Birmingham and The Nuffer's

Birmingham is quite a large city located in southern Alabama. It has become in the last 20 years a beacon of excellent healthcare in the southeast. At first thought it was quite scary for me to even think of such a place and my boy at the same time. However the two met and spent time together this past spring. And here is their story.....
Flash backwards to fall 2008...My boy Jerry is 16 and having a blast with life. He hunts, he fishes, he 4 wheels, he just loves living life and especially now spending time with his buddy Jake on his Mom and Dad's property of 160 acres of prime high and dry Florida land. This place is located in Holms county Florida. That is about ah hrs ride thru Reservation land as the crow flys. The regular route would be about an hr and forty fiveish. Jerry lives for the weekends and heading out to "the property" as it has become known. They spend all weekend just hanging out and doing all of the above, he loves it. About last Oct-Nov Jake started noticing that Jerry was snoring much more than usual, it bacame a joke to see where everyone was going to sleep to get furtherest away from him. I guess I noticed it some too but as he always has allergies or asthma symptoms I didn't think much of it. He did seem more sickly than usual but I tell you just to get him to sit still long enough to sifer him out was a hard thing to do. So he lived on nose spray and cough drops and the occasional inhaler when it got real bad. About feb. he had a nasty cold that would not budge and this went into March and finally I got him to go to the Doc. The Doc. said it looked like strep to him and we would do a raapid strep test. It came back positive about 30 mins later. When we went back in he said he thought he saw something else in his back throat and into the windpipe area but it could just be swelling. He would check it out in 3 weeks after he finished all the antibiotics. All the while his snoring was just awful, so now I figured it must be all the allergies and now the infection too that had made all of this happen. We did go back and the swelling was gone and yes it did apear to be "something" rather large back there. Doc directed to us to the ENT Doc over in Fort Walton Beach. We went on over in a few weeks, I think this was now April. Well he looked and yes he saw something and we had to have a look. He sprayed stuff down Jerry's throat and it numbed things up and then he stuck a very long tube down his nose and throat that had a camera on it. The screen came up on the wall and it was facinating to me. poor Jerry did not think so but was doing ok. And there it was... a huge monster growth that was consuming almost all of his airway. I felt really sick and scared and anxious and everything else you could think of. Doc took many pictures and then removed the tube. He looked at and said Jerry has a massive growth that is cutting off his airway. That is why he has been snoring so much and not eating. It hurts to swallow. OMG lights, sirens, bells, whistles all went off in my head at the same time. He continued....I am sending Jerry for an MRI and bloodwork. Ok...I can stay calm I can act like this is an everyday thing on the outside....on the inside I am screaming at myself DUMMY it has been there all this time and I never caught on or paid attention to what I was hearing and seeing...Such as Mom I am not really hungry tonite i'll just have a bite or two. Then I noticed all the weight he was loosing but he is a big boy anyway so I was glad he was loosing weight and was just cutting back. I never knew he could not get the food chewed enough to break it down enough to swallow without it hurting. That apt was like a Wed and his MRI was Monday. He also had the bloodwork done that day. On Tuesday morning I got a call at work from the ENT Doc and the words he said will ring in my ears for a long time. He said Mrs. Nuffer Jerry has a mass growing in his throat that is coming off the lingual tonsils at the base of his tongue. These tonsils lie dormat and usually do not develop Jerry's have developed and are cutting off his air flow to his brain and lungs and heart. He will have to have an operation to remove the mass. And Mrs. Nuffer we cannot do this operation here, it is too risky and the hospitals around here are not set up for this type of operation. You see the neck area is a heavy bleed area and if there were a complication...well lets just say they cannot handle it here. I asked about Pensacola and no it could not be done there either. Our choice was UAB Birmingham or Emory in Atlanta Ga. The Doc preferred UAB. it was the best route to go.....and one more thing Mrs. Nuffer... jerry's lymph nodes are enlarged and irregular in shape and that leads us to believe it may be cancerous...so be prepared to stay there for afterwards for treatment if need be. I will call you back as soon as I get Jery an appt. with the specialist there. Ok...will talk to you soon. I just stood there looking at my phone...in disbelief....how could a boy so full of life be suddenly faced with a surgery so delicate and life threatning and so so far away in a place called Birmingham. I believe I was still standing in the same place still looking at my phone when the Doc's second call came in about 10 mins later. He told me that we were to go to Birmingham tomorrow for a 2:00 appointment with the Surgeon Specialist Dr. Charles Morgan. I managed to say ok and hung up. I called my DH Ed and gave him the sketchy info I had and then proceeded on how to tell Jerry later that day. We told him and he took it quite well. The next day we drove to UAB about 6 hrs away and had great talks there and back. Jerry asked alot of questions about death and dying and we talked alot about Heaven and our life there upon death. He has been such a brave soul about the whole matter. We saw Dr. Morgan and set up the surgery for Thursday. He explained all the pro's and con's to us. There was no choice of the mass remaining it had to come out. It would be sent off to the lab for a flash screen while in surgery and we would have some preliminary answer that day on cancer or not. We head back home to pack for either 4 days or 4 months...We get a plkace to stay at a reduced rate and go on the waiting list at Ronald McDonald house for sick kids. While waiting to get ready to leave on Wed. we get a call from our Ins who DECLINES our insurance coverage for the surgery....OMG don't they realize this is our son and he may die if this mass gets much bigger, he may die on the operating table with a bleed out if there is a complication he may die afterwards with a post-op bleed out...what is wrong with these people......They thought he could get the surgery here, they did not understand. Our surgeon was covered but NOT the hospital where he practices out of......OMG heart rate now over 200 bp and pilse off the charts stay calm Mom...Dad takes over.....it takes us 10 days of agony and worry to get the ins approved at UAB.....We go back and get Jerry to the assigned place at pre-op admissions. During this time as he is getting prepped and everything else the anesthesiaologist talks to Jerry and they become instant friends. This Doc fishes alot and comes to Destin for the big ones, he and Jerry talk fish shop and Jerry is much more relaxed now..he has a fish head on his side. As they are getting ready to wheel Jerry in he says to us....has anyone told you whay this mass had to come out asap...why no, not really except it may be cancerous...well he looks at Ed and I and says"it's because if Jerry was to get into an accident that required surgery and he was un-concious and when they would go to intubate him with the surgery breathing tube he would bleed out and die. At that very moment the world stopped spinning for this Mom and Dad. I heard no noises no machines no ones crying nothing...I looked at my Son and said Dear God, thank you for giving him back to us, thank you dear God that he now has a chance of a long life ahead of him. Thank you dear God. As soon as Jerry was wheeled in I let all of those 4 weeks out. This boy of our's who lives life on the edge...who hunts and fishes and four wheels and anything else he can find to do and in the most remote of places...this boy was being given another chance for life. In the days since the surgery and the recovery at home and all that went with it I find I have a different kind of boy coming into being a man now. He turned 17 in June, he is cancer free, there never was any as best as they can tell. He is much softer to me and his Dad he is much kinder to his friends he treads lightly. He told me about a week after his surgery in recovery mode how good he felt and how rested he was every morning. He told me of his desire to change things this his last year of school. He told me of his desire to go to college and from then on...This soft spoken boy to man he held me and gave me the most loving of hugs and told me how much he wants to live life and be a good man. Dear God...Thank you for giving me my Son back, thank you dear God for sparing him, for keeping him safe when he is so far off in the woods or on the range. Thank you dear God that you have a plan for his life, thank you for giving him to me for these precious and wonderful 17 years of life.

Mae...a good dog, a cup of tea and reminescing..

I was just reading thru my post of Oct 31st 08. It is titled "a cup of tea". I have been drinking tea everyday since 1980. That was the year we moved from North Carolina to the UK with the USAF. Before I go into that I must tell you that Mae did pass away in November 2008. Mae was a beautiful Dobie and the most well mannered dog of all. She lived a good life and was very loved by all. We miss her greatly. Pets are so important to us and always have been. We have collected them or rather they collected us as we have moved around.
Back to England...we first moved to USAFE Bentwaters/Woodbridge in 1980-1983. We lived in Ipswich to begin with in a house on Nacton Road. We purchased a springer spaniel puppy named Eyke in the village outside of the Base called Eyke. He was a handful! Very bonnie tho. We then moved to a beautiful town called Halesworth near Lowestoff on the North Sea. I loved Halesworth and the wonderful people I met and have treasured forever from there. Our neighbors..Gladys and Ernie were from London, in fact they had both survived the bombings there during the early days of the war. Sadly, Gladys lost her Mum and her little Daughter and her Husband all in one days time from the bombs. We had many talks about this and how sad it all was. Our daughter Annie was about 2 years old then and Gladys and Ernie took a shine to her. Almost everyday when they went to the market they would bring her Buttons chocolates and other goodies when they were in season. We had tons of cups of tea with them and went for many car rides together on the weekends. I kept in contact with them until they both passed away. We had many other good friends and a special friend named Mrs.Bennett. She also love little Annie and they all spoiled her so. We had a wonderful time one evening at Bungay at a medevial feast banquet. We also loved going on the Norfolk Broads and seeing the house boats. It was a wonderful time for us. We also spent many days at Framlingham Castle as well. We moved to the Base in Rendlesham Forrest and that was ok. I missed the villages so Annie and I spent many days in the villages surrounding and visiting our friends back in Halesworth. I also loved going to the Snape Maltings, especially in the summer time with the visiting artist in residence. We may have gone to Ipswich a few times in the three years but I did not like it there as I rather prefer the quiet village life. When our time was up we got transferred to upstate NY for 3 years (more on that later) and then back to the UK for another 3 years. This time we were sent to UpperHeyford from 1986-1989. We LOVED this area sooo much. We started out in Bicester and then moved to Brackley for almost 2 years. We had a second child with us on this tour and her name is Natalie and she was 2 1/2 when we moved to Brackley. I loved to walk down to the town each day and especially loved "market days". We spent alot of weekends in Stratford upon Avon and Oxford which is a wonderful town full of the different colleges and so, so much to do there. Natalie was in a play group and then little school as I liked to call it. We had many friends there and loved to go on Teddy Bear picnics and other trips with Natalie's school and Annie's school on the base at Croughton. We eventually moved on Base and lived at Croughton. We discovered Wales and spent many, many weekends at Betsy-Coed as we called it. This is not the proper spelling but I think it is something like Bet-ta-se-Se-Coid, or something close to that. We loved walking all the many paths and discovering a truely wonderful land there in Wales. We toured many Castlesand even had a weeks Holiday there on the coast in a caravan park. This was a magical time in our lives. I have been back to the OK once and that was from July 2001 until October 2001. I would have stayed longer but had to return stateside after 9-11 happened as my Hubby's contract at Mildenhall was cancelled due to the impending action. I would go back tomorrow given the chance. I love the British and Welsh people and the few Scots that we met. I treasure these memories, these bits and pieces of my life. The children, the friends, the travels all of it...none can compare. Dear God, Thank you for memories and for the wonderful people you have placed in my life for a season or two.

Roots

Today has been a day of reflecting on my life. It seems that we are always moving and you know that just take the wind out of your sails. I feel that I am settled again and for now and who knows when we will move again. After it is all over and I can settle and think I start getting rid of things or rather I find them a new home. It feels good to move things on to someone else. It also feels good to put down roots again. Maybe we will stay here forever and for as long as my forever is. Thank you Dear God for roots again.

strep throat

Dear Jerry is not getting any better from his strep throat. He is home again today from school, this is the third day he has missed. His school is so crazy about missed days and he has a hard time keeping up as well. I can only hope whenever he goes back that he can catch up. I looked in his throat this a.m. as he got up feeling dizzy. It looks just awful and that growth/tissue thing is incredibly toooo big for his throat. He has a very small area to swallow and I am thinking this is why he is so tired in the mornings. I think he is not getting enough air into his lungs and that is making his brain wakeup. This seems to point to sleep apnea for sure. I am pretty sure we will be back at the Doc today or referred to someone that can help. He also has the white pockets of infection still all over that side. These days with all the super bugs out there I worry about MRSA as well. I really did not like the dizzy thing.
We had a great time yesterday with all the kids here. Maddie and Wyatt are growing so very fast and Wyatt is talking up a storm now. Maddie is as thoughtful and imiginative as ever. We had a great meal last night and a true winter fest. Tomorrow I will go to Silvercrest to see Mom then to a meeting at five thirty for planning for new activities for the residents. I hope other folks show up too. Peggy emailed and said there is a nasty bug virus going around with throwing up and diaharia there which last for 24-48 hrs. I just pray that Mom will not get it too. I am very happy to be settled again. I hope sometime soon to get our bedroom painted and get rid of that deep rose color. Rachel suggested a robins egg blue/green and I think we will go with that. We got more curtains put up and that improved my mood greatly. I wish I had a designer to come and pull it all together for me! Dear God, Thank you for our new home and thank you for giving the paint folks knowledge.

Yes...I am still alive!

Suprize, suprize, suprize I am back. Dear darling Daughter Annie....midst of motherhood told me to just start writing again about this day and happenings and not to try and catch up. So here I am but....I do have just a tiny bit of catching up to do..... We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house on Lido Circle. We had alot of friends come over to eat and to stop by later for deserts. It was a wonderful day and the children had a blast on the back porch. We had Mom over and she seemed to enjoy herself with all the hustle and bustle there. Then Christmas came and we love this season. Every year Ed my darling Hubby puts all of his things out for a wonderful display. This year he out did himself and the yard was just...magical. Maddie and Wyatt loved coming over to play with Papa's outside toy land. Maddie and I played the same game each evening where she was the little lost girl in the forest of lights. She has such an incredible imagination. It was a truely wonderful season filled with a few parties, a cookie exchange and Annie's 30th birthday party. We just love December! Yes...hold those nice and warm cozy thoughts.....Then on the 26th of December, yes the day after Christmas we started the move to 343 Oaklake lane, one street over from Lido. I am sure we are getting older but I tell you this move took like 2 weeks and we are just now getting over being so tired! Yes, the Nuffer's just love taking their furniture on a site seeing tour and short stays of the Bluewater area. NOT! Anyway we hope to be able to stay here for a while. This house is not in foreclosure and the owner is out of the country indefinately! Music to our ears..... On Jan 14th, 2009 of this year Ed and I celebrated our 31st anniversary. It was a wonderfully quiet day and a time to reflect and remember together some great times we have had. Rachel treated us to dinner at the Cracker Barrel with her thoughtful gift card...Thank you Rachel! I am volunteering every Thursday at our counseling center at the church. I work with a LMHC named Theresa, she calls me her secretary. I am doing her billing for her to the major Ins companies. It has been a real learning experience for me. I still continue to cope each day with the Fibromyalgia. Some days are good and some days are bad and some days are really, really bad. The cold weather we have been having altely has been pretty hard on me. I try not to complain and just walk really stiff legged most of the time. Everything is in God's plan so I try not to worry...too much. We are all in this together....good, bad or indifferent we are all going to get thru this time in our countries being together. I love you all and thanks for reading about this ole Momma's girl! Dear God, Thank you for the pain we have in our lives, because the pain helps us to really, really appreciate the good times and the pain free days!