Greetings everyone,

Sorry it has been so long since I have wrote. We have been all been doing very good. We had a nice Easter. It was very low key and that was nice. Mom and the kids and I went to church and it was nice to see everyone there. We then went to Homestead and had dinner with Grandpa Al,
he is doing as good as can be expected. Then we had a visit from my dads brother Galyan and his wife Trish it was nice to see them also. It was hard to have that first holiday without dad, as I am sure all the first will be.

Mom and I did not have to come back until Monday afternoon as I am now doing clinic only twice a week. Bright and early Tuesday morning I checked into the hospital for my first of 4 biopsies and they also removed the stint that was in between my bladder and kidney. After some confusion and running around the hospital Dr. Smith came out and told mom that things had gone good. He said the stint came out very easy and that he thought the biopsy looked good and he would be surprised if anything was wrong with it. But we did not actually get the results until this morning. When I called the clinic they said it look wonderful. It was good news to finally hear the results.

Well, today we entered another phase in the healing process, and this one was just as hard as the first one. The first one was to see Deanna leave. Today, mom went home and it was just as hard to have her leave. It has been very nice to have this time to be together. Although, we live close and see each other often it was nice to have this time together. It is extremely quite in the apartment today. I will have to find lots of things to do.

This weekend I will stay up here in Wichita. Both of my kids will end up here sometime throughout the weekend. Allie will be leaving Friday to come up for a confirmation retreat. I plan to see her at the mall on Sat. night for a few hours. My friend Terri will be bring Dylan and her two sons Levi and Gavin up on Sat. morning. They will spend the night with me here in the apartment then on Sunday morning we will drive to Topeka for the boys to bowl in the state Pepsi bowling tournament. I then plan to be home the next Thursday afternoon. Mary Ann watch out I should be traveling the road quite often that weekend.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
Bless all of you for your continued prayers and concern.
Danna

Hello,

We are back in Wichita. Mom and I got in about 9:30pm which was a little later than we wanted but it was hard to leave home. I was responsible for the alarm clock this morning so guess what we over slept. We are typically the first ones in for clinic but not today we were last. All my labs came back great. I did get a shot of "epo" it is to help my body make red blood cells. That was a function my old kidneys did and now my new one needs a little help getting caught up.

Like mom said we were home for the weekend and it was wonderful. The weekend was a pretty normal one and that was nice. Dylan bowls on Sat mornings so it was nice to get to watch him again. Then Allie needed track shoes so we off to get those. Tonight, we are going to take Dorothy (moms friend) with us to Sugar Sisters for another night of Bingo. We can't wait it is a pretty fun time.

We are not doing much here so I will probably not blog again till later this week.

Love Danna

Hello Friends and Family,
I am sitting at home in Holcomb, Kansas. Deanna is with "her boys" in Ohio and Danna is in Garden City making an appointment, picking up her children running them to youth group and grocery shopping. As she pulled out of my drive this afternoon, she asked, "Do you need anything Mom!" I'd say she has taken control of her life.

We are home for the weekend, but will return on Sunday afternoon. Danna drove about 1/2 of the way home from Wichita today. I do believe in the power of prayer and our lives have experienced it, thank you. I know that the girls will be writing again when they catch a moment. I just wanted to let you know that all is well. Norma

Greetings,
Well it is amazing what 24 hours can do for a person. Today, I finally feel like I am getting back to normal. I drove today for the first time in 6 weeks. Wow, what a feeling of control over your life again. So, since I can now drive mom and Deanna said it was time for me to blog.

Yesterday, we had a very busy and exciting day. I went to clinic at 7:30 and had ultimately good results. Most times when I go to clinic the lab results are back by the time the dr. comes in to see be but for some reason that did not happen yesterday. Mom and I waited for 30 mins. for them to get in and then there was a confusion on a level and they had me in the "swing" room for more magnesium fluid then someone realized that there was a confusion on what they were talking about and I was able to go home. Whoo, close call. End result was my labs were good but I still have low blood pressure so they said to eat salt. I have avoided salt for years so bring on the chips! After, a day of salt overload I feel much better today. Also, on the plus side I was able to cut out a few more pills each day.

The second exciting thing for the day was Deanna and I were both up and dressed by 9am that has been a first. Yeah!! Mom decided it was the day to get out and run a round. She is determined to get us walking. Which is good for us but Deanna and I just look at each other and say "ok". We started by going to the mall and doing a little shopping and walking. We were there for a couple of hours then went to Chilli's for lunch. I had the saltiest french fries I think I have ever ate in my life. Boy, they sure were good. Then we came home an Mom decided to go do the laundry. Deanna and I decided to stay home and took a 3 hour nap. That night we went to a cute little place called "Sugar Sister" they serve a light meal and lots of cakes and sugar. Well, on Monday nights they play "Sugar" (Bingo). For prizes they give away little cakes and gift certificates and for the grand prize they gave away a momma cake(white wedding). We did not win anything but had a great time. It was great to spend time like that with Mom and Deanna. We will sure miss her in a few days. But, it is time for her to get back to her boys. I don't know about the others but I slept very good last night for the first time in a long time.

Today was just as exciting. Deanna had her 2 week follow up appointment and she got good results. They also gave her a plaque for being a donor what a great gift. It was pretty chilly this morning so we went back to the mall to walk and do more shopping. Mom bought a great looking purse. We then went to lunch with Jan Kleystuber who came to town. It was great to see her and we had a nice time visiting. Again, we came home and took a nap. Tonight, we think we will stay in and watch "Dancing with the stars".

It will be a sad day to put Deanna on the plane on Thursday, but that just means we are one step closer to getting back to normal. After clinic on Friday Mom and I plan to come home for the weekend. My kids are excited to get to sleep in their own beds. Thanks, for all your continues prays and blessings.

Greetings,
We hope this message finds all of you in Kansas doing well and staying warm in the midst of the spring snow storm. We are hearing updates that southwest Kansas has about a foot of snow. In Wichita at the apartment, we have only seen ice. We are hoping the snow will come in and cover the ice soon. Mom and Danna have spent the day at the hospital. Danna went in for her regular labs and clinic this morning and it was determined she was dehydrated, therefore she had to stay and receive a 6 hour IV treatment to get her back on track. She is very frustrated that this happened , but is trying to keep all in perspective. Since mom and Danna have been at the hospital, today is my first day on my own. Yikes...I had to make my own lunch today. I have so enjoyed being taken care of by mom, that I had to step it up.
Yesterday, mom told us we were going to go do something "fun". So, we went walking at the mall and grocery shopping!! What a great adventure we had. Danna's side effects are getting a little better. Danna and I came back to the apartment feeling like we had run a marathon.
Danna will be celebrating her birthday tomorrow!!!!!! We are hoping to do something special for her, but may have to wait a day or so to let the weather pass. We definitely won't be lighting the town on fire, due to our lack of quick movement. We are going to enjoy the weekend filled with lots of rest and laughter.
God Bless,
Deanna

Greetings All,
God is good. We are trying to keep focused on the big picture. Recovery has been slower than what we had hoped, but is coming along. Today, definitely is the best day so far. Danna is experiencing ugly side effects from the medications she is on. We are praying they will soon subside. Mom has been so wonderful!!! All three of us have been blessed by this time together. We miss dad so much. We never thought we would go through this journey without him, however we continue to feel his love. Having this time together has made many other things easier.
Thank you again for all of your postings of prayers and support. We continue to read them everyday and are uplifted by your words.
God Bless,
Deanna

Today the sun is shinning in Wichita and the wind is down. Yesterday was another day of improvements. Danna went to Lab and Clinic, numbers continue to be excellent. She quit taking one med, decreased a couple of others and increased another. She has a fulltime job just keeping up with her drug regimen. We went to Dr. Smith's office and he removed her port which was put in for dialysis. That was good. She was worn out and rested the rest of the day.

Deanna spent the day getting more movement and getting on top of her headache. I it is getting better, just seems to be taking a long time. She is healing and getting more limber each day. Both girls walk around the yard at the apartment and today I hope we can go to the park across Webb Road. I told them I would drop them off and pick them up later, Danna looked at Deanna and said, "Don't you just feel the Love?". Humor has been our best medicine.

John and the boys called and they are in Ohio and back in school, work and etc. Seems that Tuck (their dog) is "depressed" without his friend Maddie. I'm sure John will see to him as well as he has the rest of his family in Deanna's absence.

Yesterday I started a puzzle. See, we really are making progress. Thanks for the thoughtful gift of puzzles. The girls stop by the table to put in a piece on their way through the room, but sitting in the chair is still not comfortable. When a piece falls to the floor I am picking it up, they are not up to that, but that day will come, maybe today. I no longer am needed to help them get out of the recliners, progress, progress.

This time together is precious for me. Allie said, "Grandma, you stay as long as you want, if my daughters needed me, I would stay." She has such a good heart. Dylan and Allie are back in school and staying with their grandparents in Deerfield. They have crazy middle school schedules and we really appreciate the help.

I will sign off for now. Soon the girls will be writing. All is well here in Wichita. God Bless, Norma