Getting Caught up... part 1: The accident

 
my incision
 
the bald spot that I hope grows back in!
 
Me in my collar and the chair I slept in for the first three weeks!

On Dec. 6, 2008 myself, Gabriela, and my niece Michel were on our way to the thrift store. We never made it. About a block from our destination a woman ran a red light and hit us. Michel and Gab both suffered seatbelt burns on their necks and Gabby they kept because she freaked out. In order to do a CAT scan of her cochlear implant they had to sedate her and tube her. Oh she was not a happy camper when she awoke with a tube down her throat. Maybe it would have been better if they would have had an interpeter there available for her, because she doesn't need her throat to sign and communicate. She could have told everyone how she was feeling and told them off too for keeping the tube in longer then they said they would. Wonderful doctor had other things to do and kept her waiting! Thankfully she had her dad and her younger brother Jesus with her to keep her company. Both of her dad's sisters and their families made sure that she was not alone either. That was nice to know that even if no one signed at least she had family with her.
As for myself, I wanted life to be even more complicated then it already was (my in-laws had just moved into our basement the previous week). I somehow ended up outside of the vehicle. Miracuolously I had no road rash consistent with being thrown from the vehicle. One little scrape on my ankle bone, and I am talking tiny. I did have some lacerations to my head and Genaro said that everytime he came in, those first few days, I had a handful of glass that I had picked out of it! I also broke my neck and found out that I am diabetic. The docs wanted to put me in a halo so I was in traction for a few days, they screwed this thing into my head and then attached weights to it to see if my neck would seperate and align itself back into place. This did not work so 4 days after the accident I had surgery to fuse #6 to #7. I guess I messed up 6 pretty bad which caused 7 to become a little dislocated. I spent 10 days in the hospital and over 1/2 of them were a blur. I remember some things and them remember nothing. People came to visit and asked if I remembered them being there and I was like "nope". Others asked if I remembered talking to them. Rojelio's friends mother came to visit with her older son and asked how I was doing, apparently I responded that I had been busy on this side of the room and on that side of the room. They didn't stay long and figured would come back when the drugs wore off. Another friend of mine told me that she was there with her husband and asked if it was ok if he came in to visit as well. I told her that was fine as long as my butt was covered! Darn them hospital gowns. None of these conversations I remember. Ya know maybe the visitors made it up!!! I had some great nurses in the hospital that really helped me to start moving and doing things for myself. I also had an incredible amount of visitors and well wishers. It was over whelming at times the amount of love I felt from cards, calls, and visists. I was very blessed that my sister knows a wonderful young man that helped her to get a cheap flight to Omaha so that she could spend some time with me and my family. I am so thankful to him for that wonderful gift. MaryEllen helped out so much and I want to thank her for taking Genaro around and helping him do some of the things that needed to be done. (Although I thought you all had skipped town and were playing at the casino!! You have to forgive me I was drugged!) Oh hey you want to tell me what happened to the cusing cow?? :) Genaro will never let you forget about burnt cookies and corn bread! I love you and thanks for coming to be with me! Thank you Don and the kids for holding the fort down while MaryEllen was with me! On Dec. 15 Mom and Dad flew into Omaha. We are so glad that they listened to the Spirit on when to leave, had they left later they may not have made it. As it was after they left Boise, a big storm hit and as they left Las Vegas, Vegas shut down due to a big storm that dropped snow on them and then of course once they were here the snow hit us! Dec. 16 they came to the hospital and brought me home. To a quiet house I might add. A dear friend had taken my kids for the time that I was in the hospital and was going to keep them until the end of the week. Good thing because it all was a little overwhelming and gave me time (1 day thanks to Friday being a snow day!) to settle in. The out pouring of love from the community was unbelievable. Cards, gifts, money, food, prayers, you name it was brought in. The first week home I was an emotional wreck from all the love that was poured out upon us. If any of you know me I cry over everything, sad or touching movie, song, commercial, book you name it, I cry. It was totally amazing the people who came forward to help, not just from church either. The deaf community was wonderful, and so were my neighbors and even strangers. Two weeks ago I was in a bookstore and was visiting with a friend and she had mentioned that they had just heard about my accident and were praying for us. That brought me to tears because even over a month later there were still people thinking about us and praying for us. My little brother called and said that when he heard all the support that we had had it made him cry(I knew there was a softy in you Chuck!) I think it made our whole family very emotional. Let's face it we are all cry babies! I am so glad that my parents were here, I really wanted my mommy and daddy. I know that it was not easy for them to be here and my kids sure did not make it easier, (ok, so maybe I didn't help either), but I could not have come home without their support and love. I know that we appreciated them being here and helping out. They had to make some sacrafices to be here with me and I know that others had to pick up some times at the family history center for them. I am thankful for their friends and my extended family (Faye, John and Mike) for helping them out. I can not say enough thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, calls and things to everyone that was done for my family. So many people reached out to us in so many different ways, big and small, to each of you I am thankful. We are on the road to recovery, and have been humbled and blessed from this experience. (Yea I know that sounds so...??? I don't know the word that I am looking for but it is true.)

Memories of Thanksgiving

When I think of Thanksgiving some of the first things that come to mind are; Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, family football games (although we didn't do this, it is something that I associate with the holiday. I love seeing all these families at the parks together playing football.), and pumpkin pies. I don't know when it started but for as long as I can remember Dad always made the pies at our house. I am passing that on to my boys (course they asked to do it, and I was only to eager to ablige!)Some of the things that we had growing up for our feast were, turkey, pumpkin pie, a pudding pie (flavor varied though the years), salad, fruit salad, corn, mashed potatoes and in later years frog eye salad. There may have been other things but these are what stand out for me.
As for the things that I am thankful for?? Many! I could not imagine my life where it is now without all the wonderful blessings we have been blessed with. I have 6 beautiful children, and although they try my patience at times, I love them. I have a wonderful husband, yea we have our days too.... and we are blessed with the simple things in life. No need to get complicated, life is complicated enough!
May you all have a wonderful day and I am thankful for you!

Kids names

Today as we were coming home from an appointment, Rojelio was amusing us with the names he has picked out for his future children. He informed us that if he had two boys he would name one Santa and the other Clause. They would be in the same class and the teacher would call Santa Clause to the head of the class. He did comment that his future wife probably would not like Santa, Clause. Then he decided that if he had three children he would name them Cookies, And, Milk. Then he was like "Hey where are my Cookies, And, Milk?", "Who ate my Cookies, And, Milk." "My Cookies, And, Milk are running away!" I so feel sorry for my future daughter-in-law, I hope that she has a great sense of humor!

Gabby qualified for the city finals!

Way to go Gabby! She qualified in the 200 freestyle and the 50 butterfly. She will do the 50 butterfly in a relay as well. Some of my friends are like "she takes after her mom" but let me tell you this girl has more talent in her than her mom did. She absolutely rocks! We challenged her (bribed more like it with $) to get her relay in a better spot, they were in third. The other girl was at least 1/2 way down the pool if not more, and she kicked butt and sailed past her and brought her team to a 2nd place finish! She is like a motor boat. Her feet can kick. You should see her freestyle it is so smooth! I love watching her swim, I wish she realized what talent she has, maybe swimming will bite her and it will become a passion, right now I think it is something she likes and knows that mom loves it, and she does it because of that. She is absolutely incredible!!!

It's a bird, it's a plane, its CAFETERIA WOMAN!

It has been a week on the job as cafeteria cashier. Not bad. I come in and take things out of boxes and put them on cookie sheets for the next day and wash my area, sweep and mop my area, set up my area, stock milk, restock milk, wash my area again and sweep and mop again. I think I do more washing, sweeping and mopping then I do anything else! Maybe it will stick with me and I will bring the habit home! My trainer warned me that the kids would steal. I guess I have a little more faith in human nature and I was like no way. Twice in one week I caught kids trying to steal juice! Not only that some just walked right by me because I was a little slow! They were on a time limit and didn't want to wait until the new girl figured it out. Good thing I am a fast learner, there will be no walking by this chick this week! Centeral High School here I come!

Oh No it is Bambi!

She got it! Her first deer, with a little help from dad. It would not die, is what I am hearing. Oh-man, she slipped into a creek and got all wet but thankfully it was not as cold today as it was yesterday. She is very happy that her dad's friend had a cart to pull the deer with and that she did not have to drag it all the way to the truck. Yuck, her hand was covered with blood. It was the deer's heart that made that mess!

First Hunt

Bambi is safe tonight! Gab and her dad didn't get their deer! They went out this morning and came home during the afternoon and then went back out later. This morning Gab saw a deer and promptly said "Papa, Papa, look there is a deer". You got it the deer ran away. We were talking to her at lunch and I said next time you see one and it is safe to shoot, shoot it, your dad will know you saw one when he hears your gun! She laughed. She was really cold too! We will see what tomorrow brings! Good luck guys.

Science project updates

Roly's bridge held 14 lbs. He was not to happy about that. He came home saying "Oh we could have done this or that and why did we make it like this...." and on and on. I told him that next year he will know better and to start earlier instead of later!
Jesus' airplane placed 5th or 6th. He was not quite sure, but he has decided that he will do the same next year. A no brainer!
Good job guys, I am happy it is over!

Mourning

Again we are saddened by the death of one of our pets. Sky died sometime on Thursday. Roly discovered him when he got home from school. This was harder on us then the first. Sky was one of our first birds. He had a great disposition. He would sit in his cage in the living room just singing away. He especially liked to do this when Genaro would come home from work and sit to relax in front of the tv. Sky would start chirping really loud and Genaro would turn and tell him to stop and Sky would stop. For a minute or two and then start up again even louder than before. Genaro would turn again and tell him to stop and Sky would. This would go on five or six times until Genaro took Sky out and held him. It became quite a game. Sky liked to sit on Genaro's shoulder. He would sit there for quite some time. When he was ready he would fly back to his cage. We loved Sky very much and are sad at his passing.

Physical?? Whatever! Science Project update

Well the science projects are finished and turned in. Thank goodness that is over.
Today I went in to get a physical for my new job. Got in the office and sat down. The nurse took my blood pressure and gave me the tb test, turned to me and said ok you are free to go. I was totally shocked. I asked her about filling out the rest of the paper and she said that usually people just fill in their weight and height off their drivers license. I'm a little confused because there is a whole list of stuff to be filled out. I just could not believe it. I looked at her and I said " I believe that I have swimmers ear. Could you please look at it?" She did and said "looks fine to me, nothing swollen or red." My ear is visibly red and it is swollen. But she kept saying nope, I don't see anything. I then made her take my weight and height. I was so shocked, that she did nothing else. I still can not believe I paid $35 for nothing. I had already started on a natural remedy for my ear and it should be better by Friday, which is when I go in for them to read the tb test, but if it is not then I will have them check it again. What incompetence

Science projects!

Wishing it was real and I was up in it!!!


Jesus and Rojelio had to participate in the science Olympiad. They each chose what they wanted to do. Jesus chose to do the rubber band airplane. He did not have to make it if he didn't want to, he could just purchase a kit and put it together. Easy enough, but we have ended up with three of them. They tend to break easy. He is finished and is enjoying playing with the plane. On the other hand there is Rojelio. He chose to build a bridge and it needs to be able to hold 33lbs. Now we have known about this for a whole month. It is due tomorrow. There is a lot of frustration going around. Lesson learned??? Hopefully! We will post a pic when it is finished!

whose science project is this?

That doesn't look like Roly.

Stretching or what???

TV (photo by Alex)

I was watching TV and my brother took a picture. The movie I was watching was a western movie that my dad put on. The movie was awesome because all the action. The movie was on channel 529 if you have direct tv.

Hey, I like this book! (photo by Alex)

This book is about school. The book's name is 'Diary of a Whimpy Kid' by Jeff Kinney. I like the book because it is funny and stuff. It took me 4 days to read the book. The next book is 'Katie Kazoo Switcheroo, Who's Afraid of Fourth Grade' by Nancy Krulik

Doing my homework (photos by Alex)

Fun in the Classroom by Gabriela

*go to the hallway
*sit down with your person
*have a chat
*sit down in the desk
*get 2 cups for us
*fill up your 1 favorite pop(Dr. Pepper, sprits, or a grapes pop)
*sit down and get up again and go to the restroom to get some napkins for us
*get some cookie like to have more than 3 if you want to just 3-7 cookies
*have a great time with us now
*I can't wait to say "Have Fun" out loud

Sunshine by Rojelio

SUNSHINE

My new bird's name is sunshine.She is yellow,white,and blue.Iam glad we have a new bird.Because I don't want my other bird o be lonely.Because he always try to escape when he dosen't have a buddy.

Azul died.

Azul is on the left side (blue and white one)
Rojelio's bird Azul died tonight. This is what Roly had to say about her.

My bird died today. I was very sad. Azul was white over her head and wings and light blue everywhere else. She was a bird who liked to fly.She also liked to bite.But she was nice. When I got out of the pet store she spoke her first words tweet tweet. :)
We had her for about six months and in those six months we had to listen to her sing. She seemed to like Papa the most. She didn't bite Papa, after the first few times, like she continued to do to everyone else. I will miss her. I may get a new bird tomorrow, that way Sky wont be lonely.

A Hunting We Will Go...

A hunting we will go, high ho the dairy oh a hunting we will go. Well not all of us. Just Gab and her dad. Genaro wanted to take us all out today to show us where he and Gab would be hunting and to hopefully find or even spot this legendary buck that has been lurking around the area. I asked Genaro if it came down to it and both he and Gabby saw it who would get to shoot it? He said that he has been thinking about bringing his brother-in-law along for the ride so that he could sit by Gab! HA! So he doesn't want to give up the big one now does he. Well we didn't catch even a little glimpse of any deer except for the poor soles that had decided to cross the road. They obviously did not look both ways now did they? Good luck Gab beating your dad to the trophy!

COLD

It is so cold today. Winter is beginning to settle in. The kids are anxious for it to snow. I can wait thank you. I like fall and the crispness of it, but I am not to fond of winter. It's not that I really mind it, but the kids get cabin fever way to much, and then we can't wait for spring to hit so that they can be outside without being cold all the time. That's what I get by living somewhere there are four seasons right.

New teacher

Alex has been struggling this entire school year. He has been suspended three times, all within a matter of a month. We have had teachers sitting with him every 1/2 hour to intervene if Alex starts to meltdown. OH and his meltdowns, once they start they don't stop until he is ready to stop. He has a wonderful principle who really truly takes the interests of his students to heart. He truly understands that there are kids out there like Alex who many not look like they need help or have problems but who have as many or sometimes more then someone who may "look" like it. Through this insight the principle has decided that Alex and his current teacher's relationship is beyond repair and it would be a good idea to switch classrooms, so on Monday Alex will have a new class. The principle was very positive about the change and feels that this new teacher and Alex will make a good match. 'They' have also discovered that preceding Alex's meltdowns it is always something that has to do with reading and Alex feeling that it is to hard of a task. (I say 'they' because I had already come to that conclusion.) So everything is in place and the teacher is on board and willing to make the needed accommodations for Alex. My little guy is a smart cookie but this reading thing has just not clicked for him. He is starting to piece things together and I think that once it does click that he will be off and running. Now give him math and he is out of this world on it! He loves that. His current teacher has him doing end of 2nd grade beginning 3rd grade math and he is thriving with it!

I got the job!

Well I went to orientation today and passed the food service test with flying colors! I was offered a full time position at one of the high schools as a cashier (which pay higher than the food prep position). I am considering taking it, although I realized after the fact that I had forgotten my commitment to the kids I teach swim lessons to. That ends on the 19th so..... I have decided that I will think things over and then decide tomorrow. Either way there are other opportunities coming available the first of the month. I would rather work an elementary school but a lady that came into the Y today said take high school if you can because they offer the full time positions, and full time gives me benefits!!!!