Mission Reunion; Glen's Foot; My Heart Troubles = Surgery

The missionaries were begging for a reunion. Despite our feelings of calling the day we spoke in church a missionary reunion, we went ahead and planned one at the usual time. Mission reunions are usually scheduled around the two times a year when General Conference is held.

Glen recruited Lexi Bradford (3rd from left) and Laurie Masangkay Funk (on the right) to help plan the reunion. Laurie brought her husband Kyle. We got volunteers from Skyler Higginson and his wife Shayla (on the left) and Ryan Poertner (far right) to come early and help with setup and take down. 

We rewarded them all for their efforts by taking them out to R&R BBQ for a quick dinner between setup and start time.

Lexi and Laurie came up with all the decorations, organized what to have for food (we picked up the Costco food), made the mission video and set up a photo booth.

I thought the decorations were so clever as each table was set up representing a mission zone--which is basically a stake covering that city. Each city has a unique feel about it and these sisters captured it all perfectly!!

Murrieta is called Gem of the Valley and uses diamonds on their street signs and at freeway interchanges.

Temecula is wine country and you can often see hot air balloons flying in the sky on a cool morning.

Vista is the avocado capital of the world. It is also where the Yellow Deli is located--one of the missionaries' favorite places to eat. 

Vista is where the mission office was located where the missionaries would go for meetings and also to pick up mission supplies, such as copies of The Book of Mormon to hand out when they were teaching.

Escondido is definitely where there was the biggest Spanish-speaking population. The piñata and sombrero represent the culture well.

Del Mar is a coastal city with beaches. It's not Hawaii, but it's a close second.

Carlsbad is also a beach town and it was where our mission home was located. Legoland is located just two exits away from where we lived. Note the little Lego missionaries.

We took a moment to try out the photo booth before the missionaries arrived.

I never got any pictures during the reunion. We had wanted to get a group photo, but that never happened.

We enjoyed greeting the missionaries as they arrived. We enjoyed the short devotional where we spoke to the group, and we enjoyed visiting with them as they told us good-bye.

By the time we had finished talking with the last missionaries, our team had everything cleaned up and we were so thankful they had pulled through. It really helped us out. We were all very tired at the end of that evening.

Glen's left foot has been bothering him. For a long time. From clear back when we were on the mission. He never wanted to deal with it there. He was pretty sure this foot was having the same problem as his other foot when he had to have foot surgery 12 years ago.

I urged him to go see a doctor just to see what's going on inside his foot and to see if he is doing more harm to it by procrastinating doing something about it.

He went to see the same doctor who performed the surgery on his foot before. Come to find out, his sore foot is not the "other" foot as he had thought. 

It's the SAME FOOT!!! With the SAME PROBLEM!!! Only intensified!!

The bones on the top of his foot are splitting apart and he will need a larger bone graft this time--which they took from his right ankle. He was told it will be a year recovery for his foot to be back to full strength.

Until then, Glen is waiting until at least after our cruise the end of February before he does anything. He's not too anxious to be back on a scooter, then crutches, then one crutch, then a big boot, then being careful for months after that.

The doctor said pain will dictate how soon he wants to do surgery. He can just deal with it until he wants to do something surgical about it.

We have been getting such a kick out of Kade. He doesn't want anything to do with me, but he sure loves Glen.

Glen was hoping to get a job in the Missionary Department when we got home, but was told there would be no openings there for a while. After he got his job in the Welfare and Self-Reliance Department, a surprising phone call came telling him someone retired in the Missionary Department and he went to interview for that position.

I went to Temple Square with him that day and walked around there for a while waiting for him.

After the interview, he felt pretty sure someone else was going to get the job. Someone else did, but not who he thought would get it. Oh well, at least Glen made the effort and got that out of his system. At least for now.

The Missionary Department provides all returning Mission Presidents and their wives tickets to two sessions of General Conference.

It is always a thrill to attend an event in the beautiful conference center. What a privilege to be in the same room as our Prophet, the other members of the First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles and so many of the General Authorities--some of which we have now met on a personal basis as we presided over our mission.

At one of the sessions we ran into former missionary Russell Peterson, along with some of the other Mission Presidents and their wives who feel like such good friends to us now.

With thoughts of Glen's impending surgery looming in our future, we were taken aback when we learned I would be having an upcoming surgery.

I had gone to see Dr. Forstall to re-establish myself with him as my cardiologist and to get my pacemaker monitoring changed from California to here. I shared with him how it feels like I have to manually fill my lungs frequently, even at rest. When I exert myself at all, or go up stairs or walk up a hill, I am so out of breath and it's really hard for me to fill my lungs especially then.

He put me on a 24-hour heart monitor. It's good it was only 24 hours because those circles that are stuck to my body really irritate my skin. I was happy to see the monitor was a lot smaller than the one I used years ago. I also didn't have to carry around a big cell phone along with it like last time. 

At my appointment where I got the results of the heart monitor, Dr. Forstall reminded me about how he could not get a pacemaker wire placed in the upper chamber of my heart when he installed my pacemaker. I have been functioning on just the lower heart being paced. He said that is the one that keeps me alive, so that is at least a good thing.

The problem is my heart is not communicating very well with itself. The upper part is doing its thing while the lower chambers are doing their thing and they are not in sync a lot. He feels like I will feel a lot better if I can get an upper lead wire put in.

He said he wanted to refer to me a thoracic cardiac surgeon to attach the upper lead wire to the outside of my heart instead of the inside as is usually done in a pacemaker procedure.

It was a quick decision. The surgeon had an opening a few days later, so I soon found myself in the hospital awaiting an unexpected surgery. I am smiling because the IV was in and working.

There was one very bad IV attempt before the successful one. A nerve was hit and sent a shock way down into my thumb. Since then the whole inside of my thumb has been numb. It continues to be numb. UGH!!!

There were no smiles after the surgery when I woke up in so much pain from where he had sliced my chest open and where I had a drainage tube coming out of my lower ribs.

It was exceptionally disheartening to learn a one-hour surgery turned into a 3 1/2-hour surgery with many, many attempts at getting that lead wire placed and working. The surgeon had the pacemaker technician trade out the wires thinking they were faulty. He just could not get a good reading upon placement. Ever.

The surgery was UNSUCCESSFUL. On top of that, he had to collapse my right lung during surgery. I had such a hard time breathing for WEEKS after the surgery. I would do my laps around the house.

I would use the breathing apparatus they gave me in the hospital. It seemed all in vain. I didn't feel like I was getting better.

Every time I walked past our front door, I would look out the window at the beautiful fall-colored tree in the Stewarts' front yard. It brought me much happiness.

A lot of people were concerned about me. The girls were checking in with me on Marco Polo--with Dallas making an appearance on one video.

My friends, Colleen Kossin and LaVona Lewis, brought lunch one day and stayed to eat it with me. Diane Stewart and Debi Winder joined us. It was so nice to have chatter and laughter when I was feeling so rotten.

Diane had brought us over some soup and cornbread shortly after I got home from the hospital. We have such great friends!!!

At the week mark, I went back to Dr. Forstall who told me my options as he could see it. First option would be to do nothing. Well, I certainly would have preferred to do nothing before I got mutilated by an unsuccessful surgery!!!!

Second option would be he could go back in and, with better tools now, he could try to place the lead wire in "an obscure place" that is not normally used for wire placement.

That didn't sound very promising to us at all. I was in so much pain and having such a hard time breathing that the thoughts of another surgery was not an option for me at all.

I told him at the point my pacemaker battery needs changing (I have 7 1/2 years of battery life left), I might consider it then.

He had my pacemaker checked that day and decided to raise my number from 50 to 60 beats per minute. That means my pacemaker now kicks in more often and he was hoping that would help me feel better and have more energy and be able to do better upon exertion.

That day I had barely been able to climb the stairs to his office. I had to stop every two steps and gasp for air to try and fill my lungs.

I was also in so much pain at the incision site. My chest above the incision was extremely swollen and he sent me downstairs to the surgeon's office to have that checked. I was told to alternate heat pack with ice pack. I had only been icing it.

A week later I was supposed to go back to the surgeon for a check-up. I was so anxious to see him because I was still in so much pain and was having extreme trouble breathing. A couple of hours before we were leaving for the appointment, his office called to say he had been called to surgery and I had to reschedule for the following week. UGH!!!!

I suffered immensely the next week having a fever for several days along with tummy troubles. This was on top of the constant incision pain and extreme shortness of breath.

We had to laugh when I found a medical release form attached to the hospital release papers declaring me ready to go back to work 13 days after surgery. What a joke!! When all was said and done, it would be another month before I was feeling back to my pre-surgery self.

Finally it was the day to get a chest x-ray and see the doctor. X-ray findings showed fluid in my left lung. The surgeon was very puzzled about that as he said he had not touched that lung at all during surgery. He put me on water pills and told me to go back in 2 weeks for another chest x-ray.

When asked about where we go from here regarding my heart, he said he has no idea. How discouraging!! Two cardiologists were stumped about what to do with me.

In the meantime, wonderful sisters from the ward stopped by bearing gifts or food or a listening ear. Tiffany Foutz and Carol Pope are my ministering sisters who have been so good to stay in touch with me and continue to give loving support.

Carol Nielsen brought dinner to us twice. Her husband Troy was a good sport to help carry the food.

I had been craving orange jello with mandarin oranges, so Rebecca and Madison came up one day to make it for me.

Madison loves to eat at Costa Vida which is close to our house. Whenever she asks to go, we just have to go. 

Rebecca was expecting to get take out and bring it to me, but I surprised her by saying I felt like I could make that little outing. We got there before the big lunch rush, so it was quick and Madison was able to get to Kindergarten on time.

I ate some jello at lunch and dinner every day.

Jan Evans brought over some soup her son Will had made. Later she brought over some sugared almonds. YUM!!

Laurel Robertson and Ann Lee of the Relief Society presidency brought over a pastry and some chocolates.

Those treats were enjoyed by the Goldens when they came over to visit/weed one day. They were a bright spot in my day.

Kathleen Morrell came over to visit a couple of times. The first time she brought a small package of gluten-free donuts and some dairy free mint chocolate chip ice cream. I offered those things to Haley and she was happy to get them.

She had also brought over two big, beautiful apples picked fresh from her daughter's tree. Those tasted so delicious to me. 

Another day she brought over a bag of apples when she came to chat because I had raved over the other apples.

Glen invited me to ride along to the Distribution Center one day where he needed to pick up some supplies for his job. I stayed in the car, but it felt good to get out of the house.

I rode with him one evening over to the Mandarin Restaurant where he picked up take-out for our dinner.

Jan Evans had brought me some beautiful fall flowers. I loved them so much because I had been enjoying looking out the windows at the fall foliage and it felt like a bit of the outdoors was now inside.

One day I rode along with Glen to one of his appointments and sat in the car reading and looking at the beautiful colors of nature in autumn.

It was a big surprise to receive a flower delivery sent by Micheal Nading, one of our missionaries. I thought that was so generous of him.

Kim Cowley fixed us dinner one evening. She had Joe bring the food over as she had students coming over all afternoon into the early evening for piano lessons.

 Another evening Tiffany and Carol brought dinner.

As those two ladies were leaving, Carolyn Zaugg appeared on the doorstep with the beautiful small bouquet of flowers and some Nielsens frozen custard.

After we ate our dinner, and as Glen opened the lid to the custard, I was chanting, "Please, not chocolate!! Please, not chocolate!!" Chocolate is not my favorite flavor, especially in ice cream.

Imagine my delight when we tasted it and it was lemon. I love lemon-flavored dessert!!

We had more missionaries stop by for us to meet their beloveds. Hailey Hathaway is engaged to President Marin's nephew. That was a fun fact to learn.

Two other of our missionaries are engaged to each other--Taevin Norman and Morgan Green.

We love it when this happens.