AIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, as if I haven't already had enough crises lately...yesterday we had one more. To make a long story shorter, Kevin ended up rushing me BACK to the hospital Emergency Room because I couldn't breathe again. Their temporary treatment involved putting me on "Heliox", which is a mixture of helium and oxygen. I guess the helium goes down the restricted airway easier. The interim result is that I sounded alternatively like Mickey Mouse...

Or "Squeaky", the Eight Dwarf!!!

After some consultation between doctors, it was decided to transport me up to the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake. There I was rushed into surgery by Dr. Marshall Smith - a professor and expert in airway medicine and treatment. That he would make time to treat me so promptly, and fit me into his very busy schedule is a miracle in and of itself. He even bumped another emergency surgery out of the Operating Room because he felt I was more of an urgent case. I guess I just hadn't realized just how much of an emergency my situation was. Dr. Smith was able to insert a breathing tube down my esophagus and use that to thread a balloon down the scar tissue obstruction...which had now shrunk to a 5 millimeter opening!

YIKES!!!

With the balloon, he was able to get the opening to 15 mm after which he injected the scar tissue with steroids to encourage it to stay shrunk!

That was last night. I got out of surgery around 9pm. I was released from the hospital at about 10:00 this morning. Kevin took me to Temple Square to see the beautiful gardens and enjoy being outside. Something I haven't been able to enoy for the last two months.

Bottom line is: I CAN BREATHE FREELY!!!!

...and I no longer sound like HIM:

Ode to a Sister...

Ok, not REALLY an "ode"... but it sounded good!

She's smart...
She's funny...
She's short (haha Caline, had to put that in here!)
She's always been first to jump in to defend me!
She's my big Sister....
...and she's turning 39 (again!) today!

Happy Birthday to my BIG Sister!

I love you, Sis!!!

Happy Independence Day

"...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed... We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world... declare that these united colonies, are and of right ought to be free and independent states...And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Here, in part, is what started it all... An idea - a dream - a vision that refused to die. Two hundred and thirty-five years later, we've been through a lot. Still the dream refuses to die. To use the words of our Founding Fathers, thank "Divine Providence" for that!!!

We've weathered wars and internal strife. We've seen acts of incredible bravery and moral corruption. We've seen "heroes proved in liberating strife"; who also gave their lives and sacred honor to preserve this great nation. As a nation, we are not perfect, but we are still the greatest nation on the earth.

With all my heart, I say thank you to those who have done so much to establish and preserve this great nation. With all my soul I echo the cry...