This was from Len's last day here in Orlando. We decided to head out to Epcot for the day - surprisingly she had never been there before. The day was clear and cool. Of course, we all goofed around and had a lot of laughs so I was glad to see her come down to Orlando for the weekend. The next few days after this day was stressing because of my father's impending surgery. After the day was up we headed straight to the Gaylord Palms to see the ice sculpture exhibit (it was the last day).
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Baby It's Cold Inside
One of the things El has been wanting to check out before it was all over was the ice sculpture exhibit at the Gaylord Palms resort and hotel. HUGE blocks of ice were brought in and expertly carved into full size slides, dining tables, toys, a ktichen, horse drawn carriage, animals, etc. Inside it was FREEZING (9 degrees!). They even sold socks, and gloves for peopel thru a vending machine if they needed it. It was an incredible experience. Glad we went. Cher, Rachel and El looked kick ass in their parkas, while I looked like some kind of criminal with shorts on and a long parka, legs exposed.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Me and El on a icey horse drawn carriage. Insane. more insane was the fact that it was warm outside when we all went to Epcot earlier and I wore shorts. Inside the exhibit it was a toasty 9 DEGREES. Luckily they gave us parkas to wear. Unluckily for me I looked like a flasher with mine on for all the small children to enjoy.
New Year's Eve / Birthday Bash for El
Yup El is a New Year's Eve baby. Speaking with friends and family recently on different occasions I realized how out of touch we are with everyone. So many things have happened with our barkada that before we knew it we all got so involved in everyday living that we never stay in touch as much as we'd like. Family illnesses, new births, masters degrees, career choices, and new homes pushed all of us apart even more. I decided that it was time to try and get together as best we could to toast off the past year and bring in the new one.
When was a better time than to have a small reunion than New Year's Eve and Eleanor's birthday? She certainly deserved it. El works doggedly and needed some time off to enjoy her holiday. I sent out an informal invitation around the country and tried my best to pull people away from their routine to fly out (or drive out) to Orlando for a get together.
Despite my best efforts, only less than half could break away to join in the festivities. Nevertheless, El had a great time and maybe some of these pictures will entice the crew for the next go around.
The scheduling was pretty hectic as I had El and all of our out-of-towners head over to Disney for the day while I prepped food and arranged the table. The decor was a beast unto itself and lucky for me my younger sister decided at the last minute to fly out for the party. I ran out to the airport to pick her up and immediately put her ass to work. Rachel came by a couple of hours later to help run errands and get the house cleaned up.
Red decor with a heavy asian influence was the theme. It was all about bringing good fortune and luck for the upcoming year. Thai masks, red Japanese parasols, TONS of red Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling and even a gigantic paper dragon adorned our home. Later on we gave out little good luck items to the guests (little lucky cats, buddhas, geishas, ninjas, coins) and the paper lanterns.
Wines that El and I have enjoyed over the years and some bubbly were served alongside a plethora of good eats. The menu consisted of a lot brownbag features along with some new entries including: Crab Cakes with a Black Bean Salsa & Sour Cream, Chicken Chunk Salad on Wheat, Four Cheese Lasagna with Meat Sauce, Beef Tenderloin Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce And Pita Wedges, Greek Salad, Panko & Pistachio Encrusted Pacific Basa with ber Blanc Sauce, and Southwestern Chicken Eggrolls. Desserts and treats included Belgium Chocolates, fortune cookies, antipasto platter of Italian deli meats, fresh mozzarella, Roma Tomatoes and Greek and Morrocan Olives, Leche Flan with seasonal berries and the of course, a Vanilla and Strawberry cake drizzled in chocolate for the birthday girl.
After everyone grubbed out on food and drink we had the candle blowing ceremony and El's birthday gifts, including a nice set of diamond earrings from yours truly. As the midnight hour came closer we moved outdoors for the fireworks and bubbly toast-off. All in all it was a good time. Happy Birthday , El!
Thursday, January 13, 2005
High Stress Season
It's been awhile since I updated my blogger and I'm feeling a little guilty. Truth be told I've had quite a season. During Thanksgiving we got the news that my father wasn't quite up to par. I knew recently that he had been getting fatigued easily. I just chalked it up to his getting older, smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure. Even my parents trips to Florida have become less frequent and more tiresome for him. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving I was given the vague information that he had kidney stones and was going through some testing for possible heart problems. I also found out my sister, Cherilyn, and my mother that he had been dodging the doctor. Thanksgiving at Rick and Donna's was fairly quiet - which was fine with me since work had been beasting the hell out of me with a multitude of projects - and the outings were short lived when my father either opted out or just wanted to sit and wait.
Around Christmas it was firm that he needed to have some procedures for kidney stones and an aneurysm in his aorta. Cherilyn had worked doggedly to get him to see a specialist and after some run ins with insurance he was set to have an angioplasty, but his previous surgeries had made complications.
After New Year's we learned his procedure had escalated to major surgery. He was scheduled to have a triple bypass. We drove to SC and be with him and help out as much as we could. Leaving the house at 5am we took him to Trident Medical where he was prepped and we stayed until the surgery was completed. Everything went smoothly and we were eager to see him.
I wasn't ready to see my father the way we did. Tubes running all through his throat, chest, legs and a ventilator with equipment everywhere emotions ran high. The girls all cried and all Rick and I could do was stand there firm. It's not a good thing to see your father like that. His eyes were barely open, but were glazed over. He tried mumbling something but couldn't because of the ventilator. This was a man who worked hard, had a hard life growing up and given up everything for his siblings and raising his own family. He was always a very giving person who no matter what always to tried to please. It's where I like to think I got the trait from.
To see him like that was awful. The next few days were baby steps in his recovery. Lots of family and friends called constantly, stopped by the house, or drove by the hospital. Most were turned away from visits aas the last thing he needed was to lose focus on his recovery. Eventually many of the tubes were taken out as he tried to reboot his system and get things going normally. By the time we drove back to Florida late Sunday he was transferred to PCU and trying to eat more, get his oxygen levels back up and moving around more.
I call everyday every few hours to talk to him and offer encouragement. He's had some rough nights as the staff tried to wean him off of his oxygen tubes or switching out his meds for his diabetes. Stillup and down, but everyday offers an improvement. Hopefully by tomorrow he may even be able to go home. Between Ricky, Rachel and I we've decided to alternate going home to help care for him so Cherilyn an my mom can have some rest themselves.
I brought over some equipment from Florida so while I wasn't at the hospital we could do some much needed maintenance. Rick and I managed to do some work on the cars - checking fluids, changing oil, cleaning and such. Eleanor was also a huge help with not only the work on the house, but with my father's pre- and post-op. I think it was reassuring that she was there to lend her nursing advice for a faster recovery. Because we wanted the house to be clean for his return home and ease some stress from my mother's shoulders we were able to dust, move furniture and vacuum everything, steam the entire house , clean out ducts and windows and basically manage the day to day chores. Rick and I even managed to reorganize the house so he could move around and get to bed easily. Aspen was given a new kennel so he wouldn't be all over the house to make a mess. It was alot of work, but definitely worth it. In between some minor sibling squabbling it was a good bonding experience. None of us had had much time to be together with our own lives in focus. The whole thing made me reanalyze my priorities.
I wish for a speedy recovery for my father as we aren't out of the woods yet. After a few weeks healing he'll haev to go back to deal with those pesky kidney stones and (!) the aneurysm.
Around Christmas it was firm that he needed to have some procedures for kidney stones and an aneurysm in his aorta. Cherilyn had worked doggedly to get him to see a specialist and after some run ins with insurance he was set to have an angioplasty, but his previous surgeries had made complications.
After New Year's we learned his procedure had escalated to major surgery. He was scheduled to have a triple bypass. We drove to SC and be with him and help out as much as we could. Leaving the house at 5am we took him to Trident Medical where he was prepped and we stayed until the surgery was completed. Everything went smoothly and we were eager to see him.
I wasn't ready to see my father the way we did. Tubes running all through his throat, chest, legs and a ventilator with equipment everywhere emotions ran high. The girls all cried and all Rick and I could do was stand there firm. It's not a good thing to see your father like that. His eyes were barely open, but were glazed over. He tried mumbling something but couldn't because of the ventilator. This was a man who worked hard, had a hard life growing up and given up everything for his siblings and raising his own family. He was always a very giving person who no matter what always to tried to please. It's where I like to think I got the trait from.
To see him like that was awful. The next few days were baby steps in his recovery. Lots of family and friends called constantly, stopped by the house, or drove by the hospital. Most were turned away from visits aas the last thing he needed was to lose focus on his recovery. Eventually many of the tubes were taken out as he tried to reboot his system and get things going normally. By the time we drove back to Florida late Sunday he was transferred to PCU and trying to eat more, get his oxygen levels back up and moving around more.
I call everyday every few hours to talk to him and offer encouragement. He's had some rough nights as the staff tried to wean him off of his oxygen tubes or switching out his meds for his diabetes. Stillup and down, but everyday offers an improvement. Hopefully by tomorrow he may even be able to go home. Between Ricky, Rachel and I we've decided to alternate going home to help care for him so Cherilyn an my mom can have some rest themselves.
I brought over some equipment from Florida so while I wasn't at the hospital we could do some much needed maintenance. Rick and I managed to do some work on the cars - checking fluids, changing oil, cleaning and such. Eleanor was also a huge help with not only the work on the house, but with my father's pre- and post-op. I think it was reassuring that she was there to lend her nursing advice for a faster recovery. Because we wanted the house to be clean for his return home and ease some stress from my mother's shoulders we were able to dust, move furniture and vacuum everything, steam the entire house , clean out ducts and windows and basically manage the day to day chores. Rick and I even managed to reorganize the house so he could move around and get to bed easily. Aspen was given a new kennel so he wouldn't be all over the house to make a mess. It was alot of work, but definitely worth it. In between some minor sibling squabbling it was a good bonding experience. None of us had had much time to be together with our own lives in focus. The whole thing made me reanalyze my priorities.
I wish for a speedy recovery for my father as we aren't out of the woods yet. After a few weeks healing he'll haev to go back to deal with those pesky kidney stones and (!) the aneurysm.
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