HUCKLEBERRY HOUND!

First off, my mom is doing ok, and is staying at a hotel for now. The insurance agent came by today and said they they are going to replace the fireplace, walls (it's burned in between the walls), carpet, all of the hardwood floors, and some other things. Also the house has to be treated for smoke damage. The fire investigator hasn't been out yet, so they can't close up the hole yet.

Here are some pictures of the damage she sent me:














OK, next up, I made Parisian Macaroons for the first time! Everybody says how difficult they are to make but I did not think they were that bad and they were by far the most tasty, delicious, delightful, wonderful cookie I have ever had in my life. They are so light and fluffy... oooh!

I just followed the recipe on Martha Stewart's website, and then I added purple dye to the batter, and then I put huckleberry preserves in between each sandwich instead of her filling. But I plan to make a variety for christmas in different colors. I am not sure how well the cookies will hold up with the preserves in them, so I am putting them on a few tonight, and will see if they survive until morning.

MY MOM

Just got a call about 15 minutes ago (It's 130am) that my mom's house is on fire. She got the cat and dog and Tony and herself out, but she forgot even her wallet and financial records- i just sent her 3 huge packages of christmas presents that arrived today, they all got left in the house. At least they are all safe.

When she called she said the fire department was cutting a hole in the roof/wall to get to the fire, I guess it is burning between the walls.

She said she kept smelling smoke but couldn't find anything, and then before she went to sleep, she looked one more time and saw smoke in the family room and the fireplace was on but the switch was off (not totally sure what that means, I can guess, I am just quoting) and so she woke up TOny, they called 911, got the animals and got out. I think a neighbor was out there with her watching the firetrucks, there are FOUR there right now.

Prayers, please. This was her retirement house, her first new house ever to live in for the rest of her life, until she died, all of her hopes and dreams were in that house, I hope they are ok.

YOU WILL LIKE THIS ONE

Shirlene you use a scooba or something right?

http://video.yahoo.com/network/100000086?v=3958595&l=100000085

LOL

My Dad

So here's the story on my dad. He had an emergency appen..omy on Monday evening. He called all of the kids from the gurney (sp?) right before going into surgery. While he was unconscious post-op my sister learned from the surgeon that when he came in to the doctor's office earlier in the day for abdominal pain, they had done a CAT scan, which is how they found the appendicitis... and gallstones... and a blood clot. Way to go Dad for "forgetting" to mention those!

So my sister called my other sister, who called me and let me know what was going .. talking to both of them, I decided to fly down the next morning. So I bought my ticket around midnight, got to the airport around 430am to park in the economy lot and wait in the long security line in order to fly out on the first flight at 6am.

I went straight to the hospital and stayed with my Dad for the next 8-9 hours each day, primarily by myself, although his fiancé and my sister were there some of the time too. My Family had a list of questions for me to lay on the emergency surgeon (a hot Greek doctor, sadly, married) and the vascular surgeon.

On the second day of supervising my Pop I got through all the questions with the surgeons:

The gallstones are not immediately causing him any issues; therefore we can leave them alone for now.

The appendicitis was very serious, and was gangrene (dead tissue, it looks green and white and black in the pics- the hot Greek doctor thought his appendix so freakishly disgusting that he took pictures and marveled over it with colleagues). They said it was less than 24 hours from bursting, and was in very bad shape. They also said that my Dad must have an incredibly high pain tolerance in order to have survived that long at home with an appendicitis so advanced. Surgery was successful, but the tissue around the area wasn't the greatest and the doctor wasn't able to close the site, and a drain was left in.

Finally, the blood clot, which was thought very serious and scary at first has turned out to be in his artery, not his vein. This means that it is basically trapped in his leg indefinitely and is at no risk to go to his heart or brain or anything like that because arteries carry blood away from the heart, veins carry it to the heart... So, if something bad was happening with the clot there would be a physical manifestation of symptoms, primarily discoloration in his feet (whiteness, blue-ing, etc) and then the matter would be much more urgent. In the meantime, the clot will be monitored as an outpatient.

Post-op my dad had a really hard time and they were pumping him up with ALOT of antibiotics, plus IV fluids and misc painkillers- adavan, vicodin, valium... they tried all kinds of stuff. He also had the joy of a catheter, leg massager things to prevent blood clots and hourly visits from the respitory therapist to make him huff and puff into a tube to prevent pneumonia.

He was in the hospital almost 5 days ( standard appen..omies are supposed to be in and out within 24 hours to give you perspective, according to my Dad's docs.) and I was with him basically all day each day until dinner, helping him to the bathroom, or to walk around the nurse's station, per the doctor's orders, asking the nurse's for help, or asking questions or notifying them of this machine or that machine that was going off and hadn't been taken care of (my dad was seriously neglected when I wasn't there to help... he paged the nurse in the night 4 times to help him with the leg wraps, and they never came, they refused him pain medication, and his roommate Sudafed, we praised the good nurses but the rest got ratted out to the nurse supervisor. I was PISSED about the pain med thing. HE JUST HAD SURGERY!)

Here is me getting my dad his pain medication at the nurse's station:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9jP4Rdpol8

Also, my dad was much relieved to find that his surgeon was a 3rd generation USC grad, so he knew he was definitely safe in their hands. LOL

I surprisingly got to check him out after lunch at the end of the week and babysit him from home, which allowed me to be able to trot out the Canyon High School V. Villa Park football game,




where we whuped 'em good, and dinner with my favorite ladies at Tia Juana's in Irvine the next day.

My Dad is at home, doing better, and hopefully will not be having issues with the fires burning 3 blocks from his house, although he and my sister did start packing some items just in case. (Deep Sigh) So not the good time for fire season...

My Dad had emergency surgery today- an appendectomy, which shouldn't have been a big deal (beyond my dad being older and having health issues) but it was infected so bad with gangreen that they could not close the surgical side and had to leave it open with a drain. His appendix was so bad the doctor hadn't seen anything like it before and took pictures and said my dad must have a really high pain threashold to have tolerated the pain to that much of an advancement in the infection.

He had had a stomach ache over the weekend, vomited some on Sunday, and on Monday went in to his doctor's and they did a CAT scan and saw how bad it was, and then also discovered a blood clot in his leg which is the most serious part of this whole thing, but he didn't tell anyone and the doctor told my sister while my dad was unconcious by accident. My dad didnt want us to worry so he hadn't told us.

They havent decided on a course of action on the blood clot yet. He is going to be in the hospital at least 3-4 days, and I have decided to fly down there. I leave at 6am and will be back on Friday or Saturday. Hopefully riding with Clarisa, otherwise I will fly back, I have a wedding on Sunday.

MOM

My Mom flew in yesterday, first time I have seen her in a year and a half! She spent some time with the "grandkitties" and took pictures, and then we went to Jack's Urban Eats for salads and Urban fries (amazing homemade crispy fries with bleu cheese dressing [homemade], bleu cheese crumbles, spicy chilli oil, parsely and a pinch of hot pepper flakes- IT IS AMAZING!!!!)

At the last minute my Mom asked me to go to Novato with her- where I was born, and lived until I was 5 in the Bay Area, and where all of my siblings went through school to stay in a hotel, see my Godmother, and go to the Rouge et Noir Marin French Cheese company, which we did and it was great. But I spent $110.00 on cheese and souveniors... Oops. But there were Christmas gifts in there too! And the cheese will last me a long time. ANd I really needed that magnet!!!

I know, I know, I am ashamed. I need to save my money for a rainy day. But at least I am not buying shoes or purses like I was last year when the money finally came in! Be glad for that, that was alot more expensive!!!!