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12/6/2010 5:12:01 PM

I apologize if the Madison reference offended. I found it humorous.

12/6/2010 5:13:16 PM

Wow sorry to hear this happened. Glad to hear things are looking up.

12/6/2010 5:26:31 PM

prayers and thoughts are with you and your family

12/6/2010 5:27:51 PM

**HUG**

12/6/2010 5:28:59 PM

sorry to hear about this

12/6/2010 5:34:11 PM

i saw them last night.

when we got to the burn unit my grandpa was actually the first room and amazingly enough they allowed us to suit right up and go in. (i thought it would be much harder than that).
they had cleaned him up but he still looked kinda gray.
luckily he was hardly burnt.
he was sedated and intubated.
it just really, really broke my heart to see my papa having a machine breathe for him. i'm sure there are several people out there who understand this. every time he "exhaled" his whole body shook a little bit. and my heart sunk a little deeper.
i asked the nurse how things looked.
she said things were progressing as normal and that there was significant soot damage in both of their lungs (is damage an appropriate word? i don't know.)
and apparently grandpas were in worse shape than grandmas.
i started bawling right there beside him.
cody was able to calm me down and i was able to muster an audible "i love you papa, it's joie, it's going to be ok" and gave him a kiss and that was it.
i've heard that people who are sedated for long periods of time can sometimes hear other people in the room so talking to them is a good thing. i don't necessarily believe that, but just in case it is true-i wasn't going to have grandpa hearing me crying as i talked to him.

next was grandma's room.
my mom and aunt were in there.
i was hoping grandma would look better than when i saw her the day before.
they had cleaned her up but it had only made her burns more visible.
the few she had were really prominent.
her hair was gone til about 1/4 of an inch and her forehead was more or less completely raw.
her right hand had a few raw spots and was swollen up pretty badly.
i found out its from where she put her hair out.

i didn't cry as much this time. mostly for my mom.
she still hadn't slept since saturday night (it was monday at 7:30).

i was able to talk to grandma a little bit.
i reminded her of last thanksgiving she had offered cody $1000 if he could solve the rubiks cube in her house. and then i told her how he went home, found a tutorial, and was planning on hustling her this christmas.
i really, really hope there is some truth to this whole "they can hear you" thing.

i told her i loved her and we all left the room.

we all went to the waiting room and talked for a bit.
luckily my aunt is one of the most light hearted and funny people ever
sometimes people tell me i remind them of her and that makes me smile.
she made me laugh so many times.
we all giggled almost the whole way to the cafeteria.
(ok if cody sees this he won't say he giggled, he let out hearty man-laughs)

mom told me that the doctors say grandma and papa will be sedated for a least another 3-5 days and they don't know what to expect.


its gonna be a long week.

[Edited on December 7, 2010 at 9:36 AM. Reason : oops]

12/7/2010 9:35:24 AM

I'm praying for y'all. That really sucks.

12/7/2010 9:41:57 AM

Sorry to hear this. Best wishes to their speedy recovery. They'll be in my thoughts.

12/7/2010 10:01:14 AM

I hope they get better! I hope you feel better!

12/7/2010 11:39:42 AM

my mom called me and said shes going to the house to see what she can salvage.
im going with her and take some pics.

12/7/2010 11:55:33 AM

that fire must have been crazy hot to vaporize a golf cart like that

12/7/2010 11:56:22 AM

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8735284/

12/7/2010 12:48:55 PM

mom told me that last word she heard- they are doing much, much better than they thought they would be doing (for 70-something year olds)....

great great news


theyre changing out my grandmas ventilator b/c apparently it's loaded with soot which is a great thing! it means its coming out of her lungs!!! ((if i heard her right))

the house is unbelievable. im pretty much covered in ash so im gonna clean up a bit and upload some of these pictures.

12/7/2010 3:20:41 PM

w00t! glad to hear!

12/7/2010 3:21:15 PM

Quote :

"for such a huge accident, to come out with only superficial burns, your grandparents are very very very lucky. the nature of burns, many people go into a burn center and dont survive. many of those who do are in tremendous pain for a long time and return scarred beyond recognition. it sounds like your grandparents are going to be spared all of that. i'm not religious, but i think your family is blessed. Other than having a devastated home, I'm glad for you, that it didnt turn out worse. In some ways, you can look at it as a message to be thankful. that it happened, that they're all alive and safe "

They are very lucky!
I am sure they will be fine! your fam is super lucky to only have lost material things!

12/7/2010 3:30:30 PM

Great to hear-Hope the improvement continues!

12/7/2010 3:32:31 PM

yes we are very very thankful!!!

it's crazy what all he's been through....

he was the first man in history to survive the operation he had back in 1992 and not have to eat via a feeding tube (he has about 2 feet of intestines right now and also he gets frequent obstructions now, but hes a trooper)
he went through kidney failure years ago and is on daily dialysis
he's been through two failed kidney transplants
and just two months ago his boat was capsized and my cousins and him had to swim to shore.

these are just the first things that pop into mind.

he's a strong strong amazing man.

12/7/2010 3:50:23 PM

Your grandparents sound bad ass, I'm glad to hear they are getting better.

12/7/2010 3:53:42 PM

I am sorry Joie. I am praying for your family.

12/7/2010 4:36:21 PM

Quote :

"http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8735284/"

I was wondering if it was this story

12/7/2010 4:39:46 PM

there was a lone high chair in the living room


from the view of the dining room:

12/7/2010 4:43:15 PM

Circumstances aside, those are some awesome pics.

12/7/2010 4:44:48 PM

^

12/7/2010 4:48:23 PM

^^

12/7/2010 5:04:06 PM

oh goodness- what an incredible story. It's events like this that should really remind everybody to be thankful for each day.

I hope and pray that your grandparents continue to improve! What a blessing that they both made it out, and things appear to be going in the right direction for them.

12/7/2010 5:08:04 PM

12/7/2010 5:25:18 PM

Best wishes to you and your family

12/7/2010 6:19:15 PM

^thanks


so my grandma had this chandelier
she had it for-ev-er.

i remember when i was little i would get in a chair, take down the crystals, and pretend like they were diamonds.
she never got a new one. so there was this old chandilier in the hallway of her house that had about 1/4 of the crystals taken down

well when we went today, it was still up, but the crystals were black.
i pulled about 4 of them down and im making necklaces out of them for my cousins and i

ill post some pics later

12/7/2010 6:48:24 PM

Wow, I just saw this thread tonight. I'm really glad things are moving in a positive direction. I'll keep your family in my thoughts.

12/7/2010 7:03:03 PM

omg i'm sorry!

12/7/2010 7:24:32 PM

Glad things are taking a turn for the positive

12/7/2010 7:43:01 PM

crazy.

if you need anything--a laugh, to get out the house, etc, etc, please call us. whatever y'all wanna do.

12/7/2010 8:01:51 PM

^YES

tonights the first night my eyes havent been swollen into an oblivion.
therefor im being productive and making hair pieces and crap.


ill get a hold of you soon.

12/7/2010 8:06:00 PM

Wow, God bless your family Joie

12/7/2010 8:07:59 PM

I think we're making it a blockbuster night. and we have wine, beer, and good times.

and Scrabble.

12/7/2010 8:08:37 PM

Dang Joie, just... dang. God bless.

12/7/2010 8:14:22 PM

Quote :

"Circumstances aside, those are some awesome pics."

12/7/2010 8:20:33 PM

my grandpas truck.....maybe about 12 feet away from the front door

12/7/2010 8:54:41 PM

jeez, crazy hot fire confirmed

that tire didn't give a fuck though

12/7/2010 9:03:10 PM

aha. i didnt even notice that

[Edited on December 7, 2010 at 9:07 PM. Reason : ps im 3 (high gravity) beers deep (furthermore-for dinner) so bear with me-i may pic bomb ]

12/7/2010 9:06:07 PM

we should set up a TWW community fund. raise some cash monies for your grandparents.

so glad to hear that they both survived and are improving. I will be keeping your family in my thoughts and prayers this holiday season!

12/7/2010 9:08:15 PM

^awwwww thank you so much, but its really not necessary!

right now we're just concerned about health and honestly.... there are people who need it a lot worse than we do!

but thank you so so much. you guys really are awesome

[Edited on December 7, 2010 at 9:17 PM. Reason : however it would be awesomepants to start a tww fundraiser ]

12/7/2010 9:16:10 PM

here's my grandmas car

12/7/2010 9:19:31 PM

lafta can make the first donation and use his $5 for the better.

12/7/2010 9:19:35 PM

Don't they own a bunch of grocery stores? Doesn't seem like they'd be hurting for money. I'd rather donate some thing like an ornament or picture frames so they can start putting back together the important things they lost. :/ Actually, someone should probably donate a kidney.

12/7/2010 9:20:25 PM

^^ahahahahhahahaha

^yes ma'am. theyre hard, hard workers. and we're salvaging everything we can, and if their health is ok, then everything will be ok. (in our humble opinion of course)

about the kidney...that is so sweet. that serioualy broke my heart over here.

my mom tried donating hers twice. both times something went wrong :/






[Edited on December 7, 2010 at 9:23 PM. Reason : sfdsfd]

12/7/2010 9:20:31 PM

Dang Joie, your grandparents are superheros! That's amazing! So cute she went back in to save him, says a lot about their love. Hope they recover quickly so they can go back to asskicking.

You're all in my thoughts.

12/7/2010 9:27:51 PM

^thanks


so, my grandparents had pictures of the grandkids as babies in their bedroom.
all of us.

when i went in there all of the pics were either covered with soot or knocked down....except for mine.
it was a little eerie. (surely just coincidental...is that the right word?).

12/7/2010 9:49:21 PM

That is really freaky

12/7/2010 9:59:36 PM