We Love You Mom - 10/12/28 to 3/29/15

On Sunday, March 22, 2015, Mom had a massive heart attack, falling flat on her face.  Mark was staying with her while we went on our Disney trip and rushed her to the emergency room at Golden Valley Memorial Hospital where it was determined she had had the heart attack and had broken her nose, with lots of bruising.  She was admitted and stayed in ICU for several days.

Mary was on her way to work when Mark called her with the news, so she turned the car around and drove to Clinton to give Mom and Mark her support - thank you Mary!

Mom was in on the decision to not tell me about her illness because she wanted me to have a good vacation.

When we returned to Clinton, we went immediately to the hospital to visit her.  She was still in ICU but was not in need of ICU services - they just left her there so the nurses could watch her more closely.  Mark and Mary were both there sitting with her, and David and Deb Mills also came out for a short visit.

On Saturday morning, Mom was better and was moved to Room 311.  After visiting with Mom on Saturday, Mark and Mary went back to Chesterfield.  Joe and Tom had both visited during the week too.  Joe and his girlfriend, Nicole, visited Grandma before going to a wedding and came back to Clinton to spend the night so they could visit her again on Sunday.  Amanda drove down on Saturday to visit Grandma as well and came to spend the day with her on Wednesday.

I was blessed with the opportunity to spend the week with Mom at the hospital 24/7.  She loved it that I spent the night with her, and we had lots of time to visit.  After the doctor told me, I told her that she only had a few months to live, that her heart had been severely damaged this time, and she was not going to make it very long.  She accepted that very well and said she was ready to go be with Jean.  She said she had had a good life and was ready to go see Jesus - that he was holding the door for her.

The week was stressful as some days she was very confused - usually at night.  She had a lot of pain mid week, and they gave her a double dose of Fentanol patch which she did not tolerate well.  She couldn't be woke up the next day, so they took the patch off which caused her to have lots of pain once the patch wore off.  A very bad night ensued where she had difficulty breathing and lots of heart pain.

On Friday, it was determined that nothing else could be done but to keep her comfortable.  They started a morphine drip which eliminated her pain.  She was so happy to be pain free.  Amanda, Chad and Peyton visited Friday night - she enjoyed their visit very much.   Debbie Sieger and Deb Mills along with David Mills had visited on Friday as well - along with Kelly Briggs and Sherri Albin.

Mom slept all night Friday night and until around noon on Saturday.  She was in no pain.  When Tom arrived and said, I love You Grandma, she opened her eyes.  She became more alert when Mark and Mary arrived.  Joe was not able to come as he could not get off work, but he had visited and shown his love to Grandma 3 times the week before which she enjoyed immensely.  Ron came out to see her on Saturday afternoon as well, and he and Chad kept things going at home and played with Garrison.

About 4 p.m., Mom was just worn out and went to sleep, never to open her eyes again.  Mary and I spent the night with her with Mary sitting up and giving me an opportunity to get a little sleep.  Mom took her last breath peacefully around 2:30 a.m. and went to live with Jesus and to be reunited with Jean.  She had missed him so much these past 4 years.

Rest in Peace Mom - we all love you so very much and will miss you terribly, but we know you are in a better place and no longer in pain.  You taught us so much, and we have beautiful memories to sustain us.

Mom's service will be Thursday, April 2, 2015 at Engelwood Cemetery graveside at 1 p.m.  We hope to honor you Mom as you should be - you were the greatest Mom, Grandma and Great Grandma ever!

We are blessed.

Disney World/Disney Dream Cruise

We had a wonderful trip!  3 nights at Disney World and 5 nights on the Disney Dream Cruise.  We started on Friday, 3/13/2015 very early and had a great first day swimming at the Disney Carribbean Resort and then a trip to Downtown Disney.  We had dinner at Ohana at the Polynesian Resort - delicious!  Grilled shrimp, steak kabobs, and so many other yummy choices.

Saturday we started early at The Magic Kingdon and spent 14 hours there making memories and having fun.  Peyton went to the Bippity Boppity Boutique - being made into Princess Tiana this year - she was beautiful.  While the girls were there, he boys took Garrison to be made up like Jake the pirate.  He had some wild looking eyebrows.  We rode lots of rides and had a blast.

Sunday, we spent the day at Epcot.  Garrison was disappointed he was not quite tall enough to ride Soarin', but he and I had a good time hanging out while the others rode.  They really liked meeting Buzz Light Year, and Peyton even danced with him.

On Monday, we took a limo to Port Canaveral to get on the Disney Dream Cruise Ship where we spent the next 5 nights.  We had great food, the pools were a lot of fun, and our adjoining rooms were very spacious with nice verandas.  The kids slept in our room all but one night when I was sick and loved the bunk beds - they were magical.

We all liked the dolphin excursion during our Bahamas stop - the kids got to ride Missy, the dolphin, and we all got to pet them and be in the water with them.  Touring the aquarium at the Atlantis was fun except for the fact that Amanda wasn't feeling well.  She had the flu for the next few hours and missed dinner that night.  Bummer.

On Wednesday, we went to Castaway Cay, Disney's private island where we had fun in the sun and sand.  We rented tubes, and they had a great time floating in the water and giggling.  We had a delicious BBQ lunch, and Ron went parasailing, which he loved.

Thursday was a day at sea.  The kids met Elsa and Anna and many other princesses.  We had fun swimming, and Peyton went to Adventureland - the play area.  Unfortunately, it was Grammy's turn for the flu and she missed the prime rib dinner, opting for ginger ale and crackers!  Amanda and Chad went to a mixology class, learning how to make some new mixed drinks and drinking them!

Friday, after our last breakfast on the ship, we debarked, only to be saddened to learn that Grandma Mintun had had a heart attack on Sunday and had been in the hospital all week.  She wouldn't let anyone tell us so we would enjoy our vacation.  After delayed flights, we finally arrived back to Clinton and were able to go see Mom that night.  She was doing okay and was happy to see us.

We are blessed.

Visit to Clinton/Apollo Arrives for his Clinton Vacation/First Big Snow of Hear

It was a quick visit, but a fun one from Amanda, Peyton and Garrison.  They brought Apollo a little early for his Clinton vacation while we all go to Disney World/Disney Cruise in a couple of weeks.  Plan was for them to stay through Saturday's dinner, but the snow brought a new plan!

They arrived early on Friday evening, in time for dinner, so since it was Lent, we had fish sticks and ordered onion rings, fried okra and french fries from Smith's - yummo.  We had carrot cake for dessert and the fun began.  Peyton enjoyed playing Hedbanz with Grandpa - Garrison enjoyed watching cartoons with Grammaw, and other fun times during the evening.

The kids wanted to sleep with Grammy which suited Grammy fine.  Saturday morning, Grandpa went to Methodist Men Breakfast at Golden Corral, and the rest of us had donuts, etc.  Peyton and Grammy made shaving cream play dough, and she fixed cookies with it and put them in the oven on cookie sheets (play of course).  Garrison had a good time playing downstairs with Grammaw.

I gave Amanda a pedicure complete with Listerine foot soak.  Peyton thought that was interesting and helped me.

Because it started to snow several hours early, we hurriedly decided it would be best for them to start home around 10:30 a.m., so they took their homemade chicken and noodles to go and hit the road - thankfully getting home safely without incident.  Chad had to work all day, so they stopped at Chick Fil A and got lunch and took him lunch too.

Amanda shoveled the driveway, and Garrison was thrilled that he finally got to use his Christmas snow shovel and helped - he even wore his snow boots this year (wouldn't last year), but wouldn't wear his snow pants, so had on snow boots and pjs.

Apollo is enjoying his vacation so far and likes the snow.  He is having fun with Grammaw and plans to spend Sunday evening with her at 810 while Ron and I host our Supper Club friends at 5 p.m.  Ron and I went to 810 this morning and shoveled some of the drive way and the steps/stoop so that Mom won't get her feet wet when going to her house this afternoon.  The snow is pretty and very bright, but I'm ready for it to go now.

Only 12 days until our vacation - can't wait!  We are blessed.