Weekend

Well it has been a week since Chip's surgery. I am so thankful that it is behind us and he is doing good. He has been going on walks and is going to go to some cardiac rehap. Aubree walked with him this morning. He said that was about the right speed.

Yesterday was such a nice day. It was really nice to have Kyle home. Friday he was in Pueblo CO. He was 8.8 on his 2nd calf and is winning the 2nd round out there. Saturday he was in Ashland MO and won 2nd in the steer wrestling. It was noon unitl he made it home yesteday. In the afternoon we saddled up and for a ride. Jenae and I found some wild plums that we picked. They are not quite ready, Kyle thinks maybe in anther week they will be ripe.

I hope you all have a great week and thank you for all of your prayers this past week. We are really looking forward to life going back to normal. (What ever normal is :-)

CHIP IS HOME!!!!!!

We are all very happy to have Chip home and Chip is happy to be home. They dismissed him from the hospital yesterday about noon and they got home about 5:30 yesterday evening. Chip seems to be feeling well for all that he has been through. He has been eating good since he has been home. Hope made a roast for supper and brought over last night. It was nice to sit down as a family and have a nice supper. Chip got a good night sleep last night and now is on the right road to recovery.

It is a nice day here today. It is about 70 degrees out and the sun is shining. The girls and I are headed out to ride. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Update on Chip

I talked to Chip this morning. He sounded pretty good on the phone. He said he was feeling better today. Yesterday was a rough day, but they had told him that Wednesday would be a bad day. They gave him a pint of blood yesterday to perk him up a little. It sounds like Saturday he will get to come home. I know Jenae and Aubree will be really happy to have Grandpa and Gammy home!!!!

On Monday when we found out that Chip was bleeding and he had to go back into surgery was a very scary situation! It was something like I had never experience. He was loosing so much blood so fast that time was very critical. I am so thankful that the nursing staff was on top of things and knew to call Doctor Peetz right away. They said if they would not have got him back into surgery they would so fast we would have probably had a much different outcome. It has made me a big believer in blood donating. I am going to make it a priority to be a blood donor. Thinking that someone gave their time and blood and that is what potently saved Chip's life.

Update

After Chip's 2nd surgery he was really uncomfortable(an understatement) with the breathing tube down his throat. The doctors wanted to make sure he was stable before they could take it out. Kyle and I finally left the hospital around 10:30 last night and checked into a hotel close to the hospital. Hope called us around 11:00 to tell us they had taken the breathing tube out. He was able to get a little more comfortable once it was out. Marilyn, Hope and Ben stayed all night at the hospital with him. Kyle and I got up early to go see Chip before we headed home. For all that he has been through he seems to be doing good. I know he is not feeling real good but his body has been through a lot of trauma having 2 major surgeries in 1 day. Kyle wanted to get headed home this morning to tend to things on the ranch. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for our family. It was an emotional roller coaster yesterday and I truly believe everyone praying for us is what got us through the day.
We were very fortunate that Chip's Sister and her Husband and their daughter all work at the hospital that we were at and their other daughter used to work at that hospital. They were all there all day with us and made sure that we were well taken care of. It was a real blessing to have them with us for the support.

Things are looking better

They found the leak and fixed it. Chip is back in his room. He is stable but is still on the breathing tube. It has been a really long day. We have been here since 6:00 this morning. We are waiting for them to let us see him tonight before we call it a day. Thanks for all of your prayers!

Back in surgery

Chip's surgery took 6 1/2 hours. The surgeon thought it went well but there was some bleeding. They thought the bleeding was normal at first but he lost a lot of blood so they took him back to surgery. Please keep praying for him!!!!

Chip's Surgery

We are here in Omaha for Chip's surgery. They took him back at 8:00 this morning. They are expecting the surgery to take at least 5 hours. I will update later in the day.

First Day of School

The first day of school was success!!! Jenae had a great time. She was up at 6:30 in the morning ready to start her day! Kyle wanted to make sure he was home for the big day. We took her in for the first day. She could not believe how nice the lunch room ladies were :-) Marilyn had made her a blanket for nap time. It has horse on it and is really soft. When I asked her if she got to take a nap on her new blanket she said "no, I was pretty disgusted with that. We don't get to take naps until we have full days of school" (Chambers lets out early for the first 2 weeks due to the heat) Naps are have never been anything that Jenae enjoys, but she was wanting to try out her new blanket. She did tell me that she really wished that recess could last all afternoon! All in all she had a great fist day and she was up at 6:30 again this morning! I had to leave for work before the bus came got there this morning. I call home to check with Kyle to make sure that she got on ok. I guess she was getting pretty impatient waiting for it to get there she said "when it the bus ever going to get here???? I could be in school by now!!!" I hope her enthusiasm continues!
We are still needing your prayers for Chip. He as ruled out Michigan for the surgery. They were going to require him to stay in Michigan for a month after the surgery and would not let him fly home. The options that he has for now are California ( they said he would only need to be out there for 5-7 days and they would allow him to fly home); Omaha (Dr. Peetz , who did his first two surreys, feels confident that he could handle the surgery); Mayo Clinic (The most exciting option--they are doing a procedure up there that would allow them got go up through a vain in his leg to do the repair. He would not have to have major surgery and he would only have be in the hospital 2-3 days.) We are really really really hoping that the Mayo Clinc option will work out. There are far fewer risks involved.

Weekend

Jenae, Aubree, and I met up with Kyle in Valentine on Saturday morning. We went on to Gordon and then back to Valentine for the rodeo. It was a beautiful day, I think it was only in the mid 70's. Not to bad for the middle of August! Kyle placed on his bronc in Gordon on a horse that had never been ridden. He did not draw good in the timed events. He was 10.2 on his calf in Valentine. It was a nice run but 9.8 was the last time in the money. It started rain really hard right before the bronc riding. The girls and I went to the trailer went we saw the storm clouds roll in. We missed his last 2 events. There was quite a storm that went through Chambers while we were gone. We came home to no electricity and some branches down. We received almost 4 inches of rain from Friday night through Sunday morning.

Chip and Marilyn are in Omaha today getting some test run on Chip that need to be done before they can do surgery on him. They are checking to make sure he does not have any blockage in his heart that they will need to take care of while they are in fixing his valve. Dr. Peetz (the surgeon who did the first 2 valve replacements) has recommended a Dr. Deeb at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is an aortic valve specialist and they said if he needed to have surgery right away that they would get him in. At Creighton, they thought he should have surgery ASAP.

It sounds like Jenae and Aubree had a good time with Grandpa Chip on Friday when he kept them. They went to the pastures and the feed store in the morning. The girls love going to the feed store with Grandpa. They usally get cookies and sometimes even get a pop. The excitement came in the afternoon when a wood chuck wondered on the ranch. Jenae was outside playing with the dogs--actually she was in dog kennel. Chip was in the house and heard this horrible dogfight sound. He looked out and saw Buster killing something. By the time he got out there, Jenae was on top of the kennel (chain link fence) and Buster had a woodchuck immobilized nearby. Chip came out with his gun and Jenae (who is petrified of loud noises) said 'don't shoot me Grandpa'!!!!!!!!!!!! Jenae thought Buster was really the hero and she had shut the other 2 dogs in the kennel in case the animal had rabies (she knew the day they took the dogs in to get shots that Ellie had hid and they hadn't taken her in). He is planning keep Jenae and Aubree tomorrow. Hopefully there will not be any wild animals visiting tomorrow!

Update

I thought I would post an update. We really do not know much more than we knew on Tuesday. Chip and Marilyn are in the process of checking into hospitals/surgeons. Chip called out to a surgeon in Redwood City, California. He is a valve specialist that has done wondrous heart surgeries. It sounds like the soonest he could get into see him would be after Labor Day. I am not sure that would be soon enough. Chip's surgeon that did the first 2 surgeries is looking into a hospital in Michigan. It is a big process to find the right place to go.

The heat has been really hard on Chip.

Marilyn is back to school. Chip is home with Jenae and Aubree today. The plans for the day included teaching their horses tricks. Could be an interesting day on the Whitaker Ranch!

We are still needs lots of prays sent our way.

Thank you to all of you that have been praying for our family.

Prayer Request

I have a prayer request. I strongly believe in the power of prayer. Chip has been having trouble with his heart. He had a valve repaired in 2001. The valve started leaking and he had to have the valve repaired again in 2004. Jenae was only a couple of weeks old when he had his 2nd surgery. Again his valve is leaking and is facing another heart surgery to repair the valve. For the past several weeks he has been going to doctors having test run on his heart. Today he went to Creighton Hospital in Omaha to meet with a heart surgeon. They were able to use a camera to video his heart. They showed that his heart is leaking a lot of blood. The surgeon is confident that he could do the surgery but does not feel that Creighton Hospital has the support that would be needed to back up the surgery if they would run into complications. We need a lot of prayers for the direction that we go from here. We want to find a surgeon and a hospital that would be able to handle the complexity of replacing a valve for a 3rd time. There are a lot of risks involved.
I will keep you posted on any updates.

Buster and Lucy!

It always seems like Marilyn and have quite the adventures when Kyle and Chip are off to rodeos. It never fails that when the guys are gone is when something out of the normal happens! This weekend was no exception! Friday afternoon shortly after Kyle and Chip headed off for some rodeos in Minnesota, Buster and Lucy decided to go off on an adventure. I was sure by dark they would show up. No such luck! Buster is our dog and Lucy is Chip and Marilyn's dog. They will be 2 years old this fall and they love to go hunting. Buster usually finds his way over to Lucy's house whenever no one is at our house. We spent a lot of the Saturday in the pickup driving the countryside calling for them. We had called off our search for the day around 4:00. About 5:30 Saturday afternoon Marilyn called to tell me they had finally came home. They were very tired from all of their exploring!

Kyle was home yesterday! It was the first Sunday we spent home together in several weeks. It was so nice to have him home! We went in to the church service that they had at the Holt County Fair. It was a nice service. We were around home for the afternoon. Kyle had a chance to ride some of his young horse. Jenae, Aubree and I picked a bunch of squash and cucumbers from the garden. Then we went over to Matt and Heidi's for supper. The weekends always go so fast!

Past Week

I have been a little slow updating my blog. Summer is such a busy time. I did post some more pictuers from Cheyenne. This past weekend it was a much slower and quiter weekend than last weekend. It was nice to feel like I got caught up around the house.

Friday night Jenae and Aubree got to spend the night with Hope and Ben. They had a great time. Hope takes really good pictues. I posted some of the pictures that she took of the girls while they were at her house. I think they could pass for professional pictures.

Saturday and Sunday we stayed close to home. Aubree had a reaction to her chicken pox shot so we had to stay away from anyone that has not been vaccinated or had the chicken pox. Since there are a lot of little kids at church we decided to play it safe and stay home so she did not expose anyone.

Chip bought a new horse on Sunday. Jenae has really taken a liking to him. She has named him Comanche. I am not sure if that will become his official name or not. He is only a 2 year old so she only gets to ride him if Grandpa is right there leading him. The first day that Comanche came to the Whitaker Ranch, Jenae's horse Beauty was trying to get down the pecking order and she was pinning her ears back at Comanche. Jenae witnessed this and came in the house telling us all about it and how she punished Beauty for not being nice to Comanche. I asked her what she did to punish Beauty and she explained how she kicked Beauty in the belly and then only gave attention to Comanche. It was cute to listen to her being so serious. Chip tried to tell Jenae that is just what horse do when a new horse comes to the place. I am not sure if she understood what he was saying!

Aubree is always happy on a horse. She wants to ride all the time. When she does get to ride she insist that she holds the reins. Sometimes she is a little hard on the horse mouth. She pulls back on the reins and kicks the horse at the same time. She does not understand pulling back on the reins makes a horse stop. If Jenae is on a horse she starts saying "Aubree's turn" or "my turn" with in a minute of Jenae getting on. If she does not get to get right on she starts saying "I want to ride Cinnamon" She is such a silly girl!!!