Ok, this is getting ridiculous. This has been a year of firsts for me and I want it to stop right now!!! My first ever surgery ( and all the tests required to determine I needed surgery) and now my first ever root canal. There have been a few other firsts that I would have preferred not to experience, just not at liberty to discuss them here right now. I have made it 50 years without all these health and other issues and I would just as soon make it another 50 thank you very much.
The good news regarding the root canal is that it has forced me to rest a little. I have spent 3 nights in a row in my own bed and that hasn't happened since the end of October. Granted it was on major pain meds, but I will take it however I can get it. The bad news is that I feel so guilty for not being with my in-laws and helping them. The pain meds help but I can't make a 2 and a half hour drive while taking them. Not sure when I will get back up there...
So for now, pain meds, antibiotics and the joy of knowing I will be going back in a few days to finish (hopefully) what the dentist started. Evidently my roots are not cooperating and I may have to be referred to a specialist in this area. Hopefully it will not come to that...
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Less than 2 weeks...
And I still don't have a tree up or the house decorated. Hopefully I will get some of that accomplished today. We came home last night, so good to sleep thru the night in my very own bed. It's amazing how you begin to appreciate the smallest things when they are not available to you.
This week was up and down as far as my MIL and FIL's road to recovery. It just seems like we take 2 steps forward and 3 back some days. We did have to go to the emergency room for a CT one day. Everything was normal.
Still no idea where we will be for Christmas this year. I of course would love to be in my home with all of my children, but we know that will not be happening this year. Praying for it to happen next year.
Today, I will try and have a little normalcy, make breakfast, find a tree, do some decorating and laundry, you know, just a typical Sunday.
Tomorrow Ed has an appointment with a Neurologist. He is having some issues and needs to take some tests to determine what is going on. Praying for a good outcome.
I will be going back to Tulsa Monday evening. Really hope we start to see some improvement this week and we can all get back to our normal lives. I know my in-law's are as ready as I am!
This week was up and down as far as my MIL and FIL's road to recovery. It just seems like we take 2 steps forward and 3 back some days. We did have to go to the emergency room for a CT one day. Everything was normal.
Still no idea where we will be for Christmas this year. I of course would love to be in my home with all of my children, but we know that will not be happening this year. Praying for it to happen next year.
Today, I will try and have a little normalcy, make breakfast, find a tree, do some decorating and laundry, you know, just a typical Sunday.
Tomorrow Ed has an appointment with a Neurologist. He is having some issues and needs to take some tests to determine what is going on. Praying for a good outcome.
I will be going back to Tulsa Monday evening. Really hope we start to see some improvement this week and we can all get back to our normal lives. I know my in-law's are as ready as I am!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
What a week this has been. I am supposed to be in NYC right now, getting ready for my flight back home. But I am already home. Our trip to New York, that we had been planning for 6 months, lasted less than 24 hours. We weren't sure we were even going to be able to go, but then my MIL seemed to be doing a little better, we had a diagnosis and meds, so I let them convince me to go home, so that I could make our trip the next morning. We left Ft. Smith a little after 6am Thursday and got into NYC around 3:30 that afternoon. We walked around a little that evening, had dinner and decided on an early night since I hadn't slept much since Sunday.
We got the first call around midnight our time that my MIL was being taken by ambulance to the hospital with a possible heart attack. Of course this meant we had to make arrangements to get back home. Fortunately there was a 7am flight Friday morning. We made it back to Tulsa around noon and took a cab directly to the hospital. The good news is that it wasn't a heart attack. Her sodium levels were very low and her electrolytes were out of balance as a result. After several bags of IV fluids, she was beginning to feel better. Her appetite returned for the first time in a month and the nausea she had been experiencing was getting better. We were able to bring her home on Saturday, on the condition that she not try and do anything at all and allow us to take care of my FIL and the house.
Not sure how long we will need to do this, but it is probably going to be a while before she can handle everything by herself again. So for now, my weeks will be spent in Tulsa and weekends at home.
Not sure when or if we will get a Christmas tree, it is kind of pointless right now. No one will really be here to enjoy it. But I didn't get a tree a few years ago, because no one was coming for Christmas and I just didn't think it was necessary. I said I would never do that again but you know what they say about never saying never.....
I think I will try and put out a few decorations so at least the few days I am at home, I can enjoy them. Not even sure where we will be this year for Christmas. I would still like to go to Boston, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. We won't be having the Keeton family Christmas this year, my MIL is just not up to doing it. It will be the first Christmas Eve in Keeton history that at least some of them didn't come together for a meal and family time. But with my MIL being the only remaining sibling of the original 7 and no one else willing to take up the tradition, last year was probably the last time for it. This makes me very sad as I have been attending these gatherings since Ed and I married almost 33 years ago. And they had been going on many years before that. It truly is the end of an era.
So, today I will try and get the laundry done and things ready for me to go back to Tulsa tomorrow. I guess most of my shopping is going to be done online this year, with a few things picked up on the weekends when I come home. It is going to be a very different Christmas this year, that's for sure.....
We got the first call around midnight our time that my MIL was being taken by ambulance to the hospital with a possible heart attack. Of course this meant we had to make arrangements to get back home. Fortunately there was a 7am flight Friday morning. We made it back to Tulsa around noon and took a cab directly to the hospital. The good news is that it wasn't a heart attack. Her sodium levels were very low and her electrolytes were out of balance as a result. After several bags of IV fluids, she was beginning to feel better. Her appetite returned for the first time in a month and the nausea she had been experiencing was getting better. We were able to bring her home on Saturday, on the condition that she not try and do anything at all and allow us to take care of my FIL and the house.
Not sure how long we will need to do this, but it is probably going to be a while before she can handle everything by herself again. So for now, my weeks will be spent in Tulsa and weekends at home.
Not sure when or if we will get a Christmas tree, it is kind of pointless right now. No one will really be here to enjoy it. But I didn't get a tree a few years ago, because no one was coming for Christmas and I just didn't think it was necessary. I said I would never do that again but you know what they say about never saying never.....
I think I will try and put out a few decorations so at least the few days I am at home, I can enjoy them. Not even sure where we will be this year for Christmas. I would still like to go to Boston, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. We won't be having the Keeton family Christmas this year, my MIL is just not up to doing it. It will be the first Christmas Eve in Keeton history that at least some of them didn't come together for a meal and family time. But with my MIL being the only remaining sibling of the original 7 and no one else willing to take up the tradition, last year was probably the last time for it. This makes me very sad as I have been attending these gatherings since Ed and I married almost 33 years ago. And they had been going on many years before that. It truly is the end of an era.
So, today I will try and get the laundry done and things ready for me to go back to Tulsa tomorrow. I guess most of my shopping is going to be done online this year, with a few things picked up on the weekends when I come home. It is going to be a very different Christmas this year, that's for sure.....
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Giving Thanks
Today I am thankful.
Thankful for 3 healthy and beautiful daughters
Thankful for a husband of almost 33 years (that I have known since I was 13)
Thankful for my father and my in-laws
Thankful for my brothers and their families
Thankful for dear, precious friends who add so much to my life
Thankful I have a home and food
Thankful for the freedoms I have living in the United States of America and for each and every person who has fought to allow me these freedoms and rights.
Thankful for my mother and all that she taught me and so very thankful I was able to be with her when she left this world. I miss her so much, but am most thankful that I will see her again one day thanks to the promise of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
So, today I give thanks. For all of the above and so much more.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thankful for 3 healthy and beautiful daughters
Thankful for a husband of almost 33 years (that I have known since I was 13)
Thankful for my father and my in-laws
Thankful for my brothers and their families
Thankful for dear, precious friends who add so much to my life
Thankful I have a home and food
Thankful for the freedoms I have living in the United States of America and for each and every person who has fought to allow me these freedoms and rights.
Thankful for my mother and all that she taught me and so very thankful I was able to be with her when she left this world. I miss her so much, but am most thankful that I will see her again one day thanks to the promise of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
So, today I give thanks. For all of the above and so much more.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Home at last
Soooo happy to be home. Sleeping in my own bed last night was wonderful. Waking up in my own bed was even better!
Today has been spent cleaning and getting the laundry done. And resting, lots of resting.
I just about did too much yesterday, what with all the furniture rearranging. Did I mention I moved an entire king sized bed all by myself? Well, I did. All by myself. After a week in the hospital with Donald, I needed some physical activity and I think I managed to get quite a bit in the past few days. So much, that today I am very sore! But I am glad I was able to do some things to make life a little easier for my in-laws. I cleaned and grocery shopped on Thursday, moved furniture and cooked on Friday and drove home that night.
I took this picture on Wednesday before they told us we could take Donald home. He had a very rough day and night on Tuesday, so this was especially sweet.
I will be going back to Glenpool on Monday to help out some more. Hopefully I will have recovered from the past 8 days. Friday, November 13, 2009
TGIF even if it is the 13th
Wow, what a week this has been. We made it to Tulsa on the 5th and I haven't been home since!
Ed's dad was not doing well at all and could not be left alone, so Ed and I spent the next 5 nights attempting to sleep in recliners in my FIL's hospital room. I finally sent Ed home to sleep in a real bed on Tuesday night and stayed with his dad by myself. Ed's back situation is precarious at best and he needed a good firm bed to keep it from going completely out on him. Plus, his mom was pretty close to total exhaustion and was in need of a good dinner and an early bedtime.
Finally on Wednesday, the Dr.'s said he could come home!! We were packed and ready in a flash. A week in the hospital with basically no sleep and not the best of eating habits was more than enough for all of us! But of course after staying up all night for a week, it was nearly impossible to sleep that first night. Last night was a little better and tonight I will be sleeping in my very own bed!! Ed's sister will stay the weekend and if needed I will come back on Monday. While I certainly don't mind coming back and helping, I would rather he be doing well enough that I am not needed. We are getting concerned about Ed's mom as well, she has been under so much stress the past few months, with her sister's illness and recent death and now Donald's health problems. We are just trying to make sure she doesn't end up in the hospital bed beside him next time.
So, TGIF the 13th, a lucky day as far as I am concerned!!
Ed's dad was not doing well at all and could not be left alone, so Ed and I spent the next 5 nights attempting to sleep in recliners in my FIL's hospital room. I finally sent Ed home to sleep in a real bed on Tuesday night and stayed with his dad by myself. Ed's back situation is precarious at best and he needed a good firm bed to keep it from going completely out on him. Plus, his mom was pretty close to total exhaustion and was in need of a good dinner and an early bedtime.
Finally on Wednesday, the Dr.'s said he could come home!! We were packed and ready in a flash. A week in the hospital with basically no sleep and not the best of eating habits was more than enough for all of us! But of course after staying up all night for a week, it was nearly impossible to sleep that first night. Last night was a little better and tonight I will be sleeping in my very own bed!! Ed's sister will stay the weekend and if needed I will come back on Monday. While I certainly don't mind coming back and helping, I would rather he be doing well enough that I am not needed. We are getting concerned about Ed's mom as well, she has been under so much stress the past few months, with her sister's illness and recent death and now Donald's health problems. We are just trying to make sure she doesn't end up in the hospital bed beside him next time.
So, TGIF the 13th, a lucky day as far as I am concerned!!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
PaPa
My father-in-law isn't doing well. He had surgery a week ago to remove the hardware from his previous back surgery and is still having intense pain. Pain that morphine doesn't seem to be touching. He has been to the ER twice now, once by ambulance and is currently in the hospital. We are going to Tulsa as soon as Ed can tie up some things at work. I am so worried about MaMa (my MIL). She has been taking care of him for months now as well as taking care of her sister Gladys. With the funeral for Gladys this week and PaPa's issues, I know she is wearing down. Both physically and emotionally. Hopefully she will allow us to take over and do somethings for them both and take care of herself. You see it so often, a spouse or family member becomes ill and the caretaker ends up in as bad if not worse shape than the person they are caring for. I just don't want to see this happen to MaMa.
PaPa, MaMa and Pa.It is so hard to watch the people you love age and become frail. I have known my in-laws since I was 13 years old (they didn't become my in-laws until I was 18) and it is just so hard to see the way they have aged. They were really very young when I first met them. Only in their early 30's. Now they are in their early 70's. I am so thankful for all the years I have known them and hope to have them around for many more. I know how truly blessed I am to have them as my in-laws. Not everyone has this kind of relationship with with their spouse's family and I know how fortunate I am. So, we will go to them and do for them what they will allow us to do. Hopefully we will be able to offer some comfort.
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