Finally some snow!

Whoo Hoo! Finally some significant snow (when I was home)!! Well it isn't our first snowfall this year but it is our first with a working camera. We have about a foot on the ground now so its very 'winter' looking outside. I personally am hoping for a record snowfall this year, it can never snow too much for me. It snowed all day and we got the little snowmobile out for the kids. They are riding the heck out of that thing so far this year. Even little Max has figured out how to drive it all by himself. Of course he doesn't say his S sound yet so he says "Dad, it nowing outside I want to ride the nomobile" very funny to say the least. For anyone who isn't familiar with kids snowmobiles, it has a little one cylinder engine in it and a governor so it only goes about 5-6 miles an hour but the kids love it. They've figured out that it will drive over snowbanks and up and down ditches, now they want me to build them a jump. They do roll it over sometimes, but its all at such a slow speed and a snowy landing that its no big deal. To be honest they get hurt a lot more falling of their bikes. I got some pictures of Nick and Max and then Hatteras licked the camera lens so no pictures of Alex today but he was certainly out there riding it as well.

Now if it would just snow enough for me to get the big snowmobile out things would be great!!

The surgery is just a distant memory. I feel no different, except for some lingering irritation at the incision site, and that should continue to heal and feel better. I've been working out, not at 100% but getting there slowly. Kevin is also doing great and enjoying being able to eat whatever he wants.

Things are busy here as usual. We are having Thanksgiving dinner with another FedEx family plus an old Navy buddy of mine will be in town to join us also. Then in Dec we have all sorts of Cubscout activities leading up to Christmas. After Christmas we are all traveling to St Louis to see Kerry's family. It should be a great visit, plus who wouldn't want to indulge in some air travel around the holidays with three young kids! I think that about does it. I'll try to hit this blog a little more often now that we have a camera again. Nikon said it was a "Moderate Level repair with Major parts required" Why any of that is necessary on a pro level camera that is only 6 months old is anyones guess. At least it was under warranty. Talk to you soon, Storm

Not a lot happening

Hello to anyone still reading. We haven't had any entries lately for several reasons. We're lazy, we have nothing to report, and our stupid cameras aren't working so we don't have any photos and thats what makes it fun.

So hopefully the camera situation will be resolved soon. In the meantime, I'm still healing up so I'm not working out or anything like that. It is killing me to not be more active, but I know its the best thing for me so I'm trying my best to be patient.

Things here are the standard (that would be chaotic) we've got some swimming lessons for the kids and all sorts of school and community events to attend. Staying busy isn't too hard. Plus KM is working a fair amount and now that I'm healthy again I'm on call quite a bit as well.

Trick or treating went well (no pics) but Nick was a fireman, Alex was a NASCAR driver and Max was a bug (or as he says "I'm a beetle actually"). Lots of candy and No Snow so that was nice. I would say that about covers it for now. Kevin is doing great and getting back up to speed now that things are healing up, and I am just dying for it to snow so that I/we can go play!! Take Care, Storm

Wow!

Well so much for getting some good photos. We are having some technical difficulties and at this point I would not recommend a Nikon to anyone. It works great...when it actually works.

Unfortunately both of our Nikons are NOT working at the moment so taking any 'good' photos is out of the question. Calling up Nikon and screaming at the customer service rep is not out of the question and is moving up the list quickly. If anyone is thinking of buying, buy a Canon.

Anyhow the picture is of my Birthday/Thank you gift from Kevin. It is soooo freakin cool!!! "It" is a Yamaha Apex RTX snowmobile. I'm trying to figure out how to get in the house rather than the garage so that I can stare at it all the time instead of having to go downstairs. Plus then I would be a lot more comfortable at night when I sleep next to it. It is torture not being able to ride it, it's actually a good thing that we don't have any snow because if we did I'm sure I would've torn some stiches out of my incision by now. I attached a link if anyone is interested in what it actually looks like.

http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/products/modelimagelib/427/2/1/0/image.aspx

Kevin, THANK YOU!! I absolutely love it. Totally over the top and not necessary but Awesome!! Now if I could only ride it right away, hmmm the grass probably would work pretty well....

KM is working today. Yes it is her birthday, but it was her idea to go to work not mine. So the boys and I have been taking it easy and just lazing around watching football and NASCAR. It turns out that its a lot easier to heal up when there aren't 3 boys around who want to wrestle all the time. It's amazing how quickly they 'forget' that Dad is hurt and come jump on my lap. It is also amazing how hard it is for me to just laze around for several days on end. Thank goodness I will back in action soon.

Apparently my thrill seeking is wearing off on the kids because we were watching some idiot on TV jump off a 50 cliff on a snowmobile and I asked the boys if that was a smart thing to do. Alex replied 'No Dad, but it is cool'. Its a good thing we make them wear helmets when ever they are outside.

That's about it for this edition. Now that things are calming down a little bit we won't blog as often and it will mostly be about the kids with pictures so that all their far away relatives can see what is going on. Everyone is invited to visit the blog whenever they desire and comments are always welcome. Thank you to everyone for thinking of us during the last two weeks, we very much appreciate it. Talk to you all again soon. Storm

Storm's Home!!

Hello Everyone, I made it back safely, and on time which has been a rarity for airtravel this week. I want to thank Kevin and Vera for taking such good care of KM and me in LA. We really enjoy their company and can't wait for all of us to spend more time together soon. Plus it is so awesome to see Kevin looking so good and healthy, it makes me smile everytime I talk to him.
My trip home was uneventful, except for when a sneeze took me off guard in the LA airport and I almost fell over from the pain. Oh did that suck, I forgot about my 'condition' and put my hand over my mouth instead of pressing on my incision. Most things I can do fine already but sneezing and coughing are going to take a while longer. By the way if you want people to avoid you in the airport I suggest taking one of those big X-ray film envelopes that say CHEST or ANGIO on them and carry it around, and then just cough every once in a while. No one got within 10 feet of me all day, it was great. I just brought the X-rays home to show the kids and put in my files, unfortunately I don't have one after the surgery that shows just the one kidney. That would be pretty cool.
Kerry had the opportunity to go to a camera class tonight so 20 minutes after I arrived I was taking the kids to swimming lessons, and then Max developed a mild fever tonight, so on and so forth... But it is great to be home. I missed KM and the boys a lot and Hatteras too. LA was much more boring after KM left. But there is nothing boring here when the boys are around so I'm off to catch up on bills and emails and to play with my new Ipod! Thanks KM!! I'll post some pics this weekend, and they should be good ones since KM is taking a photo lesson tonight! Talk to you all again soon, and thanks for all the comments and B-day wishes!! See Ya, Storm

What the ....?

Good Lord! I leave him alone for three days and he is already posting half naked pictures of himself on the Internet!!! He is obviously feeling fine; and apparently he has received more than enough letters of encouragement and support...

Have a safe trip Babe, cannot wait to have you home. Happy Birthday!

Love, KM

Some pics

Well, here are a few pics as promised. First the scars, 4 little 'bullet' holes on the left side for instruments to go in and a 2-3 inch incision just above my shorts where the kidney was removed. The picture of me in the UCLA sweatshirt was taken 6 days after the surgery and the other picture was taken just before the surgery. Of course I haven't shaved in 3 days in the 'after' picture so I don't look so good, but I think Kevin looks great and that is awesome!

I had a nice visit with my Mom today, she had to drive back already as she is headed for Maui tomorrow. Seems to be a very rough life she is leading.

Later this afternoon I am hoping to meet up with Kerry's cousin Kirk who lives in LA. Also later today I have my follow-up appt with the surgeon to make sure that I am healing on schedule and then assuming all is well I depart tomorrow for AK. It will be very nice to be home. Its been a really wild 10 days here in LA with results that are even better than we had hoped for, so that has been very satisfying. I think that is about it for the moment. Just more walking today and feeling more comfortable all the time. Thank you to the many people that have called to check in, I really appreciate all of you taking the time to make sure that I am okay. Its very humbling to be on the receiving end of all this actually. Until next time. Take Care, Storm

Still in LA

Well, this post was supposed to have some new pics on it. Some of Kevin and me post surgery and maybe a picture of my new scars (I have been advised by someone who's initials used to be KM that no one wants to see that, is she right?) Nothing gory or close up of course, I just thought that if I was reading this I would want to know what kidney donation scars looked like. Anyhow its all a mute point right the moment since I have been foiled again by digital picture technology, maybe I'll get it sorted out tomorrow.

More walking today and less pain so things are progressing quickly, I am able to walk pretty briskly now so that is good. We all walked down to get some pizza tonight, it was nice to get out of the hotel to eat.

Kevin is able to walk about a mile or so before the incision site gets too irritated so he is making decent progress. His lab numbers look awesome so he will be able to leave the hotel and go home on Friday. He will visit the doctor twice weekly for a month or so before they cut him down to less frequent visits. It is so great to see him looking and acting so healthy. Able to walk around without getting tired, able to eat whatever he wants without getting sick, able to actually sleep at night, it is really cool and makes me feel great as well. I knew that giving Kevin a kidney was the right thing to do and that it would have all sorts of positive results; but even so, sometimes I would have second thoughts like "what if something goes wrong?" or "what if the kidney gets rejected?" and most often "am I really a sane person if I volunteer to undergo major surgery when I am perfectly healthy?". Even with the doubts I knew it was the right thing to do. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing while watching Kevin's quality of life go down the toilet. I possessed the solution to his health problems at a minimal risk to myself. Additionally, I am sure that had the roles been reversed Kevin would have done the same for me. So now to be done with the procedure and recovering quickly; it is such an awesome feeling to see Kevin rapidly returning to his old healthy self. Kevin is my cousin but he is also someone that I consider to be one of my very good friends and to see him healthy again is truly priceless.

I'll work on some pics in the morning and tomorrow afternoon my Mom is coming to visit from San Diego now that she has returned from Alaska and her babysitting duties!! THANKS MOM!!!! More Later, Storm