Shout out to my Nana!

I was looking through my old postings and ran across this picture from December 2005. My Nana and Christy share a birthday and we were celebrating them when my Nana put on her birthday princess tiara!! I wanted to honor Nana by sharing the picture!!

My Nana has started following my blogs again. She was one of our strongest followers when I first started this blogging thing. She may not have always understood our decisions but she has always made sure we knew she loved us, supported us, and wanted to hear the latest on us.

We love you Nana!

One Great Weekend

This weekend was such a blast!! Angela and Brandon came to visit!!The four of us had a great time. We started out the weekend going to a Texas Country concert in Corpus...Aaron Watson, Eli Young Band, and Randy Rogers all on one stage~that's a recipe for a great evening friends!! Here are some pictures of us in the car on our way to the concert.

We HAD to stop by Whataburger after the concert for an early morning snack and got a few more pics. Angela got a kick out of the second one! He has to add his own flair to all of our pictures!

Saturday was a nice, relaxing day. We met Gina for lunch and had such a great time visiting. I've really enjoyed having Gina around. She and I get together at least once a week to hang out and have really gotten to know each other over the last few months. After lunch on Saturday, we headed to San Antonio for a day of relaxation! We stopped by a cute little boutique on the way to San Antonio where Angela and I picked up a few items. The River Walk was beautiful so needless to say, we had a great time.

I was excited to show Angela and Brandon the area that Mike proposed. I couldn't show them the actual spot since they have it all blocked off due to construction. We think our bench is gone forever!! It was still fun to show them the spot where we officially decided to become husband and wife!!

This picture never made it onto a blog and it should have!! So, I thought I'd share it with you all now!

This was taken the weekend Mike had the drainage tubes in his stomach during August-September. I went with him to get his tubes taken out and afterwards climbed up there with him to wait on someone to take him back upstairs. It was really the first time we'd been able to even hug while he was in the hospital. The tubes were so uncomfortable for him. Anyway, the hospital staff let me stay in the bed while they wheeled us upstairs! You should have seen the looks! Everyone just "AAWWW"ed as we went by. Mike's nurse, Kristy, thought we looked so cute so I had her capture the moment!

We had such a good weekend!! We literally did NOTHING...but we did nothing together! We did watch a few movies and played Super Mario Brothers 3!! We've enjoyed having the Super Nintendo hooked up (so has Gina and some of our youth)!!

We had Outreach Visitation last night at church and I was SO proud of our youth! The youth almost outnumbered the adults!! Way to go Grounded Student Ministries!!

Spring has sprung

At least this week in South Texas it has!! It was 76 degrees when I headed to work Monday morning!! 76! at 8:00 in the morning!! We've resisted turning on our AC but we might have to give in soon!


This month hasn't really turned out like I had anticipated but it has still been a good one so far. Several of our visitors had to cancel and although it always bums me to not get to spend time with friends and family, I understand their reasoning. This weekend will be a nice time for Mike and I to relax, catch up on some movies, and I'm tackling our "spare room" (AKA storage/junk room). I'm hoping not to dive too deep into the boxes because I want to relax...but, the room is on a downward spiral of getting out of control!

Then next weekend, ANGELA, BRANDON, and possibly PUMBA are coming to visit YEA!!!!!! I'm super excited! We're going to see Randy Rogers and Eli Young Band (2 of my favs!) on Friday with them and Jim and Gina. I'm excited for Angela and Gina to finally meet! I've talked about them to each other a lot so it will be good for them to put a face (and personality) with the name. And--the weekend will probably include a Chuy's visit!! YUMMY!!

Have any plans for the month??

I'm a blogging fool today!!

I wanted to share a few more pictures today!! This is Heather and Robert. They are some friends of ours that live across the street...I also happen to work with both of them! Robert and I work in the same building and Heather works in another building as a caseworker. Tomorrow is Robert's birthday so we had some dessert and card time today!



Brittany and Jake (caseworkers) joined in on the festivities! They are both a lot of fun to be around and help keep a youthful feel around here!!



The camera LOVES Brittany...what can I say?? lol




and again with the love??

I'm in the army now...

He cracks me up!!! We were in a "trash to treasure" shop (as I like to call it) and Mike found this authentic helmet! He wanted to play the part and I couldn't resist taking pictures!! I heart him!

Randy and Linda came to visit last weekend. We took a day trip to Corpus and had a great time. It was pretty windy but other than that, turned out to be a beautiful day. We enjoyed our visit!!

Mike and I made two additions to our family--Rowdie and Rascal! They were up for adoption at a local vet's office and come from the same owner. She is moving and can't take them with her. Mike wanted a kitten but these two fellas tugged at me...I had to give up a pet once and it turned into a bad situation. I couldn't let these two go through the same thing. So, we brought them both home with us. They are 1 year old, males, and were already named! Rowdie, the orange one doesn't come out to visit often so we figured we should snap a quick picture of him before he went back into hiding. Rascal comes out all the time, which is why I don't have any pictures of him yet! He is in the background of the picture on the right (walking away). He's a gray tabby. Anyway, I don't want to bombard you with pictures of the cats all the time but wanted to introduce you to them! We've enjoyed having them around!!

It was just yesterday...

I decided to clean out my Saved Mail folder...it has some emails that I have absolutely no use for...and many that were fun to read and look at. One included this picture...of me and my sis in August 2006! This was between Atlanta and Brownwood for those of you keeping up! lol...

I found others from friends with updates of where life has taken them. By now, most of them are out of date but it was fun to go back in time and rejoice with them over getting married, moving to a new city, starting their family, etc. Emails like that make me realize once again that I am an ADULT!! Where has the time gone?

It was just yesterday that I was doing fundraisers for my mission trip...now I'm the leader of the fundraiser!

It was just yesterday that I dreaded going back to school after lunch on beautiful Spring days!

It was just yesterday that I was packing up for my first big move!

It was just yesterday that Mike and I were newbies on this marriage thing!

It was just yesterday when my sis and I saw each other every day!

It was just yesterday when the gang hung out at Kate's apt playing Cranium!

It was just yesterday when Misty and I took our walks around the church in the afternoons!

It was just yesterday when Angela and I had a "war" with the boys ending in my car getting messed with!!

It was just yesterday when Angela and I walked a few blocks away to go wrapping!

It was just yesterday....wasn't it??

*by the way...I keep thinking of new ones and having to come back to add them!!*

What better to do?

Today is a slow day at work so what's better than to do a little blogging??

I didn't mention this in my last post but my dad and sister both visited during February!! I didn't get any pics of their visits though. Things worked out well...my dad came to visit on a Saturday through what we thought would be Thursday morning. He drives a truck so his schedule is up to his company. Anyway, the day before my dad got into town, my sis decided to visit the next weekend. So my dad was supposed to leave on Thursday morning and Christy would get here Thursday afternoon. Well, my dad ended up not leaving until Friday night so I got to spend time with both of them at the same time!! We always have fun together so it was a great surprise!!

Christy is coming back in March for about 6 days! I'm very excited! March will be full of visitors--Christy, Kate, Angela, Brandon, my mom!! March will also hold a bring-your-own-meat cookout for the 20-somethings at our church, a youth fundraiser for camp, 2 concerts, a Chuy's visit (only the best restaraunt ever!!...okay, maybe not ever...but it is still really good!), Mike's 2nd post-op follow up visit, starting LifeGroups for our High School youth, Spring Break...man, I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

What we've been up to...

We've had such a busy month...and things aren't slowing down!

So, what have we been up to you ask??

PLAYING WII

Um, yeah...do you see who won at golf??

Seeing friends and their

pregnant tummies!!
Gatlyn will be here in less than a week!

Going out for Valentine's Day in a

new city to a fancy restaraunt!!

(and yep...it was fancy--had to know which fork to use!

Glad my momma taught me well!)

And...I have rekindled my love for Sonic drinks!!

I'm sure there will be an intervention soon! You are all invited!

It'll be during Happy Hour...straws provided!

We've been hanging out with youth a lot too!!

I'm not sure if I'll get to post any pics on here...

I don't want to post any without permission!!

What have you been up to??

My office

I wanted to share a few pictures from my office. I love the trees out here...they have so much history and are BEAUTIFUL! When I need a breather, I go into our Board Room and look at the view...it is amazing how the view can help my day! What can calm your day in an instant??

Exciting things...

(This is my current desktop background...just wanted to share)

Good things have been planned this week...

My dad will hopefully be here Sunday for a few days...

My sister is visiting next week for several days...

I get to see Misty next Saturday, and her soon-to-be-here little one, Gatlyn Don...

I've made plans to have a weekly dinner/girl time with my friend Gina...

Mike and I are back in our regular routine at church and God is doing some awesome things...

Exciting things are happening for the Bryants!!

Andrea's visit

My friend Andrea came to visit on her U.S. tour!! She is from Colombia and was an exchange student my senior year. We became good friends through our Spanish 4 class and I even got to visit her in Colombia before I started college. She went back to Andrews to visit and I'm so glad she was able to come to South Texas before she headed back to Colombia!!

When we picked her up in San Antonio, we stopped by the RiverWalk for dinner...she LOVED the RiverWalk and it was so fun to get to share that with someone! The RiverWalk is very special to Mike and I...it is where he proposed!!



We took her to see the Texas coast on Sunday...it was such a beautiful day. The weather was PERFECT!!! We some things in Corpus we'd never seen so now we know where they are!!

Chili's was her last stop for American cuisine!! I enjoyed getting to see her and catch up. Even though I feel we've keep in contact pretty well, it was nice to see her in person and be able to catch up. She's starting her residency as a dr. so she'll be super busy. I'm glad I got to see Dr. Andrea!! She is so dear to my heart and I'm glad Mike got to meet her and spend time with her. Hopefully we'll see each other again some day...

Monday--we're home!!

I am glad to say that I'm typing this from HOME!!  The dr. came in yesterday morning and said Mike was doing great and there wasn't anything keeping him in the hospital so we started the discharge process and got out of there after lunch.  We considered stopping along the way and spending the night but Mike was feeling pretty good so we came all the way home.  There was one stretch of highway that was pretty bumpy and rough on Mike but other than that, it was a good drive home. 

Mike will have to go back in 2 weeks for a follow up appointment to have staples removed and have a tube removed from his stomach.  The tube is not hooked up to anything but the dr. said it would be best to leave it in until his follow up...it will heal better.  

Well, I'm still a bit tired so I'm going to rest.  I'm staying home with Mike today and tomorrow. 

Friday update

Today has already been full of progress.  Mike is dining on full liquids (broccoli and cheese soup, pudding, ice cream, etc) for lunch and should get to have solids for dinner.  He was a little disappointed at lunch though...they accidentally brought him a tray with blackened catfish and macaroni and cheese!  

He also suffered a great loss...they took away his morphine button!  He will be using pain pills now to manage his pain.  He said he can feel more pain but it is not too bad. Monday is the projected go-home day but we'll see.  The doctors are very pleased with how he is recovering! 

We have been enjoying our time here as much as possible.  Mike's daytime nurse for every day except yesterday has been awesome! She has the most awesome Brazilian accent and is very personable.  We had a visit today from the parents of some FBC Beeville members that we've gotten to know.  Pat's parents live in Grand Prairie and said they'd come visit us since we are so far from family and from Beeville.  We appreciate their visit!

Angela has been such a blessing this week!  During Mike's hospital stay in August/September when they were draining his cysts, Angela was in Lubbock with her little brother who had a bad case of double pneumonia.  She has been up here pretty much every night after work.  She brought me some home-made food yesterday--including black eyed peas--so don't worry Nana!  I got my peas on New Year's Day!  She and I are going to grab a bite to eat tonight at a neat place down the street.  Mike has been very good about me getting out of the hospital every once in a while.  

Hope you all had a good New Year's Eve and day...New Year's day was exactly 6 years since Mike and I had our first date!!  I'm glad we got to spend the entire day together!! :)

This was Mike around lunch time...he hates it when I pull out the camera but I told him I wanted everyone to see how good he looked!!  He kind of smiled for me!  He is doing really well today. He slept a lot yesterday and last night but felt very good this morning! I slept in the hospital hotel for one more night last night...he called me around 8:15 this morning to see if I was up and he sounded amazing!! I wouldn't have guessed he had surgery 2 days ago when talking to him this morning.

He is supposed to walk 3 times a day today. He walked once this morning and went farther than the occupational therapist said.  She said he was doing great!  He is also doing breathing exercises frequently to help his lungs. Our good friend Patrick (soon to be Dr. Patrick) said that is very important so we'll make sure and keep on it!!

       

Here's the view from Mike's room. He has a corner room on the 8th floor. I wish it were spring or summer so the trees would all be green but I'll take what I can get. The view at night is pretty neat!  

Update as of 11:00 Tuesday

Mike's surgery ended around 4 yesterday afternoon, making it a 5 hour surgery!  Dr. Dickerman (surgeon) came and spent 15 minutes or so with us in the waiting room explaining the outcome of the surgery. I will try to explain it as best I know how!!  

They were unable to do what was planned due to the blood vessels...the major blood supply for his heart and liver would have been affected if they had proceeded as planned.  They did completely drain and remove the cysts that were still hanging around.  They did several things to help with the problems he was having: digestion issues and his bile duct not draining.  To help the bile duct drain, they rerouted it to bypass the obstruction from the pancreas. For the digestion, they removed part of his stomach... they found that his stomach was 3 x bigger than it should have been.  They said that since his food hasn't been digesting due to the obstruction, his stomach has been working harder to try and digest and has become enlarged. Reducing the size of the stomach and taking meds to help his digestion will help his food digest properly.  Everything wa s rerouted around the obstructed area since it couldn't be removed.

They did remove his gallbladder.  It could cause complication in the future and is not necessary to keep...as many of you know! :)

Now, when they finally did see his pancreas, they found that instead of being the size of three fingers, it is the size of a pencil.  This is due to the scarring from his pancreatitis.  His pancreas is not doing much due to its damage but Dr. Dickerman said he can take things to help with what the pancreas should do. One is taking insulin, the other is taking pancreatic enzymes.  He is already on insulin and will add pancreatic enzymes to his list.

He is doing well right now. He spent the night in ICU for them to monitor everything. The ICU doesn't allow you to spend the night and has visitor hours in 2 hour increments...2 hours visiting, 2 hours not visiting. Which has been kind of nice. We can go eat and rest without feeling guilty.  During our morning visi t earlier, an occupational therapist stopped by to help Mike get out of his bed and into a chair. He was still sitting when we left.  Dr. Dickerman's associate that assisted with the surgery stopped by and said they will be focusing on his pain management and breathing. There are some breathing techniques that will keep him from developing pneumonia. He should be eating in 3 days or so.

Monday, 2:05 update

Hi everyone!! I'm excited to say that as I was showing my mom how to find a wireless signal on her laptop (she usually uses an Alltel signal), I found a wireless at the hospital!!! YEA!!! They must have decided to add one since our last trip.  I tried using Mike's work computer and did have problems but I'm hoping my laptop will work once my mom leaves tomorrow.  

As of right now (2:05 p.m.), Mike is in surgery and doing well.  We have been getting hourly phone calls letting us know that he is still doing good.  That has been so nice. The surgery will be a long one so the hourly update has been a lifesaver!  

Mike will probably stay at least one night in ICU for monitoring and then move to a regular room.  They hope to have him up and walking (not fast or far) in a day or so.  His incision is going to be pretty big...his entire abdomen area running up and down.

That's about it for now.  I'll try and update often as long as I can get the wireless signal.  You should have seen my excitement to know it is there!!  I'm including a pic of us before he headed off!! Isn't he cute in his little surgery cap!

So far, today has been a very peaceful day. Not many of us are working today and the weather is dreary. It has been nice to have cold weather here...it has helped put me in the mood for the holiday! Although I'm glad we won't be here for the 77 degree weather that is coming for Christmas day!! I don't know what the weather will be like at Mike's grandparents...I need to look that up...but I'm sure it will be cooler than 77 degrees!!

I'm hoping to take some time at Keith and Jackie's to relax and journal. I really want to start journaling again but have to get the habit started. I know once I start, I probably won't be able to stop. The Bryant's house is such a good place to start. The only distraction is the TV and as long as we don't get hooked on a marathon or movies, I should have some time to get away. Last year at Thanksgiving I had the same plan but it was WAY too cold to sit on the porch and everyone was stirring around inside so I didn't get much alone time in. Maybe it will be warmer this year.

We are getting prepared for Mike's surgery. Well, for the return from Mike's surgery. I'll finish up tonight on getting the house in order so we don't come home to chaos! Everyone here has been so good to offer help in advance and I'm going to try and ask for help when I need it once we get back! I'm planning on taking a few days off when we get back to help Mike adjust to being home. His dad may come stay with us some too. I'm glad we've had this week to prepare for the surgery and recovery...at least as best we know how!

I don't think I'll get to post again before Christmas so here's you "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!" Talk to you on the other side!!

Hello everyone!  I don't know who all reads this so some of you may already know this info.  Here's the latest on Mike.

Mike had another MRI and scope yesterday to find out the health of his pancreas.  The easy/short version is that his cysts are not refilling but his pancreas does show signs of damage. His pancreas is inflammed and scarred and will not improve on its own. It is causing obstructions to his pancreatic duct, bile duct, and intestines.  Any procedure other than surgery would be a temporary fix.

Mike will be having surgery Monday, December 29 in Dallas.  In an ideal situation, a portion of his pancreas, bile duct, and intestines will be removed and then everything will be reconnected together. There are a few things that Dr. Dickerman will look for once he is in surgery that could cause that to change--blood vessels in the way could cause more damage if the above is done so they will have to go another route.  We met with Dr. Dickerman before we left Dallas yesterday and he explained everything to us. We feel very confident in him as a doctor. He believes Mike will not have any major problems after this surgery. One common problem for patients is developing diabetes, but Mike already has that on his resume! 

He will spend at least 1 week in the hospital and then have a 4-6 week recovery time at home.  Thankfully, he'll be able to do some work from home and can still teach on Wednesday/Sunday nights when he regains strength. He is so ready to begin feeling well again! 

Please pray for Mike's body to react well to the surgery, Dr. Dickerman and his team, that the doctors will find an ideal situation during surgery, for Mike's spirits to remain positive during his hospital stay...and all of ours as well!!

Any of you new to our hospital visits, the hospital does not have internet available other than in their library.  They are only open for specific hours during the day and it is not always possible to get an update out as often as I'd like.  I will do my best to keep everyone updated often.  Also, cell phones work well in the patient rooms but not so well in waiting rooms and such that are located on the interior of the building, so please keep that in mind if texting.  Also, if you plan on texting and have Mike's number, text his phone--he has a lot more unused texts than I do!! I'll have his phone with me! Thanks!  

Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement.

Susie Homemaker

Well, it's finally happened...I am officially Susie Homemaker!!  I didn't realize it until Angela called me Susie today but I have...AND I LOVE IT!!

I spent all weekend baking goodie trays for coworkers, friends, and a little for ourselves and then cooked a good home cooked meal for two of Mike's single friends tonight--chicken fry, home made mashed taters, YUMMY!! It wasn't my best meal but they said if that wasn't my best, they'd love to try my best. It was such a good compliment!

Mike and I are headed to Dallas tomorrow for more tests.  We'll drive to Dallas, have tests Wednesday, have dinner and catch a movie with Angela, and then a scope on Thursday.  We hope to head home on Thursday. 

We are REALLY enjoying things here!  The folks are so encouraging and caring.  Oh, and we got a new couch.  I'll post a picture below. As my dad said, "NOW THAT'S A COUCH!!"  We love to entertain and it has helped. We can sit and chat with people and not be squashed on one couch!!

Well, have a Merry Christmas and keep your eye out for an update of Mike's dr. appt.