Saturday, January 21, 2012

Boston Cream Torte

Had so much fun making these little baby Boston Cream Tortes today in celebration of Ronnie being home! Aren't they cute! Thank you Pinterest for the idea and Mom for my favorite Boston Cream recipe.

Friday, January 20, 2012

January Surgery: Part 1

Sorry this is coming so late, but the last week has been crazy plus my internet was out.

Ronnie had part one of his surgery on Thursday, January 12th on his right hand and right knee. Even though he was nervous about the surgery, he was excited too. This surgery is the one that could potentially help him turn another corner. It will allow his hand to be even more usable and help his walking to be much less painful, things he is very much looking forward too. On Thursday early afternoon, after the blessing of many friendly visits, Ronnie went into surgery. The surgery took a total of 5 hours, but had good results. In his hand, they made several incisions to open up his palm and allow his thumb to have more movement. They put metal pins into his thumb joints to temporarily hold his hand open. They also did several z-plasties on his fingers and wrist. On his knee, they excised a large portion of chronically open skin on the back of his knee and made a large incision going the whole circumference. The incisions allowed a large release of tension that Dr. L thinks may even help the stretching of his torso. They pinned the skin down and put integra (a pseudo skin) over the opening. Two wound vacs were attached to his knee. They also put integra and a wound vac on his hand.
After the surgery, Ronnie was in quite a bit of pain for the first couple days. It took a while to get on a pain management system that worked for both during the day and at night. He went back into the OR on Tuesday morning to do his first dressing change under anesthesia. The doctor was very impressed with the progress and even decided to remove the wound vacs! Today is Friday... just over a week after his surgery. They are doing a bed side dressing change today and then Ronnie will be allowed to come home until the first week of February when they do part 2 of the surgery (filling in with skin grafts).
We have been so blessed throughout this hospital stay in so many ways. I think this is the first surgery he has had since we have really established ourselves here in San Antonio. We have felt so loved on and encouraged over the last week. Ronnie has had a constant flow of visitors (and snacks!) from church and elsewhere to keep him company as well as lovely bouquets of flowers from our churches both here in San Antonio and at home. We are truly blessed and we thank God for that every day.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Friendship is good for the soul

We brought in the new year with an extra dose of friendship. I think it was just what the doctor ordered. Our dear friends, Logan and Haylee spent a few days with us relaxing and enjoying the sites of San Antonio. We drove out to Corpus Cristi for a picnic, walked around the river walk, played bingo at the WFSC, visited the hospital, took pictures in the sunken garden, baked new treats, and played lots of games. But That is really just a taste of it all. They certainly were good medicine to our souls.

Logan grew a bit attached to our little Mia.

Fun with Shadows

Feeding the gulls. Too fun.

Enjoying the River Walk with all its lights.

La Mansion Hotel on the River Walk.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Family Visit

Ronnie and I were so thankful to have my family come down to San Antonio for a few days between Christmas and New Years. The trip had been planned for my family for several weeks, but we were glad that Grandma decided to join in.

Day 1: River Walk & Alamo

Day 2: Shopping

Day 3: History- Guenther House and Missions
Day 4: Family Time & New Years Eve

Coney Island

This is a famous little place in Ft. Wayne. Grandma talks about it a lot so it was fun to take the whole family over there to have the Coney Island experience. And, trust me, it was an experience.