It occurred to me that I should share with you what happened to my husband before he had his surgery, in case any of you need to know it someday.  I always thought you had chest pain with a heart attack.  I've read some of the symptoms that women have that may be different from men.  The only symptoms my husband had were shortness of breath, weakness, and tiredness.  Also sometimes a rapid crazy heartbeat which he didn't tell me about.  He couldn't even walk from our house to the mailbox anymore.  This had been coming on for some time.  We thought it might just be old age (he was 77 in April.)  The shortness of breath we thought might be COPD.  They're always talking about that on TV.  He never was a smoker, but when he was first a mechanic they used to blow asbestos out of brake linings.

He was still going to work every day, though he doesn't actually work on the cars anymore.  He also was still driving folks to and from airports.   Thurs. morning, March 6th our son, Jim, drove his truck to the shop to have the oil changed.  It was early morning.  He went to find his dad to take him out for breakfast.  He found him sitting in a chair trying to catch his breath, looking very pale, and obviously not feeling good.  Jim asked Tom if he wanted to go to the Dr.  Of course he didn't want to go to the Dr.  What male ever wants to go to the Dr?  They walked to the van.  When they got there Tom handed Jim the keys.  Jim knew then that something was wrong.  Tom never gives his keys to anyone else.  On the way to breakfast Jim felt his dad's pulse and took him to the Dr's office.  Dr. did an EKG and sent him straight to emergency.  Emergency did an EKG and called the ambulance.  They drove him 40 miles away to Lutheran Hospital in Ft. Wayne.  Hubby said it was the roughest ride he's had since he left Africa.  We followed.  When we got there  he was already having a heart catheterization.  Finally the Dr. called us in.  We were  expecting them to say he'd need a stent or two.  Our son-in-law has 2 of them, so we were kind of used to that.  When the Dr. said he was having a heart attack and would need open heart surgery, we were all shocked.  Two of his arteries were 100 % blocked, and the other was blocked 85% on one side, and 90% on the other.  It's no wonder he was short of breath!

They couldn't do surgery right away because the local hospital had given him blood thinners, and they had to wait until that got out of his system.   After the heart cath. they put a balloon in his heart to help his heart to beat.  He couldn't move his right leg because it might crimp the tube to the balloon.  So he couldn't get up, or even sit up.  They could raise the head of his bed to, I think 25%.  They left that balloon in until a couple of days after the surgery.  Surgery was Mon. March 10th.  He stayed in the hospital until March 20th.  He is still going 3 times a week for cardiac surgery.

Here is a picture of the pillow the hospital gave him. It was to hug whenever he had to cough. He never did hug it much, but he did get everybody to sign it, and it is displayed on the back of our couch.

The kids were wonderful through all of this. They wouldn't let me drive myself to the airport. Someone was with me most of the time. A lot of friends visited too, and people from our church. He had loads of company. The hospital was good about it. It's nice that they have all private rooms now.
The kids and grandkids know he likes elephants (we call them heffalumps thanks to Winnie the Pooh.)  A daughter and grand-daughter gave him one of these elephants, and a great-grand-daughter gave him the other. They are on the back of the couch too.  Thanks to all of you for your concern and prayers for us during this time.

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile.  I've been going through the books in the bookcases in our basement.  We moved to this house 6 years ago.  It was past time to dust them, clean the shelves, and try to organize them better.  I gave away a bunch of them.  Probably 100 or more.  Took them to Goodwill because no one else wanted them.  Then my daughter reminded me of friends who have a used bookstore in a small town near here, so I have a bunch more to give them.  Don't worry........we still have way more left than we should.  Is it possible to have too many books?  I kept all of our Snoopy books, Asterix, missionary biographies, especially the ones relating to Africa.  Also all of the Childcraft books from when I was little.   I found a lot of books I forgot I had.  Found all the my old Raggedy Ann and Andy books.

Does anyone else have to type with a cat  kneading your arm?  Very annoying, and uncomfortable.  I shoo her away and she comes right back.  She must love me (or the food I give her.)  I'd better go to bed.  I have to pick up my grand-daughter from DayCare tomorrow morning before 8 and take her to Moms and Muffins at her school.  Her mom is just starting a new job.  Later I have to have my coumadin level checked.  Mon. I have to have a tooth pulled in preparation for making a partial.  I've had a bridge, but the tooth it is anchored to is no good.  Does the fun ever end?

Does anyone else remember pet rocks?  Several years ago my mother was into making pet rocks.  She'd walk around looking at the ground and when she found a rock she liked, she'd pick it up and take it home.  She made a pet rock for each of us in the family.

I'm not sure who this rock belonged to.

This was my husband's rock. He told her it looked cold, so she made some jeans for it.

He's kind of cute, don't you think?
Pet rocks have all kinds of advantages. They're practically free.  They don't eat much, maybe just a speck of dust now and then. They don't have to go outside or be taken for walks. No litter boxes. They don't even take up much space.  I guess you could pet them if you wanted to, but they don't care.
My husband still has his pet rock. It lives in a drawer somewhere. If you ever had a pet rock, I bet you don't still have it.  Now all this post needs is a poem about pet rocks, but it's late and I'm too tired to think of one tonight.

Hi Everybody. Here are some flowers for you all.  Happy May Day!

Had a good day today. Daughter in law and I drove to Pokagon State Park, and saw the Inn where the wedding will be. We also visited the church where we plan to have the rehearsal dinner (in their gym with a kitchen.) Then we went to a flower shop and a bakery, and got preliminaries taken care of.  Oh, we went out for lunch too..... And got home before her youngest got home from school!  We feel like we accomplished a lot.  Daughter in law is doing most of the planning because the bride-to-be lives and works in New York, and the groom-to-be (our son) is in Germany for his job, and will be there until exactly one week before the wedding. Talk about cutting it close! Anyway, now I'm tired so am going to check FB, then turn off computer and go to bed.

As Jill said, what shall we talk about now? Just finished supper. My mom is still eating...it takes longer when you don't have teeth. Hubby has gone for his weekly foot massage. I think it's his favorite time of the week. Daughter next door comes over to play cribbage with my mom tonight. I can't get on FB 'cuz hubby changed my password and didn't tell me what he changed it to. I will leave you 2 corny poems, probably they are limericks, and you've probably heard them before.

Spring is sprung. The grass is riz. I wonder where the flowers is?

And in the same vein,
The sun is riz, the sun is set and still we is in Texas yet.

If you've ever driven across Texas you know how true that is!

Patients should have Patience while waiting fora Physican,
especially one who is delivering a baby.
Babies wait for no-one!

Not exactly a poem. I told Murisopsis that I'm not a poet.
Childbirth in the U.S. has changed a lot over the years. My mother was given extra ether because the doctor wasn't there yet. When he finally came and I was born, I was asleep. They had to give me a shot of something to wake me up. At least that's what I've been told. I've seen a lot of changes since I had my first baby in 1959. At that time, husbands weren't allowed to stay in the delivery room with their wives.
After she was born I was in a ward with about 12 other women. I stayed in the hospital 3 days, although 5 days was common then. My mother stayed 10 days when I was born. I had my last baby in 1984. My husband was with me the whole time. The baby was born in the afternoon, and I went home late that same evening. (We didn't have maternity coverage in our insurance plan.) If I'd been a first-time mother they probably wouldn't have let me go home so soon.

The seasons come and go

The children grow and grow.

First they're babies, then they're kids.

Before you know it they're grown up and married with babies of their own.

Now three of mine are grandparents!

Hey, how did I get to be a great-grandmother already?

The first picture was taken about 20 years ago. The 2nd picture has a lot of the same people, with a couple of new ones. It was taken recently.

Dog hair, cat fur,    feathers everywhere.

Dog poop in the yard,  hairballs on the floor, feathers in my soup.

Do I love my pets?............ Yes!                                                                                                                                                                                                                   But PLEASE..................... don't bring me any more.

Is today rabbit day?  I lost the list.  This isn't a poem, just a few things about rabbits and other critters.

My brother once had a rabbit we named Kitty.  My family was weird like that.  We weren't allowed to have pets, at least not officially.  We had a dog named Duffy, (there was a radio show called Duffy's Tavern.)  Most of you are too young to remember that.  We only got to keep the dog a few months.  I remember my mother telling us we couldn't keep him because she was allergic to dogs.  My mother says that the dog was biting and that's why we had to give him away.  We had a stray cat that we named Tom.  He lived in the alley behind our house.  When he got mange, my grandmother who was a nurse, brought him inside and put medicine on him.  We also had birds, and hamsters.  Oh, I almost forgot.......we had a duck for a little while too.

When I was real little, we used to eat fried rabbit.  One day I held up the leg at the dinner table, and said "Mama, is this the leg the bunny hops on?"  Another time my brother watched her cutting up a rabbit and said "Poor little bunny."  After that we didn't eat rabbit much.

No poem tonight, just a report on my husband's progress. We went to see the surgeon today. He was very happy with what he saw and heard. Hubby is allowed to drive (he's been driving for 2 weeks), and lift whatever he wants to. He also doesn't have to take coumadin anymore. Yay!!!!!!! However, he's on a low fat, low salt, diabetic diet. He does OK with that. He's not a sugar-holic like I am. He also has to continue cardio-therapy 3 times a week.

Here are a few pictures from Easter Sunday of the youngest members of the family.

Pretty girl. She didn't get to go outside and hunt eggs this year........next year she will.

This was his first year to hunt eggs.

Here his is with his mom. These two are not the youngest. We just learned that day that he will have a baby brother or sister in early December. Our family keeps growing.