Getting Better One Milestone At a Time

There is much improvement in the fellow who got his throat sliced open 13 days ago. He definitely went through a very rough time before feeling like he'd turned the corner and is now on the road to recovery.

Saturday marked the turn around day of significant improvement when Glen consented to have a shower after 3 days off. He was willing to have visitors that day. He was more mobile and was eating a bit better. Perhaps it was because his favorite team was playing basketball that day and they won again and it puts them one step closer to all that March Madness tournament stuff--whatever all that is called. Whatever it was that was tripping his happy trigger, made me happy as well.

There were some milestones that happened on Sunday. One actually happened at bedtime the night before.  Glen decided to sleep in our bed. He's been sleeping in the recliner in the basement since the day after Christmas. This was a big deal! Progress is being made!!!!

He didn't venture out to attend any Sunday meetings. Although willing to do so, I was unwilling for him to do so and so he obediently stayed in to rest all day. I figured our evening activity would probably wear him out and felt like one big thing was enough for him on his first day venturing out.

He was congratulating himself that morning for showering two days in a row. It was a big improvement in his personal hygiene. Hurrah! He put on street clothes, which was another big improvement over the sweats he's been in for nearly 2 weeks. And, he stepped out of the house for the first time since coming home from the hospital. The event was the monthly family birthday dinner party at my parents' home.

Glen knew if he wanted to get any good food to eat that night, he had better go with us instead of stay home by himself. And there was another big thing that happened while there--Glen ate his meal sitting down. He has had such trouble swallowing that he felt like standing up to eat made it a little bit easier for the food to make its way down his throat.

The food was delicious and there was a big crowd there that made lots of noise and Glen was such a good sport through it all. But, after a couple of hours, he was looking tired and was anxious to get back home.

He wanted to get to bed early because he had a big day planned for today. Another first happened when he got up early and went to work. He'd been doing some work on his computer at home a few days last week, but this was a really big step for him.

Since Glen is still on pain medication, I drove him to and from work. He was able to work until noon and felt good about his efforts, but admitted that he was very tired and was glad he was going home for the afternoon. Shortly after eating lunch and taking half a pain pill (that's half a pill less than he took in the morning, so more progress there as well), he couldn't stay awake any longer. He hit the couch for a much-needed nap.

Sarah has been craving a salmon dinner for a while now, so we cooked up the dinner and everything we had appealed to Glen. He said all the foods we fixed just slithered down his throat. He ate a lot and he ate sitting down. This is exciting. Maybe I'll be able to take him out in public to a restaurant after all...

While Glen was at work, I put away his hospital drink jug, the apparatus that forced him to take deep breaths, the heating pad and the traction unit. All those things are for a sick person and we're tired of living in a sick house.  So, all remnants have been removed--even his pillow in the easy chair which propped up his head.  We're now living in a well house and it feels good!

There is one big goal looming out there that he needs to accomplish.  He's working to become drug-free.  Quite a worthy goal, I'd say!

Cut Throat Revealed

Jeff and Sarah and Eli returned home from their long weekend trip to Cedar City and Sarah confirmed what I'd been thinking during their absence.

Glen has had some weird eyes going on, which I am convinced is caused by the pain medication. He'll open his eyes real big (reminds me of when Brooke was a baby) and have this funny look about him. I'll tell him he's doing it and he'll think there's nothing different that he's doing.

Sarah calls it his scary eyes and did her best to capture the look with the camera.

Yesterday Glen was able to take the big, outer bandage off his neck to reveal what was underneath. He was shocked to see the huge cut in his throat. It is 3 inches long.

He didn't want to pull at the steri-strips covering the cut. He used that as an excuse not to shower yesterday.

Today it was a different reason. He has been in too much pain.

After our conversation about the scary eyes, he decided he was going to cut down on the pain medication to see if he can wean himself off of it. Last night was a very rough night for him and today has been a bad day. He's been in a lot of pain. He rated his pain at a 9 out of 10.

This has been a rough recovery for him and he keeps wondering if the pain will ever go away and if he will ever be able to eat again without it killing his throat. He also would like to get some strength and energy back.

Let's keep the prayers coming his way. We don't want this guy to be in pain forever.

A Cut and a Slice

Once Glen learned that he was scheduled for spinal fusion surgery, he insisted I give him a hair cut so he wouldn't have to deal with that little chore any time during his recovery period.  Turns out we didn't find out that surgery was on for sure until the night before the surgery.

I have been priding myself on doing a fair job on his hair lately, considering I've not had a minute's worth of instruction on how to cut hair.  The price is right, so Glen keeps coming back for more.

After this latest debacle, perhaps he'll be seeking a more experienced barber in the very near future.

Here's what happened...

As mentioned previously, it was the night before surgery, it was very late, I had my mind on many other things, and it soon became apparent that I wasn't giving the job at hand my full attention.  As usual, I had put guard #6 on the clippers which was set at the lowest setting.  We used to use guard #5, but decided that one cut his hair a little too short and have liked the longer setting much better.

I ran the guard all around the bottom of his head and then set the big clippers down so I could use the small trimmer to clean up the edges of his hair.  As I was doing that, I noticed some longer hairs at the crown and grabbed the big clippers once again to make a swipe or two up near the crown to cut that little patch of longer hair.

With the big clippers in hand, I placed it down a little behind his ear and ran it clear up to the crown of his head.  I couldn't believe all the hair that was falling as I made that swipe.  Then, when all the hair had settled, I couldn't believe what my eyes beheld!  There was not a hair left on his head where the clippers had just cut!

It quickly dawned on me that after I'd used the clippers the first time, I'd removed the guard before setting the clippers down.  Not remembering that I'd removed the guard, I had grabbed the clippers to make that one last swipe. With the clippers set on the lowest setting, I'd basically scalped my husband.

Good thing Glen was instantly forgiving and reassured me that it didn't look that bad. Keep in mind he was saying that while looking at himself head on in the mirror. I told him he should take a look at the back of his head and he'd change his tune about it not looking so bad because it looked hideous! I was just sick about it!

I quickly went to work trying to blend in the hair around that huge bald spot, but there was no disguising it. The poor man had been scalped by his wife and there was nothing I could do to fix it. So, with much sadness and great frustration, I put on the #1 guard and did my "blending" with that all around the whole bottom part of his head. I've never seen Glen's hair so short. We were tempted to just buzz cut his whole head. 

Let's just say there are lessons to be learned here and some things to be thankful for:

1. Don't cry over spilled milk--or, in this case, a shaved spot on your head. Hair does grow back, albeit not quickly enough in this case.

2. Forgiveness is a welcome thing--especially when you do something stupid to somebody else and that somebody has to walk around wearing your stupidity.

3. If you think using guard #5 cuts hair short, try using guard #1.  If you think that is short, try no guard at all.

4. Give thanks this happened right before a convalescent period of time when absolutely no public appearance (except the hospital stay) is required.

5. Appreciate that the need for combing and washing hair becomes unnecessary while recuperating when you've had an extremely short hair cut. 

Now on to the actual surgery.

Glen reported to St. Mark's Hospital super early the day after Valentine's Day.  Doesn't he look cute in his hospital gown and hospital slippers?

Notice how happy he is as he's going into surgery. I, personally, was very happy to see that cap go on his head to cover the mess I'd made of his hair...

And here he is after surgery as he's eating his first meal of broth, jello and pudding. YUM!

Here's the damage that was done to the man when the surgeon sliced his throat. The bandage must be kept on and clean and dry for a week. The nurse and the anesthesiologist both told Glen that they were happy to see that he has a skinny neck as that would make the surgery a little easier.

His neck is not nearly as skinny now with all the swelling going on.

Glen has struggled with being able to eat. His throat hurts so much all the time and it makes swallowing very difficult. He finds that standing up to eat helps the food and pills go down a little easier.

Saturday was a red-letter day when he got cleaned up and even consented to shave. (It's pretty sad that his facial hair was growing faster than the hair on his head.)

Nothing makes the man happier these days than eating a Popsicle. It's the most soothing to his throat. He's been eating a little better and a little more each day and is getting his appetite back.

We'll know he's back to normal when he can handle his favorite snack--popcorn--going down his sore, scratchy, hard-to-swallow throat.

A Lotta Love Goin' On Valentine's Weekend

Sarah and I started off the love weekend by fixing a heart dinner for our sweethearts on date night. She was the expert at cutting potato chips in the shape of a heart. Impressive!

Not pictured is the strawberry shortcake for dessert.  We hadn't really worked on making anything "hearty" in that dish--until Jeff pointed out the strawberries were sliced in the shape of hearts. Good for us! Theme carried throughout the entire meal!

Klarissa had a big surprise for her sweetheart when she made plans to fly Abe in to watch a BYU basketball game. They wanted to show Jimmer Fredette some love. Glen had bought tickets to the game three different times because we didn't know who was coming when, so we were not all sitting together. I loved being able to sit next to my Dad during the game.

The one thing we didn't love all that much was having to wait forever and a day to get seated at Brick Oven for a meal after the game. Sarah wanted nothing to do with the hour plus wait and so she and Jeff went to In-N-Out for a quick meal instead.

Sunday is always a family love day. Eating homemade ice cream is a treat we all love and playing games together is another lovely activity we enjoyed doing as well.

Eli and Caroline loved playing toys together.

We absolutely loved having Abe and Klarissa here for their short, one-night stand.  Then, before we knew it, we were kissing them good-bye and sending them off on their way to catch their flight back to San Francisco.

But, don't think the loving stopped when they left...

Sarah spent the better portion of her entire Valentine's Day working on a special surprise dinner for the love of her life. Not only did she cook and bake...

but she also transformed our basement into a little French restaurant--with Eli's company as he was playing in the toy car nearby.

Jeff and Sarah got all dressed up for the evening and enjoyed their romantic dinner together.

What could be more romantic than sitting with your beloved, enjoying a delicious meal while looking out the window at the sunset and a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower?

Well, we couldn't top that, so we walked across the street and joined with 11 other couples for our Empty Nesters dinner and games at the Stewart's home. Ahhhh, the difference between young love and old love.

It's all love, just the same!

Super Bowl Sunday Not So Super

We decided to break tradition and not eat meat, carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy for our Sunday dinner. After all--it was Super Bowl Sunday.

The guys thought hot wings sounded good. Bean dip and chips were added to the menu and we threw in celery sticks for good measure.

What a feast we had laid out for us.

For some reason, Eli seemed about as uninterested in the Super Bowl as I was. He and I chose other activities to keep us busy instead of watching the television.

Sure made me glad I didn't eat any of those hot wings when Jeff started complaining of heartburn and Glen told us his tummy was hurting. In fact, he was in so much discomfort that he was threatening to throw up. We know he's sick when that happens.

It's only happened twice in our 33 years of marriage (by the way--Happy Anniversary to us this week!!) and it happened again on Super Bowl Sunday. Glen actually threw up. He says it was the homemade ice cream that we had for dessert. Whatever the cause, the net result was something didn't agree with him and he was throwing up all night long.

I think Glen would probably have to say it was not his most favorite Super Bowl Sunday.

The Excell Family Has Come To Live

Jeff got a job at JD Clark and Company in Ogden and they are looking for a home to buy. In the meantime, this is where they are staying.

It worked out perfectly that the first month they are here just happened to be Sarah's birthday month.

She got to be one of the special ones with candles on a dessert at Mom's house. Dallas, Sarah and Austin might have been the birthday people, but Brooke thought she was the designated candle-blower-outer for everyone.  An honorable mention went out to Emma and Logan who also share Sarah's birthday.

Wes took care of blowing out the flame on the big #8 candle on top of the cupcakes.

I am remembering back 8 years ago when 4 of the girls in the family were all pregnant at the same time with the kids who are now turning 8 years old:  Natalie, Wes, Rachel and Thadeus.  Cute kids!!