Really good day

Jack put on Nolan's Christmas present at my sister Amy's request


This guy came over for some football with Uncle Dave and to help Celebrate Gigi's (grandma Margie) birthday

This guy (Isaac if you have never met him) got to sit up in the hospital back in Los Angeles

This guy got to go home today to live with his mom (my sister-in-law), dad and his brother.
Judah James, his big brother Elisha and Bunmi hanging on the couch.

God is so Good. Happy 40th (hahaha) Birthday mom.

lightweight

Good news! Isaac is off the ventilator and he is talking! MIRACLES ARE REAL AND THEY ARE HAPPENING EVERY DAY!!

It would take forever to go through everything that God has done in the last two weeks, but if you want to read about it visit the website we created to keep everyone up to date.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/isaaccanales

Just know that life is no longer at a stand still. Today, I went to church, did some Christmas shopping, walked and played with the dog, and am headed over to the hospital to see Papa.

My last few blogs have been very heavy. I wanted to provide you with a little entertainment and a laugh. I told you that Kuma loves water. Literally loves it. As evidenced by the following video clip....

Rain

I went back to work yesterday. Just to work to make sure we can pay the bills next month.
Its raining right now and the kids are on my nerves. I would rather be at the hospital, playing with Elisha or bouncing Rias on my knee.

I went in to see Isaac last night and he was awake. Sedated awake and uncomfortable (not talking or anything) but fighting his breathing tube and looking around. I know he is in a lot of pain, but I also know he can handle it and its all a part of this process. He even squeezed my hand a little bit when I asked him to (to distract him from biting his breathing tube.)

Life has really just been standing still. I haven't bought a single Christmas present, we are supposed to leave for Seattle on Saturday, but that has been postponed. Everything that is not completely necessary has stopped for now. I know that hospital and the nurses and the hallways like I know my house right now. Its very strange and surreal.

We have so much good news. So much to be thankful for.

And I have to admit I am a little sad. I love this time of year and I was really looking forward to seeing my family for a long vacation. That feels selfish to say in light of all of this, but it is just my honest truth.

Here is the latest update from Ritha, from Isaac's progress website.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/isaaccanales

"
Good morning. Isaac continues to improve and tries to wake up. Not too happy with the breathing tube that is still necessary with his heavy sedation. He seemed to be getting a little agitated while Etol was reading Psalms 7, 8, 121, 122, 123, and 124. Guess he was feeling the need to preach it. We have been playing a variety of CD's for him, including Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra Christmas classics. Dr. Do (his surgeon) came by to check Isaac over, review his lab tests, etc. He is pleased with his progress.
1) Heart rate continues to be a normal sinus rhythm - yea!
2) Blood pressure stable
3) No bleeding problems - his platelet count is 122,000 - normal range
4) Blood count is stable
5) Kidneys are producing plenty of urine. His creatinine is 3.4 - gradually going down on its own (normal is less than 1.3).
6) White blood cell count (indication of infectious tissue) still elevated, but Dr. Do expects that it will improve after this surgery.
Prayer request:
1) Surgery to go smoothly and not set back any of his improvements
2) Kidneys to continue to improve
3) After surgery - a speedy recovery- remove the breathing tube, decrease some of his medications "

4th quarter

Saturday night I reported that Isaac was doing better.

We went home and tried to get some much needed sleep.

3 am the phone rings and my heart drops.

Ritha on the phone "Get here as fast as you can, Papa is bleeding out."

Dave telling me that his dad was tired and he had lived a good life.

The world spinning around me and my heart stubbornly saying "no no no this is not right"

Getting to the hospital and finding out that not only is the doctor that performed his surgery on call in the hospital that evening, the best anesthesiologist, and our incredible nurse who has been an angel this entire time.

We started praying and singing hymns outside the ICU.

Isaac is wheeled out as we sing "Our God is an Awesome God."

The surgeon is looking at us like we are crazy.

2 hours later they are closing Isaac up and we are rejoicing. He is still stable even though he has lost a lot of blood. It is still a grave situation and they again do not expect them to make it.

Today: They have never seen someone recover from what he has been through. We are truly blessed.

Praise Report:
1. Papa made it through day 1 after 2nd surgery
2. His kidney's have started working quicker than expected.
3. His blood pressure is staying normal with less medicines.
4. Heart rate lower and body temperature is normal without heating blanket.
5. When the nurse tilted him to the side some fluids were released that were building up.
6. His blood count is stable/ bleeding stopped.
7. Papa is responding to stimulation although heavily sedated.
8. Papa wanted to get his appendectomy incision hernia repaired next summer. During his surgery, his doctor saw the need to repair most of that hernia. Unexpected bonus!

Prayer Request:
1. That papa continues to fight and improve.
2. Kidneys keep getting stronger.
3. Blood pressure to be normal without medication.
4. Heart rate and temperature to be stable.
5. Blood clotting to return to normal.
6. Pray for continued normal responses.
7. Pray for his nurses and doctors as they care for him.

Thank you all SO MUCH for all of your prayers!

Battle

Things today for the first time feel hopeful.

So here is the very very short version.

Last week, the first week of Dec on Wednesday Isaac started throwing up. He thought t was food poisoning. It kept getting worse and by Sunday he was still throwing up. He is diabetic, so no food for three days is very dangerous especially because recent tests were showing decreased kidney function. He was taken to the ER where they discovered his kidney numbers were worse and he had an infection in his colon. CT scans determined he had diverticulitis and possibly colitis. Over the next three days in the hospital his condition worsened, his breathing became more labored, his heart rate went up and his blood pressure was dropping. Then he started to get confused and they realized that he was getting worse and worse. Wednesday night they moved him to the step down ICU, where they could more closely monitor him. At this point he was less and less coherent and his vitals kept getting worse. By Thursday night, his breathing was so poor that they intibated him and sedated him. They thought that by doing dialysis to clean his blood that might help the infection get better. This proved useless. By Thursday night he was in septic shock and it was obvious that Isaac was getting worse not better.

By Friday morning they decided that the only option was to go in and do emergency surgery on his colon. They had to go in blind because they could not move him to do a CT scan. His blood pressure kept dropping and they had spent the night trying to stabilize him enough for surgery. They were unable to but they told the Family that if they didn't do the surgery he would probably not survive the day and his best (although extremely small) chance was to do the surgery now. Thank you to everyone who has been praying, because I truly believe that the Lord heard your cries and pleas and sent his angels. We said our goodbyes (I will admit I was mad at Isaac and told him so since he was possibly going to miss the chance to see his grand kids) and then they whisked him to surgery. We spent the next four hours praying and singing and waiting. It is amazing but once he went in and we didn't hear anything, a incredible peace came over the entire hospital and the family. Miraculously Isaac's blood pressure went up for the entire surgery and they were able to get most (time will tell if at all) of the dying colon. When he came out of surgery Ritha was smiling when she made the announcement and we knew that God had answered.

The rest of the day people came in and out, and we were not without food or company. The doctors came and told us about 6 that Isaac was not improving and they were going to have to take the rest of his colon. His BP was still low and his heart rate was between 175-180 beats per minute. They waited 4 more hours and we sent people home. Finally, one of the doctors came in and said that they were going to shock his heart to try to get it to slow down. There was a small chance that he would flat line, and a greater chance nothing would change, but the biggest worry was that he would have a heart attack. Ritha said, if it will help lets try anything. Another miracle. After the first shock Isaac's heart went down to 117, lower than what it was prior to surgery. They also changed his dressing (they left the wound open so that they could go in to take more if they needed to) and discovered that (miracle # I don't know, at this point I have lost count) his colon tissue was improving. In the middle of the night Isaac woke up and it was very obvious that he was feeling pain. Since then he continues to get better. His heart rate is below 100 and his blood pressure is above 100/55. They are beginning to wean him off of the drugs and machines that are keeping him alive.He even filled his colostomy bag (sorry gross I know) which means his bowls are moving. He is not out of the woods, but the doctors told us they expect him to pull through and yesterday were just waiting for him to die.

Here is what I know is true. Jesus hears us. He has control and he answers prayers. Isaac is not done here. God is in the miracle business and I thank every one of you for lifting up Isaac and trusting that if we FIGHT the devil God will prevail.

I will keep you updated from here. Right now pray for more healing and more sleep.

We love you all and can't wait until we can tell you that Isaac is talking, eating, and coming home

Pray

The bible says pray without ceasing.

Pray for Isaac who is in the hospital and not doing well.
Pray for his kidneys to improve.
Pray for the infection to subside.
Pray for all of my friends that are pregnant.
Pray for a job.
Pray for the future.
Pray for my cheerleaders who need so much more than a coach.
Pray for my mother in law who works without ceasing.
Pray for Dave's family who is afraid.
Pray for Miracles.
Pray for Judah James to keep gaining weight and get stronger.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Praise for my home.
Praise for my husband.
Praise for opportunity.
Praise for a good pathology report for my dad.
Praise for new life in our family.
Praise for healthy babies and healthy moms.
Praise for the season.
Praise for the child that took the weight of the world on his shoulders and made everything somehow eventually ok.

Surprise...

I got a sneaky surprise yesterday in the morning.
At first it was a little weird because I looked outside at 6:30 am and there were some men walking around my backyard. Dave jumped out of bed and asked me where his check book was.
I groggily got out of bed and followed him to the cement truck parked in front of my house.

When we first bought our house it had a huge patio in the backyard that was full of cracks. This is a picture from the first week after we won it in the auction. You can see the weeds growing out of the cracks. It turned out to be this huge problem because the assessors thought that we had a bad slab because of the cracks.

Se we had to tear out the front and the back patio. Then they poured this little rinky dinky "patio" that was the size of a welcome mat. Except the only problem was that we have a lot of dirt in the back yard right now and a puppy that likes to be outside. Lots of swiffer pads later...and hopefully new grass in the backyard soon (yes, you can plant grass in Southern California in December...its weird) Dave was secretly planning so we can bring our patio table over and actually have someplace to put it.

The new 15x20 patio, freshly poured.

Much better for tables and muddy paws! And it will get rid of lots of the mud because the roof is angled so the runoff falls right by the back door and the water heater. Much much better this way.

Mission Accomplished

The office is the room I have been avoiding at my house. Literally just kept the door closed for the last few weeks. It was full of all of the stuff I didn't know what to do with. Not anymore!

Now I just need to buy a desk and a rug and I am set!

The hallway with pretty windows from my grandparents house on boones ferry road

The office has a floor and you can sit on the couch

As demonstrated by Dave

And the closet is organized and everything is put away.

Now for those of you that are not squeemish, here is my next big accomplishment

The plumber came back after a day of standing water in the sink

This is what he found...

This was in my drain...since before I moved in. At first I thought it was a bone, but turns out it was hardened plaster or something like that.

Doing my dishes after that was removed was a much more pleasant experience!

Yay!

Christmas came to our house...our little house:)

One of the guys..

Kuma was inducted into the true friends club of dogs today. He is finally fully immunized so he is allowed to be in the backyard with the big dogs. He finally met uncle Jako, Bullet and Rimrock. Jako is the alpha male making sure no other dog tries to usurp control, Bullet is finally getting to be bigger than someone so he was mean (and a little stupid) and uncle Rim has seen it all before and let him jump all over him. He also got his first battle scar (a little nic from uncle Jako under his right eye). Kuma is brave. He tried to take his bone (just once, but man he is 3 times his size).

Thankful...

For those of you that don't know, my dad has had quite a year. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a year and a half ago. The doctors decided to watch it and decide after the first of the year (2008) to have surgery. In the meantime, his colon decided to flair up from his diverticulitis. Apparently he had a low grade infection for a long time (probably around 2 years) and they decided before they would get rid of his cancer they needed to take care of that. When they went in mid year, they ended up taking out 12 inches of rotten colon. So that took a long recovery. Finally, the day before thanksgiving, dad got his prostate removed and is now cancer free (pending final lab results). Thank you God for watching over my dad through all of this. Now we move on to enjoying life, pain free and worry free!

Dad with cancer...one of the only days you will ever see Bob in sweats, right before being admitted to the hospital

Dad with Noni and Tim post surgery...again one of the only times you will hear of Bob asking for any help or letting people do things for him.

If hair in your mouth wasnt the worst thing...

I might try to taste mine...just to see

I have enjoyed being a blonde...feeling like a beach bum/malibu barbie has been quite a change for me! I dont think my cheer squad will recognize me tomorrow after this

The blonde and the brunette

One last look...Sally Face required for this shot

Beautiful chocolatey shiny healthy hair so delicious if it wasnt hair I would want to eat it

Role Reversal!!

10-1

El Camino quarterback James Coy eludes Saddleback defenders... (Steve McCrank, Staff Photographer

El Camino Warriors are 10-1, winning the American Bowl last Saturday. Which means football season marches on. It was a great game. My Cheerleaders continue to do awesome things (and alternately piss me off...)

Dave put a ton of effort into game planning last week. Two nights he ate pizza in a college apartment and watched film with his quarterback and receivers. Probably loved the night out (and I had a good time with my girlfriends and my puppy, so good to be in my own house) It paid off. For those of you that understand football, Dave's quarterback Jimmy Coy had a 70 yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown. They really understood what the other team was doing. I am constantly amazed at how much favor God has placed on Dave as a coach, and how dedicated he is. Sometimes I watch him coach and I realize just how much he knows and how he was made to do this completely. I love being a football coaches wife. What else would I want to be doing on a Saturday night?

Here is the article in case you are interested
http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/ci_11054923

Brothers...

Just a little update on the two cutest little Canales boys in Southern California. Judah is doing great...and so is his big brother

.

so serious playing with the rocks

Rock Man

Baby Judah with Momma

Kuma helping dad dig (check out the new fence)


BIG DOG!!

Welcome home...

Living room at night through kitchen doorway

Hallway with Kuma walking out of master

Master bedroom from taken from inside the closet

Guest room during the day

Bathroom (go back and look at some before pictures)

Kitchen (by the doorway into the living room)

Kitchen (taken from laundry room walkway)
window looks out onto front driveway

View of the kitchen into the laundry room/pantry

Living room into the kitchen (from the hallway)

Living room windows open to the backyard

Hallway collage

Finally...the pictures of the house semi-moved in. Weekend with mom and dad was great. We got a new sink installed, gates up (kuma can finally run in his own backyard) laundry hooked up. etc. It is starting to feel like home.

Introducing

It has been a hectic week. We really moved everything in since last Sunday. Mom and dad came in on Wednesday night. I barely slept until they got there. I thought I would be able to once they came...and then Judah decided it was time to make his entrance.

Wednesday night at 11pm, Judah James Canales was born: 3 pounds 9 ounces 15 3/4 inches long. He came about 9 weeks early, but he was healthy. Within 24 hours he was breathing on his own, and even eating mom's milk through a feeding tube.

So pictures of my house are important, but pictures of my new nephew are even better!

These are from the NICU at Torrance Memorial

I have a little billyrubin issue, so I have to wear this cool mask

Mom changing my diaper

Its hard to do cause I am so small

I definately got my mom's feet

and I look like my big brother (who tells everyone about his brother Judah James who is at the store with dad and mom is talking to the doctor...)

Details

I never realized that I am a details person. Those of you who know me and are thinking "were you deluded all of this time?" I know. It is strange because I like things done a certain way and I like all of the boxes to line up and the squares to be checked. Maybe its because I am always doing like 47 things at a time that I dont realize how important details are to me. Maybe thats why I get so stressed out, because even though I do all of those things, I want them all to be perfect and in their place. So for this reason I have spent the last few days working on incredibly menial, important and tedious details.

Case in point:

Last night I spent two hours removing a two by four in my closet so I could hang my organizers. I proceeded to rip countless holes in the drywall and cuss in front of my mother-in-law multiple times (she laughed the way only Ritha does, a little hmphhh sound without opening her mouth). Because, even though my clothes are going to be there and it wont ever be seen, I will know that an ugly, stubborn 2x4 is hiding there, lurking in with my sweaters and jeans. I did however, cover the holes with duck tape and Spackle patch over that. It was not pretty..and the holes were about 4 inches wide, but hey...paint will cover that.

And its contagious. My husband spent 3 hours, yes 3, scraping grout off the shower.. a fine layer of grout that remained after he re-grouted the entire shower. It seriously looks brand new, like we installed it when we put in the other tile. He used a box opener... and I thought I was going to go crazy. Scraped every single square of 3x3 tile. wow.

We still need a toilet. And our bed (coming tomorrow!) And a fridge, and to hook up the stove and the washer and dryer. And open and unpack all of our stuff..but it is starting to look and feel like home.

Last night was fun despite the sheer manic way I described it. Katie came and helped (affectionately deemed kater tots by Dave) I will just say that delirium settled in about 11:45 as we hung curtains in the living room. Another chore you have no idea is so incredibly difficult and tedious until you do an entire house... I think when I begin to reference the no sew ironing hemming tape as Spanish juice (we fell out laughing...I have no idea where that came from) we knew it was all going to be okay. Dave fell asleep on the couch with a bottle of Jaritos in his hand.. gloves still on. I should have taken a picture.

D-day is 6 days away (mom and dad coming!) STOP WITH THE DETAILS!!

Drum Roll Please....

I think it is fitting that election day (and the fact that I woke up early this morning to rain and I love the rain so I have time to sit on my computer) I reveal the before and after pictures from my house. It also wanted to put them up today since we started moving furniture in and I am not going to post those right away. (Sorry, my mom and dad are coming to visit and I want them to see it in person first...but as soon as they are here I will post!

I cannot believe this is the same house!

Living room before..

living room after...a little different angle

Bathroom before...

after (an ongoing project!)

Dark office before...very gross with staples all over the wall and holes and broken drywall

same office now...where I am actually going to want to pay bills.

Master bedroom before...notice the drop ceiling and nasty carpet

master bedroom now in our signature color

Guest room before...

Where grandma and grandpa will stay (no I am not pregnant! lately i have just been calling them that)

Kitchen before...

and after... I know the size didnt change but it feels so much bigger.

Which probably has everything to do with paint and the new organizers I got for the pantry...

Here is my only sneak preview.

Those drawers roll and have 2ft by 2ft butcher block tops

my new spice rack...

So now we have 7 days until Bob and Margie are here to visit! Aye Carumba!