Sunday

Well, it's been another busy week in the McNamara household.
Gram is doing ok. She wasn't feeling well today from what I gathered. I went over and combed out her hair for her b/c she has a cardiology appointment tomorrow morning. She went to her primary last week and she said things looked fine. Her VN didn't think the same way though. Gram takes her blood pressure everyday weighs herself. She's been consitant in loosing weight unfortunately, her blood pressure was very low and the VN was very unhappy about that. She placed a call to the cardiologist on Thursday I believe it was and they in turn called us back to let us know that they were going to change some of her meds around and decrease them, b/c her pressure's low and she's been feeling "unsteady". Please pray this works. Unfortunately in changing the meds now she has to make sure she's not swelling up or having a hard time breathing b/c in lower these meds this can happen.

On a different note, we went to see Deirdre in High School Musical at Nichol's on Friday night, Grace had a blast! She went running up on stage to hug and kiss Deirdre and congratulate her on a job well done when the show was over! "Go Wildcats!"

Yesterday, we took the kids to the St. Martin's Lawn Fete, it was HOT!
then they came home and took a dip in their pool.

Today, we took an adventure to Niagara Falls with Mom and Dad. It was so much fun! The kids had a blast and were amazed at one of the wonders of the world, although they thought it was raining and it was the mist from the falls!

Friday

TGIF!!!!
Well, this has been quite the week, as most of them are.
I play "Mom" at work to thirty six people, all women except for one, and we are acquiring one more staff member in about two weeks, you guessed it...........another woman. Then I come home and I AM Mom! Guess that's why I feel like I never left home while I'm at work!
Anyhow, let's see what's going on today.......Gram is doing good today, she got to use her new machine, it sounds a little freaky in some ways to me, the machine beeped at her to get her attention, she walked over to it and it started talking to her. The nurse was telling her that it was time to weigh herself, take the pulse ox and blood pressure. Gram lost another pound. I'm hoping it's b/c she hasn't had a donut in weeks and is eating much healthier, although she herself said that yesterday was not a good eating day. I'm not sure why. I offered to cook her dinner tonight, she declined, but Sunday I am going over with Joe and the kids in tow, I'm going to grill up some chicken at home and make fat free cheesey potatoes for her, she likes those, I'm also going to make her a fat free taco dip, the one my mother in law makes, my gram loves that and the fat free one is Jillie's favorite. So maybe that will help out in the 'different food department'.

My brother in law went home today, he is still in pain and discomfort, so please continue to pray for him.

For those of you who check this blog, I'm glad that it's a nice source of updates for you, and hope I'm covering everything.
Have a safe and wonderful weekend.

Grandma's new machinery and some other misc. things!

Hello!
Gram's nurse came today and she now has some equipment at home. She will do her blood pressure, pulse ox and weight herself on a daily basis and it will transmit over the telephone right to the VNA. Also, if she is not feeling well there is a button that she can push that will immediately alert the nurses at the VNA site. Her pulse ox was ninety nine percent today! That's awesome, I was thrilled to hear that.
Onto a few other things now.
I would like it if everyone reading this would add my brother in law Matt to their prayer lists. Matt has been battling a kidney stone for the past week. Sounds quite simple, but it was not in this case. Matt has endured a lot of pain this past week and a lot of trips to the ER. They placed a stent last Friday and he was still unable to pass his stone and in a lot of pain. He was admitted yesterday, and they did surgery today. He's still in pain, but we are praying that he's on the road to recovery. This hasn't been easy for him or his wife Jody, let alone his parents or the rest of his family. Please pray for Matt's recovery and for his wife and children, they could use the prayers right now. Matt has lost some weight b/c he has been unable to eat or drink anything in a week from what I'm told. My mother in law has been keeping us posted on Matt's condition and was happy to report tonight that surgery was over!

A happier note.........Grace is enjoying Irish Dance Class. She comes home happy and jumping around. She doesn't say much about what's she's learned but did show me her "duck walk". I'm glad she's having fun.

I got news from Aunt Lori today that Matthew got his permit..........way to go Matthew!!! I feel sooooooooo old that Matthew is old enough to drive. Sixteen, huh? Scary! Gram was choked up when she was telling me tonight too.

Well, it's getting way past my bedtime!

Wednesday July 18, 2007

Hello.
Well, nothing super new to report so that's good. No news is good news in our case.
Gram has a nurse that comes twice a week. They will be bringing her a monitor to wear that will transmit over the phone to let them monitor how she is doing. The nurse said that her blood pressure was better than it has been in a long while so that made us very happy! She should be seeing her primary care physician in the next couple of weeks, I'm not sure about the dates. But she will be seeing her cardiologist as well soon.
She is in good spirits and appreciates talking to everyone when they call. She appreciates the phone calls, prayers and thoughts more than you all could imagine.
We celebrated Ava's Christening on Sunday. She is such a doll! Gram was thrilled to be there to share in her special day with her. Uncle Tom did the ceremony and it was beautiful. Ryan and Jill are very lucky and blessed to have such a gorgeous, healthy baby girl, as well as the rest of the "Licata" clan!

I will post when I hear more news!
:)

Thursday

Gram is doing well at home. She will have a nurse go to the house on Saturday at some point to check her stats. She is due to see her primary in the next two weeks and the cardiologists. There was some concern over one of her meds, they needed prior approval for it and I guess the pharmacist called her primary who did not prescribe it so she was not likely to give them the "ok" to get prior approval from the insurance company. I suggested they call the cardiologist. They didn't want to even give Grandma a pill to get her through last night until we could reach the doctor. Thank goodness my good friend Wendy is the Assistant District Manager for the Pharmacy chain that we deal with and was more than willing to lend a hand. She managed to get the pharmacist to give Gram two pills until we got this taken care of. Mom took matters into her own hands and called the cardiologist office today and got the prior approval! It's always an adventure.

The kids had an eventful day, Joe's cousin Deirdre watched the kids today and they had fun! They played outside, went swimming, and just had a great time. They even cleaned up their messes and took a nap for her. She's awesome!

I'll post more when I can, and this weekend I'll put some pictures on here of the kiddies.

Joey's Eye Doctor Appointment

Well, the verdict is in for this eye exam.
Joey who I'm sure you all know is legally blind in his left eye. He has to continue his drops in his right eye to make vision poor in the right eye so the left eye is forced to be used in order to strengthen the eye. He is crossed eyed and has a laze eye in the left eye as well, so he's got a whole barage of things going on with his poor little eyes. He wears glasses and Dr. Awner changed his RX last time he was there in April but will be keeping it the same this time around, thankfully! It's a challenge to get a two year old to wear glasses, Joey's been wearing them since February. Wow, how fast time flies. It helps for him to see his cousin Ian in his glasses b/c it's another little kid who has to wear them. He is doing much better with wearing them.
All in all he got a A OK from the eye doctor, he has to return in three months. If they can strengthen Joey's left eye to the point where surgery will become an option, they tell us that it takes about fifteen months or so, then they an attempt to correct the lazy eye and the crossed eyes.

News, news, news....

Grandma was released from the hospital today. She came home on a ton of medication which is a switch for someone who only took one pill a day. Joe took her scripts to the pharmacy and there was a whopping ten of them!
We took the kids over for just a tiny bit, they were so happy to have her home, she too was thrilled. We didn't stay long b/c Gram needs her rest but wanted to check up and make sure she ate and was doing alright.
I am going to make some meals that she can freeze and pop out when she and Mom would like them this week. I have to brush up on the cardiac diet that's for sure.
Please continue to pray for Gram's recovery and that we can keep her around for the next ten years.
Love,
Jenn

Monday, Monday, Monday!

Mundane Monday's, not in our family, that's for sure!
Grandma is doing a bit better, her spirits are up more than they have been in weeks. They are talking a possible discharge tomorrow. Of course this means a total lifestyle change for her and the rest of us and she has to make sure she tells us of anything she feels that is out of the ordinary to ensure that we keep her around for the next ten years! It is unsure as to what the plan of action will be when she comes home, she will come home on a barage of meds and Grandma is only used to taking one pill a day so this will be quite a change for her for a while that's for sure.

The kids are doing well, reaking havoc of course. That's their job from what I'm told.
We took them to Darien Lake with Miranda over the weekend and a good time was had by all, when I have a moment I'll post some pictures that I've been taking and haven't had time to put any of them on the computer.

Joey's going to the eye doctor tomorrow, cross your fingers that he's still making progress, although I'm seeing the eye float a lot more than it has been lately. We shall find out. I'm wondering if they will change his prescription again...........time will tell. Grace will be spending the day with her Grandpa and Cathy tomorrow while Joey's at the doctor, so she's all ready to go and hang out with them and Teddy. They have so much fun together.

I'll keep updating when I get new news.

Sunday July 8th

Well, we've had quite the week in the Licata family.
Gram had a few major set backs this week unfortunately. Tuesday she suffered her second heart attack as you all may know and the doctors called a "family" meeting in her room in the CICU. Wednesday she was resting comfortably and looking one thousand percent better as Uncle Tom put it. Thursday morning my Mom called the CMICU to check on Gram b/c there are no phones for the patients on that floor. She gave her a progress report of things are the "same" but "fine". When Mom and Uncle Tom got to the hospital that morning they learned that things were not fine. Gram had another "episode" five minutes after my Mom spoke to the nurse who was taking care of her. They kept her in the CMICU Thursday, Friday and part of Saturday (yesterday). They moved her to the 6th floor, a cardiac floor where she started. All of her lines are capped off and she is taking most of her meds orally, with the exception of a shot in her belly and an antibiotic given IV in the mornings. She was told that she could get out of bed to walk around, but ONLY WITH THE HELP OF SOMEONE! We've been reiterating this to her over and over again. One of the lead cardiologists came in to see her this morning and the only thing Gram heard him say was "it's time to get you walking the floors". So, once someone gets there this morning they will check with the nurse to find out what's going on.
We are praying that with the help of the medication Gram will get some relief and her "episodes" will be a thing of the past and that she can live comfortably.
She has a Licata family picture in her room, two pictures that Grace drew for her, one of Grace and Joey and one of Ava.............she's so darn adorable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, Gram is happy looking at her board and seeing her "babies". Grace and Joey called her last night and got to talk to her. They are in Grammy withdrawl as they haven't seen her in a week. They're used to seeing her everyday, so it's a change for the two of them naturally.
Please continue to pray for Grandma that she continues on the road to recovery.
Thank you!
(Keep checking back for updates, I'm not on everyday but I will post everytime I get new information)

Evening News

Gram is holding her own tonight. She was drining a Carnation Instant Breakfast for us tonight, which made her nurse Jay very happy. He's a card. Very nice, funny and was quoting the Soprano's to her.
She is off of most of the IV meds and is taking them orally with a heparin shot in her belly.
She told us that she wanted to come home tomorrow. We don't forsee this. As you all know, the medication therapy is all they can do for Grandma, so we just have to pray and like Uncle Tom said put things in God's hands.
Please continue to pray for Gram, she appreciates the thoughts and prayers and enjoys her family so much.
Thank you to everyone.
Love,
Jennifer

July 5th

Hello.
I hope that everyone had a safe 4th of July.
As most of you know we spent ours at the hospital waiting to see Grandma. It has been quite the week Grandma's had.
She suffered a heart attack on Monday morning, which brought her into the ER.
The scheduled an angiogram for her to be done first thing Tuesday morning. The doctor who performed the angiogram came out to let us know of his findings. Grandma has three major blockages. They cannot perform surgery or place stents or a balloon, she is a candidate for none of these, unfortunately. Tuesday afternoon around two or so Grandma suffered another heart attack. They moved her from a 6th floor cardiac floor to the CMICU, which is where she definately needs to be. She has a nurse assigned just to her and is at her side constantly, which is the care she deserves!!
The cardiologist called in a surgeon and the doctor who performed the angio and who has been following her in the hospital Tuesday evening. They gave us a second opinion and said that surgery was not an option at all. They will try medication therapy and see if they can keep the blood flowing nicely to avoid another "episode" from happening again.
The cardiologist that will be following her when she comes home came in to see her yesterday, she seemed upbeat that hopefully the worst is over and Grandma had to make it through the next so many hours to ensure that.
Of course with just medication and not surgery there is a potential for this to happen again so a very very close eye needs to be kept on her at all times.
We are taking turns in the CMICU waiting room and visiting with Grandma, as I'm sure you know the unit has very limited hours for visiting so the patients can rest. We rotate between myself, my Mom, Uncle Tom, Ryan, Jill, Anne Marie, Loretta, Bette, Aunt Lori, and Uncle Mat.
Katie was there to see Gram the other day and Gram loved the visit of course, my friend Wendy She's enjoying stories about Ava, Grace and Joey. They miss her terribly.
Please, please keep positive thoughts and prayers for my Grandmother. As she IS the glue that holds this family together.
Love to all
Jenn