Whoop ....

 On May16th David and I picked up my mom and we headed to College Station to watch Pamela graduate from Texas A&M for the 2nd time.  This time she got her BSN. For the past year she has been taking classes for RN to BSN.  Couldn't be prouder of her and all her accomplishments.

 She even walked across the stage with her boot on without tripping or falling.

Her broken foot is healing but with all the walking she wanted to make sure her foot survived.

 
Time to be silly, enjoy life and read a book that's not a text book. No more studying! 
Aren't they the cutest nurses ever? LOL
This is her friend and roommate while going to Blinn. 


And I couldn't pass up on a moment of relaxation and fun when we got back to her apartment.


That's one proud Papa. And she did this 3rd degree on her dime not ours. Even better. 





After her graduation we took a quick trip to New Orleans. Pamela and I had never been. We hit of course the French Quarter, 

had a Hurricane at Pat O'Briens, took a ride on the Mississippi river on a real steam engine paddle boat, 

took a city bus tour through the 9th ward where it flooded so bad, checked out 1 of 6 light houses, 



toured 2 plantations: Oak Alley and Laura with 2 different histories with huge live oaks,

(by the colors on Laura plantation home you would know creoles live here)

went a cemetery and learned a lot about the method of burial and how the tombs work as a natural crematorium.


(the picture is called by some the Mickey Mouse crypt by some), 

and went looking for alligators in the swamp.

 Pamela even kissed this little guy. I actually held the little alligator. His tummy was so soft. 
We went to dinner at Emeril  Lagrasse's restaurant on Tchoupitolas. Oh my goodness that was so so so very tasty. I can't say we had any bad food at any of the places we ate. We stayed at the Hilton and our first night we at Draggo's there in the hotel. Lots of food and good.
We also hit Harrah's for a little gambling. None of us did so good. Pamela and David lost all their stake and I was able to hang on to a little over half of my stake. I should have stopped when I was 200 ahead but the gambling bug sucked me hoping for that big win. LOL
It was a wonderful trip but a hell of a lot of walking.


 My Dad's status: He's in good spirits and not about to let this cancer thing get in his way. His 2nd Chemo treatment was delayed due to his numbers being up when they should have been down and up where they should have been down but he finally had that 2nd treatment 5 days after the planned date.  He surprised everyone and had very little side effects during the treatment. He actually slept through 90% of it and woke up hungry. Along with this treatment he was given a medication that will cause him to lose his thick head of hair. I can't imagine my Dad bald but hey maybe he'll be unique again and not lose it. He also had an intrathecal where they inject meds into his spine. I can't find the full description that my little sister Jerri Lynn wrote but the meds are suppose to help keep the cancer from traveling to his brain. 

He has stayed away from large crowds and wore his mask but he has managed to go see my niece at her annual dance recital and caught most of my nephews soccer game. 

He is scheduled for his 3rd treatment on June 5th.  Please keep him in your prayers.

David and I went to Puffabelly's recently to see and listen to Jesse Dayton and Davin James rock the stage with their Texas music and anecdotes. Davin told us one time that isn't that good of a player. Really he's got to be kidding. He and Jesse are awesome. One time I'll have to record a brief section of the show and share it with y'all.

Now for my latest adventure.... My Husband.. I guess he thought my Dad was having all the fun.. NOT!

He's been feeling kinda so so for a couple of weeks but it would come and go. Well Sunday June 1st he woke up and what ever he had been feeling came to stay.  When I got up he was on the computer looking at the medical site trying to self diagnose. By 9am the pain was getting really bad. He hadn't ate or drank anything since the nite before around 9pm. Every time he'd try to sip some water he'd feel sick. By 10 something I had him at the Urgent Care Clinic. He didn't want to go sit in an ER for hours.  The clinic poked him 7 times with 3 different nurses/PA trying to get blood for lab work. Once they did and got the results of some lab work they gave him something for the pain and nausea and sent us to a near by hospital for a CT. An hour after the scan I was calling the clinic to tell the PA that David was worse and now hovered over the trash can. The scan confirmed the PA's suspicion that David had a kidney stone that wasn't going to pass on it's own.
Guess what we ended up at the ER anyway and had to wait 3 hours before making it to triage.  
Now by this time it's been 23 hours since David had eaten or had anything to drink..... Can you say major dehydration? That means more pokes trying to find a good vein for more blood and one for the IV. Only went through 2 nurses and 5-6 new pokes. By 10pm David is in the operating room having a stent put in. Through the stint they will send an electrical current to break up the 9x5 mm stone. Oh wait... the stent is in but they don't have the machine that sends the current. You've got to be kidding. 
Monday afternoon David is released and we're told to wait for a call from the someone who will set up the appointment at the location of the machine. Good grief. So 2 and half hours later I get the call and we go in Wednesday for the ESWL. So poor David has been in pain this whole time. Pain meds are only so good. 
So please add David to your prayers for a smooth procedure and a speedy recovery.
My cousin Gayle figures I might get addicted to the waxed shining floors at hospitals since I've spent so much time in them in the last 45 days. I don't think so.
OKAY FAMILY no one else is allowed to be a patient in a hospital. Notice I clarified that statement with the word patient since I have so many Nurses in the family and one more studying to be one.

The last 45 days have been interesting to say the least.

Until next blog post... Stay healthy

 Sorry I couldn't help myself..... Hugs