Merry Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas 2016 and May A Happy and Healthy 2017 Be Heading Your Way.

This was a year that made me wonder if I could bear to write a Christmas letter.  I told Greg that if I only talked about the good news I would end up sending a blank letter except for the news that May 9 gave us a great gift in Gavin Patrick Goode-Pitt.  Austin and Trisha had a baby boy. He was born big and beautiful and strong and not exactly eager to leave the comfort of his mother’s womb.  He has been growing quickly and every time we get to hold him he is more curious and alert and wanting to interact with people. Once again, I have fallen in love. Austin and Trisha are wonderful parents and that is so obvious when you see how happy their baby boy is.

Lance and Mom sound like they are doing as well as they have in over a year.  Lance is excited and happy to be going to Virginia college and to be taking Choir, computer, and woodshop, and to work there and have homework.  Brett’s step-daughter, Caitlin,  takes him to many places like the Library and Dairy Queen and to the lake.  He also frequently visits our mom. He hasn’t recovered completely and still can’t eat solid foods, living on ensure, and ice cream and cheese and I’m not sure if that will ever change. Mom doesn’t really talk on the phone very often anymore although I have talked to her a couple times this year when she was clear on who I am although foggy on some details. Lance has a cell phone (540)-359-1413 and you can send cards and pictures and letters to them at the same address

  Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118

 Brett sent me this picture

 Emerson and Daisy moved back in with Greg and I in March and it has been a good thing in many ways. It has been sad because Daisy’s mom hasn’t been able to be a part of her life since then, but Daisy at 2 ½ is growing strong and is always singing and exploring and so happy that she makes everyone around her happy too. Emerson works hard and always has more people wanting him to work for them than there are hours in his day.  He works with Autistic children and is as gentle and playful and firm with them as he is with his own daughter.

Greg has been working 11 years now up in Brookings at that school district and is having a wonderful year with really good kids, but he is also starting to want a change again, especially when thinking about the income he gets there. He applied to teach at the prison here, and has passed all their requirements, so if a job opens up, that could happen. Meanwhile he has been working on setting up a trip to Disneyland with his High School Students, and on turning his community Children’s choir into a higher level, audition only performing group.

Since Greg and I have been together since 1982, by now his family and my family all just feel like one family. His parents and siblings have always been a big part of our life and His Mom, Mimi Goode, died on November 9^th in Rapid City, South Dakota. She has been in poor health for so long now that my sons barely remember when she was strong and healthy and taking part in leading so many efforts to improve lives in Newcastle, WY. They do remember driving around with her to feed stray cats and to check the live traps for ones for her spay and neuter and re-release of the older cats, and for adoption of the kittens.

We went back to Newcastle and had her memorial service with family on November 22, and then a family Thanksgiving dinner at Harvey’s home (my Father-in-law) on the 24^th before driving back to Crescent City for three more hectic weeks of school before Christmas break.  It was wonderful weather all the way, although we came around the edge of some storms.  The funeral was sweet and well attended and the burial was just as a gorgeous sunset broke over the hillside there among the bare cottonwood trees.  The service felt like a celebration of her life and the only real sadness there was that Mimi’s brother suffered a stroke just after arriving in Wyoming and was in surgery during the funeral, but made it through well and was released from the hospital Thanksgiving Day.

I took a 60% job teaching in the High school’s Severely Handicapped/and Emotionally Disturbed class. I only teach Wednesday, Thursday and Friday most of the time, unless I get sub jobs the other two days of the week.  Lately my partner was on a two week long trial as a juror so I had full time starting the day we got home from driving 3,000 miles in ten days, and in that class, that is exhausting! I have 17 students, but so many Instructional assistants that I also supervise 15 adults, and have Emerson working with me pretty frequently.  It has been high drama and yet very rewarding.

I also managed to publish my 3rd picture book for children, so with my 4 novels, this makes 7 books I have available in Libraries and on Amazon. This one is called “The Redwood Tree” and is photographs and non fiction text.

No, I’m not mentioning the political news this year. Other than to say that most people’s first comment after learning that Mimi died the day after the election, was to say that she heard who won, and decided it was time for her to exit. She was one of Wyoming’s few, and fervent Democrats.

Miss Daisy has become a book lover, and a singer and a storyteller. She loves Peppa Pig, and our cat Rocky, and playing outside.

I love Christmas and the gift of going through my family and friends list each year and remembering why you are so special and important to me. I hope that this finds you weathering the changes and remembering the blessings.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dixie and Greg

What happened to May through August??!

I was going to be so good at everything. Keeping up on a blog, teaching, being a wife and mom and grandma and a writer and making an old house into a warm, welcoming home. Well, just the fact that I haven't written an update here since April proves the lie to that.  But I'm still trying.  Most of this blog, for a year has bee dedicated to updates about my brother Lance, so let me tell you a bit about him first.

The ninth is my Brother, Brett's third wedding anniversary. I didn't talk to him, Lance says they are on a trip, but I did talk to Lance today. He is very happy, still can't eat enough to take out feeding tube, because the exit from his stomach had narrowed and he doesn't recover well from surgery, but he visited Mom today and had lunch with her, he can eat things like soup, pudding, ice cream, cheese. he was sad, their dog died this week, but he is taking choir, computers and woodshop at Virginia college and stays a couple nights each week in a dorm. That is something he is thrilled about, even the homework. He says mom is happy and he insists she is getting better. When I talk to her she is confused but not totally, often less sure of time and place but more aware of who people are.  Lance is already planning his October 24th birthday when he will turn 41, with TGI Friday's CheeseSticks and Ice Cream Cake from Dairy Queen.   
cards are of course much anticipated
 Lance has a cell phone (540)-359-1413 and you can send cards and pictures and letters to him or to Mom at the same address

  Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118


 He also has his Mutant Ninja Turtle Halloween Costume planned and the sooner October gets here, the happier he will be.

My husband's Dad on the same redwood stump two decades ago

As for the rest of us, Daisy and her dad, (My youngest son) are living with us, and we are having fun being grandparents. My oldest son also has a four month old son, so I haven't even been on the blog since baby Gavin entered our life.  It is wonderful to see how fast he is learning to interact and laugh and be happy to see grandma.

I am teaching a Severely handicapped special day class at the high school three days a week, which is supposed to free up two days for writing, but so far is consumed by errands and dishes and laundry and life.  My husband is starting a children's choir, teaching High school band Choir and orchestra and organizing a spring break trip to Disneyland with his students.

anyway, there is so much more, but if I hit publish now, I can go fold laundry, Oh Joy!

April update

#TeamLanceMiller update 4/2/2016

Lance called from home today and sang "Happy Birthday to Austin" (my 23 year old son) and told me he had ice cream to eat, at home, not in the hospital, and that he had stayed up but Brett and Emily (my other brother and his wife) were already in bed. He told me there were four baby cows that were twins in the stable on the same floor with his bedroom, and that they were being bottle fed. Then he asked to talk to my husband Greg, he told Greg, "There are a lot of elk out my window here." Then added a huge laugh and, "Happy April Fool's Yesterday."

4/4/2016

Talking to Lance today, he was excited about the baseball teams and their opening days. Very Happy the Pirates won, and trying to insist that everyone in my family had to have a favorite team.  I guess I failed. I did take my boys to see an Angels/Dodgers game several years ago, but it wasn't enough to turn his nephews into die hard sports fans.  Something about living 300 miles from any team is a bit non-conducive to rabid fandom.  He is also in love with the baby cows at the farm this spring and especially that there are so many twins, but our call was cut short when my brother's daughter delivered him some ice cream.


He was also delighted to talk to my granddaughter now that she is almost 2 and will use a phone a bit, and he was telling me which pictures he has on his wall. He has a lot of cards that you have sent him. Thanks for that, and if you think about sending another postcard his way, Lance has a cell phone (540)-359-1413 and you can send cards and pictures and letters to him or to Mom at the same address

  Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118 

Team Lance Miller Update 3-11-2016

 Lance is having a rough time still, he has been moved to ICU at the University of Virginia Hospital where Infectious disease specialists are trying to figure out what he needs and discovered a lingering infection behind some vital organs in a spot fairly dangerous to operate on, but highly resistant to antibiotics.  Yesterday  3/10/2016 in the evening, 

Brett says Lance just now got out of surgery, they put in a drain directly in his kidney to give his ureter a break and allow it to heal and he seems to be doing really well but he is in ICU.

today I got this message on facebook

with this picture from today.

When I heard that my old classmate and buddy Lance Miller had been moved to UVA, I called on my friend Alice who works there to pop in to let him know that a friend from Cody, WY sent her to say hello! They talked about football, his job at Walmart and Cody. She said he was so happy and that the visit made her day! I bet it made his too😊Thanks Alice! Here's a pic she snapped for me💕

Lance has a cell phone (540)-359-1413 and you can send cards and pictures and letters to him or to Mom at the same address

  Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118

Lance Miller update March 1, 2016

Once again I come to bring an update of Lance Miller, and have to start with saying that Lance is back in the hospital again.  I hate saying that he is basically back dealing with the same thing that put him in ICU on September 1st, 2015  -   6 months go today but that is pretty much exactly where he is.

I talked to Lance 2 weeks ago on Valentine's Day and things seemed to be gong really well. He was happily ensconced in a Motel with our brother, Brett and Brett's wife. They had gone to an evening Church service, and to the beach and to a Horse race and shopping for a jacket because Lance was too cold, not on the beach, but in Church.

I also talked to my Sister-in-law and she said Lance was getting a lot stronger, but still on a feeding tube and a catheter. Still sick but making progress.

Only five days later Lance was back in the hospital for a barium swallow test to see why he couldn't eat but could drink things like Ensure or juice.  The barium test went OK, but once he was home he was violently ill, all night with the heaves but nothing in his stomach. A new Dr. said he might have a narrowing where his stomach entered the bowels and he does, and his pancreas was inflamed so he needed antibiotics, and still the urine leak, "Repaired" in September, is unhealed, as if it had just been done inside, only the skin healing. So the urine leak can be causing the pancreas inflation, and the stomach narrowing needs addressed but at the heart of the matter, most of ll he either needs the kidney bypassed of the leak repaired and that means more surgery. So tonight he heads to UVA hospital and the knowledge that every surgery impacts his blood pressure and breathing enough to put him in ICU.  He still is having issues getting approved for medicare and his hospital bills are outrageous by now of course.

If that isn't enough, Brett's wife has been very sick too, and 

mom's money is running out so they may need to bring her home to their house soon, but she is really difficult to care for too.  Any positive thought, prayers or funny cards you care to send their way would be greatly appreciated I'm sure.

All the other details in life pale beside the fact that they are actually still together, still sounding cheerful and hopeful and not giving up.

Lance has a cell phone (540)-359-1413 and you can send cards and pictures and letters to him or to Mom at the same address

  Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118

Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas 2015 and May A Happy and Healthy 2016 Be Heading Your Way.

This was a year of changes for our extended family, it was a scary and emotional roller coaster at times, but we are finding ourselves at the end of it with a lot to be thankful for.

First of all, as we have had so many of you asking about Mom

and Lance,                         

 let me update you on what has been happening with them this year.  Lance and Mom were living in Virginia with Brett and his wife, Emily. Mom’s dementia got really bad and she was hallucinating, and paranoid and unable to take care of basic hygiene. She tried to run away and got lost, so she has been in assisted living, not far from Brett and Emily’s home, for over a year. The first home really made her worse and messed with her meds, changing her from just insulin and blood pressure meds, to 27 different medicines a month later.  The home she is in now, she likes, but she fell in June and broke her hip and was in a hospital and rehab before getting to go “home.” She is weaker and needs a wheelchair and once when Brett went to talk to her and asked her if she was worried about Lance, she answered, “I’m worried about him, but I don’t know who he is. Did I meet him here?”

 

The reason Brett asked about Lance is that he has been really sick since mid August, and in the Hospital, in ICU and a Rehab Hospital again and again ever since September began.  He was nearly dead (not an exaggeration) before the Dr. decided to do emergency exploratory abdominal surgery starting at 10 PM. He came out of surgery around midnight, and they had found his bladder blocked and holding 800 ccs of urine when a normal adult male would be uncomfortable with 300 ccs. They cleaned out the infection and put in a drain, but that only began the journey.  He has kept getting sick when he leaves ICU and they reduce antibiotics.  He has had his gallbladder removed and had a bad case of staff infection in his lungs.  He still has need of the Rehab hospital, the staff infection in his lungs is gone, the gall bladder cured the need for the drain in his abdomen, but he still can't eat much beyond ice cream without vomiting and he still needs a catheter, so he still has an appointment for micro-biotic robot cameras to scan his abdomen in the end of December. He can walk, but has no stamina so needs a wheelchair when Brett takes him out. Three months now has been a huge financial drain on Brett's family. He'd be able to take mom out too, if he had a wheelchair Van, but of course that would be another big financial hit, so probably won't happen. Anyway, Lance sounded excited to be out of ICU, happy to talk and more energetic than I've heard in ages when he talked to Greg and me on Thanksgiving. Brett had sprung him from the rehab hospital to go eat Turkey with Mom at her Assisted Living Center.  Mom doesn’t really talk on the phone anymore, but Lance has a cell phone (540)-359-1413 and you can send cards and pictures and letters to them at the same address

  Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118

Then in October we had to face the death of the daycare grandma who had helped us raise our boys when they were toddlers. Nadine was a large part of who they became and of why we have a family of daycare cousins and their parents here in Crescent City. It was such a blessing to have had her so long.

So, now for news about the rest of us.  Greg and I have not changed as much as the other people in our families.  He is teaching again up in Brookings, OR. (year 10 I think.)  He only has choir this year, and with a local choir on Monday evenings is working with kids age 9 to High School.  He is also singing in the adult community Choir in Crescent City.  In February he flew a bunch of kids to Spokane for the All Northwest Choir Festival, while I went to Gold Beach for a writer’s conference.  I am still substitute teaching, and writing, and finished my sixth book this November which I hope to have edited and available by the beginning of February. This summer he tried his hand working with Special Ed. and taught a summer school class before we drove to Wyoming to visit his family.  Mimi and Harvey were both doing great, and had celebrated their 65^th anniversary in June. All of Greg’s surviving siblings were there, but the only one from our children’s generation (The grandchildren) who made it, was our niece Remi, at age 15, just back from touring China with the Tucson Girls Choir.  Mimi and Harvey have three great-grandchildren, but none of them could be there either. We did manage to get to Laramie, and saw our nephew Colton there as well. 

Emerson and Lula’s daughter, Daisy turned 1 on April 28^th, and we were able to spend a lot of time with her between April and September when she was living part time with Emerson and us, and part time with Lula. Now we are happy to say that Emerson and Lula are back together and Daisy is happy being with both parents, but selfishly, Greg and I miss having the little Miss Daisy here on a daily basis. She has totally stolen our hearts. Emerson and Lula both work as assistants in the School District where I sub, and they both had summer jobs as well.

Austin and Trisha seem happy and busy but we don’t ever see enough of them either.  It has been hard going from being Mom and Dad to being empty nesters for Greg and I. Still we are lucky that they live in the county here, so we do see them a couple times a month at least.  They have been keeping us in firewood, and have gone to dinner, or celebrated a holiday with us occasionally.  I am excited to see Trisha’s baby bump growing and to welcome our second grandchild in May of 2016.  Austin is still working with the crew he supervises at G & H outreach, a group of handicapped adults. He seems to enjoy the fact that a lot of their work is outside and active. They appear to be happy and that is really what parents want most of all I think.

So that is the news, and I hope next year is less newsy and more peaceful. Merry Christmas!

Love,

 

 

Dixie and Greg

 oh and PS. I did get my novel finished, at least the first draft, in the NaNoWriMo month of November. Yes!

Lance Miller Update to be Thankful For

remember, if you have a moment, a photo, card or postcard can make his entire day.  and Thank you again.

Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118

 team Lance Miller update 11/26/2015
Today Lance Called to Say "Happy Birthday, Greg!" And he was in Brett's Truck on their way to Mom's assisted Living Center to eat Thanksgiving Lunch with her. He is still in the Rehab hospital, the staff infection in his lungs is gone, the gall bladder cured the need for the drain in his abdomen, but he still can't eat much beyond ice cream and he still needs a catheter, so he still has an appointment for micro-biotic robot cameras to scan his abdomen in the end of December. He can walk, but has no stamina so needs a wheelchair when Brett takes him out. Three months now has been a huge financial drain on Brett's family. He'd be able to take mom out too, if he had a wheelchair Van, but of course that would be another big financial hit, so probably won't happen. Anyway, Lance sounded excited to be out, happy to talk and more energetic than I've heard in ages. Thankful he is my brother and has so many who care about him!

Lance Miller Update November 3rd 2015

 From September 1st to November 3rd should be long enough that I no longer have to worry about my brother, Lance Miller. But of course life isn't in my hands and I don't get to decide that the most joy filled, giving person I have ever met, should be healthy and not have to suffer.  Even the most wonderful life has suffering. We all learn that eventually.

 But even ill and in and out of hospitals and rehab and the ICU for two months, Lance has the ability to look forward to the holidays with joy.  He says "And in November is Thanksgiving, and after that, Pretty soon now, is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty The Snowman and Christmas."  If you can imagine what life as a child with Down's Syndrome is like, and you remember the "we're all misfits" theme of that old Rudolph show, you will understand why, even at 40, Christmas begins and ends with watching the show about the Reindeer who just doesn't quite fit in, but leads the way to Joy.

remember, if you have a moment, a photo, card or postcard can make his entire day.  and Thank you again.

Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118

So what is the most recent news? Well he was sent home with a drain in his abdomen and still on a catheter. He was supposed to wait a month and then see a specialist in another hospital with some high tech, very non invasive, micro robotics camera that could scan his abdomen and figure out where the problem is that keeps him failing every time antibiotics are stopped.  But he didn't manage to make it the month.  He kept getting weaker and stopped eating anything but a few grapes, so he was readmitted and a new scan revealed an inflamed Gall Bladder.  That had apparently been blocked by the more urgent leaking kidney and the blocked bladder, but with those dealt with, and him still ill, they decided to remove the gall bladder.  The surgeon told my brother Brett, that this was the worst gall bladder he had seen in his career and hopefully it would solve the mystery.

That news was one time when being the worst might be good news, but very soon after that surgery his blood oxygen levels bottomed out.  The medical team couldn't get him to stop trying to take off the oxygen mask, so had to insert another breathing tube, which meant that, four days ago he was readmitted into the ICU from the surgical recovery area.  Soon, as in within half an hour of putting him on a ventilator he was doing much better and they diagnosed pneumonia, which is scary, but at least doesn't mean that something other than the gall bladder was causing the abdominal issues.

Today, Brett says that they had him out of bed yesterday, standing for awhile and he is strong again, but his breathing tube is still in and therefor I can't call and talk to Lance.

Sadly, on the other worry, My Mom's dementia means that when Brett asked her is she was worried about Lance, who has been the center of her world for 40 years, imagine permanently having a ten year old, she said, "Yes I am worried about Lance. But I don't think I know a Lance.  Did I meet him here?"

News for Team Lance Miller, Oct. 8. 2015

For a week, I haven't posted here, but I have been talking to Lance on his cell phone in the Rehab hospital. Every day he sounds stronger and happier and now he doesn't talk much about how he feels at all.  He is caught up in living life again.  The conversation today told me that our niece is living and going to school at the High School Lance Graduated from.  A fact that makes him very proud, and he reminded me, "You too, Dixie Miller Goode, You graduated Cody High School like me."  He also told me he rode the exercise bike and used a medicine ball and had to do laps in the hallway using a walker, not canes.  He told me pretty soon is his birthday and then he can be a murder for Halloween.  Not sure if he wants to be a victim or a killer but he knew what he had planned.  He wanted to hear every detail of where my family spent the day, and what each of us ate for breakfast and lunch nd he wanted to tell me that he was in room 109 in "Your Mom's Hospital, Dixie."  which I think means that he is still at the rehab center where she was, after breaking her hip early this summer, but could possibly have meant he was visiting Mom.  I really need to talk to our other brother because Lance can tell me a lot, but can be very stubborn and unclear when he'd rather talk about something else.  He knows exactly where he is and how he is doing, and is kind of bored by that, so he wants to talk about Thursday night Football, and if I should be Groot or Spongebob for Halloween.

 He has a bit longer attention span for the phone as he is feeling stronger, but still, when I press him on when the Dr. says he will be well enough to go home, suddenly he is telling me, "Oh yeah, I have to go. I'll call you tomorrow."

 Cards can still be sent. And since October 24 is his 40th birthday, Hopefully he will be home by then.  He sounds excited about his birthday, and almost as excited about Halloween but then he becomes quite eloquent as he starts reminding me, "And in November is Thanksgiving, and after that, Pretty soon now, is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty The Snowman and Christmas."  If you can imagine what life as a child with Down's Syndrome is like, and you remember the "we're all misfits" theme of that old Rudolph show, you will understand why, even at 40, Christmas begins and ends with watching the show about the Reindeer who just doesn't quite fit in, but leads the way to Joy.

Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118

Edited later the same day after talking to my Brother Brett.

I called Brett just as he was getting home from 2 weeks out of town for work, before he even walked in the door of his house.  He had been in North Carolina and in Kansas trying to catch up on details that slip while taking care of sick family.  What he had to say is tempered by the fact that he wasn't there last week to talk to Lance's Dr. but the news from the week before that wasn't the best.  I guess that even though Lance is in a rehab facility, the repair from the abdominal leak between his kidney and bladder appears not to have been totally successful. They are not certain what is still leaking, but Lance is still on a catheter and they were considering moving him to a specialty hospital (I think he said in North Carolina?) that specializes in Robotic surgery because those cameras and incisions are small and therefore a lot less difficult for Lance to recover from, since each surgery has been really hard on him.  Anyway, It sounds like he isn't in the clear yet, and his insurance is getting pickier too, with time limits on his stay where he is.  So when Brett lets me know more, I will let you know what I do.

Lance Miller up-date Oct. 2, 2015

 I talked to Lance today in Shenandoah center in Charlestown, West Virginia where he is still spending time in rehab/physical therapy to regain his strength and confidence to take care of his own day to day tasks.  He tells me they have been making him ride an exercise bike and have given him canes to walk with.  He says he Had a chicken Sandwich for dinner and if I let him go soon he can have ice-cream for dessert. He tells me to call every day, but when he gets tired of talking that is it, "I have to go now, talk to you tomorrow."  CLICK

Today he also says Brett is in North Carolina at the beach but Emily is still there in Virginia to keep an eye on him.  Emily is my incredible sister-in-law.  I feel more reassured by this news than almost anything else except the happiness in Lance's voice.  I know Brett wouldn't be leaving for anywhere, any amount of time unless Lance was doing pretty well.

 Mail can still be sent to his home address below  and I've said so many times that Lance loves getting mail.  So thank you, several people have let me know that they sent him cards and packages. He says "Thank Your friends, Dixie, they are nice cards, I am reading cards and one is for Wendy's for french fries and hamburger and ice cream." so I know someone's gift card pleased him. I told him, they are not just from my friends, they are from his friends.

 Cards can still be sent. And since October 24 is the 40th birthday, Hopefully he will be home by then.

Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118

One of Lance's pride and Joy moments was when he was recognized in the Cody Enterprise for 19 years of good work.

Who wouldn't Smile for Princess Jasmine?

Update on Lance Miller, my brother.

September 23 update: Good news for Lance today as he is leaving the Hospital and headed to Shenandoah center in Charlestown, West Virginia to spend time in rehab/physical therapy to regain his strength and confidence to take care of his own day to day tasks.  Mail can still be sent to his home address below

5:00 PM (eastern Time) 9/23/2015 I talked to Lance on his phone in his new, temporary room in the Rehab. Center.  He was ordering a real meal, Mac and Cheese, and excited to have "Mom Priscilla's Doctor's" which means he is comfortable being in the place he visited mom in this early summer when she was recovering from a broken hip. Lance was out of bed and walking a few steps for the first time since 9/1/15 and it scares him to think of going home but he is glad to be getting stronger.  If you are a friend and want his cell phone number let me know.

Team Lance Miller has been wonderfully supportive and the update is positive but the road ahead is still a long one, so if you feel moved to send him a get well card, Lance loves getting mail.  

 cards can be sent. 

Lance Miller /PO box 865/ Middleburg, VA 20118

Among his favorite things are Ninja Turtles, Pro Football, The Steelers of course but any team too. He adored working at Walmart so Walmart and Cody, Wyoming memories make him really happy.

This is the best because he is well on the road to recovery and delighting in the mail he has received 

This was after the first time that he got out of ICU when they allowed him to have his first food or drink in a week and it was chocolate ice cream

and this was the scary time in ICU when they had to have a machine breathing for him and were saying, It is a matter of life and death and could go either way.

The best news has come in recently.  After Lance went into the hospital 3 weeks ago, when his body was so infected it was shutting down and he needed life support and emergency exploratory abdominal surgery, things looked desperate.  Then when they knew the problem was a tear in the tube between Kidney and bladder, there was no way to do the surgery to repair it until Lance was stable, and he kept doing things like getting blood clots in his lungs, and ending back in ICU. But the medical staff never gave up.

I am happy to report that they have completed the repair surgery so that he should not need to have any more surgery but then he got an infection still he is slowly recovering. His next step once the hospital determines he can leave their care, will be three weeks in a rehab center and then home with our other brother.  He now is alert and has his cell phone on him, so I can call him directly and he sounds stronger all the time. Still his birthday is October 24 and he is afraid he won't be home by then.  Keep the prayers coming.

Happy Birthday Greetings from around the world. I hope

My Beautiful Brother turns 39 years old on Friday, Oct. 24th and I was thinking, he loves getting mail and he is worried with our mom being in the Nursing Home and he would be so happy to get a post card, birthday card or printed letter. He can read but cursive is difficult.

The mailing address is

Lance Miller 
PO Box 865
Middleburg VA 20118

He loves the Steelers and any sports, He Loves red cars, the teenage mutant ninja turtles and Donald Duck. He still loves fruit punch more than any other drink but maybe hot fudge sundaes at Dairy Queen beat it out as the all time first choice. Back when they lived in Cody, Wyoming, the Dairy Queen closed for the winter, but the owner actually postponed the closing and kept it open each year so Lance could have his annual birthday party there first.  Lance has the most amazing social skills and people love him. He was in Special Ed. classes for his academic subjects but interacted in regular classes for PE, he loved swimming and bowling, and he Loved Choir, and still does like to sing and still recognizes and talks to people he knew back in those classes.  He called the Bingo games at the senior center and served as an usher at the church he attended with mom.  He started working at WalMart as a part of a school program when he was 15 but he stayed there 19 years, until he had to move to Virginia to live with our brother when my Mom's health became weaker. He started grade school the year the mainstreaming law passed and my mom insisted Cody start a class. And he graduated high school with a real diploma eight months before Dad died of esophageal cancer.

1. Being born with a handicapping condition wasn't as difficult as having to deal with people who had a lot of preconceived ideas about his limitations  I remember the idiots in the hospital who delivered him telling my parents he should be institutionalized before we could ever get attached because he'd never know who we are and he'd be dead before 25. Medical views of what was, at that time, called "mongoloid idiots" were pretty much in the dark ages. Over the years Mom had a Dr try to kill him by letting Giardia run its course until he had lost half his body weight and his hearing. Then when she made it clear that "no, his dying would not be the best thing for the family" one shot of penicillin cured the Giardia but not the deafness until surgery five years later. 

Then after an accident in the park with his puppy jumping up as he came down the slide, and tearing the skin on his arm with it's claw - an emergency room Dr. strapped him down at age six and started putting stitches in him arm without numbing it, "I don't want to waste the novocain, these kids don't feel pain, he is just screaming from reflex"

Well that might have been the Dark ages or this might be. 90% of Down's infants are aborted once it is diagnosed and in some countries it is legal to abort a Down syndrome baby right up to birth.

Here is an earlier blog post I wrote about Lance

http://echo-echosvoice.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-brother-has-downs-syndrome-and-i.html