A VERY Merry Christmas

When John was finally well enough and home we began planning for Christmas. I was expecting our short term disability to be processed within the week that the insurance company assured me was the processing time. I felt really angry, frustrated and overwhelmed when I realized this was going to take a long time. One of John's friends didn't recieve his disability pay until he was back at work 8 weeks later. It won't surprise you to discover that it took exactly eight weeks to get our first check. If you do the math that means after Christmas. One of my sisters plotted a plan with the help of the rent of one of my brothers, to help with Christmas.
One black Friday I went with Laura and Dee Christmas shopping for our girls. I was so impressed with myself. I never had wanted to go shopping that early or with all the "crazy" people, so event was a first. I got great deals and managed to find three small gifts for each girl. I felt like I was Super Mom, until I got home looked at everything spread out in my studio...yea, not so much stuff now that I had it home. The next week we discovered that a friend and a local lodge had gotten together to provide Christmas for my girls. The next surprise came when John's doctors office staff called and said they wanted to do Christmas for our girls too. I gave different wish lists to each group and told them please, please, please don't go overboard on the whole gift thing. Well wasn't I surprised to see the tons of packages (prewrapped...thankyou thankyou thankyou) that were delivered to our home.

Here is what Mom, Dad, and Santa had pulled together over the year.

This is what happen when good people get together to give three sweet girls a Christmas. Yes, the presents are all the way around the tree filling a 5' square area and the top of our entertainment center.

This is Paige's response when she came out Christmas Morning...lucky shot with the camera.

Don't worry she was still overly impressed with the "popping paper". She thought that it was a present too.

Here's a picture of when mom got too tired of having each girl take a turn opening gifts and just turned them loose. That comment makes me sound way laid back and not like the true daughter of my father which I am, who "needs" organization in all things. The truth? The only rule....um, stipulation I made was that they could open one at a time with their sisters. The girls loved everything so much, that we had a hard time getting them to leave all of their fun new stuff to go to Christmas at their Aunt Laura's.

John and I are so thankful for our friends, family and complete strangers who came through for our girls and gave them....Here's what Miss Sydney said, "this was the best Christmas ever, mom!"

Pneumonia Part V - November 17th to 22nd

I have to apologize for taking so long to post this. I've discovered that although I know that everything turns out all right in the end...I really don't enjoy remembering the day of John's surgery. To start my day off I woke up at 6:30 a.m. when Charlene knocked on my door. I had planned on being up and ready to go by then. Since I was late and had to be at the hospital by 7 a.m., I got dressed, brushed my teeth, washed my face, thanked Charlene and RAN out the door. Really you can't be late for your husband's surgery. John was ready to go, I wasn't. I didn't act all panicky for him but you know those butterflies well I had more than my fair share. We made it to pre-op and had a great nurse...I do enjoy when they put the x marks the spot just in case the surgeon can't tell his left from his right. I met John's surgeon, he was informative, seemed excited by John's case and he made me laugh. John received his first drug cocktail and was feeling pretty good. He doesn't remember any of the rest of pre-op, which is good. He would have been amused when I went up to his surgeon, asked for a minute and said, "I know you do this all the time but that man is the entire world to three little girls. Please take care of him." The surgeon looked pretty surprised but reassured me he would. I met John's surgical nurses and they were quite alert...good for my husband and a little sassy...good for me to relate to. They told me that they enjoyed working with Dr. Rochwal, he is a great surgeon but they'd keep an eye on him just in case. They wheeled John out and that's when I started to cry. Just thinking about how worried I was makes me tear up all over again.
The staff at Toledo Hospital made sure to not only direct me but escorted me the teary eyed wife to the waiting room. When I arrived really it was such a relief to find Linda, my kids adopted grandma, there waiting for me. I hadn't called her the night before but news travels fast. Linda who lost her husband to cancer recently was such a surprise and a comfort for me. I was then sent upstairs to the waiting room for Heart Surgeries...it was closest to the operating rooms and we waited. As time passed my waiting committee grew...Uncle Jim, my sister Laura and niece Addie-the best distraction in the world, my mom-whose classes were luckily cancelled for the day, John's mom Ann, and his sister Leanne. We were quite the group! My sister brought Twilight for me to read again, you know another distraction. I couldn't sit still and could have definitely used something to take my worries out on. While not sitting still I discovered that there were besides my group three other groups waiting...really a wife, a husband, and a family...the ENTIRE family group was reading Twilight for the first time, we had a good laugh when we realized that we were all reading the same book.
It seemed like no time had passed when the surgeon had us called to family meeting room. The attendant looked like something had gone drastically wrong. I thought I might be sick...you know my heart started racing and I didn't really want to wait in a small room to hear bad news. I took my mom and my sister with me...we were all a little nervous. Dr. Rochwal came in looking very intense...my mom grabbed my hand and I was ready to hear the worst. Then he said, "The surgery went really well. Actually it went much better than expected." I vaguely remember the rest of the surgical details, but I was still a little stunned.
We were escorted to another elevator to go to the waiting room for the Surgical ICU. We waited and then they let us in two at a time, but I think rules are made to be broken and asked to take both mom's and one sister. Surgical ICU is in the new building and the whole floor is beautiful. I was prepared for John to be on a ventilator but he looked pitiful(sorry honey) when I first saw him. But I went up to the bed took his hand and he gave me a good squeeze. He didn't look like he was even conscious. That was when I knew it was going to be okay. He was already awake! I was warned that it would take a while so not to expect any response yet. His nurse Peter was hilarious. He did a great job helping John get off the Respirator. Although that is something I'd prefer to not have to watch John go through again. He also had two chest drainage tubes to keep the fluid from collecting in his lungs again. Friends and family stopped by and I have to say a thank you for the Dr. Pepper to Russ and Leanne and a special thank you to Aaron and Jean Buck for the hilarious birthday/get well card. No it definitely wasn't John's birthday.
The rest of the week progressed well. He had his drainage tubes removed and then was up and about. The hardest part of John's recovery has been getting his lung capacity back. When he left the hospital he only had 33% lung capacity=the same as a 70 year old smoker with COPD. There was some concern that his diaphragm was paralyzed, thankfully it wasn't. John was determined to get out of there. You could tell that he was finally getting better. Daily walks, on oxygen at first, helped him build up his stamina.
I brought him home on November 23rd! A special thanks to the Amsberry's for keeping my girls so late on a Saturday night. He was exhausted and it had taken a while, but at the two week checkup we were told that John was Pneumonia free. Really John will do anything for time off!
I can't thank my friends and family who have taken care of me and my girls over John's entire hospital stay.....I am truly blessed to be surrounded by people who love us.

For those of you with medical training you might enjoy looking at these images.

Chest full of pneumonia at the beginning of stay.

CT scan of his pneumonia.

X-ray of greatly reduced pneumonia when John went home.

Pneumonia Part IV - November 15th -16th

So John was in a regular room on Saturday. John's pulmonologist was concerned that John wasn't getting better a fast as he should be. He was going to look into a couple of things and get back with us. The weather put on an amazing show....giant snow flakes....flying by a ninth floor window over Ottowa Park, absolutely AMAZING.
You might not know that Saturday night is family night at the Rapp's. The girls were excited that this tradition could continue in the hospital. They got to see their dad! Happy, happy girls....six days without dad, teary eyed dad and weary, weary mom. Paige definitely couldn't figure out all of the stuff that John had attached to him. No hugs, just a kiss. Syd moved right in and snuggled up with her daddy. Kate who had a chance to visit John in the ICU was very impressed with his newer accomodations settled into the chair next to him and kept herself busy. I also took the girls down to the cafeteria. You would have thought that they were in heaven.....fries, ice cream, hamburgers, and a salad bar for Syd! Wooooooohooooo!
Sunday was our annual ward(congregation for those of you who don't speak Mormon) primary program and I didn't want to miss it. Kate and Sydney were ready with their parts. Leslie Pershing came along for crowd control and moral support. The program was great! My favorite part was that I wasn't responsible for any of it. I served in primary for over 11 years and boy was it a lot more fun to watch. Here are two of the great qoutes from the kids....keep in mind that the kids are asked to answer a question that they studied in class during the year and write their own parts.....names have been removed to protect the identity of my funny little friends.
A very fun yet serious 11 years old.....reading question....."Why is prayer important to me?".....long dramatic pause....."hmmmmmm".........really there was an answer but by the time it came I was giggling so hard! I've always loved a dramatic pause, that pause was a masterpiece.
One of our funnier littler ones...6 years old...reading with teacher assistance, "I know Heavenly Father loves me because?"......whispered into the microphone to his teacher."SO WHAT"S THE ANSWER?"
Then my phone rang. Does everyone hate when phones ring in church, a play or the movie? Well I do! I always turn off my ringer, leaving it on vibrate and cringe for my friends who foget to turn off theirs. I quietly answered Hello.....Hold on honey....and left the chapel. John had called to let me know they had found fluid around his lungs(empyema) and they would need to drain it. One bonus for John was that the shaking treatment to dislodge his pneumonia would also shake up the fluid so that treatment would be discontinued until they figured out what to do about the fluid. I had about an hour before the doctor would come in to talk with us. I arranged to send my girls off with friends....a special thanks to the Ethingtons, Millers, and Pershings.
Meanwhile I made it back to the hospital. We waited but not too long. Our pulmonologist came in and explained that we had three options that would only be excuted if necessary...
1. Use a ultrasound to locate the fluid and remove it through a needle, done in your hospital room. This was the plan. Easy, mostly painless this was the hoped for outcome.
2. Use a CT Scan to guide the procedure and have the fluid drained through a needle in radiology John's pulmonologist would be there to oversee everything. Less easy but still mostly painless.
3. Surgery to remove fluid, scrape the lining of the lungs, and insert chest tubes to help it drain.
Option one in room happened in the afternoon around 1:30p.m.. The radiologist couldn't find the fluid. The doctor didn't see what he saw on the xray. That didn't mean it wasn't there but that there wasn't a large enough pocket to see by ultrasound. So next on to the CT Scan. John was escorted to Radiology...when they didn't page the doctor I was hopeful that the xray had been wrong. John said that he felt fine and didn't have a hard time breathing. John's LPN Mike went with us he kept checking to make sure that John wasn't hurting. I discovered that Mike's daughter, who is cute as a button, is in the same kindergarten class as Sydney. Small world isn't it! An hour later Dr Jacobs, pulmonologist, came in to say that the fluid and infection was in many very small pockets around his lungs and John would need surgery. Not to worry this surgery would most likely take place on Tuesday. Surgeons schedule was full for Monday and the surgeons would glance at his chart today but work him in on Tuesday. WHO, besides John Rapp, get's surgery for Pneumonia? The doctor left and this is when I fell to pieces. I was tired with a capital T. Add to this that John had a hard time waking up from his last surgery five years ago. I sat on his bed and cried. I did not want him not to wake up from this surgery. This fear was so overpowering. I got myself together and went to collect my girls and go home for the night. On the way home John called and told me that they had scheduled the surgery for the next morning at 7a.m. I took a left instead of a right on Central and went back to the hospital. Hospitals don't usually do anything at a fast pace.....we've waited hours and hours for doctors, nurses, tests and results....but in the space of 35 minutes a surgeon had looked at his chart and scheduled his surgery first on Monday! This increased my level of panic but I wanted the girls to get to see their dad for a while before he was off limits in ICU again. This time the girls were a little more crazy and I was a lot more tired. I took them home around 8pm and called in reinforcements. I asked Leslie and Charlene to cover for me again. I knew that I had to be at the hospital at 6:30a.m. So after a few phone calls to give the 411 to everyone, off I went to bed. With a little more peace in my heart thanks to all of my friends.

A long time ago, far, far away...

My mom sent me this video today. I LOVE it! I am a Star Wars fan. I don't dress up or attend conventions but I like a good movie. This acapella remade tribute on youtube had me laughing so hard, John thought I'd wake up the girls. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

All music by Warner Brothers has been removed off of youtube...this is a link to Corey Vidal's facebook page where you can see his video and become a fan.

This is a link to the article on CNET that explains the whole Warner Studios fiasco.

Craft Show Saturday

Laura and I will be participating in a fun craft show this Saturday.

Eagle Point Elementary School - Cafeteria
203 Eagle Point Rd., Rossford, OH 43460

Noon to Five

We'll have an assortment of Framed Photos, Photo Cards, Jewelry, and lots of general craftiness. Stop by and visit.

Pneumonia Part III - November 14th

Okay so I was at the exciting part of the story where John got to leave ICU. We were transferred by a character named Ron. He and John got along swimmingly. Our new room was on the ninth floor of the new building, with a rockin' view. After John transferred into his new bed, his newest nurse, who I will call nurse X, came in to take vitals, reset the IV, all of the things that a nurse does best. My only problem was that Nurse X forgot to turn on John's oxygen. I pointed out that he wasn't getting any, that his pulseox was dropping you know 84 isn't the number that we were looking for. She assured my that the hose was connected, everything was fine. Now we all know that I'm not stupid and I don't like to be pandered to. I pointed out that although the hose was connected the oxygen wasn't going into his canula. I couldn't hear the oxygen! You definitely miss that sound when you've been hearing if for five days. After Nurse X spent the four or five minutes checking the IV hoses, his pulse, his temperature, remarking that his oxygen line would need extended for more mobility, which helped me mention John's low pulseox levels for the third time. Our nurse's LPN assistant came in listening to the concern and frustration in my voice took a look at the situation. Realizing that there was a cap in between the oxygen valve on the wall and the hose going into John's nose and fixed it. Viola once the cap was removed and the hose reconnected John's pulseox levels went back up to 97%. Thank the lord that the LPN came in at that moment. I decided that my level of nasty wasn't nasty enough and I'd have to watch Nurse X closely, very closely. Luckily John was clueless, pain meds before "the big move" made him a little punch drunk and unobservant.
Nurse X and I were not on friendly terms. I don't know if she was smart enought to realize it yet...she was a little young. Ha! I get to say she was a little young, when did that happen. Our next big adventure on the ninth floor was a bathroom break. Nurse X had forgotten to extend John's air line. She came in and took him off oxygen and went to check on her other patient. John took his "break" and got back into bed. She came back in later to check his vitals. I reminded her that John's oxygen wasn't plugged in. She looked at me, "Yes. You can tell it's plugged in by the bubbles in the water bottle. The oxygen is definitely on." I was SO DONE! I felt like I was arguing with Kate. I got up walked around the bed, Nurse X was busy checking his pulseox to make sure it was on his finger right, picked up the end of the oxygen hose, that was hanging over his IV stand you know the one that should have been connected to the wall unit. I said in my absolutely most done with your crap kid voice, "You mean THIS HOSE? This IS THE HOSE that should be attached to the wall ISN'T IT? Could you PLEASE show me how to attach everything so that I won't have to worry about you forgettting to attach things again." She didn't say a word, no oops, not a sorry, not even a let me check that for you. I attached it to the wall she left and I saw a lot of the the LPN for the rest of the night. What I want to know is what happens to the patients whose families can't stay with them on the nights that they are still out of it? I'm just glad I was there.
Friday uneventful, xrays, bloodwork, I went home for a while. The girls finally got to see John because he was in a regular room. Nurse X was back. John was quite capable of caring for himself so I went home to sleep. I did stop by to have a little talk with his nurse before I left. The conversation was...."Oh,"in a not her again tone, "Hi Mrs. Rapp." Everyone who got to know us in the hospital called me Susan. The Mrs. Rapp said with dread in her tone almost made me laugh. I decided to go with her talk down to them approach and said, "I know WE," you've got to love the royal we, "will make sure we, don't repeat any of last nights problems? You know like the few misunderstandings with his oxygen." I got a "Yes mam." out of that deal, I'm a mam now! Then went back to let John know I was a little bitchy with his nurse so she should be extra nice tonight. John found it hilarious that I had to resort to nastiness to get my point across, usually that's his job. That was all for Friday but don't worry I have another whole weeks worth of fun to write about.