AND..... again

Well we just got home from the hospital AGAIN. Sunday, Troy started having more chest pains and the Dr. told us to bring him in. They kept us until today. They did a stress test, another echo test and they still don't know what is wrong. So, we will be back at the hospital again Friday morning so they can start "digging" around to find out what's wrong.
Well, there ya go, just a little update. YEA!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, To The Hospital We Go!

First off I apologize for the length of this post but there was so much to say that it could have been MUCH longer.
Yep, never to sick to make me mad. Hon, just one normal picture would be nice. Well I guess for you this is a normal picture.

Ha Ha Ha, gotcha! No tongue this time. That thing on his chest is a tele monitor. It records everything his heart does. I know cause I used to work on the Tele floor.

Yup, we are at it once again. I guess Troy thought that maybe they had forgotten him so he needed to pay them a visit. LOL Saturday he started feeling "blah" and went to bed early and on Tuesday he had still not gotten out of bed. By much prodding by myself AND friends, he agreed to go in. Back up for a sec. His heart has been hurting him and giving signs of a heart attack for the last six weeks. Ok, so we get him in (Jim takes him while I run kids to Doctors ) and then I meet him there in time to be admitted. All EKGs and blood work came back "normal". His Doctor (wearing boots and wranglers) said he would not let them send him home without an answer. Thank goodness cowboys stick together 'A'.

The next day when the Cardiologist came him, he said that his tiredness and fatigue had nothing to do with his heart and he was about to sign him off as a cardio patient when he "happened to pick up his normal EKGs" and found that he had WPW or Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome and that he was transferring him to the Heart Hospital the next day.

At the Heart Hospital we got Dr. Chan an Electrophysiolology Cardiologist. He specializes in the electrical parts of the heart they call him the electrician and the other cardiologist the plumber LOL. He was great and a little plug for Mayo in Rochester where Brant is, is one of the places he was at. Anyway, he was great and explained it well.....everyone has a sioatrial (SA) node, located in your right atrium. When it fires, electrical activity spreads through the right and left atria, causing them to contract or pump. Along with the electrical current pathway, Troy has another one. This causes the current to travel throughout the heart instead of just down and so the heart pumps irregularly and fast. He said that it can go up to between 220 and 250 beats per minute. Resting, Troy was usually at 72 beats per minute. In most cases, this can not cause sudden death, but if the heart rate is already accelerated when an "episode" occurs, one can have "sudden death".

Yesterday at 11:00 he went in for a procedure to explore is pathways and then to cauterize the extra pathway. They went through 1 artery on his right side and 2 veins on the left. We did not see him for about 2 hours and 40 minutes. The doctor came and told us (me, Aunt Donna, Aunt Jan and Uncle Ben) that it had gone just they way he had expected it to and that Troy has only 10% chance that he is not completely healed. I did not realize how nervous and scared I was until the Dr. walked away. I had instant nausea and felt weird. I guess it was my way of getting relief (I'm so weird).

Today he is home and sore but he can already feel a difference in his heart. He says that he can't really feel it anymore which is how I think all of us are.

I just want to thank our friends who helped us out. We had kids to be cared for and be taken to and from school, animals to feed, water to be hauled and hours of repairs on our stupid pump and the A/C in our house also froze while we were gone.

Anissa and Mike took care of our kids and even though Anissa usually gets to sleep in since her kids don't go to school until 11:00, she woke up and got my kids off by 7:50. I know that I could not have stayed with Troy if it had not been for the fact that I know my best friend had my kids and that they were safe and happy. Thanks Ness. Mike also stopped by to visit and lighten the mood as always.

Tiffany (my other best friend) and Dale came to my house to work on my computer for me and while here over 2 nights, they worked on our pump, A/C, computer and then cleaned my house and even shampooed my carpets on hands and knees because he didn't have the carpet attachment and couch all in a house that was 95 degrees. Thanks guys, I can't remember my house looking so clean. My house was defiantly TiffanIzed LOL.

Jim took Troy into the hospital and sat with him until he knew that they were admitting him. Then he hauled water for us twice and worked with Dale on our pump and was always a phone call away. Lisa had to do the girls' program that we had been working on alone and did a good job of trying to keep me from feeling guilty about not being there (although it didn't work), Thanks again.

Dave and Colten came to visit and give Troy a blessing and Colt gave me some lunch money. Dave came everyday and called often and sent Ronnie out to re plumb our pump. And Jennifer sent us her love and understanding of the hospital scene. Thanks.

Crae and Morgan Tebbs brought our kids in to see Troy and brought him a blizzard. It made Troy very happy to see them even though Breckyn was kinda freaked out. Thanks Ajax and Curley Q.

All our family and more of our friends, called often and his name was in 7 temples and in many many prayers. There are others that came to visit and gave lunch money to me (thanks) and even sent flowers. All of you can never know how deeply and truly we appreciate all you have done for us.

I was talking to my sister Jill telling her about it and we both got teary. Not many people can say that they have that many true friends, that they know will always be there even when it seems our trials are never ending. Thank you so much. I pray that I can return the kindness to you someday but hopefully, during less painful times. We love you all!

I have talked about Anissa alot so I thought it was time to put a face with the name. Isn't she great. This took a few shots, she likes pictures about as much as I do. And as you can see, she also likes Dt. Dr. Pepper w/cherry and vanilla as much as I do. LOL

School For All

Well I am a little late on the start of Morgan and Keegan's first day of school August 4. But I wanted to have Breckyn's pics in here with them. Yes, all my kids are in school. Morgan is in 4th grade and her teacher is Mr. Semo. She really likes him. Keegan is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Jackson. He seems to like her but he still talks about his old teacher Ms. Acosta. Breckyn is in preschool 2 days a week with Ms. Jones who was Keegan's preschool teacher. This year, beings that I have no one at home during that time, I decided to see how I'd do helping out. I am the aide for Breckyn's class which also saves me half the tution.


Doesn't she looked thrilled. She takes after me, if it weren't for friends, there would be no reason to even go. She would much rather have "softball school" and write her stories, than to go and do math. The one thing she does like about starting school is NEW CLOTHES.



He, on the other hand loves school. I don't know where he got that. ??????? His dad went because his mom made him until High School where he spent his days in auto shop. I just went to play sports, sing and of coarse talk and.....flirt shhhh.



See, here we are again. He is so excited he would not even let me walk him in. While she, is using her eyes, begging me to home school her. LOL

My BABY. She is a bit like both of her siblings. She loves to go but when she gets there she doesn't even talk. Dancing and singing are out of the question, at least for now. Now, we all know that she did not get that from my side. The more attention the better 'A' Nikolaus clan?

"Criss cross applesauce." She got so sick of hearing it and said that it hurt her knees.

I feel so old and free all at the same time. But, I feel sad too. Next year I WILL be ALL alone. My babies are growing up way to fast.

Keegan and "The Moon"

Have you ever seen a more handsome cowboy?

Keegan got some new chaps and that is all it took to make him a brave little cowboy. This was him running on Moon in a 14" saddle so his feet were not even in the stirrups. He has never gone over a trot. He was so proud and so are we. The other rider is another of our "teens", Colten. He helped motivate Moon by running Smokey out in front.