High Honors

Not only does Kendal have straight A's in school, but she is student of the month! We are proud parents!!

Freedom!

Playing hard after a hard day of work!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Country Life!

I picked the kids up from spending the night with Mimi & Papa where they had a wonderful time...who wouldn't love all that attention! Here are the kids cruising the property while Rick mows "the jungle". Don't worry, I had the Ortho Bee Killer Spray out just in case...we love the country!!!

The Zoo

We went with our cousins to the Zoo and Fairytale Town on our first day of spring break. I had 9 little monkeys swinging around and carrying on like they were just let out of their cages! We had a great time!

Tag is out of the woods!

I thought I was going to have to put Tag down on Wednesday...he wouldn't move, eat, or drink! The meds weren't dissolving because he had no liquid in his stomach, so he'd throw up hours after giving him the pills and out they come-whole. I called the Vet and picked up food I could put through a syringe to force feed him...it worked along with the the kids' medicine dropper for water. Thursday morning he got out of his bed and walked over to the water bowl in the kitchen and drank quite a bit. He even pooped when I took him out, I know that sounds funny, but it was beautiful sight to see...he even jogged around a little! He wagged his tail and then went to the other bed I have set up for him in the family room. We are all so excited, he has turned the corner from death to life! Between Rick's incident & Tag's, I got shingles...I'm not contagious but it is quite uncomfortable! Don't laugh...it's not only an "old" persons virus, my Doctor said anyone can get it if you've had the chicken pox. Can you guess what brings it on... STRESS! Imagine that! Everyone is doing well. Anyone coming to Sac Town for Easter Break?

Tag is home!

I brought Tag home today...boy is he in bad shape! I just gave him his medicine with some ground beef-he spit it the beef out, but I was able to get the pill down. He is soooo swollen everywhere...the big bump in front of his bandage is air that is surrounding his organs, aka pneumo thorax. He did just get up and walk toward the door which is a good sign that he needed to go out and go potty. He is back in his bed under the end table in our family room...it's his favorite spot in the house! I am relieved he is home, but am scared at the same time. He is filthy from being rolled in the dirt when he was kicked, who knows how long it will be before he can have a bath. We are not out of the woods, but I think he is happy to be home!

Update on Tag

Tag is still unstable but seems to be improving...he only lies down and gets some rest when he is heavily sedated. We wanted to bring him home yesterday, but would be doing so against medical advice. I made the decision to give him 2 more days there, before bringing him home...hopefully the extra 2 days will get him through the most critical part of his recovery. The expenses were front loaded anyway, so spending the extra $200 for the 2 days out ways the risk in bringing him home in his condition-considering the amount we have already spent which could have been for nothing if we brought him home too soon. Rick and I don't see eye to eye on this, but what can you do...it's difficult no matter how you look at it! Pray for me that he gets better!

Talia's Blessing

Pictures from Tali's Blessing!

"Tag"

Yesterday, Tag wasn't looking so well, so we took him to the Vet to find out he had 4 or 5 broken ribs! He must have been kicked by one of the ponies. We then rushed him to a 24-hour urgent care facility because it was closing time for my vet's office. It was determined that his first 5 ribs on the right side were broken and he had deep bruising of his lungs, possibly a punctured lung...he has pneumo thorax which is air around the outside of his lungs. He spent the night on oxygen at $450 a day, and was weened from it this morning...quite expensive air he was breathing, it must come from Tiffany's! The Vet said this morning that Tag has a small piece of bone in his Thorax that may need to be surgically removed...I informed him that we have made the decision NOT to do any surgery, so if it comes to that, we will need to think about our options... but as of this point surgery isn't imminent. We keep praying for the best, but no matter what, he is coming home tomorrow! Rick is freaking out about the bill, anywhere between $1,000 & $1,800. We have given Tag a fighting chance, now we have to wait and see if his wounds will heal on their own. He was up this morning walking around his cage which is promising...the Vet was amazed how well he was doing with the extent of trauma to his body...that is the power of prayer at work! Please keep Tag and us in your thoughts and prayers, we are having a hard time with this. Tag has lived a good life...10+years he has been part of our family, but I am not ready to give up on him just yet!

Haircuts

Yesterday was haircut day for the Thompson Kids...I love this day! Chris cut his hair above his ears, he wanted a faux-hock like Cole but his hair is too straight. You don't know how long Rick and I have been begging Chris to go short, we were done with the shaggy/surfer hair style months ago. He is very proud of his new cut, though he still keeps trying to flip it to the side! Force of habit , I guess. Carsyn cut 5" off of her hair, hopefully she will let me style it more often now, but I am not making bets on it. I just hope it has less tangles. Cole did a shorter version of his last haircut minus the crying! Kendal just got a trim with more layers. Her hair is getting thick, maybe puberty has something to do with it, who knows! Rick is in need of a cut, but he doesn't have much time to do anything beyond work, church, and now baseball practice. Rick just cannot say "no" when it comes to helping out his boys. I may just have to use the clippers myself! I do cut my Dad and Lonnie's hair, but there's something about doing Rick's hair that makes me nervous...

Ambulance Ride!

On February 22, 2007 at 2:30 a.m., I(kelly) am awakened by the bathroom door slamming into my shower door. I sit up with a start and turn toward the direction of the noise to see Rick collapsing to the floor! I am to him in 1 flying leap and yelling, "Rick, what is going on? What are you doing?" He tries to sit up on 1 shaky arm, eyes wild and unresponsive, and then goes down again. Of course I can't find the portable phone, who can when you need one, so I go to the land line and call my Dad next door. (It hadn't even occurred to me to use my cell phone.) In the meantime, I run back into the bedroom and he is standing in the doorway of the bathroom. I get to him, all the while trying to figure out what is happening to him, but I can not get him to respond to me! I try to move him to the bed, but his knees buckle and I go down with him to break his fall. His body starts seizing (my Dad says I am not supposed to say that because they will yank his license) but that is what happened and his breathing went weird, like a gargling sound...aka "the death rattle". Anyway, at this point I am freaking out inside, so I lay him on the ground and run to call "911". I was so shaky it took me 3 tries before I dialed the correct number. I am shaking even now as I write this blog! "911" wouldn't let me get off the phone, but Rick was in the other room and I didn't know what he is doing...she told me I could put the phone down to check on him but not to hang up. He had obviously come to again because he went from a perpendicular position with the bed to being parallel with it. His head was up against the bedside dresser and he was out cold. Finally, my Mom comes bounding in, yelling for me to call "911," and headed into my room with the blood pressure aparatus. Kendal stumbled out of her room and I am yelling at her to find the portable phone...which by the way ended up being on the dresser next to Rick. My Dad finally made it over...he doesn't move so well when he firsts gets out of bed, plus he had to go to the batheroom to boot...now you know why his nickname is "tiny tanks". About 10 or 15 minutes had now gone by and Rick was still not moving. My Dad got a systolic pressure reading of 60, when that reading is what his dystolic pressure should be. I don't understand the different readings very well, other than knowing it is really bad! He gave Rick the epinephrin, but it took 3 stabs for the medicine to release. Kendal was outside with a spotlight so the ambulance would know where to go and the dispatcher finally let me get off the phone once the ambulance was in view. I went into our room as Rick began to start coming around...of course, he immediatley struggled to get up because wanted to go to the bathroom. My poor Mom was holding his legs straight up in the air with her little body trying to keep the blood circulating thru his organs and his legs looked like death, there was no color! I hear d him say, "I'm okay, I'm okay now, I'm going to make it." It wasn't until later when I was with my mom, following the ambulance, that she told me what he had said while he was not out of it. He was saying, "No Baby Papa(this is my grandfather who passed away 5 months ago), No, I don't want to see you, I don't want to be with you yet." There is no doubt in my mind that Baby Papa was there in the room...we can all just picture him bending over Rick asking him what all the fuss was about. Rick doesn't remember it, but my parents do! The paramedics were able to move him to the ambulance once they had him stablized at a 78 systolic pressure. By the time he saw the Dr. in the ER, Rick was as honory as all get out. Lonnie turned to me and said "he is becoming high maintenance". After Rocky and Lonnie gave him a blessing, his mood did mellow a bit. By late morning, Rick was wanting to go home. A new ER Doc, one that Rick actually liked, wanted to admit him overnight, but my dad didn't think it was necessary so he got Rick released into his care. I was so mad a my Dad and Rick, that I don't think I spoke to either of them on the way home. They have no idea how traumatized I was and how scary the thought was of having him home. Rick's grandparents and his Uncle Lyle were on their way to the hospital, so they met us at the pharmacy so they could see Rick. We had a nice, emotional visit. Coincidentally, my very good friend Stacy was coming out of Long's as my dad was going in. It is amazing how people are put in places for your benefit...Stacy lives in the Bay Area and just so happended to be in the very same Long's at just the exact same time. Angels were definitely looking out for us that day! Rick is fine...we haven't gotten any tests results back yet from the bloodwork, but because his body depleated the antibodies, it may take another month or two for any allergy to show up in his bloodstream. In the meantime, he goes in next monday for a CT scan of his sinuses...his allergist says he is very obstructed and thinks surgery may be a good solution. Yeah, no more snorring! Rick's body is still recovering from this ordeal, he is tired all the time, but that may have something to do with the pint of blood he gave up for tests...who knows. I, on the other hand, am overly hyper-sensitive to any noise Rick makes, especially when he is in the bathroom! Can you blame me?!