ELDER PHELPS IS IN PARAGUAY

How about that? My missionary is in Paraguay! I know I am a biased mother but isn't that the BEST looking missionary you've ever seen! Here he is w/ his companion Elder Villegas from Santiago, Chile. Having a native S. American is going to MAKE him learn that Spanish quickly. Sky had a good trip but they lost one of his bags. Unfortunately it was the one with his clothes in it. Hopefully he's gotten it by now. He says it's about 95 -100 degrees with lots of humidity. He is doing well! They had a baptism the day after he got there and he bore his testimony. He doesn't know if any one understood but at least HE knew what he was saying:] He must of gotten a haircut before he left the MTC 'cause his hair is short!

He looks GREAT!

Another Gary update (I hope this is the last one. sigh)

Well here we are at day # 10. I am so ready for this boy to come home. He has been doing well the past few days and yesterday started on solid foods. After 8 days of pretty much nothing he thouroughly enjoyed his ravioli and strawberry milkshake:) Since he was able to keep that plus liquid down he has been unhooked from his IV except for when he gets his antibiotic every 8 hours. A few guys from the Grizzlies came to visit (Jake Gannon a backcourt player and Mitch O'keefe a goalie) and they brought him a signed jersey. (Amazingly enough they had beautiful white teeth. Not dentures. I just always picture hockey players with missing teeth:]) Just one of the perks of being at the PCMC over the holidays.

A rumor is going around that the some Jazz players are coming later today. That'd be sweet! I swear my husband is such a kid at heart. He loves cartoons. He saw that "The Grinch" was on TV and snuggled up to Gare and they were both just having a hoot. Of course, Rick was cracking jokes through it. Gary's in stiches. HAHA

Well, the news for today is that Gare's White Cells were up yet again so at noon they took another CAT scan. There is still a bunch of fluid in his abdomen so they are going in either tonight or in the morning with a needle and sucking the stuff out. Sounds fun, huh? Luckily, Gare will be sedated and won't remember a thing. The word is that maybe he can head home either tomorrow or Sunday. If there is infection inside of him they'll insert a picc line for us to administer his meds through. Until we get the word though he can't eat or drink anything. Right now he is very agitated because he is HUNGRY and EXTREMELY bored and wants to go home. I can't say as I blame him.

Hopefully he can eat soon.......again.

Where are those Jazz players when you need 'em?

Gary update

Just a quick update on the Gary situation. Yesterday (Tuesday) his white blood count was up to 21 so the Dr was wanting to go back in to get a look at Gare's insides. Rick and I both felt that it would be a good time to transfer Gary up to Primary Children's. He was transfered by ambulance yesterday afternoon. This is where he was when he had the original surgery and plus there are a team of doctors who can evaluate him. If he needs a specialist we both feel that this is the best place to be.

Right now it's just a waiting game to see how he tolerates the liquid diet. Gary is sooooo wanting to eat, as you can imagine, since it's been 8 days since he's had anything substantial in his belly. His blood count is down to 18 today which is an improvement. These new anti-biotics must be helping. He has been very chipper today and seems to be doing well on the clear liquids. We are hoping that tomorrow he can move up to maybe pudding or mashed potatoes or something. The dr last night said he thinks it could possibly be an itestinal virus that came after the surgery. It takes about 48 hours to determine that. So here we are waiting. At this point I'm hoping that maybe by Friday or Saturday we'll be headed home. Can't say for sure though.

Gary feels pretty comfortabe here but he very much wants to go home.

Christmas is coming and I still have pretty much everything to do to get ready for it. I'm hopeful that I'll have time next week:)

Thank You all for your love and concern. It means a lot to us.

Update on Gary

I just want to update on how Gary's doing. He looks good in this pic but he actually is in quite a bit of pain. He was still vomiting on Sat. and could not even keep liquids down so the doc put him back on ice chips. (That's miserable) Early sunday morning about 4 the nurse brought him in some pudding 'cause Gare was so hungry. He actually kept it down. So he was on liquids all day yesterday and we took some long walks down the hall to get him moving. He can get up to use the bathroom finally and I'll tell you last night he got up a half dozen times to go. When it hits it hits. He had a lot of visitors yesterday which helps to break up the monotony. He woke up early Sunday in tears because the thought of another LONG day doing nothing was getting to him. I brought up his guitar and some games and I think that helped. This morning the doc came in and said his white blood cell count is up and he wants another cat scan to see if there is any infection in the belly. So no solid food at least until later this afternoon. He actually drank a whol cup of herbal tea and some juice. Improvement there. My hope is that he can come home by Wed. I don't know if that's going to happen but if there's no infection I think it will work.

More Big News

Skylar called from the airport this morning. He first called home and talked to Rick and Kendra and then called my cell phone and talked to Gary and I. He sounds SOOOO good. I loved hearing his voice! He has a 14 HOUR layover in Argentina. He's so excited to practice his spanish. Argentines speak with a castellano dialect so he's not sure he'll be able to understand them. Anyhow, Godspeed my sweet missionary son! I wish you a safe journey!