July 28, 2010

BIG CEDAR LODGE


if you have never been to big cedar lodge you MUST go! it is right outside of branson and we had a great trip there this weekend! this was the sorell family vacation, and was the first (of many to come!) where almost all of us were able to go. we sure did miss our sorell's who are in korea, and of course baseball playing ryan, but to get 16 of us together for a weekend was truly a success.

and boy did we have fun!
as we were making the 3.5 hour drive down there friday afternoon, i was already thinking the trip wasn't going to be long enough. but let me tell you, after packing in over 10 activities into two days, it was plenty!

we each had an amazing cabin to stay in, so we had space to spread out and not have to be all over each other from morning to night. this allowed the little kids to take naps when needed, and to share some large family meals together. colette really planned it all, and it was fun from the moment we got there.

friday night we cooked out and got to bed late. saturday morning we were up early, having a quick breakfast and heading out to the pontoon boat. everyone was able to be on the boat together, including james! we did some fun tubing off the back of the boat and got a lot of sun. some of the small kids went in for naps, while the rest of us swam in the lake and perfected our tubing skills. 'granny c', as colette calls herself, showed no granny signs at all, getting on the tube by herself, showing off and eventually being kindly thrown off! abbie and her cousing mia had a great time on the lake, and really wanted to tube by themselves. so uncle matt started with them and then slipped off. there is one photo of them giving each other a high five on the tube, since they were on it with no adult! there were some fun memeories made!

we went to dinner that night and then attempted to take a large family photo... in the 90+ heat. we did get a few good shots, and i'm thankful for everyone sticking it out in the heat to get the image.
later that night, james and i took our kids to the pool, where they were showing 'alvin and the chipmunks'. we floated around and watched the movie and then were exhausted and ready for bed.

on sunday we had breakfast together, went to a different pool with all the kids, and then sent abbie and mia off to kids camp for stable day. they did a variety of horse activities from 12-3 and had a great time. i got to go jet-skiing while they were there, which was another fun time. i got thrown off by daredevil matt, but it was a blast.
later that afternoon we had sno-cones at frosty's and then went to the fishing pond. abbie caught her hook in some bushes, so we gave that rod to asher and he was so happy just throwing the line in and reeling it back. i think he really thought he was fishing! it was so hot, which made it really hard to stick it out for too long, but we did get close to getting a fish... maybe next time.

we had a great italian dinner at our cabin that night with everyone and then put all the kiddos in bed. the ladies all tried to go to the pool for some late night relaxing, but because of lightening, we weren't able to do that for long. even the indoor pool was closed! it was a funny adventure to share with all the girls!

monday morning we had breakfast together at fiords cabin and after packing up went to the main lodge for an arts and crafts time. we did so much in such a short time, but really got to have a lot of fun and make a lot of memories. thank you so much, brian and colette for a great trip! enjoy a few photos from the adventures!

July 16, 2010

friday....goooooiiingggg hhoooooooome!

they have told us that we CAN go home today... as of right now (11am!). we are staying until his radiation oncologist comes to talk with him and take him to his radiation treatment, which is supposed to happen after lunch. who knows if that is 12:30 after lunch or 4:00 after lunch! we just have to go with the flow.
today will be the first of 10 treatments to his sacrum area, which should help relieve some of the pressure he is feeling. he does have a fracture to both his sacrum and his pelvis, which will have to just heal by itself. that will continue to be painful, but over time we hope that it will heal more.

while at the hospital, they did not find anything irregular with his heart after doing two different tests and having him on a monitor all night. though it did stop for 2.8 seconds yesterday afternoon, it has been fine since.

we've met with all the doctors and all have given the approval to go home today. yeah!
thank you for praying and sticking with us!

July 13, 2010

a quick update

tuesday i sat down to do a long blog entry, updating everyone on the details of what has been going on with james. just as i did that we got a message from his radiation dr. that we should go to the hospital because they found a blood clot in his vein.
we had suspected this for almost 5 weeks now, but multiple leg sonograms had not shown anything. the ct scan that he had done to prep for radiation (that will be starting on friday!!!) showed the clot... finally!
james' leg has been really swollen and is just so huge it is unbelievable.
to finally find the clot is a great thing.
so after spending the evening tuesday and all day wednesday in the hospital at menorah, trying to figure out what to do, they have a plan.
today (thursday) they are putting in a stint in to open up the compressed vein. they will also put in a filter, which once inserted opens up to catch any pieces of blood clot that could break off. if something did break off and go into his lungs it could quite possibly kill him. the dr. this morning thought the size and location of his clot had an unlikely chance of doing this, but the filter is a precaution. yes, we are happy to take that precaution doctor!

so, we are in the hospital all day again today, and the procedure is happening now. it is a fairly simple thing to do, so there isn't a lot of risk. but he will have a hard time standing up and bending for awhile, because of where they go into the veins.

please pray for a quick decrease in the swelling of his left leg, for continued relief from the pain pump (that is a whole different story i will tell) and for the clot to be broken up, removed and not a problem anymore.

thanks again for journeying with us!
love, james and sarah

summer time

summer time
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Hawaii

Hawaii
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