Lookin Stylish

Before and After

Gam has been saying she has wanted her haircut since I first came here over a month ago, but originally she was going to wait until Beth came to visit and go with her, but she ended up in the hospital.  A few days ago when she was still having loose stools and dehydrated the nurse told me she would probably need to go back into the hospital.  I didn't want her to go back in the hospital another time without having the haircut she has been wanting, so I called my sweet cousin Holly who is down here visiting for a week.  She was nice enough to come over on her vacation and give Gam her haircut.  Gam loves it!

Gam and Holly

Hospital

On May 2nd I noticed Gam had blood in her stool.  The days before that she had said she had really sharp pains in her lower abdomen off and on.  So I had made a Dr. appointment with the Dr who had overseen her surgery back in October, to see if it was caused by any complications to the stint that was put in.  While at UCLA the Dr. said the bloody stool really worried him, so he wanted her to be admitted to the hospital.  Naturally Gam was not going to have it, she did not want to go back to the hospital.  Even after being told by the Dr. she turned to me and said, "Ali, what do you think I should do?"  I told her if the Dr. thought that was best then she should probably just be admitted until they could figure out what was wrong, because I would feel much safer with her here.  She agreed and after a couple hours waiting for a room, they told us they were minus 3 in the hospital so told us to go down to the ER and try to get in that way.  We went down to the ER and were immediately put into a room in the Emergency Room.  They ran tests, drew blood, took samples, did X-rays and Cat scans, etc.  but wouldn't tell me anything.  Finally at about 9:30pm (after coming in at 9am)  they told us that she had a 6cm mass on her cecum, which is where the small intestines meet the large intestines.  They said they needed to operate immediately while she was still alert and stable, because at this point she had been going to the bathroom at least every 20 minutes and losing a lot of blood.  Just before midnight I walked up with Gam to the operating room and we said our "see ya laters", and she was off for surgery.  I felt so sad walking out of that hospital alone, and coming back to an empty house.  The Dr called me later that night to let me know that everything had gone well in the surgery.  I visited her a day after her surgery and she was pretty tired but in good spirits.  She stayed in the hospital for almost a week.  They found out the mass was cancerous, but they believe they got it all.  After a few days of being home she still had extremely loose bowels and was very dehydrated, so had to go back into the hospital (Los Robles) for a few days.  She is now home and doing well.  We have had a few close calls in the last few days, where she kept having loose bowels and was dehydrated, yesterday she fell while going to the bathroom. But she has been extremely resilient, and so far has not had to go back into the hospital (fingers crossed/ knock on wood)

In good spirits just before going in for surgery

One thing Gam enjoyed about UCLA hospital was all of the good looking Doctor's.  One male nurse was asking her questions as she was just staring and smiling at him, he asked, "and how old are you Florence?"  She responded, "65"  I kind of looked at her as the nurse was writing it down and said, "No, your 95."  Gam just turned her head and said, "Oh yeah, that's right.  A girl can dream."  

All day in the ER every time a new Dr or nurse would leave she would tell me how cute or good looking he was.  She told me, "I've always appreciated a good looking young man."

We went to the Dr Matzner a few days ago and Gam told him she just didn't feel like herself.  He said she was probably being overmedicated to eliminated some of her meds (yay!).  She was so excited, and said she felt better just after leaving his office.  She has started to have an appetite, well more like she has started having cravings.  So I find myself running to the store a few times a day to get her something she may actually eat.  The other day she asked me if I wanted to try the best hamburgers in the world.  I said well of course if they are the best in the world I better try them.  She then directed me to Carl's Jr.    

Eating Carls Jr. on the front Lawn

The other day I woke up and came downstairs and Gams bed was empty.  She has never got out of her bed alone, so you can imagine my panic.  Then I saw a tissue with blood all over it on the floor.  I walked into the bathroom to meet her as she was coming out on her walker.  She said, "Oh hi, I'm just going to the bathroom, I also got up in the night and took some excedrin for my headache."  I explained how worried I was, and asked if she was hurt or why there was blood.  She showed me that her scab on her hand had just come off.  The next night I explained that I needed to move her wheelchair away from her bed so that she couldn't get out, because she could really get hurt in the night.  When Montana was sleeping over that night Gam turned to her and jokingly said, "Isn't she mean, she moves my wheelchair far away from me so I can't get out of bed in the night."  

Mama and Papa

My mothers name was Anna Henrietta Buenz.   She was Danish.  She was a wonderful singer, beautiful voice.  Her mother died when she was twelve.  Her mother was pregnant when she died.  My mother was a very cheerful lady always singing or smiling.  She loved to laugh, I remember that.  She loved to laugh thats for sure.

My dad was more sober.  His mother was kind of stiff and didn't like people laughing.  When my dad took my mother to meet her she was laughing and smiling so much. My grandmother said in German (she didn't speak english), "Anna don't laugh so much."  All her children are sober like that, because she didn't like people laughing.  She had so many children, about eleven.  I really didn't get to know her too well.  My grandfather was a texas ranger so he spoke english, but I didn't get to know him very well because he died when I was five.  My grandfather was from Switzerland, but he was German.  All the Swiss are either German or French.  My grandmother died when I was in about the third grade.

My mom and dad at my grandma's

My mother was a ministers wife, and they are never idle.  She was always working in the church, she was a soloist, sunday school, on and on.  Ministers wives are kept pretty busy. She was a wonderful mother, but very strict.  She was from a  generation where ladies really dressed like ladies.  She would say, "I don't want to see you sit like that, women don't sit like that." or "you take too big of steps, ladies take smaller steps."  She married when she was 28 years old, my dad was 29.  She was considered an old maid in those days by the time she married.  My mother would not even put up with a word like "darn".  My fathers brothers wife Aunt Georgina had a mouth and would say, "darn." and my mother loved her but she would say, "why does Aunt Georgina say those words?"

On our way to Fredericksburg to visit my grandma.  Left is my brother Richard, and then my little brother that drowned Norman, me and my parents.  My older brother Kermit must have been taking the picture, he was always the one that took the pictures.

My father was Richard Gammenthaler.  No middle name.  None of his brothers and sisters had middle names, there was eleven of them. He liked to laugh, but he wasn't used to that.  Like I said his mother was very serious.  He tried so hard to be funny and have a good laugh.  He really tried to tell a good joke and when he would he would laugh.  But he could never let out a good hardy laugh.  But he would try.  It was just hard for him to laugh.  But that was his mothers strictness.  He was a methodist minister.  He was a self made man.  When he got through in school in the country school he had to work through high school.  But there was no high school in his country farm town.  So he would work on somebody's farm all summer and then  he would go to georgetown in the fall where the university was and he would have enough money saved and it would get him through high school.  He would do that every year, work all summer on others farms to make enough for the next year of school.  His father wasn't a very nice man, they all left home early.  My father left home when he was 14.  His dad wouldn't give him any money so he worked on other peoples farms all summer and then payed his way through high school and college.

With my Parents when I was pregnant with Billy.  In San Antonio

My mother was born in 1881 and my dad in 1880.  It was many years ago, the horse and buggy days.  My mother was born in New Braunfels, it was a German settlement near San Antonio.  She was born on a farm outside of New Braunfels.  Its still a well known town.  Its a really nice town, right near the river.  That was a German community where the Germans came and settled, and then from there they went and settled other places.  My mom and dad met in Church.  My grandpa Buenz's sister Mary she ran a boarding house in New Orleans area. So thats where her brother, my grandfather came later (because he was older than Mary) that was my mothers favorite Aunt.  In summer she would go visit her Aunt mary who was in New Orleans, because her mother had died when she was 12 (She had the measles when she was pregnant)  My mother also had two brothers that died when they were little and one that lived, Herman.  So this one summer she was visiting Aunt Mary, she was at church with her and here comes a man on a horse and she asked Aunt Mary, "Who's that?" Aunt Mary said, "Oh that's our new minister" so they went to church the next sunday.  She heard him preach and he heard her sing.  And they somehow made arrangements to see eachother again.  My mother was 28, she said I want to get married, but she said I will not marry a man that drinks.  When she met my dad she was impressed.  They met at a big park and would go to church together.  My dad was a circuit rider, on horseback, he would go from one country church one sunday and another one another sunday.  I have pictures of them in the two seater horse and buggy.  They decided to get married when my dad got his first church in Bartlett Texas. And thats where there first child was born.  Every two or three years he was assigned to a new church.  But they liked to send him to churches where there was a lot of German people, because he spoke German fluently so he could speak German for those who only spoke German.  So each Sunday they would have church in English and then at a different time, maybe in the afternoon in German.

I was born upside down, my feet came first.  People were born in there homes at that time, at least in that area.  I came out with a big bump on my neck, that bump bothered me for so long.  If I sat near a warm spot it would feel better, but every once in a while it would cut off the circulation and it would get numb.  All chiropractors said its been there too long so they can't fix it, and if they did it wouldn't stay.  About eight years ago when I had a mustang I was coming up the grade and a car hit me.  My head went against the side of the door, and it knocked that bone in place and it never has bothered me since.  I went to chiropractor and chiropractor and none of them could fix it.  But coming up the grade, getting hit, just hit it in place I guess.

Me when I was 10 months old

We very seldom had snow.  Me, my brothers and my dad with our snowman.

I was closest to my dad.  My dad was such a soulful person.  Such a good hearted man and hard working.  Worked hard all his life.  For him a country boy his goal was to become a minister.  And to earn his own money since he was little.  He had that ambition and he saw it through.  What he was ever able to do for me he would do, and for all his children.  He was a darn good father and husband. And he came from nothing.

Papa helping me with my Geometry homework.  He loved helping me with my homework, especially geometry.  He was so patient.  He loved education because he came from nothing.

My mother was like a city girl and my dad was a farm boy.  Big difference right there.

Sun Lover

Today while we were sitting outside Gam was looking up at the sun with her eyes closed and said, "I am a sun worshipper!  I looooovveee the sun!"

One thing that is a struggle with Gam is food.   She is never hungry.  Luckily her appetite has started to grow a little, but it is still always a struggle to get her to eat.  So I have come up with a few tricks.  She will eat a little and then say, "Okay I think thats all I can eat."  So I will pretend to be busy with something and I will say, "Oh okay well i'm just going to leave it there for a minute while I clean up over here, that way maybe you can pick at it a little more."  She will usually end up eating more.  

Today she was eating lunch and said, "okay i'm done, that was really delicious.  I had some meat but I don't want any bun."  I left it there and told her she should at least eat all of her meat.   I ran up to Ron's to grab something, and when I came back she said she had eaten all of her meat and even the top of her bun.  She even said, "Oh yeah I ate a lot, it was really good and I feel really satisfied because I finished it all." I knew she didn't like that bun (and she doesn't eat something if she doesn't like it), so I checked the trash can and sure enough she had wrapped part of the meat and the bun in a paper towel and thrown it away.  I said, "Gam your meat is in the trash." and she said, "No, I ate it all."  So I took it out and showed her and she just laughed and said, "Well I still ate a lot, so i'm not hungry"

She is a sneaky one.

Workin on her fitness

 Gam has a Physical Therapist coming three times a week and an Occupational Therapist coming twice a week.  They have taught her some exercises to strengthen her muscles, which her and I do two to three times a day.  So she has been working out doing these exercises everyday and let me tell you, it is really working!  The first day I was here she was so frail, and needed a lot of help doing things and getting around.  Each day she is getting stronger, she can now walk all the way to the bathroom, get herself dressed, wash her hands, brush her teeth on her own, etc.  At the end of each of our exercises I will tell her that we just have one more on that side or whatever and she will always say, "Okay, one more for good measure."  She is becoming stronger and more like herself each day.

With her physical therapist

A lot of her nurses and helpers are a little overweight.  Yesterday as we were finishing breakfast she said, "well I guess now we just wait for the fat lady to come."

Look at that concentration

Very serious while getting her blood pressure checked

It is definitely showing that she is getting stronger, she also is now trying to do a lot more on her own and will wheel around to grab things or do things, which is a huge difference from a week ago.  Before she would sit mainly in the same place and have me grab or do everything, but now that she is getting stronger she is trying to do more on her own.