Happy Birthday Abuela!

Today is Nila's 84th birthday! When Reagan first started talking, she couldn't pronounce Abuela correctly (obviously), so she called her "Aw-bay-a" ... we got so used to hearing this pronunciation of her name, that John and I started saying it that way too, always referring to her as "Aw-bay-a." Nila loves hearing this as her name now.

For those of you who aren't aware of Nila's current situation, she hasn't been living with us for the last 6 weeks because she was in the hospital and then a nursing home. Apart from her Leukemia, she's also been dealing with a lot of pain for the last several months due to a fracture in her spine (a result of osteoporosis). There wasn't much they could do other than give her pain medication to help her cope. It was finally getting better, but then it suddenly got worse (about 7 weeks ago). The pain became so severe that she could hardly move. Everyone (John, Nila, and her doctors) figured she had fractured another vertebrae, or the first fracture had worsened. She endured this pain for several days until John finally took her into the E.R. and admitted her. They performed an MRI and discovered an abscess on her spine that was actually due to an infection in her blood! After many tests, they discovered that she had contracted a Urinary Tract Infection, an E. coli infection, as well as MRSA, a dangerous antibiotic resistant strain of Staph Infection! Because the infections were so severe, she needed intravenous antibiotics administered twice a day for 6-8 weeks. As the antibiotics started working, she became more mobile and was ready to leave the hospital after about 3 weeks. She was unable to come back here, since she needed the IV antibiotics each day, so they made her go to a nursing home for the last 3 weeks. She was at a very nice facility called Care One in Oradell.

I wanted to take the kids to see her at the nursing home, but she wouldn't allow it, since she was worried they might pick up some type of virus there. I felt bad that none of us (except John, of course) saw her for those 6 weeks. But since it was her birthday, we insisted on coming over to help her celebrate! So last night, we threw her a party in one of the lounges of the nursing home and we all had a wonderful time!

Abuela & Reagan

Lauren & Jose ~ Carmen and Nila

Debbie & Ethan ~ Jesus and Alexis

John, Doreen, and Jose

Amanda and John

Jesus's wife Debbie made all the arrangements for the food ... she had an Italian restaurant deliver a couple trays of food, as well as some pizzas. Debbie also took care of the cake.

A short video which caught the end of singing "Happy Birthday," then a very quick scan around the room of the guests ... very amateur footage!

Reagan ~ Joshua

Nila & Avery ... doesn't Avery look like such a big girl in these pics? Must be the hair-do and the tights.

Jose was doing his best to perform a few magic tricks for Reagan and she was cracking up!

Carmen & Nayda ... Carmen is Nila and Nayda's Sister-In-Law who was in town from Florida. She was married to their brother Juan, who passed away just before Reagan was born (November 2005). Carmen stood by him and took care of his every need for 30 years while he battled Parkinson's Disease.

Joaquin, Maribel, John and Avery

After we got home from the party, I put the girls to bed, then started baking. I made 2 batches of cupcakes (almost 4 dozen), then frosted them until about 1 am. Today, John and Jesus took them into Hackensack Hospital for all the nurses and staff ... Nila spends every Tuesday and Friday at the hospital, receiving blood transfusions, since her body no longer produces platelets. John and Nila have spent so much time there that they know all the staff very well. John wanted to make some sort of gesture to show his appreciation for the way they have treated his mother. He said the cupcakes were a big hit!