John's Accident

On Tuesday, April 8th I was on my way out of the Fleet and Farm store on the outskirts of St. James when my cell phone rang. It was my daughter, Macy, telling me I'd better get to the Emergency Room because Grandpa just spun gravel racing out of the driveway with Dad. with John being diabetic, I was ready for an insulin reaction of some sort. As I was so close to the hospital anyway, I just headed over there. Once inside I found my father-in-law looking quite distraught. It's his hand, he said. He caught it in the log splitter. Certainly not the type of problem I expected to find. As I got closer to the exam room John was in, he told the nurse to cover his hand, he didn't want his wife to see it. I told him I wasn't looking at his hand, just him. My husband didn't seem to be in pain or even frightened. Just angry. Very, very angry. I asked him what happened and his reply was, "I never should have had my hand there". He has split wood with his dad for most of his life and lived on the farm helping with farm work forever. He was very safety conscious. He was angry with himself. No one else but himself. The ER doctor talked about having me drive him to Mankato to have two of the damaged fingers amputated and and the third damaged finger repaired. John wanted him to call Rochester and see what they thought. Obviously, being diabetic, blood circulation would be an issue. Rochester said they'd like to take a look and see what they could do and he should be airlifted. John remained calm - though angry - throughout the entire waiting process and was excited to get a helicopter ride. As our friend, Donna, found out about the accident she immediately came to the hospital to see what she could do. I was driving away from the ER as she was driving toward it and they were loading John into the back. I looked at her and said, "John's first helicopter ride and where's my camera??" We both laughed. Needless to say, I went home to pack and begin the drive to Rochester to be there when he got out of surgery. Tuesday was a day that lasted forever. I was directed to his room and waited. And waited. He was taken into surgery at 9 p.m. and I spoke with the surgeon at 2 a.m. 5 hours of surgery. I was told this type of surgery could take 6-12 hours. I was too worried to sleep. The surgeon told me that the arteries in his damaged index finger of his left hand wouldn't supply blood flow so they didn't re-attach it. They tried 3 times but the blood kept clotting. The almost amputated finger next to the index finger was re-attached and looked good. They repaired the laceration in the ring finger and were happy with the outcome of that one also. He was brought to his room at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 9th.
Now comes the hospital stay....
John sometimes has problems with pain management, nausea, vomiting, dizzyness and blacking out. I was suspecting that he would do this and warned the nursing staff that this could happen. They all were very nice about it. Until it happened. He was sitting up for the first time and told me he was dizzy and going to throw up. Oh boy, I thought, here we go. Sure enough, he passed out. I called out for help and our nurse came in, saw what was happening and hit the code button. The room instantly filled up with about 12 floor staff, a male nurse grabbed him around the midsection and carried him to the bed. Emergency response team members filled up the rest of the room. His hand surgeon was called and they brought in a crash cart. Quite a sight. Very impressive. Of course after about 20 seconds of being 'out', he woke up and asked what happened. I tried to get to the side of the bed since mine was the only familiar face in a sea of strangers. I kept talking to him, assuring him that I was right there and he was fine.
They transfered him to a cardiac floor so his heart could be monitored for 24 hours. Unfortunately his pain still wasn't under control and he was still nauseous so he did it again. Twice. Being on the cardiac floor with heart monitors on gave staff a look at what happens during this 20 second time frame. Dr. Skippy, as I like to call him, looked to be about 12 years old and I'm sure he just got his new white doctor coat two days ago, tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I know what the problem is. I've diagnosed it. He needs a pace maker. See, how his heart stops".... I immediately hated Dr. Skippy and never wanted to see his face again. John has had these episodes before and there's nothing wrong with his heart. His body does this "Viegel Nerve" thing that causes his blood pressure to drop to the point that you think his heart stopped. Give him 15-20 seconds and he comes back. Luckily, a more experienced doctor came along and actually interviewed John and I about these episodes. After determining that it never happens when he's just walking across the room and are preceded by dizzyness, nausea, vomiting, the doctor said they would just monitor his heart for 48 hours and see what it does.
After being moved to yet another cardiac floor, John has had better days. The staff on this floor are trying to manage his pain better and get him off narcotic type drugs that can cause nausea. I'm hopeful that we will be released on Monday, April 14th and I can take him home where we can get things back to John's routine.
Again, all this excitement and I still don't have my camera.... a sad say in the life of a scrapbooker!

Daniel's Haircut

Daniel finally got his hair cut after school. He asked me to take a picture of him so he could see what he looked like. I guess the mirror was lying to him but the camera would be truthful?? I think it's a great haircut for summer. Hopefully summer will be here one day.... enough snow already! Don't you agree?

Twieback!

This is a picture of my mom's twieback!
It's pronounced twabuck - the 'a' has a long sound.
When I tell people about it, they get a confused look on
their face, so I decided to post one here. It looks like an
innocent little bun but the taste is out of this world!!
Even if you didn't grow up with it at holiday gatherings,
you'd still like it. I guarantee it!!

Happy Belated Easter!

Keith, Mary and Megan

Curt, Jennie, Michael and Amanda
Shirley, John, Macy, Daniel and Emily
Grandma and two of her granddaughters
Emily and Macy

Holidays in my family can happen at any time. You can't just go by what the calendar says, they can happen any time and they have been known to last a long time, too! We finally had an open weekend where everyone in the Ratzlaff family could get together and celebrate Easter. My brother, Curt, and his wife and kids came on Saturday, spent the night, and we had the rest of the family together for Sunday dinner. Curt made the ham, potatoes and corn and my mom brought her famous twieback. Believe me, once you've tried them, you'll want them for every holiday also. They are made from a sweet, soft bread dough and are basically two buns stacked on top of one another. It's a German/Mennonite delicacy. I can't make them. I've tried. I hope my mom lives for ever so she can always make them for me.

I've included family pictures from our holiday because on February 20, our niece gave birth to a baby boy and gave him up for adoption. She is making a scrapbook for the baby and needed individual family pictures. I haven't met the baby but have seen pictures of him and he's adorable! We are proud of her and support her in her decision to give him up. It wasn't an easy one for her to make but we know that he is very loved and will be taken care of.

Dance Line Banquet

The whole team
Just the Freshmen - the babies - the newbies
Macy and Big Sis Sara

Was on Saturday, March 29th. Coach Nicole Meyer did a wonderful job with her first year as coach and Macy had a great season. The banquet potluck was held at the First Presbyterian Church followed by an awards ceremony. I have to confess that I can't remember what award she was given by the team, but she was given the "always late" award by the two captains and they gave her a watch. Co-captains Sara Winter and Irma Marquez said she was always late to everything - yea, that's my Macy..... Anyway, I enjoyed watching her and the team perform during sporting events and she was always in a good mood after practice. Usually not before...

After the banquet, the team and coach came to our house for a "sleepover". Why is it called a sleepover when you know that no one will get any sleep? The rest of us found a quiet spot to sleep for the night and let Coach Nicole take care of the girls and the house!! It went very well and I think everyone had a good time. Of the 17 girls on the team only one had to leave before midnight that night. Which means there were a lot of bodies in our basement, sprawled all over the floor, sleeping wherever and on top of whoever they could find! It looked like a bomb went off the next morning. Slowly, one by one, sometimes two by two they come up from the basement, groggy, needing some breakfast. I'm sure all of them slept most of the next day way!

more pictures from the derby...

Box Car Derby

On March 28, Daniel's Cub Scout pack held box car derby races. We had gotten the kit from his den leader, Lori, quite some time ago and of course it was long forgotten. On March 27, I happened to run across the cub scout calendar and noticed that the races were being held the next night! Uh-oh. After a quick phone call to the den leader I confirmed that the car needed to be completed ASAP! Sounds like a job for super dad! Glad he was standing in the kitchen when I found this out! The block of soft wood needed to be cut into the shape of an aerodynamic race car, sanded, painted, decorated and ready to go in 24 short hours. There is a weight limit of 5 ounces which is a problem because the block of wood weighs less than that before it's cut down! John drilled holes in the bottom of the car and inserted nuts - as in nuts and bolts - not walnuts or cashews... to get it to the proper weight.

The grand plan worked well because Daniel's car won first place in his age group and second overall. Way to go, guys!!

Lesson learned from this experience...if you need a pan of bars, call on mom. If you need the ultimate derby car, call on super dad!!

Today I Created My Blog

I have enjoyed reading other blogs for quite some time now. My friend, Debbie, has been posting on hers for a long time and has encouraged me to make one. So, here it is, Deb! Once again, you have set the bar pretty high and I hope I don't disappoint you!