Finally...a real blog!

Like I said before, the past few weeks have been CRAZY! Or maybe I said nutty, take your pick. I'll start with Friday, March 21.


That Friday, the 21st, we woke up to a phone call in Texas from Chris' little brother Jon. He was telling us that Jim (their dad) had a heart attack but was stable and in the hospital in NWA. Because it seemed like everything was fine, we decided not to pack up and leave. We went and met a couple of friends at Lowe's, had lunch with them, went grocery shopping, rented a couple of movies, and headed home. It wasn't 30 minutes after we got home that we got another phone call saying things weren't so great, and that Jim was going to have surgery. Of course, we started packing our bags to leave town. We didn't want to take Baxter with us, so I called some friends to come pick him up. Chris and I barely missed the last flight out to NWA, so we had to drive.


We finally made it in to NWA around 2 a.m., and headed for bed. We got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep before we had to get up to go to the hospital (the first visiting hour starts at 5:30 a.m.). We spent pretty much all day Saturday going back and forth to the hospital, waiting to hear about surgery. This lasted for several days, and Chris and I started getting anxious because we had to be out of our apartment in Texas by the 31st. Finally, it came down to where we had to book a flight to come back...we had to move! I had scheduled us a flight out on Thursday, but on Wednesday, the doctors decided to schedule surgery for the next day. Obviously Chris couldn't leave with Jim having surgery, so I cancelled the flights. We made the decision that I would go to Texas with my parents to finish the packing and do the move over the weekend. My parents were great! They really stepped up to the plate and pitched in (they cancelled their vacation to Chicago for me). My older brother even pitched in by paying for people to come load the U-Haul for us. There was no way my dad and I could've done it all. But as luck would have it, they pushed back Jim's surgery again...


My parents and I left Texas Saturday afternoon and headed back to Arkansas. We made it to my parents house around 10 p.m. and Chris surprised me by coming in that night about an hour later as well. It was great to have him there, plus on Sunday morning we had to unload the U-Haul, so it meant an extra hand. We got the U-Haul unloaded and Chris and I got back in the car and headed back to NWA. Jim's surgery was finally scheduled again for the following morning. Monday morning, Jim went into surgery, and ended up having six bypasses and an aortic valve replacement. (The doctor said he's tied for the most bypasses at the hospital). Afterward, he went to the ICU, where he stayed for about 3 days. 2 days ago, they finally moved him to a normal room. He's still in the hospital, and is expected to be released on Tuesday...


And I should mention that during all of this, Chris left my lights on in the car and my battery died, which was just replaced today. Also, we had purchased Dramamine for dogs (as prescribed by his vet for traveling) and it worked wonders during the move. Chris told the vet he wanted him to be rag doll status...and he was pretty close :) Emily (my sis in law) and I have become much closer, and Jon and Chris had a chance to reconnect. And one more thing, we discovered that the apartment we were scheduled to move into was no longer available...but they have another one (a bigger one) for us that they have to give to us at the smaller ones price...and it's newly remodeled!


So we're back at my parents and I have to go back to Texas for class in a couple days. Tomorrow, if it's not nasty outside, we're going to go play with our nephews and my brother and sis in law. I'll be glad when all of this craziness is over!


And I still have my research to finish...