"Open For Thoughts.........."

I have been a little "far away" lately.  Not so much as away from a place... but just away from my thoughts.  I have not been writing for a while... not for lack of want.  I am coming to a monumental moment in my life... two of them... close to the same time.  I am going to be 40 years old in a couple months... and... my only child will be 21 years old in a little over a month.

If anyone out there has any suggestions as to put this all in my head and wrap my brain around it..please feel free to put  your mouse cursor over the place of my blog that says... "0 THOUGHT(S) FROM YOU TO ME.  " ...and leave me some thoughts.

Melting Hearts Makes Christmas Real...

It's been a while since I posted anything here.  I have been "computer lazy" lately.  I have basically checked my emails for about two minutes in the mornings before work... and that has been it.  Working in a bakery through the holidays kind of takes the air out of my tires... so to speak.

Christmas was nice this year.  As always... the store was closed... as to allow us a single day of the joys that catching your breath brings.

So many times I believe that people get caught up in the buying frenzy... even through a tough economic time that we are enduring in this country.  Many have lost sight of what truly matters in life.

We managed to give an 85 year old woman... Rich's Grandma "Nanny"... and I quote... "The best gift anyone has ever given her."  It took 85 years!

This past summer... my twin brothers came for a quick visit.  I managed to spend 29 and a half hours with them.  We introduced them to Rich's mom and Grandma.  Immediately... Nanny's heart was melted.  She loved them... and she loved meeting Katya... Chris' wife from Russia.  She was brought to tears at their departure and since then... always asks about them... if I have heard from them... what have you.

This year... we made a collage of pictures that were taken from that visit.  She cried when she opened them.  She has them proudly displayed by her chair in the living room... and has since taken them to a friends house to show them off.  Here are the ones we gave to her.  I had to share them!

Katya (Chris' wife), Chris, Don, Marcy (Rich's mom)
Chris & Don... "wild boys"
Hannah (my kid), Chris, Katya, Rich (my husband) and myself, Nanny, & Don
Nanny & Don
Don & Nanny
Don & Nanny

She loves the boys... and this is the first time I had ever experienced a touch of Nanny's heart... she never shared it much before this!

Every Moment Counts...

Things around the Bunting household have been a little different lately. Time seems to take a path of it's own. Wandering around without me... most of itself. If I were to get up and find my calendar... I could write the exact date of our latest "adventure".

So... let's just say... approximately a week and a half... or two weeks ago...

Rich had been sick a couple of times the week prior. Vomitting, chills, severe headaces, mild fever... etc. Since he has a lowered immune system because of his anti-rejection medication for his heart transplant... we just figured that he caught a cold from somewhere. Colds hit him harder than they would a "normal" person.

This particular day... I was working a later shift than usual. Hannah, our daughter, had to work at 3pm... and I was to get home by 6:30pm. Rich had what he described as... "the worst chills he has ever had in his life." Hannah... having had to help out with medical type things for most of her life now... checked his blood pressure, blood sugar, and temperature... covered him with three or four blankets... gave him the phone... and told him to "call if it got worse and mom would be home in about 3 hours". She let me know how he was when she arrived at work... (we work in the same place).

When I had got home... Rich had been out of bed for about an hour. He looked aweful. He was breathing hard and looked very weak. I took his blood pressure again... asked him the twenty thousand questions that I always ask... and commenced to writing a "journal" for the doctor... (just in case). Rich said he was "ok" but that he was just tired. I still kept my eyes on him... probably to the extent of driving him nuts.

A couple hours passed... and he did not look... nor feel any better. A long time ago... before his heart transplant... I made him promise me that if he felt like he really needed to go to the doctor... that he would tell me and we would go... I made him promise to not keep it from me and be stubborn. I asked him if he needed to go to the doctor that night... he said..."no... not yet." So... I let it go... but kept watching. See... what that promise means is that... yes... I will take him if he needs to go... but if I feel like he is being stubborn... I can overrule his vote and take him anyways!

I looked over at him and he was closing his eyes kind of "funny"... funny different. I asked him what was wrong with his eyes. Again... he said he was just tired. I told him I was going to call and make an appointment with the doctor in the morning if he wasn't any better. He agreed.

A little later... He was still acting "funny". I asked him... "You are not having a stroke on me are you?" I gave him a baby aspirin... "just in case". He said he would be fine... and we went to bed shortly thereafter.

The next morning we woke up and I asked him how he slept... and how he was feeling. He said that he was still tired and weak. His face looked "funny" to me... so I made him an appointment for 1:30pm that day to see the doctor. It happened to be my day off so we were having breakfast, coffee, and watching CNN headline news together... and Rich said while he was eating his toast that he thought something was wrong. He said that he kept biting his cheek and lip and that his face felt different.

I immedately called the doctor and told them to cancel the appointment because I was taking him to the emergency room.

Well... to make an already long story shorter... we spent 5 hours in the ER... and Rich spent 5 days in the hospital. The doctors say that he did have a TIA... which they said was a "mini-stroke". The effect of his left arm and left leg being numb went away the next day... unfortunately... the left side of his face has been affected. They said he has "Bells palsy" in his left side of his face. They also said that he has a spot on his lung that they were going to recheck in about 3 months to see if it has grown. He also had a really bad infection in his right leg.

So... life is a little more precious in the Bunting home these days. We are asking for prayer support from anyone who believes that prayer really does work! Because it does! I am praying that this "Bells palsy" goes away... and that he has no more TIA's and that the spot on his lung is no where to be found on the next x-ray!

We... as a family... can find humor in things. Sometimes we act silly to make each other laugh. Ok... most of the time we act silly... and we just laugh at and with each other anyways. Life is too short to not be happy. Life is too short to hold a grudge against someone. Life is too short to let one moment go by without telling those you love.. how much they mean to you. Laughter truly is the best medicine... and a prayer of faith can bring miracles.

Life goes on in our household... one day at a time... sometimes... one minute at a time.