Mom

Mom passed away Tuesday, December 15 at 2:04 a.m. She fought for 3 weeks. She is no longer in pain, and that comforts me and my family. We were so fortunate to have her love for the short time we did. Thank you to all of my family and friends who have comforted me during this extremely difficult time. Thank you especially to Matt. He has been amazing through everything. I couldn't have asked for a better person to spend the rest of my life with.

It's official!

We're engaged!!! Matt propsed Friday night/early Sat. morning!!
Here's the details....I know you want 'em!

Matt lit all the Christmas lights inside and outside our house after we got home from a friend's Christmas party. I thought this was a little weird, but didn't mind. :-) We sat down on the couch replaying the night's events of our fun times with great friends. He told me that I needed to check my stocking because it looked a little weird. "It's fine," I told him....not realizing what exactly was going on at first. He said it again....and then I got it...maybe there's something in it I need to see. So, I checked my stocking. Inside was a Timeline that Matt had written chronicling the major events of our relationship. It was 8 pages!!!!!!! I read through each milestone with tears in my eyes. It was so sweet! He's a wonderful writer. The last line said "I think you forgot something in your stocking....." I went over to my stocking to take it down, and I realized there wasn't anything in it. I turned around to tell him, and he was down on one knee. He spoke quickly holding back tears "I cannot live without your love. Will you marry me?" Of course I said YES!!! I got down on my knees so I could hug him. We hugged, laughed, and cried for what seemed like forever until FINALLY I realized that I needed to see my ring! He got it out and put it on my finger....and I gasped! It was beautiful!!!!!!!! He did an amazing job, and I was blown away. We still can't believe we are engaged!

We are planning a beach wedding in Key West for late June. Stay tuned for more details!

Update on Mom

Here's the latest.

On Monday, my brother discovered my mom bleeding and very confused/disoriented. He called 911 and got an ambulance to take her to the ER. I arrived around 7:15 at Spartanburg Regional to find mom extremely confused and very out of it. They kept her overnight Monday. Her kidneys were beginning to fail, and they made the decision to transfer her to MUSC on Tuesday. My family visited her during the day Tuesday before they transferred her. She rode in an ambulance down to Charleston Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, Kevin, Lynn and Jordan came to Charleston to be with mom. Matt and I were spending the day in Spartanburg with my dad. We got a phone call at 6:30 Wed. night from Lynn saying that we really needed to get down to MUSC as soon as we could. When we arrived, Mom was very out of it, and was having trouble breathing. They decided to put in a central line because her blood pressure was critically low. We left around 12:30 Wed. night to get some sleep after the nurses reassured us Mom would be OK throughout the night and they would call if they needed anything from us.

On Thursday (Kevin's birthday and Thanksgiving), mom was not doing well. We talked to the kidney doctor about her condition. He told us that, basically, even if we got her kidneys functioning better that she most likely wouldn't be a candidate for a liver transplant anymore because of her condition. She just wouldn't survive the surgery. So, after many tears and phone calls, we tried to make it through the day without breaking down....it wasn't easy. Our family--my uncle Mike, his wife Denise, and my cousin Michael--came down to see mom and be with us.
Thursday night was better than Thursday morning. She improved steadily throughout the day and was even being a little silly with the staff. This thrilled us!

Right now (Friday), we are pretty much in the same situation. Her kidneys are slightly better, but it's not looking good. We are trying to find out how much time the doctors think we have left with her. Her breathing is sitll very labored.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. My family is going through a lot, and it's the worst time of year to experience something like this.

November....so far....

I know it's been a while...so here's the latest on Matt and Amy:

*Mom came home from MUSC after spending nearly 2 weeks in the hospital with pneumonia (among other things) on October 28. She is still really week, but is all set (hopefully) for her transplant. The transplant board met on Nov. 4 to discuss her case. She should now be listed. The average wait time for a liver is 3 months. Let's hope that she gets that liver soon!!

*Matt and I helped our best friend, Della, celebrate her birthday last week. We went to Strike City to bowl and then to Whiskey River to dance. We had a BLAST!

*We are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving in Spartanburg with my family and celebrating my brother's birthday--which is on Thanksgiving.

*I have started a new workout regimen: P90x! It's intense and has left me more sore than I've ever been in my life, but I love it! Hopefully the results will show VERY SOON!

*We're looking forward to Matt's family visiting for Christmas!! Also, my brother, his girlfriend, and my brand new niece are all visiting from Germany over Christmas, too! I'm really looking forward to meeting Maddie. She's precious!

*There might be an announcement coming soon......Matt and I have looked at rings! :-) Keep checking back for an update. :-)

Third time's the charm, right??

So....take 2....CANCELED AGAIN. It was going to take too long to thicken mom's blood (again). So, we had to reschedule for Monday for the 3rd time to get this biopsy done. We are both very frustrated, and pretty much tired of driving to Charleston every week for this. Hotel bills and gas money is piling up each week....and I swear the people at the Best Western in Mt. Pleasant know us by our first names now. (The girl at the continental breakfast bar smiled at me like she knew me...I swear! And, she pointed to where the grits were like she remembered that was my favorite breakfast food item.
So, Monday it is....hopefully. (Cross your fingers!)

October thoughts from Amy

Hi again! It's been a couple of weeks, but I'm back. I had a great birthday with some awesome friends....then later that week I got strep throat...yuck! Mom went for her liver biopsy and echocardiogram. They had to reschedule the biopsy because her blood was too thin, and it was too dangerous. So, we've rescheduled for Oct. 15. I believe I now know every piece of Interstate 26 between Spartanburg and Charleston....very well! The procedure seems to be an all-day event because they have to thicken mom's blood before they do the biopsy.
I've completed one entry in my National Boards completed....YAY! I now just have to edit and retype it. I plan on using the time in the hospital to work on that. Mom seems well...so just keep praying for us! Thanks for all you've done so far. :-)
As for Matt and I, we've pretty much determined that marriage is in our future. We're thinking Key West since we enjoyed it so much when we visited this past summer. We're looking at next June as a POSSIBILITY. This time next year, I could be Mrs. Rohring....sounds pretty good to me!

When do people turn "old," and other thoughts

I've heard a lot of people (and actually thought a lot about it myself) talking about turning old. This concerns me because I still enjoy going out to bars and having fun with some frosty beverages, but it is getting increasingly difficult to find others to go out with. I know, I know, it gets harder to recover after a night out, but at the same time, I feel that it's well worth a headache the next day to have a fun night with good friends. There's other reasons why people consider themselves old and not suitable for going out as much as they used to, but it just seems like I'm not at that point yet. When will that click in my head? I guess when we have kids, it will be something to think about more carefully seeing that we will be responsible for another life. YIKES! So that's my thought on that. Maybe I'm just crazy, but I really wonder if there is an age or a particular life event that happens to turn that "old" corner.

The other thoughts are going to have to be put on hold right now. They were mainly about how dominating my fantasy football team was this week and how awesome the Bills are. Buffalo lives and dies by their sports team and we really deserve a lot more than last second scoring drives by d-bags like Tom Brady. So I'm just glad when we play well. Hopefully we can contain the Saints offense this Sunday and put up some points of our own. Go Bills!

PS. Amy is being awesome handling this stuff with her mom. She deserves a big hug. I'm lucky to be the one that gives those to her!

Mom update...not looking so good

So, Matt and I came to Spartanburg this weekend to 1) see my family and 2) celebrate my birthday a little early with them. I left my mom last Saturday after returning from our 1st trip to MUSC for her appointment with the liver transplant doctor. For the last couple of months, she's seemed a little sluggish and really just not herself. Nothing major, just a "slower" version of herself.

Fast forward to Friday--1 week after her initial appointment with MUSC. Matt and I arrive around 7:30 and bring her dinner. She welcomed us in, and she seemed to be moving very slowly. We noticed that she was saying really weird things and complaining that she couldn't get her TV to work. So, Matt went over and fixed the TV for her--which really wasn't broken, she just didn't know how to turn it on....seriously.

As the night progressed, she told us how she slept until after 11 that morning, and how tired she was still. She was supposed to make an appointment for liver biopsy and echocardiogram with MUSC earlier that day. I asked her if she did, and she said she couldn't remember. So, I looked on the phone and, sure enough, MUSC was on there. They called at 10:54 a.m. I tried to jog her memory, but she still just couldn't remember talking to them. Matt and I were looking at each other with puzzled expressions. She also told us that she'd fallen the Sunday before. She tripped over the rug in the living room--which even I've done--and fell on the floor. After I asked a few more questions, she then changed her story and said she fell in the bed.

A little later, Matt decided it was time for bed, and he went upstairs. I stayed down and observed her getting ready for bed. She took about 40 minutes to do what should take no more than 10.

I'm really worried about her safety because she lives alone. This is really hard because I live so far away, and can't come on a daily basis to visit her. I do have plenty of people that can check in on her--my brother, my aunt, and other family members--since our family lives close to her for the most part.

It really upset me to see how quickly this has progressed. Her condition, in just one week, went downhill very quickly. I know that the build-up of fluids in her body, and possibly her medication, has caused this. It's just not my mom. We're hoping her next appointment will be very soon so she can get on the list for a new liver and we can get our mom back. I just don't know how people watch their loved ones fall apart without falling apart themselves.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Matt's turn

Just want to throw my thoughts out there seeing that Amy said she is going to most of the blogging. I have things I want to say too!

Really there isn't much to say about the most incredible year we've ever had. Amy covered pretty much all of the most exciting moments/trips. Of course it's all been exciting though because I get to spend every day with the love of my life. We've done so much already together and grown as a couple so quickly that it feels like I've known her forever. It's going to be a great rest of this year also as we look forward to a big birthday bash in uptown Charlotte, a trip to the beach possibly, and a visit from the family for Christmas. My mom is way to excited to see the new town home, so we'll have to settle her down. It will be good to have the family here though. Not only will it be a great year this year, but it's going to be a ridiculously awesome next 60-70 years that I get to spend with Amy! After 30 years of searching for the perfect girl, it's all over. Scary? No! I don't know why, because it kind of should be, but she's the one.

Summing it all up (mainly because I can't think of anything else right now), it's been a great year so far and I know it will continue. Don't believe Amy when she says she's going to do all the blogging because I will be offering some witty banter at times as well!

My Mom

Well, it's official. Mom needs to have a liver transplant. We spent the day at MUSC in Charleston on Friday talking to doctors, financial advisors, social workers, etc. It was a full day of overwhelming information. The staff of MUSC is amazing! They were helpful, reassuring, and extremely friendly. We couldn't have had a better experience.

Now, the details. Mom has cirrhosis of the liver. We're unsure what caused it, but the doctor reassured us he'd find the cause. She has rheumatoid arthritis, and she took medicine for it for the past 8 years. The side effects of these medications were major. This is most likely the cause of her liver damage. After meeting with the doctor, he explained the process of the transplant and key points to note:
1) She would need labs, a chest x-ray, a pulmonary test, an upper and lower endoscopy, a biopsy of the liver, a colonoscopy, and the OK from all of her doctors (including her dentist) back in Spartanburg
2) she would be listed after all of the above AND financial approval
3) after being listed, we have to prepare to leave at ANY moment--yes, it could be 2 A.M. on a Tuesday.....we have 6-8 hours to get to MUSC before the organ is no longer good
4) the average wait time on the list is 3 months
5) after the transplant, her recovery begins in the ICU for about 3 days....then she'll stay on the liver transplant floor of MUSC for a few more days....then it's off to a hotel in the Charleston area for a couple of weeks
6) the medication she'll be taking after the transplant will run her over $3,000 for the first year---that's WITH her prescription plan after insurance pays for part of it
7) she'll be returning quite often to MUSC for follow-up exams/procedures
8) the 1-year survival rate at MUSC is 90%....the national average is 88%
9) the cost of food, hotel room(s) for mom, me and my brother, and gas to and from Charleston is going to run about an extra $1,000 (depending on the length of her stay in Charleston)
10) we learned of fundraising possibilities and will be doing this so we can pay for those expenses listed above

We're very optimistic, but still a little scared at this point. If anyone knows anyone who owns a condo or house in the Charleston area that would be willing to let us stay there for mom's transplant surgery and recovery, please let us know. The hotel is very affordable, but if we have to stay for 2 + weeks, it's going to get expensive.

Thank you for your prayers for our family during this time. I will keep you updated on fundraising once we set it up.

You know you're a serious couple when....

....you create a blog together. :-) The months have flown by like a brilliant flash....it's been a whirlwind of activity...and we'll try to keep you all updated with our blogs (I'll be doing most of the blogging, not Matt :-) !! )

Here's 2009 (the best year of our lives) in review: We welcomed the New Year in Clearwater, Florida with great friends at an awesome party on Clearwater Beach. We spent New Year's Day at the Outback Bowl watching the Gamecocks "play." (We lost horribly, but hey, it was a fun day!)

I showed Matt around Las Vegas over Spring Break, and we both lived it up in Sin City with our good friends, John and Tina. After a quick trip to the Grand Canyon, we headed back to SC only to head straight to the beach--Hilton Head--with our best friend, Della.

Matt turned the big 3-0 with a BANG! He was VERY surprised at his party I secretly schemed up. (He almost broke his butt and concussed himself, but that's another story!)
We celebrated July 4th in Key West with John and Tina. It was an AWESOME trip, and we almost stayed forever! Parasailing was amazing, too (even though Matt didn't want to go at all)!!!

Sadly, we had to come home after nearly 2 weeks in Florida, BUT we were moving into our new townhome that very weekend....so, it wasn't all bad.

The move wasn't fun, but finally we got settled in. It's more comfortable than any place I've ever lived....and that says A LOT! (It's more the fact that it's my soulmate that's my roommate than anything else....)

August brought us to New York for a friend's wedding. We flew into NYC, and spent Thursday and Friday discovering the city that never sleeps (it really doesn't!). We had possibly the best dinner date in the history of dinner dates....just like the movies! :-)
The wedding in Tarrytown was amazing.....also just like the movies....fairytale stuff here.
Dancing with Matt's mom and sister (as well as taking family photos in a booth meant for only 2 people) was a blast!

Visiting Matt's hometown, Wilson, was also MUCH better than the first visit.....I wasn't buried in snow this time!! Hanging out in his old stomping grounds with friends and family was wonderful. Wilson is a beautiful place....when it's not zero degrees outside with snow up to your chin!
Finally, school started and the routine began again.....sadly.
We look forward to the remainder of 2009.....and who knows what it'll bring!