|
Monday, March 17
With eyes wide open, I embarked on an Internet journey into the history of Saint Patrick. While details about him include some legend and lore, it's clear that he was a missionary who went to Ireland in the fifth century. He is credited with converting the Irish to Christianity, often using a three-leafed clover to teach the doctrine of the Trinity (the Three in One). Celebrate Saint Patrick's Day! The "Luck O' the Irish" was salvation through Jesus Christ, who came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10 KJV). Tuesday, March 11 Everyone continues to express joy and relief as Mom improves. It's so good to see her at home with Dad, up and about. She'll start level two physical therapy soon and plans to take her first drive on Thursday. Anna turned two months old today! It's hard to believe that she's already two. She usually sleeps about seven hours at night (wakes up hungry), has lots of smiles and sounds, and cries when she's tired. That's just Anna doing what we all wish we could do, I think. Erika is taking dance lessons and loving it! After three lessons, her teacher said something about her developing into a little leader. Is anyone surprised? Wednesday, February 26 Mom was discharged from the Johnson City Medical Center around 3:30 p.m. today. It was delightful to see her back inside their home, where she and Dad belong. We can't begin to say how thankful we are to everyone who prayed and lent their support to us through the first phase of this ordeal. Tuesday, February 25
We are so thankful to the Lord! This has certainly been a long ordeal, but God has answered every prayer we've prayed on her behalf. We ask continued prayer for the transition home and for continued improvement and healing. Also, please pray for Dad (Gale Job), who we know has endured so much as he and his wife of 46 years have never been through this kind of hardship. Saturday, February 22 With great joy I can report that Mom is getting even more better! I took this picture of her today. She's wearing her "heart handles," which help hold her together when changing positions. Her color, attitude, appetite, and outlook are great! Dr. Poret told Mom today that Dr. Alison is considering shocking her heart to stop the atrial fibrillation. Aside from that, we have the impression that she's almost ready to go home. She may even skip rehab! She walked over a quarter mile today. The other wild news today is the flooding at Mom and Dad's. The new bridge and approaches held their ground after a couple inches of rain this morning, but the water backed up and overran the bridge. Thus, our concerns about the engineering of this bridge, especially pertaining to capacity, were valid. Nevertheless, this is a big improvement over the last bridge, which was four feet lower and still would've been underwater at the time of these photographs. Mom and Dad's yard got partially washed out (see notched out spot in the photo below on the right).
Thursday, February 20 The quote of the day by Mom is "I feel alive!" Indeed, she does, as she's getting to eat imported food and is gaining energy. She looks and feels better than a week ago when they first transferred her to the rehabilitation floor. However, she'll be held up while the hospital folks continue their efforts to end the atrial fibrillation. Dad reports that they're saying she may be on the Telemetry Floor another three days, then three days in rehab, and then home. Please pray for no more setbacks. Also pray for Dad who seems to be coming down with bronchitis. He doesn't want to miss seeing Mom. Wednesday, February 19 Yesterday, they took the remaining staples out of Mom's incisions, as well as taking her off a heart monitor and an IV drip. Today, she wasn't on oxygen, so she's cordless now. That's the bright side. However, Mom has no energy and no stomach for hospital food. She's lost twenty pounds. Thankfully, the nurses cleared us to import food to her, and as I understand it, she ate some soup and fruit salad brought by some church ladies this afternoon. I think if she just gets to eating, she'll have so much more energy. Monday, February 17
Sunday, February 16 I think we're getting somewhere now. Mom's heart, while still beating too rapidly, seems to have regained sinus rhythm. So she's still in 2319, but she's looking really good. She ate the best I've seen her eat tonight, her color looks great, and she had a good attitude. Doug, who'd caught the intestinal flu too, is on the mend in Georgia; thankfully, no one else seems to have it. Your ongoing prayers for Mom and the rest of us are so appreciated. Also, all of those encouragers who drop by the hospital and are helping out in so many other ways, may God bless you! Thank you. Friday, February 14 Things seemed pretty bleak today. Mom started having atrial fibrillation this morning at 5:30. So instead of having a day of therapy, food and fun, she lost her appetite, energy, and finally, her new room. They sent her back to the telemetry floor. She's in 2319 now. To make matters worse, Dad got an intense intestinal flu, so he can't visit Mom. We're a bit discouraged. Thursday, February 13
Tuesday, February 11 Mom spent several hours coughing and clearing her lungs yesterday evening and early this morning, and the results have been positive. According to Angela who's there with her today, the doctor and nurses said her lungs are starting to clear. I think it boils down to this: it's going to hurt for her to cough and clear her lungs. Please continue the prayers that her pain will ease and the coughing will be productive. Monday, February 10 For the most part, things are looking good for Mom---except for her getting her lung capacity increased. According to Dr. Poret (her heart surgeon), if she's not more successful with the breathing exercises, she'll definitely get pneumonia and she'll "never leave the hospital." She needs prayer. (Actually, we all do.) Saturday, February 8
There was the 3 little kittens. Then the mittens disappeared! The 3 little kittens wanted their mittens, and they didn't find them--never, ever, ever! But where did the mittens go? Probably in the box. She's got lots of other stories going in that imagination of hers. Friday, February 7 Thankfully, Mom is now out of ICU and on the telemetry floor. Her room number is 2312; include that in the address below if you mail her something and use it if you call her. The hospital number is 423-431-6111. Her being out of ICU is a good sign, but her lungs aren't clearing as well as they would like. If her lungs don't clear up, she'll be on oxygen even after going home, and of course, the risk of pneumonia remains very high. Thursday, February 6
According to the nurse at our 4:30 p.m. visit, Mom will be transferred to a step-down care unit tomorrow. She'll remain there a few more days. If anyone wants to write to her, the address is below. Note you'll need to use her full name since they have her listed at Vola K. Job instead of Kathy Job:
Alternatively, you can send cards and letters to her home address, and Dad will take them to her:
After she's out of ICU, it will be possible to phone her room. We don't know the room number at this time. Tuesday, February 4 This was a rather unnerving day. Mom came through her surgery, but the doctor said that the damage and disease were worse than the catheterization showed. If they hadn't replaced the heart valves and done the bypass yesterday, Mom probably would've experienced some serious medical event by April. So we're thankful that she went forward with this procedure. Mom is in ICU and will be for a few days. The greatest concern for the first 48 hours is of pneumonia and stroke. We ask for prayer for a quick recovery and also for her to make several lifestyle changes (including diet and exercise). Sunday, February 2 The heart surgery has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 8 a.m. We had the pleasure of seeing Laura and Kirk yesterday as well as spending time with Mom and Dad. I'm going to start work on a photo album for this web site fairly soon. It took me awhile to decide how I wanted to lay it out. Details soon. Tuesday, January 28 Mom's heart surgery is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 3 at 8 a.m. Please be praying for her recovery as well as the logistics of meeting her and Dad's needs during the four to six week recovery time. Anna had a good checkup yesterday. The pediatrician said that her color is good, she's grown an inch, and her weight is just an ounce shy of her birth weight. Saturday, January 25 I have a modern era baby diaper changing warning for you. I have this Timex watch with a Velcro strap, and under most circumstances, I highly recommend it. It's very adjustable and comfortable. But when the Velcro watch band meets a Velcro baby diaper closure, it gets scary. Last night, I was changing Anna when the aforementioned, unthinkable happened. I was trying to keep the baby's legs still, put on a new diaper, and I felt something dragging from my wrist. There was the old (and smelly, yucky) diaper dangling in mid-air from my watch band! Don't try this at home. Beware! Tuesday, January 21
And we've been pampered in many, many other ways too. Several families at the church brought us meals last week, helping us through those weary first few days and keeping us well fed. I've always called Heaton Christian Church "Eatin' Christian Church" for a reason. Others have given us baby clothes and met other baby related needs. Many of you also remembered Erika, keeping her from getting lost in the showers of Anna attention-getting. Of course, Norma (a.k.a. Gram to the kids) helped us immensely while she was with us for four days. We couldn't have done it without her. We have been truly blessed by our immediate family and friends, our church family and so many others. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope to be as much of a blessing to you as you have been to us.
Friday, January 17
Thursday night and Friday morning we saw the best snow so far for the season. I think we got about five inches, but it's hard to tell with this kind of wind-blown powder. Thursday, January 16
I know we'll get her schedule turned around. Kassi reminded me that it was like this when Erika was small too, and I have faint memories of it, like driving Erika around in the car at 2 a.m. to get her to sleep a couple times. But mostly, I've repressed those long infant night memories (Those long infant nights...sounds like words to a Blues song). I'll probably do the same with Anna.
Tuesday, January 14 Last Saturday we had a few hospital visits. Rick Bradley, Kassi's dad, hopped into his truck in Spindale, NC, the moment he heard that Kassi was in labor and arrived around 8 a.m. He had a long wait, but he said it was worth it. And it helped to have him around all day to help watch Anna while Kassi rested and I ran errands.
We missed seeing Norma Bradley (Gram) and Tamara Bradley (Aunt), but you can't always schedule the baby when you want. Tamara had to move to Charlotte Saturday to start the spring semester at UNC. I'm sure we'll see her soon. As for Gram, she plans to spend a few days with us, starting tonight. Freddy Martin and his two sons, Ben and Josh, brought Erika over to see Anna Saturday night. We were so glad to have Erika back with us, even if it was just for a few minutes. We missed her. Monday, January 13
How's everyone doing? Well, Anna has her nights and days mixed up. She also cries, eats, sleeps, and messes in her diapers. Did I mention she cries alot? So from that, you can infer how Mommy and Daddy are doing. Erika is doing a great job adjusting to Anna, and I think she's a wonderful big sister. We talk about it as often as she wants. She did say we didn't need any more babies. (After eight hours of intense back labor, Kassi may agree.) Erika got to see Anna for the first time Saturday evening. When she entered the room, she rushed over to see Anna. "She cries alot," Erika prophesied, having just met her. Freddy Martin snapped the photo at right, capturing that tender moment when the two sisters met.
So there you have it. What does it mean? Maybe some numerology expert can tell us. Anyway, I announced this fact to some nurses Sunday, and one quipped that she was glad she wasn't the one who had to live with me. Sunday, January 12 Great news! Anna Laurel Job was born Saturday morning (January 11) at 11:01 a.m. She weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. We're tired, so all we'll say at this point is that the mother and baby are fine. Friday, January 10
Thursday, January 9
At last, we bought a digital camera. It's a
Canon A40, the same camera I recommended to my father-in-law
Rick a few months ago. It's not a terribly sophisticated
digital camera, having only a 1600x1200 resolution. But I
got to thinking about what we'd do with it most, and that's take
4x6 sized album snapshots of family stuff and put images on the
web. This is all the camera we need to do that. I'll
have more to say about this camera after using it a few weeks.
Visit Archive for Early 2002 |
It's
Saint Patrick's Day! The day invokes visions of
leprechauns, clovers, wearing green, and Lucky Charms cereal.
Recently, I learned who Saint Patrick was through the Margaret
Becker song "Christ Before Me" (from the
Yesterday evening, Dr. Alison stopped Mom's heart for a split
second and restarted it in a successful attempt to return her
heart to a sinus rhythm. Today, her heartbeat is down
around 60 beats per minute, and all indications are that she
may well go home tomorrow.
Correction...Mom's
still having the 
Erika is turning into a real story teller. She dictated
the following story to Kassi, based on the three kittens who
lost their mittens (which, by the way, she can quote from
memory if you'd like). But here is her "story"
version of the nursery rhyme:
At the 48 hour mark, Mom is sitting up, eating, drinking, and
doing some limited walking! In short, she's doing quite
well for 69 years old. We so appreciate the prayers we
know many family and friends are raising to the Lord on her
behalf.
Where's that baby? If you look carefully, you'll see
her in the photo at right. Nobody is more ready for
her to be born than her Mommy. Kassi has everything packed,
last minute transportation bases covered, and the house ready for
a newborn. Anna is due in just seven days.
