It's the 28th day of the month, so it must be a kidney stone

OK - what is it about the 28th of the month?

November 28th - first kidney stone
December 28th - second kidney stone

If I get one on January 28th, I'm quitting!

And why do they have to hit at night? My episode began last night at 10:30 p.m. Unfortunately, it got worse and 2 Vicodin didn't do the trick - so after waaaaaaaaay too long of suffering, I went back to the ER. I wish I had gone at 11:00 p.m. and then avoided all that pain.

Report: New stone - but at least the 1st one is gone! Same sized stone as last time. Further away from the bladder though - so it may take longer to move it - or it may not...who knows.

Just in case you wonder......they hurt. I mean it's a hurt that you just cannot get away from. Just ask Kelly how happy I was before the hospital. Sorry he had to witness my writhing. Oh, and you should have seen me go into panic mode at the CAT scan. I started to freak out. If they hadn't pulled me out of there, I would have crawled out. And a CAT scan isn't even that big of a deal....but for some reason....I freaked. It took me about 5 minutes to calm down and then I endured it by doing deep breathing. Who says you have to give birth to experience abdominal pain and focus on your breathing?

I'm beginning to think Jodi may be part of the problem....I've had dinner with her both times the nights of my ER trips. You suppose it's just an overdose of little munchkin cuteness?

Funny Christmas Post

Just read this today...it made me laugh...


http://theparentingpost.parenting.com/2006/12/we_ride_the_pol.html#more?cid=newsletter-parenting121206-polarexpress

Heaven and Hell got together on Tuesday

Tuesday - Insane Day for Morrison Family
Heaven/Hell'ometer rating scale
0 - Hell......10 - Heaven

6:30 a.m. Day starts - too early but OK. Score 5
8:00 a.m. Drop off Blake at Gran's. Blake is very happy to be starting his day there. Score 8
8:05 a.m. - 8:50 a.m. Kelly and Joanie drive to Bedford for Joanie's follow up mammogram because there were suspicious places on 1st mammogram - A.M. driving in Mid-Cities. Score 4, Stress over mammogram problems. Score 2
9:00 a.m. Joanie goes to back room to wait for mammogram. Score 4
9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Joanie decides to break the waiting room silence and attempts comic relief while room full of stressed-out women sit in their mammogram capes waiting to be called back. Score 6
9:30 a.m. 2nd mammogram done. And I thought the regular one was painful! Score .5 but a short-lived .5.
9:45 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Waiting Room - continued comic relief with new group of women - can run old jokes around a 2nd time. Score 6
10:20 a.m. Talk to radiologist who gives a pretty good report - not a perfect report - but a pretty good one. Score 8
10:30 - 11:00 Drive back to Fort Worth in good spirits. Score 8
11:00 a.m. Go to Harris Hospital downtown to visit young girl from Christian Homes who is giving her baby up for adoption - but is in Fort Worth due to pregnancy complications. First part of visit is good. Score 8 Nurse comes in during our visit to tell her that she will not be delivering on Friday as they had thought due to immaturity of baby. Pregnant girl falls apart. Score 4. Continue visit for a few more minutes feeling helpless as to what to say to young lady. Score 4.
11:30 a.m. Leave girl's room and talk to nurse in hall. I fall apart in tears when I find that I'm the only person she has seen visiting the girl for the last 3 weeks she has been in the hospital. I cry like a baby to the nurse - feel so sad for young girl. Score 2
11:45 a.m. Head for church. Regaining composure. Getting perspective. Score 5
12:10 p.m. Stopped by motorcycle cop on McCart/Walton. Score 1.5
12:15 p.m. Talk myself OUT OF A TICKET (he had already told me he was going to write one) by dropping a few officer names and mentioning that I had actually done a ride-along with the traffic LT (thanks, Lt. Burgess) once and he'd let a guy off for doing 80 mph in a 60 mph zone. The ticket would have been for an expired inspection sticker. I promised to go and get it done right up the street. Can't believe I got out of a ticket! Score 9.5
12:20 - 12:50 Get inspection done and return to find same officer giving ticket. Wait until he's done and then point to my new sticker to prove I did what I said I was going to do. Score 8
1:00 p.m. Go up to church and meet up with Mom and Blake. Score 8
1:00 - 3:30 Shop at Kohl's with all the senior citizens (an extra 15% off for seniors) and buy rest of needed Christmas gifts for Kansas family Christmas this weekend. Score 8
3:45 p.m. Home for quick recovery. Tired. Score 6
5:30 p.m. Meet Crowells, Williams, and Gillilands at Rosa's for dinner. Kids' having fun but lots of screaming and running into each other. Tears here and there. Crazy! Begin to feel discomfort in stomach around 6:00 p.m. - don't think a lot about it. Score 7
6:15 p.m. Crazy dinner with lots of kids wraps up when one child has minor throwing up incident. Score 6 Pain in my abdomen seems to be increasing a bit - glad we are going home. Score 5
6:30 p.m. Return home. Discomfort increases exponentially. Score 4
6:35 p.m. Concern increases - Joanie asks Kelly to look online and see where the appendix and gall bladder are. Score 3
6:37 p.m. Decision is made to take Blake to Gran's house. Score 2
6:40 p.m. Kelly returns home and gets me into car. Pain in right side is approaching unbearable. Feeling like I'm going to be sick. Writhing begins. Score 1
6:43 p.m. Kelly breaks the land speed record going from our house to Harris Southwest...running lights and blowing by stop signs. Whimpering now accompanies writhing. Score 0
6:48 p.m. Arrive at Harris Southwest. Hell would be a welcomed event at this point. Joanie freaks out waiting room people and other people waiting for service as she slumps in wheelchair writhing and moaning. Score -1
6:49 p.m. Other patients are pushed aside and Joanie moves to the front row of pitiful people for service. Score -2
6:51 p.m. Joanie pukes. Score -3
6:53 p.m. Joanie into ER room and lab in to draw blood and start IV. Score -3
6:55 p.m. Doc in. Suggest kidney stones. Score -2 (relief that I didn't come all the way to the hospital for a tummy virus - and glad no cutting will be involved)
7:03 p.m. IV finally started and druigs administered. Score 3 and looking up
7:08 p.m. Drugs begin to take effect. Score 4+
7:30 p.m. CAT Scan. Score 5
8:00 p.m. Joanie falls alseep Score 8
9:00 p.m. Doc diagnoses bb-sized kidney stone Score 8
9:15 p.m. Dismissed from hospital Score 9
9:30 p.m. Home Score 9


So there you have it. It was a roller coaster that I couldn't seem to get off of! As of Friday afternoon, my friend Stoney is still with me. Drink more water....drink more water....

I don't ever wish a kidney stone on anyone....it was really unbelievable!

My brother makes me laugh

My mom forwarded me a funny email the other day from my brother who lives outside of Kansas City. He makes me laugh...I have to share part of the email here...

Mom:

Do you have a gas well in your back yard? I just read an article in the Wednesday KC Star about how drilling companies are offering signing bonuses and future royalties to FW homeowners in exchange for their mineral rights. It showed a picture that made it look like a full-size drilling rig was in a suburban back yard. I don’t know how you would know if they drilled at an angle from several miles away to a point 5000’ below your kitchen. You better put your ear to the kitchen floor occasionally to make sure they are not sneaking in.

The whole concept of mineral rights is kind of curious. Does one own the mineral rights to a limited depth or does your property line go to a fine point in the earth’s core where it touches another fine point of a Chinese homeowner and, as neighbors, are you obligated to take care of their aquarium when they go on vacation? Which brings up the question of who owns/owned the mineral rights under Mt. St. Helens? Whoever it is is responsible for a lot of damage. I am doing all I can to take care of my portion of the magma.

I think you should invite the drillers over. It would be nice to have something tall in the backyard in place of the mulberry that died. The squirrels would love crawling on it and there would be lots of places to put hanging baskets.

He poses some interesting questions. I've wondered before about how much you own above your property. I'm sure if I built something tall, I'd be told quickly that I didn't have that right.

OK, so maybe my brother doesn't make you laugh...but he's a funny man to me!

More of the boys

Blake was proud of his shiner. It wasn't much, but still worth showing off! He had some good cuddle time with his Daddy here.

I'm in love....with both of them!

Like Father....Like Son

This was a picture from Father's Day. Aren't my boys cute? We bought two daddy-sized shirts and my mom ripped up one of them and made one for Blake. Thanks to Wezie for doing the button holes for us!

Mr. DiFato - Part 2 of 2

Continuing my tribute from several months ago….and ashamedly late on getting back to it….

Mr. DiFato joined the Cantor Fitzgerald team in the World Trade Center in 1988 and worked on the 101st floor of Tower One as a securities controller. His sister, Lisa Cannava, worked in the same tower just 11 floors from John. She also lost her life that day. John is survived by his parents, one grandmother, and his three children to whom he was very devoted – Anthony, Nicole, and his namesake John.

Mr. DiFato loved his family time. He would leave home very early in the morning to get to his office and whenever one of the two older kids had a test at school, their father would give them a call to wish them luck before they left for school. When they returned home from school, there was always another call to check to see how they did on the test. Besides staying in contact with his kids before and after school, he also stayed in close contact during the day with Sue. Like many couples joined at the heart, husband and wife were in constant telephone contact all day. "During the day he would be beeping me – like, where are you?" Mrs. DiFato said. Sometimes she would be running for an appointment and when she heard her beeper she would mutter, "O.K., now what?" On Sept. 11, when she learned of the attack on the World Trade Center, she tried to beep Mr. DiFato. There was no answer.

Mrs. DiFato said “He loved his children very much and often commented on how he thought each of their births was a miracle. But I think John was the miracle that made my lfe and Anthony, Nicole, and John’s lives so very special each and every day.” Mr. DiFato also took special interest in his nephew, Joseph. Mrs. DiFato also said “We always felt we were soul mates. From the beginning, we knew we had something special. There is still a connection. Even after 12 years, we were still in love with each other.”

Mr. DiFato was an avid sports enthusiast. He had taken up golf in 2000 and collected baseball cards. He frequented New York Ranger and New Jersey Devil games. He enjoyed Steven Segal action movies and watching police and legal dramas. “Every night, he had a favorite show that he had to watch,” Mrs. DiFato said. His ultimate favorite was “Bonanza” and his AOL screen name was “Hoss”. He was also an avid reader of business magazines. Mr. DiFato was a parishioner of Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church, Huguenot.

The DiFatos spent a week in Disney World in July 2001 with his sister and her family. They had a wonderful trip and it was those happier memories of Disney World, trips to the circus, afternoons in the park, and anniversary celebrations that the family members found themselves clinging too in the wake of the tragedy.

Here are several comments/tributes made by Mr. DiFato’s family and friends:

Parents Teresa and Antonio DiFato: “We love him and miss him very, very much. He will always be in our hearts.”

Inlaws Gloria and Camine Giaccio: “He came into our lives and now it seems like a short time. In our own way, we loved him, and he will surely be missed.”

Mary Anne Cannava: “Two years have past now, and it is still so hard to believe that you and Lisa are gone. Rest in Peace and take care of each other. Everyone misses you and Lisa. We will never forget you. You should be proud of your family, Sue your wife is the strongest and bravest person I ever met. Your children, I cant say enough about, they are the best and you raised them well. I am sure you are looking down on them proud of who they have become. Send Lisa our love. Not a day goes by where the both of you are not thought of and missed. Give your mom and dad the strength they need to go on, for what they lost is the most tragic of them all and no parent should ever have to go through what they did. always thinking of you Brian, Mary Anne and girls

Diana Gatto: “Dear Sue, As we approach the ninth month since John was taken from you and the children, I wanted you to know that my family will always be there for your family, in love, thoughts, prayers and words. We love you, Jim, Di, James and Dom”

Loving wife Sue: “Imagine waking up every day expecting to see the man you love, gone forever from your life. There will never be enough words to describe how we feel, how we go on without him or how we live with the hole in our hearts. I I still can't believe that this tragic event happened just one year ago. The loss still feels fresh and new. Those first few days and weeks will live in my mind forever. Wondering where John was; hearing nothing and not being able to find him, I hoped and wished. The hardest thing I ever did was to tell my three children their father was not coming home. Birthdays and our anniversary were so difficult without him. At times I still see you, John, looking out our bedroom window like you did every morning. I still feel your kiss. I still feel your love. We were soulmates and had a love that would last forever. No one will ever hold that special place in my heart. I wish I had one more day to see you and tell you I love you one more time. Our family will never be the same, and you will never be forgotten. The memory of you will live on in our children's laughter, accomplishments and love for one another. “

What a great man Mr. John DiFato was. I’m sorry that I didn’t know him – I think he would have been the kind of guy that I would have enjoyed being friends with. Sue said of him “He will be forever in our hearts." Her children have given her the strength to make it through each day. "He will always be a hero in our eyes."

John DiFato - A Hero to his family

In Memory – John DiFato

Killed September 11, 2001

World Trade Center Tower 1

What an honor it has been being assigned Mr. John DiFato to write a tribute to. I somehow feel like Mr. DiFato was the best possible person I could have been assigned. I have felt strangely drawn to the stories about him that I have read on the Internet. How I wish I could speak to his dear widow Susan, she may go by Sue, and tell her how touched I have been by the things I have read about her dear husband. I’m not sure what I would say to her if I actually did talk to her – but I would want to just tell her how sorry I was for her and her family’s loss and how a basic housewife and mom of 1 in far away Texas grieved with her as she remembered her precious husband especially on this day, five years later.

Let me tell you a little about John that I have read about him on other websites.

John DiFato was born in Brooklyn, a devoted son to Teresa and Antonio DiFato. He moved to Travis in 1977 (I guess this was when he was about 14), then in Huguenot, and then moved to Prince’s Bay in 1992. He graduated high school in 1981 from Tottenville High School in New York. (I also am a 1981 high school graduate. John and I would have been just about the same age right now – busy with life being parents to our kids, partners to our spouses, and enjoying the things life had to offer.)

Mr. DiFato received his associate’s degree in finance from the College of Staten Island in 1984. (My degree is in accounting.)

He met his future wife in 1983, while Susan was working at Macy’s at the Staten Island Mall. She was working there when John and a friend walked in. She had known him vaguely while in college. Susan says of that day “He said something cute…I instantly fell in love with the cleft in his chin”. She goes on to say "we started hanging out and dating, and the rest, as they say, is history," said Mrs. DiFato in an October 18, 2001 article of the Staten Island Advance. He worked as a security guard at Macy’s from 1984 to 1992. John and Susan were married on September 9, 1989. They celebrated their 12th anniversary on September 9, 2001 at the Rain Forest Café in Edison, New Jersey. Mrs. DiFato says that “while we celebrated…I thought how fortunate we were to have a close and loving relationship. I have so many wonderful memories of being loved by a truly wonderful man."

Tomorrow, I will write more about Mr. DiFato’s family and the things he enjoyed doing.

I’m sure wishing I had known him.

Sum Sum Summertime

Despite all the terribly hot weather that seems to be hotter each year, there is at least one really fabulous thing about summertime - playing outside in the sprinklers and enjoying a good old messy popsicle without caring where it drips! We recently had a great time down at Gran's playing in the sprinkler.

How handy...if you drop your lillipop in the grass, you just wash it off in the sprinkler!

Tasty!

Lollipop and sprinkler kisses for Gran!

Sprinklers make Blake smile!

What to do about popsicle juice running down your arm and everywhere else? What a bother!

No problem when there is a sprinkler around - what an easy way to clean up!

Modesty is always the right thing!

Hope you and yours are staying cool in the sprinklers this year. They make the day so much more fun!