26 May, 2009

Saying goodbye to a diseased colon...

For those of you that don't know, my wife has been dealing with ulcerative colitis (inflammation of the colon) for the past 7.5 years. It has been the most difficult thing she's ever had to deal with and it has dominated her life for most of the time we've been together. We'll... as of Friday, May 22nd she no longer has that diseased body part thanks to the wonderful surgeons at Piedmont Hospital. This is an account of our last week in the hospital:

pre-surgery visit from Em and the girls
pre-operation visit


sunrise over Peachtree
sunrise above peachtree


happy couple
happy couple


colon
healthy colon


Liza's colon (pix from her colonoscopy before surgery). White = inflammation
liza's inflammed colon


Post-surgery with new hardware (that's an ileostomy bag she'll wear for 3 months). A link to the "J pouch" surgery she had can be found here- great illustrations.
post-surgery


building up that lung capacity!
workin' those lungs!


spit bath
bath time


mom visited from Georgetown
mom


first solid meal
1st meal


first meal dance
1st meal dance


Beauty in nature- to say that I was stressed out and worried during the past few weeks would be huge understatements. The little things in life like these beautiful flowers around the hospital grounds really helped me to see the brighter side of things during our hospital stay.
Stouthern Magnolia
Mint
Sunflower
Azalea
variegated mayapple and trillium
Photobucket

Things get better and better each day and we expect to be back at home within the next 24-48 hours. Thanks so much for all of your thoughts, prayers, help, and kind words. We couldn't do it without our amazing friends and family!!

06 May, 2009

What I've been up to the last few weeks...

Durkin' out hardcore on some plants in the forest:

30+ year old poison ivy
32 year old cut poison ivy on a tree

doghobble
flowering doghobble

Jacks in the pulpit
jack
jack stalk!
HUGE Jack-in-the-pulpit stand

Magnolia tripetala
Magnolia tripetala- "Umbrella Magnolia"

mayapple
mayapple fruit

Asimina triloba- paw paw
paw paw

shrine and massive magnolia
shrine and tripetala

Trillium rugelii- southern nodding trillium
Trillium rugelii- "Southern nodding trillium"

Calycanthus floridanus- sweetshrub
Calycanthus florida- "Sweetshrub"- a great landscape plant in the East

old doorknob
Old doorknob in forest

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Turnin' 29:

birthday lazers
birthday lazers

Old Canoe
Old Canoe2
Old Canoe- blew. everyone. away.

Liza and Liv
Casey and Em
the fam

Waller boys2
Waller boys
Waller boys

Lionel getting served
Lionell getting served by Kat

Starter Kits
The Starter Kits

Yardwork1
Yardwork2
Yardwork3
Yardwork5
Yardwork6
Yardwork. God this is your gift to America.

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Durkin' out on the Angel Oak tree in Charleston

Angel Oak BW

Angel Oak2

Angel Oak3

Angel Oak with scale

Eli and Angel Oak

25.5 feet CBH kiddo's.

Wedding sunset
sunset at CUJ and Jessica's wedding. Simply gorgeous.

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Durkin' out at Jake and Jessica's wedding:

....soon.....