I’m an (exhausted) jerk
I know I haven’t posted and I feel horrible about that. I have just been on such an emotional roller coaster during the past two weeks that it’s been hard to write anything that I think anyone would care to read.
My Dad came home from the hospital on Thanksgiving afternoon. He is doing well. He got the staples out of his head today and I imagine that will have to make him feel markedly better. His recovery has not been without some complications but we are all hoping that with time, they are gone completely.
After a two week hiatus from karate, I am really looking forward to going back and posting about how I can’t remember a damn thing and after two weeks off, I will most certainly probably knock myself out with my nunchaku and have something entertaining to write about. I promise.
I’ll be back soon, and thank you for checking in with me via email and reminding me that there are people out there who care. Great big cyber hugs to all of you.
An Early Thanksgiving
My Dad is a very active guy. He used to play ice hockey. He plays tennis, goes to the gym and has been into hang-gliding since he was in college. He’s been hang-gliding for over 30 years and has never had a problem. . . until a couple weeks ago. He had a problem with his landing and took a header from about 15 ft. above the ground. His hang-gliding buddies didn’t expect him to get up, but he did. In fact, he popped right back up and seemed fine. He insisted that he didn’t need medical attention and didn’t go to the hospital.
Then the headaches started. They got worse. He had a CAT scan done a few weeks ago and there was a bleed. He had another CAT scan done two weeks later and it looked like things were resolving without the need for medical intervention. This week, things took a bad turn and the headaches and pressure got to be too much. A CAT scan yesterday revealed that intervention was necessary. My Dad was admitted to the hospital last night and had a craniotomy today to repair the bleed and drain blood that had accumulated and was causing the pressure.
Saying goodbye to him before he was wheeled off to surgery was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life.
It was a nerve-wracking day with a five hour wait until we found out that the surgery went well and that he was going to be o.k. He’s got a new hair-do and is going to take some time to recover, but we are so thankful that he made it through the surgery without any complications. When things like this happen, it makes you realize that life is so very fragile. My family may not have a Thanksgiving dinner on the day we wanted to this year, but we have so very much to be thankful for tonight.
Edited on 11-19 to add: There have been some complications as of today. My Dad’s brain began to swell and he was unable to speak for some time. They also believe that he had some frontal seizures. He has been started on steroids and we are hoping for a big improvement by tomorrow. My family needs all the prayers we can get right now, so please pray for my Dad’s complete recovery. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.
Edited on 11-20 to add: What a difference a day makes! My Dad is doing much better. He looks like a new man. The swelling has gone down and the drains have been removed. He will likely be moved out of ICU tomorrow. Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers and very touching emails.
Just my Luck Or RIP Little Chipmunk
Filed under: Favorite Posts, Mental Strain for Mama
I drove Big I to school this morning and there was nothing extraordinary that separated today from any other day. Upon arriving home, I normally walk around the front of my car to get Lil C out. I don’t know what made me go around the back today, but I did and that’s when I saw it. . . a squished dead chipmunk. It lay there, three feet behind my back wheel, dead as a doornail and so obviously my doing.
I stopped in my tracks and let out a horrified sigh. And then I realized something even worse than the dead chipmunk. Before Big I gets off the bus today, I’m going to have to clean up my mess.
I am the person who can’t pick up a cat hairball without throwing up a little in my mouth or at least heaving to the point that I have to run to the bathroom, just in case. I scanned my neighbor’s houses and cars to see if anyone suitable for doing this sort of thing was home, and the answer was sadly, no.
I took Lil C in the house and did what any rational wife who just killed a chipmunk would do. I called my husband whose office is 45 minutes away and demanded that he come home and now. He laughed while I cursed him for not working from home today of all days DAMN IT. "Just put on a glove. . . " he started. "NO! I can’t do THAT!" I said completely horrified. "I’ll throw up!" I said. "Well, then your other option is to get the snow shovel. . . ". "Oh GOD NO. . . Can’t you just come home?" I begged. "Do you think my Dad would come out and take care of it for me?" I asked my husband. "No, well, maybe. You could call him and tell him that you hit a deer, and that you need help. Then, when he shows up, you could tell him ‘Oops! Sorry, I meant a deer MOUSE’" my husband said while relishing in the fact that he was a good hour away.
"How bad is it?" he asked. "It’s bad," I said "he’s a pancake, squished in the middle and what’s coming out the ends isn’t pretty." "Oh Man," he said and laughed some more.
So I hung up and did what any rational woman would do. . . I called my Mom.
"I have a problem," I said. "WHAT?" she asked thinking there was something seriously wrong. I told her my dilemma and she recommended that I first cover the poor little guy with some leaves and then scoop him up with a snow shovel and put him in some bushes or trees where he wouldn’t be disturbed. This from the woman who had a chipmunk trapped in her fireplace, so my Dad put a trap in there, caught him, and then released him into the woods. "I don’t know if I can do this," I said. "Well, you’re going to have to. Imagine Big I’s face when she gets off the bus." "I know," I said, resigned to my fate.
I got Lil C occupied in her port-a-crib and retrieved the snow shovel. As I opened the front door, a squirrel sat on my step just staring me down. You think I’m kidding? Because I’m not! Then the birds started making all kinds of noise and swooping around in a threatening fashion. I was waiting for a mountain lion to come charging down from the woods and eat me or something. I felt like the friendly forest folk were declaring war on me. I needed to do this quickly.
I threw some leaves on top and I’ll only say that dead chipmunks don’t just nicely move themselves onto snow shovels. There was some scooping and some squirming (that was me) and then I finally got him on the shovel and put him in a ground covering bush away from the house. Then, I had to hose off the shovel, and hose down the crime scene. I also had to hose down my back wheel. Can I tell you how relieved I was that it was my BACK wheel and not the front? I never saw him because he ran out after my front wheel had already passed. Stupid chipmunk running under a car.
And so considering how this day started, I think I’m ready to call it a day. The things we’ll do for our kids. . .
Out of the Office
Black Belt Mama is currently out of the blog world suffering from a case of strep throat. She will return to the blog world when she’s feeling up to it. She has a wonderful story to pass on about nursing mothers, medication, and big time jerk doctors (actually physicans assistants AND doctors) that is sure to get you all riled up. She can’t wait to share it with you. Now go pray that your child doesn’t bring home strep throat too!
Cess pools
I think I have figured out a way to keep health care costs down in this country. It’s simple really and involves two steps:
- All children will be schooled at home through home-schooling or cyber-schooling, thus avoiding the school buildings (cess pool #1) which are apparently teeming with germs.
- Children will no longer go to doctor’s offices for well visits. Doctors will make house calls for well visits, thus helping children avoid cess pool #2.
I have learned in the last month and a half that Kindergarten is a cess pool of germs. I have never had so many colds/viruses in my life. Not even when I was a teacher, did I get sick this often. You see high school kids, for the most part, know how to blow their noses and keep their germs to themselves. I don’t think Kindergartener’s have learned this crucial skill yet. We’re currently running on a cycle something like this:
- Day 1: Big I comes home and complains of slight sore throat and/or runny nose.
- Day 2: Lil C starts sneezing.
- Day 3: Mama starts sneezing and glands swell up big enough to make me look like a linebacker.
- Day 4: Big I, Lil C, and me all break out in full fledged runny nose/achy body/sore throat hell.
- Days 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 are all like Day 4
- Day 11: We all start to feel better. I realize we’re not going through a box of tissues every half hour.
- Day 12: Feeling great!
- Days 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 are all good.
- Day 18: See Day 1
I swear this is how it has been since Big I started school. Last week we added another germ cess pool to our daily routine with a well visit for Lil C. Every time the child gets a vaccine, she gets sick. She starts out fussy, feverish, and hating sleep. Now she has a full fledged cold, complete with "Mama, Mama, Mama" crying non-stop, except for the few precious hours when she sleeps, breathing through her mouth. And we don’t even get her all of the recommended vaccines.
During our visit to cess pool #2, the doctor said Lil C is doing very well and is ahead developmentally. Duh, she is the child of a valedictorian and a perfectionist after all. She is 31 1/4 inches tall (97th percentile). This marks the first time since birth that she is actually on the charts for her height. She weighs 20 lbs. 14 oz. (50th percentile), and her head is still 90th percentile.
In other news, Mr. BBM and I went out for our eight year anniversary (eight years of marriage-twelve years together)this weekend to a restaurant that was anything but a cess pool. We enjoyed crab stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer. Mr. BBM had kobe steak and I had sauteed crab cakes with green olive tartar sauce. It was delicious. I also had two glasses of the house Pinot Grigio which made walking in heels a bit of a challenge afterwards, but it was worth it anyway (Nine months of pregnancy plus 12 months of nursing makes for a dismal tolerance to any and all alcohol). We wrapped up dinner with a slice of pecan pie for Mr. BBM and a vanilla creme brulee for me, accompanied by an Ethiopian coffee in a french press that was so divine that neither of us even needed sugar.
It was wonderful to have dinner alone, without anyone requesting more chocolate milk for the 14th time or tossing a cup over the side of the high chair yet again. We talked about fantasy football, home improvements, our jobs, and funny things from our past. It was a great night out. I’m just glad that the full-fledged cold held off until Sunday so that we could enjoy our night out.
Back to the germs. I’m sure someone needs to blow her nose. . . again.
My latest post "Fantasy Football for Dummies" is up at Save the Soldiers, and is all about how my fantasy football season is going so far. Right now, the person who posts my entries made a boo-boo and the post says that it was written by Andrew something or other. It’s mine. It will be fixed. "Andrew" is probably not real happy that the first line says something about "my husband." If you like fantasy football or just football in general, you’ll especially like this weeks post. Actually, you’ll like it even more if you’re a Chicago Bears fan. Enjoy!
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