The Good News and the Not-So-Good News

Well, lets see - I like to get the not-so-good first so that is how I will type this entry to cover the events of a Monday at the Rogge house for three of us and Dave's first day of appointments at the Mayo Clinic.

After Friday night trip (pictured above) to the ER for Mackenzie's ears, she was getting no better so we had no choice but to call Dr. Waz to report . . . Mackenzie and I have both been struggling with the "Chelan Crud" AKA a cold and managed to both get ear infections so we went to the clinic this morning to get the antibiotics to rid ourselves of those prior to our flights back east later this week. She is very tired and resistive to the ear drops, so much so that her brother gets all her comfort things ready for her and stands by and counts to 100 for her after I put the drops in. She thinks that at the end of the count to 100 it will feel better so usually Dave counts after the drops but while Daddy is away Chase is being the man of the house and helping me in lots of ways especially counting after ear drops. I just tucked him in to bed and as he said his prayers he included this line "please help my sister to get better so she doesn't have to have ear drops anymore."

Dave had a good day at the Mayo Clinic today. They drew blood, took x-rays and he saw the orthopedic surgeon. The doctor drew some fluid off of the knee although it was difficult for him to get any fluid which is a good sign. Upon reviewing Dave's x-rays right after the knee replacement 3 years ago and the ones taken today, it appears that the prosthesis has actually gotten moved out of place a bit. The doctor is hopeful that it is indeed not infected but rather just malfunctioning due to being out of place. They are doing a culture of the fluid and repeating his bone scan just to be sure there aren't indicators of infection. If those all are normal, then he will go in for surgery on Monday and based on what the doctor finds, he will either take the prosthesis out and fill the joint with antibiotic beads and cast his leg straight for 2 months and then re-do the knee OR if there is no sign of infection and he feels it is ok to re-do the knee right then, he will take out the old one and put in the new one which would mean no second trip back there for surgery!!! As you can imagine we are praying for the later as this is the first "good" news about his knee in over 5 years since the original one was done in March 2003.

So there it is, Kenzie and I are sick, Dave got good news and Chase is holding down the fort for Daddy while he is away. They are counting days till we leave on Friday to go to Seattle and then on Saturday back to Rochester! Chase's parting words to Daddy on the phone tonight were "You are the bestest Daddy in the whole wide world, I love you!"

BIG Catch-up Post

Well, it has been quite a while since I have posted but it has been busy times around our house, so I will do my best to catch-up on the last few weeks.

We had an enjoyable trip over to the westside to have an early Christmas with the big kids and the grandkids. A good time was had by all. We draw names and exchange gifts and usually invade Stephanie & Ken's house for the occasion on the odd years as the kids and grandkids all come to us in even years. Our little ones had a lot of fun playing with the grandkids. The youngest little grandkid is Travis and he is growing like a weed and this picture proves how much Papa loves him.

While we were in Seattle we met my sister and her kids for the annual grandkid photo for our parents. The kids are growing a lot and Rachel is changing everyday. It seems like yesterday we started this tradition with little Chase holding babies on either side of him. Here is a picture from that day too.

Chase had his Christmas program at CVIS on Friday the 14th and he sang out and did a great job on Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. He was all dressed up handsome and was quite proud of himself. His last day of school before the break was the 17th and they had a Santa's workshop that day and a visit from the jolly gentleman in red too. Here is a picture of Chase in front of our tree just before he went to school for his program. He is very active in participating in songs in class but is usually quite shy and has stage-fright for any "performance" so we were very proud of him for singing out and being a good little performer.

We also managed to take in the visit to Santa and the reindeer at the Whaley Mansion here in town. Mackenzie got to go on a limo bus to see the reindeer with her preschool and then the kids and I went to see them and Santa the next day. Chase loved the first room we entered as it had a big train set up on a BIG table and it was running around and around. He could have stayed in that room all day and skipped Santa all together. They took some nice pictures while we were there as you can see.

Mackenzie had her first preschool Christmas program on the 21st and Mamma and Papa even made the trip in time to see it. Boy has my little girl changed in the last 3 months. At the beginning of school she was very shy and didn't even want to stay and at her program she was the star of the show as she was so into it and animated with her participation. It was so cute and of course that is recorded on film too. (oh, both kids programs are on DVD as well for anyone to watch as they love to watch themselves and tell all about it). At the end of her program, the jolly gentleman in red made an appearance again (we have seen him over a half dozen times this season).

My parents (AKA Mamma or Dramma or Grams and Papa) were her for 9 "night nights" as the kids call them. They left today to go to my sister's in Bothell and get a grandkid fix there. We were able to enjoy a lot of snow and a very white Christmas while they were here. We also got to visit reindeer and Santa in the snow at Banjo Creek Farms on the 22nd, which all enjoyed. Originally they were to have 2 reindeer there but "Dasher" as he is now called, escaped on Friday night and they still haven't found him. Papa had a cold and congestion while they were here so Mamma spent the afternoon of Sunday after church in the local ER with him. We all helped to take care of him and get him well.

We enjoyed a great family Christmas and the kids were thrilled with the visit from Santa, which Chase discovered the evidence of at 6:30 am on Christmas morning and woke us all to see. We had a great dinner. Mom helped with it as my neck is not tolerating that much time with my arms up working at counter height. Santa brought Chase a new bicycle (his first big boy bike) and brought Mackenzie a playhouse. They were both very happy. Dave & I got a webcam from my parents so we are now able to talk to and see them from the computer. The kids love it!!

As my parents were getting ready to leave this morning, I got a call from the neurosurgeon in Wenatchee. I had an appt with him scheduled for January 25th as that was the earliest he could see me about my neck. They had a cancellation today and I got to see him at 2 pm. While he was seeing me, he had a patient call and cancel surgery for next Wednesday the 2nd of January so he is going to fix my neck next Wednesday at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center. I will stay overnight and get to go home sometime Thursday. I should be well onto the recovery and be fine for our trip in February. It is nice to be able to have it done before the trip as it looked like I wouldn't even see him till right before the trip. They will remove the herniated disc and fuse the C5-C6 vertebrae with a plate and screws as well as a bone graft. I will have a lot of lifting restrictions for 3 months (that will be hard for the kids to understand) but he anticipates that I will have pain relief very soon after surgery. The kids understand that he will be cutting my neck and for a while Mackenzie was afraid he would make me into a "pick-up head" (this is what she calls the animated franksteins at Halloween that seemingly lift their own head off of their neck - she hates them) but I have convinced her that my head will stay attached. Now she tells me that "the doctor will cut your neck and then he will needle it to make it back together" - needling is her verbage for sewing.

Lastly but certainly not least, we are expecting any day the arrival of Raiden Xavier, our new grandson (Josh & Heather's baby). He is due on the 2nd of January and they will induce her on the 3rd if she doesn't have it before then. As you can see she is quite pregnant and getting more uncomfortable by the day.

Well, that is an update from her for now and I will try to do better in the upcoming weeks and plan to blog while on our trip.

Happy New Year to you all!