Friday Flashback

Do you know what it's time for?

Didt Didt Didtldidt Didt Didt Didldidt didt didt didldidt didt deeeet!!!

(cue Cotton Eyed Joe)

HIK NOOZ!!!

Well, i'm sure only those that went to SLC, and know what Hik Nooz was are the only ones who can say "Didt Didt Didledidt"... hehe Can you believe how crazy we went when brothers "Brian" and "K-Brian" hit the show with Cuz Hurl? wow...

We all know that FBC Buna was famous on Hik Nooz... We made it on the show every year. Or I did, at least.

Hmmm... I got my name monkey girl, because they got told about me hanging from streamers in Taco Bell making monkey noises.... They made me do my monkey sounds in front of the whole camp, and then they pulled out their "guns" and pointed them at me... HA!

The next year - I made it because of this story:

I was having a conversation with someone about my new hair dryer I was so proud of..(yeah, i know..) I was talking about how powerful it was when I turned it on and POP!!! Fire came out of the plug, and it knocked the lights out in the whole dorm!! oops.

The next day, on Hik Nooz, Brian and K-Brian came out with hairdryers, dancing around to the music from "Mission Impossible." And then they told me story... thankfully, once people found out who was responsible for knockin the lights out, they didn't do the same to me. :-)

Oh, how I miss Student Life Camp! Those were the days!!

Here's me today, sporting myHik Nooz shirt...(Why did I buy such a huge shirt? It swallows me now, and I'm 50lbs heavier than I was then!)

Friday Flashback

Well, I'm sure you all notice one common denominator in each of these pictures. Yep - one of my dearest friends, Mitch Keeler!

Mitch and I go way back - farther than anyone in my entire life. We have been singing together for years, have some umm..Children's Church memories, mistletoe memories, GA party memories, we went to 8th grade prom together, Many plays - Buna Children's Theater, learning the "real words" to the Cotton Eyed Joe, The night I proposed to him in a Wendy's in Baytown, where he turned me down, and some of our favorite memories together are from our Drum Major times... I still believe we were two of the best drum majors that went through! If you look at any picture of us in action on the field, we are in the same exact position... To this day, we sing together when we can...

Here we are leading worship this past Christmas:


The reason my post is about Mitch, is because he is taking the plunge this weekend, and I'm so happy! He met a beautiful girl by the name of Jamie while he was in Austin, and it was all up from there! I'm honored to be singing "But Beautiful" for the Bride and Groom's first dance.

Mitch,

We've been through a lot together, and I'm so thrilled that God has sent you that someone special. I pray that you have a very happy marriage with kids that can sing and act (hehe). :-) At my [first] wedding, you gave Scott some advice, which thankfully, he never followed - but my advice for Jamie -

If Mitch makes you mad - Stand under a bundle of mistletoe, call his name, and when he comes to kiss you - RUN!! :-) (or throw a party at his house that he's not allowed to attend, just to watch him kick his legs and scream.)

- and that's all for pouring sprite on my head because i wouldn't sit by you.

Love ya Mitch!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH OF YOU!

Happy Birthday Troy

You are greatly missed, but I know you're celebrating in Heaven! Tell Jeremy to make you a big cake! :-) Maybe his baking skills are better in Heaven than they were here!

Update on mom...

Today has been absolutely crazy, but I've finally made a decision on what I'm going to do. I will be leaving San Antonio in the morning about 4:30 am to be in Beaumont for the 9:45 am visitation to see mom. I'm praying that my grandmother will let me have some "mom time", and let me go back by myself...

I got to talk to mom a couple of times today, which is why I'm not already there. This morning, I called the ICU nurses station, and the lady of course couldn't tell me anything, because I didn't have the "password". bleh. All she could tell me was that she had been changed to "Stable Condition" from critical.

I wasn't mad, because I know there are rules, they have to follow them. About 20 minutes later, though, my cell phone started ringing with an unfamiliar number, but i went ahead and answered it.

....Melissa?

....Yes Ma'am?

....This is _____ from St. Elizabeth hospital. One second, here's your mom.

The sweet nurse at the nurse's station had taken my number down earlier, and she used her personal cell phone to call me, and then handed the phone to mom. WOW! that meant so much to me.

Mom sounded ok when I talked to her. She had already gone down for her scope, and boy was there bleeding. She said the pictures of her insides were horrifying. (Lesson learned? Let's hope so...) She was still waiting on the doc to come in and give her the official results, but she could see with her own eyes something was not good.

Later this afternoon, i called the waiting room a couple of times, in hopes of catching Totsie or Aunt Tammy, but they had been allowed to stay back with mom for more than the allotted 15 minutes, so I missed them. I decided to call the nurses' station again. This time i got another sweet lady, who, after I gave her the password, told me that she would take a phone into mom's room, and let her call me. 5 minutes later, my phone was ringing again!

I told mom of my plans to come, and she told me not to come, because she would be worried about me driving that distance by myself, but little does she know I will be walking through her door in the morning! :-)

She had found out that she has a pretty bad bleeding ulcer, and they are giving her some meds to try and heal that. She's been told to never put another aspirin in her mouth. ever. She's craving them right now, so her they are giving her a little more xanax to curb those cravings...aka: knock her out. :-) It's a possibility she may get to come home tomorrow, but she was recieving several more units of blood as we were speaking. She was also severely dehydrated, so she's recieving lots of fluids as well.

Some of my details in my earlier post were incorrect - such as - Mom didn't call Totsie (makes more sense). Totsie just happened to call her. Thanks goodness. Mom's blood volume was so low, it could have been fatal.

I told some people mom had recieved 5 units of blood last night, but she had only received 3. I think by now, she has gotten at least 5.

Mom didn't get into her ICU room until between 6-8 this morning, after having been in the ER since yesterday morning/afternoon. I think they even did the scope before she got to her room!

Anyways - all this to say - she is doing much better, but I'm still going. I won't really be able to report from there, because I won't have internet access. I'll be sitting in the ICU waiting room most of the day, I'm sure, unless she gets to go home. Then I'll take her home.

Thanks oodles and oodles to Aunt Tammy and Totsie for being there with mom. They stayed at the hospital till around 4 this morning, waiting on her to be transferred into a room, and then were back before 10, and are still there. Tammy is going to have some much needed "Tammy Time" tomorrow, and I'm glad for that. She needs it. She deserves it. She has kept me informed every step of the way - and kept me sane! Love you!

---

Wanna know what else?

My Aunt (dad's sister, L.) was admitted into the hospital today. She had some medication reactions that were sever enough to be taken to the hospital by Ambulance.

Prayers for L & J, and their three boys are appreciated as well!

Again, pray for safe travels, and that everyone is ok....

Knock Knock!

Um... Lord?

I know you say you won't give us more than we can handle, but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed here! You know that we are barely past Totsie's surgery, and all the cancer, and Troy's death... and already something else? *selfish statement ahead* I'm tired Lord! Exhausted! and so is my family... I'm begging you - please give us a break.

So, my mom woke up yesterday morning, apparently very disoriented, dizzy, out of it.... She somehow managed to call my grandmother, who I think called my aunt, who went straight to mom's. At some point, EMS and the cops were called out, because the house was locked, and mom couldn't get to the door to unlock it. Aunt Tammy ended up being able to jimmy the lock on her storm door, and got in to her.

EMS arrived, and mom had a very low pulse, and a blood pressure so low that the EMTs couldn't get a reading with the BP cuff. They took her to the ER at St. Elizabeth where they found that her hemoglobin levels (blood levels) were at 5.5. Um. Normal is between 12 and 18. Doctors normally do blood tranfusions when levels get to 8. Turns out she has Aspirin Toxicity. She took too many aspirins trying to ward off a toothache. (there's more to this story i don't care to explain, so if it seems incomplete, well...it is.)

She was going to be admitted to ICU last night, but as of 11:15ish when Aunt T called me, they were still waiting. They are going to do a scope this morning, to see if they can find where the bleeding is coming from, so they can stop it. (I just called the ICU, and she's downstairs for testing, so i wasn't able to get any information).

I really really need to be over there - but I have a few things standing in my way -

- I'm in the middle of a HUGE project, and my boss, who is the one who's been working with me on this - is on vacation. (the whole copy machine install...)
- I've made several trips back to East Texas this past month for hospitals, and doctors, and funeral, so I've already missed quite a bit of work.
- My car's timing belt still hasn't been changed, and it's 13,000 miles overdue. The transmission fluid is low, and i just don't trust it to take it that far by myself.
- My driver's license expired last month, so I can't even rent a car.

I also just got a call from John, and he's not able to take off to come with me, so it looks as if I'll be travelling alone. John's cousin has offered to trade cars with me for the weekend, so thank goodness for him! Thanks B!

ok - i must cut this short so that I can tie up my loose ends here at work and get on the road this afternoon.

Did i mention that I have a very hard time staying awake lately? Please be in prayer for safe, awake travels.