Family Emergencies

There is nothing in the world like that gut wrenching feeling you get when the phone rings or you get a text message whether by phone or on a social network or an email saying call me something terrible has happened.

Your heart races, you feel like your lungs have shrunk to the size of marbles, and you can't seem to make your hands work to dial the phone.

As you wait for the answer on the other end you mind conjures up all kinds of terrible and vile scenarios. Car accidents, drunken bar fight, airplane crash, boat sunk, drowning, vicious dog bites, motorcycle accident, heart attack, seizure, stroke, it's always something horrific that makes you want to faint and throw up at the same time.

This time it was coronary heart failure, mixed with diabetic shock. My second oldest sister P.J. She had already had two heart surgeries in the past. Her life style is hectic to say the least and always dramatic and traumatic. 

Since we were kids she was always the life of the party, charged full steam ahead in everything that she did, never one to back down in a fight. She should have been a boy. She has a wicked funny sense of humor and I miss her dearly on days when my pain gets the best of me.

So now you know why there was no blog yesterday. I was miserable! I woke up in so much pain, felt like I had been utilizing a rowing machine in my sleep! Every muscle hurt and my rods and screws were screaming bloody murder at me. I got up, got slowly dressed and wondered into the kitchen to the lovely aroma of coffee. My husband had already had coffee made so I grabbed a cup and my pain pills, sat at my laptop and jumped on facebook.

There it was...in my messages and on my facebook wall. My niece sent me a message saying she was taking her mom to the hospital. No hospital name, no hospital number...just my niece's cell phone number. I desperately looked around for my cell phone. Where did I leave it now! I got up and slowly, God so slowly...made my way into our bedroom to see it across the room on the charger. It looked a mile away! Always does when your in pain doesn't it.

I brought it into the living room only to realize it wasn't charged! I didn't plug it in all the way! I started to cry. I quickly plugged it in and started sending messages on facebook. Where was she, how was she, what did the docs say, and so on. My husband God bless him!, brought my phone to me, plugged it in, next to the table where I sat. He had me move over a seat closer to where it was plugged in, said "see it's still charging you can still talk while it's charging babe". My calm in the storm. Why didn't I think of that? I knew that fact. I have done it before.

I called my older sister and one of my other aunts while chatting with another niece online. I called my dad, left a message on his phone. Back and forth it all went for almost 3 hours before everyone in the family had been reached. It's amazing how wonderful my family can be in a time of crisis. No matter what has happened in the past it all goes away and we all pull together.

I was a wreck. I was still in serious pain. I wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep. After sending messages back and forth for almost another two hours on facebook. I finally decided I needed to just rest. Which I did. I distracted myself with stupid things so I wouldn't have to think much. It didn't help.

By 5 PM I was pretty much exhausted. Ray took us out to Joe's Pizza, Pasta, and Subs. I ate most of a salad and was ready to go home and sleep.

Nope that didn't happen! We needed to make a grocery run. Our son needed school lunch supplies. Thankfully it was in the same strip mall. I walked to clear my head. Bad day to walk. The wind was gusting at almost 20 miles per hour, and it brought dirt and dust with it from west Texas. The sun had set and it was dark out and temps had dropped along with the sun. By the time I got most of the way around the square to the grocery store, Ray had parked the truck and was walking towards me. We got inside and did our shopping. We ended up spending more than we expected. Got everything our son needed and more. lol. I was done for the day. My legs were now screaming at me. Nerve pain is an awful thing to experience!

We headed home. By the time we got home. I could barely move from the pain. My husband put me in an arm chair and told me "don't move from that spot!". he and my son put away the groceries. My son brought me a cup of "mud" over cooked coffee. I took half a vicadon. Within 20 minutes. I was ready to fall asleep sitting there. I went to the couch and curled up and napped for almost an hour before finally going to bed for the night.

I was finally able to reach P.J. at the hospital this afternoon. First thing I said to her when she answered was "See this is what happens when you don't call your little sister more often, your heart breaks!" She laughed, A huge amount of relief filled me. I knew she was going to be okay. She told me everything the docs said and did. She was signing the paperwork to be released already. She was going to go home and get some rest.

I am grateful to the docs and nurses that took care of her and I'm glad she is okay. If you have a loved one who has been or is being taken care of by doctors and nurses, please let them know that you are grateful too. Tell them thank you, send them a letter or a card to place at the nurses station. They deserve it.

Now I can get back to healing me, and get my butt in gear and work some more on my book.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to me rant and rave again.

See you next time for more coffee and conversation!

Nightmares, Rain, Brunch, & Nurses Oh My!

Woke up late this morning. Ray let me sleep til almost 10. We both had a rough night, seemed the entire house was plagued with nightmares last night. Ray had one, I had two, and our son had one. No I am not superstitious...but it was rather weird.

I think it rained last night, my son also mentioned it so I guess it did. Albeit probably not enough to make a difference in the way I feel today. Weather tends to make my pain either better or worse.

I have a follower! Yay! Thank you Ms. Smith! I'm glad to see someone is following me, now I sort of know someone is at least listening to me.  lol That kind of sounded self centered didn't it. I hope I don't bore everyone away.

Still waiting on a call back from the Urologist and the Gasteroenterologist. My husband would tell me to keep calling them back. They tend to get angry at you for doing that and refuse to book an appointment for you until a month later. Or if they do book a sooner appointment for you , the nurses treat you like crap because you kept calling them and causing them to stop doing what they were doing to keep answering your phone calls. So if you cannot help it, don't keep bugging the nurses. They have enough to do without having to keep stopping helping their patients because you keep calling them every 5 minutes.

Speaking of nurses...I had a wonderful one at Eclipse Medical Imaging the last two times I was there. She was very patient with me and helped me get through a very rough exam. I wish I had gotten her name. I'd like to send her flowers to say thank you.

Ray and I went to our favorite little spot for breakfast this morning. Is it breakfast or brunch if it's at 11 AM? Any way. I went a bit overboard, but since the IVP I have been hungry for big meals. I guess a liquid diet for a day and half will do that. I had 2 eggs (over easy of course, what better way to eat them with toast), 2 pieces of toast, 2 pancakes (I only ate 1 brought the other home)1 sausage patty, and 2 pieces of bacon...was wonderful! Oh the name of the place? Shorty's Diner in Irving, Texas.

Shorty's Diner

If you go there tell Fresca I sent you. You'll know her by her quirky sense of humor, her wonderful laugh, and her outgoing manner. Don't forget to tell her I said Hello!

Ray ordered me new medical canes yesterday, I will need a bunch of his assistance to learn how to use them. They are kind of like a forearm crutch but the arm part lowers and raises. Once they arrive I will take pictures of them, and have Ray take a picture of me using them.

Well folks it's time for me to get in gear and try to get some chores done before my son comes home from school.

See you next time for more coffee and conversation. :)

Anyone listening?

My husband figured this would be a good outlet for me. I'm kind of housebound at the moment. I get distracted easily and can't seem to stay focused on the task at hand, so he thought this might help me get a little bit more organized.

Lets see...where to begin...

I'm 44..I am married...you knew that already...I have 1 child...a very smart (and smart aleck) son and my best buddy Oscar the "deagle". He's a mixed breed of half Daschund and half short legged Beagle.

I have my coffee (with cream and sugar of course), now for some conversation...it's a fairly warm day out for the middle of winter, I have chores to do but wanted to get this started first before I begin them. I don't want to do them for two reasons...I hate folding clothes (who doesn't!) and I'm still in a lot of pain from yesterday.

I had a monsterous doctors appointment I almost didn't get to do. I had to do an IVP Exam. It's like an X-Ray but with a dye injected into you. It's to check your kidney's for kidney stones. Not very fun! Before you have to do the IVP you have to do what the docs lovenly call a "cleanout". I didn't find anything lovely about it all! So I spent all day Sunday drinking nothing but liquids and eating Lime Jello (never want to see another bowl of that ever again!)Then had to drink magnesium citrate solution...needless to say 5 and 1/2 hours later I was spending more time in the bathroom then with my husband in the living room.

Anyway...got the exam done the next day...but nor before almost not getting to do it. After spending much time in the bathroom the night before and the morning of the exam they hand me this little plastic cup with a lid and say we need you to prove your not pregnant. What? Seriously? I just spent all night and half the morning in the bathroom! I have nothing left! They said they just need a tiny amount just three drops. I didn't want to have to redo the prep for this test ever again...back to the bathroom I go...I sat there praying to God to help me pee! He came through for me...three drops was needed I gave them 6!

They escorted me into the x-ray room...it's always freezing in there. I had to lay on this stainless steel table with nothing but a sheet over me. (yes I had on medical scrubs top and bottoms...get your mind out of the gutter) After laying perfectly still with a wedge under my knees for the first three sets of x-rays, they put in an IV and brought over this syringe that looked like an over grown turkey baster! This thing was at least an inch round and 4 inches long!

She tells me..."now you're going to get very warm either in your groin or your chest, it's perfectly normal". She said warm, not hot! Holy cow! It took less than 5 seconds to start feeling the effects of it. Took 3 more normal sets with me laying flat on my back, they took away the knee wedge. They bring in a triangle shaped blue covered piece of foam. Okay I think they are going to put that under my knees. Nope! The roll me on my side and put it under my right side then roll me back onto it and my back. I tell them this hurts because of the rods and screws in my spine. (I'll explain those later) They say just hang on we're almost done. After 2 pictures that way, they removed the wedge. I breathed a sigh of relief. Not for long though, they then rolled me again, this time onto my other side, "here we go again" I thought. More pain for almost 3 minutes. By the time they were done I was in tears. I just wanted to get up and go home and lay on my hot pad. I was cold and in a good amount of pain. They had to redo one of the x-rays. I started to quietly cry again.

After the exam I requested a copy of the images for my own records (always a good idea!) I was then told I could go get dressed and return to the lobby. It took me damn near 15 minutes just to put on a pair of sweat pants, bra, t-shirt, sweater and shoes. I crabbed my cane. NOT my regular forearm crutch...that got lost (by accident) but a regular cane, which I hate. They are not very stable.

Waited for about another ten minutes, when the nurse came back out and handed me the disc of my copies of the pics. We left and headed straight to The Original Pancake House for breakfast. Expensive but worth it! I was finally able to take a pain pill! I hadn't been able to for over 24 hours! I ordered coffee (their coffee if very bitter) orange juice (fresh squeezed) and Eggs Benedict. My fav way to eat eggs. I love Holendaise sauce!

After breakfast we headed to my husbands work place so he could pick something up. I didn't make it that far. I feel asleep in the truck, even though the roads were we live are horrible. The last two days had caught up with me. After finally getting home. I crashed for another two hours.

Today i am going to take it fairly easy and let my body get the rest it needs. I do need to go fold those clothes in the dryer though. NOT an easy task for me. Over the last two years I have had to relearn how to do almost everything in a new way so I don't hurt myself. (I'll explain all about that later). For now I'm going to go get another cup of coffee and start that laundry. Maybe stop over in Facebook for a bit, then figure out how to put Linux and Windows on one laptop! Ugh! Not looking forward to that!

See you later on with more coffee and conversation!