Christmas 2010

So this last year for Christmas was different than most . We spent Christmas here up at the hospital with our Beautiful mom , she got to move up to rehab on December 21 , 2010 so the week of Christmas . Well we didn't celebrate Christmas last year with our mom being sick , all wanted us kids was for our mom to be better and home soon that was our christmas gift we all wanted , no presents nothing . It didn't matter to us about the presents , we just cared and wanted our mom back !! Well we got our mom back so on Christmas Eve i came up to the hospital with my dad and later that day my brothers and sister and her cute little family joined us , with two of my dad's siter's and her family .

We went next door into the cafeteria and had a nice dinner and , while we were down in nuero critical care my dad had met this nice couple who's loved one was sick too . So we became great friends with them and they were up in rehab too , so we invited them to our dinner and we had santa come visit for the little one's . It was so nice to be able to have my mom up here in rehab for Christmas and be able to take her next door to have her celebrate it with us !! On Christmas Day we got up and my dad felt like he had to do something for us kids and we all kept telling him no dad don't worry about it , we don't want anything all we want is for our mom to be better and home soon that's all we want . So he did stockings for us and , after that we headed to my sister's house to give my nephew his present from all of us , wich was his sports car and we got to watch him open up his presents and had breakfast with them . Everyday on Christmas we would have a nice Christmas Breakfast my mom would make and then my sister would come over and , my nephew would open his presents from nana and papa and us kids . So we went over this time and kept the tradition still going . After that me and my dad headed up to the hospital again with my mom and later that night , my brothers and sister and her family joined us , and my dad's two sister's and her family . We hung out in the room and ate food and gave my parents the presents we bought them .

It was so nice to watch our mom open up her gifts and see my dad's face of how much he really loves our mom and how excited he was to still have her here and watch her open up gifts !! Even though we had to spend our Christmas in the hospital i have to say it was one of the best Christmas's we have ever had !!! It's just amazing and truely a blessing to still have our mom here with us and being able to spend it with her . It was a Christmas i will never forget and be one of the best one's . She is our Miracle Mama and it's a blessing to have her here !! My family has been through alot in the past year , and although as much as i'd like to say 2010 was a crappy year it wasn't all that bad , we got our mom back just in time for Christmas and get to have her around for many many many more years . We got our Christmas Miracle last year !!

Talan and Santa ( aka my dad )

Dalan and a friend Ryker ( Dan and Ryan's little boy Ryker )

The nice couple we met . Dan and Ryan

Talan and Uncle Jeremy doing a puzzle

Talan and his car

My Miracle Mom

As of today January 16, my mom has now been hospitalized for 112 days. It all started the week of September 20. She was feeling sick that whole week. She was nauseated and had a headache the whole time. By the end of the week she decided to go to the doctor. They diagnosed her with Toncilitis and gave her some meds and told her she would be feeling better within 24 hrs. Well that day i went out with my sister to the What A Woman Wants Show expo and we had a great time and i came home and that night went out with a friend to watch one of her friends play in his band .

That next day my sister and her family  were out boating and i sent a text to my sister saying that my mom had just had a seizure and that we had to call 911. So my sister kept trying to call everyone in our family but none of us were answering , as we were all freaking out and on the phone will 911 . Finally i  answered and i was a wreck !. My Dad had went to go check on my mom and she was crying and saying that she was feeling so much worse than the day before and then all of a sudden she started to seize. My Dad called down for my brother to call 911. The ambulance came and took her to Jordan Valley. I went went with my dad to the hosptial right behind the ambulance and i was just an emotinal wreck and trying to talk to my grandparents ( my mom's parents ) on the phone . She seemed to be doing ok once we got there . She ended up having another seizure at the hospital right before my sister and her husband had got there . When the doctor came in he said that they thought it was just an allergic reaction to one of the meds she was prescribed and that they were going to keep her overnight. Well that night she ended up having another seizure and was unresponsive. The next day they told us that she had Encephalitis (a brain infection) and that she needed to be transferred to IMC where they had the equipment to monitor her brain activity. It was absolutely horrible seeing her laying there unresponsive. I felt so helpless.

She was then admitted to the Nuero Critical Care Unit at IMC. We had a few ups and a lot of downs in the 87 days she was there! She had to be put in a medical induced coma because she kept having one seizure after another. They took 5 spinal taps, numerous blood draws, multiple MRI's and even did a brain biopsy all to come up with nothing. They have no idea what caused all of this. They put her on so many antibiotics hoping to kill whatever this mystery virus was. It was so unbelievably hard to see her go through all that she did, I'm so happy that she was asleep for that time. She had to have a tracheotomy put in, get tubes in her ears, a feeding tube inserted in her stomach, multiple lines going in her, a horrific rash that covered 98% of her body, and ice packs all over her to try and take down her fever and I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

They kept trying to take her off of the coma inducing medication Phenobarbital, but every time they did she would seize again. I didn't know at the time but the doctors had told my Dad that they had tried everything they could and it was now up to her to wake up. So when they took of her off the medication in December we were all on pins and needles. Thankfully she only had a couple of minor seizures in the beginning and continued to improve everyday. On December 21 she got to move up to Rehab. That was such an excited day for our family! We were more than thrilled! We miss our nurses and doctors from ICU though. They were amazing! They took such great care of my mom, they even made sure her fingernails and toenails were always manicured and painted! It was so sweet of them! Our favorite was Dr. Garcia! He had such great bedside manners and we felt like he never gave up on my mom. He was always willing to try something new. He has even come up to the Rehab dept. to check on how she's doing. He's an amazing doctor and we are so thankful for him!

She has now been in rehab for 26 days and improves daily. She has now had her trach removed so we can talk to her as much as we want. Her memory still has a bit of improving to do. She has a really hard time with short term memory, but her long time memory gets better every day! We are hoping to bring her home this month!

It's really hard for me to look back on all of this now. At the time I did everything I could to avoid facing what was really going on. I'm really good at running when problems arise! I just couldn't deal with it at the time, it was impossible to imagine my life without my mom. I feel like I can now face what happened now that I know that she's ok. I'm so thankful for my Dad for his amazing strength during all of this. Since day one he has been by her side. He is up at the hospital first thing in the morning and is there until late into the night. I honestly don't know how he did it, especially with the doctors coming in through out the day only to give bad news after bad news all the while still working. I found that I couldn't be in there when certain doctors came in, I always felt so hopeless after they would leave the room. But, my Dad never lost hope and stayed so strong and positive through all of this. He was always good about putting on a happy face for us kids and knew what each one of us needed to hear. I'm so thankful for all of the prayers that have been said on my mom's behalf. I truly feel that is what brought her back. She is our miracle! I cannot wait for her to be home and back to health!

Summer 2010

So i've been slacking alot lately on here but alot has been going on . I had one of the best summer's though i spent it with my family and i had the best time !! We went boating on the lake a few time on my sister's boat with her cute little family , we went to a luau in Gardner Village , Heriman has a mini beach and i went alot with my sister and nephew ,  I went to the public pool with my mom a few times just us and , that was nice to just spend some mother daughter time at the pool and lay out , and we'd go a few times with my sister and nephew , Went to St . George for labor day weekend and spent some time with some family and hang out at my grandma's pool . All in all i had a great summer and without my family it probably wouldn't of been as good . I do alot of things with my family and it was just a nice summer to spend it with them:) .

Crystal and i moving day , helping her move into her new place

Opening night with Julie to see Eclipse !!!! :D

Best Friends

A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely.

"If you were falling then I would catch you!

You need a light? I`d find a match....

You take me the way I am!

If you are chilly, Here! take my sweater!

Your head is aching? I`ll make it better!

and you take me the way I am!"

All of these silly quotes and sayings remind me of Alexis !

She's my best friend she is the most strongest, caring, loving, honest, loyal, nicest, funniest person i know. She is beautiful on the inside and out.. always has a positive attitude. She brings out the best in me.. when i'm in my worst mood she brings out the best in me and can make me laugh. We always have the best times together.. We can have fun doing absolutely anything and make the best of it. She's someone i call my other half like my sister. She is always been there for me and accepted me for me.  We do everything together, and text all the time, i go to her for all my problems and she comes to me. She is who you would go to if you need a laugh, vent, talk, listen. We buy things for eachother and it's just the way we are. No matter how many times we can fight we always make up and still stay best friends . Through thick and thin she's always there and i don't know what i would ever do without her !!  She's who i call my Best Friend !