Grand Cayman

 On the island of Grand Cayman is a place they call Hell.  This is the post office at Hell so you can send a postcard from Hell.  If you walk down the sidewalk that leads behind the post office, this is what you will see...

 This is a bunch of eroded limestone.  That is all Hell consists of....an area of eroded limestone.  I didn't get what was so special about it that they commercialized it so much. I guess it seemed a little "sacrilegious" to me too.  Hell is no joking matter.

 The Cruisers

 I'm trying not to put too many scenery pictures on here, but this is one of my favorite ones from Grand Cayman.

 We went to a turtle farm while on Grand Cayman.  That was fun & interesting.  I wish the girls could have been there.  They would have loved to hold and pet the turtles.

This is our ship, the Carnival Freedom.  The little boat in front is a tender boat that ferried us to and from Grand Cayman because the ship couldn't get close enough to land.  At all the other ports, we were able to pull up close to the dock.

On both Key West and Grand Cayman, there were chickens running free all over the island.  On Grand Cayman, we learned to watch the roofs of the houses and other buildings for iguanas.  One church we drove past had 4 or 5 iguanas on its roof.  I guess you'd get used to that, but I thought it was a little creepy.  They can keep their iguanas.

Key West, Florida

 The first day of the cruise we were in Key West, Florida.  We took a bus tour of the island.  The island is only 2 miles by 4 miles, but they squeeze a lot into that small space.

 We also went to the butterfly conservatory while on the island.  I loved it!  I had butterflies landing on me.  They were swooping all over in large groups.

 This was a picture of one of the islands from the window beside the table where we ate our lunch on the ship.  Isn't the water beautiful?  There were so many different shades of blue water.

 We had a window in our room.  I loved to sit on the bed or lean on the ledge and watch the water.  I think next time we should get a room with a balcony so I can sit outside and watch the water!!

One of my favorite things about the cruise was the towel animal the steward left in our room every evening while we were at supper.  I enjoyed them so much that I bought the book that shows how to make them for the girls to have fun with.

Grady James Stratton

Although Grady wasn't due until November 26, he decided to come early before his Gammy left on her cruise.  He knew she'd have a much more relaxing time if she knew he was here safe and sound before she left.  

On Monday night, Autumn called me around supper time to tell me she thought her water broke.  She called the doctor, and he said to get ready and come on down to the hospital.  Labor was pretty light and slow during the night, but it kicked into gear about 9:00 the next morning.  Grady arrived at 10:45 a.m., November 6 (the day before Autumn's birthday).  He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.  Mother and baby are doing fine!

At the time of this writing, Gammy & Pop are in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in their hotel waiting to board the ship in the morning.  Jamaica, here we come!

Digging for Gold

 Heather & Laura

 Kara & Leah standing with Nanna sitting in the back seat

We went to the field today and picked up corn in some spots where the combine had knocked some stalks down when it had plugged.  The wind today was like a hurricane!  It was hard work to fight against it, but we picked up all this corn in the picture above.  As they worked, they pretended that they were digging for gold.  The girls even spotted an ear here and there when we went back to the field tonight with supper, so they were picking them up to add to their pile.

Life may be slowly returning to normal...

Krissy's visual field test this week may have been a little improved.  We saw the neurosurgeon yesterday.  We drove 200 miles for him to ask her how she was feeling, look at the visual field test results that could have been faxed to him, and for him to say he'd see her in a month.  I love the medical system!  (That was sarcastic if you couldn't tell through your computer screen.)

I've spent many hours sitting in waiting rooms over the past 5 1/2 weeks and have been horrified at some of the things I've overheard.  For example, while sitting in the outpatient services waiting room I overheard the discussion between a patient and the lady at the desk.  They had him scheduled for surgery on the wrong ear.  ("Oh, I'm sorry...we took out your gallbladder instead of your tonsils!")  Or there was the discussion yesterday between the 2 ladies behind the desk....the one had charged someone a $50 co-pay, instead of a $30 co-pay, and they weren't going to do anything about it.  The one basically told the other, "Way to go!"  That's just two of many examples.  I've told Krissy more than once, "You'll get better if they don't kill you first."

So Krissy has no more doctor's appointments before Gary & I leave for our cruise on November 9th.  I feel so free!!  Maybe I can concentrate on things like cleaning my house, schooling, packing, and just being home for more than a few hours at a time!!

Have I showed you any pictures of my grandson lately?

Ryan is 7 months old now.  Krissy made this little bow tie for him.  He was all dolled up for church last Sunday morning.  He was sitting there looking so cute, so his mommy, Gammy, and Auntie Meagan grabbed their phones and started snapping pictures.  Isn't he just the cutest little fella?

A Long Day at the Hospital

Krissy and I got up at 3:30 yesterday morning to be in Indianapolis by 6:15 our time for another lumbar  puncture.  Her pressure was 31.8, higher than last week.  We hung around in observation until it was time for her appointment with the neurologist.  His office building is connected to the hospital by a breezeway, so the nurse just took Krissy over there in a wheelchair.  After a lumbar puncture, she's supposed to lie flat for 24 hours, so they took her right back to a room and let her lay on one of those nice, comfortable examining tables.  The doctor was very concerned with how high the pressure was again, especially after he had increased her meds by 25% the week before.  He had talked with the neurosurgeon, and we were supposed to make an appointment with him to schedule surgery for the brain shunt.  The neurologist also wanted blood work to monitor if the meds were affecting her organs.

Once we got in the car, Krissy called the surgeon's office.  They were able to work her in while we were down there.  We went to the hospital to have the bloodwork done in the outpatient lab.  Then we drove around to the opposite side of the hospital and went in the building where the surgeon's office was.  It's quite a campus down there!  They took her straight back and let her lay on a very flat, hard table with no pillow.  Such a comfy place to spend the next 2 hours waiting on the doctor!

When the surgeon came in, he started talking like we weren't going to do surgery.  We were very confused since we had the impression from the neurologist that he and the surgeon agreed that we needed to do the surgery.  He explained the 3 different surgeries that can be done to drain the extra fluid.  He could put a shunt in her back, but he said he won't do that surgery anymore because it's about a 100% failure rate.  He explained the shunt in the brain, but also explained why he didn't want to do that right now.  He also said there's a surgery they can do to the eye, but he didn't want to do that yet either.  He is sending her for another visual field test this Friday and wants to see her again next Tuesday.  He feels that the number of the pressure is not as important as whether she is having headaches or if her sight is in danger.  Since she is not having headaches and her sight improved considerably over the last week, he just wants to "watch and wait."

We didn't get home until 6:00 last night.  Such a long, exhausting day!  But Erin had supper ready, and the girls had the house picked up.  We caught up on each other's activities for the day and went to bed early!