2-6-12

The aide in same day surgery was certified as a paramedic and had worked on life flight helicopters. He is also a funeral director and working on his RN degree.  The nurse had lap band surgery lost a bunch of weight then had bilateral knee replacements and had only been back to work for 2 weeks.  The PACU nurse had been there for 6 years. She loves it. I think I would too.  The guy next door wouldn't keep his oxygen on. Garry! Jeez. The unit coordinator in same day surgery suggested that Mike bring a wheelchair to the room at discharge. This is a GREAT idea because it eliminates need to wait for transport. Martha and Mercy in the short stay unit were so beautiful (Kenyan, I think) and competent.  The rooms are so small that they have a cabinet door one opens and out swings a toilet! Felicia, my night nurse on 51 (not short stay unit, as stay was extended) has the tiniest piercing, the size of a baby tick, but it is a diamond and it is on the right corner of her right lower lip. She is from another country too, but she sort of seems Jamaican or similar. She is older and efficient. She did not screw around with getting everything set up so I could sleep through the night and she always came into the room with a fresh cup of ice water. Kristen, the 51 day nurse, just had a baby 4 months ago. She doesn't have one extra bit of flab anywhere. She has a 7 year old named Zach and a 3 year old too.  Dr. Dunleavy is finishing his residency at KU in about 6 months and then heading to Minneapolis to do a fellowship in sports medicine. He grew up in Waterloo. He also operated until midnight on Saturday night, was in to see me before 10 a.m. on Sunday and on the day of my surgery he did not scrub in to a procedure so he could follow me up to my first room and get my wound vac fixed. The housekeeper got a Kindle Fire for Christmas. She says luuuuuuvs to read. She has everything on it from "Christianity to exotic, you know like bad girl stuff." Her family had a youngster who was the baby, and they nicknamed her Was. I think that is so artful. Nina offered to come get me and take me home, but Mike decided he wanted to help.  He and Zach had to wait for 9 + hours at the hospital with me on Friday. Zach had a BM blowout and the same-day staff went and got him a diaper and wipes from the pediatric unit. Poor Mike, that was a really bad day.

I'm not sure what will happen with my foot.  It seems to be collecting more fluid without the wound vac.

2-4-12

Surgery yesterday- I&D to remove hematoma. Hospital stay x 3 days for wound vac compression. Vac placed over sutured site to provide pressure to stop "diffuse venous oozing."

2-1-12

Sharon Yohn, Barb's mom, composed this letter for a church group in which she is active. What a wonderful family. 

Dearest Anna:                                                                                                                                           

2-1-12

I send you my love on the valentine’s month, February 2012. I miss you often. My faith tells me that you are aware of the comings and goings of the Jones family. Let me touch on a few moments with you.

You and Larry must be very proud of your three sons. Let’s start with Steve. He is doing well in his business in St. Louis. He is a great dad to Kyle who is becoming a wonderful young man. Angi and Steve have matured and deal with matters of Kyle quite well. Steve is a loving man; he really loves to come to Kansas City for celebrations. He treats Bill and I with the utmost respect and love. 

Onward to Mike. Mike is an incredible dad to Zach and he and Andrea are keeping their busy schedules under control. Barb just called to say that she went to Zach’s day-care yesterday to pick up Zach because Mike was stuck in New York unable to come home in a timely manner; Andrea was in the middle of her twelve-hour shift at the KU hospital. Barb told me that Zach was adorable and the boys played together until Andrea could come get him about 9:00pm. Isn’t that wonderful? 

Now what about Warren? Where do I start. Warren is a very excellent father. (That’s three for three!!) He is hard-driving but fair, which is how your sons described Larry. Matt now works full-time at the clinic trying to save funds to move out on his own. Matt is a great kid; I hope you are aware that he is an artist. He started majoring in Art at the community college but now he’s thinking of what to do. He is a very fine bass guitar player; and his hobby of skateboarding is alive and well. He is always very respectful to us and we adore him. Nick is very interesting! His goal on this his second semester of the junior year is to improve his GPA while doing above and beyond the required preparation for baseball at Parkhill. Anna, he wants to go to KSU!!! We all hope he will be enabled to do so. This remains to unfold in the coming months. He is a neat kid and very respectful to us. When I hug him, I sometimes say “Nick, you are awesome!’ and the adorable response is: “So are you, Grammy” in his nice deep voice. I hope you can hear these things. And Cole Riley Jones: well, at age ten, he has our hearts in his hands. He is a very active, charming and engaging young man. When in a family group recently, someone noticed that Cole can and will visit with the youngest to the oldest with ease. His looks reminds me of Larry in the area of his eyes.

Back to Warren. He has three businesses. He is doing well. He is now looking toward the future and is preparing to gradually get out of the businesses-perhaps in the next decade or so. His goal is to be able to spend time with Barb in a warmer climate to help her circulation problems. He mentions you and Larry enough that I know he misses you both. My faith lets me believe that you are aware of his thoughts and dreams. I mention you sometimes just to let Warren know that I, too, remember and miss you.

Barb: I know that you fell in love with Barb as Warren did. Yes, you got yourself a fantastic daughter-in-law. She loved you dearly, also. She is a great mom, wife and daughter to us. We feel totally blessed to have the Barb/Warren Jones family nearby so we can share joys and sorrows together.

I hope that you love this letter. I’ve loved composing it and sharing it with dear friends, as well as with Barb and Warren. It gives me comfort to know that you are aware of us still. 

Sending our love, Sharon and Bill

Anna Corrine Attwater Jones died in 1999 at the age of 61.

1-29-12

Today I was able to care for Zach by myself for the first time since 1/18. We rebuilt his marble track, pet the new black kitten that has been hanging around, ate some yogurt, and took a good nap.

Me: Dozing
Zach: (hollers from his room) Mommy! I'm up! Mooooommy!
Me: Mommy will be right there.
Zach: "OKAAAY!"

After nap we did a 24 piece puzzle Shelley gave Zach for Christmas. That seems like a huge puzzle for a 2-3 year old. Every time he plays with it, I am awed at how his problem solving ability grows.

Sometimes Zach wants both of us to see something so he calls us by one word, MommyDaddy. The other day he figured out how to sit on a soccer ball and it went something like this:  MommyDaddy!  Look at me. MommyDaddy, MommyDaddy, MommyDaddy.

1-28-12

Mom left to go home this morning.  At one point, Zach said he was going to find Grandma.

Me: Grandma went Grandma's home to take care of Grandpa and Ellie and Grandma Meier. But, we'll see her soon.

Zach: 11 o'clock, get in car, go bye-bye, see Grandma

Tonight we measured him on the wall. He is 3 years 1 month old. His height is 3 feet 1.25 inches. He is as tall as Nick was when he was 3 years 3 months on *** and Kyle when he was 3 years 2 months on 8/5/01.

1-27-12

Mom came to help me since foot surgery recovery has been tough. I am SO glad she is here. She has Zach on a schedule and eating well, and me too. It has been nice to hear her voice throughout the house.

We just had grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch. She was able to get Zach to sit at the table and try a bite of grilled cheese. Then Zach said something was "missing." Mom asked him what was missing and he said, "Grandpa." He thought for another moment and added, "Daddy."

1-24-12

On Jan 20, 2012, at 7:36 PM, "Rose, John" <john-rose@uiowa.edu> wrote:

Andrea,

   I thought you might enjoy the humor in these e-mails. The one at the bottom is my original e-mail to Dick and his response is right above it.

John

---

From: raroses@q.com [mailto:raroses@q.com]
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 4:20 PM
To: Rose, John
Subject: Re: SNOW HEROES

Looks like a convenient way for teachers and staff to get out of work early.  I think schools were closed only once when we were in grade school and that was for 14" of snow.  I kind of forgot about paper delivery.  That was never called off so snow depth didn't matter and if it hadn't been for people like the Kornogs and a few old ladies along the route, I probably would have frozen to death.  That paper route might have been the dumbest thing I ever did.  That takes in a lot of territory so I'd better think about it for a while.

----- Original Message -----
From: John Rose <john-rose@uiowa.edu>
To: 'raroses@q.com' <raroses@q.com>
Sent: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:49:10 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SNOW HEROES

Dick,

   By the time I came into work about ½ hour ago, we had upwards of ¼ inch of snow on the ground. We are now in a heavier band which looks like it could produce maybe another ½ inch. The Iowa City School District dismissed schools early today. Therefore
I am proposing a new award called Snow Heroes. I can clearly remember walking home through 6 to 8 inches of new snow after a full grade school day at Longfellow on several occasions in the 1950’s, sometimes in temperatures at or below 0F with brisk winds.
It seemed like normal winter weather at the time. So by today’s standards I am proposing retroactive Snow Hero awards for all of us who performed above and beyond the call of duty during those ‘killer’ snow storms of the past. I’m sure you delivered
Press-Citizen newspapers in equally harrowing weather and probably never missed a day or a paper. Of course you had the added incentive of earning upwards of a $1 a week or so in clear profit. So for the Iowa City School District, I’m not sure exactly what
kind of award to recommend for today’s decisive action. All I know is it ‘Sno Hero award.

   What’s it doing in Des Moines?

John