BEcause of you...

So today is 365 days that we have been without Dan Poly.

BEcause of you Dan...
I cherish every moment I get with my family.
I feel like going to Omaha means more then just going home.
I appreciate Joe, Jp, Kelly, Brandon, and Muel being part of my life.
I realized what true friends are.
I am never alone.
I can relive memories of you in my thoughts and dreams on demand.
I smile about the little things.
I am closer with Aj.
I tell people about my friend Dan, whenever I can.
I wink at the moon when it is shining bright, knowing your watching me.
I got a tattoo.
I wish I would not have left Gross High School.
My friendship with you and Aj's group of friends, is stronger.
I have a playlist dedicated to you on my Ipod, full of Corey Smith, Eric Church, and Kid Cudi.
I enjoy Rolling Rock & PBR.
My heart is bigger, and when I say "I love you" I 100% always mean it.
I can not wait to tell people the story behind my tattoo.

Those are just a few things Dan has helped me to see in the past year. Seems like it was yesterday we lost you, and here we are a year later. We still miss you in and out of everyday. Keep watching over us, and thank you for showing me what matters. I love you.

SNOW DAYYYY

Here in Solon today, we have THE first snow day of the 2011-2012 school year, ya..I'm in college and i shouldn't care, but being a nanny, I still get to have that feeling when we were younger, and my brother would wake me up to watch the new to find out if we got enough snow, then it was flash......CATHOLIC SCHOOLS CLOSE. And you would INSTANTLY get chills, then go back to bed because you got up two hours earlier then normal, just to find out you don't have to get up. Well this morning, I still called my brother (he works for the school district) and I still got chills. Something growing up, will never change.

 Then on Pinterest I saw this picture:

My Time Away.

I lost track of time,  summertime, fall, football season. I just could get a grip, so that would be my excuse for my lack of blogging in the last half of 2011.

UPDATES:

My Back-  Remarkably better! I am definitely on the mend I like to think, working out is sometimes an issue, I just have to control it. Getting stronger everyday, I can successfully say I can ride in a car for 4 hrs without stopping! That is a miracle from a yr ago. Thanks for everyone support, prayers, and thoughts…without you all I would not have made it.

School- I am enrolled in a Radiology program, I have an amount of time left.  (a yr and a half) but I am making progress J It is all online as of now, and eventually I will transfer to St. Luke's/Kirkwoods program. And that’s just today, it would change tomorrow! I am still a full-time, live in nanny for two very very special boys who I love dearly.  

Family- Everyones good, we continue to pray faithfully for Carson and his journey to a better lifestyle. (http://jamiekommer.blogspot.com if you would like to find out more about him) Mom and Dad are great! Busy as always. Aj is coaching, and working for the school. Corri is getting older, stronger, and even more beautiful. Kommer’s live close, Mckee’s came for thanksgiving, and Kelly was here for Christmas! Everyone’s doing well.  

I am going to try to blog more! Hopefully 2012 will be a breeze of positive for me, no more doctors.

News From Room 403

Hi all, Corri here. I'll be letting you all know how Abby is doing as she starts recovery. For those of you who don't know, today, May 19 2011, Abby had a Lumbar Disectamey as a solution to the herniated disk in her back. A pretty big surgery for such a young girl. After going into surgery at 11:50 a.m. she came out at 1:45 p.m., and went into recovery for an hour. Dad was here to greet her when she came out, I unfortunately had to go to school. Over the course of the day she had many visitors to keep her company and lift her spirits. She has a incision about five inches long on her lower back. The biggest excitement after the procedure is her ability to feel her left foot and there is no pain in her left leg. We thought that day may never come after the five months of waiting. There is still pain in her back, as to be expected. She received more medicine to help about ten minutes ago, and she is drifting off to sleep.

When I arrived today, around 9 p.m., for the first time in a long, and I mean LONG time, Abby said to me, "This is going to make me better". This makes me confident that God sent us to surgery for a reason, he gave us the best, most skilled doctor we could have asked for. Finally, Abby can see the light at the end of this tunnel, though she has a very long road ahead of her, with help from family, friends, and God of course, she will make it and be back to her normal self by next year.

Please continue to include Ab in your prayers, recovery is going to be challenging.

Thanks, Corrigan (a.k.a the baby)

Lumbar Discectomy

So it has been awhile since I have updated. I have been busy with the boys I take care of, the lake opening, and...my back!

Tomorrow morning, Mom and I will head to St. Luke's, for my hopefully final step of these herniated discs I have. I will be having a lumbar discectomy, which means they will go in my back, shave away some of my bone, to make more room for my nerves, and then fix my disc, and spinal canal which had a slight tare in it from the disc pushing out into it. That will (we pray) fix my leg pain, and back pain! :)

Anyone who knows me even a little, knows that I am terrible with anxiety, even when it comes to little events, let alone..a back surgery. So, the past week I have been trying to stay very busy, kind of dove head first into my lake stuff trying to make sure to have it all done in time for this. I will be taking a little over a week off work down at the lake, and my boys will be with my Best Friends, Sarah, also my boss, Tina, is arranging a lot of stuff to make up for me being gone. I cant say thanks enough to the both of them, without them, my mom, Ben, and Corri, I probably would have cancelled surgery already. But to say the least, I am nervous, and scared. Everyone has told me to have faith, which I always do. I just know that this is going to fix me, after surgery, I will return to my ass kicking therapist Jake, who I hate...a lot, but love at the same time. I have been with him since January 13, three times a week. He has helped me loose weight, get stronger, and help with a lot of the pain. He believes that this surgery is the right thing for me, so..i believe him!

All I want to ask is that if you read this, just include me in your prayers. I am very nervous, I will be honest. I am scared for when I wake up in recovery, I will not see my mom, which I more so feel bad for the nurses. I am scared for life after, and recovery process. I am scared of the brace, and looking like a freak show. And I am scared I will get depressed sitting around the house waiting to heal. To Kaylee and Carson, i go by Abby go go. I go alllll the time. There is always things to be done, money to be made, fun to be had, and beer to be drank in the life as Abby. I just hope I learn to relax, breath, and heal...fast! :)

But I will be turning my blog over to My little sister, and best friend Corri. Who will keep everyone updated during this process and stay at the hospital. I could be there anywhere from 1-3 days.

Thanks beforehand for the prayers and thoughts, hopefully as soon as they put me under, my good friend Dan will be there to comfort be and pull me thru this. I know hes watchin out for me in a better place. Keepin' me and everyone else safe. No doubt he will keep me strong thru this adventure.

Livin' Part of Life

Nothing to crazy going on around here, family is doing well, Aj turned 23, Guy made it through his biopsy, and I am recovering from my Myelography I had on Tuesday. A myelography is when they inject die into your spinal canal and then moved me around and took x-rays to see where my nerves are damaged in my back, and legs. I was in the hospital for about 6 hrs, it was a long day. Now I am just getting over the pain in my lower back which is sharper then prior procedure, and a lot of headaches which was to be expected. Still doing therapy, laying low, and just trying to deal with it. My back feels like it is never going to get better. BUT I have a new doctor, who I like a lot; Aunt Peg (or cousin if you want to be political) referred us to her at St. Luke’s. Everyone at St. Luke’s so far has been very nice, whether it is in person or on the phone. And they call back right away too. I like it, a lot. It is much easier to be injured and have Doctor who is proactive in getting you better...even though it’s taken awhile :)

That’s just the low down on my back; hopefully I will be getting better. Throughout all this, back stuff, needles, and medicine, I have been thinking a lot, and those who know me, know that’s not always a good thing ;) But, awhile back when I was dealing with this and our friend Dan past away, my mom said to me "Think you can explain the difference between emotional pain, and physical pain?" I have been thinking about that since she asked. A lot of different things come to mind. 

My back has been intense. Needle after needle, knot massage 3 times a week and trying to lose weight all at the same time when my back will not even bend. I have spent a lot of time with doctors, and my physical therapist, who I know see more than some of my best friends, he pushed me hard every day. But the pain throughout all of this had been constant. The pinch of the needle going in epidural after epidural, and the pain of Jake (my pt) rubbing out my back muscles day in and out, it never changes. It hurts, it is hard to deal with, but with some medicine, ice, and rest I can make it through everyday life. But emotional pain, that pain that lives with you every single day, like the loose of our dearest friend Dan, who can never be replaced, just the thought of missing him still bring tears to my eyes. There are songs, beers, and saying that if I hear or see, immediately I see and hear Dan next to me, with that unforgettable smile, and outstanding hugs. He would not want us to cry, but damnit. It is just not fair. Dealing with something so...monumental makes me back pain so minimal. I have noticed that throughout all this, physical pain can be so 'intense' but yet so...backseat at times to the emotional parts of life. Maybe it is just me.

Havin' a ball!

It's been awhile!! But my goal is to keep dedicated to this, 'blogging' so I will!

Life has been crazy the past few weeks!

Our lovely family just returned from spring break, a nice weekend in Omaha, NE. We all stayed together at the Settle Inn in Bellevue. The grand total in attendance was 19 at points. On Friday, we went to cross-town rivals, Holy Ghost, for a delious fish fry.

The fish was so good!

And the family time was amazing!

 Then headed to the old neighborhood bar, Darby's! After Darby's we went to Dj dugout. As you can imagin in my family, there was plenty of beer invloved, and many many laughs. Made many new memories and reminisced about old ones.

The is my newphew #4, whos name is Darby, he was named after this bar!

Saturday was packed full of adventures!

First off- behind the scenes at the Omaha Hendly Doorly Zoo! Which was amazing! We were fortunate enough to go into the bottom of all the buildings and see what they do to keep the animals and everything enclosed. We also had the oppertunity to feed the giraffes! Which was SOOO cool!

Our new friend Sam!

They were so cool!!

After that we headed to the Aquarium, which was so very neat! We went inside to find we were meeting a Penguin! And on the way to the Zoo, I was talking with Kaylee (grandchild #5) and she told me that was her favorite animal! Everyone was very excited, including Kaylee! The penquins were very soft, but look oily. Really were a neat thing to see so up close and personal.

Kaylee and her favorite animal

Then we walked around, and visited all the other animals, it was a very fun day at the zoo! Lots more pictures via facebook. But all the kids has a wonderful time, and we learned lots!

Thanks mom and dad for getting that for our spring break!

 After the Zoo, we headed back to the hotel. It was a moment of down time before we were on to Family Pictures, and with 19 people in our family, you can only imagin how it went. LOTS AND LOTS of organization, and communication. Maybe the two biggest things our family lacks! But as they say, we might not have it all together, but together we have it all! That fits our family omost to well. After hectic amount of pictures, we had a nice steak dinner with everyone at Casio's in South Omaha! After dinner, the children retreated back to the hotel. And I went out for a night on the town with my lovely Big Sister, Jamie!

We always have so much fun!



We went to numerous bars, but my favorite was the Sushi house we were to, call Hiro I believe. My brother-in-law Dave Kommer, his brother Phil, worked there. So we had a ball, and I tried a saki bomb for the first time. It was a rough sunday morning, but I had a great time! Thanks for takin me with, and also thanks to Nick and Amanda Allington for joining us!

Jamie and her Bud Light!

Me and my radiation beer ;) it was a japan beer, that went with the saki!

All in all, we had an outstanding trip. It was so so good to see all my family, together for a weekend in about 2 years! The good times with you all are endless, and the laughs are something I could never forget. I am so luck, and blessed to call you all my siblings, and I look forward for what it to come! :) <3