Life Goes On

My how the time flies! I was absolutely sure that my first year of teaching would drag horrendously slow. But here it is almost the end of the first quarter and I feel like school just started. I do have a long drive each school day, about an hour and 15 minutes each way. I am surviving though. I love working in Nogales! I have the best special education director. He actually cares and is willing to spend monies on a program to make it better. I have at least not been told no yet. I have gotten hesitation on one thing though. We will see if it happens. I love working with my students. Though they are a handful at times they are a lot of fun during other times.

Sarah has finally gone part time, YEA!!!! She gets to finally be home with Jolee more frequently. Though I am not sure she knows what to do with all the extra time ;). She is enjoying every single second of being with Jolee. She also keeps herself busy making freezer meals every now and then. Sarah does so well with planning ahead and works hard to keep us with in budget. Having to learn to budget with a smaller income, I think we are doing rather well over all. She has also ben busy reorganizing the house and getting quotes on AC units. She is doing well at keeping the house running smooth while I am working. We went on a date by ourselves last Friday and it was awesome. We had french food at a little french diner, overly priced but good. Afterwards we walked over to a gelato place and got some yummy gelato. We think that gelato is much tastier than ice cream. It is also healthier for than ice cream. I think that pistachio gelato is my favorite.

Jolee is growing fast, I can hardly believe that she is almost 16 months old! It was just yesterday that she was born. She now has a mouth full of teeth and is currently working on her eye teeth. After she is finished with those I think that she has one more set of molars and then she will be done until she loses teeth and when she is twelve. She is very much so a busy body. She has to be able to do things on her own or she will yell at us. She has gotten pretty good at using a spoon and eating cold cereal, with soy milk of course, and other foods. Jolee is getting braver and daring to try different foods and textures. She does pretty well. She continues to learn and grow and develop at lightning speed. This morning she took apart a recorder that Sarah had given her to play with. I did not even know that it came apart. I am in for a heap of trouble!! I will be hiding my drill so that she will not want to take it apart. She already gets upset when I do not let her help me fix things. The dreaded, "you'll have a child just like you some day," curse.

We ordered our grass and it has been delivered and planted. We ordered Zoysia grass. It is supposed to be drought tolerant, low water usage, slow growing, and choke out bermuda grass and weeds. It is the miracle grass. We will keep you posted on how we like it. We planted it on Saturday and it took al day long. I am in the process of changing the serpentine belt on the Buick. It is a pain in the butt. Who ever designed this engine and the way it is mounted to the car needs to be shot. My sister has moved down from Idaho and is staying with us until she can get a job and get on her feet under her. She has been a big help and always eager to watch Jolee for us. As you can see with or with out a post life goes on! We are busy, happy, and healthy and enjoying each other and the time we get to spend together.

That Tickles

Jolee loves tickling and being tickled. The other day she decided that she wasn't being tickled enough, so she walked up to me, pulled up her shirt so that her belly was showing and she proceeded to tickle her own belly and giggle hysterically. It was one of the cutest things I have seen her do. When Randy got home from work today, he took his shoes and socks off as usual, but then, he was attacked by the tickle monster. Jolee stood over his feet and rested her head on the floor so that she could use both hands to tickle Daddy's feet. Randy is so ticklish and he was laughing like crazy and whenever we laugh, Jolee laughs too. It was so much fun to watch Jolee tickle Randy and both of them laugh. I can't help myself from laughing right now just thinking about it!

Playing in the Sprinklers

          Jolee came outside with me to help me water. After she had "helped," we were both so wet that I decided it was a great time to play in the sprinklers. We had a great time and ended up sopping wet.

Off to work

Today is Randy's first day at Nogales High School. He won't be teaching until next week. This week is all about meetings and preparing. I am so excited for him!!! He will be teaching the self-contained special education class. It is worth the drive because this is the teaching position that he has wanted since high school. Hurray for Randy!

A few of her favorite things

Jolee loves:
-getting the mail
-coloring with crayons
-dancing to music
-cuddling with Mommy and Daddy
-being tickled
-doing airplanes (floating on her back) during bath time
-reading books
-eating bananas
-spin in circles
-build with legos
-kick a soccer ball around the house
-petting the dog
-getting to flush the toilet after going potty.
-washing her hands
-eating all by herself using her spoon
-playing peek-a-boo
-brushing her hair

She is definitely growing up so quickly. I adore every minute I get with her. She is going through a growth spurt right now and is eating so much it is amazing. Her molars are still moving, but have yet to break through. She is getting more adorable and more mischievous every day. She has mastered the "I didn't do anything" look. If she is doing something she shouldn't be and we say "Jolee!" She will quickly turn toward us, have a look of perfect innocence on her face and throw her hands in the air and say "wa?" I think she is trying to say "what?" It is so funny that it is very difficult to be upset with her, even if she did just dump all her food all over the carpet. I am so happy to be her mommy! On another note, I am quickly healing from my pacemaker insertion. I would be able to go back to work with restrictions, but my doctor "doesn't trust ICU nurses" so I can't return to work for 2 more weeks. Although definitely not something I ever wanted to happen to me, I am glad that I have to stay home because I am getting so much family time. It is great! I have been cleared to run again and I am already starting to train for my next half marathon. I am staying in state this time and running in Queen Creek, AZ. Yeah for getting better!

Family Conversations

Max: "I want to invent edible duct tape."
Sarah: "What?!?"
Max: "You know when you have a humugus burger and it's falling apart. I could tape it up."

We are having a blast having Uncle Clint and Uncle Max here to visit. We played Apples to Apples and Clinton skunked us!

Jolee looking on at Uncle Max.

He was pretty scary looking.

Jolee and Mommy at urgent care waiting to see the doctor.

Yeah, I know I look terrible, but here I am after my pacemaker insertion. I refused to stay in just a gown. I wore PJ pants at night and jeans during the day so that I would feel at least semi normal.

Prior to Pacemaker

For the benefit of my medically inclined family and friends...

Unexpected

I was planning on my next post being all about how much fun we had in Seattle, my getting patted down at security, and how happy we are to be home, but instead, it is going to be a bit more serious. On Saturday I woke up early, which is normal because my sleeping schedule was all messed up because I was in the midst of switching back to a day schedule after my week of night working. So I am awake and everyone else is sleeping, so I decided to read a book. While I am sitting there reading, I kept getting lightheaded, faint, like I was being sucked down from the inside, like the lights were dimming, and like I couldn't breathe (even though I was breathing just fine). After each little episode, it would take me a while to catch my breath and I would have a headache. At first I just kinda ignored it, but then it kept happening. It didn't matter if I was sitting, walking, or lying down. It just kept happening. By this time, everyone is awake and Randy knows that I am feeling weird. I am also trying to get the last of everything ready for a big activity that I had planned and had been working on for months at church. My nurse brain finally kicks in and I think, "this seems more like something cardiac." Meaning I think that something might be wrong with my heart. I decided to check my pulse and to monitor what is happening. My heart rate is low at 50-60, but that is okay because I am a runner and runners often have low heart rates, so I am unconcerned. Then I get another weird feeling and to my utter horror, my pulse stopped. I was assuming that my pulse would just become weak with these weird feelings, not stop. Weak pulse would be bad, stopped pulse is VERY bad. I am freaking out, but at the same time, I don't want to scare Randy. I explained to him what was happening and that I needed to go to the hospital. I also made him do a quick review of CPR, just in case. On the way to the hospital I dropped all of the stuff off for the activity with a good friend, so that she could run the activity if it took too long at the hospital and I wasn't able to make it back. I really did think that I would be able to just go get checked up, that something was problem wrong with my potassium or magnesium level, that I would get some replacement, and then they would send me home and have me check up with a cardiologist the next week. I was still in denial at how sick I really could be. In my denial, I decided to go to urgent care instead of the emergency department. At urgent care, I explained what was going on and they did an EKG (got a snap shot of what was electrically going on with my heart, which was normal by the way), but they don't draw blood, so they sent me to the ER. In the car, I told Randy that if they admitted me to the hospital that I would cry because the hospital is the last place I wanted to be. We got to the ER and Randy dropped me off at the door and then he went to park the car. I walk in and they immediately get me back (urgent care had called and told them I was on the way). It was nice to not have to wait, but that meant that I was already in an ER bed before Randy and Jolee had even walked in. When we really came to the understanding that I was going to be there a while, Randy took Jolee to a friend's house and they babysat Jolee so that Randy could be with me. In the mean time, I am by myself back in my ER room and I am hooked up to a continuous heart monitor (telemetry or tele). I have another weird feeling and I watch the monitor and see that I go into 3rd degree heart block, which mean that the top of my heart tries to  tell the bottom of my heart to beat and the message doesn't get through, so my heart stops beating. As worried as I was about having my pulse stop, I am much more worried now that I know my heart actually stops beating for 3-8 seconds. Heart stopping is not very conducive with life and it is a much worse problem that I was even imagining as a possible problem. Like I said, I though some of my electrolytes were low and that I was having funny beats that don't pump blood well, which is why I wasn't feeling a pulse. This was very terrifying news. It also turned out that all of my labs were normal. The hospitalist (or main doctor) came to see me after he saw the 3rd degree heart block and told me I was being admitted to the hospital (yes I did cry) and that they were going to call a cardiologist to come a see me. I got to the tele floor (where they take care of all the people with sick hearts) wait for a bit, the cardiologist came and saw me and was shocked at how bad my heart rhythm was with the 3rd degree block and that I was very symptomatic (meaning, I felt awful whenever my heart did it's weird rhythm and stopped beating). He decided that only safe treatment would be a pacemaker and that I would get one in the morning or early afternoon the next day. It was already around 10 pm and I was stable enough that I didn't need it placed right that second. The next morning another cardiologist came to see me and he also said that I needed a pacemaker. He ended up being the doctor that placed my pacemaker. At 11:30 am I was taken down and they put my pacemaker in. I was still conscious during the procedure, but they gave me a bunch of medication to keep me calm and to keep the pain down. I actually remember most of it as I only fell asleep for a few minutes. I was allowed to go home the next day. I have a bunch of check ups over the next month, then I will have to go in for check ups at least every 6 months for the rest of my life. I am still getting used to the idea and the knowledge that I have a pacemaker and that without it, my heart was frequently stopping. They are still unsure what exactly caused this to happen. No normal cause of heart blocks fit my clinical picture. I am slowly starting to feel more like myself. I am not feeling like I am going to pass out anymore, but I can tell when I get paced, it is so weird. Within a month I will be back to normal. I will be able to play with Jolee, work, and even get back to running. I plan on running another half marathon in November or December. We are doing well. Jolee is thrilled to have Mommy and Daddy back. Randy and I are both thrilled that I am home and alive and that we don't have to worry about my heart stopping. Thanks to all those who were praying for us!

We Did It!!!

Early race day morning. Randy was still waking up.

Sarah is ready to run!

Randy is ready too!

Our supporters are ready also!

We are officially Half Marathon Finishers. It was one of the most amazing experiences. As we were getting ready to start, I was sooo nervous, but once we past the starting line, I eased up and off I ran. One of the best parts of the run was looking forward to being cheered on by Grandma Swann and Jolee. They were waiting at just after 3.5 miles into the run for us. Seeing them was better stimulator than any power bar could ever be. After meeting us along the way, Grandma and Jolee drove to the finish line to wait for us. Passing the finish line was very emotional for me. It is hard to put into words the feelings that were running through me, I was thinking about Susan, our supporters and our donors, that I completed a half marathon (something 6 months ago I wasn't sure I could do). I can't believe how much fun it was to run. So many people cheering us along the way. The beautiful views. Having my loving husband at my side. This was truly a great and wonderful experience. I took oodles of pictures on my phone so as soon as I am able to figure out my new phone and how to get the pictures onto the computer I will post those with a more play by play of what was going on throughout all 13.1 miles of fun.

Some Stats for Finishers:

Name:  Sarah Swann

Bib#: 37132

Chip Time: 2:46:57

Overall: 12859/17593

Place by Sex: 8619/12560

Division Place: 1747/2245

Age Grade: 39.4%

Pace: 12:45

5 Km: 36:01

10 Km: 1:16:40

9 Mile: 1:52:59

Name:  Randy Swann

Bib#: 37131

Chip Time: 2:46:57

Overall: 12857/17593 

Place by Sex: 4240/5033

Division Place: 638/708

Age Grade: 35.5%

Pace: 12:45

5 Km: 36:01

10 Km: 1:16:39

9 Mile: 1:52:59

Approaching the finish

Stopped for a quick picture

Crossing the finish line!

The Swann Family post run

Thank-you so much Grandma Swann and Jolee for being there to support us! Thank-you to our amazing donors. You are wonderful! Thank-you to Anna for being our captain/coach/mentor. Thank-you to Susan for being the type of person that inspires people to better themselves and for always thinking of others.