Uphill and Downhill

The ups and the down are working big time right now.  The new pain med he got for the debilitating headache petered out very fast so when Ken saw the neurologist here this Wednesday we began discussing Schedule II medications (I got in trouble with Doc for saying "drugs" :) ) and left with a prescription for some.  We'll see.  Many of his medications are so similar.  I bought him some medicine dispencers and Whit/I are keeping them filled.  However from the looks of last night slot there is some left so I will get a little more agressive.  The new pills are very tiny and are causing some confusion but we'll deal with that to see if the headache will subside a little.  Yesterday was NOT a good day so he decided to take two this morning (6:30 am) and go back to bed.  I doubt he is up much before noon-thirty.  If he can be comfortable that is the goal.  Wednesday was 2 calendar months since the fall - not seeing too much progress yet.  I know: Perspective and Patience!!!!!  However I'm thinking we may see a "gone to lunch without you" moment before this is over.  We saw a lot of those days in 1992 when his epilepsy evolved into a different kind of seizure.  We'll see. Doc is just a phone call away.

Woohoo Dave and Debbie are coming to visit for a couple of days.  Excited to meet Sarah.  I still think she's going to be bigger than Luc.

Since we are always gone for the little boys' birthdays we always have a "Halfway To My Birthday" party every summer.  Today we're going to Disney's Planes and around Whitney's BD we are going to have a pinata.  (Thanks Linda Z for the Pinata idea.)



Ethan Jacob

                                                        Evan KaCe










and the tagalong Aedan Thomas.

If plans continue we will leave for NM about Sept 12th.  I'll only drive about 3 hours then stop to let Ken rest.  It is just too cold up here so we will head out. (The Lord willing!)

Trav/Whit's friend Dean (the Stranger from Afar) has moved to Rawlins and he sure is a blessing.  As he is a "fart on a hot skillet" type personality and wants to always stay busy we all have put him to do "honeydos".

Whitney has a daycare (OMG 10 of the little critters this week as the Boys and Girls club is closed. Generally she will have 3.  It was an interesting week.  9 boys and one girl.  She is a sweetie and I am going to help her get started beading.  hmmmmm!

And yes the summer hasn't been a complete beading bust.  Here are a few of the projects.  Yell if one strikes your fancy before I send them away.  :) Or I'll just teach you to BEAD!!

Well - off for Saturday hugs from the gbabes - :)  I'm bringing cinnamon rolls.

IT IS WHAT IT IS!  

The Fair, Travis the SIL & Ken

The Carbon County Fair started the 3rd so we went to the parade - probably as close as we'll get to it.  I went across the street to get some pictures.  Notice the short one with no shoes - they are............................somewhere................!

 It was a fair sized parade (pun! yes!) Clowns, horses, boats, candy, emergency vehicles and demo derby (before) entries

These two are from the local Elks Lodge.

Small and smaller seemed to be the norm.

This guy must really work with these teams all the time. (duh!)
He turned them on a dime at every intersection as he introduced the parade's Grand Marshall.

Now THIS was interesting - It is a Wyoming Highway Patrol golf cart.  They must have a lot of speeding golfers down here.  :)

Ken's REAL apt with the neurologist was Monday which turned into a two day event.  He had an MRI and Tuesday morning early an EEG.  The doc always comes in telling Ken what a mess his EEG is and jokingly proceeds on with his treatment for Ken.  This time he came in and did the joking and visiting right off the bat.  After about 15 minutes he proceeded to tell us that this year's is off the chart bad.  It is obvious he's had a bad concussion and he doesn't want him to EVER hit his head again.  (hmmmm!)  He confirmed the Post Concussion Syndrome diagnosis and it will take time.  I'm beginning to hate the "time" word as bad as I hate the "perspective" word.  To help with the unsteady on the feet he has put him on a cane and we will wean him off one "old school" medication.  This will take 1 year to accomplish.  He then gave him a big time pain med (the other pain meds he has are for nerve pain) which Ken is religiouly taking so he can get some respite from the pain to give the brain a chance to recover.  Thus here is new position.

I watched two 2 year olds Thursday and were they busy.  And a delight to watch Aedan and Donnica work together having fun!  I was watching them because the big boys were at the bus and everyone else was at the hospital with the SIL.

And then there is the Son-in-Law (SIL).  He was working on his pkup Wednesday evening when (the tranny I think) it rolled off the ramps and wellllll what DID happen?   The long and short of it is that the tire was on at least part of his head and in order to get it out (nobody heard him yelling for help) he manhandled his head out from under and in the process about ripped his right ear off and tore a chunk off the back lefthand side of his head which took surgery and 70+ stitches and staples (beneath and on top of the skin to close up).  Somehow his hand was injured but there is no broken bones.  I told Ken and him to combine their right hands (Ken's first three fingers-Trav's last 2) to make one usuable hand.   (Just a LITTLE humor)  They weren't impressed.
 The finished product (the before picture is WAY too gross).  It was very deep.

The right side of his head (ear) had to have stitches/staples in front as well as behind the ear.  It's a wonder he has a right ear left.  it could have been SO much worse.  He will have the stitches/staples for a week and then he'll probably get released to go back to work.  Oh and when they were cleaning our the biggest wound Thursday morning they found this rock.
OK NO MORE TRAUMA/DRAMA for the remainder of the year.