Mom had Heart Attack: Prayers and Good Thoughts Needed

I am not sure of any other way to distribute this news to friends and family, quickly and easily, since blogger sends out my posts at 7 AM.

Mom had a heart attack early this morning around  4 or 5 AM.

She called the ambulance herself and went to the hospital. I called Jeannine, who is there with her and calling me constantly with updates.

At this point we know that her heart stopped in the ambulance. She was stabilized, put on IVs, and the Heart Alert Team was immediately called in. I spoke to her before she went into the catheterization lab and she was awake and coherent.

She was having a heart attack at the time the Heart Alert Team arrived, and was taken back to the cath lab immediately to locate the blockage. My understanding at this point is that she has two blockages, but neither was a complete blockage, meaning that she continued to receive blood to her brain throughout the procedure.

At this time, one stent was placed.

Jeannine just spoke with the doctor, and Mom is resting comfortably. She will be in ICU and monitored closely. Tests will be run to assess the damage to her heart. They will decide whether or not another stent needs to be placed later.

I will use my blog as a place to keep you updated throughout the next couple of days, so please check www.adancinglight.blogspot.org if you are looking for new or up to date information. I will post as it comes available to me and as I am able.

In many ways we were very very fortunate that Mom called the ambulance when she did and the Heart Alert Team arrived within 15 minutes.

We are blessed to have Jeannine (who is a pro at this sort of thing) go to the ER at 4 am to be with my mom. At this point, I do not know if I will physically be able to visit Mom or not, which is absolutely awful.

Please pray for my mom and send healing thoughts that she will be safe and heal well.

Blessings,
Emily

A Good Ending to the Week: Rebekah and Kale

Two of my favorite people came to visit on Friday afternoon last week!

Mr. Kale had lots of smiles for me and we played lots of peek-a-boo.

Last week was a really rough week with doctor's appointments (for myself and Mom!) and really struggling with ANS symptoms. Rebekah and I had been planning this visit for a while, and my body COOPERATED for the visit. 

Unfortunately, it did NOT cooperate afterwards and I was up sick the entire night. Very frustrating.

We had take-out from a new local Thai restaurant and then sat outside in 65 degree weather for the rest of the visit. Clear blue skies, sunshine and no ragweed!

Kale was kind enough to mow the lawn for us while he was here. He is very serious about his 'mow-mow' and spent an hour mowing so that Rebekah and I could chat. After that it was time for both Kale and I to take a nap.

Kale is finally warming up to me, and he let me take him to the mailbox. This was my exercise, for sure!

I managed to get dressed in nice clothes, put on make-up, fix my hair, and have visitors. It was a big day and a good day.  Even though I crashed big time, the time with a good friend and a cute little man was much needed.

Thank you Rebekah and Kale! 

I'll try to update this week on the craziness that is our lives...but thought this was more fitting to start off a Monday morning (Mondays are already hard enough, right?)

Blessings,

Emily

Photos: Rebekah and Kale (who did not want to pose for photo ops); Kale playing peek-a-boo; Kale mowing the lawn; Me and Kale at the mailbox.

Go Hawkeyes! No. 1!

This shirt arrived in the mail yesterday as a gift from Mom. I've officially added to my Iowa Hawkeyes collection, and I'm dressed for the game today! (Not that I'm actually watching...that would require a HUGE change in my being to start watching football! Plus, with FB you all keep me in the loop anyways!)

This photo is for YOU my dear Iowa family, whom I love and miss so very much. And for my Mom and Dad who both got their Ph.D.s at Iowa. I'm very proud of them both.

Go Hawks! And I love you "Iowa family"!

Emily

P.S. Spending time outside in the 65 degree weather we are having today. Glorious sunshine. And awesome Hawkeyes gear.

Me and Mom

During the Princess Party, we went outside to take some photos. I was actually wearing something other than PJs and Jeannine was there as photographer. I was Princess Emily and mom was Queen of the Kitchen. (She is definitely that! I am sooo spoiled with good food.)

I love how Jeannine captured these moments between Mom and I. We weren't posing for the first two photos.  We are so fortunate that we enjoy one another's company so much since we live together and she is my caregiver! 

We have so few photos of the two of us together, so I wanted to share these. 

I love my mom more than anything in the world. 

Blessings,

Emily

Photos: Mom and I in our yard.

The Princess Party

As my 35th birthday approached, Jeannine said we had to talk about a way to make it a celebration. My goal for the party and for my 35th year was this: to have more FUN. And fun we had! 

She said to me: Do we need a theme? What do we need to do? At this time I was still on the rocephin, and wondering how I was going to have any birthday celebration at all, no matter how small. I wanted the them to be just fun, simple, and positive. 

We decided on the theme of a Princess Party. We are all queens of something, right? 

The 'party' was just three of us: me, Mom, and Jeannine, as I really can't handle much more than that at a time right now. We started out with an amazing treat of take-out Thai food from a new restaurant. 

We topped that off with gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin spice cupcakes. Some of my friends may be amazed that I did not have vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. :)

I just love this photo of me and Jeannine outside after lunch. How she manages to radiate so much joy in her face with the trials she faces, I do not know. 

Jeannine arrived at our luncheon with a big brown shopping bag labelled "Emily's Bag 'O Fun". It was filled with tons of fun crafty supplies like glitter pens, stickers, paint pens, paint, feathers, fluorescent hair spray, and masks to decorate. Apparently finding crowns or wands to decorate is a challenge, so she came with masks instead.  I, of course, made a princess mask as you can see in the photo at the top. Can you guess which one is Mom's and which one is Jeannine's?  It was really amazing to watch how much our personalities came out in each of the masks.

I have missed crafting so much. I used to love to do creative things, and was constantly engaged creatively. This 'party' may seem silly, but it was just perfect. The craft was doable in the sense that it could be done in a short time, and it was something that was disposable--I didn't have to make something perfect to keep. Just something to have fun with (and which I ended up wearing for Halloween). 

I feel like a kid in a candy store with my Bag 'O Fun, and can't wait to have energy to use some of the goodies again. 

After the crafting, we spray-painted our hair with the fluorescent colored hair spray. Jeannine picked purple. I picked, um, pink of course!  That stuff is seriously gross (it STINKS!), but it is also so much fun.

After so much stress and challenges, being silly, goofy, frivolous, 'un-grown up', and having a Princess Party made for the perfect birthday. I was grateful to have those two hours of feeling well enough to enjoy the party, and have FUN. 

Major thanks to Jeannine for coming up with the theme and the craft! You did good, as you would say.  

Blessings,

Princess Emily

Photos:  Masquerade masks--top to bottom: mine, Mom's, Jeannine's (hers is definitely the best one); Thai spring rolls; Making a birthday wish (gee, wonder what I wished for?); me and Jeannine outside; Making our masks; Jeannine and her purple hair; Me and my pink hair.

Birthday Blog: Turning 35

I am definitely late in getting a birthday post up, but it is still October as I start writing this. It is still 10/10 (which won't happen for another 100 years!).


Okay, so last year at this time I had a fantasy image of feeling fantastic after a year of Rocephin. In that image I felt much-improved health-wise and had a heck of a celebration of life and new beginnings at 35. Obviously, the significant improvements in health we had hoped for didn't happen.


Still, we all figured out a way to celebrate turning 35, and I ended up having a really special and beautiful birthday. We spread out the celebrating so that I could enjoy it and not crash too hard. Stopping the Rocephin before my birthday was definitely a good decision. Otherwise, I would have been too sick to do any of the things we did and I think I would have taken turning 35 very hard.

I spent one afternoon opening and enjoying birthday mail, one afternoon taking a couple of calls from friends, one afternoon going to the arboretum in town for the first time, one afternoon having a 'Princess Party' with Jeannine and Mom, and one afternoon having lunch with Dad and Abbie. I was so grateful my body cooperated the way it did! I was absolutely determined to carve out some time to celebrate even with the stress of the flood, etc.


I was surprised in the end how calm I was about turning 35. I thought I would be very focused on the losses I grieve, especially marriage and children. Instead, I found myself able to focus on the gift of being alive, of having new options health-wise, and of being incredibly loved and blessed in so many ways. 


I focused on the abundance of LOVE in my life, and it was a beautiful birthday. Thank you to all of you who called, sent cards, gifts, and wishes!


Blessings,


Emily

Photo: Pumpkin Spice cupcakes (gluten-free, dairy free of course!). It was very hard for me to stray from my traditional vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting, but these were worth it!; opening presents with Dad and Abbie (doesn't that look like Asher on the bag?!)...sadly we have no photos of us together.

Happy Halloween!

Note: this post was supposed to go out yesterday, and the Birthday Blog today. Oops.

Thursday evening was one of the most fun Trick or Treat nights we have had in a very long time. Our neighborhood is filled with lots of wonderful children right now. 


What made it so fun was that I was feeling well enough to enjoy the many visitors who came into the house to visit with me while I stayed in my recliner (a nice surprise after having spent Wednesday completely crashed out in bed). I know what a big deal it is for little ones to take a break from heading to the next house for more treats!


Above, is neighbor Hunter and a huge group of his friends dressed as Christmas carolers. They sang a very well-rehearsed carol! 


I even dressed up a little bit. I wore my Princess mask that I made at my birthday party, pink pajamas, and spray-painted my hair fluorescent pink! 

After getting the Rolls last summer, Mom and I started taking regular evening StRolls around the neighborhood.  I finally started to get to know the many neighbors who I had been unable to meet and talk to previously. During Trick or Treat night this past week, I realized how many of the children and families I had gotten to know because of getting The Rolls. 


I just felt so blessed that so many folks stopped in to say hi and show off their costumes!


Hope you're having a Happy Halloween!


Blessings,


Emily


Photos:  Hunter and his friends singing a Christmas carol (I so could not get a photo that wasn't blurry); me and my princess mask, pink pjs, and pink hair.