Jiffy Pop

Now I have had several surgeries in my life, but never did I have to don a jiffy pop hat. As we were waiting with my Dad before his surgery he was given a silver shower cap to wear during surgery. He looked liked one of the jiffy pop containers that you put over the stove to cook. It was much needed comic relief during a stressful time :)

So after hours and hours of waiting we finally got to see Jiffy Pop. There were more tubes coming out of him then I could have every imagined. He was flat on his back and the many monitors present were reminders that machines were keeping track of his life. He had an IV coming out of his neck which was hard to see. He knew we were there and his breathing sped up so the sweet nurse continued to remind him to slow down his breathing so they can hopefully removed the ventilator. And less then an hour later they did!

The staff in the CICU was wonderful. They let us see Dad as much as we wanted, no questions asked. My Dad stayed in the CICU a little longer after he as actually discharged from there because as my Dad said it , " There was no room in the inn"...the step down floor was full. So he got the service of the CICU without the cost.

I was so impressed with how the staff at St. Mary's cared for my Dad...they cared as though he was theirs.

A Bypass and a Volcano

So what are the odds that the week before I am supposed to be boarding a plane to Holland two big things happen:

My Dad has to undergo a double bypass

and

A volcano in Iceland shuts down London's Heathrow airport

Seriously, what are the odds?

My Mom called me a week before our trip and informed me that my Dad had failed two stress tests and now is at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, WI awaiting news on his heart. So I think to myself, has the time come where my parents are no longer invincible? The news of my father's condition hit me hard. They discovered that my Dad had two 100% blockages and one 50% blockage. He was scheduled to have a double bypass that coming Monday however when he was discharged from the hospital for the weekend they surgeon informed him that his surgery had been moved to Wednesday. So that Wednesday the Miller family gathered at St. Mary's Hospital. The bishop stopped in right before the surgery and he talked with my Dad and then prayed with us. It was the first time in my life I cried during the Lord's Prayer. They took my Dad in around12:30pm and the next time we saw him he was in recovery in the Cardic ICU and it was 9:30 pm. More to come on that subject...

So on top of all of that a volcano in Iceland decided to start burping and spitting up ash. Now normally this kind of news would not really cross my mind twice, but this fun volcano was putting ash so far up into the air that it was affecting the flight patterns of many airports...one of them being London's Heathrow Airport. The same airport that I was going to be connecting into in a week. So checking the travel news became my new obsession and any news whether good or bad I hung on until any new information came. Finally the day before we flew out Heathrow was at 100% capacity for flying...YEAH!!!!!

It was a very intense last few weeks of April. I never really experienced the saying "In like a lamb out like a lion"...all I have to say is, "Bring it on Simba".

Weight Watchers

So my journey begins...

Now I have done weight watchers before and it works, but my issue is that once I no longer hold myself accountable for what I eat trouble looms. Now I don't want to become "skinny", but rather want to feel confident in my own skin. I have never done the weight loss thing very well or even very healthy. So now I am making a choice, a choice to take care of myself.

So here we go...

The Body

The human body is an amazing thing, capable of so much that I will never fully understand. My body does not feel so amazing, but instead strongly dislikes me at the moment. I have been sick for almost two months. This cold has moved from my chest to my head, back to my chest, into my ear, and its latest move has been into my throat. I want to feel healthy...I don't really remember what that feels like. The reason that my body is sicky is because my defenses are working over time trying to deal with the stress that has been looming over me. I have experienced more drama in my job in the last few months then I have watching a complete season of The Bachelor...and that is saying something. I hope that this stress ends soon...I don't know where else my can get a cold...maybe my pours.

Let Them Eat Cake!

This past weekend Reid and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary! We pulled out the cake that has been sitting in our freezer for a year and dug in. It was great too!

For our anniversary we decided to travel to Rockford, IL and have a nice dinner and then go to a Rockford Ice Hogs game. The Rockford Ice Hogs are a minor league hockey team that are the farm team for the Chicago Blackhawks. During the time I lived in Rockford and became a fan of the Hogs and throughly enjoyed going to the games.

The game was awesome and it made me reflect on our last year in marriage, like any great hockey game will do :) The Hogs were playing the Peoria Rivermen and it was a game that the Hogs were expected to win. The score at the end of the 1st period was Hogs-0 Rivermen-3...ouch. I was bummed. It seemed hopeless. The Hogs pulled out a score in the 2nd period making the score 1-3 at the beginning of the 3rd period. Still it did not seem possible with the way that they were playing that a win was going to occur. Then something spectacular happened...the Hogs scored and just before the end of the final period they scored again! So the game went into overtime 3-3. In hockey the overtime rules are sudden death, whoever scores first wins. The time ran down and no scores were made so then it goes to a shoot out. The whole crowd was on their feet screaming and yelling, the energy was so uplifting. It took 9 rounds before the Hogs were declared the winners...and the crowd went wild. Even though the odds were against them and people like myself had almost given up, the Hogs pulled out the win!

This year has been tough in many ways. Not because of our relationship, but because of all the craziness that this world likes to throw. When your relationship is built with the knowledge that God is the strength it seems that no matter what the other team has scored, at the end there is victory. Everyday I am thankful that I married my best friend and I am so glad that we suit up for this game of life together.

A book in the mail

Last week was tough....
My car was totaled, bad/crazy things were going down at work, I was stressed about car shopping, and was just stressed in general. Because of the stress I was getting headaches every day...not a fan :( Now my intention of this blog is not to sound like "woe is me" although I would understand if it was interpreted in that way. My intention is to express thanks and reflect on how acts of kindness help a person climb out of the hole they feel they are in.

I got home from work and in the mail was a package from my sister-in-law. Its contents contained the book Girl with A Pearl Earring and a nice note. My sister-in-law saw this book and wanted me to read it before my trip to Holland this spring. I was so touched that she thought of me.

After a night of car shopping Reid and I went out to eat at a fantastic place called Sweet Tomatoes. While I was standing in a cashier's lane a nice stranger gave me two coupons to use on our meals. It was a simple gesture that was unexpected and much appreciated.

I am so humbled by the kindness of others. I know that big things/events matter, but all the little things help us to put the big things in perspective.

The Angry Goose

So one night I suggested that my husband and I go for a run the next morning. Things like exercising always sound like a good idea at the time, but when the alarm goes off at 5:30 am I can not think of anything that sounds less appealing. Now if my plan was to run alone I could have easily convinced myself to hit the snooze, but since my husband was going skipping out of the morning run committment was less likely to happen. So like a child I pout and whine desperately wishing that my husband will just say forget it. He doesn't. So we run.

Now about a quarter mile into our run we go by a large retention pond that usually has fog hovering over it. By the pond there lives a very grumpy and angry goose. The goose kind of reminds me of the troll in the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Now we don't have to cross a bridge like in the story, but we do have to worry about this goose's disposition.

The first encounter we had with the goose startled us. It was dark outside and we had not noticed Mr. Angry Goose until he was right there. The second encounter was one of mistaken identity. As we approached the pond I heard a hissing sound that I thought was a snake, but low and behold it was Mr. Angry Goose attempting to chase us away. The last few morning runs our friend Mr. Angry Goose has not made an appearance. Maybe he was able to hit his snooze button and continue to dream of chasing the annoying runners away at 5:30 am.