Update from Minnesota

Just a quick morning update from Rochester while the kids watch cartoons. This is our last full day in Rochester as we leave tomorrow at 12:15 pm to fly home and should arrive in Wenatchee at 9:05 pm pending all flights going right, so cross your fingers!

Let's see where did I leave off. I think it was Friday and we had just come home from the hospital. Friday afternoon a long time friend of Dave's named Shari came from Mankato to meet the kids and I and check on Dave's progress. We had a great visit for almost 3 hours in the hotel room and then the kids and I went out to dinner with her before she drove home. It was nice to meet her and I know we plan to keep in touch from here forward. After she headed home, the kids and I went to the indoor play area at the mall and they played for over an hour and were exhausted when they finished. Then we all got Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream and headed back to the hotel for the night.

On Saturday, we all slept in a bit and took it easy for the morning. We then ran a few errands of things Dave needed from Walmart and watched it snow (yes, snow) here for the afternoon. It quit snowing long enough to visit the park for a little bit but not long so we went to an early dinner and came back to the pool for a swim (one of the kids' favorite things to do). Dave had a painful day as the swelling is going down to the there is more bone pain everyday.

Sunday started with a migraine for me. The kids let me rest it off for an hour then we headed off to church and then to have pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids. That got Kenzie's 3 yr pics done and we got a few of Chase too and of course them together and then one of the three of us. We tried the park again on this afternoon and got to play a little longer but again resorted to coming back to the hotel and getting dinner then enjoying a movie together. Another cery painful day for Dave but he is getting more mobile so that is no surprise.

Monday morning we had to get up and get going in order to get Dave in the shower and over to the clinic for a blood draw to check his PT & INR as he is on Coumadin for 6 weeks. While we were there we had to pick up his pain patches as we did not have enough of them with us (there is a whole box at home in Chelan). They nearly had to resuscitate me after they totalled it and for 3 boxes of 2 different doses of his Duragesic patches it was $1384.00!! Ouch!! Will work on that one with the insurance when we return home!! After we got Dave back and settled, the kids and I took off on our geography lesson day! Being a Little House on the Prairie fan, Mom and I have even gotten Mackenzie into them too. We took off south on Highway 63 and went to Spring Valley, Minnesota where the church is that Laura and Almanzo attended in the early 1890s. It was closed for tours but we got to see it and of course take pictures! Then we took off further south through Preston and on to Harmony, Minnesota. For those who don't know, Harmony has the largest Amish Community in Minnesota. Not far out of Preston we started seeing Amish horse & carriages on the highway. The actually have a two lane road with additional lanes on each side just for the Amish travelers. Mackenzie was quite intrigued with this. She also liked to look for tired and not tired barns. Some of the barns out here are falling down and she called those tired barns and any not falling down were not tired. We got into Harmony and stopped for a visit at the Amish gift shops. We got a few little items including an Amish porcelain doll for both kids (Chase has a boy doll) and an Amish quilt wall hanging for us and for my parents. My Mom loves to read the Barbara Lewis books about Amish communities. On we went on our drive south (seeing more Amish people along the way) and ended up in Burr Oak, Iowa. That is the location of the last standing original home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We were able to tour this home which was actually a hotel where the Ingalls' worked. Very interesting! We then drove back again watching for Amish people. We did stop at an Amish home that had a gift shop area where Mackenzie got a horse basket made of wood. It was neat to see their lives. The kids learned a lot about a variety of things and we all enjoyed the day. We made it back by about 4 pm and had dinner and then went swimming AGAIN!

Today was planned to make a return trip to Mall of America but we have to get things packed and ready first so we will see what happens. Dave is more mobile everyday and we are so very thankful to Dr. Hannsen and Dr. Nett for their care in fixing his knee. We are all very ready to get back to our home and our routine though!

Thanks again for all the prayers and good thoughts during our travels! Lots of pictures to follow once we are home!

PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED

I has been a busy week here in Rochester, Minnesota, but with the busy part comes the great news!! They did not have to remove all of Dave's knee and cast him. The top portion of the replacement was loose and they were able to just remove and replace that piece on Monday. He got to come back to our home away from home today at about 11 am CST. He is currently resting in the recliner in our hotel room and Mackenzie is napping on the couch. Chase is being my big helper and helping with laundry and watching a movie while coloring pictures for me in our room so that he stays quiet for the resting members of the family.

To summarize the events of the last week - The kids and I left Wenatchee on Friday the 20th and flew to Seattle and spent the night there. We then flew from Seattle to Chicago-O'Hare and then on to Rochester on Saturday. We got in early so Dave wasn't even at the airport yet but when he arrive, the kids spotted him in the parking lot and ran full-on to him. We were all happy to be back together.

On Sunday, we took the kids up to Bloomington (near Minneapolis-St. Paul) to the Mall of America. All the way on the 90 minute drive they kept complaining that they didn't want to go to the mall. Well, the complaints ended when we practically had to drag them into the mall as right there was a huge theme park all done in Nickelodeon characters. They had a blast on the rides. I will post pictures from home as the internet here is SLOW!!! Now anything the word mall is mentioned, they are excited to go and disappointed when it is just the Apache Mall here in Rochester. And for those of you who know I am a shopaholic - we were at the Mall of America for 5 hours and I went in 3 stores, the rest of the time was spent on ride with kids and one of the stores I went in was the Build A Bear store for the kids to make a critter.

Dave had to report to Rochester Methodist Hospital (one of the MANY building called "Mayo Clinic") at 9:30 am on Monday. They got him into a pre-pre-op room where he stayed for about 2 1/2 hours and we could come and go from that room. Then they took him to pre-op where we couldn't go and he stayed there over 3 hours. At about 3 pm they took him to the OR and made the first incision at 3:23 pm. He was out of surgery by a few minutes after 5 pm. The kids and I got to go up to his room at noon and stayed there till the doctor came to us at 5:15 pm with the great news about his knee. The kids and I left then and he got back to the room about 8:00 pm.

Tuesday was a pretty good day. They removed the drain from his knee that morning and he began PT with walking in his room. The kids and I visited for short times as that was easier for all of us. We ran a few errands and came back to the hotel for a swimming time. They love the pools here at the hotel. They have a kiddie pool that is only mid-thigh deep on the kids, a hot tub and a big pool. The kids can play in the kiddie pool and the hot tub without me in the water. :)

Wednesday was more therapy for Dave and removal of the compression bandages. We visited a little more that day. When we weren't at the hospital we went to a ceramic studio called Color Me Mine and painted some ceramic things. Mackenzie painted a dragon bank, Chase painted an airplane and I painted a bigger ice cream bowl for Dave. The kids really enjoyed that. We went to Applebees for dinner and then discovered the play area at Apache Mall and they ran and played for 45 minutes there before getting Cold Stone ice cream for the evening snack.

Thursday was a typical third day post surgery. He was in a lot of pain and was CRABBY! He was also 4 days post-cigarettes too so that didn't help I am sure. He really didn't like the PT that day. We stayed away most of this rainy day as that was easier. We watch a movie in the room then hit the pools again. This time we had all three pools all to ourselves and they had a blast for 1 1/2 hours. We got dried and re-dressed and went to Red Lobster for dinner. They had a blast. We had a great waitress Mandy who played with them and even arranged for them to get to pet one of the live lobsters they have in a tank there. They thought that was really cool and yes I took pictures!! They we took dessert to Daddy and came home to bed.

Today we had to get up and started a little quicker to be able to pick him up. They like to discharge by 10 AM and they mean business about that. After Chase helped me get the dressing supplies and his prescritions while Kenzie stayed with Daddy, we were off to catch the shuttle back to the hotel. His nurse today was Kim and she was great with the kids and with Dave through the discharge process. Kenzie has been quite the nurse to Daddy and Chase was a big helper to me today. An old childhood friend of Dave's named Cheryl that lives in Mankato, Minnesota is coming to town today to see him and meet the kids and I. She came last week before we got here and had dinner with Dave but she wanted to meet us and see him after his surgery. We are currently scheduled on flights home on Wednesday but will continue to try to get home sooner.

Hope all is well and Praise the Lord for answered prayers (thanks to all of you who have been praying for a good outcome for Dave).