*January 4- a Sunday I woke up in incredible pain. I have a slipped disc (between C4 & C5). I have been to the neurologist, the chiropractor (who rocks out loud, BTW),a nd been to weeks of physical therapy. It started in July 2009- by November I was mostly better, but I still occasionally have flares. This was one and it was the worst ever. It was Sunday and we were getting ready for Mass. I had no idea how I would make it through. Dan had to help me put on my shirt. As I sat to eat a bite before Mass I realised there was no way I could make it to Mass :(
*January 5- went to Chiropractor. After literally crying through Sunday, I went to see Dr. Mark Schisler(314-351-4803) and he adjusted me- sweet relief! God bless this man!
*January 6- took Stella to the ENT because she snores horribly. He is sending us for a sleep study(Feb.9) and she will likely have some sort of surgery. I know she has some Sleep Apnea, depending on how bad they find it to be, then they will determine a treatment plan- likely she will have her tonsils out which normally, not ill touch her uvula!
*January 7-8 Sweet Mercy! Snow days. I had so much fun with my kids. We watched movies, made crafts, made lots of jewelry, decorated gingerbread houses- oh how lovely!
*January 8- Gosserfest 2010- what a blast! It was so nice to go out and hang out with friends- some I hadn't seen in years. Isn't it amazing how even tho you can not even talk to some people for years you just seem to pick up just where you left off? (hi Jill & Jenny!) Back when I was a child my cousin Kay really annoyed me. Now she is a few years older than me so this could be a combo of her being in the midst of the teen years while I was observing her. She was always beautiful and confident, and for a girl with self esteem issues that is hard to take. And for years I thought she was superficial and kind of snotty. Then...something changed- I changed. I got married and had kids and found my own confidence and the years that separated us seemed to not matter anymore- and we have become friends. I love her, I enjoy her, we can hang out and drink wine together(white for her, red for me) or beer for her, wine for me:) What a blessing to find a friend in the family. Anyway, she was at Gosserfest and it was great to just BE and to hang out with everyone.
*January 9 I did something I never do. I took the kids swimming at the YMCA. I hate swimming- they all love it. I did it for them. I was so enjoying them the past few days and I was so appreciative of all the help they had given me cleaning up the house earlier in the day- I just wanted the party to continue- so much that Saturday night we had party food for dinner- BBQ smokies, Bagel bites, veggies & dip and of course, dessert
* Then January was its typical busy getting back into the routine after Dan is gone & back from drill, getting the kids back into their routines for school, and preparing for our trip to Arkansas to see our dear friends. I was going around for days cleaning like a mad woman( I hate coming home to a dirty,messy house), making sure there were meals for my mother in law (who lives with us in case anyone didn't know)- she was staying behind, and getting things and people packed(hello laundry) for our trip.
*January 16- I get a call from a friend's son asking if I can take him to Boys club that night- both of his parents were ill (http://catholicboysclub.or
** We were to leave Friday when the kids got home from school. I had been baking double chocolate dream cookies, I had chili in the crockpot so we could dine(in paper bowls and plastic spoons, no less) and dash off to Arkansas. Two batches of bread in the works- Whole Wheat and Challah. The whole day was just cruising by.... and then the phone rang.
*January 15- my dad's cousin calls. My dad and her husband, Jack, are buddies. Jack takes my dad shopping and they just chew the fat- they are very different from each other in many ways, but very alike. I am often very grateful that my dad has Jack. Anyway, Jack's wife- Jackie calls me and says " Your dad called for Jack and wanted him to being him some water- he has been without food and water for 3 days- what do you want to do?" My dad has diabetes- the reason he had been without food or water for 3 days was because he has horrible open sores on his legs and feet and the pain to walk was more than he could bear. (My dad later said it was like Chinese torture laying there- he had food and water, maybe 6 feet from him- he just could not get to it. ) I told Jackie obviously he needs to go to the hospital. there is no way I(with my slipped disc) or Jack & Jackie could get my dad to the hospital- so I called an ambulance. LONG story short- they finally get him to the hospital about 1:30 pm. He gets to the ER and it seems like forever until they let us see him. It was probably 2.5-3 hours. I know how long it takes to make an assessment, I couldn't figure out what was taking so long. But my dad is a hoarder- he smells yucky pretty much all the time- add to it he had been laying there for 3 days- he was not a pleasant picture when he came in. When they allowed us to see him, he didn't smell- except for the stench of his legs- GANGRENE. They spent A LOT of that time cleaning him- just so they could treat him. GOD BLESS THEM! We were told he would 100% chance lose his right leg and there was a 50% chance he would also lose his left leg- but that was being generous. They admitted him to the ICU- mega antibiotics, lots of wound care and basic rehydration. His blood sugar was 532, his kidneys had almost completely shut down, and he would likely lose his legs- but he chose to make that call- at some point- he CHOSE to live- that is vital.
*January 18- Dan's uncle(his mom's twin) had a stroke. He is expected to regain most of his previous abilities. This really has shaken Dan's mom- they are extremely close. I just love uncle Ed and I was beside myself that all off this was happening.
*January 20- my mom has surgery to repair a hernia. Our adopted sister(hi Kim!) was so good to her and us and took my mom to the hospital. She took off work for the day and stayed with us while we waited to hear how it all went. It was supposed to be a laparoscopy, and simple recovery. When they got in there things were a bit worse than they anticipated and they had to do a laparotomy instead to repair her hernia and remove the adhesions she had. This meant a longer hospital stay & bit of a harder recovery for mom. The plan was that she would come over here after she got out of the hospital and stay here for a few days.
*January 21- After days of antibiotics, wound cleanings and dressing changes, whirlpools and lots of narcotics for the pain, today my dad went for surgery on his legs. The plastic surgeon scoffed at him losing his legs. I admit he had great improvement with proper care- they ended up doing grafting- using cadavar skin to help his body heal up those sores. This I found out days late because I waited...and waited...and waited for the surgeon to come talk to us after the surgery- and he never showed up! But, he did save my dad's legs and instead of aggressively amputating, he is aggressively working to save them- so I forgive him. Dad remains in ICU.
*January 23- I go to a birthday party for my mom's best friend, Leona- Happy 65th birthday. Dan was unable to go. I was blessed with seeing Leona- it had been a couple of years and then I was also blessed to feed my baby love and hold my friend's granddaughter for most of the time I was there.
*January 24- my mom is released from the hospital. Shockingly (LOL- not!) she decided she felt good enough that she did not want to come to our house, she just wanted to go home. I guess she didn't think she would get much rest here? I think she made a good decision:) And then again, she chose our adopted sister, Kim to take her home. Sometimes I wonder if she likes her better. I think she really just wanted to give Kate & I a break after all that was going on with our dad. After so many of our friends and their kids coming down with the awful stomach bug going around I decided to stock up on insurance against the stomach bug- crackers, ginger ale, convenience foods, etc. This night we went out to dinner w/ dear friends to Amigo Joe's. It was so nice to have a little time to let down and I brought my mom over dinner when we were on our way home. Somehow when the kids and I walked in the door there was a Scrabble game starting up in our house! What? Its a Sunday night- tomorrow is school-whatever- who cares- our life has been so crazy, so hectic- lets just embrace a little us time and say screw the schedule! We played teams- Me & Beth, Dan & Gus, Grandma & Greg and Anne & Meg. We had a blast and we went to bed late, but just thankful to all be together. Stella starts feeling a bit warm and groggy- I chalk it up to the late schedule and put her to bed.
*January 25- Gus and Stella wake up with fevers. I think Beth was ill this day too. I thought oh great- now we are going to get the bug. Then the coughing started....
My dad gets moved out of the ICU onto the Med/Surg floor.
*January 26- I got the pleasure of spending the whole day (a good 5 hours at least) looking over Medicare part C policies and picking a new one for my dad.I call to check on my dad and let him know I found him a policy and I find out from his room mate that he is sleeping- they had given him blood that day and he wasn't responding well to it. I find an agent to help us sign him up and arrange that for the next morning. I call to check on my dad and let him know I found him a policy and I find out from his room mate that he is sleeping- they had given him blood that day and he wasn't responding well to it. Stella and Gus are still ill and laying around with low fevers, coughing, and resting.
*January 27- Get to the hospital to sign up my dad for this new Medicare part C, go over all of that with him. He signs the papers, etc and that goes smoothly. We meet with a bunch of doctors- they are ready to move him to rehab soon. The diabetic doctor tells us my dad has nine lives. The plastic surgeon tells us about the cadavar skin and how he needs to be seen in Senior care at least once per month once he is healed(more until he is fully healed). My dad goes for an endoscopy & colonoscopy to see where he is bleeding internally that his blood levels were low and he needed blood. they did find a small polyp that was bleeding, but nothing remarkable. They start the process to get him on to Rehab. I go to a local thrift store and buy him some clothes for his rehab time and head home. Stella has been laying on mom all day- coughing, miserable. Thank God we have Dan's mom with us- what would we do without her? Stella goes to bed at 6pm- unheard of for her!
*January 28- Stella cries out at about 6 am- I expected her to be improved after 12 hours of sleep- boy was I wrong! She was crying- a weak cry, eyes barely able to focus, occasionally coughing, not herself. Normally she sees daddy and all she wants is him- he lights up her world. Today she only wanted mommy- she was miserable. I hurry and get the kids off to school and quickly get over to the ER at St. Anthony's. I was there by 8:15am. They have a satellite Cardinal Glennon ER there- they are fab! They assess Stella- she is dehydrated, he oxygen saturations(will be called sats) were low- really low- 86 on room air when she was awake- which wasn't much, and as low as 80-82 when she was sleeping. Now due to her very large tonsils and sleep apnea- I have no idea how low she typically gets at night- I know I can not watch her sleep- it freaks me out. They do an Xray- they think she has pneumonia. They do blood her blood counts were all good and normal. They do give her a dose of Rocephin(IV antibiotic) before the blood work comes back. They think they are going to admit her. They give her some supplemental oxygen(which she hated) then her oxygen sats were 98-100%- which is what they should be... and we waited and waited. They said maybe if we give the Rocephin some time to work and keep her on the oxygen she will improve and we could take her home. We were there beyond the length of the shift. New ER doc comes in to assess her- takes off oxygen- she quickly goes back to 86 when awake. She then says- why don't we get an albuterol treatment on her- what could it hurt? After that(which, of course Stella hated) then the doc could hear wheezes! They did another treatment and then Stella was able to breathe! Her oygen sats were now 92-94% on room air! They gave her some juice(which she sucked down) and they prescribed Albuterol treatments every 3-4 hours, steroids- predisolone(they gave her a dose before we left). We took her home at about 8:15 pm- 12 hours in the ER- but YAY for ER docs who were cautious, and patient and helped us escape an admission :)
*January 29- Gus goes to school today. I think its questionable to send him, but he has missed all week. Stella is still a pretty limp rag and just lays around and nurses all the time and when she isn't nursing- she cries. Before this illness she was almost weaned. 10 am- School calls, Gus can't.stop.coughing. and they take his temp- its 101.5. I tell them I am coming to get him. He had already had breathing treatments that morning- I figured he had what Stella had and he needed to be seen ASAP. I call our pediatrician's office- he is not in the office that day. I figure we are back to the ER, when my guardian angel tells me to call Dr. Warrier- Gus' allergist. He is fabulous. They have an opening at 11:40am. I take a shower, pick Gus up from school(a miserable Stella in tow) and go to the doctor. Mega albuterol treatments, and prednisone for Gus. We come home and I collapse! The kids come home from school- Meg & Greg coughing- Greg with a raging fever- great! At times I had 4 kids back to back to back to back getting breathing treatments. At the first sign of coughing I just started giving Meg & Greg breathing treatments to try to help them fight this and keep them off steroids. This date happens to be the one year anniversary of us moving into this new house. Hard to believe it has only been a year- it feels longer! We had planned to celebrate and have a family over for dinner & games- but of course that got canceled- no body wanted what we have and they ended up with the stomach bug going around!
*January 30 & 31- I spent my whole days/nights listening to Stella cry mercilessly & constantly nursing- poor baby was miserable. Greg still had a high fever. Meg was fine(~whew!) Gus was much improved. I almost didn't make it to Mass on Sunday because I wasn't sure if I could leave Stella because of her crying. Luckily, my guardian angel helped me and I got her down for a nap. She slept so Dan could keep her so I could go to Mass- and what a great Mass it was. It was the gospel about the man who was hiring workers in the field- and even the ones who only worked one day recieved a full days wages. I used to think how unfair that was- until one day Dan told me to look at it like the person who converts on his deathbed getting the beauty of Heaven- just like the person who lived a good, holy life his whole life. Then I was able to embrace this story- in fact now its one of my favorites- it always makes me think of my dad- and my hope that he changes his heart toward God before his number is called. If Stella had been well, likely I would not have heard that gospel and remembered to offer up my Mass for my dad's conversion.
*February 1st- take Gus & Stella to the pediatrician- seems the prednisone was giving her horrible gas- that is why she had been crying for 2 days non stop- poor baby- it remionded me of her colic days :( Gus has a sinus infection- joy- antibiotics for him.
My mom is doing really well with her recovery :)
*February 2nd we get the word my dad is moving to Skilled Nursing Facility.
*February 3- My sister & I visit him at the new facility. He is really crabby this day. he does tell us that he expects to need to go to a Assisted living apartment when he leaves the rehab facility- he admits he will never go back to his house. I had taken Stella with us- that brightens his spirits some. I then later get a call from the administration that they think he is told he is too young to be in the skilled nursing part and they move him to the Rehab floor. They do PT & OT for at least an hour a day to start with. I think this is great.
If you made it through all of that- BRAVO! That's it- that's the update and where I have disappeared! Please keep praying for my dad and my mom, Uncle Ed and our families health. Oh, yes, now I am ill too- joy:/
No comments:
Post a Comment