New Year's Eve, 2016!

Last Day of 2016! Dan took Nick up skiing with Brent, Ethan and Isaac.

Way to go, Nick!

Chris's first night at home went okay. We worked out a system that he would text me and I would keep my phone on so I could go help him if he needed it. He needed some Oxycodone at 1:00 a.m. and asked me to rub his feet so he could get comfortable again and go back to sleep. He said he didn't sleep great but the Oxy helped.

I was so nervous about botching the shot from the day before, Michelle and I looked up a YouTube video and figured out how to administer it better. It went much better this morning.

I've made a chart so I can keep track of his meds and when he takes them. He's got Oxycodone every four hours or as needed for pain, Tylenol instead of Oxy if that works for him, the Lovenox shot twice a day and Senna, a laxative twice a day. He also has meds for nausea if he needs them. He had another prescription for another pain med but we didn't think Chris needed it.

He's doing pretty good on Oxy twice a day and Tylenol in between. I know if I don't write it down I'll get confused, so a chart will help me keep him on track.

Chris has had lots of friends drop off treats and want to wish him a speedy recovery.

Takis and Mountain Dew -- his friends know what he loves.
(Making him wait a while though before he starts in on the chemicals!)

Dan and Nick came home after lunch so they could spend the afternoon with Dan's Dad, Marty, and watch the University of Washington bowl game against Alabama. (Have I mentioned that Courtney and her friend, Carinne, were in Georgia for the game? Merry Christmas, Courtney!)

While Dan was home to be with Chris, I ran to the bakery and Costco to get Marty's farewell food (I ordered as soon as Chris had his accident. Simplify!). Also stopped by the party stores to get plates and looked for a Japanese flag, but they didn't have one. In the evening Dan ran to Itto's to pick up sushi trays for the next day.

By dinnertime, we were exhausted and couldn't (nor did we want to) leave Christopher so were happy to celebrate the New Year at home. Brent and Michelle were tired out too so they stayed home with us and we all hung out. Michelle and I tried to get everyone excited about Scattergories but they weren't really.

My favorite comment of the evening was Morgan saying, "Mom and Angela are just sitting there laughing, cracking each other up." That made me cackle even more (which Courtney has always given me a hard time -- my witches laugh)! Michelle and I spent our entire lives entertaining each other (back in the old days before there were video games, TV and iPhones)! So it wasn't surprising that it's what comes naturally!

We headed outside at 10:00 p.m. to light off a few fireworks and do poppers. Earlier I told Nick I had poppers and he looked at me incredulously. "Um, Mom, we need real fireworks." So Brent and Dan ran to the store and bought a few. Chris didn't want to risk coming outside so he watched from the living room window. And then we took him up to bed with the whole medication and shot routine. He was tired and ready to go to sleep. And sad that he was missing out on New Year's plans he'd previously made with friends and his cousin, Isaac. By the end of the day he is worn out. Really, any time he goes down for a nap he is exhausted. And then he needs to cry. He was apologizing for crying, saying he wasn't crying because of the pain. But he was so sad he was missing out on stuff. He hadn't cried yet and I told him he needed to. His heart hurt and he'd been through a lot emotionally and it was good to be able to cry.

By the time I came back down, Dan was ready for bed! He almost left by 11:30, but we made him stay up until it was New Year's. We all counted down and shouted Happy New Year and then went to bed. It was fun to have the Paul's over so we could have some celebration to the end of 2016!