Christmas Has Come and Went

Well things are never dull around the Douglass household. We have had an exciting holiday season. I was just getting back on my feet and feeling like I had everything under control. . .
When I received a phone call from my sister telling me that they had admitted my mother into emergency. She had had a mini stroke and they were trying to find out what exactly was going on. WOW! A few days went by and with MRI's, cat scans, sonograms they finally found that she had a blocked carotid artery. 80% blockage. Extremely serious for a woman at her age, 82. So Tuesday night at 10:00 pm my brother called from SL and said he was leaving Wed. morning for Cali, she was due for surgery Thurs. morning, Christmas eve. So...I thru clothes in my bag for at least a week and Wed. am Paul drove me to SL. Mom had her surgery Thurs. morning and everything went very well. She's very luckey she has had no side effects from the little stroke she did have. The doctor which BTW was a totally cool guy that grew up in my county and two of the four brothers are both outstanding heart surgeons between two counties. The hospital and staff are completely top notch and it was re-assuring that she had the utmost care all the way around. The doctor told us that was extremely lucky that she didn't die because of how severe the blockage was and someone at her age. We feel very blessed to still have mom here with us. She's recuperating well and really you can't even tell she was in surgery two days ago. We brought her home yesterday and she looks fabulous today. We had our Christmas dinner tonite 30 people here, I'm alittle tired. . . but we pulled it off with alot of help with family members. BTW the food was fab! I will stay here for another week just to be sure mom is on her feet and get her into some follow ups with the docs.
Here she is my cute mom two days after her surgery feeling great and ready to go! Crazy!

My husband has pulled off another fantastic job with my kids. He did Christmas eve, stuffed stockings and made sure everything was ready for Christmas day. Kenzi made a fabulous dinner and everyone enjoyed each other. I have never been without my husband or kids for Christmas. that was alittle heartbreaking. But we survived. Today all the kids went snowboarding and to our dismay Colton crashed and fractured his sternum. OUCH! He is out of c0mmision for a couple of weeks. Paul delt with that today as well without me. Whew! That guy is going to receive a halo for sure. He has really gone beyond the call of duty. I love that guy. :) Bless his heart.
So they say "things" come in three's, swine flu, my mom and Colton, so I'm hoping things are thru with the Douglass family and we can get into some nomal activites. Stay tuned though you never know! :)