IT IS JUST A WORD !!!!

jo has been re-admitted to hospital and will be operated on tomorrow after some more tests.

the specialist wouldn't tell her the results of the tests this afternoon - he wants her family with her - brett was at home with the boys.

we are all in a little bit of shock because at the moment we are all thinking the worst - but praying so hard that, that one little word won't become a life sentence for her.
i have prayed and cried and tried to be positive. and then cried some more.
it's just so hard at the moment.

i'll keep you all informed and let you know how things pan out.
i can't promise i will be around much in the next few days but i hope with all my heart that i will be back blogging tomorrow night with good news.

~*~ shazz ~*~

WAFFLE WAFFLE WAFFLE

i thought i should update my blog.
i can't thank everyone enough for the messages and emails and support that i have received over my sister jo's illness and hospitalisation. i have been very touched by all your messages.
thank you so much.
i am sorry if you emailed me and i didn't reply. most nights i was just exhausted and just toddled off to bed.

well jo was discharged from hospital late last friday afternoon but with still no clear diagnosis as to what is wrong with her. the specialist said she was probably should have stayed in a few more days but she was well enough to be at home and she was more than ready to go home. she really has missed her boys terribly.
she had bloods taken on tuesday that were sent away to newcastle for some "you-beaut" tests. they showed that she was severely anaemic (sp???) and her white blood cell count was through the roof.
the abscess in her neck hadn't shrunk, even with the antibiotics and that prompted more blood tests on thursday morning.
i am almost fearful to say that they have now started testing her for a tumour.
that one word floored us all - i went to visit her on thursday and we just looked at each other and cried. i am not sure when those tests will be back but she has to call the specialist's office every day to let him know how she is feeling and if the lump in her neck has grown at all. thankfully it hasn't.
if it hasn't shrunk any by this friday he will look at re-admitting her and doing more tests on her and possibly a biopsy.
until then i am thinking the most positive thoughts i can about it all. i am not really sure what else we can do.

saturday morning kait and i headed out to the school and helped at the working bee for next weekend's Bonfire Night. lots of jobs got done that needed doing and it was great to be part of the great group of parents and kids that attend kait's school.
jake had a win at soccer and so did matt. matt probably should not have played as he has a nagging groin injury but he is big enough to make those decisions for himslef now.
saturday night mark, kait and i went to a trivia night organised by our good friends kerrie and graeme - what fun it was and we even managed to come third on the night - NO THANKS to mark and graeme who spent more time drinking bundies than answering questions.
it was a welcome distraction from the stress of the week just passed and good to be out having a good old belly laugh or two with such good friends.

i had a semi-productive day yesterday sewing up some more things for the craft stall at Bonfire Night next week. it has been great getting back into using my machine to actually sew material again. i forgot how much i loved sewing craft things and how theraputic it can be.

yesterday afternoon i scrapped some dt challenge things for tca. several of the girls on the dt were given goodies and we had to use them in 5 different ways.
i am pleased with my results and i will post them on here when i can.
it was so good to be back in the scrapping dungeon (despite it being so bloomin' chilly down there) and i plan to go back down there soon and scrap some more.

anyways...i have washing to hang and a house to vacuum before i get stuck into some more scrapping.
i hope you all have a great week ahead.

~*~ shazz ~*~

THURSDAY

* jo is still in hospital and things are still not right with her.
more tests, more frustration, lots of tears.

*kait had a great ten pin bowling birthday party last sunday. she has such a lovely little group of friends and their mums are are scream. it was a welcome distraction from the dramas of the past week.

* the mighty blues pulled the cliche "rabbit-out-of-a-hat" to topple the maroons.
it was a good game i hear - i was in bed after a phonecall from my mother crumbled my world yet again - it's amazing what can come out of her mouth after a few wines *SIGH*

* i am off to work today - hopefully all my paperwork for the month has arrived and i won't be sitting there twiddling my thumbs.

* i thank God each and every day for the love of my husband, my children and my friends.
the support i have recieved from friends over the past week has been amazing and has given me the strength to get up some mornings when it would have been so much easier to just stay in bed and pull the covers up.

have a great day everyone

~*~ shazz ~*~

UPDATE ON JO

thanks so much for all the emails and messages i have received wishing jo well.

she is still in a lot of pain but FINALLY we think we have a diagnosis.
the ear, nose and throat specialist saw her late thursday night and he says she has a serious staph infection in the gland in her neck that will most probably need surgery to reduce it.
he immediately sent to sydney for some super dooper antibiotic that she has to have before he operates. she has had 5 of the 7 doses she needs before he will operate and he will re-assess her this afternoon.
if she doesn't have this antibiotic and some of the "gunk" (now isn't THAT a good medical term) escapes into her system, she could face getting the infection through her body or in the worse case scenario she could suffer a massive heart attack.
fingers crossed the level of whatever it is in her body is where it should be by this afternoon and he can successfully operate on her and get this bloody mess sorted out.

mum and i took kye up to see her yesterday and there were tears again but he did the right thing and laughed and smiled for her and she fed him his bottle.
she wants me to take some pics of her so she can show kye when he is older just how ill she was - and then she said "and won't they make for a good scrap book page sis !!!"
this from my very non-crafty sister - i just smiled and chuckled to myself.

so that is the latest on poor jo.
she isn't better by any means, but at least we now have some answers and direction with her treatment.
the road to recovery will be a very long one for her i am afraid.

and now i have to shoot off to watch jakey play soccer, do some shopping for the craft day we are having at school tomorrow and hopefully this afternoon shut myself away in my scrapping tomb and get some VERY overdue scrapping done - cj pages, a DT challenge for tca, birthday gifts and some cards made.
have a great day girls and thank so much for all your support.
dare i say it......"I LOVE YOUS ALL"

~*~ shazz ~*~

ROUND AND ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH

this is my second post for today - i wanted my last post to be a happy post celebrating kait's birthday. she really is our angel.

well....where do i start...??? i am sorry but this is going to be a long post and not a very happy one. now's the chance to leave - you have been warned...!!!

as many of you know my sister jo, is gravely ill in hospital. it all started with three visits to ballina hospital's A&E in 36 hours last friday/saturday/sunday and there has been bungles and dramas ever since.
she left A&E last friday night with a handful of panadol and a diagnosis of "you are the mother of a 6 year old and a newborn and just run down. take these and have a few hours rest"...yeah right!!!
saturday afternoon, after going back to A&E early saturday morning, they took blood, gave her more panadol and told her they thought she had glandular fever - "go home, get some rest and see your GP on monday"
sunday morning at 2 a.m. she stopped breathing and thank god brett, her husband knew CPR, didn't panic and they were actually staying at brett's mum's who lives near the hospital. she was breathing again by the time the ambulance got there. the hospital staff were "surprised" to see here again but seeing she was breathing again and seemed ok, the hospital in lismore said she should stay in ballina because they didn't have a bed for her.
so she was finally admitted to ballina hospital by lunchtime sunday and i went down to see her.
she was so ill and still on the oxygen but seemed in good spirits.

brett stayed at his mum's with jarrod, their 6 year old and kye, the baby. he took kye up so jo could feed him through the day sunday but by sunday night we made the decision that jo needed to rest so we put him on a bottle.
she has fed him a few times since but he has taken to the bottle really well and seems to be content.
it has been so hard on her not to be able to feed kye and some days she was even to sick to even nurse him.

all through the week, jo has swung between feeling ok to being on oxygen and doped up with morphine for the pain. they gave her antibiotics "in case it was an infection" but she didn't seem to be getting any better. in fact she just seemed to be getting sicker and sicker. they now think that one of the antibiotics they gave her has "fed" the infection she has.
each time i saw her, her neck seemed to have swollen up even more.
the nurses in ballina were great but they were at a loss as to what was happening with her.
tuesday her doctor told us he thought she had mumps which sent everyone into a panic.
wednesday we are told she had a massive strep infection that had gone through her body and they even had her on a heart monitor for a few hours.

mum called me early thursday morning to say that she had taken a turn for the worse through the night and that FINALLY they had made the decision that she needed to be transferred through to lismore base.
she was transferred by intensive care ambulance in a serious condition yesterday morning.

after a day in lismore's A&E acute care area with more tests and scans, more oxygen, morphine and prodding and poking she was finally transferred to a ward last night.
i went up to A&E last night and sat with her while brett was at home with the kids.
the physician saw her while i was there and after seeing her tests that were back they have put forward a number of things that it possibly could be (still nothing definite though)
1. toxoplasmosis - which makes NO SENSE AT ALL as you get it off cats and she doesn't have one nor does anyone she knows or...
2. a rare but non-fatal form of TB - where on earth she got that from well who knows.

she also has an abscess on the gland in her neck which explains the swelling which will need surgery to drain it + they suspect she has another abscess on her liver + she is having some "unusual" heart flutters.

so all-in-all she is one very sick little girl - well she is actually a woman of 39 but to me she will always be my little sister.

i rang the ward about 11 last night and they said she was resting comfortably. still on oxygen but the heart monitors had been taken off her.

the few hours i spent with her in A&E were so special.
as sick as what she was, we still managed to have a few laughs and i listened to her as she talked about kye and jarrod and how much she missed them.
as sisters, we haven't sat and talked like that in many many years.
we have issues that go back to when we were kids - as adults we have had too many fights and arguments and harsh words said that can never be taken back. but that was my sister lying in that bed, struggling to breathe and with the scared look of a little girl in her eyes.
the arguments and fights we had seem so silly and insignificant now.
i just want her to be well and back with her babies and her husband.

what happens today in terms of her care and surgery depends on the test results but with every fibre of my being i am praying that she will at least have a diagnosis and will be told just what IS wrong with her, not what they THINK is wrong.

so if you are that way inclined, please say a prayer for her, and for her precious children and for brett and for our extended family. dad and erica are still up here helping care for bob who is doing really well after his op and i think dad has been quite shocked as to just how sick jo really is.
in the past dad has been removed from being "on the frontline" when we have been ill because he lives so far away.
i have made many calls to louise in sydney and brett our brother in perth. it's times like this that the distance between us feels so wide but it has been good to have that support on the other end of the phone.

i will try and post any updates as soon as i can. my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has emailed or messaged me with support.
my little cyber support network is filled with some pretty amazing and special friends.

if you reached the end of this post, well done but with sleep eluding me it was nice to know i had my blog to write things down and get things sorted in my head.

i hope today is a happy day for you and that i have better news soon

~*~ shazz ~*~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL.

my baby girl is a baby no more.

**SOB**
kaitlyn turned 10 on tuesday. i really wanted to post something on tuesday to mark this momentous occasion in her life but things were so hectic and i was exhausted.
so here we are three days later and the amazement of being the mother of this precious little girl is no less for me today than it was three days ago when she reached double figures nor less than it was 10 years ago when i first held her in my arms.
she brings laughter and joy and sunshine and the occasional tears into all our lives.
she makes us laugh with her funny little stories.
she makes us giggle at her insights into life as she sees it.
she makes us cry with the sheer frustration of her medical problems
and she makes us feel so very blessed that we have her in our lives.

"sleepy" hair but still a million dollar smile - happy birthday baby girl.

all smiles as you celebrate at school with a cake

sleep well my angel - i love you

so in the wee hours of the morning, when all my family is sleeping, i give thanks to God for this precious angel being entrusted to my care.
i hope that i have the strength and the heart and the ability to be the best mummy i can be to you my sweet angel.
i hope i can always be there to share in your joys; to wipe away your tears; to protect you; to listen to you when you need to talk; to find the right words when you need advice; to give you hugs and kisses when you need them; and to never let a day go by that i don't tell you just how much i love you and how truly blessed i feel to be your mum.
love you baby girl.
forever and always

~*~ shazz ~*~

STILL KICKING

thanks to those of you who have emailed and asked why i am not blogging...???
have had my hands full with school things; my sister being gravely ill in hospital - and she is still so sick and they STILL don't know what is wrong with her; and my dad and step-mum here to be with my uncle in hospital.
*SIGH* - life can get so so busy and chaotic at times. i feel like i am constantly running a million miles an hour.
throw in a good old dose of insomnia and i am just putting one foot in front of the other and getting through each day at the moment.

on a happier note, our darling kait turned 10 yesterday. where has my baby girl gone...???
she is so grown up and wanting to do all the grown up things that she thinks she should be doing.
hence we took her out to dinner at the local chinese restaurant last night (at her request) - she dressed herself (a sight to behold i can tell you) but she thought she looked gorgeous and being her mum, i looked past the mismatched clothes and colours and saw my sweet baby girl being a confident young lady.
the waitress at the rstaurant was very impressed with her manners and she blew us all away when we left by asking the waitress to tell the cook that she loved what he had cooked for her.
yep...our baby girl is growing up.

anyways...more of an update later + some pics of things....i need to get the kids ready to go to school.

have a great day

~*~ shazz ~*~

UPDATE

jakey had a great 15th birthday. he had 4 of his friends turn up after we had dinner to spend some time with him (i NEVER would have been allowed to visit my friends at 8 p.m. on a school night but times have obviously changed)

they all helped him eat his cake. he has a lovely lot of friends - both boys and girls - although jakey is oblivious to the way the girls look at him. even mark noticed the way the girls look so dreamily jakey but jake just sees them as friends. and that's very sweet i think.
dad and erica were here to have dinner with us which is the first time they have spent a birthday with jakey. they fussed over him (and dad teased him relentlessly) but that is what grandparents are supposed to do.
here are a few pics from his special day.

the best "smile" he could muster for his snap happy mum...LOL

"now let's get a NICE photo of you all"...YEAH RIGHT !!!

with nanny and grandad

we never tire of kisses and cuddles with this gorgeous boy of ours
love you baby

thanks to all of you who sent good wishes to me for my uncle bob. his op was yesterday...a very long op as it turned out. they wheeled him into theatre at 12.30 and he was wheeled into recovery at 5.15.
dad saw him back on the ward last night and bob was fairly out of it but knew that dad and erica were there. being a public patient in a public hospital there wasn't a doctor around at 8.30 when dad saw him to let us know how the op went so we will have to wait for today for any information. all the nurses would say was that he was comfortable and would be given pain meds through the night.

have been flat out organising the mother's day stall for school tomorrow. spent 3 hours at the school yesterday wrapping gifts (and gossiping and laughing) with a great bunch of mums.
just as i was walking out the gate, jackie our school assistant, hands me another huge box of goodies that had been overlooked so i will be busy wrapping after work today. it should be a good stall too - the kids are excited about being able to shop at school for a gift for mum.

and finally it is good see my dear buddy, the gorgeous miss shari back online after so long.
welcome back darls...i look forward to catching up with you again.
love ya

have a happy day, one and all

~*~ shazz ~*~

p.s. we have decided tonight will be our first official night to light the fire.
can't wait to snuggle up in front of it with a coffee and watch the flames.

SHORT AND SWEET.

* jake had a draw in his game of soccer on saturady (3 - 3); matt lost his game (3 - 2); we all froze our butts off on the sideline - it was SOOOOOO cold.

* had dinner with mark's brother, geoff, his wife, di and their kids on saturday night before the game. a nice easy meal, thrown together at the last minute but great company and lots of laughs - as always when we all get together.

* FINALLY got my letter to the parents of our school completed encouraging them to get involved in our annual Bonfire Night - it is HUGE event run by the school each year, brings in well over $25,000 (about $19,000 of that is profit) each year - not bad for a small country school with only 82 kids.
it will take up almost every spare minute i have in the next few weeks. i am the P&C vice president and the president is 8 1/2 months pregnant so a lot of the responsibility has fallen my way.

* spent yesterday making craft items for the mothers day stall - used up some of my scraps of cardstock, patterned papers and ribbon to cover notebooks; used up some flowers decorating little trinket boxes. i will be interested to see how it goes as this is the first year we have had something like this at school.

* my thoughts are very much with the miners at beaconsfield.
so close and yet so far, guys. you must almost be able to smell freedom.
i pray for them, their families, the rescue teams and the town itself.

* my thoughts and prayers are also with little sophie delezio and her family and friends. makes me wonder what part fate plays in our lives.

* my dad and step-mum have arrived to give support to my uncle bob who is having major surgery for bowel cancer on wednesday. dad is not coping very well at all with uncle bob's illness - they are extremely close. more prayers for my uncle bob and a successful outcome from his surgery.

* and finally......to finish off, this time 15 years ago i was waddling off to hospital in the early stages of labour with our darling jakey.
wishing you a very happy 15th birthday for tomorrow, darling boy.
remember always just how precious you are to dad and i, how proud we are of you and how much you are loved by your family.

have a happy tomorrow

~*~ shazz ~*~

as i promised...and if you are interested....a pratten family update.

kinda in point form but an update none-the-less.

* we received a VERY nice photo of the car in the mail last week courtesy of the QLD police force. it was taken just after we left ruthy's house on good friday, where we had been having a good old giggle about getting booked and the excuses we may use for getting out of a fine.
how's THAT for a good old bit of karma biting us on the bum...???
well the short version is that I am going to cop the fine and points because mark can ill afford to lose anymore.

* kait has had a rough week. she had a funny "turn" on wednesday night that almost had me in the car with her and off to A&E.
she is not well again tonight and both mark and i feel that more needs to be done to get to the bottom of what is wrong with her. i will ring bruce purkiss again on monday
(he is the voodoo doctor she saw a month or so back)

* i found out today that our darling gp has decided, after having a few months off, that he will now retire. i was devastated when i found out and i am not sure where to go for our family's medical needs now.
jim mayze was definitely a cut above the rest when it came to GPs.
he was never late in all the years we went to him - early actually, more often than not; it was nothing for him to put his arms around me or one of the kids and give us a cuddle if he thought it was what we needed; he went beyond what most doctors would ever have done to get results - he reprimanded the doctors that treated us so badly when we almost lost kait; he called late on a friday night when mark had appointments with the skin specialists in brisbane just to see how he got on; he held my hand and listened to me when i needed to talk about problems i was having with my mum; and the list goes on.
you will be missed dr jim.
enjoy your retirement.

* i attended the funeral of the dad of a family friend yesterday.
i often find myself quite reflective of life and how i am living my life after a funeral. i found myself thinking of how i would be remembered if i died tomorrow - hopefully as a good mum and wife and a caring friend.
pop's funeral was certainly a celebration of a life well-lived
(pop was 96 when he passed away)


* my sister jo's 8 week old son, kye, has been diagnosed with measles. after initially hitting the panic stations my shock has been replaced by anger.
some well meaning person out there has decided not to immunise their child and now my 8 week old nephew has this potentially life-threatening disease.
whether you agree with immunisation, i don't really care but to see a little 8 week old baby that is so ill just riles me up no end.
add to that the potential complications and all i can say is, for god's sake immunise your kids.

* after almost 12 months of being "MIA" my cj from a group on ASC turned up on my doorstep this week.
I won't go into all the details (you can read all about it here) but needless to say I was over the moon to receive my cj back. it is filled with beautiful quotes and sayings about life. thank you to all those gorgeous girls who scrapped pages for me - marie, trish are two who i know read my blog.
and many many heartfelt thanks to shari, marie and kathie who contacted the person with my cj on my behalf (along with the numerous emails, etc that i sent too).
i don't know that your efforts expedited it's return but i am sure they helped prick her conscience (sp??).

*now some pics to share.

this is a frame i created for my sister jo for her birthday.
the picture was in the paper and i had it printed up and decided to scrap it for her.

again - more prima flowers attached with french knots
(gotta love that technique)
she loved it and i must admit i was pretty pleased with myself when she opened it and threw her arms around me.
the relationship i have with jo is not an easy one and for her to show such emotion is rare but lovely to receive.

well so much for a point form short post...
ROTFL

thanks if you have listened to me waffle on.
three cheers if you made it to the end without nodding off.

have a great weekend
we are off to lennox head tomorrow night for matt's game - he is actually starting as an attacking mid-field (sounds impressive....i think it is...LOL) for the premier side for his club. his two goals last week obviously impressed the right people.
will also catch up with mark's brother and his family which is always good value.

~*~ shazz ~*~

TAGGED !!!

thanks for the tag kathie....thought i better do it before i completely forgot

In my Fridge
all the ingredients for tonight's tacos
easter eggs that the kids are not interested in eating.
low fat milk - 4 litres (must check the use-by dates on them)
dog's mince - i cook them up a big pot of chicken mince and veges each week.
a bottle of champagne (of course *wink*)

In my Closet
kait's birthday presents
my wedding dress
mark's race suit
all my gorgeous jackets i wore when i was teaching and had to do playground duty on those chilly winter days
our christmas tree

In my handbag
my purse
my hemp lip balm
my mobile phone
tampons
"emergency" roll on deoderant

In my car
all my "take-your-own" shopping bags
our fold-up chairs for soccer
umbrellas
spare towels - for wet sweaty soccer bums to sit on.
the dogs' seatbelts

On my DVD / Video player
the latest harry potter movie that the kids got for easter
ella enchanted - kait's favourite movie at the moment
armageddon - which i watched last saturday night while i sewed on a heap of prima flowers onto a frame for my sister's birthday (pics soon)
last sundays episode of csi
maradona - you expected something else from this soccer mad house...???

I am tagging:
whoever wants to be tagged and hasn't been named yet.

i will update my blog later today.
have a great day everyone

~*~ shazz ~*~