Dec 23

Will forever be etched in my mind, as this is the day my mom passed away. Please pray for your family as we process this and the days ahead.

stable

Mom is still stable but is still very critical. Her surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 12. I have started a caringbridge site just for her it is at caringbridge.org when it asks for the website enter joywood

Thank you so much for all your love and support.

Critical but stable

My mom is very critical but stable. She was moved yesterday to ICU and placed on a vent. Today she was scheduled for surgery. After 2 hours of surgery, the surgeon came out and said that she had major bleeding issues, she had 2 units of blood prior to the surgery and then 4 units of blood and plasma and factor 7 to stop the bleeding. The surgeon did not finish the procedure, he packed her lung, inserted 3 chest tubes and called it a day. SHe was very critical coming out of the surgery and now we wait more, if she is stable Thursday, the dr will go back in to finish cleaning out the lung and then continue with the lung peel. Pray she is stable until thursday for the surgery and pray for healing. She is resting on the vent and is under sedation. Thank you so much for all the prayers and support, you all are wonderful.

Mom update

My mom had to be moved to ICU this morning and is on a vent. She is not doing great, however, at least now she doesn't have to breathe on her own. She is sedated and resting now, her surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. She will be on the vent for several days after that. Keep praying.

Hospital

So as I type this, I am watching my mother struggle to breathe. Such a hard thing to watch. she is in the hospital still and my family is on their way to New Mexico. I sent them on their way thinking I would join them soon. The dr today said my mother needs major surgery, she will have a drain put in her main artery to prevent any clots from traveling to the heart or upward, and then have major lung surgery to open the lung, evacuate and clean out the lung. She will be in ICU after the surgery and on a vent. Major surgery. The reason they are having to wait on doing the surgery is because she has been on blood thinners and her blood is too thin. She is getting vitamin K and plasma to thicken the blood. Pray for no more clots.Needless to say, I am not heading to NM anytime soon. Please pray for my mom as she is having so much trouble breathing.

Back in the hospital

My mom is back in the hospital with a blood clot in her leg and one in her lung. she also has fluid in her left lung which they will drain today. I was planning on going out of town tomorrow but now I am sending robert and the boys and will meet them later in the week. Pray as we deal with this and for me as my siblings live far away and cannot help.

Rough days

Trey was up most of the night complaining that his hip was hurting. All the tests from kidney specialist came back ok. He is in the normal range but just barely. He feels like in the near future all of this will fall off the normal range.
My mom is still not doing well. I took her to the doctor yesterday and they indicated that she has congestive heart failure. She still cannot breathe and is on oxygen. I am taking her back to the doctor this afternoon and am thinking that they will readmit her to the hospital. Pray for my patience as I minister to her during all this with my plate already full.

something to make you laugh

This is something fun we did in kindergarten today, the kids thought is was hilarious....

Santa Came Early

With our next ski trip coming next week, Santa came early to our house to deliver snowboards to the boys. Mostly, it was because they are a hard item to HIDE....

Make a Wish gingerbread Party

This is one of Travis' favorite things to do with make a Wish. A huge shout out to pappas brother's steakhouse for making this a great event for wish kids. They know how to host a gingerbread party in a HUGE way. Travis had the most impressive house by making it two stories.

Black eye and all

Travis got kicked in the eye at a basketball practice. He was in bed when I got home last night and so I didn't see him until this morning. YIKES

Really Lord....

Got a call yesterday about Trey's lab work that was done from our Houston visit and it wasn't good. His urine had 3+ protein in it again and his platelets were out of whack. Ugh. We have an appointment on Friday with the kidney specialist. However, 2 years ago when we went down this road he said he couldn't find anything however, he felt like this might be an auto immune response and that in the future we may discover something. HUMMMMMM something maybe arthritis. Of course, all of this is like a puzzle and putting all the pieces together is a mystery. The dr then asked me if Trey had ever had any testing for some cancers. Not the question you want to be asked. She is going to do a 24 hour urine collection and then we will go from there. Continue to pray for Trey as we begin this arthritis journey. This week has been a good week little pain. We will take the good times and run with it. Praising HIM for this week.

Hospital with MOM

Yesterday morning around 3:50 am I got a frantic call from my mom who was having a hard time breathing from the pnuemonia that she has. She asked me to take her to the ER. When I got to her house a few minutes later and got her into the car, she began to tell me she wasn't going to make it to the ER. A little bit of panic in her voice and panic set into me. She kept saying again, I just need oxygen, I can't breathe, I ran through lots of thoughts in my head and then decided to stop at the fire station. After looking at her and doing an EKG they decided she should go to hospital by ambulance. I met her there. She is on oxygen, dehydrated, low potassium, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, heart issues, they thought possible heart attack but not, and pnuemonia. She was a mess. She has been admitted and hopefully we can get these things sorted out while there. Thank you so much for all the support and prayers yesterday. continue to pray for her healing and my patience in dealing with all this.

TB test

Trey's TB test was negative and we should be hearing about his blood work soon. After that is all clear we will be able to begin the injections. He is not thrilled about this at all but am praying that the drug will give him the relief he needs.

Trey's feet

last night Trey had another episode where his feet went white. The circulation was not good, Another side effect of this awful arthritis. UGH You can see in the picture how pink my hand is compared to his white feet.

Our Trip to Houston to see Doctor

This was Trey's favorite part of the trip to Houston. Eating at papa's burgers. Our trip went well, the doctor is pretty concerned about this lack of movement in the hips and ankles and since he has been on medication since our last visit she saw little to no improvement. She is going to start him on Enbrel, an injectable arthritis drug. Yes you heard right injectable, I will be giving him 2 shots a week for the arthritis. He was not thrilled at all. There are some risks involved but she felt as though his quaility of life would improve enough to outweigh the risks. Pray for us all as we begin this new venture. He will be immune suppressed while on the medication so we will have to be careful with germs on this medication. HUMMMMM sounds familiar. Thanks for your prayers.

Our Thanksgiving break ski pictures....

Christmas ornaments tell OUR story

Every year as I unpack the trees (4) of them, I love getting out all of the ornaments and remembering where we got them and the story behind them. I took some pictures of a few special ones and tell the story behind them.Last year a mom gave me this ornament with all the kids in my class. This is super special and I won't ever forget this class.
This ornament is from our first nearly wed newly wed sunday school class. lots of fun with those guys from Lake pointe.
Trey's first christmas. His room was noah's ark so this was a special ornament for him.
Of course, since we have brainwashed our children into thinking Texas Tech is the GREATEST school ever we have an entire Texas Tech Christmas tree.

When Trey was 2 and I was pregnant with Travis and in the hospital on bedrest on Christmas, Trey loved buzz lightyear. All he would talk about was buzz lightyear. I snuck out of the hospital and came home to see him open his buzz lightyear. so of course, I had to buy an ornament for that year.
This ornament is special to me because it represents a family still together. After a rough year of marriage, by God's grace we are all still one.
Robert and I got married on Dec 19th , 1992 and our first christmas together we got this ornament for our first christmas.
Of course, only a mother would love these ornaments. Travis was in first grade.
This was from Robert's first real job out of college, every year I put it on the tree I remember how grateful we were for his paycheck.
Trey was so proud of his missing teeth in this picture.
This sweet ornament is from a lady who I taught with in Plano, she knew she was dying and visited San Francisco and bought us ornaments. She said she wanted us to remember her every christmas. I remember Mildred and her sweet sweet spirit and her love for the Lord every christmas.
Awana Cubbies. I remember all the verses, patches and proud moments of cubbies.

This bell reminds me of polar express and all the times my boys heard santa's bells at night. This bell to be exact.
Another precious mom ornament.
A Baseball for all the countless hours we spent at the little league fields. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Of course, A superhero... what boy wouldn't want to be a superhero.
Trey's second christmas I put all the ornaments down low that he couldn't hurt and this was his favorite one to pull off the tree and play with, I so remember it like it was yesterday.
Travis has a collection of nutcrackers like you wouldn't believe. Every year he has gotten one or two and they line the stairs. He says when he gets old he will take them with him. I can't see a nutcracker without thinking of Travis.


This special nutcracker was from a little girl I had in kindergarten two years ago. She came to my house and saw all the nutcrackers and said, there are no girl nutcrackers so she bought me this girl nutcracker. It is now the only girl nutcracker we have and I love it.

Too much to blog about

UGH is all I have to say. Travis is still complaining of neck pain, hoping that the antibiotics do the trick. Too long to explain in the blog but 5 hours at Children's on Friday was a disaster. Trey is still complaining of wrist pain, trying to get him into orthopedic doctor. And of course, we have our appointment with the rheumatologist on Monday in Houston. Robert is sick with a cold and we are leaving to go skiing but other than that things are normal at the Shoemake house. I on the other hand decorated for Christmas yesterday, more pictures to come. Something fun to blog about....

Travis

So it was NOT a crick in his neck afterall. Of course, it couldn't be that simple. He has infected lymph nodes. We have 48 hours for some major improvments or else....... What next? UGH

Doctor Doctor and More Doctor Visits

Today Travis has an appointment for a sore neck that won't go away. Trey has an appointment on Monday in Houston for his arthritis and I cannot wait. We need some more answers and hopefully some different medications for pain. His wrist is still bothering him so I guess we will have to make a DR appointment for that as well. Ortho appointment in the morning and Travis got a card in the mail saying it was time to schedule his check up with immunologist. UGH.... anyone want to take my kids to the dr??????

Who Wouldn't love THIS job?

I have to say that since I was in first grade all I ever wanted to do was be a teacher. I remember loving school, playing school, of course I was always the teacher, but as far as I can remember I knew that this was what I wanted to be when I grew up. To me teaching is so rewarding and the best part is making a difference in the live of a child. Some more difficult than others but in the end knowing that I made an impact means the world to me. Who wouldn't love these precious little ones...... Love them...

Not so favorite things

I am not one to review items but this has been bugging me for a month so I thought I would share so NO one has to experience the same gross toothpaste that I have had for the past month. Ok my friends that know me well will know that the only reason I bought this toothpaste in the first plasce was because I do not like toothpaste on the counter. I know I am OCD and am willing to admit I bought it strictly for the design. Yes, brother richard (designer) style and design do matter. However, when you use this toothpaste it is AWFUL. The first time I used this toothpaste I put the normal amount of toothpaste only to find that it FOAMED up in my mouth causing much more than was needed. IT is GROSS. It makes you feel like you are foaming at the mouth, not that I know what that feels like but now I feel like I do after using this toothpaste. So save yourself from this awful fate and DO NOT buy this toothpaste. I am happy to report no toothpaste on the counter.

A few of my favorite things

A warm robe on a cool morning ahhhh and a new warm bath mat in my bathroom on the cold tile floor. A few of my favorite things.