A bump in the road

 We had a little scare earlier this week. On Monday night, around 10:30PM I coughed up a little bit of blood. I had tomato soup for supper, so I thought it might be that. I called for Eddie & he said he thought it was blood, but then he's color blind so he wasn't sure. I was feeling fine so I went back to bed. About 15 minutes later, I had pain in my stomach, headed for the bathroom, and this time I knew it was blood. I had been diagnosed with Esophagial (?) Varices recently, but thought we had everything contolled by medication. I don't know why they start bleeding, but evidently I was bleeding from three of them. They were going to admit me & do an endoscopy in the morning, but all the sudden everything changed. I was losing a lot of blood, so nothing could wait. I was given two units of blood & taken to the ICU for the procedure. Thanks to my wonderful husband, he actually took a picture of me when everything was done & they let him come in. I woke up with my arms tied to the bed (which promptly made me mad).

Here I am in all my glory!
This is for you mom. Eddie thought you needed to see me.

After a while, they removed the tubes. I spent almost the entire day in the ICU & that evening let me move to a regular room. I don't know what they were waiting for, but they would only let me eat ice chips & Italian Ice until Thursday at lunch. I have to go back in 4 weeks for another scope so they can make sure everything is OK.


Right before leaving the ICU.

 Thanks to Bishop Finlayson & Brother Jarrod for coming in & giving me a blessing. I never really thought about dying, but I sure had a wake up call. I need to follow the diabetic diet a little better & try to reduce stress. (No pepsi for almost a week now.) Thanks to all my docs (Brian, Clay, Martha, Tom, Martin, Paul, Milap, Projwal, Joe & Fahad for checking in on me. Special thanks to Koren for being there for me.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts & prayers. We will have a struggle ahead, but we plan to work on our lifestyle together. I love all of you & will try my best not to scare everyone anymore.

Our Newest Addition (Grandchild #6)

Emerson John O'Leary

Born August 2, 2011 @ 10:28 PM

Lebanon, Grafton County, New Hampshire

Proud Parents: Michael & Amber

(to be continued with more pictures soon)

Happy Mother's Day Mom. I love you!!!

Just a little update :)

Eddie reminded me yesterday that I have not updated our blog in a while, so I decided I'd better get everyone caught up on what going on here in the northeast. The weather is starting to warm up & that makes things a lot easier.

Chris & Cassie, along with 3 of my grandkids, moved to Georgia the end of March. Chris had a job opportunity which will benefit them in the long run, but we miss them sooooo much! I thought life would return to normal with just Eddie & I, but it was really nice having them around all the time. Eddie is having a harder time that I am at this point, but hopefully he'll start working more hours & keep his mind off things. Anyway, that gave us an opportunity to move to a smaller place. We have actually moved to New Hampshire (about a mile from DHMC). It's a great commute. It take me longer to park & wait for the bus, than it does to drive to work now. Hopefully when it gets warmer I'll start walking. We are still using our PO Box for our mail, so you can send letters & packages anytime.

Speaking of work, beginning April 2, DHMC switched it's medical record system to EPIC. They are actually calling it eD-H. It's been a rough couple of months, but things are (hopefully) going to get better in a few weeks. Being the only secretary for 11 nephrologists equals a lot of work. However, I really enjoy my work & they keep telling me that we'll be able to hire a 2nd secretary soon (but, they've been saying that for the last two years).

Eddie & I would really like to go visit Frances & Danny in New York. He keeps checking prices for Amtrak, so soon Frances will get a call & let her know that we are coming. Does anyone have her phone number?

I'll get pictures of our new place soon, but if anyone wants to come see New England in person, we'll be happy to accommodate you.

We love & miss everyone back home. See ya soon.

Congratulations Amber & Michael

Amber & Michael are expecting their first child in August. We're excited for them. This will be grandchild #6 for Eddie & I. We can't wait to meet the new little.

We love you Amber & Michael.