April 2, 2008

Well, today it's not about me. It's about Grandpa. On Saturday, he had a mild heart attack and had to go to Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis. I was very worried about him. He had two stents put into his heart in 2003, and now this. He ended up having another stent put in. Mom and Dad saw the picture of the artery, and they said it was pretty much completely closed - but it's open now, (and the other two stents are still clear). So the blood is pumping the right way now - flowing smoothly through his body. He gets to come home tomorrow, and I think it will be the beginning of a whole new era in my family. I think (hope and pray) that Grandpa (and Grandma and Mom and Dad and Ian) will start eating very healthy food all the time. They all make sure that I have a very healthy diet, so why not them? It's time for some major changes around here!

(Oh - a big THANK YOU to nurse Sandy for switching days with Grandma this week.)

After they left the hospital, Dad and Ian stayed in St. Louis. They are going on their big train adventure tomorrow - leaving on the Amtrak at 6:30 a.m. Ian has been planning this trip for three years, and two different summers he and Dad had it all planned out, I ended up in the hospital. I didn't mean to mess up Ian's plans, but it just worked out that way. I really hope he has a great time on this trip. Mom and I are going to have some "girl time" this week while the boys are away. (Well, we won't count Thor - he's a boy dog - and he's staying here with us to be our watch dog.)

My tummy is doing a little better now, so I'm happy about that. Plus we had another successful trach change yesterday. Whew! Mom did this one, with Dad and nurse Diane standing by. It went smoothly. I could tell Mom was nervous. She counted to three and held her breathe when she pulled out the old trach and inserted the new one. Luckily it worked just fine the first time - no spasms, no closing of the stoma, no turning blue. Thank you, God, for watching over me.

It's almost 10 o'clock, so I'd better be getting to bed. One of my teachers will be here at 7:45 a.m. to make me work, so I need to get some good rest. I've really been doing well with my picture recognition. My teachers hold up two pictures and I have to look at the ones they tell me to look at - usually they're of people such as Dad or Mom, Grandma or Grandpa, Ian or Thor, etc. (Okay, Thor's not a person, but he's part of the family, right?) Today I was especially quick to recognize everyone. Nurse Diane had a great idea for a special board that will help me learn to communicate learning how to point a laser light onto a picture. Dad is going to figure out a way to build it. I'm not sure when he's going to do it, though, because he starts his new job next Monday, and he'll be gone Monday through Thursday every week. I sure am going to miss him around here!

Sweet dreams, everyone. I'm going to bed.