V Wooten World: 4th of July weekend

I'm still recovering from a long holiday weekend and it is already after midnight Monday (so that means it's already Tuesday... where does the time go).

Let's see... the last time I wrote a bit and posted pics was just after my daughter, Steffany's appointment for her sonogram. That was July 1st.

Since then, my son, Joshua, his nurse, Jenny, my parents and I drove to Houston on July 2nd to see Joshua's surgeon. This was his post operative appointment. We drove 3 hours to Houston, had a quick lunch at Golden Corral (becoming our pattern for these doctor appointments) then headed up Main Street to Memorial Hermann Hospital. Actually, this appointment was across the street in the UT building.

We walked my parents to an area on the 2nd floor where they could watch the train and people walking on Fannin Street. They would wait for us there in case the doctor's office was packed like the last time we were there. Then the nurse, Josh and I went up to see the doctor. Surprisingly, the waiting room was nearly empty. And they got us in to a room fast. They didn't even weigh or measure Josh, which we are used to happening pretty much every time we see any doctor.

After a pretty long wait in the room, we saw an intern, who asked us some questions but had no answers except, "oh, I'm just the intern." Good. And, "Dr. Cox will be in in a minute." Okay. Dr. Cox, looked at Josh for a couple of minutes, and upon hearing how well Josh was doing, decided as far as he was concerned, we could begin using the pacers as soon as possible. I told him I'd brought the box with the parts we needed for the outside of Josh's body. But, he did not want us to start using them right there. He says we need to have our regular pulmonologist oversee us with them. But that doctor has never had a patient with those breathing pacemakers. So, Dr. Cox said he'd call the pulmonologist and talk to him and hook him up with the reps from the company that makes the pacers, so he could learn what he needs to do to get us started.

Our next appointment with the pulmonologist is July 21st, so unless we hear from him before that, I'm guessing we'll figure out when we get to start pacing instead of being hooked to the ventilator then. Dr. Cox had said most patients usually begin by using the pacers an hour or so at a time, because they can tire out the diaphragm that hasn't been worked out so much with the ventilator going. But we reminded him that Joshua (at least before the surgery) had gone sometimes hours without his ventilator and breathed on his own, so he had given his diaphragm a good workout already. So, he may be able to tolerate using the pacers much longer.

Anyway, we had hoped to see my cousin that lives fairly near the hospital while we were in town, but he was going to be busy for awhile, and we needed to get Josh's nurse back ASAP, since her shift would be over by the time we got home. So, we started our 3 hour trek back to the San Antonio area. My parents got to see an area they'd never been to before (around the hospital in Houston) but they didn't really get to do much more than just walk around. But they wanted to come with us, and we did get to visit some in the van on the trip. But I think we were all exhausted by the time we got home.

When we got home, James was at work, planning to leave for Odessa to visit his dad (who is still battling terminal cancer - but doing well enough to drive a little and go to eat with James a few times while he was there). And Steffany was already gone with her boyfriend to the coast for the long holiday weekend.

Steffany called me less than an hour after I got home to tell me "I got my ring!" Then, clarified (at the direction of her new fiance) that he proposed. I (jokingly) asked her if she gave him the right answer and she said "duh." She went on to describe that they had gone directly to the beach upon arriving at the coast, had found a bystander to witness the proposal. She says the witness "screamed" when she heard him propose and came running over asking to see the ring. I told her I was happy for her. That was the last I heard from her all weekend.

We thought Steffany would be home Sunday night around the time James got back. I texted her to ask her when she'd be home, and she said oh, they were leaving on Monday... not sure what time. So, we waited today to see when she'd be back, so I could see the ring and all, but no word. Finally tonight just before 9, I got a text from her fiance saying he just got off work and needed her to stay there and help him clean and move some stuff at his apartment and he'd have her home tomorrow about 5. But I reminded them Steffany had made an ob appointment for tomorrow, what about that? First, he asked me what time, but then asked Steffany and told me he would meet me at the doctors office for the appointment. I never did hear from Steffany herself. So, I still have not seen a ring :( except for in a cell phone picture she sent yesterday. I'm a little disappointed, but what can I do, really?

Well, I'll back up a bit to the 4th of July. Josh and I had thought about going to the parade in Schertz, but I was not up and ready in time. We were still eating breakfast when we would have had to be there. Plus, it was hot and I had no nurse during that time to help me load and unload his ventilator. So, instead, we hung out at the house a while, and I gave one of our dogs a haircut.

Then, we went to my sister's apartment, where my parents were at. And my mom made homemade pizza for us all. It was super yummy. Then, we all sat under the a/c and watched some show about all sorts of breeds of dogs.

We thought about going swimming but put it off most of the afternoon, realizing it was SO HOT outside (like 105). We finally got up the courage to walk over to the pool. We figured there'd be lots of people in and around it, but there was almost nobody there. So, we got in and the water was NICE! Shortly after getting in, my mom realized she'd forgotten to take off her watch - but it seemed to still be working okay - even though she did not see any mention on it of it being water resistant. Phew! I mentioned that I didn't wear a watch and just depended on my cell phone to tell time. That was the moment when Joshua realized he did too.. and his was STILL IN HIS POCKET... the pocket of his swim trunks. And he was IN THE POOL!!!! You guessed it.. phone ruined in salt water pool. Great! He was very bummed out, but we decided to let his phone dry out and see what happened in a day or two. And we went back to enjoying ourselves splashing around in the pool.

After getting dressed and ready for dinner and fireworks, we got an invite to one of Josh's nurse's house for Bar-B-Q. They had made way too much and would love to feed us if we wanted. We decided it was a great idea and headed over. The food was great and the company delightful. Soon, it was time to go to New Braunfels to watch fireworks. We drove around a while and finally found a place at Schlitterbahn where we could see the display but not be stuck in a crowd of cars. The fireworks were beautiful and we had a great time. But it was still over 100 degrees out - even that late at night. And we were exhausted by then. So, we headed for home. It was a very nice way to spend the 4th.