In Honor of Bradly Conner

This OPH comfort afghan is being sent to the parents of Sgt. Maj. Bradly D. Conner. It is being sent with honor and respect as have all the others.

delivery of comfort afghan

I was able to deliver the completed comfort afghan to my SIL yesterday. She was involved in an auto accident and is going to be recovering for quite some time.

In Honor of Erik R. Heldt

This OPH comfort afghan is being sent to the young daughter of Marine Lance Cpl. Erik R. Heldt. I am honored to assemble this for her and many thanks to all who donated such beautiful squares!

In Honor of Jeremy E. King

This OPH comfort afghan is being sent to the mother of Army Sgt. Jeremy E. King. I hope it will provide some small measure of comfort with regard to the loss of her son.

In Honor of Michael S. Zyla

This is the OPH comfort afghan that is being sent to the mother and stepfather of Army Staff Sgt Michael S. Zyla. I do hope it provides them with some comfort and the knowledge that others care for them.

Update

I have to tell everyone that I am married to the most amazing man. He is truly a phenomenal person. For a little over a week he has quite literally waited on me hand and foot and taken care of everything in our home and with our family. He has driven me to and from my therapy appts. , made certain we have had meals, my ice machine is ready and that the meds are close at hand. He has done all of this without a single complaint, mumble or grumble. I could not have survived this without him.

The surgery ended up being a bit more than originally anticipated. It also didn't help that the graft was too long and so the way they had to anchor it is different so requires I wear an immobilizer for some time.

I am still not very mobile. At therapy today I experienced some of the worst pain I have EVER felt in my life. The good news is that it faded after being iced and I actually was able to do some things I haven't been able to since the surgery, even if it did hurt. I am starting to see some progress. My fondest hope is that I will be able to work a clutch soon so that some of the presure on my DH to drive me around is relieved. That will also allow me to return to work even if for a few hours at a time. Daytime television is really lame, even on pain meds :).

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. I am having my ACL repaired/replaced. I am looking forward to the end of this process. I have spent the last six months trying to rehab so that everything would be strong enough to compensate and it just hasn't worked as well as I would like. I still can't take any impact or tork on the joint. I can't do the elliptical or treadmill at the gym. I can't jog alongside my son while he is learning to ride his bike. I have had to modify how I do so many things and it is always just a bit stiff and sore and sometimes more than a bit. I am not old enough to have a joint acting this old. Since it is a daily issue, I have decided - with my surgeon - to do the replacement. This show about the type of injury and here is the type of replacement I am having done - the patellar tendon one. These are not for the faint of heart, but are drawings not actual pictures.

Wish me luck! I don't know exactly what my recovery and rehab process will be as it depends somewhat on how much meniscus damage they find and have to deal with.

How many?!??!

Someone asked me the other day how many comfort afghans I have assembled. Out of curiosity I went to the databases and counted. Since I first started with Heartmade Blessings, I have assembled 110 comfort afghans!!! This doesn't include the squares I have sent to other assemblers. I can not even begin to imagine how many squares I have made in this amount of time. Each assembly takes approximately most of a full Red Heart super saver skein (7oz) and the same size skein make 3 - 3 1/2 squares depending on the pattern. That is a LOT of yarn!!! I won't even go to the postage calculation. And there are members who do much, much more than I!! I guess the old saying about eating an elephant is true. In my world it just happens to be one square at a time. :)

Recent completion

I took a quick break from OPH comfortghans to assemble this comfort afghan for a gentleman who lost his wife very suddenly. She was only 27 years. The picture does not do it justice. The square makers sent me the most beautiful squares in shades of tan and brown and it is assembled and edged in forest green.

In Honor of Charles B. Hester

This comfort afghan is being sent to the mother of Army Pfc. Charles B. Hester in his honor. Some of these are very, very emotional for me to assemble and this was one of them. They are all difficult because each one is representative of someone who has left behind a grieving family, but this one got to me even more than normal. I hope it provides some small measure of comfort.

In Honor of Emerson N. Brand

This is the comfort afghan for the Heartmade Blessings OPH that I completed last night and I am getting ready to mail. It is being sent to the parents of Sgt. Emerson N. Brand. I saw some pictures from his funeral on a tribute site and his mother's face broke my heart. I can not begin to imagine the pain. I hope that this brings them comfort in some very small way. Thank you to all those that contributed squares.

In Honor of John G. Borbonus

This is the comfortghan I finished assembling this weekend for Heartmade Blessings Operation Purple Heart. It is being sent to the mother of Army Pfc. John G. Borbonus

In Honor of James Holtom

Another comfortghan I was priveledged to assemble for HeartMade Blessings' Operation Purple Heart for the parents of Army Sgt. James J. Holtom.

In Honor of Ross Clevenger

This comfortghan has been created as part of HeartMade Blessings' Operation Purple Heart. Hopefully it will bring some comfort to the mother of Army Spc. Ross A. Clevenger.

The difference between boys and girls

Having a teenage son I am learning some things. He just spent 9 days in Japan as part of a tour that we paid for him to go on. Lots of preplanned activities and things to see, 5 different cities, a ride on the bullet train,etc. For Christmas I felt it was important to get him the digital camera he had been asking for. Keep in mind I don't have a digital camera. He has been very excited - at least as much as he can be and still be cool! I didn't send him with a phone card, but he promised to email us. The daughter of a friend went as well.

The friend had a phone call and an email from their daughter after the kids first day in Japan. She emailed several more times and even attached some pictures for them to see.

My son emailed his Dad -not me!- the last full day they had in Japan and did not take a single picture! NOT ONE!!

He did seem to have a wonderful time. When I ask about what he saw I hear about the 8 stories electronics building and seeing the Bandi building, etc. However, if I just let him tell me things as he thinks about them I hear about the Golden Palace and some of the gardens, etc. I am glad to know that he enjoyed some of those things as well :)

The old lady in the mirror

KEEPS SHOWING UP!! I swear I do not know who she is and why she is here, but I would really like her to go away. Now she is bringing all these strange places for adding some extra weight. What is with that? I have been very consistent about going to the gym and have never had to fight a weight issue, gain issue anyway, in my life. I am that person you all hated that had problems gaining weight. NOT NOW!! This really sucks and I don't like it and I don't even honestly know what to do!!! This is all new territory. Why it is starting at the same time I am actually trying to exercise, also a new thing for me, I do not understand.
Ok, I just had to vent someplace because most people I know look at me like I have three eyes or something and tell me I look fine and to quit worrying about it. Obviously that is NOT going to happen :).

Summer is here!

All the things with my Mom have been resolved. She is still very much in the healing process, but well on her way to recovery. That was a very difficult time for everyone and I am glad we are through some of it :)

The kids are out of school for summer. This is so exciting!!! I really look forward to getting to do things and spend time with them. I would love to take the summer off work as well, but I do get to cut back my hours so we can participate in more activities. Of course, my oldest thinks he is too cool to do stuff with his mom, but if I let him invite a buddy he is more open to the whole thing. Time to enjoy the outdoors and the fun!!!!

McFly!

Have you ever had a time when life just comes up behind you and smacks you on the back of the head? Not fun! I have had some things happening with my Mom medically that gave me the first real experience that brings her mortality to the front of my consciousness. This is not a pleasant experience and I really prefer to have my head in the sand. The good thing is that she and I have been able to have a couple of those very important "what if" discussions. I now know her feelings on life support and a few other of the big topics no one likes to discuss. This actually provides me with a lot of peace to know that I can honors her wishes if needed in the future.
Now, we just deal with what is in front of us one day at a time.

Thoughts on deafness

I feel the need to share my thoughts on a topic that in all fairness, I am in many ways not entitled to have an opinion on, and that is deafness. First a bit of background. My youngest son is deaf. He was identified during the newborn screening process and at the time still had a significant amount of residual hearing. He was wearing hearing aids by the age of 6 weeks old. This was NOT fun as a parent and even less fun when he began to take them out and use them as a handy teething option. The first set cost approx. $3000, none of which insurance covered, and water destroys them. See the problem?
Anyway, he is now in second grade and his loss has continued. We learned a couple of years ago the cause of hearing loss is a genetic condition and he is rare in that he had any hearing at all when he was born. I fully expect him to loose all of his hearing at some point in the near future. As it is he has days that he hears better than others. My son currently has very understandable speech due to the hard work he has put in since the age of two and the ability to utilize the residual hearing he had when he did. He is also intelligent and understands the rules of phonetics and applies them to new words he encounters. Unfortunately the English language is full of exceptions to the rules. I also credit much of his success to his early exposure to sign and later American Sign Language (ASL). He was exposed to language from the beginning even if much of it wasn't through auditory means.
I have learned more in the last 8 years about ears, hearing, hearing aids, FM Systems, language development and speech than I ever even knew existed, let alone wanted to learn. This is good as it helps me be a better parent for my son.
So, you are probably wondering where the opinion comes in. I am horrified by the number of parents who have deaf children that never take the time to search our a deaf adult (or 2 or 3) to learn more about what being deaf is like. What they learned growing up and suggestions they would make. The decision is ultimately the parents, but a person who has lived the life is much better experienced to give opinions and advice than ANY doctor, audioligist or speech language pathologist EVER will be. They can provide medical information and opinions, but they are not deaf and so do not truly understand.
In the area where I live there is currently a large emphasis and push for cochlear implants and oralism. I believe cochlear implants have a place. Do not misunderstand and think I am anti-cochlear. I do not, however, believe that at this point I would implant my child without it being his decision. There are too many factors. There are also just as many or more stories when it was not successful (as defined by the hearing community) as there are success stories. When it doesn't work out, the parents are made to feel as if the failure is their fault. If they had only provided more speech therapy or not allowed the child to sign, etc. The truth is that sometimes it just doesn't work. The opinion that if you allow a child to use sign they won't learn speech is the stupidest thing I have heard. As my husband says, "That is like saying if a child eats with their hands, they won't learn to use a fork." As a point of education, speech is not a language, but a means of communicating a language the same as writing.
I don't believe that the burden of communication should be placed on the shoulders of a small child rather than the parents. When parents refuse to take any approach but to implant and then work on speech, and only speech, all communication responsibility is the child's. I can honestly say that I have never met a Deaf adult who said how they wished their parents hadn't learned to sign. However, I can tell you many, many stories of adults who feel their parents didn't care enough about them and were just plain selfish when they refused to learn to sign in order to communicate with them. That the parents did not love them enough or accept them as they are.
I NEVER want my son to think this. My husband and I have spent many hours learning ASL and work to expose him to others in the Deaf Community. I want him to have role models and mentors available that are Deaf with a capital "D". Proud and successful Deaf adults.
Those in the medical community and the parents that follow who are insisting the implants are the way forget that there are many for whom implants are not an option. Depending on the reason for the hearing loss it just may not circumvent the issue or be of any potential benefit. What do they propose for this group? At the moment, nothing! They pretend as if this group does not exist in an effort to further their cause.
I have rambled on for some time, but I will say that as the parent of a child who is deaf, I am proud of who he is. I can honestly say that if I had been asked before he was born that I would never have wished for this. I am still sad at times. That does not make him any less of a person or a success. It does not mean he needs to be "fixed". I love him as he is and hope he does the same.

In Honor of Brandon Titus

I had the honor and privilege of assembling this OPH comfortghan for the father of Brandon Titus. I was only recently able to obtain mailing information with the assistance of a friend or it would have been sent to him earlier. This one has haunted me and was one I have wanted to assemble since the first reports of Brandon's death. I am glad to have been able to complete this assembly and send to Mr. Titus.