2012 Christmas Letter

Whew! Another busy year flew by! Glad we all made it past the Mayan prediction (I liked the cartoon that showed the scientist looking at the Mayan calendar with a magnifying glass and saying "What it REALLY says is that it's the end of the Twinkies!" HaHa)
Anyway, I had to look back at the year on my calendar to see what we did this year (since I can't remember what I did yesterday).
Last Christmas we all stayed in a hotel in San Jose while visiting Bob at Stanford University Hospital. They were moving him out of ICU to a private room. From there they started physical therapy sessions. Paine & I flew there again in May for Bob's birthday, gave him a haircut, and saw a big improvement. We met with his physicians and talked about bringing him home with us. Shortly after we left, he was transferred to El Camino, a physical therapy place to get him ready to get out of the hospital. They had him walking 50 or 60 feet at a time.
While he was getting stronger, we were getting our house ready for him. We moved all of the office furniture on the main floor out, had our contractor put in a wider bathroom door, a higher toilet, and safety bars in there. We got a hospital bed and a few other items for him and waited until he could fly out with Paine.
He made it on June 29. He was exhausted from being awake and sitting up all day, but really happy to be out of the hospital and home with us. We fed him and went to bed. He had a hard time waking up in the morning and we just thought it was exhaustion. A nurse came out to check him. He still wasn't waking up so we called the paramedics. They took him to our hospital and checked him out and then he was promptly flown to University Hospital in Seattle. So much for coming home! Anyway, the bright side was he was able to see lots of great specialists at both hospitals and saw his new Drs. right away. More about this later.....

January 29, Gayle started volunteering at the Juvenille Detention Center co-teaching "Beads Behind Bars" every Sunday afternoon and at "Ignite Youth Mentoring" once a month.
Still managing Tapteil Winery part time.
March, 9 after the bathroom construction, we remodeled the kitchen.

March 28, our beloved Hunter went to doggie heaven. He was 12 years old and had a good life as part of our family. We really miss him.
April, Dirk started playing soccer again, but bruised his knee & femur.Had to sit out again this year.
Paine starts playing golf on Fridays.
July, Paine drives Bob back from Seattle. We settle into a routine of nurses, nutritionists, and physical therapists visiting daily.
July 27- August,  we hired full time care for Bob and we went on our pre-planned family vacation to Kauai for 2 weeks. Princeville the 1st week and Poipu the 2nd. We surfed, fished, boated, ate more fish, kyacked, zip-lined, and snorkled.
Oct. Gayle and WWW girlfriends went to Newberg, Oregon for a weekend. Fun time shopping, eating and looking for the Pinot.
Alex was the featured artist at You & I Framing in Kennewick. He has changed the name of his company to Garvie's Glass. He is now selling through Facebook.
November, Kathryn Garvie, Bobs daughter, came for Thanksgiving week.
Grandma Willa becomes a snowbird and flies to Southern Calif for the winter. We miss her!
Nov, more construction on the front of the house. Moved the antiques to a Walla Walla auctioneer, Paine painted, & we got new carpet- thanks BOB!. Next year, we will update the lighting.
Dec.1 Paine & Gayle celebrate their 22nd anniversary in Walla Walla at the Marcus Whitman Hotel.
Dec. 4. Bob & Gayle drive to Spokane to meet the kidney transplant Dr. It looks promising for June or July...
Dec. 22, Bob has his 1st hot shower in 6 months! He's like a new man. He walked over 300 feet today and even went up the wheelchair ramp. So many little victories that we are continually grateful for.
Have a Merry Christmas everyone!
Love, Paine, Gayle, Alex, & Dirk Garvie