Quick Trip to Oxford

We spent the last week in Oxford, Mississippi for an unplanned visit to Bryan's parents. Rich had an emergency quintuple bypass surgery last Friday and we flew down for the week to be with him and Patty.

When we arrived on Friday evening we were greeted by Erin, Tim, Kevin and Grandma Cavener, who had driven down from Columbus, as well as Doug and Teresa from Nashville. We were relieved to hear that the surgery went well though when we visited Rich in the ICU he was still very groggy from the anethesia. Rich's brothers were trying to wake him so that the doctors could remove his breathing tube. Kevin asked Rich to sit up in bed and keep his eyes open for 5 seconds and I got yet another view of Rich's iron will. About 5 hours post operation, he pulled himself up in bed and kept his eyes intently fixed on Kevin for a count of five. Whew!

When we saw Rich on Saturday there was a world of difference in his condition. He was totally lucid, smiling and joking with us. In fact he was joking with us a little too much. As we were talking we noticed his blood pressure rising and falling on the monitor. We passed some nervous glances between us and soon after the nurse shooed us out. Apparently Rich got a little too fired up.

Rich came home from the hospital a day early on Monday afternoon. He has slept much better at home so he immediately started to feel better. For the most part, he has looked so good and complained so seldom that our days have fallen into a happy routine. I've had to remind myself that Rich is recovering from a MAJOR surgery. Rich has been taking two naps a day but otherwise he has been spending the day in the living room visiting with us and Jill in his blue recliner.

In anticipation of his homecoming, Patty and Bryan picked out a new laptop for Rich. Bryan also set up a wireless router--hooray! I never realized how addicted I am to our wireless until I got here and didn't have it. Rich has enjoyed surfing the web with his new laptop, too. Tonight he used it as a diversion when the Indians game got too exciting.

It's been wonderful to watch Jill spend this time with her grandparents. Jill is constantly delivering a lapful of stuffed animals to Grandpa and she even says, "There's Grandpa!" when she walks in the room. Patty has spent a few hours a day caring for Jill so that Bryan and I could get some work in. We've appreciated the time to keep up with our jobs remotely, but I've also been thankful that Jill has gotten to spend a whole week realizing that she has another grandmother full of fun ideas and wrapped around her finger! Grammie and Jill are true pals. This week they have colored, sang, and explored the yard together. Yesterday when Jill started tugging on the doorknob saying, "Outside?" Patty told her that she needed to put her shoes on if she wanted to got outside. Jill ran into our room and came back with the shoes saying, "Shoes. Outside? Outside?" That type of reasoning and action is new to Jill. It's awesome to see! Here is a picture of Jill and Patty playing with the windchimes in the backyard.

Bryan and I have enjoyed ourselves, too. Spending a week in Oxford has given us a chance to appreciate the area. Rich and Patty have many generous neighbors and friends, Ole Miss is just 3 miles away, and there are some awesome parks and playgrounds. It's very nice here, but even in October it is still too hot!