Dad's shoulder surgery

So, I had my shoulder surgery. Big deal.



It was the morning of the 25th, 0445est. It was to be a five to seven hour timeless event for me since I would be ‘put to sleep’. My neighbor, Billy, was taking me to the hospital for surgery that day since it was not plausible for me to have Kris and the kids drop me off. Nice neighbors we have! Having to get the kids up just to take a 15 minute ride to drop me off wasn’t very smart. We opt to them sleep. It would pay off for us in the long run.

So there we were, the neighbor and I in the waiting room looking to get this over. Well, Billy found the game "Funky Monkey" and he was set. I got some paper work to fill out and I was done. Billy split shortly after that. At 0615est, they took me into my closet of a room and told me to change into the fabulous hospital gown, but this one had a twist. I was to put on these weird nylon hose. No, not panty hose! No, I'm good I told the nurse. Like that was going to work. Nice picture so far eh? 6’2”, 225lbs, hospital gown, and these great hose. NICE! The only thing great so far is that I’m the first patient of the day. So I get wheeled in to the anesthesia room for a shoulder block. I’m not really sure what that was. As I lay there, they sit me up too high on the chair, I thought. But I was told not to move. That was to keep me from sliding off. WTF?!? What am I doing here? I though I was getting a shoulder block. Well, apparently I was to be put under for that too! Next thing I knew, I was waking up in my closet room. It was 20 minutes from the last time I looked before they wheeled me out. I was trying to keep track. When I awoke, my wife was there. That was cool. I was thinking the whole time I might have made a bad decision about having my neighbor take me this morning because I’d get to miss my wife. It might sounds trivial, but I wanted to see her before I went under before the surgery. So it was calming to see her there. As we talked, I noticed my left arm getting heavier and heavier. I could hardly move it. This was unfamiliar to me. At 0715est, it was time to go into the surgery room. My wife and I parted and I heard he say she loves me and I gave her the “I love you” sign. It was the best I could do. Once in the surgery room, I cracked a few jokes and then I heard someone say, “We’ve got the green light to go.” On went the mask and out I went. I was out! No drowsiness, nothing. I woke up later taking to a nurse. I looked around and saw that I was back in my closet room, but closed my eyes. I chatted for about another 15 minutes and was moved to a recliner to get my results and direction for therapy. For some reason I was a bit irritable. I’m not sure where it came from, but I was uncomfortable. I wanted to be home. My wife came and took me home. My arm is banged and in a sling. At the time, I couldn’t even feel my arm. It was numb. Not like you have the pins and needles effect, numb as in no feeling. Other then my own visual clues, I had no idea what orientation my arm was in. It was the weirdest thing ever. We got into the truck and headed home. My wife’s twin watched the kids. It was good to me home again. I had to learn not to use the arm for anything, which was rather easy since I couldn’t move it or even feel it. At one point, I did not properly put the sling together and my arm fell out. I didn’t feel it move at all! I heard the Velcro rip apart and I looked down expecting my arm to be across my stomach and it wasn’t! I freaked out! I thought my arm had just fallen off! It was gone. Last thing I remembered was that my arm was in the sling across my stomach and it is gone now. I glanced over to my left hip area and saw my arm just hanging there. Total out of body experience. I didn’t feel it at all. Hopefully my doctor, Dr. D'Alessandro, is not reading this. It was a trip! But all is good and the arm is numb. However, I do have a little tingling in my pinky finger. So we ought to see how this turns out.

Jennifer's Teeth

Jennifer has two teeth now. Her two bottom, front teeth came in. How adorable is that!

The Best Big Brother

Austin is a wonderful big brother to Jennifer. He always wants to hold her, he kisses her, and always tells her that he loves her.


The other day while Jennifer was in her swing he picked up his Incredibles book and sat down in front of her to read to her. It was so adorable. He tells the story based on the pictures.


He also has lots of fun taking a bath with her. Austin is the one person that is guaranteed to make Jennifer laugh.


We are truly blessed to have such wonderful children.

Skink

On Friday, August 18, Austin and his mom caught a skink that was running around in the house. Blaze, our cat, helped too. He scared the skink out from its hiding place so that we could chase it around the house. It hid under the couch a couple of times, but we finally cornered it and caught it.


Austin was so proud of our findings that he carried the skink down the street to show Abby what we found. After Abby saw our skink, he knocked on Ayden's door to show him. After sharing the skink with his friends, we let him go in the bushes in front of our house.

Boys Out Camping

Well, Austin and I did do some camping this weekend. Yes sirie! The photos

We had great company and all. We were up at Uwharrie National Forest. It is about an hour and a half northeast of Charlotte. We packed up big ugly, my ’86 Suburban, with all kinds of stuff; folding chairs, sleeping bags, tents (I brought one of Austin’s too), grill, ropes, lighter, skewers (hotdogs and marshmallows), two flash lights, lantern, citronella pot, leatherman, pillows, three pairs of cloths, toiletries, first aid kit, frisbee, folding shovel, axe, hatchet, life jacket for Austin, and firewood all for one night! What the hell was I thinking! OVERKILL. Anyway, I was over prepared. But I wanted to make sure I covered all the bases. I wasn’t sure what Austin would like and how bored we might get. We headed up there around 1000est with another family, co-worker, in two cars. It got cool when we hit a dirt road. I haven’t done that in a long time. We found our location and set up camp.

Of coarse my tent was up in five minutes. Nice little 3-4 man tent. I’m not sure how they get those numbers. 3-4 skinny, scrawny men. But Austin and I did just fine in there. We caught some fish and Austin love messing around in the lake. That was cool for him. He is not a swimmer yet, but he took to the water great with the lifejacket on. It was cool. Then night came. The tent was on a crush rock area. I thought the indoor sleeping quilts my girls use would be just fine to lay on and they were. However, at 230lbs, every little rock came crushing through my fat butt. It was not cool. Now it was ten o’ clock at night and I wasn’t going to start the air mattress up. So I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. I’m not really sure if I got any sleep. That really sucked. Next time, if there is one, I will get the damn air mattress out. I couldn’t believe I didn’t. Austin slept fine. He started on me first, then moved to his side.

Weekend Events

This past Saturday was the University City United Methodist Church's semi-annual childrens consignment sale. Krissy went early in the morning to try to get winter clothes for the kids. We didn't get enough to get us through the winter, but it was a good start.


Sunday was Blake and Bailey Ingram's birthday party at NASCAR. Austin had fun driving the go-carts, playing miniture golf, and playing laser tag. He played all day. He liked driving the cars the best. "Watch my smoke", he would say. You could tell he was consentrating on his driving and looking ahead to see when he could pass the driver in front of him. It was so much fun to watch.

Finally - Cool Weather

It is about time. While today’s forecast is 80% rain, we are in the 70’s – a high of 74. Let me tell you how welcoming that is. On these hot days, over 90, we just couldn’t do much outside at all. Yes, I know places like AZ is around 115 or hotter. I use to live there too, but I’m acclimatized now. Jennifer is too small to sweat that much and Austin, well it just isn’t fair because he’d play till he fainted. Being cooped up inside is just not a Shaw thing to do. So this morning, I got the windows open and letting in the cool air.

Kris is up and out already this morning. She wants to get tickets to the consignment sale at the church. It is a big deal nowadays. You have to get tickets before you can even get in. So she has to be there at 0630est for tickets to a place that isn’t opening till 0830est. I think these folks should look at ticketmaster. LOL

I think I hear Jennifer. It is my morning so I may have to abruptly leave and get her. Of coarse, I like to let her play longer in her bed. Kris said at 0430est this morning, she was up and on her tummy. Too funny. I think I’ll have to lower the crib today just incase she starts to climb the sides. She is so tall, she’d flip right over.

OOooo, I hear a motor running. Maybe it is mom. YES. It was mom. She stopped in for a few minutes before the consignment sale opened up. She is so wonderful. I’m not sure anyone is as happy as I am.

Well, both kids are up now. We are watching the Duke on TV, AMCTV. Austin likes cowboys and Jenny is just swinging away watching too. Maybe it’s the music or the horse, but they are captivated for the time being. At the same time, I'm feeding Jenny some oatmeal baby food. Now Austin is following up with a bottle of water for her. It truly is great to see this interaction. She takes in the bottle for a few minutes then pushes it out. Austin reevaluates and reinserts the bottle. She takes it and for few seconds all is good, but pops it back out. At least it is a cycle they are both laughing about! Thank God for humor!!!

Little Taco Bell

Last night was boys night. Austin and I ran over to work to pick up some mail and drove around. It was our time. I’m not sure why, but every once a while, a year or so, I get a craving for Taco Bell. I’m not sure what the correlation is, but I pay for it the next day every time. It is a sadistic addiction I suppose. So, we did dinner at Taco Bell. Austin was really excited to go. I got the usual two bean burritos and Austin got the kids meal, soft taco. He like it a lot, but really wanted to just eat the tortilla with a Mountain Dew Baja Blast drink. WOW, was that a kicker for my taste buds. Austin just loved it. Kids will be kids.

Uptown Weekend Events

This weekend there were a lot of events going on in uptown Charlotte. The Panthers were playing football at the Bank of America Stadium. We watched them play football for awhile and then Austin got his face painted. Awsome!


After that, we went to the Wachovia Atrium to the Japanese Festival. There was a lot of dancing and artifacts from Japan on sale. It was very interesting to watch. We even had Autin and Jennifers name done in Japanese caligraphy.


Then, we went to Rock Bottom for lunch. You haven't been to Charlotte until you hit Rock Bottom! :-)

Guys Golf day!

Today was a great day! We started out a bit early for me, 0650est. That was the drive time. I just went to sleep at 1 that morning from a little relaxing time at Mid-Town Sundries. It was karaoke time. Come on, that is fun. With a tee time of 008est at Crowder’s Mountain Golf Club, we left early and hit a Crackle Barrel for some breakfast. The day was nice and cool from the nights rain, greens were a little wet and slow. But we had a great time. We did have a slow group in front of us and bogged us down a little. This allowe the sun to creep up on us. After the 9th, we did the club house for some hotdogs. We thought maybe the group in front of us would be further along and not too slow. Well, as we headed out, we were only 1 group behind the, Oh well.

The back 9 was fun too. We had run out of a few beers on the 1st 9, so it was water and Pepsi to keep us going. Our buddy Matt got the cart stuck in some erosion areas. I thought he was going to fall out. I was laughing so hard because both Brian and Matt were trying to get the cart out as if they were going to get in trouble and all I could think of is to snap this shot!

After golf, we head home fast to catch some NASCAR. What a race that turned out to be. I'm o happy that #8 got back into the top 10 for points. Man, what a major call to stay out at the end of the race to go from 20 something to finish in the top 10. Nice move!

Uptown - chillin'

Well, I'm here waiting for Krissy, Austin, and Jennifer to pick me up. Austin has summer camp each day from 8:30 – 11:30 uptown near my office. So I usually stop by the office to get some major items wrapped up and head home with them at lunch, after Austin’s camp. Today, I was early and they didn’t have to wait on me. I sat down and just enjoyed the nice view I had. There is the Johnson & Whales on the left and a Double Tree hotel tucked in behind the tree straight ahead.

Breakfast first!

Usually we try to hit the breakfast seen every once in a while to get a little variety. It is always fun to be together as a family and share thoughts over some eggs. You can see, Jenny is rubbing her full belly! She eats pancakes, grits, baby food, and just about anything we put her way. Well, as time moves on, the family grows. Today is Jenny’s first time in a highchair. She liked it! She had her own chair and therefore, space. She is really good at sitting up and is really enjoying it. It must be a totally new experience for her being upright so much. We even replaced her chair seat with Austin’s old one that is upright. It is so cool to look back at her, or in the rearview mirror, and see her smiling and enjoying all the new scenes. She can see out the window now and travels in the same directions with us, LOL!

Proud Dad

This is my boy Austin stopping to point out and appreciate a newly planted flower. How cool is that. Now I’ve got to get him into cleaning up the yard with me!

Tuesday, August 1 - Strep, again?

Ok, today I'm not well at all. I’ve got a sort throat and my whole body aches like I've been tumbled dried in the dryer all night. I’ll see what the doc has to say. Yuck is today’s outlook!