Kim/Liv Update

Hey Y’All,

We are all home again.  It has been a very rough week, especially for Kim, but things are getting better.  We went to church yesterday morning to see Joshua Baptized, a very joyful and moving experience.  Today was the first day I was able to have a regular morning; relaxing with a delicious cup of Constant Comment Tea and returning phone call messages from last week.  [I did get some more bad news but that’s a whole different story and one I am not ready to talk about yet.]

As far as the success of the surgery for Kim went:  we don’t know!  The head of her surgical team says we won’t know until all the swelling goes down, about 3 weeks from now, to see if she can eat regular foods.  She is still on a full liquid diet for the time being.  While in hospital we had a very big scare, Kim stopped breathing and turned blue!  It was the day after surgery and she and I were dozing after a sleepless night and Kim must have made some kind of sound that stirred me and when I looked over at her, her lips were dark blue and her face was blue tinted!  I jumped up and did the knuckle rub on her chest and shaking her to get a response; I connected her to the oxygen feed and she started moving and regaining her color.  I had punched the button for the nurse but didn’t get the response I was hoping for so I ran down the hall to get one.  When a bunch of them came down to the room, Kim was still a little blue but obviously breathing again.  She never said a thing for the next three hours and the care givers didn’t even do a vitals check!  I insisted they put her back on the oxygen and respiration monitor so that I could keep an eye on her vitals myself.  Later in the evening Kim told me she remembered everyone standing around her but not much else.  As a mother watching over her child after surgery I can tell you that after that incident I wasn’t able to settle down and rest until last night.  I never want to go through anything like that again and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.  Kim seems much better today, though still very sore, and we are able to breathe a little easier now.

When I got home from the hospital, I was all ready to take a long hot shower and relax only to find that the water heater had busted during the night, flooding the garage, and generally wrecking havoc with my home and my plans. Over $700 and 24 hours later I was able to take that long needed shower!  The roof was replaced last week, the water heater just a few days later, what next? LOL  ‘When it rains, it pours!’

Here’s hoping you all have had a much better week than I!

Hugs

Hi

I guess you thought I had left forever.  Things have been good/bad/horrible/wonderful and my emotions have run the gamut from elation to complete despair.  I haven't been creating any digital elements and the closest I've come to PhotoShop is to work on an album for a friend of mine.

I have missed my online buddies as well as my real time friends; it seems as if I have been a hermit since my job with Libby was completed.

Kim has been becoming more healthy by leaps and bounds! Since separating from her husband and joining the gasteoparesis study, her diabetes has become much more manageable.  In fact, the feeding tube she had to have surgically implanted in her intestines so she could get enough nutrients to sustain life has been removed!!!!!!!!!!  The opening closed up completely in about 30 days.  She still has to have the opening in the bottom of her stomach surgically widened every 80 to 90 days so she can digest her food, via gravity, in the intestines, but life for her has become so much better.

My heart has been aching with the loss of one of the dearest and closest people in my life; my cousin, S. Kent Moran, passed away from oral cancer on August 17.  Kent was part of my support system during all the tribulation of my father's last months.  Our families spent our free time together so we were raised more like siblings than cousins.  Some of my earliest and most cherished memories are of our times together playing in the creek, skipping rocks in the cow pond, or telling fantastic stories to each other and making plans for our adult selves while we hid out in the hay loft gazing at the blue skies of summer in Chesterfield, Virginia. Our bond was one of those that held no matter how much time or distance separated us and I will miss him for the rest of my days.

So, you see, the happy and sad, highs and lows that have beset me since April.  I'm sure there are those of you who have had much more interesting and/or difficult lives these past few months but everything is relative so my experiences have been center stage for me. As we finish out this calendar year, it is my intention to try and be a better friend whether online or in person.

Kent

 

 

Hello!

Hey Y'all,

Well, I've been too, too busy lately. Being a homeowner is not an easy thing to do after the home is 15 years old or more. Plumbing, electrical, painting, you name it I've had the problems with it. I have spent the last several days just trying to repair the inlet pipe on my toilet. Finally seem to be successful today, thank goodness.

Kimberli accidentally pulled out her feeding tube last night! Ow! It bled and Bart and Kim decided to put it back in themselves instead of the ER docs because the last time they almost killed her! After several tries with no luck, he remembered they had a new kind that Wake Forest sent to them so he tried that and was successful! It's a good thing he was because Daisy (the pup) snatched the old tubing off the bed and chewed it in half before they realized it was gone! That puppy has been a constant source of entertainment and love for Kim and her family. I wasn't too happy about her getting it because they already had 3 dogs and two cats outside and 2 cats inside along with various fish. Daisy is persona non gratta at my house since she likes to piddle on my carpet and chew my furniture but I think she has been a wonderful addition to Kim's menagerie! The other night Joshua was taking a bubble bath and Daisy jumped in and played in the bubbles with him! Kim called me up just laughing and happy. Made my heart swell.

I took my camera with me to Joshua's soccer game Saturday but even though Joshua played great (as usual) the camera wouldn't cooperate! So . . . no photos to share ;(

Have you ever been to DigiScrapDepot? It's a great site that has all the usual forum, challenges, etc. but the one thing it has that you won't find other places is loads of designer freebies! I upload mine there and so do hundreds of other designers. Today I uploaded some Halloween that Vicky is going to put on a CD along with a lot of other designer Halloween and offer it for sale! Super idea and it just might help me pay for the scanner I just had to replace. Check them out! I really had no idea that there was even a shop attached to the freebie site but she has some great designers listed and I'm getting ready to go back over there and check them out.

Need to get!
Hugs,
Liv

Happy Labor Day!

Hey Y'all! Happy Labor Day to all of the United States! Happy day to all the rest of the world too!

I have been so busy trying to design that little Halloween kit, and exchanging wonderful emails with a long lost girlfriend, that I forgot to update y'all on Kimberli's condition.

She was released from the hospital Saturday evening with the understanding that she wasn't to be left alone. Her blood gasses, strength, sinuses, and headache were still not right, but they don't like to keep you hospitalized if you can be helped at home. Bart picked her up after soccer practice and before his stint at the stockcar races. I had planned to stay with her while he and the children went to the racetrack, but she refused to let me come up there, saying she was fine on her own. Seems that Suzy and Joshua stayed together in the stands while their dad was in the pits and did very good together. Joshua idolizes his sister, and any time she gives him these days he cherishes. I kept in close contact with Kim the whole time they were gone; she seemed to do fine. She was under strict orders to call me every time she was getting ready to move out of her bed for a drink or potty break so I could keep tabs on her. She actually went to church Sunday morning! She told me she managed to stand every time the congregation did and even sang some of the hymns. She also did some cooking last night; this from a girl who was at death's door (literally!) on Wednesday. She never ceases to amaze me with her determination to be a contributing member of her family.

I have almost finished with the Halloween kit I have been working on. Yes, it turned into a mini-kit instead of just doodles. I sit and complain about not having time to do what needs to be done and then I go and spend extra time on Freebies! Can't help it because once the muse kicks in you have to go with it! Check back later today or tomorrow to see if I have posted it!

Thanks for keeping my family in your thoughts and prayers!

Hugs,
Liv

PS: Don't forget to check out my albums at the Hoorray.com site (link on your right)! Remember, FREE shipping on each album!

Updates

Hey Y'all,

Well, my visit with Kimberli and Joshua was the pits. Ended up that she took a turn for the worse Wednesday morning and I had to send her back to Northeast Medical in an ambulance. All the usual symptoms but worse than usual and I couldn't handle them on my own; vomiting, diarrhea, chest pains, headache, difficulty breathing, incoherent, dehydrated, and in keytoacidosis. They still had not 'stabilized' her 24 hours later but the nurses assured me that she is going to pull through this too. As of this morning she is doing much, much better! PTL! Her blood counts are all out of whack and sending the wrong signals to her brain for help, so she will have to remain in ICU until they can get a handle on what's causing the wrong signals (something about the body still thinks its in DKA when it isn't). Thought I'd let y'all know; thanks to all of you for your well wishes.

I'm trying to get a little Halloween Doodle page together to give to you, so bear with me for a little while longer.
Smiles,
Liv

PS: Don't forget to click on the Hoorray link on the right to get your free shipping on top of the 20% off the site is now offering! I'm hoping they will get my Heritage album up for you to see soon.

Things Just Don't Come Easy . . . huh?

Kimberli had her sinus surgery Wednesday morning and here it is Saturday night and she still hasn't been able to sit up or have any solid food. The headaches have abated somewhat according to her and she has finally stopped vomiting. When you are sick already and have to have surgery for anything, it is much worse than it should be. She is getting tube feedings and tube hydration so that cuts down on the vomiting, thank the Lord. Thanks to all who kept her in their prayers for the surgery!

I'd like to thank all you folks who sent Kimberli birthday cards again. They are stacked up on the room divider so they are visible to all who enter, you guys did me proud!

About Hoorray: postponed the discounts for my readers that was suppose to go into effect yesterday. I'm so sorry but I have no idea when everything is going to come to fruition! I'll certainly keep you posted though. I can upload some of the album pages that I have done so you can get a better look at them. Mind you, they are going to have that big copyright on them but you can still get a good look. I'll work on that tonight.

I've installed a new Firefox gadget within the body of my posts; it will give you options to look up words or Google anything that I might talk about. Pretty neat, just highlight the word you are interested in.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.
Liv

Hey Y'All!

Well, just when things were looking a little calmer for my Kim, up pops the sinus surgery she has to have. It's tomorrow morning. I want to ask you: If you have surgery to remove the scar tissue from the previous surgery that's now blocking your sinuses, will you have to continue to remove the scar tissue every time you remove the scar tissue? A conundrum for sure!

Okay, little Miss Daisy May granpuppychild is finally growing and she just might turn out to be of a good size. She peed my carpet the other night so I guess I'm accepted now! LOL! Here are some photos from a couple of weeks ago. She's twice that size now! Still adorable.

Kim and Daisy May

Joshua and Daisy May

Aren't we lucky here!? Our children went back to school today but they have another two weeks in the United Kingdom! My friend Rose is about to pull out her hair! LOL! Hang in there friends!

Well, I heard from Hoorray about some 'reader offers' promotions that we are going to get! Goody, goody. Their Designer Line is going to be 25% off and free shipping for our first reader promotion! It should go into effect on Friday so check back with me then. I'm going to make myself a couple of books; one to give to Kim and one for me ;)

Here is a photo of Kim's birthday cake that the lady who made it took. It was actually lovely in person and tasted even better!



Please send happy thoughts to Kim for her surgery tomorrow!

Hugs,
Liv

Hello!

Hey Y'all!

Well, Kimberli's birthday came and we had a small party for her but I forgot to take my camera (duh) because of all the other stuff I was taking up there. Anyway, some others took photos so when I get some I'll share. Thanks to all of you who sent her cards and flowers! Wow! How wonderful to have so many online friends that are truly caring! You outdid yourselves. Kim was so excited to go through the mail each day; she loved seeing the postmarks and got such joy from receiving your best wishes! My friend Rose of Simply Rose1 even called here twice and sent a beautiful flower arrangement! It was so funny. Kim was telling her children that the flowers came from one of my friends in the United Kingdom and Joshua said, "boy they really have nice flowers over there!" Someone took photos of them and the 3 tiered cake too so I'll post them when I get them. It has taken Kim two days to kind of recuperate from the festivities, she is still having trouble with her stomach of course. She managed to stay up the entire day of her birthday!

Did I tell y'all that she got a new puppy? Her name is Daisy and she is adorable! She is solid black and very small even though she is now eight weeks old and is suppose to be a lab/boxer mix! LOL! No way . . . this pup is too small for those breeds. She wore a pink doggy dress to the party and has a pink doggy princess bed to match! I know Kim didn't need anymore animals but this little puppy has helped to perk up her spirits. Photos of her soon!

Oh, I forgot to tell you about the photobook I made Kim. When I can, I am going to have it made and printed by Hoorray! Right now it is an 8x8 scrapbook holding the layouts in photo form. She asked for her life in photos so I did my best. Cannot show them to you because I was in such a hurry to get it together that I didn't make a list of the designers that I used. Anyway, Kim loved the book and I'm sure she will like it even better when I have it printed. The great thing about having your layouts printed by Hoorray is that they will last much longer than paper scrapping and printed photos; so our grands and great grands will be able to enjoy them too!

My darling grand daughter, Tabitha, is now on FaceBook and I get to 'chat' with her! I have missed her so much; it has been over a year since I've seen her. We chatted for over an hour last night!

Well, I got a computer upgrade yesterday and it (the computer) has been on for over 30 hours backing itself up on Carbonite. I just had to get more RAM so that Photoshop would work without stalling. Cannot wait to try it out as I am anxious to get my beach album to Hoorray.

Hope everyone is having a great last week before school up here in the Northern Hemisphere! And happy holidays to you all in the Southern Hemisphere!

Smiles,
Liv

Updates

Hey Y'all,

Well, Kim had the CAT scan and we are suppose to get the results on Monday or Tuesday. In the mean time, the feeding tube site has become infected and she's been put on antibiotics. They took a culture to see if the infection is Mercer (please NO) and we will probably get those results on Monday because the lab was closed Friday. I've just been praying that it's not Mercer because she would need to be hospitalized immediately if it is.

Thanks to all of you who try and keep up with what's happening with Kim and for all the prayers, comments, and emails.

We actually went out to lunch on Thursday! Kim has been wanting to go to Red Lobster so my friend Ginni, her daughter (Kimber), Joshua, my Kim, and me went. We enjoyed the company as much as the food and Kim didn't throw up! WooHoo! She was really surprised that she didn't get sick.

Kim's birthday is the 15th of this month and will be her big 40! I am so glad she made it . . . I've been so worried that we wouldn't see it together. Kim wants to have a real birthday party with friends and family so we are going to try our best to make sure she gets one.

Here's a photo of us when she was 3 months old!


Hoorray is up in Beta and there are five designers represented this week. Mine isn't up yet but they promise to put up 5 designers a week until they are all done. For the present they are just showing one album per designer because of all the programming it takes for each album. Keep checking back with me because we are going to be able to offer rewards, discounts, and prizes on our blogs! So far I have made a 'Baby's 1st Year' album and a 'Our Family Heritage' album; I'm working on a 'Beach Frames' album. The little babies I designed are so cute if I do say so myself! They were actually taken from my memory of some my mother embroidered on some baby linens for me when I was an infant. The heritage album includes some old pieces that I found when going through my Dad's stuff. Well, just hope you like them when you see them.

Hope everyone is having a great family weekend; school starts soon so love on those 'young'uns!'

Hugs,
Liv

Getting Closer!

The grand reveal of the Hoorray.com photo site is coming along rapidly now! They have the actual site on hold until all is ready to be revealed. I'm terribly excited about all of this since this will be my 'Design Debut' as an independent designer. First time my work will be seen outside of my blog or the downloads I have offered. I've put in some long hours but the folks at Hoorray have been very supportive of my efforts and have encouraged me to 'spread my designing wings.'

Hoorray has also been good for me to immerse myself in to escape the unbelievable stress that is put on Kimberli every day. She is so pitiful today; her father has hurt her feelings soooo bad. She hasn't gone into great detail with him but she has let him know that her time on earth is almost over; he has not reacted as you would expect or as she wanted. I've tried to ease her mind about this but it's really between them; men just don't 'get it' like women do. We want more attention and to talk about what is coming, not less! I guess it's that old male thing of: 'if we have to discuss it that means you want me to fix it' and this time he can't. I so want to put my arms around her and hold on tight so she cannot go anywhere without me. But not only can I not do this in therory but because of the tenderness and pain of the feeding tube sight, I can't hug her at all. ;( I wish she was down here living with me but I know that she needs to be with her husband.

Keep Kim in your prayers, please. She needs a lot of mental strength to accept the coming months.

Thanks,
Liv

Cat Scan?

Hello all. Found out last night that Kim has had a headache since Sunday. Same spot, hasn't moved, or lessened. She saw the Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist this morning and he says it could possible be her sinuses but he doesn't want to take any chances so a CAT scan has been scheduled for Tuesday morning. Please, please send up good thoughts and prayers for the problem to be her sinuses or migraines or cluster headaches. Those are bad enough but little Kim doesn't need any more life threatening prognosis!

I'm still working on the beach album. Do any of you need shell .png's? Have you checked out the prices of photos to use in commercial products? hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars for one shot? I'll up load these for you if you are interested; they aren't top notch but they will do in a pinch! Leave me a comment if you need some.

Hoorray is steadily working on a 'full frontal assault' to the Internet ASAP. The Designer Line is coming along nicely but you won't see any of my stuff up there yet. :(

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Hugs,
Liv