Ozzfest 2010

Not a lot of words needed to explain just how phenomenally fun this day was for us! After almost a year of battling his cancer, my husband is feeling better, in remission and we enjoyed a day without kids, with good friends, listening to some of our favorite bands...and finding some new favorites.

This is Bob and I...as he would say at the end of the night "We rocked our faces off."

Black Label Society was awesome and the security kept the crowd surfers safe (mostly).

Well, if you know Bob, you also know his sense of humor is sometimes warped...but I thought it was funny and worth a place in my post.

Kay, myself and my rocker sister in law Brenda...

Saviours....a new favorite band.

New rock shoes and old rock shoes...my sis in law and a girl that I work with who we happened to run into while we were up there...which is crazy considering just how crowded the place was!

Saviours as they were closing their set.

Kay (right) and I hanging in the lawn before Ozzy came on...a bit tired and working up to a second wind.

Even the young came out...Bob caught a guitar pic from the BLS bassist...and gave it to her...

Unfortunately with the lights and my crummy camera....all I could do was get a fuzzy pic of Ozzy off the screen...but I assure you that was him and he kicked ass up there!

The rock apparel was worth taking pics of.

A very dedicated Ozzfest goer...the other side of his head said OZZ

Fist pumping.

Drowning Pool...let the bodies hit the floor.

Me, apparently being a bit goofy...must have been from too much head banging and too much time in the sun.

My husband and his sister.

Bob chilling out.

Drummer from Black label society.

The bassist from Black Label Society.

Brenda and I laughing about who knows what.

Stage for Black Label Society.

Zakk....

This guy looked like Gene Simmons...or at least we thought so. We got this pic with him and moments later the girls from the venue were walking around advertising $10.00 lawn seats for the Kiss Concert on September 3rd...it seemed like a sign to me...so I bought 3.

News, News and more news...

Well, no news is good news right?

Bob is back at work. HURRAY! Now to get caught up on some bills...but you know - that takes a little time but we are hacking away.

He saw the oncologist yesterday - good news - everything is still clear...he will be seen again in 2 months.

I put in my two weeks at Tom & Jerry's! Big hurray! Not that I didn't like the job - but working two jobs for 14 months and still trying to handle family issues is ridiculous.

On a sad note - We found out last night that my uncle Victor, who lives in Portugal died yesterday. His son came home and found him. Now the police are investigating it as a possible murder because there was someone seen running from the house and my uncle had trauma to the head; they think from a baseball bat.

My cousin is living here (his oldest son) with his wife and newborn daughter. His wife is also here to help with the new baby. His daughter and other son are there...his youngest son is who found him :(

My cousin Sonia apparently needed to be taken to the hospital and given tranquilizers because she is so beside herself and her blood pressure was becoming dangerously high.

I never met my uncle, but grew up with stories of him and even though we never spoke I certainly felt like I knew him.

My heart goes out to my family members and friends of the family who were so very close to him. It is indeed a sad day....

I spent the morning with my mother, who has desperately been trying to find a flight there in time for the funeral...however, the cheapest round trip flight she can find is just shy of $5,000.00 dollars.

I'm going to go clean house now...so many things to do on my only day off from either job this week.

God Bless!

Remember Me

Friday night I went with Cassy and Jenna C. to the movie Remember Me. It has Robert Pattinson and Pierce Brosnon in it...Happy Day! It was a good movie and I enjoyed it. It was great to get out of the house and hang with some girls!

Oh Happy Day...

Well, things are busy as usual.

The class that I teach had it's Rite of Election at St. Peter's Cathedral in Rockford. I love the Cathedral - it's one of my favorite places to go visit.

Lent has begun. I gave up soda - which considering how much of it I was drinking (the caffeine helps those of us who are sleep deprived) it has been a difficult thing to stop doing; but well worth the sacrifice.

Brendon & Cody saw the cardiologist today. Cody is cleared until February 2012; Brendon, on the other hand, will have another appointment soon.

Bob had his port taken out - now he's getting his chemo through an IV in his hand/wrist area - the nurses were appalled at this because of the type of chemo he receives. However, the removal of the port seems to have cleared up a couple of the issues he was having.

Work is ....work. I'm swamped because of how much time I take off to go to treatments or take Brendon to the doctor.

Next Friday I have to have an ultrasound of my heart...apparently my heart murmur is louder...

Other than that all is well except that I haven't been on my bike yet in 2010...sad but true. I'm hoping that the weather gets a little better soon!

I've been working on a few projects (crochet) but nothing new is completed as of yet. I'm also trying to get a head start on some Christmas stuff...maybe I won't have that Christmas Eve...OMG I forgot __________(fill in name).

All right - going now - safe and happy riding my friends!

Fun new things...

Kay, Frank and the kids came up this weekend - Kay is my oldest and best friend - we've been best friends since we were 4 years old.

Her husband, Frank, does tat's and Cassy and I both decided - we needed one...Well, Cassy needed one and I needed #4....

The forearm tat is mine

The neck tat is Cassy's....he's finishing this one up tonight because it's not yet completed...however, you get the basic idea.

A quick update:

Well, I haven't posted since I was in the ER with Brendon....

since his day at the local ER: two days later we were at an ER an hour away...much better care!

Then he was out of school the rest of the week, one day included an appointment with the electrophysiologist.

So, he's had a heart monitor since the first week of January and will continue to use it until February 6th.

Also since then Bob had chemo and again no Bleo....but the nurse went to get a blood return and he felt a pop, came off the chair and was uncomfortable the rest of the day - and the next day....we ended up back at the oncologists office, then 2 days later ended up at the hospital where they found that when the nurse pulled back they actually looped his tubing on the port....OUCH! So, we are now waiting to hear back from the oncology office to see if he will need another surgery or not.

I have a bit of a tickle in my throat so I'm heading to bed...besides...almost 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. will be here very soon!

Thanks for the continued prayers of our friends, families and the perfect strangers who are kind enough to care.

Hoping for a warm day soon so I can jump on the Trek and go ride a good 25 miles and just enjoy and forget for a little bit!

Happy Riding!

A Day in the Kishwaukee Hospital E.R.

Yesterday at 10 a.m. I walked to the bank to do the deposit for work. As I was walking my phone rang...815-754- xxxx, which is almost always a school number. I thought perhaps Cassy telling me that she missed Caiden or some such thing. Instead it was the school nurse at the grade school that Brendon & Cody go to.

Brendon was in the office, crying, complaining that it felt like someone was squeezing his heart. So, I called Bob, told him to pick him up. Called the pediatrician who said to take him straight to the E.R.

When he got to the E.R. he was also complaining that he had shooting pain in his right arm (upper) and he was shallow breathing. They get us back into a room immediately, the nurse comes in, logs all the information, and hooks him up to the monitors.

As I'm watching the monitors his BP is 67/50 and his heart rythmns seems very "abnormal" from what you normally see on the screen....

1 and a half hours later the doctor walked into the room. He proceeds to listen to his heart and then say he's going to have an EKG and a chest x-ray done. At this point, Brendon's breathing and heart rythmns are looking normal.

After the tests are done he comes in and tells me that he looked over the tests and everything looked good. So, I asked for a copy of what had been on the monitor the entire time from the moment they hooked him up until that moment...he asked why...I said because his heart rhythmns did not look normal when he was first there. He then said that the heart rhythmns have nothing to do with the stenosis that Brendon has because the rhythmns show the electrical function of the heart and the stenosis is about the mechanical functions of the heart....so, I said then why would you do an EKG which is a test of the electrical pulses in the heart...he said that it was standard...

I proceeded to tell him that I didn't feel my son was given any kind of emergency care! He came in presenting with chest pain, shooting pain in his arm and shallow breathing and they took an hour and a half to look at him, which was about an 2.5 hours since the symptoms had started and were apparently resolving by the time he had gotten in there to see him.

I then asked why they hadn't done an ultrasound of the heart if the stenosis is mechanical and the ekg shows electrical function not mechanical function...he couldn't answer that question...then tried to psychoanalyze me saying "I think your frustration is because we don't know what caused this episode." I replied "No, my frustration is that you sit here telling me you did NO tests to distinguish what was happening to him and that you didn't bother to see a 9 year old, with a history of heart problems who presented in your ER with chest pains, shooting pains in his arms and shallow breathing until he sat in a room for 1.5 hours without any medical attention and then you sit here trying to b.s. me to get out of being held accountable for screwing up!"

He had nothing to say to that so I then told him that I'd be calling the administration the following day to complain about the care as they had no business billing me or my insurance for such pathetic, substandard care.

The poor discharge nurse was scared to death to come into the room. Not her fault, but the service there was horrible...then they said if he began having chest pains again that I should bring him back...I asked why, they said so we can care for him...I said "Like you did today? No thanks, I'll drive an hour and get him care elsewhere!"

So, it was a frustrating day!

Today we are off to Chemo and Brendon will be with us so that if his cardiologist can fit him in I can run over there with him today.

Have a blessed day!