Fun time after all the surgeries Jan 19-25, 2008

https://www.facebook.com/RMHStanford?ref=br_rs 
Day 19: Saturday, 19, 2008 

Last night, Meadow slept on the same side as her surgery, which caused her left eye to swell, so we stayed close to the RMH just to be on the safe side.

Meadow at the RMH

I was awake at 8:30 A.M. I took a shower, shaved my legs, and cut my bangs.

I went downstairs for breakfast, where I ate a waffle, some Mandarin oranges, and drank a Diet Coke.

I talked with Brianna Hall, who is expecting a baby; her daughter, Rachel, just had her third surgery on her heart, and she is in the PICU. 

I also talked with Robert's grandfather, who is a Spanish-speaking family from Arizona.

Roberts's grandfather is retired and a member of the Shriners.

Meadow and Lora were still in bed at 11:45 A.M.

That night for supper, everyone pitched in, and we made homemade spaghetti, a fresh salad, and toasted garlic bread. 

I was given the task of cutting up to 3 whole garlic cloves, which I had never done before, and was told I was doing it wrong.

One of the women said that you take a knife, turn it on the flat side, crush the garlic, and the peelings will fall off. 

Lora, Meadow, and I walked across the street to the Stanford Mall. 
http://www.simon.com/mall/stanford-shopping-center/stores

We walked through stores, and we stopped at Andronicus Market, where we bought a lemon cheesecake and a couple of fruit custard tarts.  

At the Fruit market, we bought 5 pounds of oranges for 99 cents. 

We walked across the street and down Sand Hill Road to the park, where Lora played with Meadow.

We walked back to the RMH, where we ate supper and veered out for the rest of the day.

Day 20: Sunday, January 20, 2008 

On our trip to the San Francisco Zoo, we rode up from the South Bay area, driving 280 north to Westlake, exiting at Daly City, then turning left onto John Daly Boulevard, then onto Skyline Boulevard (Hwy 35). At the junction, we turned left onto the Great Highway and turned right into the moon entrance.

On our way to the zoo, we stopped at the Pacific Ocean in Pacifica, where we saw a pier that extended for what seemed like miles into the ocean, with people on either side fishing.
http://www.cityofpacifica.org

It was a blustery day, the sky loaded with thousands of white, puffy clouds filled with raindrops. 

The wind whistled as the ocean rolled wave after wave onto the sandy beach.

With my camera's eye, I captured this incredible view.

We could not stay long along the ocean's edge because Meadow could not tolerate the strong wind.

Town of Pacifica 

We stopped again at Thornton State Beach in Daly, where we walked on a sidewalk to the Pacific Ocean's edge.

 I took out my camera and took several pictures of the ocean and a sign that read:

"IF IT IS SUMMER, BRING A SWEATER. DAILY CITY SUMMERS ARE VIRTUALLY RAINY BUT DON'T EXPECT ANY SUNNY SKIES."

Another sign in the same area said:

"THE GROUND BENEATH YOUR FEET HERE AT THOMAS BEACH IS NOT SOLID, AS IT SEEMS. THE GROUND ITSELF IS MADE UP OF SEMI-CONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTARY ROCK FROM HERE TO MUSSEL ROCK- IT DOESN'T HOLD TOGETHER WELL, WHICH MAKES THE COASTLINE VERY UNSTABLE."
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=530

We drove about a mile up the coast to Funston National Park, where I used a porta-potty that was mounted on a slab of concrete.

The wind was blowing strongly, around 35 miles per hour. As I approached the porta-potty, I found it unlocked and went inside. 

Many thoughts raced through my mind as I prepared to use the pot. 

I could just imagine myself being blown off the clifftop into the ocean, floating upside down inside the porta-potty in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I also thought about the time a man was eaten by a T. rex while using the porta-potty in the Jurassic Park Movie.

We walked along a sandy path into the park where people were walking their dogs, riding bicycles, and hang gliding.

Funston National Park 

I walked as near as I could to the cliff edge to get some close-up shots of the rolling waves, the greenish-blue Pacific Ocean, and the white puffy clouds.

The wind was blowing sand into our eyes as we walked backward along the sandy path back to our car.

We ate a late lunch at Burger King and arrived at the San Francisco Zoo around 2:30 P.M.

Disabled children get in free at the San Francisco Zoo, and the family gets to park free.

The cost for Lora and me was twenty-two dollars.

We entered the park, used the restroom, changed Meadow's diaper, and went to the gift shop, where Lora bought a scarf to wrap around her neck and ears to protect them from the bitter wind.

We walked to the African Region, where we saw the long-necked, brown-and-white Reticulated Griffins, Grant's White Zebras with black stripes, and the black, furry Western Lowland Gorilla.

In the Primate Discovery Center, we saw several different types of monkeys, including Baboons and a pair of chimpanzees.

At Koala Crossing, we saw 100s of long-legged pink flamingos, several varieties of birds, and the Kola cage was empty. 

Near the Cat Kingdom, we saw North American River Otters, California Sea Lions, and a Nile Hippopotamus, and Penguin Island was covered with miniature-wearing black-and-white tuxedos.

The Cat Kingdom, which housed the big cats, was closed because a tiger had gotten out and killed a man and injured two others. 

Lora and Meadow rode on a brown & white cat, with a fish in its mouth, on the historic 1921 Dentzel Carousel, which was located near the Fisher Family Children's Zoo.

Riding the Carousel at San Francisco Zoo

Several of the exhibits were closed because it was getting too close to five o'clock, when the zoo closed.

The ocean was just a few blocks from the zoo, so when we left, we found a nice spot to park along the Pacific Ocean to watch the sunset. 

The clouds were now a hint of blue, streaked with yellow, orange, and red as the sun slowly disappeared into the ocean.

Watching sunset

The setting of the sun did not stop some idiot from swimming in the cold, pounding ocean.

We arrived at the RMH around 6 P.M., where we ate supper and spent the rest of the evening talking with other families staying there.

I took Meadow upstairs, put her in the shower with me, put on our clothes, and we walked downstairs to the computer room so I could upload my pictures onto a CD.

Lucy, a volunteer at the RMH, said she was leaving and would not return until February 3.

We thanked her for all the great work she had done, and we told her we would be leaving on January 25.

We all went upstairs to our room, I called Hubby, I downloaded the pictures from my little camera to Lora's computer, and then we all went to bed.

Day 21: Monday, January 21, 2008 

We all get up, put on clean clothes, and walk downstairs for breakfast.

For breakfast, Meadow drinks a glass of milk, and she nibbles on a waffle. 

For breakfast, I ate two waffles and mandarin oranges and drank a bottle of water. 

We walked back upstairs to collect our dirty laundry and take it to the laundry to wash it.

I take Meadow to the family room while our clothes are washing, where Meadow watches Curious George, Barney, and Clifford the Big Red Dog. 

It was a nasty day; it rained all day, it was a good day for staying inside, and Lora slept until after 11 A.M.

Lora finally got up and got ready. We rode to the Stanford Mall and ate lunch at Italian Babbo's Ristorante, where I ordered a delicious bowl of hot soup with some fresh bread. 

We had excellent service, the food was great, and we had enough food leftover to take home. Meadow even brought a plate of bread. 

We walked to Victoria's Secret, and they were having an end-of-year sale. Lora spent over $100.00, and I paid $27.00.

We rode to Target, where Lora purchased a set of luggage for $89.00. 

Then we rode around the Stanford University Campus, stopping to take pictures of students walking to and from classes, carrying umbrellas to protect them from the rain.

Stanford University 

We were greeted by rows of Palm trees and a lush green lawn decorated with shrubs and flowers, with sidewalks on either side, and drove through the entrance to the Stanford University Campus. 

We also saw a couple of statues above the horseshoe-anchored, buff sandstone buildings, with red slate roofs that dot the campus.

In the main quad, we see the Memorial Church with a Celtic cross atop a remarkable mosaic facade depicting a moment just before Christ's ascension.

To the left of the Memorial Church, we saw the 285-foot Hoover Tower a building dedicated to alumni and our thirty-third president Herbert Hoover.

We stopped outside the Cantor Art Museum, which is part of Stanford University, to take pictures of the sculpture garden featuring some of Rodin's sculptures https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrBT.LUvJhXkTcAeaBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyZ3Z1b2hvBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDVUkyQzNfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Rodin+Sculptures+at+Stanford&fr=aaplwwhich, which included the Gate of Hell.

We would have gone inside, but the museum had already closed for the day.
https://www.facebook.com/CantorArtsCenter/

Gates of Hell at Cantor Art Museum 

We rode back to the Stanford Mall, where Lora and I shared a meal with salsa and chips at Playa Grill.

We ordered chicken nuggets from McDonald's for Meadow.

We rode back to the RMH, where Lora updated Meadows's website, while I played with Meadow.

Day 22: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 

Meadow woke us up by clapping her hands. 

I got up and put Meadow in the shower with me after Lora fed her some Pedi-Sure. 

I put Meadow back into her crib and walked downstairs for breakfast.

For breakfast, I ate a bowl of soup, with bread, and a sweet roll. 

Lora and I went back to Stanford Mall to Victoria's Secret, where I purchased eight pairs of panties and a pair of Victoria's sweatpants.

I walked upstairs to our room, collected the dirty clothes, and went to the laundry room.

While my clothes were washing, I went back to the dining room, where I talked with a woman named Helen, the great-grandmother from Montana. 

Helen said her husband was a cowboy, and when he passed away, they had a cowboy funeral, and she rode a horse in the procession.

She said, Hubby suffered for five years with cancer, and after he died, I moved to Wichita Falls to live with my daughter.

Helen said that she has five grandchildren, and two great-grandsons, Henry and Gavin, whom she is here with, he has a heart condition.

She also said that when Gavin's father learned that he had a heart condition, he ran away.

Next, I talked to a couple from Guam, Andre and Savannah, and their son,n Elisha Peter.

They said their son Elisha had a heart condition, and he was given aspirin to take. 

Elisha Peter fell, hitting his head. The aspirin he was taking caused his head to swell, and now he is waiting for surgery on his head. 

He said back in Guam, he knew a man whose 17-year-old son had fallen, hitting his head, causing a clot, surgery was done, and he went into a coma and died.

Andrew said the doctors in Guam did not know what they were doing.

The doctors there said Elisha could not fly because it was not stable enough, but Elisha's Pediatrician told Andrew that he had arranged a flight for the family to the Philippines. 

Elisha's Pediatrician said the operation Elisha needed was minor, and it would relieve the pressure.

Andrew said, I will have to go back to Guam until I can get transferred to San Francisco to work as a prison guard, but in the meantime, my family is staying here, and my family will never live in Guam.

I went back upstairs to finish my laundry.

I went to the computer room to write in my journal and to download the pictures from the little camera to the computer.

Mary Jo Blazek is a volunteer who is working in the computer room at RMH.

Lora and Brianna rode to the Stanford Mall McDonald's to get some free chicken nuggets for Meadow and Kayla.

Day 23: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 

We took Meadow to her appointment with Doctor Stenberg at 11:30 A.M., but DDoctor Stenbergwas in surgery, o we saw his nunurseeresa.

Teresasaidd Meadow was doing greatt and that she would be forwarding a copy of Meadow's medical records to all of her doctors back home.

She said, Meadow, will have to return in six months for a check-up, which will be sometime in July 2008.

Teresa said that we should start seeing a difference in Meadow in the next six months. 

We left the doctor's office and rode to Santa Clara. We stopped at Mexicali Grill, a Tex-Mex restaurant located in the Mercado Mall, for lunch, where we each ordered a soft taco with a salad.

Lora drove us to the Yahoo building at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, California, and we walked inside and asked if we could tour the building, but they weren't offering tours.

Yahoo had just laid off 700 employees. 

We rode to the PHP (Parents Helping Parents), located at the Sobrato Center for Nonprofits in San Jose, 1400 Parkmoor Avenue, Suite 100, San Jose, CA, where we were given a grand tour of the facility.

. 

Our next stop was the Winchester House and Museum in San Jose, where we did the garden walkthrough because the house was not wheelchair accessible. 
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEVzwVvZhXUfEAzmpXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyZ3Z1b2hvBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDVUkyQzNfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Winchester+House+and+Museum&fr=aaplw

We saw the Egret, & the serpent fountains, we saw the garage, the car wash, and an Indian statue

wearing a cloak, a headdress, and a longbow in his left hand.

We saw two orange trees full of ripe oranges, an English Yew tree near the garage, and many other trees & shrubs in various sizes and shapes throughout the property. 

There were roses, lilies, and many other flowers throughout the gardens.

The house took on an eerie look as the sun went behind the clouds and darkness fell on the house and grounds. 

Winchester House as night is falling.

We could still see the purple roof, blue light beaming from the top floor, and a yellow front porch guiding guests. 

Yellow and white lights beamed from several lower-level rooms, while total darkness emanated from many others, and shadows danced on the ground as we stopped to take pictures. 

The Winchester House was a beauty by day and a sinister, eerie, creepy place to be after dark.

We walked back to the museum, where Lora purchased a rainbow sucker for Meadow.

Meadow had stickystuff all over her face.  

At the museum, we saw Zelda's Fortune Cabinet, a aigypsy's gypsy, her fortune cards, and a crystal ball.

The lower half of Zelda's Fortune cabinet was a coin slot, and right below the coin slot was the face of the devil. He had green eyes, a red mouth, and a black beard; his face was golden, and on his head were black horns and a forked image on his forehead.

If you insert seventy-five cents, she will tell you the future, but forget playing poker with her.

We also saw a player piano built by the Link Piano Company, Binghamton, NY.

We rode back to the RMH for supper; they had prepared beef stew, potato soup, bread, and a large salad. 

After supper, many of the families sat around talking.

The family we met from Montana has moved to a hotel and will be going home on Friday.

We will also be leaving on Friday.

The conjoined twins are leaving tomorrow.

Brianna Cain is very upset about her daughter. She and Lora are talking.

I am talking to Vanessa Preston about her son Brandon, who has a heart condition, and he is still in the hospital. 

I walked upstairs to finish my laundry and write in my journal. It is now 12:30 P.M.

Meadow and Lora have been asleep for a while.

Day 24: Thursday, January 24, 2008 

After I dressed Meadow and we were ready, we went to the dining area for breakfast.

I fed Meadow a can of Pedi-sure, and I ate a waffle. 

In the dining area, I spoke with the parents and grandparents of Robert, a family from Louisiana, and with Vanessa Person. 

Lora came downstairs, ate breakfast, and joined the conversation.

We spent the morning taking pictures of our friends.

The news media came by to take pictures of the conjoined twins Yurelia and Fiorella Rocha-Arias, who had been successfully separated.

Meadow was given a Winnie the Pooh by Matthew's family. 

Doctor Steinberg had also performed moya surgery on Matthew.

We finished our packing and went to Meadows's appointment at 2:30 P.M. with her therapist, Wan Chen Kang.

While we were at the hospital, we went to visit Brandon Perso,n who was in PIC, and his mom, who was there with him.

Lora and I split a BLT, a taco, and a slice of Carrot Cake for lunch in the Lucile Pediatric Children's Hospital Cafeteria.

We went back to the Cantor Art Museum at Stanford University, and Vanessa Person went with us.

At the museum, we can see museum pieces, pottery, statues, a mummy, an American Indian dancer in full dress, totem poles, and headdresses from many different countries, Africa, India, China, and North and South America. 

We have a beautiful wall hanging of the California Mountains, Yosemite Mountains, gorges, cowboys, and several portraits of the Stanford family. 

We saw many pieces from Leland and Jane Stanford's jewelry collection. 

We saw many collections from the ancient Mediterranean era, Europe, and the 1500-1900 American period, as well as modern and contemporary art. 

We saw many pieces of art from Asia, Africa, Oceania, Native America, and ancient America. 

We saw Rodin's collection of bronzes, the largest in the world outside of Paris. Twenty bronzes include the "Gates of Hell. Rodin took twenty years to complete the others, the Thinker, the Kiss, the Age of Bronze, and many others. 

We saw pieces of jade from the Orient. We saw a piece where a monkey was riding a horse with his manly parts exposed.

Cantor Art Museum monkey riding a horse

We saw many African pieces, headdresses, statues, and pottery, and many of these pieces were made out of some sort of wood. 

The oriental pieces were made out of stones like jade.

We were allowed to take pictures downstairs. 

The museum was Museumhair accessible; the elevator was quaint, like a dumb waiter, and very small. 

Lora, Vanessa, and Meadow left using the wheelchair at the exit, and I used the front door. 

We took Vanessa back to the hospital. She is nursing her son, so she needs to pump some milk for him.

We returned to the RMH, where we ate some snacks and visited with some of our friends.

When Vanessa returned to the RMH, she rode to Target with us, where I bought some cookies, 

Vanessa spent $70.00 on clothes for Brandon.

We returned to RMH, where we cleaned our room, finished washing our clothes, and started packing.d Lora went to get a cart for tomorrow, to put our luggage on, so we could carry everything down at once. 

Day 25: Friday, January 25, 2008

It was hot in our room last night, so I turned on the air conditioner. Lora and I both woke up coughing because we had gotten too hot.

Lora and I were up at 4:30 A.M. We both showered, ate breakfast, and drove to the San Francisco International Airport. 

Lora traveled down Highway 101, the traffic was heavy, and it was raining and foggy.  

When we arrived at the airport, we had to return the rental car, and Lora dropped Meadow and me off at the ticket counter. 

We both had to use the restroom before going through security.

We checked our luggage, got our tickets, and walked through security without any problems.

We were told that our 10:45 A.M. flight would be delayed until 1:00 P.M., but we could take an earlier flight at 8:30 A.M.

We are flying with Frontier Airlines, our plane has an otter on the wings and tail. 

The flight to San Francisco had a sea lion named Sherman. 

The frontier hub is in Denver, Colorado, and its logo features animals.

We sat in the front of the plane in seats A, B, and C. I sat next to the window, Meadow was in the middle seat, and Lora was in the aisle seat. 

Lora changes Meadow's diaper once we are in the air, and after that, Meadow and Lora fall asleep.

I am writing in my journal about our many adventures and trying to listen to "Deathly Hollows" on my Pod. 

My sinus was draining, so I could not sleep.

We flew from San Francisco to Denver, Colorad,o in two hour. After we landed, we ate a nice meal at Jimmy's Beefstro in the airport.

Lora and I split a steak sandwich, a salad, and some fries, and we each ordered tea. 

We saw two flight attendants from our plane ordering at Jimmy's Beefstrof, and they said the food was good, and it was!

After we finished eating, we went to our waiting area, where I noticed a man wandering around as if he were lost. 

He fell to the ground, hitting his head. He was having a grand mal seizure, and no one knew what to do.  

The ticket collectors called for help, and the man was taken away on a stretcher. 

In the lobby, Lora, Meadow, and I were sitting next to a serviceman who was born and raised in Wyoming. He was traveling to Lexington, KY, and said he had two children, ages one and four. We started talking about Meadow's surgeries performed by Doctor Steinberg and our stay at the RMH. 

He told us he was born with a cleft or club foot and that he was fortunate enough to get it fixed at a young age with the help of the shiners in Wyoming. 

His flight was boarding about the same time as ours, so we said goodbye.

I called Hubby and said we were leaving Colorado. He said Frontier Airlines had emailed him to inform him that our flight had been delayed. 

I told him we had taken an early flight. 

We were the first to board; Lora had taken Meadow out of her wheelchair and was carrying her, and I was left behind to push the overloaded wheelchair.

As I started through the shoot, the overloaded wheelchair turned over, spilling luggage everywhere.  

The door to the shoot was closed, and Lora handed Meit adw, as she and the woman at the counter began gathering up our belongings and loading them onto the plane.

We were safely seated in the middle of the plane, in row 15, seats A, B, and C, and everyone else boarded.

During our flight, we were served a drink and pretzels.

We laughed at Meadow when she spat out the pretzel she had been sucking on, and it splashed down, nearly hitting Lora's Coke that she was drinking.

When we arrived in Nashville at 6:25 P.M., the pilot came over the intercom and said, We had a smooth flight, and everyone clapped.

Hubby was waiting for me, and so was Walora's husband. We still had a two-hour ride home.

On the ride home, I ate a Milk Chocolate Hershey Bar and drank a can of Mountain Dew. 

We stopped at Chick-fil-A in Athens, where we ordered a chicken sandwich and some waffle fries.  

Lora said that her family was going to Nashville to eat at Rainforest Café at the Opry Mills Mall. 

We are HOME!

Summary:

We had many adventures in January, including the scary porta-potty along the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean.

A  man having grandma seizures in the Denver airport on our flight home. Meadow's two major surgeries, three MRIs, a SPEC Scan,  an Angiogram, and many ohewees. 

Our trips to the Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods, Pier 39, the San Francisco Zoo, walking the grounds of the Winchester House, Stanford University, the Cantor Art Museum, Stanford Mall, to Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Happy Hollow Zoo, and Park. 

The weather was good, which helped us have a safe flight home. The temperature in Denver, CO, was in the mid-50s, and all the snow near and around the airport was gone, except for a patch here and there.

Meadow is on her way to healing from her surgeries, her hair is beginning to grow back, and she is full of energy,  playful, and a happy little girl.

Doctor Steinberg's nurse said that we should start seeing results from Meadows in the next six months as the grafts fuse into the surgical areas.

I am thankful that everything went well with all the tests and surgery, and that Meadow is recovering. well

We met many families staying at the RMH in Palo Alto. I hope their children get to go home, and our prayers are with each and every family we met at the RMH.

In February, I will be going to Disney World with a group of Varsity Cheerleaders from Rogers High School. This will be a totally different adventure from the one I just went through with my granddaughter, Meadow.