And the good news today is..

Dad was released from the hospital and went home in great spirits! On top of getting his "get out of jail" card finally, he was also told that the open heart surgery was not necessary!! The results of the most recent ultrasound showed that the valve was not as bad as originally thought and that the remaining blockage could be fixed with angioplasty and another stint. He will see the doctors again next week and schedule the surgery following that! Given this news, I don't think I will be traveling into Chicago at this point. Maybe I will make a long weekend trip in September or October once he is recovering.

Tomorrow is finally August! Well that is what Melanie is happy about - I'm not so sure I'm ready for the year to be 7 months over! Tomorrow we go register her for school and finally find out what classes she will have! Then school starts in 10 days! That really makes her happy! (And Mom too!) We will also go together and get our cholesterol checked! Oh joy!

It's really HOT here - today we set a record! It is the 19th day in a row that Denver has hit 90 degrees or more! I finally broke down and turned on the A/C since I'll be working from home tomorrow. And tonight... I'm freezing my buns off!!! I hate A/C!

Stay cool!

My week...

It's been a difficult week for me. On Sunday I received a call from my brother that Dad had suffered a heart attack that morning. He was at the hospital and doing fairly well. Unfortunately I felt absolutely helpless being so far away and not having much information. A few hours later I got a hold of my sister and got the same report. He was to have a stress test later the day but otherwise was doing fairly well. Finally later that night my brother filled me in further. Dad was going to have an angiogram and possibly angioplasty on Monday and Ed would be with him. And I finally got to talk to Dad for a short time before the doctors came in.

I didn't sleep well and definitely didn't feel well when I went to work. Finally around 9 a.m., Ed called to let me know they took him into surgery. About 2 hours later he was out. They placed a stint in an artery that was 99% blocked, but chose not to repair any of the others at this time. Instead they decided to close him up and schedule open heart surgery in a few weeks. I never got to talk to Dad that day but I did get the full report from my brother. In addition to the bypass surgery, he will also have his valve repaired or possibly replaced depending on the damage. This will be a very major surgery.

When I called Dad on Tuesday morning I learned he still had the tube in his groin and he was till flat on his back 22 hours after surgery. That poor man. He sounded really good though and was very positive. I wasn't sure if he really understood what lay ahead of him, but I knew he would eventually. I called him again that evening and he was in an even better mood! He had had the tube removed, had many visitors and was finally moved to a regular room! Now it was just a matter of time before he was released.

Tonight he was still in the hospital and chomping at the bit to get out of there. He told me he has walked up and down the halls many times to get exercise and see something other than the TV! The doctor will release him tomorrow after they have made sure he is strong enough to go home. He is more than ready!

As for the upcoming surgery, well he had lots of questions. He needs to see the cardiologist first and schedule the procedure. Not sure when that will be, but I've told him I will be there. I can't let something major go by with me 1000 miles away. I'm to anxious to get answers and don't want to wait for someone to call. Now, Ed, I know you have done a great job, but put yourself in my shoes!!! Besides, a few days off of work sounds great right now!!!

So, for now my roller coaster has stopped and I'm feeling much better knowing he is doing OK and ready to go home!

Here I am

I've been informed by my dear friend Marlene that I have been absent from my blog for too long!!! She should talk... she doesn't even have one, much less leave me notes on mine!!! (OK, I'll forgive her!)

Summer is just busy... it seems like if I'm not up to something with the family, I'm recovering! I've been really tired lately - I think it's just the heat. Not sure how many days in the 90's we've had, but I can tell you I wouldn't want to live someplace like AZ! Me and heat don't get along!

This past weekend I finally finished Patty's CJ book. Her journal was a clear album about color! I ended up using GREEN and decided on nature and "GO GREEN" as my inspiration. I took lots of outdoor pictures and when I finally uploaded them last week to Snapfish, my problems started. Snapfish never sent them to Walgreen's and after 2 tries, 2 trips to the stores and many phone calls, I finally through in the towel and went to Walmart. Unfortunately this delayed me by 4 more days. Finally over the weekend I pumped out the book and as a bonus, finished Kristi's Quote book as well! That makes me finished with this round! Yeah!!! In addition, I finally finished Toni's CJ from the other group and mailed that back yesterday! Hopefully it was waiting for her when she arrived home today!!!

My niece Betsy came on Sunday and left today! Her and Melanie had a lot of fun playing together! They went to the movies and the pool! Probably their last hurrah together before school starts. They will see each other over the next 2 weekends for family functions, but probably no more sleepovers! I'm glad they had fun!

Work is work... It is boring and exhausting because it's boring. That's about all anyone needs to hear!!!

I think I'll try to do some stamping tonight! Have a great one everyone!

Rockin' Brown's Canyon

Last weekend while camping in Buena Vista, we took the crew white-water rafting down the Arkansas River! Here is the crew just before we left for the boat launch! (Sue, Betsy, Dan, Melanie, Moira, Mary and Caitlin)

Dan and I have rafted this stretch of river at least 7 times now and this was the highest level we have ever experienced! It was ROCKIN' baby! The river was so high, we had to duck going under 2 different bridges - ones we couldn't even touch before!!! Oh and did I mention it was COLD?!!! About 40 degrees!!! (Thus the beautiful wet suits!!)

Our guide, Topper put Dan and I in the front (as we usually end up), Moira behind me and Melanie and Betsy behind Dan all paddling. The 2 other girls, Mary and Caitlin got to ride in the princess seats - although they did help us paddle at slower points! Because the water was running so fast and big, we hit rapids immediately!!! The class 2 ones were now class 3 and several of the class 3 rapids were either 3+ or 4! And once we hit the rapids, it was evidence that I was going to be WET the whole darn trip!!! :)

Through the Canyon Doors (Screen door and Storm door) all the way to the Wodow Maker and Seidel's Suck-hole we were moving fast and getting WET!!! The photographer took our picture on Zoom Flume, right after lunch. Too bad Moira fell into the boat just as we hit the rapid, becuase that is where she stayed for all 4 shots!!! I didn't bother to buy the picture, but she did!! Everyone in our boat had an awesome time and can't wait to go try that one again!!!

Next year we're running The Numbers section!!!

#6 or #9 - Depends on how you count!!!

That is mountains climbed!!! I have climbed 9 mountains but three of them I have stood on top of more than once! So the number changes depending on who you ask - me or Dan!!! This 4th of July I knocked Mt. Yale off my list!!! And let me tell you... that was a butt-kicker!!

We had planned to hit the trail by 5 a.m., take 4 hours to reach the summit and 2 hours to get back down. It is 8 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 4,300 feet. This would be the toughest we had ever done. We tried it about 3 years ago and reached treeline but turned back when storm approached and we were not prepared to continue. This would be a great 4th of July if we could conquer it.

We woke at 5 a.m. when the alarm wasn't heard and rushed to hit the trail by 5:20 a mile up the road! Not bad! The hike through the forest was steady, especially with several flat areas, which just told us the elevation ahead was going to get worse. (We knew already that it was over 1,000 feet of elevation gain for every mile!) But our pace up to treeline would still get us to the top in 4 hours. Once we hit treeline though, things went from steady to slow!!!

The trail was dirt and loose gravel and just went straight UP! Not many switchbacks to alleviate the incline. I was lucky if I could go 50 paces at times, much less the 200 paces Dan challenged me to before I had to rest for a minute to get my breath. The knee was not the problem, it was my beating little heart!!! Many times I wasn't so sure I was going to make it. I had touches of altitude sickness along the way. Finally we reached the boulders towards the top and we collapsed for a rest! (pic 1)

We kept plugging along though and finally 5 hours and 20 minutes after we left the parking lot we reached the summit at 14,196 feet!!! Mountain #6, Summit #9 reached!!! What an awesome feeling! What a way to spend the 4th of July!!! From the top, you could see not only the mountains in the Collegiate Range where we were, but you could see all the way to Gunnison and Crested Butte to the West! So far this was the most beautiful summit I have made! Once rested, we felt great! Boy were we in for a wicked trip down....

Yep, that loose dirt and gravel going straight down were a killer on both of us! It took a lot longer for us to get down than ever expected - about 3 .5 hours. We had to go slow because I fell 4 times in the upper section and Dan fell 3 times in the lower section. It was scary. Neither of us brought much food (we expected to be back by lunchtime) and we were weak from hunger, dehydrated and tired. Thankfully neither of us got hurt badly but we were overall just exhausted. I think the only part of my body that didn't hurt was the knee that was operated on! It was barely swollen - thank heavens!!!

This by far is one of my favorite 4th of July's EVER!!!

Tagged

I was tagged by Toni! Here we go...

Each player answers the questions themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 4 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and ask them to read your blog. Then you let the person who tagged you know when you posted your answers.

Ten Years Ago:

July, 1998 - I'm not sure I can remember back that far!!! We were living in Bolingbrook, IL - Dan, me and our 3 year old daughter Melanie! We had just bought our pop-up trailer and were most likely on our way to Colorado to christen it on it's first voyage!!! We stayed at Taylor Reservoir where Melanie potty-trained in an outhouse!!! This past weekend, we were just 25 miles from there camping on the other side of Cottonwood Pass! Still one of our favorite areas!

Five things on today's to-do list:
(I'll pick for tomorrow since it's almost nite-nite time!)

1. Go to work
2. Start/Finish the laundry from the weekend
3. Finish Toni's CJ
4. Download my weekend pictures
5. Play with Melanie

Snack I Enjoy:

Chocolate

Things I would do if I was a millionaire:

Travel, buy a condo in the mountains and make sure Melanie was taken care of.

Places I have lived:

Chicago, IL (20 years)
Carbondale, IL (2 years - College)
Downers Grove, IL (3 years)
Bolingbrook, IL (10 years)
Colorado Springs, CO (1 year)
Castle Rock, CO (6 years)

4 People I am tagging:
Lisa
Debbie
Rocio
Linda