My Thoughts

Blood clot update...what a strange title:)

We heard back from the Shock Trauma doctors today regarding Morgan's blood clot.  It is what I figured, it is still there but has decreased.  When speaking to him he said he wasn't worried about it but wanted to keep her on blood thinners for three more months with ultrasounds of the clot once a month.  I asked him about Morgan returning to her mission and he said he felt fine with her going as long as the mission president approves her to get a ultrasound every month for three months.  He also said the hospital and doctors in Tahiti did a superb job and was very impressed by them.  So he feels very comfortable approving Morgan to return to Tahiti even with this clot.  This was great news.  We were speaking to him while in Downeast this afternoon.  Kind of a strange place to get good news.  Of course we still know that if Morgan returns there is a chance that she is called to a different place. She would love to return and finish what she started in Tahiti.  While driving home Morgan said "everyone should have to come home from their mission and then go back out". I thought this to be an interesting comment and asked her why.  She said "because it gives you time to think about what kind of missionary you were and what you can do to be better.  Then you can return and be better then before". We will see where this all goes.  Tomorrow we finish up doctor appointments which happens to be May 1st.  Exactly one year to the date she entered the MTC last year.  I find it to be very symbolic.  What a year it has been!!

Neurosurgeon..check!! Neuro test...check!!

I have a feeling that I may have a lot of updates this week.  I will try to be not so obnoxious:) There is a lot a waiting and so a lot of thinking.  This morning Morgan and I were eating breakfast at out hotel and I told her that I think....I think....I have found the man who hit her on facebook.  I am not certain and I want to be clear that I do not know for sure.  I sent out a message and even tried to be his wife's "friend". Which was denied but it could be some random Tahitian lady who is wondering who in the world I am.  The man has a pretty uncommon name -which other people have told me- and he looks like a 54 year old man.  But anyway I really haven't thought abut him to much and I decided to check his facebook page (my friend request is still pending:) and he had added a photo a couple days ago.  At first it bugged me.  If it is this man why on earth is he on facebook 4 1/2 months after he was drunk, hit my daughter on her bike, and then didn't stop.  I don't let that all consume me but the fact that we have been given NO information bugs me too.  I have been in contact with the US Consular in French Polynesia a few times.  Always told, we are looking into it and they will get back with us.  I just received another email saying they are resubmitting the request for more information to the district attorney.  Seriously, this is getting old!!  I was telling Morgan about it this morning and she said "did you send him a message on facebook?"  I told her yes and she said "Well, what did you say...I have two people who want to talk to you and they aren't lawyers":).  That gave me instant perspective.  Morgan has never spoke a unkind word to me about this grown man.  It's always about missionary work.  She is a good missionary.  Yesterday she went and listened to two of her friends speak in sacrament who are leaving to serve missions.  Our family wishes them both well and they will be in our prayers.  The closing song at the last one was Called to Serve.  I saw that and said "I guarantee Morgan is singing that in French right now." So after Troy said "Morg your mom and I have a question for you, what language did you sing that last song in?"  She said "It took everything I had not to sing it in French!"  Then we laughed:)

So Morgan's 6-7 hour test lasted about 2 1/2 hours.  Morgan and her doctor came out at noon and said that she was finished.  I guess in the middle of the test the doctor asked Morgan if she needed to take a break and Morgan said "I am fine, would you like a break?"  We then saw her Neurosurgeon and she no longer has to see him again unless of course she decides to return to her mission and he said her would write a recommendation for her to go.  He is a great doctor and I am so glad we are finished with his visits but we will always remember him and be grateful for the care he gave Morgan.  Tomorrow Morgan has a x-ray of her pelvis and then a CT of her blood clot which is in her jugular.  Back in January it was the size of two jelly belly's and just down from her brain stem.  It has taken a few weeks for Morgan to get her INR levels so she is therapeutic after her last surgery.  I hope it's been long enough to stop all the medicines and blood draws.  If you are someone who has no idea of what I just said, I am so glad!  I hope you don't ever have to know. :) Until tomorrow!

White tights with white shoes....double rainbow=good luck

Morgan and I are staying in Salt Lake tonight.  Morg has a huge neuro test in the morning so we came down a day early so she wouldn't need to get up so early in the morning.  Before we came we stopped at Gramsies house to celebrate Aunt Marns birthday.  When we were driving down here Morgan says "I was looking at the photos of you and Marn when you both got married on Grams wall.  Why is your bow on you bouquet bigger then the flowers and why was Marnie so white? White dress, white flowers, white tights and white shoes?"  I kind of laughed and said " when I got married to your dad I didn't care what the details were.  I didn't care that the bow was bigger then my flowers or that my cake was the worst cake I have ever seen or that I had fake lace plastic tablecloths on the tables.  I just loved your dad so much and was excited to be married to him". Morgan says "OK, this is getting weird". I laughed a little bit and said "I hope when it's time you get married you are so happy and love this boy so much that you don't care either."  Morgan's response was the best that just cracked me up.  She said "So the moral of the story is I should love my future husband so much that I would wear white tights with white shoes for him" Ha ha!!! I just burst out laughing and said "yep, I guess so:). So when you bring someone around, after awhile I will just say..."what do you think about white tights with white shoes?"  Morgan says "oh dear!"  I needed to write this down because it was so funny.  When we were driving by Farmington we saw a huge, bright rainbow.  The brightest I have ever seen.  And then we saw another above it.  I said to Morgan "look it's double, that's good luck!"  When Troy and I were flying to Tahiti and were about to land it was very emotional.  Mostly because we were finally so close to be with Morgan.  Troy looked out the window and saw a double rainbow and said "look a double rainbow, it's good luck!"

Just trying to get through this rainy day...and by the way Australia is to far away!:)

Today seemed like a long day, I thought maybe it would be a tougher day today and I was right.  We took Dan to the airport last night, it was time for him to return home to Australia.  That was hard to do.  We have really enjoyed him being here.  Chandler was plotting ways to make it so he had to stay and when Avery came home from school she walked in and said "Daniel, don't leave me!"   All day today we would see something or remember something that was said that reminded us of Dan.  We saw a big yellow bush and Morgan and I started to laugh.  Anyway, we will miss him. The day started  off good.  Morgan had a interview up at Utah State today for a scholarship.  She applied for it on her own and arranged the appointment for it.  I am very proud of her for doing it.  She was happy with how it went and when it comes to interviews that's all you can hope for, the rest is out of your hands.  I know Morgan is trying to figure out what the next step will be in her life and things like this can help her figure that out.  Technically she is still on vacation but really, she is thinking about what her life has in store for her next.  She had another blood draw this morning, they know her very well in the lab.  They call Morgan's name and she goes to the back, sits in the chair and pulls up both sleeves from her sweater and sighs.  They ask what arm she wants poked and she says "I don't care, pick one". And then sighs again.  She is tired and I make the comment "this has to end soon, hang in there". Oh how I want this to end for her.  This afternoon was rough.  I could see the frustration in her face and it breaks my heart.  It was raining outside and she came upstairs and said she was going for a run.  I told her it was raining and she said "that makes it better". I agreed and watched her run down the canal through our back window.  I just want to take it all away for her.  I kind of had a small break down and I actually said to Troy "this is not fair that Morgan has to struggle like this". I have never said those words.  I know life is not fair.  I understand that we are all faced with challenges but for me, Morgan's mom, I want to take all that away for her.  Troy quickly pointed out how blessed she has been and how blessed we have been.  How many miracles have happen in our lives.  Heavenly Father  has been by our sides and Morgan's side constantly and I know he will continue to help her heal and overcome all this.  He will not leave us to bare these things alone.   That gives me the greatest comfort.  Troy also reminded me of the conference talk Elder Stevenson just gave in the Sunday morning session "your four minutes".  Troy is a great husband and father.  He loves us all and would do anything for our family.   I then said a prayer and Morgan returned from her run drenched from the rain and a smile on her face.  She seemed a bit better and so was I.  Ready to continue on and get through this trial that seems to never end.  We all helped Kenzi with her posters for her election this week. That was fun!  Morgan has great handwriting!! We enjoyed the time together and laughed quite a bit.  They turned out darling! Tomorrow is a new day and we will make sure it's a good one.

Britten Schenk Fireside

One of the good things that have come from Morgans accident is being able to meet the Schenk Family.  When Morgan was in Tahiti I was able to be in contact with Karla through email.  I am so grateful for the help and support she has given us.  She knows exactly what we are going through and has given me so much advise and has been so amazing to Morgan.  Sunday our family was able to attend a Fireside that Britten and his parents spoke at.  If any of you have the opportunity to attend Britten's Fireside you MUST  go and if any of you are looking for a Fireside you MUST contact them.  It was so inspiring and I have to admit at first it was a little difficult.  My heart just ached for them when seeing the first photos.  Photos of Morgan and photos of Britten have some similarities.  But, when you watch the progress and how hard he worked to learn and heal, it was amazing. We took Avery with us who is ten years old.  Yesterday I was going through some papers that she was drawing on and found this one.  It is one of the things Britten was talking about on Sunday.  What a positive impact he has made, even to a ten year old.  I will frame this artwork to remind us all that we do have two choices in the morning.  We will decide if it will be a good day or bad.  I am with Avery, I will have a good day no matter what too!  To read about Britten's story elderbrittenschenk.blogspot.com. 

Morgan back on a bike today! Defiantly post worthy!

Everyone giving Morgan some encouragement!

Kenzi and Dan were going for a run tonight and Morgan turns to me and says "Looks like I am going to ride a bike"  and so she did.  She rode while they ran!  I can say it was just as exciting as when she was five years old and first learning to ride a bike. This is a milestone that needs to be documented. :)  Happy Day!!

Almost 4 month update! We Love SPRING!!

It has been a couple weeks so now might be good for an update.  We are always having people ask how Morgan is doing and telling us how she is still in their prayers.  We are so so thankful to you all. The last couple weeks have been busy.  We took off for a couple days and went to St George.  We went to the tabernacle and temple.  Morgan was able to talk with the missionaries serving there,  I think she really enjoyed talking with them.  There are quite a few french speaking missionaries there which surprised us all.  We were able to go to the General Women's Conference which was a great meeting and I loved being there with all my girls. We of course did some hiking and enjoyed the warmer weather.  Coming home we picked up a friend of Morgan's from the airport who is visiting from Australia.  The girlies are still trying to concur the Australian accent but it turns out being a mix between British, Irish and every other accent around the world.  I can only imagine the crazy stories he will be telling his family and friends about us.:). He has a few that's for sure.  We were able to attend the Sunday Morning session of General Conference which was so, so good!  We also were able to take Morgan to her mission reunion the Friday before conference.  That was so fun and we were able to see a few of the missionaries we met while in Tahiti.  The best reaction was a couple from Tahiti that were visiting for conference.  They saw Morgan and just kept saying "Soeur Taylor?"  over and over again.  They could not believe Morgan was there looking so good.  That was really fun.  We also saw Elder Cannon, which I guess we can call him Robby now.  And we also met another  Elder who was at the scene of Morgans accident.  I think they are all pretty amazed at how well Morg is doing.  I made the comment to Robby's mom that I really felt for these missionaries who were there right after Morgan was hit and that it must have been difficult to see.  She said that I didn't want to know what they saw.  But Elder Cannon quickly told us how so many things went right that night. There were so many miracles.  We will always be grateful to those missionaries!!  Morgan had speech therapy yesterday.  Audrey put her through some intense tests and Morgan aced most of them.  The ones she didn't were because she corrected herself.  Morgan is scoring in the top 90% in the category of a mild brain injury when she has suffered a severe brain injury.  I am pretty sure her brain is healthier then mine!  It was so good to hear that.  We were showing Dan photos of Morgans mission, accident and the photos my friend Noell took of the signs everyone made for her when she came home.  When the sign "Your Future is Bright" came on the screen, he said "that is so true Morgan". It is so true!! I am so excited for her future.  She is doing so well I can't even put into words how great she is doing!  It's been nice to be on this "vacation". We all need to put ourselves on vacations more.  Vacations from the things of the world.  Stop rushing and hurrying to do the next thing on our never ending lists.  I am not saying to turn unmotivated and not care about things but really give our brains a break to rejuvenate so we can carry on.  We are still working on the blood clot and Morgan has a week of Doctor appointments the end of April.  I am excited for that week because the doctors she has to see is going to drop dramatically after that week is over. Thank you all again for what you have done for Morgan and our family.  We are a grateful family and this has changed our lives.  More good then bad has come from this.  It has too.  Good must always prevail!:)