Waiting at the Hospital. (And waiting, and waiting....)

I fully and completely understand that hospitals are busy places full of people who have to get things done.  And health crises don't go according to schedule, and things come up.  I get this.

Nevertheless, there is no language on Earth in which "fast as a hospital" is a common expression.

Adored Wife was in the hospital.  About three in the afternoon the doctor said there was one more test to run, but if that came back okay he didn't see any reason she couldn't go home that day.

Now, I didn't think that meant four.  But I didn't think it meant ten o'clock at night, either.

By the time they'd gotten around to running the test, there wasn't anybody there who could READ the test.  The nursing staff had been through a shift change and there was a different doctor on call.  The new nursing staff was operating on the assumption that AW was spending another night.  The previous shift nurse had indicated she'd be going home, but that information hadn't apparently gotten around to the new crew.  And, because the first doctor hadn't actually formally done discharge orders, the new doctor had to start everything from scratch.

And, she was busy, and I respect that.  Let's be fair.  But she was also inclined to keep AW one more night just for observation.  (Because you know, she stopped breathing three times the day before.)

But AW really wanted to go home, and they weren't going to be running any more tests, and it seemed like all she needed was sleep and she wanted to do that in her own bed.  So I persisted.

And, seven hours after the doctor had said we could go home that day, we did indeed go home that day.

Hope all is well out there, friends, and God bless.

The Really Bad Monday

Okay, I think I can talk about this now.

Monday, June 5th.  I'm at work, Social Hurricane is sleeping owing to having worked her 3rd shift CNA job the night before, Adored Wife and Basement Artist are running around doing wedding stuff, and have picked up Graphics Magician from school midday.  He was done early due to testing.

GM is talking to AW in her room when all of a sudden she stops breathing.  GM reports this as her grabbing at her throat and then passing out.  GM gets the Artist, who starts CPR, and then he wakes up the Hurricane, who very sensibly calls 911 and then calls me.

I'm not giving all the details.  There are some things I may NEVER be ready to talk about.

By the time I get there, there's an ambulance, a fire truck, and several first responder cars.  I'm okay with this, and I'm very glad they got there first.  AW is semiconscious and incoherent and having convulsions, but she's being given the best of care.  A neighbor lady has come over, and I dispatch her to go give some emotional support to the kids while I'm talking to the med-techs.

Counting the time with Graphics Magician, another time after the EMTs arrive, and once more in the ambulance on the ride to the hospital, AW stops breathing at least three times.

Things start to settle down after a few hours and they get lots of powerful medication into her.  In the Emergency Room, the first coherent thing she whispers is "I don't have time for this."

They run every test in the book, and the official diagnosis, arrived at Tuesday afternoon, is "neurological episode."  Which I think is doctorese for "we don't know what happened and we don't know if it's going to happen again."

Whee.

Monday night is spent in the hospital.  Tuesday night, they'd kind of like to keep her in the hospital but she really wants me to take her home and we manage to persuade them.  Wednesday she sleeps pretty much the whole day, Thursday she sleeps a lot, Friday she's able to get a few things done, but only in ten-minute periods before having to go rest.

And this is a week before our daughter is getting married.

At this writing, seventeen days after the episode, she's still only good for about half of hour of activity at a time and she's aggravated with it.  She'd had a wedding to do, and she had to hand off LOTS of things that she'd really kind of wanted to do herself.  (Thank the Lord for wonderful friends and family.)  And quite a few little touches that she'd wanted to add just didn't happen.

I pointed out to her that she, you know, nearly died, and she should probably cut herself some slack.

She's still annoyed at not bouncing back from this more quickly.

So, that's kind of where we stand.  I'll tell more stories later.  Thanks for reading.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Giving Myself a Little Space

Happy Thursday, friends.

You know what?  It has been an intense roller coaster of a couple of weeks, and I honestly don't think I've had the time or the head space to really process things.

I'm going to cut myself some slack here.

Let me just report this:  Adored Wife is feeling considerably less bad (although her endurance is completely shot), the wedding was a joyous event despite lots of things going wrong, we have amazing and loving family, friends, and neighbors and, at this writing, Basement Artist and my new son-in-law Harbor Master are off on their honeymoon.

So, you know, it's all good.  But my tank is pretty well empty.  I'm just plain tired.

I'll get back to the serious blogging in a post or two.  I think I'm going to take a little downtime today.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Um.......

Not sure how to start posting all this.  I'm going to have some serious catching up to do to get everything blogged, friends.

The last two weeks have seen a serious health scare and crisis for Adored Wife, school troubles for Graphics Magician, and a wedding for Basement Artist.  Social Hurricane has really stepped up to the plate, and BA and GM have definitely pulled their weight around the house as well.

The neighbors don't think we're normal anymore.  It was probably the ambulance, the fire truck, and all the first responder cars that tipped them off.

It's going to take me several posts to get all this logged.  AW had a "major neurological episode" and, among other entertaining things, stopped breathing three times.

I wasn't home.  The kids almost certainly saved her life.

She's still not anywhere nearly fully recovered, although she's doing much better in comparison.

I'll write more later, after I've had a little chance to get some rest and process all this.  May I say, though, that we have WONDERFUL neighbors, friends, and church family?  There's nothing like a good crisis or two to find out how loved you are.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Wedding Bells Coming

Hi, friends!

Not much of a post today.  The wedding's in two days and we're kinda busy over here.

Instead I'll just share two funny observations I've shamelessly stolen from a hilarious guy named Dwight, a Facebook friend of mine:

1. It's impossible to tell just how many chameleons are in a room at any given time.

2. You know you're a bad driver when Siri says "In four hundred feet, stop and let me out."

Hope all's well out there today, and God bless.

How We Respond to Stress

Difficult days are not unknown for the members of my household.  Chronic health conditions, adolescence, upcoming weddings and moves, jobs and bills and school and insurance and taxes and just plain LIFE can be overwhelming. 

Three fifths of the members of my household (the extroverted contingent) have been known to generate a powerful and pervasive grouchiness field when they are experiencing difficult days.  The other two fifths of the household, of the introverted persuasion, tend rather to hole up behind closed doors or books or computer screens or get out of the house when we are having difficult days.  Getting out of the house is okay, but when the two-fifths remain in the house, they tend to radiate grouchiness fields on a slightly different frequency.

The grouchiness field is an issue.

One of the household rules says, in effect, that when you're having a bad day, don't take it out on everyone else.  This rule tends to get violated every so often.

ANOTHER household rule says that, when someone is having a bad day, do something nice for them to make them feel cared about and loved.  This rule, happily enough, tends to get followed rather more frequently, although still not consistently.

So, ideally, infractions of the first rule will be met with food, hugs, listening ears, and compassion.  It doesn't always work that way, but it's a good day when it does.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Big 5-0!

I'd like to take this blog post to wish Adored Wife a very happy fiftieth birthday!

Happy birthday to her!
Happy birthday to her!
Happy birthday, AW!
Happy birthday to her!

Okay, did that.

That's probably about it for the moment, friends.  Things have been unusually crazy around my household at the moment.  Every single flat surface has something wedding-related on it, and it's a busy time at work as well.

Hope all's well out there, and God bless.

Repeat As Often As Needed

It is my responsibility to help my thirteen year old son grow to be a good and Godly man.

That can't happen if I throw him to a pack of rabid hyenas before he has a chance to get there.

(Deep breath.)

It is my responsibility to help my thirteen year old son grow to be a good and Godly man.

That can't happen if I drop him in a volcano the next time he gives me attitude.

(Another deep breath.  Count to ten.)

It is my responsibility to help my thirteen year old son grow to be a good and Godly man.

That can't happen if I launch him into orbit, no matter how much his behavior gets on my LAST nerve.

(Okay, okay, calm down.  Be patient.  Adolescence is a difficult and challenging time.)

It is my responsibility to help my thirteen year old son grow to be a good and Godly man.

That can't happen if I........(This will pass.  Just hang in there.)

It is my responsibility..........

The Nest Starts to Empty....

Basement Artist is getting married and leaving us.  She's twenty-four--it's time.

I don't wanna talk about it.

Social Hurricane is talking about moving out.  She's twenty-two.  She's got some issues, but it's time.

I don't wanna....no, I guess I should talk about something.

Social Hurricane has wanted to spread her wings and fly for some time now.  She tried too early, kinda fell and crashed, and came limping back.  There were prices to pay, consequences, some delays and obstacles she's got to live with it.

But she thinks she's almost ready, and we think she's almost ready.  She's done lots of adulting things and is working on more.

It's a little tricky doing adulting things when you suffer from full-bore bipolar disorder, anxiety attacks, panic attacks, hallucinations, and serious dyslexia.  Plus she got hit by a car a few years back and has a few lingering issues from that.  SH is probably always going to have some challenges, some things that are a little more complicated for her than for "normal" people.

I'm a little scared at the prospect of her leaving, much more so than I am about Basement Artist.  She's a fully licensed CNA, and she's good at it and likes it, so she does have a very marketable skill.  She's pretty determined to get her driver's license this time around, and once we get past this wedding I do want to take her out for some more intensive instruction.  She's starting paying bills and keeping up with medications and doctor appointments and such already, so, you know, progress.  (Of course, there would have been a few awkward bits if her mother wasn't keeping an eye on things, but, you know, this is how we learn.)  And, in some respects, she does have a lot of practical intelligence--she'll abruptly turn around and be competent and capable at the darnedest things.

I feel better for writing all that out.  Maybe she's going to be okay?

I'm not ready for this.

Hope everything's okay out there, friends, and God bless.