I can hold my breath for 8 minutes...

Well, my scariest nightmare came true in the form of a phone call. This morning I was woken to my phone ringing with Josh's ring tone around 5:40AM. The first thought that went through my mind was this can't be good if he's calling me from work at this time in the morning (he works nights). I breathed in the morning air, rolled over, and I picked up the phone very sleepily and said, "Hello." This is what I heard: "Mrs. Youngblood, this is Jeff with Medstar..." Phone disconnects, I jolt out of bed, stare at my phone waiting for it to ring. 5:42AM phone rings. "Mrs. Youngblood we are taking your husband to Harris Hospital downtown..." Phone call dropped again... Time completely stopped, I'm moving in slow motion telling myself to breathe but can't seem to manage that task, trying to get dressed, and praying that God watches over the love of my life. 5:45AM phone rings "Mrs. Youngblood your husband..." DROPPED CALL!!!!! 5:48AM phone rings again with a number I don't recognize. "Hello?" "Mrs. Youngblood, this is Jeff again with Medstar, your husband is okay but his phone keeps dropping the call." I finally was able to take a breath. Yup, 8 minutes. I stopped breathing and living for that matter for 8 minutes before I found out he was okay. But was he really okay? Or were they just telling me that so I didn't freak out on the way to the hospital? Was Josh just telling them to tell me that? So many thoughts were swimming in my mind and I felt like I was drowning in anxiety. I thanked Jeff for calling me and I hung up the phone. I calmly ran down the hallway and told my mom (who stayed the night visiting) to get dressed we had a hospital visit to make. I tried to keep it together and I was so glad my mom stayed the night and was able to ride with me to the hospital because I was a nervous wreck! I finally got to the hospital and found my poor baby waiting on X-rays. He was fine, no blood, and his feet were hanging off the hospital bed (seems to be a regular occurrence for him).
I couldn't help but laugh which helped break the nervousness. Everything was okay because the guardian angels I pray for everyday watched over my love. Apparently, Josh was driving 60mph down the I20 in his work bucket truck (exhibit A: Please explain to me how you do not see a truck that big driving down the interstate? But that is what the guy claims. Anyway, Josh is driving down the interstate in the far right lane when all of the sudden he is jolted forward in his truck. He said at first he thought his ladder came off his truck. He looked in all his mirrors and didn't see anything wrong so he pulled over and started putting out his safety cones. That's when he saw a tin can of a car about a football field away on the shoulder. He ran over there and checked on the guy driving the tin can of a car and the guy was able to get out but his response was, "Dude, where did you come from?" Josh kind of thought the guy was on something, evidently so did the police since they arrested him. Anyway, everyone was fine. So the story ends with some idiot driver (in a rental car) hits Josh while he's going 60 miles an hour down the interstate and fortunately for the other guy Josh's gigantic truck absorbed most of the impact and that is why both of them survived the accident because it could have been fatal. Guardian angels no doubt intervened. Here's a picture of a work truck from the back that hasn't been hit: and this is what Josh's truck looked like after being hit: Notice the step that is completely underneath the truck now? Yea, that was bent pretty good. The trailer hitch did some serious damage to the other car as it went through the windshield. Josh was discharged from the hospital shortly after X-rays and we started our vacation... Thank God for angels.

Madison's Here!

Well, my sister had her baby girl! Welcome sweet Madison Elizabeth to the world! Born June 4, 2009 at 8:12AM, 7 lbs 11.5oz, 20 inches long. Oh, and a full head of hair! :-)

Alert and ready to take on the world!




A very proud first time grandma!!!

She already loves her Aunt Julie!



The Happy Family!

Winnie the Pooh

Well, today I woke up pretty sore after working my tail off yesterday putting my sister's nursery together. Though, I found out she was even more decorating impaired than I originally thought, I did get it finished. I am now convinced that I got all the creative genes in the family...
Here are the before pictures:




After it was finished being painted:






Then the decorating began...


Here's the finished product:










The happy expecting couple:


Aunt Julie was tired...

I started at 11 in the morning and finished at 12:45 at night!!!! Let's just say it was a really long day...but it's finished minus a few things like a tree in the corner, the nurser rocker, another winnie the pooh self, and a picture of roo. But, I think it turned out pretty well and definetly fits my sister's style.

American Red Cross Youngblood Van Round 2

American Red Cross Youngblood Branch round two started off pretty rough. Once again, I woke up in a puddle of my own sweat and was running a cool 102°F temperature. We, as in me, Josh, & Mom all had to be at the hospital for Josh’s surgery by 8AM. But, given the fact that Josh was nervous and wouldn’t admit it…we practically got there at 7AM. God bless Josh. He truly didn’t have any idea what he was in for as far as surgery. I knew…I just kept it to myself. That’s what good wives do…keep information that could potentially change his mind about the surgery to myself until AFTER the surgery. I just knew from my own experiences with surgery in general that recovery sucks. I don’t care who you are…it’s unpleasant. So, I convinced him to help me make the bed before we left for the hospital because crawling in to a made bed always makes it feel so much better. He didn’t see the point of why I was making such a big deal about him being comfortable when he got home. In fact, he thought he’d be up and doing crazy things such as mow the lawn the next day. Boy, was he in for a rude awakening. So, anyway, I left him live in delusional land all morning.
We arrived at the hospital and signed in. I took a few pictures for my own personal entertainment and it really annoyed Josh. But since I was the one holding the camera…he didn’t have a choice.
They finally called him back and we went to the out patient surgery center. The nurse asked him a bunch of questions, took his vitals and temp, and then made me sign a bunch of stuff. We then were taken to his temporary room where he had to change into his hospital gown. Let me take this opportunity to describe the gown. In the past, he’s been graced with the lovely stars and moons gown that tie in the back. I’ve even seen some nice shades of teal before but never in my life have I seen a purple paper/dryer sheet consistency gown with “ports” for the warming hoses. The company that makes these gowns named them Bair Paws and there is an attachment that hooks into the gown that basically blows either hot or cold air to keep the patient’s body temp regulated. It’s actually a pretty cool idea…but the execution is TOO funny. Josh and I had a few really good laughs about this one. Here’s a picture of Josh making a BEAR paw while wearing his Bair Paws gown. So, after Josh got dressed I went to the front waiting room to get my mom so she could join us in Josh’s room while we waited for his surgery. We were both laughing at Josh because he basically couldn’t get comfortable and he didn’t fit in the hospital bed… Notice his feet hanging off the bed. That was pretty funny. Then I realized there was something on my Mom’s pant leg. I looked closely and realized (after smelling it) that it was dog pee. Evidentially, my mother had set out her outfit the night before by placing it over the desk chair in her room so she could quickly get dressed in the morning. Unknowingly to her, Scrappy and Snicker (based on the two heights of the points of origin) both whizzed on her pant leg! Please see Exhibit A & B Josh and I laughed about mom’s pant leg the entire day. It was very funny to us…not so much to Mom. Finally, the nurse comes by to get Josh and wheels him off to surgery. Mom and I then found the cafeteria to get some breakfast and chat. I realized after Josh was wheeled away that I was pretty anxious about his surgery. It wasn’t until that moment that I started feeling scared and uneasy. I was so nervous for him. Dr. Yunis said the surgery should take about 30-45 minutes unless there were more issues when he got in there. Mom and I sat and talked in the cafeteria and then eventually made our way up to the tiny waiting room. We checked in and sat down. About 15 minutes later the phone at the desk rings and the volunteer announced “Youngblood Family” so I got up and took the call. It was the nurse letting me know that they were about to start the surgery and were running late. I thanked her for letting me know and then sat back down. Mom and I sat quietly in the waiting room and waited. We waited and waited. 30 minutes had passed and we waited some more. 45 minutes passed and we waited some more. An hour passed by and yet we were still waiting. At this point, I grew more anxious with each tick of the clock. An hour and a half passed and we were still waiting and I had no finger nails left. An hour and 45 minutes passed and my foot was tapping a mile a minute, I had no finger nails, but yet I still waited. Two hours passed and by this time I was ready to lose it. I resorted to searing for split ends to pass the time. It didn’t really occupy my time very well and I believe the ticking of the clock began to mock me. Two hours and 30 minutes had passed and I was a nervous wreck! I couldn’t take it anymore. It was awful just sitting there having Dr. Yunis’ voice echoing in my head, “Well, it should take about 45 minutes if all goes well.” What does well mean? Is he okay? All sorts of thoughts flooded my head and I couldn’t think straight. Finally, my thoughts were popped like a bubble floating through the air with the sound of the phone ringing. The volunteer announced, “Youngblood Family” and sprang up from my seat and practically ran to the phone. The nurse said, “Your husband is out of surgery but not awake yet. Dr. Yunis will come out shortly and speak with you.” That was it. Two hours and 45 minutes of waiting and that was all I got. About five minutes later Dr. Yunis came out and explained to me the surgery was a lot worse than he expected. When he got in there, the entire nasal cavity and sinus cavities were very badly infected with both fungus and polyps. He originally thought he was only going to have to remove about 3 of the really big ones and he ended up having to basically scrape Josh’s entire nasal passage clean. Dr. Yunis also informed me that Josh had a deviated septum that had to be broken and reset. He also let me know that he had to use a balloon to open up the sinus cavities above and below his eyes on both sides. Finally, he found a hole in the sinus cavity behind his eye area caused by the fungus that he had to fix with stints. Then he went on to say that there is a good possibility of a second surgery to remove the stints if he cannot do it in his office through the nasal passage. But, other than all that, the surgery went well. That was a lot for me to digest at one time, but I managed. He then went on to briefly talk about after care and to call his office and schedule the post op appointment. That was what I got. So I sat down and waited for the nurse to call back and let me know that Josh woke up and was doing fine. That phone call came about 20 minutes after Dr. Yunis left. The nurse let me know that Josh was awake, doing fine, and being taken to recovery. Then about an hour later I was called and told that I could finally see him and to go back to the out patient surgery area from this morning to room 11. I was so fast getting to room 11 that Josh wasn’t even wheeled in yet! When he came around the corner he looked so pathetic and sad. I actually had to fight back tears because it broke my heart to see him like that. He had this bandage under his nose that looked like a super mustache and it was soaked in blood. He looked all swollen and weak. I tried to keep it together and be strong but it was so hard. After a few minutes a nurse came in to discuss discharge instructions and teach me how to change out his bandages. Then Josh got dressed and we left. He was in good spirits but said he was really tired.
When we got home he crawled into bed and fell fast asleep. Mom changed her pee pants and then we had to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things since we were told he couldn’t have anything but clear liquids for the rest of the day and night. When I we got home from the grocery store Josh was awake and feeling awful. I gave him his medicine and told him to go back to sleep after I changed his bandage out. He surprisingly didn’t even argue with me. I then had to leave again to take mom back to Garland for her post op appointment and patch removal. We took one picture of the patients with their bandages on since mom was getting her eye patch off at this appointment and then we were on our way. Mom’s post op appointment went very well. She was pretty nervous since she had blood soak through on her patch but it turned out to be just fine. She was pretty HILARIOUS when they took her patch off because she could actually see out of her left eye. The nurse had her read the chart out of her left eye and she did really well. Then the nurse showed her what the smallest line she could read prior to her surgery and they were like 3 inch tall letters. It was really sad that was the smallest line she could read! One day after surgery and she was 5 lines smaller! That’s great results because apparently her vision will improve even more over the course of the next week. The funny thing was the difference in colors she could see between her two eyes. She looked down at her shirt through her left eye. Then closed her left eye and looked through her right eye. Then she looked at me and said, “Oh my gosh…did you know this turtleneck is purple? I always thought it was dusty rose.” I laughed so hard. Her new and improved left eye saw purple while her cataract right eye saw dusty rose. Mom’s so funny and she doesn’t even try! It was a successful appointment and then we were sent across the hallway to the eye glass store. They popped Mom’s left lens out and replaced it with a clear lens so she could still wear her glasses for her right eye. The funny thing was Mom had forgotten that she was wearing her transition lenses…so now…if she goes out in the sun it’s only transitioning on her right eye!!!! HA HA HA!!!! I’m still laughing about that one. We left to go home and I called to check on Josh. He said he was feeling sick to his stomach and thought he was going to throw up. I got home as soon as I could and tried to get him to eat something. He got sick and threw up. He missed the toilet by the way. It was basically just blood that he threw up. I think I threw up in my mouth a little seeing it. Taking care of him is preparing me for the parts of motherhood I don’t really want to be prepared for…oh,well…such is life I suppose. Anyway, the rest of the night was ROUGH. He continued to vomit up blood (from it draining down his throat) and I continued to run 102°F fever. We made it through the night without having to go back to the hospital and thank God for my mother there to help me even though I was supposed to be helping her.

One Surgery down...One more to go...

Well, even though I have been sick and running serious fever since Saturday night, I did not let that stop me from driving round one of the American Red Cross Youngblood Van. Since mom is living out in Rockwall, her doctor is in Garland. That meant we had to leave the house at 5:45am. Let me tell you that was not the highlight of my day. Number one, I am not a morning person. Number two; I am really not a morning person when I wake up in a pool of my own sweat because my fever is so high I actually think I'm still dreaming. So, like I said, it was not a good start. We get to the hospital in Garland a few minutes early and thankfully avoided most traffic backups on 635. So Mom checks in and I go find a loveseat to claim as my own for the duration of my wait. It happened to be next to two old men...but heck it was cataract surgery so...they were all old. Anyway, Mom gets finished and comes over to sit down near me. Notice I said near...I wasn't sharing the loveseat. A few minutes pass and Mom busts out her Sudoku. She's obsessed with it. She's minding her own business when Jolly Old St. Nick in front of her with his old man hat and shirt retreating from his waist band starts to "flirt" with my mother. Now, I know a good show when I see one so I sat back and observed the makings of a very comical sitcom. So anyway, Nicky we'll call him for short starts asking my mom questions about Sudoku while old man O'Leary next to him continues to snore away. So my mom cordially answers the questions and carries on conversation. Now, I’m not sure at what point Nicky started joking with my Mom about vision and hearing linked together and since she can’t see she can’t hear either…but it happened. Nicky continues to flirt with my mom and say things like, “Dear, did you know you were here for eye surgery?” As Mom was reading a brochure for the lap band procedure since he wouldn’t leave her alone long enough for her to concentrate on her Sudoku. I don’t know why Nicky thought that was a pick up line, but he was chuckling and very proud of himself. It was greatness, I wish I could have recorded it but I am just now remembering my camera has that feature. Sorry I’ll note it for future moments. After a few more lame jokes old man O’Leary snored so loud he woke himself up. I guess he was half listening to the conversation while he was sleeping because he turns to me and asks, “What time is your mom’s appointment?” The way he said it was as if she really were deaf and couldn’t hear him. The look she gave him was priceless. I looked at him and then at mom and tried to keep in my laughter as I said, “She’s not deaf, she can hear you.” I don’t think I have laughed so hard in all my life. It was really funny. Right before mom gets called back this woman gets up to go make some coffee at the snack bar in the waiting room. All of the sudden you see the nurse running over to the coffee bar and screaming “Don’t put your hand under that.” I look over and this woman is trying to make a pot of coffee WITHOUT the pot. She had a single coffee cup under the drip and was frantically trying to shut it off. That’s when old man O’Leary says (she was the sister in law apparently), “Put her in front of a slot machine and she can figure out how to work it.” Then Nicky got up to go get her and said, “Sit down before you hurt yourself.” I never knew sitting in a waiting room for my mom’s cataract surgery could be so entertaining. Finally mom got called back and the waiting room started to calm down because Nicky and old man O’Leary and the sister-in-law all left. Mom goes back with a lady named Dorothy who I later found out said some pretty funny things herself. I was then left in the waiting room by myself a little nervous for my mom but mostly just trying to rest since I didn’t feel well. That’s when it happened. I pray none of you will ever have to witness the pure torture of what walked in the waiting room. Picture a man in his late 50s with silver and black long hair but it’s all stringy and thinned out. Now picture that hair cut to shape a mullet except for a perfect circle of baldness right on the top of his head. Now take that same image and put 1970’s coke bottle full frame glasses, you know, the kind that is a perfect straight line on top of two large circles. Now, imagine a light blue horizontally striped polo shirt tucked into grey sweatpants that were pulled up to his man boobs and actually looked like capris on a rodeo clown at this point. Now, picture this same man wearing tube socks with flip flops. Yes, that is what walked in the door. I am not kidding at all. I am actually pretty scared from the visual. Finally, about an hour passed and they called to tell me mom was ready to be picked up. I go drive the car around and they wheel her out in a wheel chair and then help her get in the car. She looked HILARIOUS with her eye patch. I told her I had a pirate hat in my classroom and I would be willing to go get it. That’s when my mom told me that when the nurse asked her and Dorothy if they needed to the use the restroom before they got started with the surgery, Dorothy goes on to say, “Yes, I might pee the table.” So they take her to the bathroom. Then the nurse asked Dorothy which eye her surgery was going to be on, and she said…”Oh, I thought it was my jaw.” Mom said she wasn’t trying to be funny either. Oh, good times with the old folks today. Overall, it went well. She will go back tomorrow to have the eye patch taken off and a follow up visit to see how she's doing. She was in very good spirits as she has waited 5 years to have this surgery. She can't wait until she can see! In the mean time, I have decided to affectionately name her Hobbit. And let me just tell you how this little Hobbit of mine has been behaving. First of all, the doctor's instructions were to rest. Plain and simple...REST. Well, do you know what my little Hobbit is doing? Not resting. In fact, I put her down for a nap and decided to take the down time opportunity to nap myself and so sooner had 10 minutes passed she snuck out of her room and was sitting in the living room playing with toys. Okay, so figuratively playing with toys but she wasn't resting. So, I have to remind her that the doctor said rest, as in lying down, resting...and that Hobbit stuck her tongue out at me. Can you believe the nerve of Hobbits these days? I finally got her to listen, though we had to compromise with lying on the couch instead. So here are a few pictures to satisfy your curiosity... sorry I didn’t get any pictures of the wardrobe crisis, Dorothy, Nicky, or Old Man O’Leary.

Here's the Hobbit:


Here's the Hobbit Gone Wild!!!

Prayers and surgeries

Well, it's official: Josh is going to need surgery. He has been struggling with allergies for YEARS! Nothing ever helps him either. He's tried every nose spray imaginable, every allergy prescription there is, the over the counter stuff, etc. He's even done the saline washes and still doesn't get any relief. In fact, the saline wash states it should go up one nostril and come out the other...That doesn't happen for him. He sucks it up one side and it drips right out the same side. We've even gone as far as ripping out all the carpet in the house and putting in wood flooring, buying humidifiers for the rooms, and even changing the air filters in the house weekly. Still, no relief. Anyway, two weekends ago, Josh stopped breathing in his sleep. I freaked out and he then went to the doctor. That leads us to the present. We met with the Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor last week and were told he had some pretty serious polyps in his nose that looked like they would need to be surgically removed but we wouldn't know how bad it looked until the CAT scans. Dr. Yunnis was unable to the get the scope more than 1/2 in up Josh's nose due the polyps. No wonder he stopped breathing over the weekend! So, Josh went in for his CAT scans yesterday and was basically told that it was pretty bad. Dr. Yunnis won't know how bad until he's actually doing the surgery because it will depend on how deep the polyps are and how difficult they are to remove. Anyway, I was told Josh's surgery could last anywhere between 45 mins to 2 1/2 hours. If the polyps are bad and in the sinus cavity Dr. Yunnis will have to do some pretty major work. If not, then it will be a simple removal. Either way, Josh is pretty nervous as this is his first surgery ever. To top it off my mom is having her cataracts removed from her left eye the day before so I will have my mom I'm taking care of and my husband. You can just go ahead and picture me driving a personal ambulance around the city dropping off patients to their perspective surgeries in Rockwall and Burleson. Needless to say, I took of work on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week and any prayers you would like to offer up will be greatly appreciated. Here are a few pictures from Josh's doctor's appointment!

Summer 2009

So, to take our mind off of the crappy things that have gone on in our life recently, we decided to start planning our summer vacation for 2009! So far we are up in the air between a cruise or an all inclusive. This will be our 5 year anniversary so we want to really celebrate. I pretty much have suggested an all inclusive since we've been on several cruises in the past, but never an all inclusive. If we choose the all inclusive then we have many options such as which country to stay in... We currently have our passports, but they have never been stamped! It's very sad to me because I've been to Canada, Mexico (several stops), Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and the Bahamas, but we were on cruises for most of those and didn't need a passport. So now I have no documentation of those visits in my passport! We originally visited the Bahamas on our honeymoon and thought it would be very appropriate to visit again on our 5 year anniversary, but then again I love Cozumel. Plus, since Josh bought me an underwater digital camera I would love to go snorkeling and take some awesome pictures in Cozumel. I suppose I could do that anywhere and get awesome pictures. I am just really drawn to this particular all inclusive resort called the Occidental Grand Cozumel. We also have discussed Fiji, Aruba, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Tahiti, and Barbados. But, we don't know yet. We are undecided, but it is very fun to be undecided on a topic this awesome. Here are a few pictures of us preparing for our vacation and a few of the all inclusive I really like in Cozumel!

http://www.occidentalhotels.com/grand/vtours/GrandCozumel/02.html