Look at me Now!

Hey Man!
Well here I am at home and things have now gotten so much better even though my wife and daughter are working together today and they are not getting along at all. I am hoping that after they start working together things will get better. Especially since they have two houses together today. So that's about six to seven hours together today. I get to stay home and I guess I am waiting for the publix job that someone was suppose to get me. I keep looking and someone was suppose to put a good word in for me. But really it doesn't look that way. He is a very reputable person too. I just keep truging along even though nothing seems to be happening. So here I am, at home kind of waiting. But I do look alot during the day for all types of employment. Mostly through the computer but I have gone to several stores and put in my application. I also put many many applications in the stores by way of the computer. I really need employment with medical insurance to go with it. So here I am waiting and looking. I am hoping too that my daughter is doing alright since her in-laws have arrived and things are not going well with her marriage. That is so very sad and it is very hard to do anything except hope that everything works out. We always are hoping that marriages don't break up but always stay together. So here I am, look at me now.

It's the Airport!

Hey Man!
Last night we had to pick my daughter up at the airport so the first mistake among many was not calling first to find out if the plane is running on time. So we just head down there as if the plane is going to be on time even though it's been raining alot all week and it is pouring now. How bout that! Well we arrive and look for her and of course we don't see her so the police signal you to keep moving at all times. So we get out and we start moving things around in the trunk so it looks like we got our passenger and we are now loading but of course wwe're not we haven't even seen hide nor hair of our daughter. So now they have pushed us so we have to circle the airport one more time. My idea is to go into the airport to find her while they circle again. So as I am looking at the plane arrivals I see the plane is over 1 hour late and it hasn't landed yet and won't for awhile. Now it's really pouring outside so I can just imagine what they are going through outside now. They must be circling several times at least. When the plane finally lands and I meet with my daughter we go outside and call my wife who has been circling this airport like nobody's business. She finally sees us and as she's pulling up I can see she is yelling at the cop right beside her. She is telling him that this is her family. And he is telling my wife to keep calm and this is continuing as we are getting in the car, my daughter is yelling to my wife stop yelling and the cop is saying calm down lady in his jamacan accent. So she pulls away and we think we can still hear the cop saying calm down in the distance. My wife now pulls over and says I've had enough so someone else please drive home! By now it was late so my daughter took the wheel and I even got in the back so my wife could relax on the way home.

Rain, Rain!

Hey Man!
Yes it is, it is raining here and in florida, also raining all over route 75 the road we had to travel on most of the trip, yikes! Well we will plan another trip to miami in the very near future. Now the girls have told me that my mom is not doing good at all which I did not hear that at all. I thought she was on the road to recovery but after they went to see her they felt she was doing very poorly. So now I am really feeling badly since when I cancelled the trip I felt I could easily see my mom somewhere down the road since she was doing good. I had talked to her on the phone and she sounded real good or at least I thought so. Now I have to start thinking of my next chance to go see her since all this has happened. Also we wanted to see our grandson while my daughter was gone and since they are not getting along we are thought to put bad things in our grandson's head, which we felt very badly about. We really love that boy very much and believe it or not we have nothing against our son in law either. He seems to be the same man now as before to us and really we always liked him. We have to say liked instead of love since we don't want to get our daughter mad at us. It is always such a mess especially when we get along with the man. We really were hoping their family would last but I think that with the economy as bad as it is, it also works on relationships in a very negative way too. It is hard when money needs are hurting and jobs are scarce, we feel it personally also. We do keep them in our prayers and we do hope things can go well for them. We do not want to see their home broken sincerely. I guess when it rains it pours and it has been pouring, but I felt like I was seeing an end to the bad times that were happening to us as a family. Truly I can see that the bad times personally could be at it's end, not the economy but the things directly related to our lives and our home. The bad may come to an end finally.

We didn't go!

Hey Man!
When we woke up on friday we went down to the TV and we were watching the weather on all channels and what we saw was rain rain rain just about everywhere. So it looked like there would be plenty of rain all the way down. We did not like what we saw for sure. As we were watching the more worried we got over all the reports. I finally said to my wife that I think we should cancel this trip because it looks too dangerous. It had so much rain on every road there and back. The ocean was said to be so ruff that no one would be allowed anywhere near the ocean since the rip tide was so bad. We thought if the rooms that we had reserved let us cancel than thats what we should do. So as soon as we called they understood about the bad weather and they cancelled the room with no charge at all. That was something since they are known for not ever cancelling any rooms for people. But we did explain that we were in georgia and the roads there were very dangerous because of the rain. We are sad not to see my mom since she is sick in the hospital but when my wife has bad thoughts or dreams about bad things happening to us if we drove then do not try to travel. She has been right about stuff like that almost always. So here we are still in georgia.

We Leave Tomorrow!

Hey Man!
Well it's here, and tomorrow is when we leave for the wonderful and beautiful Miami. Yes that is Miami Florida. Wow! We will be staying right on the beach. We are hoping that the weather is beautiful and we want it to be hot too. We want to get a good tan down there. But we are also there to see mom and she doesn't seem to be doing real good. She was on the road to recovery but she stopped everyone from giving her medical attention so now we are left in limbo. So we will see when we arrive if things will be very crazy or what. We leave tomorrow night very late, actually it will be Saturday morning since it will be around 4 am in the morning. Now we are arguing over whether it should be 3 or 4 am when we leave. Maybe we should just make it at 2 am, Huh? Well either way we will see the beach which we really miss since we are from good ole Miami Florida. Yeh! I really am concerned about my mom since we can't take her to live with us so if she can't be released and live on her own she may have to live in a home and I really don't think it would be a real nice one either. So now we will see what is waiting for us. I hope it doesn't end up being a sad journey.

Is it Going to be Alright?

Hey Man!
Well right now it seems like everything may work out. We are going to miami this week but we should get through that alright. But financially we should do alright. I do need to find some work when I do get back so I could get to be insured with the company. Since medicare is only when you are 65 years old and I will be 61. A few years too young right now. I hope with the way this economy is I can get something with a medical package. But now I have to worry about my mom getting through her procedure she has today. They will be checking on her heart to see how it is since she had the open heart surgery done. There is alot still going on but as long as that other thing is exempt than everything will go real good and that makes me happy.

Graduation Day!

Hey Man!
Today is Damaggio's graduation, its a very special day for our grandson. We are all going to the graduation day celebration at the school tonight. Also my mom is still in dire straights. She was taken out of health south in the middle of the night around 4 am and then sent to the Baptist hospital because her pneumonia got so bad. She even had a priest come in today since she thought this was her last moments to be alive. She knew someone that got their heart operated on and then got pnemonia and died right after that. So of course she now believes her time is coming to a quick end. She is in the emergency of Baptist Hospital and she feels that no one knows where she is and she is feeling very lost now. It is very sad that some of the family still looks to blame others for their bad fortune. It is the same thing always. One sister is able to visit her and some want to look for the bad instead of comending her for her visits. I am going to Miami at the end of the week to see her from Atlanta, Georgia. Let's hope for the best!

It's Friday, Whew!

Hey Man!
This was really some day. First the doctor's visit was first and it is a new doctor which is always scary. I saw my wife's cell phone on my way out so I really thought this was a good thing for sure. So I took the phone with me and I thought I was flying high with that phone. Well it rang on my way to the doctor's and then on my way home and then I called some wrong people and had to call them back to apologize. It was a very funny day with that phone. I felt I got a chance to be in the year 2009 and I failed miserably. Yes I did. I couldn't handle all the commotion having that cell phone and I think having a new doctor after 4 years contributed to the whole mess too. My daughter Gabriella called to staighten out the mess we had with our vacation plans too. She really made things alot better and I use to be a very good planner. That's what I use to do was to plan parties and trips. Not anymore. I had made a mess of things until she made it right again. Then I received a package from Kristina and Julie and they mailed me the hot peppers and they were so very good. Hot Hot Hot! What a nice package that was. I was so very happy to get my package from Miami.

Moved to Health South!

Hey Man!
Where did she go? What happened to her? Oh no! What is going on now? That is some of what was going on last night with my mom. No one new where she was or who took her where. My mom was really lost or we thought so anyway. I know the final episode of lost was coming on that night but this is ridiculous for sure. Finally at about nine at night I found that mom was taken to a place called health south. It is to help her prepare to go home. Even though she has water on her lungs from being left alot without getting her self changed. So sitting there in bed all wet has brought the cold on her lungs right now. She is still in quite a bit of pain also but believe it or not she was in a pretty good mood with all that going on. And you know that having your pants wet at her age and sitting in it for long periods of time is no fun, no fun at all. But that didn't matter mom was in a good mood. I think jsut hearing someone she knew gave her a good feeling of being found. She knew at that point she wasn't lost anymore. Even with the episode of lost coming on she didn't feel a part of it at all and that made her very happy. I did check that she brought her flowers with her and she did. They did cost me and me being somewhat cheap when it came to buying flowers I was very concerned that she got something from those flowers and that being told that they would help in the healing process. So I in turn felt like they were worth the money spent on them. She did tell me that they were all purple with one yellow one in the middle and she thought that was a little odd. But knowing they would help her heal made a big difference. Maybe it was the one big yellow flower in the middle that made large attraction, whatever it was my mom was happy with it and that made them worth anything that they cost. They made her feel good and since I was not able to visit yet and I was far away they made me feel I was involved with caring for my dear mom. That was just great!

Wednesday is Here Finally!

Hey Man!
Well tomorrow is the day that we all go to the lawyers office for that all imprtant conference call. Between my mom having her operation and calling her everyday and then dealing with everyone wanting to take the vacation to Miami for a wee, I have my lawyers offer finally coming in. This is so very important for me since I am looking for it to take me to my early retirement. Even though I will have to take less money by going early, it seems like the only way to go at this point. I had always hoped to stay at the hotel till it was time to retire but it did not go that way. So tomorrow I have to hope I get a half way decent offer so I can make it to retirement without loosing my shirt and everything else too. It is really not fair since I was hurt at work and I had been there over 19 years. Where is justice in this world. So tomorrow I am going with my wife and my daughter Daniella by my side. They both have looked out for me from the very beginning of all this happening. I pray that I will get enough so I can continue with my life. It is a very tense and scary day, I could even call it Scary Movie 5 if I had to. As you can see I am starting to loose it myself now. Well I still have to call my mom to say goodnight, since she had such a strong will to live when so many look to take the easy way out instead of putting up the fight. It meant quite alot to me to see her choose to live and to go through such a painfull operation in order to have some extra years of life. My mom is already 80 years old but since her mom made it to 97, my mom is looking at another 15 or more years left for her. And she doesn't want to loose not one of those years. She has the strong will that really left an impression on all of us for sure. My mom came to the head of the class this time. She showed us to live and even put up the fight to live if you have to since life is really worth it.

It's Coming Up!

Hey Man!
This week I get to go to the workers comp court and hear some of the offers that they plan to put on the table for me to look at. It is such a serious day since I really need to be able to make it to early retirement. Since I can't work was I was trained to do I basically need to just about start all over and that is not the easiest thing to do when you are already 60 years old. It is a hard thing to do, job hunting at my age. I had planned to stay at my job till I was ready to retire but now I don't have much chance for that to happen since I hurt my foot and the doctors did not find out my ailment until I walked on the damaged foot for over 5 months. By that time they tried to accuse other things that may have caused it to happen. But I know that the piece of metal fell on my foot and put me in that position of trying to get everyone to see the real truth. Life is hard enough but when companies doubt the truth of things even when you have been with them for over 19 years, it can be very devastating. Life has really changed for me and now it is on the brink of going either up or just way out there for me. I am praying for the truth to be eveident and that way I will get through this alright.

Time does not Fly !

Hey Man!
That is what my mom said now, time does not go by fast when you are trying to recover from an operation such as this. She said even at night she needs someone to come in to adjust her and to move her and to fix things all concerning her chest. She does keep repeating that she would never have gone through with this knowing what she knows now. I am very glad I didn't tell her that i saw the documentary about heart operatins and it was very graphic showing everything that's done when they operate on your heart. The way they cut you wide open to get in there to move that heart around. Wow! It really is some procedure that they perform on you. She is still going through quite a bit of stuff now too. They are removing a pump that is in her neck today. She said that is very uncomfortable to deal with along with the other things that she isdealing with. Still one of the first things she said was that my sister Dolly has not been there to see her yet. Now her daughter Toni has been there so that is a real plus since she hasn't been there. She does live in Melbourne and that is around four hours away. Also she said she would go home when it's time with mom to help her get used to being at home again. The way it looks is that it will be awhile before she is able to go home and take care of herself. Since not only is there the heart condition but mom has bad legs and it is very hard for her to get around. So she has a few things that she will have to deal with. She also has a live in houseman that takes care of things too. He will lift her in and out of her chair and supposedly will clean the house also, but it look's like he has given that job up which should not be. Mom does take care of his food and he has his own room and she makes sure he has the necessity's of life in order to get by. This is really the time that I wish I lived close by. I know I could do alot for mom especially since I am home and I have the time to take care of my mom. I want to go visit but if I just jump into it then I won't be able to stay long and then I won't be able to go back right away if I need to either. My court is coming up in the middle of next week so then I will know if I will be able to continue life with a smile or not. I mean I have damaged my foot permanently and I can't work like I used to in the hotel business. At my age I was a real work horse, I kept up with the best of them no matter what their age. After 19 1/2 years at that hotel I really miss it alot. I miss the guests and the people I worked with alot. That was my second home for sure. And now I have a club foot since that thing fell on my foot. I was only two years away from early retirement too. Good thing I don't believe in luck or I would be thinking about how bad it is, wow... I pray for my mom to get better and to not feel the pain and discomfort and I do pray for myself to find my way. When I go to the court there should be things in place that do take care of me at least until my retirement age which is only in two to five years. I am very thankful for the wonderful privilege we all have to pray to our heavenly father.

Friday is Here!

Hey Man!
Today is the day my mom is suppose to get her own room. Then everyone can visit her or at least not have any excuse to visit her. I do live in Atlanta Georgia so I am the furthest away from her in Jackson Memorial hospital. But I have one sister that is in Melbourn Florida and that is a little more than 4 hours away so that is pretty far too. Last night my brother was there visiting as he pretended he was a delivery person so parked where they park and went up the back way and got himself into the room and even though you are not suppose to have cell phones he called me and put my mom on the phone to talk to me. That was really a treat I have to say. We both had a tear in our eye over that. I am hoping that my daughter Gabriella goes to see her today or at least tomorrow. She does live in Ft. Lauderdale and that is only an hour or so away. We are still looking to go down there to see mom, we might go next weekend since I do believe that Daniella is off that weekend. We all came together to show our love to mom our matriarch of the family.

They Cut Me Like a Chicken!

Hey Man!
Well it really ended up being a very good day since I got to talk to my mom after all. Robert my brother called me from the hospital and he said guess who I have on the phone. He said yes it's mom. So he handed my mom the phone so we finally got to talk. It was really great, I could tell she was with a tear in her eyes and so did I. It was so very great to talk to her. She just had a very serious operation on her heart where they cut open her chest. Her chest is very painful since they do open you up with a machine that spreads you wide open so they can get in there with their operating tools in order to open her closed valve, like my mom says they cut me open just like a chicken. My mom has done alot of cooking in her day and that is how a chef describes that type of operation, opening me up like they're cutting open a chicken. Yikes! She was in such good spirits and was surprisingly in a very good mood. Wow! She is 80 years old and she is coming through this with flying colors, at least so far. Tomorrow we will see what comes next. It is funny to hear that since she believes in a burning hell for bad people, so because of that she fought to not die yet since she feels that she needs to get some more good things done so she could be heading the opposite direction of that burning hell that she thinks might be waiting for her!!!

The Third Day!

Hey Man!
Well here it is my mom is in her third day of getting cut open like a chicken as she says it. It was her heart operation but she likes to say it that way. Before she went into the hospital really not too many of the family was speaking. But now we talk every day all about mom. Sometimes when something bad or an emergency it really tests how strong the family is. Because that's when the family should come together no matter what. And with our family that's just what happened. Even though we had these little quirks about each other everyone forgot it or at least put it way in the background while mom was going through this true test of her strength. Mom is 80 and this was a long and serious operation that she has gone through just three days ago. So today I will be talking to all the family memebers about what we can each do. Julie who is my sister has gone to see her three days in a row with her family. That has truly been alot on her and she should be congradulated for all she has done so far. It's time for the rest of us to step up which will happen. We just need mom to stay strong.

Two days After the Operation!

Hey Man!
We kept calling my mom and taking messages and planning trips all day. Now the next day is here and we are still manning the phones calling each other about how our mom is doing. She is still holding onto her strong will to live. And it is reallt a strong will to keep living on. My mom is 80 and she wants all the possible years that are coming to her. She really believes that God has many more years in store for her still. She is not ready to go. She has now passed on that will to me and I believe to my sister and that is so very important. It is a valuable thing to hear about too. That will to live no matter what. She is not living in luxury either. She has alot of worries every day also. But no matter what she wants to get through it and to live on. Wow! I am so proud of her since this was really a surprise to me and really to all of us. She got very excited when she heard that we all got very excited and got a real boost when we found that she really wants to live. My mother when she was in her early 20's tried to commit suiside. At that time she had everything, including a new car every year, she lived in a big house and she also had servants to take care of all her needs. She was very spoiled with all that she ever wanted. So today I waited for my sister who went to visit her to call me with the information but she has not called me yet. With the privacy act they still can't call us with any vital information. But she is eating somewhat and they did discuss some foods and receipes. She loves to tell people how they are suppose to cook something. Her Italian dishes are so delicious and really powerful. Yum! So I am back to waiting to hear from my sister and then my other sister is going to visit her right after work at around six o'clock tonight. Yeah! My brother is also planning the trip too. The nurse did tell me that she will stay in ICU all of today. There are several things that could turn things around very quickly. So it is good that she stays where she is now because they watch her every move. Life for all of us seems to stop though since we are now left on hold. Waiting to see what the next steps there is for mom now. We do need to keep ourselves on ready so in a moments notice we could be there by her side. Too bad it takes a ten day notice to get the good price for a plane ticket. You hate to think about cost at these times but in reality you just have too. Like you have to figure who will go and who really can't go either. Now I am also hearing that storms are coming through the area right now. So now not only will I go back to listening to any break in her health but I will be on a tornado watch also. People also gain some religion that before had none. If anything could be a little funny at this time it's my poor my thinking about her religion. She was raised a Catholic, even went to catholic school. So since she has a belief in hell being a place where the bad go to burn everlasting. She said she really isn't ready to die since if she did at this time she believes that she may be headed for that place, so she would like a little time to make a better name for herself so she could avoid going to that place they call hell. Things like that make my poor mom just a little more scarred than she should be. We all said our prayers for her and we continue the watch for mom.

The Day After!

Hey Man!
My mom was operated on yesterday at nine am and she is now in ICU recovering. My mom is 80 years old so recovery is quite a big deal. My oldest sister and her daughter are on their way to see her now. When I call to see how mom is they can tell me just so much and because of the privacy rules they can not tell you too much over the phone. Even when I tell them I am the son from Georgia and I can't get there right now in person so please let me know how my mom is doing and is she looking like she will get through this. They say they can't give that kind of information over the phone, I thought what other type of information would I really want to know other than that. Even when I say what is her prognosis they can't say either. It's almost like they can say she is alive right now only. I have manned the phone all day going from talking to my brother and my younger sister and with really not much information at all. My brother finally said that he will travel to the hospital since they are letting him off work early because mom is where she is. We were all happy to hear that. There was a time when mom started feeling down since the pain of opening her chest was getting pretty bad. She said she did not know if she would have gone through with this if she had it to do over. Then my sister told her that when she told me the story of her really wanting to get through this because she really wanted to live. She told my mom how much that meant to me since many times with my painful legs I have felt I couldn't go on with it all any more. And my mom's spirit was so strong going into this operation, it was really amazing to me and really to all of us. When my mom realized how that meant so much to us in such a positive manner she really perked up, her eyes opened wide and even a big smile appeared on her face. And she has really gone through alot by this time too. At 80 she has gone through quite alot. That is having your chest opened up with that spreader machine and actually having your heart held and massaged by a human being. It is really a huge deal. Forget that show Let's make a Deal, this is really the big deal! She still has a tube in her throat and a tube in her leg but she has eaten something and she is breathing on her own and like I said she is now having this little smile because of the story of showing such a strong will to the family and now she is the as we say in the Italian way, "the big cheese". So she is showing us all a great example of being able to do it in times of pain and distress. I must say it really meant alot to me since with all my pains I have been going through in the last year I have been through those thoughts of not getting through it all. So my mom doesn't realize what those thoughts of hers has done for me. It is really life saving above all. Thank God!

It's Today!

Hey Man!
Yes it is today that my mom at 9 am went for her operation on her heart valve. Yes at 80 years old she had to get this operation since her valve had closed so she really need this to be done. My one sister was there the whole day waiting there for my mom. My other brother and another sister was waiting at their homes to hear how mom was doing. But my sister Julie and her daughter Kristina and her son Dwight were there to be within reach of my mom when it was time for her operation. At 80 she was getting her operation on her heart. It was the maitriarch of the family. She is the big cahoona, the real crime boss in the italian family. With one sister there the rest of the family stood by their stations like champs. We were all loving our mother today. I couldn't speak without crying since my mom was going through it today and we were all with her. The sons and daughters were with mom today. We all love her, yes we do. Mom needed us to be there for her and we were there yes we were. She is still on breathing tubes and she is still bleeding but we gave our names to the nurse and they told her we were with her in spirit. We love the Moma!

It's tomorrow Morning!

Hey Man!
Yes it's tomorrow when my Mom gets her operation on the valve in her heart. It will be a very serious operation since today my mom is 80 years old. At that age it is a very serious operation because the doctors are trying to strengthen the heart so during the operation they are operating when the heart is very weak. Life is so very important to my mom so that is why she is going ahead with this operation, otherwise the doctors said she would only make it for another six months or so. But if she gets the operation she could go on and on maybe ten or more years unless something else gets her. But we do not have cancer in the family at all so if they make her heart stronger she will likely make it into her 90's for sure. My sister is bringing her a load of candy bars today which is the most imprtant thing my mom wanted. I am hoping that my other brother and sister had the chance to call her sometime today. I called each of them to let them know how important it was to call her before her operation to tell our mom how much we love her. Like I said she doesn't have alot of money and doesn't live in a beautiful home but my mom wants to live. That is so very important to her. If my mom didn't help some of her kids so much then she would be living in a very nice place now but she had to give up her home that she had for so many years. I am really praying that she gets through this operation with flying colors since she does live alone so she needs to be able to get around on her own. She has a wheel chair so as long as she get get to it and get off of it to get in her bed or the bathroom then she will be fine. So tomorrow morning is the operation to determine how her days will be.

My Mom!

Hey Man!
Well my mom is turning 80 years old on monday May 3rd. She is in the hospital getting ready to have a heart valve put into her heart so she will be able to live alot longer the doctor says. She has lots of pains but she wants to live. Even though her knees hurt her bad and she has several other things which gives her severe pains. But she wants to go through with this operation on monday in order for her to have several more years of life. I thought that was amazing since she is already 80 on monday. But my mom wants to live. She is prparing herself to go through this operation and then through therapy and then she will be strong enough to hop into her wheel chair to get around. She won't be able to walk around but she will get around just enough to fulfill her needs. I am amazed how people just want to live almost no matter what. The only thing she wanted before her operation was to have some hershey bars and some good n' plenty candies. We are sending them to her and we are really hoping she gets through this very serious operation. She feels she will make it and she has us all believung that she will get through it. The doctor says the only thing working against her is her weak heart but when he is finished with the operation it will be stronger, alot stronger. She has the will, now let's hope she has the strngth too.

What a Swine!

Hey Man!
the swine flu or H1N1 influenza A, has symptoms nearly identical to regular flu, which is fever, cough and sore throat and it spreads like the regular flu through tiny aprticles in the air when people cough or sneeze. Especially when it's the person that does not put his hand over his mouth at all and just blows it all over the place. You've seen those people who just don't care, it's like they don't believe they have germs at all. Basic hygiene like washing your hands is becoming imperative. People should wash their hands for at least 15 seconds or the length it takes to sing happy birthday. With me it would be singing a kingdom melody. Hand washing is so important in the removal of germs, and it's not the temperature of the water but the length of time you wash those hands that's important. The case in Georgia happened because the woman took a trip to Cancun with her daughter. Like this is a good time to go to Cancun, not even if you got the trip free. And on top of it she took her daughter and she has not come down with any symptoms yet. Gwinnett County Schools plans to send letters about the flu to parents as soon as possible. The letter will share some basic information with you about the swine flu and what you can do all because the safety of our children are our top concern.