Long Night at the Hospital

Yesterday was a very long day. I had a wedding yesterday so, my day started about 7:30 in the morning doing all my wedding day prep work, loading up the truck and just getting ready. Add to the fact that it was just plain cold outside, I knew it was going to be interesting day. Little did I know just how interesting it was going to be or how long.

The wedding went well, very pretty bride and the groom was a blast. The groom is a Baptist Minster so there was no music at the reception or any dancing. At most receptions I can grab a quick bite to eat but this reception not the case. I do not like sea food and that is what they had at the reception, so no food for me.

During the day I always stay in touch with Lee to see how things are going. I texted her about 4:30pm and was told that things were not good. The reception was over at 5:30 and when I called home I found out that Katie was very, VERY sick. She had gotten sick at STAR (horse therapy), 2 more times on the way home and once more when they got home. When I arrived our good friend Lisa had gotten some medicine to help stop the nausea and Katie was asleep. We kept an eye on her into the night. About 7:45 she got sick again and we tried to get her medicine down. If she is not able to keep her medicine down she can go into what is called Adrenal Shock. This happened to her on 9/11/01. I was out of town that day and could not get home to help Leeann that day. Katie was put in the hospital that night and monitored. She recovered well then and knew from that day on we had to keep a close eye on her when she got sick.

Well, after she got sick at 7:45 we tried to keep her medicine down again. We keep an eye on her and sure enough a little after 9 she got sick again and we knew we had to get her to the hospital. Leeann called for an ambulance because she had a funny feeling about everything. They got to the house very quickly and the paramedic took a quick look at Katie and picked her up and said we needed to go. I said let me get her jacket, he said "we don't have time for jackets, we need to go NOW!". He scooped her up and off we went to the ambulance. Katie was a little scared, but was not very responsive to what was going on.

We got in the ambulance and the paramedic told the drive "GO, GO, Code 3 to Children's". I am in the back with Katie and Leeann is following us in the car. They stared an IV for Katie, and kept her oxygen. When we pulled up to Children's Hospital they rushed her into the room and I lost count as to how many doctors and nurses were in the room. It was like a scene out of ER, instructions being yelled out, orders being given and everyone working as one team. All my our little girl.

They got her stabilized quickly and she stared to show signs of improving. They got her up to a room about 1am and that is where she was until a couple of hours ago. We are home now and Katie is doing much better.

I can't say enough how much we appreciate the fact that we have a hospital for kids so very close with team of professionals that know just how precious each child is, but also know how scared parents can be when something like this happens to our kids. The nurses in the ER and on the floor where Katie stayed not only took great care of Kate but, also took good care of me and Leeann. When ever I or Leeann needed anything, they were there for us. They were able to get me a bit to eat late last night. They were great to say the least.

Katie is doing well today and being just any other 9 year old.

BIG Day Tomorrow

Everyone knows that I do wedding videos. I have been doing this for more years than I can count, but doing it professionally since 2001. I love the work I do and working the brides has been great. But, to be able to keep doing this fun job, I have to get more brides every year and one of the ways I can do that is with the Premier Bride Wedding Show. The show is tomorrow and I have been working for the past 3 months on rebranding myself and my business. I have redesigned the ad that goes into the Premier Bride magazine, come up with a new sign that will hang in the booth tomorrow and worked very hard on a new demo video that I will hand out. For the past month, I have been thinking about this show at some point every day. This is where I hope to get about 60% of my business from this year.

The thing that has me the most worried is the economy. Let's face it, we all know it is bad. The past week or two there have been story after story in the local news about companies laying off workers, Goody's is closing up, Jewelry Television is laying off more people (I used to work there), Alcoa is letting go of 450 people... The list just keeps going. But, people will still get married and weddings will still be big events. I guess the thing that worries me is will they still spend a bit of money that they may not have?

Leeann has been by my side every step of the way the past couple of months. She has looked at my new demo about 500 times making suggestions along the way, she had a huge say in how the new ad looks but most of all, she keeps me focused on moving forward. I would not have gotten to this point if it had not been for her, I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

17 years ago I was a newly wed not knowing what was in store for us. Not sure of where the road of life would take us, but I am so glad that I had her to go with me on this ride.

Good weekend ending on a bad note

Well, a new year and I plan to keep this more up to date than I have been (yea, we've heard that before haven't we). Anyway, just a bit of catching up over the past couple of months: Katie is doing well, we had a bit of bad spell there for a while, but she is doing better. We do, however, have to make some changes in her school, more about that later as it happens.

Christmas was nice, Leeann's dad was in town and we spent the day with her grandmother. She is not doing very well, seems like she is just living in the moment. She was here at the house all day Christmas and I think she said maybe 5 words. So sad.

We went out with some friends New Years Eve, also known as our 17th anniversary. You know, it is pretty cool to think that I have been married to the same beautiful woman now for 17 years. Every day she amazes me with the things she does. I love her so much.

I have been working at repairing my relationship with my mom. There was a long stretch there where we didn't have any communication. Things are much better now. In fact, we spent the weekend with her and helped my wonderful aunt install her new computer. She will do well with it, it is just going to take some time for her to get adjusted to it.

Anyway, we had a great time this weekend, Katie got to spend some good time with my mom (GramSue as she named her) and got to play with her cousins Blake and Hunter. We went to a place called "Fun Expedition", it's kinda like a Chuck E. Cheese only bigger and with more to do. We played LazerTag, did some bumper cars, and played lots of video games. Katie loved the whole weekend. I can't wait for them to come back down to our place in a couple of weeks. I know Katie is looking forward to showing Blake and Hunter her room.

Now, for the bad note. I have a wedding show next Sunday. This is the biggest show of the year, I got 75% of my business from the show last year. I have been working hard to do some re-branding, changing the web site, the look of the ad and even a new banner. But most of all, I have been working on a new demo video. If you don't know, the demo video is what i show to brides so that they can see my work and know what I can do for them. Anyway, I finally got it finished, it looks great and I really hope it brings in more business this year. Anyway, I went out to my office to burn the demo copy and every-time I try to burn the disk, the software crashes. I did it like 12 or 13 times with the same result. Well, I did some research and it looks like I am not the only one with this problem. Everyone else using the same program I am using has the same problem. The only way to fix it is to upgrade the whole suite to the new version. This means I have to update my editing program, graphics program, everything and that is going to be about $1200. I have been up till 1am trying to fix it. I have no choice, there is no way the the software company is going to release a fix in the next couple of days, but I have to get the update, install it and change all my settings. There goes my Sunday.

Anyway, I had a great weekend, but now, I have a lot of work to get things fixed. Wish me luck.

Dodge Ball and Pneumonia

Let's get this out of the way right off, I have pneumonia. I never get sick, Katie and Leeann can both be in the bed, sick as anything and I will be just fine. I never get it. I am always the one who is taking care of them. Now, here I am with pneumonia and on top of that, I have to take some very YUCKY!!! medicine. But, how does that fit in with Dodge Ball you ask?

On the way home from the vampire doctor (I call her that because every-time I'm there it seems like she wants some of my blood, go figure) we went out to the farm to drop some feed off for Belle. Along the way we have to go by a elementary school and there were some kids out in front of the school in a big playground area playing kick ball. If you grew up in the late 70's/early 80's like me then you more than likely paid more that few games of kick ball. Now, for those of you out there who grew up in the "PC World" where everyone is a winner and we don't play any kind of competitive game, kick ball is just like baseball, but with a large rubber ball (normally red). You kick the ball instead of hitting it with a bat. However, unlike baseball, you can get tagged out if you are HIT with the ball between bases. Such as if you are running between 1st and 2nd base and you get HIT with the ball, you are out. Pretty simple, yes. Well, it got me to thinking back when I was a kid and really enjoyed playing kick ball and Dodge Ball. DODGE BALL! They don't let kids play Dodge Ball anymore, do they?

Why, just because the whole purpose of the game is to avoid being hit with a large rubber ball? Nope, it's because somebody might get HIT by a large rubber ball. It's because somebody would win and someone would, GASP OH THE HORROR, loose. Well if you ask me, I most of you won't, Dodge ball teaches you many of life's most important lessons. Like what you ask? Well, here are a few:

SOMETIMES LIFE HURTS.

YOU HAVE TO STAY ON YOUR TOES AT ALL TIMES.

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO RISK A LOT TO GET WHAT YOU WANT.

JUST WHEN YOU THINK THINGS ARE GOING GOOD FOR YOU, WHAM, LIFE HITS YOU.

YOU CAN'T REST WHEN THOSE AROUND YOU ARE RUNNING.

ALWAYS LOOK ABOUT YOU, YOU NEVER KNOW WHATS COMING NEXT.

But, most of all:

SOMETIMES LIFE HURTS.

Rules to live by if you ask me.

What I'm Thankful for:

Every day I wake up
My wonderful wife
My daughter, the apple of my eye
A home
My work
My health (got good numbers on my last blood test)
My Friends
My Family (getting reconnected)
To be living here in East Tennessee (I can't see us living anywhere else)
The Dogs and our horses
To be an American and to live in this wonderful county

But most of all, I am thankful to God for each and every blessing He has given me. He guides me, and leads me to new and wonderful things everyday.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

GAME ON!!!!!

Almost 2 years ago my wonderful wife made a major decision in her life by having Gastric Bypass to help her lose weight. I was so proud of her and still impressed by her progress. She lost 144 pounds. Thats two Katies!

Well, she stalled and I wasn't much help in getting her back in gear. I don't know why, maybe just being lazy. I guess I just didn't want to do all the hard work to lose the weight. Well, two weeks ago, my wife got into "The Biggest Loser" on NBC. I had seen it once or twice for maybe 5 or 10 minutes. I stared watching it with her and really got into it. the show was just so inspiring and got me thinking that maybe I could do this.

So, we have started to watch what we eat and walking (trying to anyway). But, one night I was watching the show and saw this thing on the constants' arms. I though it was a timer for when they were in the gym. We Googled it and found out it was called the Body Bugg. It is a device that measures things like calories burned, steps taken, amount and length of activity. We thought it was kinds neat so we tried it.

I LOVE IT! For the first time in my life I know just what I am burning, what I am taking in and how much I need to adjust both. I have already lost 2 pounds in the first week. I want to walk, I want that little meter to burn. The thing is, with this device on your arm you have a constant reminder of what your are doing. It doesn't hurt, but you know it is there. Plus, there is not sneaking a little of this or a little of that. It will catch up to you.

So my wife has made a challenge on her blog to be accountable on line in her blog and accountable with me. So, GAME ON BABE! Starting today, you will know what I have done, what I ate and what I weigh. My goal is to get to 185 by my 45th birthday (October of 2009). I can do it, I know I can.

This should be fun to watch.

Love Is........

How do you define love? Is it something you can see? Something you can touch? Or is it just a feeling? Many say it is none of the above but merely a state of mind. I say it something you can touch, something you can see. You just have to look in the right place and open you mind. How do I know this, read on:

We are in Key Largo, FL spending a week here with Katie while she is doing dolphin assisted therapy. We did this 3 years ago and are kicking ourselves for not coming back sooner. Anyway, the first time we were here, Katie spent the week with a wonderful dolphin named Squirt and her calf Fiji. We could tell that something special was going on from the moment Katie got on the platform to get in the water. She could not wait and had no fear of being next to the dolphins.

That week was a wonderful and magical time. You could see the bond that Katie made with Squirt and the entire staff at Island Dolphin Care. The high point of the week was on Wednesday. You see, the dolphin will only do what the trainer on the platform tells them to do. They are trained that way. It is a safety issue of course. Well, half way through her time in the water that day, Katie, in loudest voice said, “I love you Squirt, you’re my best friend”. Squirt stopped in the water half way between the platform the trainer was on and where Katie was. She looked at the trainer then back to Katie. Leeann and I were confused as to what was going on, but the trainer just nodded her head yes and Squirt swam over and gave a Katie a kiss.
Not a big deal you say, well it is. You see that had only happened one, let me repeat that ONE other time at Island Dolphin Care. Everyone who saw it was in tears and when the trainer told us how special that was, Leeann and I both started to cry.
We have always said that Katie has a special connection to animals. Look at her room, it looks like stuffed animal kingdom in there sometimes. You should see her at the farm with the horses, it’s almost like she talks to them at times. But this, this was so different.

Well, that was three years ago. We had been trying for the past 3 years to go back but the timing was never right. This year everything fell into place and we were able to make it back. It worked out well since this is Katie’s fall break, so no school was missed. One thing we were worried about was if Katie would remember much about the dolphins or if the dolphins would remember Katie. We weren’t sure she would even get to be with Squirt this time. Much to our surprise, Katie remembered it all the moment she walked in the door. She remembered the tanks in the lobby, she remembered where the dolphins were at and couldn’t wait to get to them. But most of all, she was going to be with Squirt again.

Katie got in the water with Squirt and she was right at home. But the minute she said, “Squirt, I love you”, Squirt knew just who Katie was. The trainer, Wendy, looked at us and said “now I remember her and so does Squirt”. She wasn’t kidding either. It was almost like Katie was one of her own calf’s. Squirt could not get close enough to Katie. She was always checking on how Katie was doing, where she was and allowing Katie to touch her and hold her in places she won’t let others. Even the owners of the facility came out to watch and talked about the bond between Katie and Squirt.

That bond is so strong that today the trainer and the therapist in the water with Katie just let them do their own thing. Katie would ask if she could do something and the trainer would give a quick hand signal and that was it. They danced in the water together, Squirt took Katie around the lagoon a couple of times and they both laughed and smiled together. It was almost like they were meant to be with each other.

Tomorrow, they are going to allow Squirt to dive with Katie. Only two other kids have ever done this before. Katie is in here element here. Katie is truly happy here and in the water with Squirt.

I have attached a photo of the two of them dancing in the water. Look at it with the mind of a child, look at it with the mind of a parent who wants nothing but the best for their child and I know you will see LOVE. But, most of all, you will know that for this week, Katie can touch love. And for this week, love is named SQUIRT.