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:)