Chris is doing well….right Chris? I’m just throwing an update here all of my very own without any information from anyone really knowledgable….I think that word is spelled wrong, but I don’t care enough to go back and find the correct spelling…you know what I mean….so, I will try to stick to the truth, but somtimes when the truth is boring, it’s more fun to just make stuff up. Hee hee Hee

I won’t lie…I promise…but I can’t promise that I won’t “streeeeetch” things a little.

Actually, Chris has a bunch of things that are all part of the “recovery process” that he is doing……you know…like Dr appts and Dental “stuff” and physio so he can be all buff and “hot” and other really fun things too…like sitting around at VGH waiting, waiting, and always, waiting…it’s a GOOD TIME.

Seeing as he’s not been called back in to be hooked up to another round of IV antibiotics - I’m hoping that things are looking up from that standpoint….I mean….they give you a pretty cool purse….or should I say murse…..to carry around with you, and that right there is enough incentive to want to have an infection or two running around inside of you.

So, I have another person who has promised me that she has the “questions answered” and ready to go….now i just need you to E-MAIL THEM TO ME, ALREADY!

In other very cool news, Debbie ran a Duathlon on the weekend…..or was it a Triathlon, Bubs? and she placed second in her age group. Seriously…no joke…..she’s famous and awesome and rugged and fit….all things that I wish I could be without having to put in even half the effort, ’cause she rocks it hard.

Okay, I did some digging online and found her….she did a Duathlon where you run for 5k and then bike for 40K and then run for another 10K…….that is some seriously insane behaviour….absolutely nuts, but in a good kinda way, right Debbie?? ( I see that Patty did it with you right??? a big congrats to you too, Patty) …and she did come in second in her age division and did it all in just over 2 and a half hours……WOW! That’s all I have to say about that….mostly because if I even tried to run 1K…..I’d be dead. Dead, dead, dead and gone.

How cool is that?

Well, not to be completely outdone, and in a most serious way…..to rival that impressive, IMPRESSIVE accomplishment…..I barfed this morning after a teeny tiny work out…..’cause I rock it even harder! flip over here for a more complete story.

So, this next person’s answers are a bit outdated, but still….it gives us a bit of a clue or insight into their world, and really that’s what this is all about. Isn’t it fun to feel like you are snooping in on someone else’s life…even if you have their permission and they are actually sharing it with you…it somtimes feels like you have an “inside track” into their life.

Well, Next up and at this point the last one I currently have, and so if you were thinking of getting in on this action…e-mail me or I’m just gonna have to start making things up….anyway, next up is….

Uncle Rick.

Here he is at the New Years Day party..with Cole..look how little Cole is in this picture.

Uncle Rick is one of my MOST Favorite Uncles….but then I say that about all of them. They are all special in their own way. Uncle Rick is the 3rd out of 4 boys in his family, and so he should get a medal just for managing to stay alive as they all grew up. He is so kind and gentle and funny, and I love him dearly.

Here are the questions and answers from him.

1. What are the top 5 most played/listened to songs in your iPod, Mp3player, Discman, Walkman, Radio, Computer Streaming software program, Cassette Deck, 8 Track Player or record player….have I covered all the areas?

I love the new Lifehouse cd, the new Starfield (Matty took me to the concert for fathers Day), Daughtry and Rascal Flats

2. Who are the last 3 people that you spoke to on the phone and why?

Auntie Linda, cause she is down in Florida helping Char and Jeff with the newest grandson Luke, Grandpa K so I could empty the water tank on the trailer for him, and I screen all the calls on my cell phone cause I don’t like to waste time !

3. What is at the top of your shopping list right now?

Food, I haven’t bought much in the last three weeks while Linda has been away and I better get some before she gets back.

4. Where “in the world” would you most rather be, as opposed to right here, right now?

I should say Florida where Linda and the kids are but…………… I REALY would love to go tour around Europe I am so interested in the amazing architecture and history, some year soon.

5. What are the last 3 books, or magazines or articles or whatever thing with words in it that you’ve read and this e-mail doesn’t count?

The first ten volumes in the Left Behind series, just three more to go.

6. Who do you look up to or are encouraged by in your life – a role model? And why….you don’t have to drone on and on and on and on, just a short 5 pages essay, please?

We had a teen class Sunday school teacher Gordon Veale who I respected very much as a youth, Dad of course his love and devotion to Mom, God and us kids set all of us boys on the path (Moms prayers and smacks kept us there). And Gary Miller, most of you won’t know him but he is the most talented, kind hearted, smart, nice guy I have ever known, I took over his job when he retired from the church and would like to be like him when I grow up.

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Gary Miller or…… Ray Bourque I know the scouts are still out there!!!!

8. Do you put the toilet paper to go over the top or under the bottom, when you put on a new roll?

I can type twith two hands…………..thank you Jesus for spell check

9. Can you type with two hands or are you the one finger wonder with amazing hunt and peck methodology?

I, however can not count so, ….I put the paper as it should be ….on its end standing on the floor under the empty roll holder.

Hee Hee, He answered the questions all in a row, and I’ve cut and pasted them so that you could see the questions and answers, but this is referecing the fact that he answered the questions out of order…pretty funny, eh?

10. Are you a Starbucks or Tim Hortons

Either as long as its not the ashtray coffee Mark has at the shop!!

Alrighty, and seriously, who would want to drink that shop coffee anyway….I remember when I was little and they had the shop down on Terminal or Main or something like that, it was back when Karen (not my mom) used to work for them as the receptionist or something like that - I think Uncle Dan wrote a poem about how to make the coffee and how to not make it too strong or it would be like panther piss…..I can’t for the life of me remember the rest of the poem….anyone else remember it….it rhymed, and it was soooooo funny, and that’s all I can remember of it….it was on a piece of cardboard sitting by the coffee pot….impressionable young minds, eh?

Alright, so I’ll bug Chris and my mom for some sort of an update for all of those wondering about him. I know he’s going in for some routine blood work today….that’s all pretty exciting, isn’t it? He might even have physio today…ooooooo, he’s really rockin’ it hard now.

He’s good, really…….call or e-mail him and he can tell ya for himself.

So, the next up for our little “Getting to know you” endeavor is…..

My darling Hubbie.

Jon!

We’ve been married for 13 years, and known each other for 18 years. We’ve been though hell and back, and managed to not only survive, but thrive…

Jon works from home, and I think that it takes a special kinda grace to be able to live with and work with someone 24/7. I love it, and I believe he does too. He is so kind and gentle and happy and I absolutely adore him. He is truely, truely amazing.

Here are his answers….

1. What are the top 5 most played/listened to songs in your iPod, Mp3player, Discman, Walkman, Radio, Computer Streaming software program, Cassette Deck, 8 Track Player or record player….have I covered all the areas?

Beautiful people by Jason Upton,
1234 by Feist,
God of all Glory by Jeremy Riddle,
One Step Closer by Linkin Park, and
Blaze of Glory by Jon Bon Jovi

2. Who are the last 3 people that you spoke to on the phone and why?

Brother David to discuss babysitting for the weekend
Ben Stewart to talk about how miserable he is - missing his wife
Dad (Ernie Culley) to talk about work next week being the fill-in for his church

3. What is at the top of your shopping list right now?

Organic – environmentally friendly – aluminum free deodorant that doesn’t suck
Cod liver oil (with a hint of lemonny goodness)
Ginko Bilova(not kidding)

4. Where “in the world” would you most rather be, as opposed to right here, right now?

Ross Lake – no explanation needed
A close second would be the farm country outside of Christchurch, New Zealand

5. What are the last 3 books, or magazines or articles or whatever thing with words in it that you’ve read and this e-mail doesn’t count?

Strengthen yourself in the Lord by Bill Johnson
The Shack by William Young
Man’s search for meaning by Victor Frankl

6. Who do you look up to or are encouraged by in your life – a role model? And why….you don’t have to drone on and on and on and on, just a short 5 pages essay, please?

Alf Dyck – taught me how to be a son, and see God as my father
Ray Yenkana – taught me how to set goals, to think toward success, to read good books
Chris Kennedy – fight on
Dash Hammer – Keep creating

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be one of those under-cover ops guys that is responsible for making the president’s “problems” go “away”.

8. Do you put the toilet paper to go over the top or under the bottom, when you put on a new roll?

Over the top. Bad things happen to good people when you mess with this little piece of karma.

9. Can you type with two hands or are you the one finger wonder with amazing hunt and peck methodology?

I work on the internet. I type like a professional secretary.

10. Are you a Starbucks or Tim Hortons fan?

Starbucks!!! Tims is good for donuts and the occasional bagel, but for good brew… Starbucks, no question. (Grande, Long Pour, Vanilla, Soy, Americano Misto)

Once again, I’m sorry for the lengthy delay. I’d love to be able to say that I don’t really care that I’ not posting anything, but that would be a lie. I think about it, and feel bad when I don’t, but am too tired to sit down and make it happen, and so….blah, blah, blah…yah! whatever!

Moving on, I sent out a little e-mail BEGGING for a few people to have mercy on you all and to please get their butts in gear and answer the questions already, for pete’s sake!

And…..what do you know….my asking nicely totally worked.

I got a few responses and so I’ll be putting those up hopefully more often than not.

The next person in our little “Get to know you better” endeavor is my

Anuty Sherry

Yes, I know that I wrote that wrong….what….you didn’t realize that something was wrong….yah, go back and look….not a Sherry, but at the “aunty” word.

Back when I was a little bit of a thing, I printed out a place card for her at a table one time and wrote “Anuty” as in A Nutty Sherry. Ha ha ha ha ha

Now, I have no good pictures of her, and I refuse to put a goofy one up for her, so if someone has a good one…e-mail it to me and Ill add it in…mmmm’kay???….Thanks!

But, enough about that…..here she is in her own words.

1. What are the top 5 most played/listened to songs in your iPod, Mp3player, Discman, Walkman, Radio, Computer Streaming software program, Cassette Deck, 8 Track Player or record player..have I covered all the areas?

1) Who am I…by Casting Crowns
2) Shine…by the Newsboys
3) Bleeding Love…by Leona Lewis
4) Pretty Amazing Grace…by Neil Diamond
5) Anything by the guy that sounds just like the guy from Third Day (right courtney and alanna?)

2. Who are the last 3 people that you spoke to on the phone and why?

1) Alanna…to tell her I love her
2) Uncle Dan…to ask to speak to Alanna
3) Work…to see if I could get a shift off

3. What is at the top of your shopping list right now?

Not a thing

4. Where “in the world” would you most rather be, as opposed to right here, right now?

In Australia with Courtney

5. What are the last 3 books, or magazines or articles or whatever thing with words in it that you’ve read and this e-mail doesn’t count?

1) Travels with Farley…by Claire Mowat
2) A Daughters Destiny…by Benazir Bhutto
3) Ralph Edward of Lonesome Lake…by Ralph Edwards

6. Who do you look up to or are encouraged by in your life - a role model? And why..you don’t have to drone on and on and on and on, just a short 5 pages essay, please?

My brother…for his sense of humor and easy going ness(is that a word?)…and because he is not afraid to show his emotion and his care for others.

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Grown up

8. Do you put the toilet paper to go over the top or under the bottom, when you put on a new roll?

duh…over the top, like grown ups do!!!

9. Can you type with two hands or are you the one finger wonder with amazing hunt and peck methodology?

Two hands…used to be 120 words per minute…no idea now
10. Are you a Starbucks or Tim Hortons fan?

I don’t even have to answer this

Yah! Love the sunshine, now if only I could get the baby to sleep and have all my work done so I could go and sit out in the sun and get my daily allotment of Vitamin D all worked out.

Well,

Our next installment of Who’s Who in the Zoo brings us to…..drum roll please…..

Debbie

Debbie is my baby sister….ha ha ha I just wrote baby siter….but then I changed it to baby sister, but I had to make fun of my spelling cause it was funny.

I’m in a weird mood and I’m over tired, so while it may seem funny to me and not so much to you…just flow with it.

okay, so Debbie is kid number 4 in our family of 5 kids, and she was the LOUDEST one of the bunch, and that’s saying something cause we were all REALLY FREAKING LOUD. And she could talk the fastest….or the most fast or just really really fast….whichever is the “correct” way.

She was and is so much fun to be with, and while I’m sure that she has her fair share of enemies out there (cause someone has got to be annoyed with her happy cheerful perkiness) I’ve never actually met anyone who didn’t like Debbie. Or maybe I have and they were just really good at faking it…..

I could go on and on and on about how wonderful and amazing she is, but wouldn’t it be way more fun if I told you all of the bad things about her…..

it would?????? Shame on you…shame on you for wanting to know the dirt on Debbie….the problem is…there is no dirt….at least none that I’ll talk of. We’re sisters and all, and I couldn’t betray the sisterly bond of……of….sisterhood…..now, could I?

So, here are here answers to the questions that I posed to everyone.

1. What are the top 5 most played/listened to songs in your iPod, Mp3player, Discman, Walkman, Radio, Computer Streaming software program, Cassette Deck, 8 Track Player or record player….have I covered all the areas?

Valerie - Amy Winehouse
Lolita - Prince
To Know Him is to Love Him - Amy Winehouse
The Waking - Kurt Elling

2. Who are the last 3 people that you spoke to on the phone and why?

Bree - because Telus was waiting for him
Denver - no reason in particular
Chris - probably something important like going for coffee

3. What is at the top of your shopping list right now?

apples, cod liver oil

4. Where “in the world” would you most rather be, as opposed to right here, right now?

Ross Lake

5. What are the last 3 books, or magazines or articles or whatever thing with words in it that you’ve read and this e-mail doesn’t count?

Denver’s Cuntry Weekly, because it was by the toilet
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Student’s Cocert Writeups

6. Who do you look up to or are encouraged by in your life – a role model? And why….you don’t have to drone on and on and on and on, just a short 5 pages essay, please?

Jeremy Jude Cully…”Be creative.”

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Young at heart

8. Do you put the toilet paper to go over the top or under the bottom, when you put on a new roll?

Front to back, Patti, Front to back. Haven’t you taught your kids that?

9. Can you type with two hands or are you the one finger wonder with amazing hunt and peck methodology?

I’ve got about four fingers working there.

10. Are you a Starbucks or Tim Hortons fan?

Either, Starbucks mostly

Alright, so that’s Debbie for ya…got any extra questions for her…leave your questions in the comments and she’ll answer back….cause she’s mouthy like that.

Alrighty! Look at this…..

Okay, now in this X-ray of Chris’s leg…if you see the lone screw up at the top…..that the same screw..only NOT in the leg anymore…..blech!

Now….here is the most recent update from Momma (Karen, or whatever you call her)

just over a week ago….. Chris went to see the surgeon who did the flap that covered the bone on his arm. This is the surgeon who was operating on Chris when he crashed on the operating table the first time and then they had to abort the operation the second time and the third time they were able to get him through it…. The surgeon had come out of the first time and told Aunty Sherry, “I don’t know what they believe… but there is still the possibility for a miracle….” When he walked into the room his reaction was a big smile and a shake of the head and these words.spoken in awe……”IT IS SO GOOD TO SEE YOU ALIVE AND WELL” as he ‘interviewed’ and examined Chris and his arm… he must have said this at least 6 times.

He told Chris that he could work on the reshaping “de-bulking” they call it… and explained several different approaches. Chris said, “You’re the Doctor what would you do if it was you?”. He said He would like to try and keep the skin intact as it is stronger and looks nicer. So He would lift it and de-bulk from under it and then lay it on again as a new graft….but that way they couldn’t guarantee that it would take…. Chris told him if that was what he recommended that He should do it and I said we would pray. He said that would be good. So he is on the list… it could be a year to a year and a half until his name comes up.

After that we went to the Hospital to say hello to who ever was on the 7th floor… then we stopped by the Trauma / Plastics unit to see if the social worker that had encouraged me so much during the first month Chris was there, she was so surprised to see us. She was amazed at his recovery. (Every time we go by to see the nurses and those who helped us… they always say it is wonderful to see a patient that was so bad come back well, they are thankful because they don’t often get to see the progress of their patients and what has become of them.)

She talked with us a long time and kept saying how wonderful Chris looked and what incredible progress he has made…When we were ready to go… she walked us out into the hall, we rounded the corner and when she turned away to go back into the trauma unit… we heard her say…”OH WOW!” She didn’t know we could hear her.

Praise the Lord! For the skill and help of the Doctors and nurses…. For Chris’ determination and The wonderful promises of God that sustain us.

We met a cleaning lady at VGH who always brought sunshine and cheer into the room. I talked with her often. She is a Christian and often prayed for Chris. She was so delighted to see how well Chris was doing. There are so many wonderful people who work in our health care system.

Tuesday June 24th

Chris went to see the Ortho specialist and he removed the screw from the upper part of the rod. This is to give the leg more compression and hopefully to help stimulate bone growth. He was just starting to walk again without the cane… but is using it again sometimes to help support the leg just for next little while until he sees how his leg handles the new pressure.

Chris said when the Doc. came in… he had a needle and poked it through he skin… He said “There that will freeze the skin…” then he pushed a little further and squirted more, freezing the flesh… and then pushed it all the way in until it hit… either the bone or the screw head “There that should freeze the area nicely.” then he slit the leg where the line was and opened it and looked around until he saw the screw head…. Then he picked up a big old screw driver and stuck it in onto the head of the screw… then he paused… waiting a moment to get ready he told Chris… okay this is where it usually hurts….. when I turn it and it tears away from the bone that has grown onto and around the grooves in the screw… then he paused again grinning….. Chris thinks it was so he could get himself geared up for the pain…. the next moment he turned it and…..nothing…. everything was okay..no pain… then the Doc asked Chris if he would like to keep the screw… Chris said” Well I would like to but The infectious Disease Doctor said he wanted the screw to go to the lab….” The Doctor agreed, that would be a good idea. and with a stitch or two…badda boom…. it was over. and Chris walked out of there… actually he came out and said to me… Have you got your camera? come and take a picture of this screw… so… we did.

Chris says it is going well (report after the 1st 24 hours.).

Yesterday, Chris saw the Specialist who did the amazing operation on his arm. We were told this was an incredibly complex and intricate operation. The results are wonderful. He was very impressed with how Chris is doing. He took pictures of both his hands and arms together… with the flex (he is able to bring his arm right up until his hand can reach his mouth and when warmed up and stretched out he can even get it up to touch his shoulder) and the extension (open straight out) and with the pronation (hands rotated facing down) and the other one (you know? the rotation that turns the hands upward) So there is more that can be done for his hand but the face is the next priority and getting the infection under control and keeping it that way until after that is important.

I also saw a specialist that will be working with Chris to see how things are from the brain injury side… in regards to getting his licence back. So this is looking forward with expectation for good things, new strategies and what ever else will be helpful.

Chris has started getting out for a walk on his own.He is travelling up to 6 blocks from the house, to the coffee shop or else where…….

I am really impressed with how he challenges himself.

Karen