Jeff's hand surgery

Jeff's new low-profile brace.

The pin as it was for 5 weeks (below, but it was always covered with a cast) and it being removed (above).

The scar on Jeff's thumb. This was right after the cast came off so it is a lot of dried blood, dead skin, and some drawing done by the surgeon. It cleaned up quite nicely.

A fuller version of Jeff's hand injury and surgery: On Valentines Day Jeff went to play basketball with Spencer, Rickey, and some neighborhood friends. The teams were Jeff and three freshmen in high school: Rickey, K.C. Miller, and Alex Berge. The opposing team was made up of three juniors at Timpview and one 8th grader: Eli Robison, T.J. Salmon, and Q. Robison. After Jeff and the freshmen had won a couple of games and were in the proeces of winning the third, Jeff rebounded a ball and collided with T.J, a 6'7'' inch, 240 pound giant. With Jeff gripping the ball with his might, the ball collided with T.J.'s abdomen, which forced the ball, and Jeff's thumb, in the opposite direction. A loud pop and a groan from Jeff announced some kind of injury. T.J. was not sure what had happened because it really was not any kind of bump of note. Regarding Jeff's groan, a few minutes later Rickey asked Jeff why he had groaned so loud. Jeff came home and Kathy immediatly knew something was wrong because Jeff's face was very white and he was getting the chills.

To make a long story short, an x-ray revealed a bone chip inside of the left base of the left thumb, which led the doctor to diagnose a stener lesion--where the ligament tears away from the bone, taking a chip of the bone with it (that made Rickey understand, at least a little bit, why Jeff groaned). An MRI confirmed that diagnosis and the doctor highly recommended surgery, if Jeff ever wanted to be able to grip anything tightly again. So on Monday, March 2nd, Jeff had surgery on his thumb. The doctor put a titanium screw with a little eye on the end of it, into the thumb. He used the eye to sew the ligament right up to the bone. He then inserted a pin into the joint to prevent the joint from moving--the ligament needed time to heal back onto the bone. Jeff wore a soft cast for two weeks, then had the stitches out and got a hard cast for four more weeks. The pin stayed in. The new cast was so wide when measured from the outside of the hand to the end of the extended thumb, that Jeff could not wear any coats except his trench coat because he couldn't get his hand through the sleeve.

Today, the cast came off and the pin came out. It was not as gross or painful as Jeff thought it would be, although he did not look while they pulled the pin out with vice grips. He now has a much smaller brace that he can take on and off. He will wear that for a few more weeks, taking it off a few times a day to stretch the ligament. He wont' be able grip anything very hard for many more weeks while the ligament grows in strength.

Marriage, Music, and Misc Mania

JC and Angie's Wedding



Brother and sister enjoying the wedding.

Sneaking into mom's lipstick with an attitude and sneaking into mom's boots.

Trevor and Aaron adore Timothy, but sometimes he doesn't put up with the flowering affection too well.



Spencer on the bass playing Bizet and Dvorak.

Mikelle's concert.


Dancing to animusic.

Rickey with Grandpa Shumway's letterman sweater, which he wore proudly to school.

Pneumonia and RSV

We have been mindful of Kathy's sister-in-law, Lisa Kay who had a fatal car accident 14 years ago today. Those were difficult days. We often think of Lisa and remember her darling personality. She had 4 young sons at the time and Greg and his 2nd wife DeAnn have done an amazing job raising them. The oldest is now serving a mission in Argentina. We have not forgot Lisa Kay and wanted to mention her today. She donated what organs she could and I have a new appreciation for that gift after living in the "heart world."

PNEUMONIA and RSV!!! Those are two of my favorite words. . . especially when I have one and my sweet babe has the other. What a coughing combo my family has been as of late. We honestly love doctors and appreciate the great gifts they give us. I have lots of photos of Timothy's RSV because I was there to snap them, but I don't have any coughing shots of myself, which is what I've been doing A LOT of lately.

Spencer enjoyed his experience with the wisdom teeth removal (ha ha!) and got after the nurse for not giving him enough pain medicine when "we're paying all of this money" etc. They didn't have too much sympathy for him. I think he thought there would be NO pain.

Jeff had his hand surgery where they re-attached his left thumb ligament and is very sympathetic for those who are disabled. It has really slowed him down to have his left hand completely immobile.

Timothy's hospital stay at UVRMC with dehydration and RSV. Dr. Adams on the right.



Timothy is a spunky little monkey!!!



Jeff coaxing Timothy to eat with new cast.

Memories of Timothy's oxygen taped PJs. He had about a week without it before he was back on and he must be having sweet dreams on the right photo.

Sweet Sarah reading to Timothy during a breathing treatment pre-hospital.

Timothy is always happy about a visit from Grandma Shields.

Broken Hearts

My heart it aching for so many people today. I have watched my sweet sister-in-law Liz as she so gracefully cared for her aging mother who just recently died from complications of a brain tumour. She has been such a dedicated daughter and always took her responsibility so serious and it has not been an easy one--but one that she convinced us all she was proud to take on. Her heart will certainly be aching for weeks, months, and years to come. Mine still aches for my own father, lost to cancer 9 1/2 years ago. It also aches for Sweet Grandma Merrill who misses her loving companion so much right now. What an amazing job she did of caring for Grandpa Merrill all those years.



I've also been aching for sweet "Gracie Girl" and her parents which many of you already know of her story. Find full details on http://www.thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com/ for those with time and a strong heart, but in a nutshell, Gracie was born with Timothy's same condition, HLHS, and has had so many complications and troubles. She finally lost her fight for life on March 2nd, but what a long valiant fight she fought. My heart truly goes out to her parents and siblings, as even my kids were all praying and constantly asking if Gracie was still okay. Timothy one day woke up and wouldn't pray for her heart, but simply said, "Gracie doesn't need a heart, she went home." That was just a few days before she actually died, but I'm sure her Spirit was already hovering between the hospital and home.

I also met a sweet mother up at Primary's who son's water on the brain has had complications where he bled during the brain surgery and has brain damage. She's the primary breadwinner since her husband has a disability and she's commuting back and forth from Logan t Primary's!! My heart certainly aches for her.

What a precious gift each day is. I am more determined to enjoy every single day and try to live life without regrets.



Here's a photo and video of Timothy's favorite Christmas gift--his animals that he often prays for.

Basketball

Wow the months have flown since Christmas!!! A lot of those things I’ve been saving up to do "after Christmas" haven’t even been started yet. We enjoyed going to a lot of Rickey’s basketball games these last two months. He had a good season, and by the end, I would try to sneak away to the games because usually kids don’t want to go to boring games, but no one wanted to stay home, so we all went to his games. (Homework and piano suffered, but it was fun to watch.) They took 4th in the 9th grade State tournie. I’ll post a few video clips of Rickey below for Grandpa Shumway. He is number 22 (orange) and 15 (white). Mikelle and Trevor also played basketball and Jeff enjoyed coaching Trevor's team.

Mikelle's Junior Jazz team

The Moms of the Basketball boys

Rickey's team

Jeff went to play basketball with Spencer and Rickey on Valentines Day and I knew something was wrong asI saw the look on his face when he walked in the door after playing. He said he "jammed" his thumb, but I knew better. He was pale, cold, clammy, and in shock. I predicted right then that he was going to need surgery. He endured the long President’s day week-end and then Shauna Miller squeezed him in to see a hand specialist where after an MRI the need for surgery was confirmed. Dr. Richards did surgery for Jeff to repair his torn ligament connecting his thumb to his hand. He also discovered old basketball injuries in that thumb from college ball days. Jeff could kind of use his hand before the surgery, but now it’s completely immobilized. It has a pin poking out of it to hold it steady. He has new challenges like: buttoning pants, tying shoes, driving, typing, writing, and eating (it’s his left hand and he’s left handed.) He’ll get the stitches and pin out in 2 weeks then get a hard cast for 6 weeks, then a brace etc. All in all, a four month detour away from basketball which is killing Jeff. He has been diligent with his exercise and he doesn’t enjoy running quite the same.

Winter Fun in the backyard with friends. (Sarah, Timothy, Quincy, & Aby)

Soldier Hollow Sledding fun

Spencer with his girls choice preference date, Rachel, (purple Dress) and Boys choice Valentines Date, Shannon, (Black Dress).

My beautiful mom with her oldest sister Geraldine.

Christmas Letter turned to Valentine Wishes

Dear Family and Friends, January 2009
Happy Valentines Day! It’s been a couple of years since we’ve written, so here’s an update, including summaries of our kitchen remodel, open-heart surgeries for our son, and a study abroad to Spain.
January 2007 started out with Timothy’s 2nd open heart surgery when he was 4 months old. He was born with a serious heart problem (hypoplastic left-heart syndrome) on September 6, 2006 and had his first surgery at 5 days old. In the summer of 2007 Kathy’s brother, Alan Shields and other family and friends, kindly helped enlarge and remodel our kitchen. We also added a basement bedroom and storage room under the remodel. The process pretty much destroyed our back yard so we had to redo the grass and sprinklers. It was quite a job, but it was well worth it. We now have a permanent guest room, so come and visit us any time.
In early 2008 we all spent four months in Europe while Jeff directed BYU’s Study Abroad in Spain with 37 students. We were going in 2007, but Timothy’s surgeries prevented that, and we were blessed with another opportunity a year later. We lived in Alcalá de Henares (near Madrid) and traveled extensively throughout the country with the students. After Spain we spent a week and a half in Austria with our friends and former ward-members, Philipp and Kehau Malzl (he’s from Salzburg and she’s from Lai’e, HI). They were so nice to put up with our invasion (literally). Both Spain and Austria were absolutely wonderful. The kids still beg for Spanish pastries, fresh bread, drinkable yogurt, paella, and the gelato from Vienna (among other things). In fact, the kids want desperately to go back to Spain. Now here’s a quick person by person update:
Spencer (17): A junior at Timpview who is now six feet tall (leaving Jeff behind), he drives everywhere in our 1994 Plymouth Grand Voyager. He was on Timpview’s football team that took its third straight state championship. He plays the bass in the school Philharmonic Orchestra. He still loves reading and enjoyed the unabridged Don Quixote while in Spain, but his all-time favorite is still the Harry Potter series. He has recently re-started piano lessons and is learning "Claire de Lune" and aspires one day to play "Dance of the Gnomes" by Liszt.
Eric (Rickey) (15) A freshman at Timpview, he is also taller than his dad. He loves playing the acoustic guitar and playing football and basketball. He was injured for much of the football season but still managed to catch some touchdowns. In basketball he is averaging about 20 points per game on his freshman team. He’s very close to receiving his Eagle Scout Award!! (yippee!) Rickey thoroughly enjoyed his 3 week trip to visit Jeff’s parents in Tonga with Spencer and his cousin Isaac. Thank-you Grandpa and Grandma Shumway!
Mikelle (11) Is excited to enter Young Women’s this summer and join girls camp. She loves piano and her piano composition, Joy, won the "Reflections" contest at the school, district, and regional level, and is now at the state competition. Plays on a AA soccer team and a community basketball team. She also stays busy with flute, pre-Algebra, and voice lessons from her aunt Jennifer Shumway.
Trevor (9) Loves school and sports and takes piano lessons. Played quarterback for his flag football team and currently plays basketball on a community team. He likes drawing and building things at home, like card-board armor suits, or dragons made out of paper and sticks. He’s very determined and always finds a way to accomplish his ambitious designs.
Aaron (7) Is taking off in his reading and other school work. He loves basketball, football, and soccer, and is quite the acrobat. A few weeks ago he stood on his head for 33 minutes, breaking his old personal record of 30 minutes (he was a bit disappointed to learn the world record was 12 days). He is a pro-bowler on the Nintendo Wii.
Sarah (4) Is s a great sister and a wonderful helper in the kitchen. She’s discovered that she doesn’t have an "official" night to cook like the other kids and is pretty bugged about that. She has been the best helper with Timothy through all of his surgeries and is "still addicted to her thumb and blankie" as she put it last night. She still gifts Kathy with naps most days.
Timothy (2): Timothy had the final (hopefully) stage of his open heart surgeries on December 4, 2008 (thus the Valentines letter instead of Christmas). He is a delight and charmer to all he meets. He prays for all the babies in the hospital, for Grandma and Grandpa Shumway in Tonga, and he has a special love for his Grandma Shields. He always watches out for her and scolds us if we forget to pray for her. He loves riding his scooter and trike in the kitchen and playing with the toy animals he got for Christmas (he even blesses them in his prayers). He is still on oxygen at night time, and has been since 3 months old.
Jeff hit the big 40 last August. He spent last November in Argentina researching his current book project. He is usually coaching one of his kid’s teams and is also the second counselor in the bishopric. He tries to play basketball 3 times a week during his lunch hour. He will return to Argentina in April and May as the cultural advisor to BYU’s dance group, Living Legends, on their 3-week tour of Paraguay and Argentina. He is especially excited because Kathy will join him for the last 10 days of the tour (she’s never been to Argentina).
Kathy is just grateful to have survived the last two years. Some of her great accomplishments include: enduring all the emotions and various displacements of Timothy’s three surgeries and a home remodel; teaching a heart baby to nurse, (so much work); getting 9 people across the ocean and safely home, (can you say way too much luggage?!); managing Spanish busses, trains & subways with strollers and young kids; home-schooling 5 different grades while in Spain; and working with the Bear scouts.
We are grateful for the many blessings the Lord has bestowed on us and we hope His blessings will be upon you in 2009 and always. Love the Shumways.

True Talent

We've got some talented friends and extended family. Here are some of my favorites that I happened to catch on video. Asher, Jeff's nephew, worked literally for hours to teach himself this song from August Rush. Doug's talent comes naturally as he can keep us all in laughter with his abilities. This clip is a short clip taken from "Nacho Libre." No one can quite make me laugh like Doug can.

Here's Mikelle after getting her award for the piano song she wrote this year, called "Joy." She won at the school, district, and regional level. I might add a video clip of that or the song she played in Sacrament Meeting a few weeks ago (If you could Hie to Kolob). But Mikelle doesn't love to perform when asked by her mother, so you'll have to check back to see if I suceed.