Floating on cloud 9!

Okay so I had the BEST DAY EVER yesterday. Not only did I get to talk to my loving adorable husband once but I got to talk to him TWO TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!! He called me yesterday about 7am (10am his time). He was at church and I guess the old ladies who help out the branch there all bring their cell phones and charges so the soldiers can call home to their families! HOW AWESOME IS THAT? We got to talk for about 10 mins and then later in the evening I got a second call from him b/c they got some phone priveldges. SWEET! We both just cried and laughed. It was nothing short of a heavenly experience for me. We have never gone this long without talking in the whole 3 1/2 years we have known each other! He is doing well. He is very frustrated with the stupid 18 year old boys but he is physically doing great. Top of his unit actually. He graduates June 27th and I looked up tickets to South Carolina and they are over $700. We will have to figure something out! I am really really proud of him. He really likes his battle buddy (Blint) he actually went to church with him yesterday too.

We have been busy in Tucson. I try to go to the gym once a day. I have been to the step class (LOVED IT), cycling class (loved it but my butt hurts) and the water aerobics class (LOVED IT!). We also go on 2 or 3 bike rides a day here. In fact the other day we went on a path and ran into a rattlesnake! YIKES! I hate snakes more than anything on this earth and to run into a poisonus one!!!!! So we now call it Rattlesnake ridge. I think I scared it as bad as it scared me because it started rattling its tail and then dove back into the rocks. We do see a lot of wild life here on our rides. Mostly, small rodents, jack rabbits, deer, lizards... We saw a coyote once and my parents have seen a Gila Monster. We went to the fair the other day and had a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!! hinckley loved the rides. I am excited for the next 8 weeks and 4 days to go by fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH FOR WONDERFUL HUSBANDS WHO ARE WILLING TO GO TO BOOT CAMP TO HELP THEIR FAMILY!

Finally in Sunny Tucson!

So I feel like I have a million gazillion things to write about so this may take a few days!
*First and foremost Troy got in the military!!!!!!! YEAHHH! He is already at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He is in reception right now waiting for all his paper work to go through so he can start boot camp. I have talked to him twice now, which is uncommon. I asked him today if the Drill Srgt.'s were buggin on him since he is a big guy and he said that yesterday they ran the mile run and he came in first and that shut them up! HA. I love my husband! He sounds really lonely though. Not my usual Troy boy. I am literally counting the days until I see him!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so grateful though he finally made it!

*No Carter baby on the way. :( But thats okay. We thought we had news but we dont now and thats okay. We are just excited for new changes and adventures ahead!

*I am in Tucson, Arizona with my parents for the next couple of months until Troy gets back. I am loving it here. The weather is just beautiful and Hinckley is loving having his grandparents around him. We have already been out on a couple of bike rides, hot tubing, lizard looking, etc. Its been fun! It was nice to catch up with some old friends at church on Sunday. Its amazing how 18 months can change a ward!

*My dad is doing a lot better. He is doing half days at work and so that is good! He has lost probably 20 pounds or more and if any of you know my dad he is already a string bean. He is getting better each day though!

I really can't think of anything else at the moment but I know I will think of something later!

A new addition to the fam...

Just a note to let people know that my Dad is slowly recovering. He had to take a leave of absence from his job but its a good thing because he needs to really start getting better. Thank you to everybody who said prayers and good thoughts for him! I have the greatest friends in the world!

The Carters added a new addition to their family last week. Its a 2007 white toyota sienna. ITs amazing! I will try and put up some hot pics soon. Can a mini-van be hot?!

We may have some other news to share with family and friends in the near distant future!

Email from papa shumway

Just a note to explain my unexpected absence last week and some gained insight on the fragility and value of life/health. Many of you know that I underwent surgery for prostate cancer 6 weeks ago that looks to have been successful. All was well except for some tenderness in my lower abdominal area that I attributed to artifacts of surgery. Last Wednesday I awoke with a little more tenderness than normal but put it aside as overexertion and proceeded to work. After about 1 1/2 hr the pain increased significantly and proceeded around to my kidney area, then I was set upon by severe chills and shaking resulting from a fast rising fever. I headed home to get a temperature reading but found I was shaking so violently I couldn't hold the thermometer so I called the doctor who had performed my surgery and he directed me to the emergency room. My wife dropped me off at the ER door then went to park. By this time I was shaking so bad I could hardly walk. After explaining my dilemma and concern for the violent and fast acting nature of the problem to the receptionist I was cooly handed a paper and told to fill it out. My condition was so bad I couldn't write so I sat huddled and shaking until my wife could return and do it for me. I was then told to give the paper with to the Triage person (a young fellow that was supposed to be sitting at a table with a stethoscope but wasn't.) After what seemed a long wait, he appeared through the door flirting with one of the other workers. He dutifully took my vitals which included 103 degree temperature and asked me to take a seat with the others and I would be called as soon as possible. I asked if I could get some blankets as I was shivering so violently and perhaps a corner to lay down as I felt so miserable. The former were provided; the later, I was told, was unavailable and I could sit with the rest of the patients whom all eyed me suspiciously as I shivered in the corner. Two hours in this condition drove me to call my surgeon's office and see if they couldn't itervene but was told the ER's do not appreciate external manipulation so I resigned myself to either waiting until called, the question of whether it would be St. Peter or the Doctor was open for debate and, by the end, somewhat immaterial to me. After 4 hours waiting my name was finally called and I shuffeled through "the door". On the other side, part of the reason for the long delays was apparent as the halls were lined with ambulance gurneys loaded with the daily quota from the city which at the time appeared to be muscle strains, headaches, shortness of breathe, diabetes related issues, and loneliness. The doctors immediately realized the seriousness of my situation and started IV's and close vital sign monitoring. Recognizing an infection, but not knowing what it was, they started me on massive loads of antibiotics while tests were run for better identification. With close monitoring (still on a gurney in the hallway) they noted that my blood pressure suddenly dropped to a systolic high of 75 and they got more concerned. The infection, which ended up being a form of strep, had somehow entered my bloodstream and become what they call septic. They desperately tried to add IV's but were unable as the BP was so low. Finally the BP dropped to 66 and my system started shutting down. They got it stabilized somewhat and wheeled me into an actual room then it dropped to 57 over 38 and my systems went critical. A team of two excellent doctors and 6 nurses worked furiously to keep me alive. All I can remember is them asking me to swallow as they fought to force a tube into my stomach, extreme pain and helplessness as I felt my last few minutes may very well be before me, and a little nurse holding my hand as my wife was asked to leave to spare her the torture of the ordeal. They inserted an emergency pic line in my jugular which they used to feed 3 simultaneous IV's and finally the announcement from one doctor, it's coming back up. That was followed by 2 days in the ICU and 6 in a regular hospital room with close monitoring and care. A CT scan indicated fluid build-up in the surgery area so they inserted a drain to help the antibiotics do their work. They finally let me come home yesterday, weak, sore all over, feeling like I have been run over by a steam roller, but greatful to have a few more days to enjoy my family and friends, the blessing of life and hopefully be a little productive. There was a front page article in our Tucson paper last week about a 38 year old man that came to a different ER room in Tucson with what looked like my same problem, and he didn't survive. There is no doubt my outcome would have been different had the shut-down taken place at any other time. The moral of the story - don't get sick in Tucson. I had a long discussion with one of the hospital administrators on my experience (he sought me out) and hopefully some changes can be implemented in the triage protocol. More importantly, enjoy each day and don't take for granted that which is most important in your life. All five of my adult children flew out to be with me the day following the incident. I give full credit to God's tender mercy in pulling me through this ordeal. My prognosis is good. I still have an IV pic (moved from my jugular to my arm) and they have scheduled home health care nurses for daily intrevenous antibiotic injections for the next 14 days. I'm guessing my body is so pumped with antibiotics that germs with any sense will stear clear for a while.

Papa Shumway Update

First of all thank you for all the prayers that have been sent off on my dads behalf and for our family! I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Here is an update on my dad... Earlier today my dad had a lot of pain in his lower back and was having difficulty breathing, so my mom took him into the doctor and they took a chest x-ray. The x-ray technician said, "Oh you will no doubt be hearing from the doctor." So my parents went home and waited and waited and waited to hear back. Nothing. Finally about 8pm my dad was having such difficulty breathing my mom had to call 911 and an ambulance came and picked him up. They said that if they couldn't get my dads blood pressure down they would have to take him to St. Marys hospital (which is known for its lack of EVERYTHING, that is where the 39 year old died a couple of weeks ago who had the same exact thing my dad has). Thankfully they were able to get to St. Joseph. SO I am anxiously waiting near the cell phone for an update. My mom had to follow the ambulance there.

I am starting to wonder what it would be like not to have my dad on this earth. Tonight my son Hinckley pointed up to the sky and said, "Dadda". Troy maybe thought it was Grandpa saying good-bye to him. Thankfully that was not the case at least not yet. There are so many things I want to do and say to him. I regret all the horrible things I have said or done to cause him pain. I wonder if I will ever get to hug him again and smell that familiar smell of cologne. and have my son go on fishing trips with him. Will my son even get to really know his Grandpa? What will he remember about him? What would happen to my mom? Where would she go? What would she do? What about all the future trips we have planned, all the baseball games at Shumway park, the mormon bridge games that have never been played. What about waffles on Saturday morning? All the walks in the desert we haven't taken. The huge ice-cream bowls that are sitting empty. The hot tub that is cold. What about camping at Birch Creek? What about floating down the canal or jet-skiing around the DC monuments. What about all the museums, zoo trips, school trips, basketball, volleyball, tennis, softball games. Who would tell me all the names of the cactus and animal life. Who would give me spiritual advice and financial advice. What about the airplane rides with the Grandkids? Hinckley has only experience that once when he was 6 months old. I can't live without him. I need him now in my life just like when i was 3 wks old and couldn't do anything for myself. He can't go... He is too young and has so much more to live for!

Miracles Happen Everyday!

I know many of you are wondering how my dad is doing so I thought I would share the events of the past week! It has been a long but rewarding adventure!

Last Wednesday I called my mom to see how she was doing and she told me, "we are in the emergency room". I said, "for you or dad"? And she responded "dad". I was totally shocked. My dad never goes to the doctor even last year when he fell on his roller blades and had a huge gash in his head and was knocked out. He also hurt his wrist and finally went to the doctor 3 weeks later when it wasn't getting better. So I thought it was pretty serious and called all of my siblings. The rest of the day I stayed close to my cell phone. My parents waited 4 hours until they took him back and even at that they didn't have a room so he was in the middle of the hallway. At first they thought he had a serious kidney infection or kidney stones. But after a CT scan they found a collection of infection near his kidneys called seroma. Now was the time to figure out why it was there and how to get rid of it. So they waited and waited and waited in the hospital hallway. My mom was only allowed to go in and see him for 5-10 mins every hour. At about 7:30 on wednesday she went in the hallway to see him. She noticed that his head was swelling about 3X the normal size of his head and he looked horrible. She asked him "honey are you okay", he responded, "no, I think I am going." My mom ran to the nurses station and said I need help I need help. So she grabbed a doctor and they rushed to his care. Within minutes they had 8 people working on him. Between the hour of 7 and 8 there is a doctor change and so there are 2 ER doctors there which was why my dad was saved. They pushed my mom aside and started working on him. His blood pressure dropped and 3 times my mom heard the doctors say, "we've lost him, we've lost him, he is gone." All my mom could see was the blood that my dad was throwing up everywhere. I guess his lungs were filled with blood and all he could do was throw it up to get it out. They were trying to get a breathing tube down his throat but he has phase 4 airway. Which means they can't see anything down his throat so they have to guide the tube blind. Which is very difficult.

They moved him to the ICU unit so they could keep a very close eye on him. Nobody knew what had happened until the next day because my moms cell phone battery died. Earlier in the day I had contacted the Bishop and Relief Society President who said they would do anything to help. Thankfully, the Relief Society President showed up about 30 mins after this all happened and she stayed with my mom until 1am. They wouldn't allow her to go and see him so finally about 6am she decided to go back to the house to charge her phone and get a shower. Once all of us kids knew what happened we all found flights to Tucson. One of my moms best friends drove up to be with her until we all arrived. My brother Ben was the first to arrive, Rob drove from New Mexico, David and Amy arrived at the same time and then I got there about 9:45pm. My sister in law Kristin flew in so she could watch Hinckley while I was at the hospital with my family. She was a lifesaver! As the day progressed they did numerous tests and we had little answers. By the time I got there it was too late to go see him but all of my siblings had gone to surprise him. He had a temperature of 103 and his blood pressure was extremely low. The nurses and doctors could not get the temp to go down and the blood pressure to go up. Within the 10 minutes my siblings were there his temp went down to 101 and his blood pressure went up 10 points. It was truly a miracle! My siblings tried to prepare me for what I would see the next morning but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. ***writers note*** this is the first time our whole family has been together in 4 years and its been 9 years since our last real family reunion. As I nervously approached the ICU I peeked in the room and fought back the tears. I didn't even recognize him. He was so swollen, his eyes shut, numerous tubes sticking out of his body. He just was there helpless. My siblings told me later that looked MUCH better then he did the night before. I couldn't believe he could have looked worse. Again within the short period we were there his blood pressure went up.

It was a very long day. We all went to lunch as a family and laughed and laughed and laughed about past Shumway adventures. And because dad was in ICU we weren't allowed to stay. So we decided to do some things together like ride bikes, play games, and watch the show Just for Laughs. By Friday night he was out of ICU and in a regular room. It was a very old hospital and dark. The doctors came to the conclusion that about a week prior dad had strep throat and the infection got in his blood stream and found a weak part of his body (where he was healing from prostate cancer). So he underwent a surgery to remove most of the infection and he was put on a couple of strong antibiotics. They actually had to put in a pick line through his neck that went directly to his heart so they could put the antibiotics straight in his body.

There is still a chance that the infection might come back so they are watching him closely. He is still in the hospital and has a long road to recover. He is very weak but he is trying to get his strength back. It was interesting because last Sunday on the front page of the Tucson newspaper was a story about a 39 year old who died in the ER waiting room a couple weeks before. He died of the same exact thing my dad had. They waited 8 hours in the ER and by the time they called him back blood had filled his lungs and he died. His wife kept begging for help but they kept telling her to go and sit down. What a nightmare. What is wrong with America?

I will try to keep things updated!

Things are changing out there... You'll like it!

For the first time since giving birth to Hinckley I have finally come to the phase in my life that I thought I would never get to. I want another one! It sounds crazy but its true! I really struggled being Hinckleys mom he was a very demanding baby. We lived with my parents for the first 6 months he was born and it took all 4 of us to things going. We would all takes shifts. We had doctor appointment after doctor appointment and all sorts of tests and such. Honest and truly that is one part of my life I NEVER NEVER want to revisit. My son was diagnosed with acid reflux which many moms have told me oh yeah my kid had the same thing. NOT! Did you have to take your 3 month old baby to a specialist and have them put your newborn under why they stuck a tube with a camera down his throat and sample his acid? I DONT THINK SO! I have only met one other person who has experienced what I did with my son. And then did you have the doctor tell you that your son stomach was near unrepair? I DONT THINK SO! Was your kid on 4 different medicines at one time to stop the acid from forming? Probably not. Does you kid still have problems and he is almost 2?

Okay so now that I have vented... I thought I would never want to experience it again. But something deep down inside is changing. On Sunday I held this newborn baby who is about 6 weeks old and she was just adorable! By 2 weeks hinckley was already kicking and screaming and from that time forward we never sat in church. We were always walking the halls. It is actually a miracle if you ask me. There have been many times I have told Heavenly Father look I can never have any more kids, i am not cut out for this mom job. But you know maybe its not to bad... I realized that I can do it.

I want to experience a newborn baby who actually sleeps more than 20 mins at a time. I literally had to sleep sitting up with him on my chest for most of Hinckleys first 6 months because if I would lay him down the acid would just kick up and he would scream and scream and scream.

So I am proclaiming to the world something I thought I would never do again. I WANNA A BABY! How exciting is that? Babies R US here I come.... Troy watch out! LOL!