Welcome back dear readers

Wow, it has been a long time since I've been back here, over a week. It's good to have something positive to write about on a day when the sun is actually out and shining where I live.

My dad finally came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon after two and a half weeks of being a patient. He has gained 35, yes you read that correctly - 35, pounds of fluid from his hospitalization so his clothes don't fit right now either.

{As a complete and selfish aside, I wore PIP (pants in public) the other day and they fit me. Must be using the Wii fit is shaking off some of my fatness.}

Dad now has to wear a special vest 24/7 for three months. It has something to do with measuring the electrical conduction of his heart. He was going to have a defibrillator put in earlier this week but the doctors were in disagreement over whether he truly needed it. Instead of getting that done he has the vest which apparently beeps all night according to my mother.

My brother is still home on his emergency leave (instead of going to Australia he came home) and he is a big help to my mom. My dad has a hard time walking because of all of the fluid and being in a hospital bed for more than half a month so my brother can help out with things like taking him to the doctors' appointments that he has tomorrow. My brother is home until his birthday (2/13) and then he goes back to Iraq.

My sister left on Tuesday morning and is back at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. Her unit is returning today from Kuwait after being in Iraq for 15 months. I believe her next stop will eventually be for captain school in Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri in April.

My brother is officially a Sgt. now as of 2/1 so I am proud of him for that. I feel bad that he lost his R&R to Australia but I am glad that he is home to help out with dad. I will go over now and then but I am not really tall enough for Dad to lean on at my meager height of about 5 feet. My mom is about 5'6'' and my brother is 6'1'' so they are more in line with the height of my dad.

Hopefully he will stay off the cigarettes as he can't drive for four weeks so he'll have no real escape unless someone picks him up and drops him off somewhere. I suspect he'll stay close to home due to feeling uncomfortable due to all the fluid and being unsteady on his feet. He is now on a diuretic so get out of his way when he has to go!

I'm back at physical therapy and riding the bike each time to warm up. It's rather pathetic because I am so short and have such a round stomach. I'm pretty much too short for the bike and my knees are riding up high when I try to pedal. I don't pedal in a super smooth motion but it's getting better.

I am also trying to play my Wii fit at home. However, I have been a little overzealous on that and seemed to have bothered a nerve of mine that runs from my right foot up through my right buttock. I generally do the aerobic and balance games. I do the running but it's more of a combo of a slow jog and a fast walk, the hula hooping, the slalom skiing, and the penguin one where you're trying to catch fish. I try so hard on the ski jump and it never shows me taking off even though I am squatting down and then go up on my tip toes (and no I do NOT jump on the board). The stupid ski jump always says I extended too late no matter how early or how low to high I move on the jump. Grrr....

It could always be much worse. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers and emails.