Carol Ann Siti:  

Life Married Robert Siti Gavit HS '65. Jennifer, Janice, Chris/11 grandchildren. Boston Terriers Duke the Toot & Jo Jo. Have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Wouldn't live life without him. Conservative views/proud to be an American. Worked for many years in Chicago with Prudential Insurance and residental commercial real estate. In Indianapolis worked for another insurance company in actuarial department. Houston employment with major oil and gas and CPA firm as well as a non-profit. Fibromyalgia now prevents full time work. I do part-time sales work at home. Achieved President's Club 5 years in a row. Sis Barb, grad of Morton, works for major telecommunications firm in planning for fiber optics Dallas Headquarters. Both sets of parents as well as my brother Brian are deceased. Retirement goal: Colorado. Have family there; love the mountains. Health improves when I am in Denver's drier climate. Our ideal vac: England, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary (Rob's roots) & re-visiting my dad's WWII experiences, in Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. March 3, 2008 Rob had a stroke which severely affected his vision. He didn't have any of the typical stroke symptoms. We thought he had a migrane headache. We found out later that stroke does not hurt when it happens. The pain comes later as a reaction to the brain being damaged. His periferal vision has been damaged. God has been sending us angels in the form of many people to help us through this time and we are thankful he is alive. The stroke was a blessing in disguise. His caroted arteries were bad. One was completely blocked and the other 90% blocked. The stroke saved his life. Successful caroted surgery was performed on the 90% side. Nothing could be done with the fully blocked side. May 29, 2008 Rob returned to rehabilitation eye doctor on the 12th. Although it appeared to him that his eyesight was getting better, tests revealed there was no change in his vision. Optic nerves are ok but his eyesight loss is due to brain damage from the stroke. 90% on left side and 45% on the right. Due to eye exercises and prism on left glasses he is able to compensate some. At most recent visit with neurologist the doctor stated he felt Rob could not go back to work because his job is too detailed. Rob is on short term disability. We were notified today the process for long term disability has been started. The road to retirement came unexpectedly and much sooner than we anticipated in the form of his stroke. July 1, 2008 Rob has been approved for long term disability and will not go back to work. He still suffers from short term memory loss. We return to eye rehabilitation doctor on the 7th and neuro-ophthamologist on the 21st. We will ask if he is considered legally blind. Rob says it is as if someone turned out the lights and some days his eyes are worse. We are not sure why this happens. He gets discouraged because he can no longer drive and has lost his independence. We are grateful he can get around and take care of himself. July 23, 2008 He's not considered legally blind and his eyes are no better. He was told damage is permanent. His job will end this Friday. He has filed for disability with Railroad Retirement Board. He's having balance problems or weakness in his legs and has fallen twice. We are still trying to find out what is causing these problems. Sold his car last week since he'll never be able to drive again. His job ending is a bit scary but we are in the Lord's hands. September 11, 2008 We have been preparing for Hurricane Ike. We are staying here since our daughter and son-in-law live in a mobile home and need a place to stay. The eye will be hitting Freeport which is not too far from Lake Jackson where we first lived when we arrived in Texas. We were there when Alicia hit. We are further North about 68 miles (30m N. of Houston) and they say we will still get 90 mph winds lots of rain. We have been busy clearing the deck, tying down all the furniture as well and securing and putting away anything that might become a projectile. I've also been washing everything in case the electricity goes out and we stocked up on some last minute food items. We also filled up with gas as there may be none later due to mandatory coastal evacuations. I-45 has been jammed with traffic with those leaving Galveston. If we lose electricity there is no generator so we will have to tough out the heat, and grill out as that will be less heat than cooking inside. Hope our green and red pepper plants make it through the storm. All of this will be quite interesting especially since Janice is bringing her 2 cats. Rob has been diagnosed with Perifpheral Artery Disease. This week Rob had a test to find out the extent of the disease and had a severe reaction to the contrast dye. He has 4 blockages in his Aorta leading into his legs. This is the reason why he has had so much pain and perhaps the reason why he has fallen. Cardiologist has given him two medications and Rob has to make some lifestyle changes. He must walk twice per day and quit smoking and add more fruits and vegtables to his diet. If these changes do not improve the circulation and pain then 2 separate bypass surgeries will be needed. This will be done to prevent the eventual onset of gangrene. Oct 2, 2008 We survived Hurricane Ike. Thank God. Our daughter's mobile home was spared and she got power back in about 4 days. We were without power for over 14 days. What a novelty to have power again. There was a split tree on the line connected to the transformer behind our house. Our son provided a generator towards the end of the first week, so we didn't lose as much food as a lot of people. We ran it during the day and turned it off at night...Expand for more