Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018

Unexpected trip home

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted in a couple of weeks.  We made an unexpected trip home to Canada on Monday, Nov. 12 and returned here to Nauvoo on Tuesday, Nov. 27.  President Lusvardi recommended that we return home with Megan & Chris so that we could get some medical attention for Jim so it was a quick decision and trip.  We saw the doctors that we needed to and received the help that was necessary.  Must say that we are so grateful for kind, competent doctors and for the medical system that we enjoy and take for granted in Canada.  Jim's heart is fine and , as he suspected, he was reacting to the medication that he was put on down here after he had the A-fib incident in July.  Apparently it can linger in the system for 15-45 days and so we are finding that he still has headaches but not as severe or quite as often.  We are confident that it will continue to improve.  I saw the eye specialist while at home, as well and was pleased to find that my eye has not deteriorated at all and has actually improved such that I did not need to receive another shot....Yahoo!!  

We feel like there were several reasons that we needed to be home at this time.  First, was the opportunity we got to gather with ALL of the Paxman siblings.  They usually gather towards the end of November (close to Willard's birthday--Nov. 22) for a Christmas meal and visiting.  We are usually missing Scott and Lloyd as they live in Utah.  This year, Angelika gave Scott tickets to come home for this event for his birthday (Nov. 5) but didn't tell Scott that Lloyd was going to meet them at the airport and fly home, as well.  They were not expecting us so it was a fun surprise and a fun evening.  Gary is battling cancer and we hope that having all of his siblings there to show their love and support for him and Kelly will lift their spirits.
 Back row: L-R     Reg, Jim ,Scott, Dixie , John  Front row: L-R  Randy, Lloyd, Gary, Brenda.  Reg & Linda hosted and we all enjoyed ourselves alot.  I'm sure that Willard & Hazel enjoyed the fact that their posterity were together and enjoying one another.  It was fun to watch all the siblings having fun with each other.

The siblings & their spouses.   Back row: L-R   Randy, Reg, Jim, Lloyd, Angelika, Scott, Dixie, Glen, Dixie, John , Ralph
Front row: L-R  Anita, Linda Jolene, Gary, Kelly, Brenda

We became great grandparents on Nov. 15. Chase Stewart and Sidney Carlson became the parents of a precious little girl:  Paislee Ann.  She is perfect and our hope is that they will become a real family as they raise this sweet little one.






Evan (Cody & Emily's 6 year old son)  ended up with ITP after a nasty bout with the flu and had to be hospitalized for a couple of days.  This condition happens when the antibodies that his body produced to fight the flu virus turned on his own body and attacked his blood templates. Platelets help your blood to clot.  He woke up with big bruises on his body for no reason.  After taking him to see a doctor and going through the "abuse" screening, they took some blood tests and sent him home.  The doctor called Emily and Cody at 11 p.m. and said that they needed to get him to the Children's Hospital immediately....that his blood was below 1.  Normal platelet count is between 130-150.  This meant that if he got a nose bleed or a bump on the head, he could have bled out very quickly.  He got poked for blood and IV treatment numerous times and found it a challenge to be bed-ridden. They gave him an IV to help build his platelets and when he was released, it had risen to 19 but he is suppose to "lay low" until it reaches 50.  That will be the challenge for this very active young man. This is the picture that they sent to us of him in bed at the hospital.....he counted 6 tubes going into him.  We love him and were happy to be able to see  & visit with ALL of our children and grandchildren.  Each one is special to us and our only desire is to have all of us be together in the eternities.
Another great happening was......David was able to get the wires/pins & screws taken out of his knee and arm/elbow from his accident in Feb 2015.  They have been bothering him for awhile and he approached the surgeon about it and received the OK to have them removed.  He was given a date much later but then received a phone call saying that they had a cancellation and would he like to have it done on Fri. Nov. 23.  He jumped at the opportunity...it was a day surgery and he was able to walk out of the hospital.  He just has to take things easy until the staples are out and the incisions are healed.  What a blessing !!  He is smiling because he was starved and is able to eat now....haha! Side note:  he shaved off his beard for November and we tease him that he looks like Mario Bros. now !!

After spending Sat.Nov. 24 and Sun. Nov. 25 in Calgary, we headed back to Lethbridge and met with my siblings for a Sunday evening visit and Christmas get-to-gether.  It was so good to see all of our siblings and Grandpa.  We love our family!   Monday, Steve was so kind to us by giving us a ride to Great Falls where we stayed because our flight left at 5:30 a.m. on Tues. morning.  It was his day off and we really appreciated his service on our behalf.  As hard as it was to say good-bye to everyone again, it was really good to return to Nauvoo.  It is funny that it has become "home" for us now and we know that we are suppose to be here for this time of our lives.

I love this dad of mine !

AND I love these siblings and their spouses !!



Once back in Nauvoo, we stepped right back into stride with our work schedules.  We are also involved with the Christmas Walk & Light the Tree program that our mission put on for the community and surrrounding area on Sat. Dec. 1.   I have posted a few pictures on facebook that our mission photographer took. I was unable to take any because I was busy on the piano and Jim was a wise man for the Nativity.  Hopefully, I'll get some at a later time.  We will be doing a repeat performance on Dec. 15 for any that did not have the chance to see it.   We saw the Christmas Devotional at Temple Square tonight and were inspired by the messages.  We are happy to celebrate the birth of our Savior and strive to become more like Him in our daily lives.   Have a great week.....love you










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