Miss Gracie

While working as a nurse we always had pet therapy for our patients in the hospital. And on occasion when visiting Grandma I would see a cat wondering around her unit. I always knew that people especially the elderly benefited from the therapeutic use of pets as companions and visitors. But I got to really experience that first hand while Grandma was on her journey to heaven.

The caregivers for my Grandma said that the unit cat Gracie, can sense when someone is dying. I was like really?? But all the times I visited Grandma before I may have seen the cat once or twice come into Grandma's room. But since Grandma had her stroke and up until the day she passed Gracie hardly ever left the room. She would come sit next to my mom or aunt during their 24 hour vigil over Grandma or sit by the window and just look out or lay on the floor next to Grandma's bed. She even would stay when Trey would come for a visit and hide under the bed.

It was amazing to see how Gracie's presence provided a special comfort to us while Grandma was passing. Just thought I would share a sweet story of little cat by the name of Gracie who had a nurturing instinct to love a family during a time of loss.

Cousin Love!!!

While we were up spending time with Grandma Kathryn before her passing Trey and I got to also visit with our cousins from Port Angeles. Trey had a blast!! I still can't believe how old everyone is getting.

The cousins and I spent a lot of time reminiscing about all the wonderful times we have had at Grandma's house over the years. A lot of good laughs, tears and memories were shared. Love you Acheson's!!!

Emma and Trey


Jay and Tim


The big man at UW, Kyle


Trey getting the boys to watch Elmo with him.

Our Little Busy Body:)

Trey reached the 20 month mark this past August 16th and is busier than ever these days. Curtis and I have a hard time keeping up with him at times. Trey's favorite new thing to do is climbing up on EVERYTHING. The picture above I caught him sitting on our clothes hamper that he knocked over.

Trey has become quite the little social butterfly. He loves to wave and charm everyone by blowing kisses. He is quite the entertainment where ever he goes. Showing everyone his new songs he has learned or his latest dance moves.

I thought I would give a feeding update since it has been quite a while. About a month and half ago Trey again started to decline greatly in his progress he was making with eating and drinking. We thought the incoming teeth were the main culprit but then the eating and drinking almost completely stopped. He started to then have vomiting a couple times a week which previously wasn't an issues anymore.

So I started venting his stomach more with his g-tube. This is where you attach an extension tube to his stomach and it releases air or food if needed. Well Mr. Trey started to have old looking blood come out of his tube. Obviously concerning. Where was this coming from?? Well the blood continued and the vomiting worsened. Soon he began throwing up small amounts of old blood. Of course when it rains it pours. Trey's increasing tummy problems got very bad right around the time of my grandma's stroke.

So after blood tests to make sure he wasn't having severe bleeding we got on a quick flight to see Grandma and take Trey to his GI doctor. We ended up having a upper GI endoscopy done. This is where the doctor places a flexible endoscope down his throat to visualize his lining in the esophagus, stomach, etc.

Trey had the same anesthesia he did for the g-tube placement. So we knew what to expect but they had quite a bit of difficulty this time with the IV placement which wasn't fun for him or us.

Trey has never been scoped before so we were anxious to hear what Dr. Picken's saw. He was able to find the bleeding during the procedure. Around Trey's g-tube there is that balloon that keeps the tube in place. Well either the balloon size was too big for Trey or the way his own anatomy and all his movement caused the balloon to erode into his stomach lining. So the doctor replaced the tube and decreased the balloon size. We were going to come back in a week to follow up and hope the decrease in balloon size would stop the bleeding.

Well things did improve for a couple of days and of course the night before Grandma's memorial service the bleeding started again. So right after the service back to Mary Bridge we went but this time Dr. Picken's inserted a different tube called a Nurtiport. The difference with this balloon is the end is flat and not rounded to it will hopefully sit up against his stomach lining and not cause as much friction.

Trey's new g-tube.


So far since the new tube placement no bleeding and Trey has had increase in drinking and doing actually pretty well with eating these last few days. This is very encouraging. I got so teary the other night when he actual took bites of food because it has been so long since I have seen this from him.

Worst case scenario if the stomach tissue does not heal on its own Dr. Picken's would have to scope Trey again and inject epinephrine into his tissue which would cause the blood vessels where the bleeding is at to constrict. But we are crossing our fingers that his new tube will do the trick.

As usual Trey is a little trooper. Still a big ball of energy, humor, happiness and fun:)

Recent pictures of the little man...

Sweet Grandma Kathryn

This past Sunday August 8th my dearest Grandma Kathryn passed away. As I mentioned in my previous blog Grandma had been declining quiet rapidly in the previous months but she suffered a stroke on July 29th that began her journey to heaven.

I was able to come home and spend some amazing time with Grandma before her passing. Those final days are moments I will cherish forever. Her journey to heaven took a total of 11 days and she passed away very peacefully the day before her husband's 42 year anniversary of his own passing. A sweet ending to their love story.

We had an amazing memorial service to celebrate her full life. It was comforting to have wonderful family and friends surroundings us that day. A touching part of the service was when all of the grandchildren each shared a special memory they had with grandma. I would like to share mine with you...

I would have to say looking back on my 28 years of life so many of my lifelong memories are wrapped up in Grandma Kathryn. Figure skating lessons at 6:30 in the morning, car rides back and forth to school, Christmas mornings breakfast, going to church every Sunday together, taking care of me when I was sick, buying my first car, sewing my senior prom dress and our annual summer trips to California to name a few.

But the one attribute that touches my heart the most when I think about Grandma Kathryn that may surprise most people is her sensitivity. As a young girl I remember being very upset about something and running around the block to her house and crawling into her arms on her green rocking chair and crying. I remember vividly that day Grandma rocking me and sitting quietly and listening. Her calm voice eventually spoke telling me in her own words that everything would be fine. She had a special way of fixing things.

It's ironic that again 20 years later I found myself in the same situation but this time crying to her because I was saying goodbye for the last time. I again laid on her chest and told her how I was feeling and she listened. Even though she didn't speak this time she still fixed my sadness I was feeling through her eyes.

Grandma has been such an important part of my life and helped mold me into the daughter, sister, wife and mother I am today. I love you Grandma Kathryn.

Grandma meeting Trey for the first time.