justin

Some of you may already know, but my 20-year-old brother has been in the hospital this week. Early Monday morning he was having "chest pains" so mom had him call the nurse-line at U of L and after answering several questions, the nurse told him he had to call 911. On arriving at the hospital they were first suspecting that it had something to do with his gallbladder. But after further review and a few tests they realized it was his appendix. So they removed it on Monday afternoon. After the sugery his blood pressure started rising and his hemoglobin started dropping so yesterday morning they decided that he was probably bleeding internally. They finally got a CAT scan done around 4:00 and went straight back into surgery after that.

Doug and I arrived at the hospital about 20 minutes before the surgeon came out with good news. She said that apparently after they'd sewed him back up the "stump" started bleeding. And although they had to clean up a lot of "old blood" in there, there was no new blood. So she was pretty confident that he was no longer bleeding internally.

Anyway, he did great through the night last night and this morning ate two solid meals. His blood levels and blood pressure have been great since the 2nd surgery too so they sent him home this afternoon.

Thank you for all of your prayers!! We are so thankful to be surrounded by so many people that love and care about us.

it's been a while

WOW!! It's been a while!! I didn't realize how long it had been since I've posted!! You haven't even seen the cutest poodle and turtle in the world yet have you =) Much has happened in the Bratcher house over the last several weeks....Leah started Upward Basketball, we had a great Halloween, Doug and I worked a Chrysalis in Elizabethtown, our car broke down, and my brother is currently in the hospital having his appendix removed!!

All is well though. Let me see if I can give you the "short" story on the most exciting of these happenings...

First, our car broke down while Doug was in Lexington last week trying to help a friend move. Unfortunately the friend had to help Doug get his car back to Munfordville (and what an extravaganza it was)!! Thank God for true friends and THANK YOU ERIC for taking care of us!! We still have no idea what's wrong with our car, but seeing as Doug is staying home with the kiddos right now, we are surviving just fine with only one vehicle.

Justin went to the hospital early this morning with "chest pains" (in the lower chest/abdomen area). They ran several tests and finally realized that his appendix was swollen and "yucky." So they removed it today (around 2:00 or so). He is still in recovery, but Dad said that everything was fine and the surgery went well. He should be out of the hospital by Wednesday. I'm just thankful that it wasn't any more serious than a bum appendix!!

Here are some pictures of the kiddos at Halloween. Leah was a pink poodle and Lex was a turtle. They had a blast!! I was suprised that Lex actually liked his costume and he LOVED Leah's - he just wanted to hug her and pet her whenever she had it on.

A poodle (Leah) and a turtle (Lex) with Nana and Pop!

This was just TOO cute!