Our son and his wife and their 4 children came over here Tuesday night for a meal and gift-opening. The kids were so excited that as soon as they came into the door they started asking to open their gifts. It was so much fun to watch their excitement...that's what make Christmas exciting...to watch their excitement and joy!

This is Kaleb and he is 3 years old. His interests are generally whatever his brother has at the time. One of his gifts didn't work right...figures:) Another was a doctors kit and he had fun going around giving everyone a shot and we were supposed to yell...after all...doesn't everyone yell when they get a shot...or at least want to and keep it hidden?

This is Isabella and she is about 19 months old. She loves baby dolls right now and I found this one that even I liked. It would drink from the bottle or suck its pacifier till it fell asleep and it did a bunch of other things but I couldn't take it out of the box before I gave it to her and once she got it there was no touching it.

I put the kids gifts in big gift bags so they would know which gifts were theirs. With 4 kids to watch open it turned out to be a good idea. This is Kael. He is 5 years old and the big thing this year is Bionicles. They come in many many parts with directions. He studies the directions until he gets it all figured out. He talks about Bionicles all the time and usually is holding one in his hand. Last week he called me and he went on the Bionicles web site and explained everything to me for what seemed like hours:) He kept saying...see that Grandma Becky? Isn't that cool. I had to remind him that I can't see through the phone.

This is Rhebeca and she is 10 years old. Her interests this year were items from the Harry Potter movie that you can buy from Noble Collections on the internet. I was reminded over and over again about the correct web site to find what she wanted. She also got a hair straightening iron and a bling cover for her cell phone and a book with the paints and directions to do face painting. She came up with the cutest face paintings on her brothers!

Today will be our first Christmas party. Our son and his wife and their 4 children will be coming over tonight. They are leaving for New York Christmas Eve so this was one of the best times to be with them.

We decided to keep it simple and have pizza and DQ cake. Well, that wasn't enough for me...I had to make the layered salad because I like a salad with my pizza. It took me 2 hours to make the salad. Between frying a pound of bacon and boiling eggs and washing and drying the lettuce and sitting down to rest many times because my back would start to hurt it really did take me 2 hours. It better be good!!! That's one of my favorite salads.

After all that work and staying up too late playing games on the computer I woke up with horrible back spasms at 5:30. It's now 7:10 and they're just letting up. What I dislike the most about having to take these pills is that they will make me SO sleepy by this afternoon. So...I better get out to the kitchen and wrap the rest of the presents.

I'll have pictures from tonight for the blog tomorrow.

Here are a couple of pictures I like of our grandchildren.

Beca giving her brother, Kaleb, a big kiss. She really loves her little brothers and sister.

Kael got himself ready to play baseball. I think he did it by himself...how funny! The black thing hanging over the front of his face is the strap for holding the helmet on.




I am feeling much better about the Chicago doctor and the treatments he wants to do today. I can't say I slept on it because I had muscle spasms all night...starting at about 11:00 pm
and ending about 5:30 this evening. When the spasms last so long it leaves me exhausted and my back hurtingl AND...what I dislike the most is it leaves me so sleepy. I've slpeepy..yawn,,

I reread what I wrote yesterday and it made no sense at all. I was really sleepy and kept falling asleep yesterday. My doctor said one more thing on Monday that I had forgotten about. He said the pain and my posture because of the pain has caused my bone structure to change. It is especially prevelent in my legs and hips. I think that he thought if I could get some of the relief from the shots if the shots relieved the pain enough that I would stand upright and differently. I could see it once he pointed it out and it is pretty scary to see my bone structure changed. But, I have hope that if anyone can help that this man can do it!!

Becky

It has been a way long time since I have posted. I've lost interest in everything I do and I think it adds up to a little depression.

Today was the "big day". I had my appointment at the the Rehabilitation Institute in Chicago. We got there in the nick of time. It's further to Chicago than I remember. The hospital is downtown Chicago. It had a great view of Lake Michigan...except today it was all fog...no lake. The building appeared very old but it was spotless clean.

I really liked the doctor I saw...he was friendly and down to earth and honest. We started the appointment by giving my history which is no easy task. Wayne is always helpful in that area. The doctor examined me and then left the room while I got dressed and he figured out a game plan.

He came back in and said you (me) have had pain for a long time. It has to have affected your psyche, hasn't it? Holding back tears I said yes, it sure does! He then said something I have never thought of. I had told him that the drip from the pain pump is at T12. He said if you have pain that badly then that pump isn't covering everything. He wants to find out what it is that causes the pain. He will do several lovely tests...an EMG and Facet Injection were 2 tests he mentioned.

My job now is to gather information and mail it to him. He wants the report from when I went to Mayo Clinic last year and the reports from my last 2 MRI's. Then I'm to call him a week after he gets that and he will tell me what he wants to do first.

So, we felt very hopeful all the way home and then when we got home it hit me HARD! I've had those tests done before...what is different? Wayne and I talked about that and ended up sobbing in each others arms. No more to say except to ask for prayer that I will accept this new game plan even though it has evidence of "old solutions".

My Mom has had a really sore foot with a lump. It's been hard for her to even walk. She went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago. He said he thought there might be something inside the lump so had it x-rayed. The x-ray technician didn't see anything so he treated her with anti-biotics. Nothing has changed after a round of antibiotics and the swelling (and pain) was starting to go up her leg. She said he stood back and looked at it and said he still thought there was something inside that initial swelling. So he sliced it open and started looking and found a sliver of glass...the cause of everything. She's now taking anti-biotics again to fight any infection. He told her that he was praying that he'd find whatever it was and she was praying at the same time. They both agreed that it was an answer to prayer.

Becky