full kitchen.
Rob is doing well. He slept well last night. Another day of watching tv!

Pampered Rob

Rob gets all the pampering around here! =) Rob ate really well yesterday. So far just mac and cheese so far today. Rob is sitting up and watching car stuff on Mike's computer. So another day of sitting around. Once Rob gets more vicodin we'll be able to do laps around the floor.

The cake

Cake

We had nurse tina stop by today. Tina works on the floor we were just
on but was on vacation. So she was back and stopped in. We had a
Chaplin com in today and somehow she told me about this chocolate
place that is very good. Well we told tina and she told us about
another place that had cake and robs eyes just lit up! He wanted some.
So mike, tina, and I went and got really good cake!
Rob and I were able to leave the floor today and go to the giftshop.
It was fun. He was happy to get out. He has done 4 laps today too.
Sent from my rob's iPhone

Before and After

Rob was able to shower today! The showers here are made for really short people. He managed though. He said it was nice to have warm water on him. He looks so nice and clean now!
Today they put a lidocaine patch on his back. We're hoping it will help numb his back from pain. We'll see. Rob still isn't eating much. They are sending ensure with every meal now.
Rob is making plans on how we can live in Epcot. He is looking at Disney maps right now. Maybe we'll go next year. We love Disney!

This is Mike (Rob's Dad)
I asked Marla if I could post. I give too much information so if you are bored you can all scan through quickly. It seems like we learn a little more each day. Doctor Coselli and his team came in this early morning and said that upon review he feels that Rob may have had a bleed at one of the repair sites in his right subclavian artery. To me that is better news because the radiologist had guessed that if may have been a vein. Dr. Coselli said the artery heals it should strengthen and that makes us feel better. Since the bleed they were keeping Rob so sedated that it was supressing his appetite and his breathing. He is now getting back to pre-operation medications and he is much less comfortable, but he is getting back to being the real Rob. I spent the night with Rob in his new room. He still does not have a voice above a whisper so if he needs a nurse he pushes the call button but they cannot hear what he wants. A little scary - the nurse count is about 5 to 6 patients to one nurse. It is a tought job for the nursing staff. We are all so grateful for the medical community. It is such hard and pressure-filled work. The nurses, personal care attendants, residents, doctors - all of them are so dedicated. We owe so much to all of them.

As I am feeling so grateful I cannot help but share my love for Marla. She is a miracle in our lives. Rob loves her so much and it is so wonderful to see his eyes light up whenever she walks in the room. As we were getting him situated in the intensive care unit upon our arrival here in Texas, Denise and I were exhausted and we were sitting in the ICU and watched as Marla updated the nursing and medical staff on Rob's needs. I told her what a blessing it is to have a loving, wise and caring person to love our son. Marla has understanding and nurturing ways beyond her years. I remember the day Rob first saw Marla at church and told me he just saw the most beautiful girl in the world. Rob is correct. Marla is so precious and beautiful.

Rob walked 4 times around the floor this afternoon. He is struggling to make himself eat and drink. He will need to work hard to eat and drink now to get some volume of food in him- since they just unhooked his venous line for liquid, sleep is still difficult.

Thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers. We feel your support. Thanks, Mike

Sleepy Robbie

Ok So Bri said I need to make this entertaining.. Let's see So Rob is sleeping just like this otter. We're in the new room. We thought it would be quieter but I don't think it is. They are going to take him off dilaudid today. Rob says his head really hurts like Bri is stepping on it.

Moving

We just got word that Rob will be moving soon. Finally =) He's going back to the floor he was on before. Rob has had some food today like one and half tacos, but really hasn't been eating much. We're hoping he'll start eating soon. We're figuring out pain medication right now too. He can't take his dilaudid drip home, so he needs to get off that. He had his femoral line taken out and it didn't bleed as much as we all thought it would.

so far so good

Rob is doing well. He is sleepy. They were able to take his catheter out. He was happy about that! They put a new line in so he will get his femoral line out later today. He will be moved up to a different floor sometime today.

Back to watching HGTV

Hello, Rob is up and watching HGTv. It's great to see his eyes open and alert. He was able to take a few bites of a strawberry sundae. He says his arm really hurts from the procedure this morning. He has to keep it straight to keep the arm from getting a hematoma. He said he wants to be home. I don't blame him. We're in the best place and waiting to here what the plan is.

Waiting...

Here's Kimi and Thunderhorse, just waiting for Rob and Marla to come
back home. Sumi was on the bed, but like a little baby, she ran away
as soon as I walked into the room. Kimi is either really comfortable,
or he's preping a little suprise present for Rob when he gets back home.

Everything good

He just got out. We were told they didn't find any bleeds. His incisions is all intact. It was a vein that tore and seems like it healed up. We're waiting to hear from Dr Coselli, but the news we got is very good! He is pretty groggy from the procedure.

In the aortagram

Rob is in getting the aortagram done. They are going up through his arm. Mike was here early this morning and was able to talk to the huge group that does rounds in the morning. They really want to make sure it's not leaking. They are thinking there is less than 1% of a chance that it is still leaking, but we really won't know until this test is done. We'll see. Rob's neck area and right shoulder area are swollen from the hemotoma. We're hoping we'll finally get some answers today.

We were able to see a lot of nurses we know this morning. We got big hugs from all of them. Rob's nurse is someone he had two years ago and is so good to him. I will update more when I know more. Thanks for all your support!

no aortagram

Today they didn't do the aortagram. We're hoping for tomorrow! Rob is doing ok. They lowered the pain killer he was getting so he is more awake. He has been so groggy the past few days. He wasn't breathing enough and so now with lower pain medication he should be back to breathing better. Well hopefully we'll know more tomorrow. It has been a lot of waiting and waiting and waiting.

Cute Robbie

Rob is eating a little bit. Mike was showing him some fun things on the computer. We still don't know much and we haven't had that test yet. A lot of waiting....

Aortagram

Hello, We just talked to a resident. They are going to do an aortagram today. They will inject a dye and make sure it has stopped bleeding. We're all hoping and praying it has. If it has then it will have healed itself. If it hasn't, then that's a whole different story. We'll know more later (hopefully)

more pictures

 

Blogger finally let me post some pictures! Chococat (cocoa) is holding Rob's button for pain meds. Rob said it was much easier to find. It you look close enough you can tell he has it tied around his legs. It was pretty funny to walk in and see that.