Monday, September 29, 2008

Update on us

So we are still trudging away on things to do and thought I would take a minute to share. We finished painting our walls only to find out that the paint did not match so we need to go back and either get the right color or a totally new color to redo the entire set of walls again. We've had the holes patched thanks to Dad Peterson and we need to paint those spots. We are getting ready to take a trip to see some relatives in California and have our first real vacation since we moved here 17 months ago. Chad is doing really good on his new eating program with a couple "stuck" episodes, one with a gristly piece of meat and the other with ice. He was in some serious pain but luckily it did not last long and he was fine. Chad has motivated our little family to join him on his walks every evening and the two of us go by ourselves early in the morning on Saturday and Sunday. There is nothing like looking up at Pikes Peak at 6 in the morning smelling the fall air!!! It is good time spent for sure. We started our no excuses walks on monday of last week so we are 7 days strong. We plan to continue while on vacation. Wish us luck!!
Before the surgery, we swam as a family every night but Doc says nothing but walking for 3 weeks (that time is about up) So we will resume either walking or swimming or both when we get back. It is good to have the kids on board with us. When we don't feel like it, they remind us to get up and go. We need all the help we can get so keep the encouragement coming, and before long you will not recognize Chad!!! Church members have already commented on how they can really tell a difference in his face, but his ankles are more pronounced, and not as swollen all the time, his knees are showing some definition too. Due to the blood thinning shots for the last two weeks his poor belly is bruised up pretty good. That is 32 shots total (4 in the hospital and 28 since he's been home). But his incisions are healing nicely and he is starting to wrestle with Tanner again. He gets his first saline fill later in October and will continue to get the fills until he is uncomfortably comfortable with the constriction. We have started to implement good nutrition facts at dinner time or actually it is closer to good eating habits. Our kids are doing great and are starting to tell us what is smart and what is not. We have vowed not to doom our kids to a life like we've had but allow them the chance to decide what they want to change.

3 comments:

Kalani and Angie said...

I am proud of you guys...Hope things get better..Are you still moving to New Mexico?

Anonymous said...

That's awesome, Rach! You'll have to post some photos for us to see how he looks! :)

dotmother said...

Thanks for the update! I'm so proud of you two. Keep up the good work!