Easter

O.K., I'm really, really, really tired of being sick.  And getting snow.  Paul's first antibiotic didn't work, so 2 weeks after he started that, we were in the E.R. because he had a fever of 104 and he was telling me his chest hurt.  When he had voluntarily asked to take a nap that day, I knew something was wrong. So, they got him on another antitiotic, which seems to have worked better.  He is still coughing, but no fever anymore, and he seems to be o.k.  Hopefully it's just the residual cough.  I've been sick for a month now, as well.  I had almost gotten over my last cold when I got hit with another one.  I got so angry with being sick this past week that I just forced myself to be active and cleaned the whole house.  The temperature on Wednesday was 45 degrees, so I threw open the windows and the doors to try to get some fresh air in the house.  Washed all the bedding, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed, mopped floors.... Had to stop every so often because I was coughing or sweating with fever, but I didn't care.  Now I have a clean house, and I'm still sick.  Darn it all.  Oh well. 

So, then we got another snowfall on Friday, and more today.  Drove to work on Friday, about 35 mph the whole way, for 45 miles.  The snow today was mainly flurries, and it seemed to be melting as it hit the ground, which doesn't make me sad.  I'm so ready for spring. 

We went to my sister-in-law's for Easter dinner on Saturday, and brought Paul, so that was fun.  He colored eggs and got spoiled with 2 Easter baskets, so he was happy.  His dad had him for church this morning... said he was good through 5 hours of church services.  Our service was nice. I like singing all the traditional songs - as much as I could sing; my throat is really sore. We didn't get up for Easter breakfast or the sunrise service... maybe next year, when I'm not hacking up a lung. 

A friend of ours is moving to Texas, and she gave Paul her hermit crab.  Boy, is he excited about that!  It's a pretty cool little thing, and low maintenance, which is nice.  He's nocturnal and doesn't like loud noises, so I'm not sure how much Paul will be able to see him actually moving around, but he was out and about at bedtime tonight, so that was cool.  I'll have to read up about them so we'll get the most out of our hermit crab ownership experience. 

Time to make something warm to drink and curl up with a book.  My brain isn't in good enough shape to do homework tonight.    

Sick x3

Well, we're all sick here.  My son has had a cough for a little over a week, and Thursday we got a call from the school that he was coughing so hard that he threw up.  We have been giving him his asthma inhaler, so I figured that would help stave off any major illness, and he sure didn't act sick besides a moderate cough.  He had been well enough to energetically participate in wrestling practice the night before. Nonetheless, I took him to the doctor anyway.  Sure enough, he's got pneumonia again.  I could tell things weren't right as soon as the doctor listened to his lungs, because she got this concerned, "H'mmmmmmm..." type of look on her face and kept listening.  She said, "I can hear him wheezing, worse on the right side." So she had the nebulizer brought in... for those of you who don't have experience with this device, it's like a humidifier with a tube on it that goes into your mouth so that you can suck in a high dose of medication and steam at the same time.  It makes a very neat (to a 7-year-old) whooshing sound, and blows steam out of the tube when you exhale, so P thought it was very cool. So he sucked away obediently on that for about 5 minutes.  Then the doc checked his lungs again.  Still heard wheezing, so off we go to get a chest x-ray downstairs.  Conveniently, the clinic is attached to the hospital, so we didn't have to go far.  P was concerned about exactly how they were going to take this picture of his lungs.  He thought they would have to go inside his chest with a camera.  Poor little guy.  So I explained that they can take pictures from the outside, and see inside.  And no, it doesn't hurt.  He then got excited and asked  if he could see the pictures of the inside of him.  Which the x-ray technicians graciously allowed.  He was so good...standing as still as he could for the x-rays.  So, then, we went back upstairs, where the doctor said that there was indeed a haziness in his right lung.  Off we go to the pharmacy for steriods and antibiotics...  The antibiotics are in liquid form and it apparently tasts o.k., but the steriods are tablets.  And he had to take 6 at a time.  Right.  This is a child who had to be taught how to swallow and spit in the first place, and he still squirrels food away in his cheeks sometimes instead of swallowing.  Try to get 6 nasty-tasting pills down this kid.  We managed to do it, with a lot of milk and water, but he refused to take his prescribed 3 pills this morning.  Not that I blame him.  We finally discovered that crushing them up and mixing them with yogurt makes them o.k.  *whew*  Meanwhile, he's still not acting sick at all, which is good, really.  But it makes it soooooo difficult to tell when he has a problem.  I've talked to other people who have had pneumonia, and they say it's very painful.  Apparently my son cannot feel pain.  He never once has said his chest hurts.  *sigh*  Same thing happened last time, 2 years ago.  I was off getting married in Hawaii, and my parents were watching him.  He had a bit of a cold when I left, no big deal, right?  My Mom didn't think anything of it as she sent him off to school that morning.  Two hours later, they get a call saying that the school has called an ambulance because Paul is turning blue!  He had pneumonia so badly that he was in the hospital for 5 days.  Of course, at the time we didn't know he had asthma, so that made his illness worse very quickly.  Now we keep that under control, and at least we caught it early this time.  Scary. 

Meanwhile, I've been sick for a week with what I now know is the flu.  I've had a terrible cough and sore throat and fatigue... been sleeping most of the day for the past 2 days, aside from taking P to the doctor and going to the doctor myself today.  Doc says the flu is really bad this year, and about 50% of people in WI have it now or have already had it.  My son kept telling me to go to the doctor yeaterday when he went, and he offered me his medications as well.  I explained that I would have to get my own medications, but he is sweet for trying to help me.  Crzay... He's got pneumonia, and he's more concerned about helping me... here I am with just the flu, and I'm totally wimping out. 

D has been taking care of us.  He started to get a sore throat a couple of days ago, but so far it hasn't gotten bad.  He's been tired, though. 

I'm so sick of winter.  I want this all to just go away so we can all feel better again. 

I'm back

Haven't blogged in so long I forgot how to do it.  I think I figured it out.  I managed to change my profile pic.  The one I had up was from when my Mom was sick, and I think I looked worn out.  I'm better now.  Things are going o.k. here in WI.  We have a ton of snow, and I'm really sick of winter, but other than that, no major catastrophes to speak of.  Which is nice. 

Got a new car a few weeks ago.  It's a 2004 Saturn Ion, and so far I'm really liking it.  My 10-year-old Neon finally left me stranded with a cracked block, so we had to get something quick.  Luckily the hubby has connections in the auto industry and he knows who not to go to up here.  So we got a good car at a fair price, which is all you can really ask for.  I'm liking it... nothing flashy or anything, no power locks or windows or heated seats or iPod jack, just a basic manual-transmission car with AC.  It does have a CD player, which is nice, but it doesn't have cruise control, which I miss on my 45-mile drive to work.  But it's a safe car, and all reviews say it's reliable.  Gets good gas mileage, too.  Naturally I already put it in the ditch once.  Have I mentioned I hate winter?  I wasn't used to the really tight steering one of the first times I drove it home from work.  It was one of those days when it was about -10 degrees at 11 at night, and windy as heck.  I got up on top of a hill, hit a slippery spot just as a huge gust of winde caught me, and I started fishtailing... overcorrected really badly and slid backward into the ditch.  Soooooooo, for the 2nd time in about 2 weeks, I had to call AAA to bail me out.  (What did I ever do before I had AAA?)  No damage to the car.. the body is all plastic, so that's nice.  I missed a telephone pole by about 5 feet.  But, all is well.  That was a couple of weeks ago, and since then I've learned to drive the car better, and I actually find it really handles well in snow and ice, as long as you have a gentle steering hand with it. 

My sister is moving out of the trailer park after 10 years!  Yay!  They are so excited.  They bought a house with 3 bedrooms, so each kid can have their own.  They have a fenced yard, and a garage, and more space than 4 of their trailers.  They closed on it last week, and we are coming down this weekend to help paint.  Hey SuperDad- maybe I will give you a call if I get the chance so we can swing by and you can meet my husband.   I think my Dad is almost more exicted than my sister and her family are.  He loves a good new project to work on, and he's ecstatic that they will finally have a nice home. 

Speaking of Dad, he's doing quite well, considering how difficult this past year has been for all of us.  He has kept busy with social outings and aviation seminars.  He reads the paper and goes to just about every benefit luncheon and such.  It's a way for him to not only get out of the house, but get some good food as well.  He has also apparently taken up line dancing.  Also, he met a lady friend on eHarmony, and he is going on his second "date" this weekend. I say, good for him.  I mean, if he gets a steady girlfriend, it will be very very strange to see him with a woman besides Mom.  But, I think it's very healthy for him to keep living his life.  He loved my Mom with everything he had, and we know that no one can replace her.  Nonetheless, if he can have a companion and keep from being lonely, that's great.  He's the kind of guy who will go absolutely crazy if he was alone all the time.

I'm still plugging along with my schooling.  I'm transcribing surgeries now, which I find incredibly interesting.  I only have another couple of weeks of that, though, and I will move on to Advanced Transcription, which includes radiology and pathology.  That will be the last section of my class, and then I will be able to look for a job.  Yay!  And then we can start to think about having another baby.  Paul looks at my stomach continually and asks if there is a baby in there yet.  He wants a little brother or sister so bad.  He is quite knowledgable for his age about the human body and such, and has a decent understanding of how babies grow inside Mommies.  He is a little unclear at this point exactly how the baby gets in there, but all in due time... What concerns him at this point is "When is Mommy going to have .... pregnancy?"   I have to start doing sit-ups or something, because he informed me today that I was a little bit pregnant.   

Gotta love it.  He cracked me up this weekend.  We were at a friend's house watching the Daytona 500, and there were several kids there and toys strewn everywhere... anyway, he picked up a child-sized acoustic guitar and held it up to his shoulder and loudly declared, "I NEED A BOW!"  I tried to explain that it was a guitar and he needs to hold it lower, across his body.  So he stood it on end and started to play it like a cello...  I'm not sure whether to be proud or concerned...

Time to get to bed.  Let's see if I can post this correctly..

Mom passed away at 9:20 last night.  My dad, my sisters and I, Deanna's husband, and Mom's brother and his wife were all able to be there while she was still conscious, so she knew we were there.  Then she slipped in to a coma for a couple of hours and was gone.  I am numb, just going through what I need to do now... we made arrangements at the funeral home this afternoon for a private viewing.  I was going through some of her stuff today, but will do more of that in a few weeks, after we move into our new house and I can bring some of the things back.  Dad is having a hard time.. I think it is starting to hit him today.  He is more ready than he was back in February, but it's still really hard for him, as is to be expected.  I just can't believe she's really gone.  I'm glad she didn't hang on in a semi-conscious state for days.  It seemed that once we all got there and we told her we were there and wouldn't leave, she let go and it happened relatively fast.  I believe that even up until the end, she didn't want to be a burden to us (as if she ever was) and tried to make it easier on us.  I think the sight of her blue mottled skin and labored breathing will bother me for some time, but that isn't how I plan to remember her.  I know from the information the hospice gave us back in February that it wasn't nearly as agonizing for her as it was for us.  She wasn't in pain, that we are almost certain of.  We are glad that she is finally at peace and that she doesn't have to suffer anymore.  That sounds cliche, but watching her go through this, I truly understand why people eventually stop praying for a cancer paitent to live and start praying for them to die.     

I should get some rest before I have to leave to go back home. 

Life is Crazy

So, yeah.  I guess it's been a month since I wrote here.  My life is nuts right now.  Mom is in the hospital for the 3rd time with pneumonia... she just can't seem to shake it.  There are doubts that she will make it this time, she is so weak.  But, we and the doctors have been wrong before.  We'll see. 

I have started back with my schooling, after a 3-month break when Mom was so sick before.  I am really working at it, trying to get done in a reasonable amount of time, but like everything in life, it is harder than I expected it to be.  Still, I am doing well and hope to be working in medical transcription by this time next year. Hopefully well before this time next year... 

We are also in the process of buying a new house.  Dreher's dad is getting anxious to move in here, as he is paying 2 mortgages right now, since buying our place last July.  I was supposed to be done with school by now, but... yeah.  That didn't happen.  Anyway, we started looking seriously at houses about a month ago and after going through a couple, found the perfect house for us.  It is a 3-bedroom, 2+ bath house with a full 1 acre yard.  The basement is finished and there is an office area there.  It is just gorgeous, and we are looking forward to moving in.  Our offer was accepted a couple of weeks ago, and we had the inspection done, etc.  We are in the process of finalizing the loan paperwork... we were pre-approved, so it's not going to be a problem...  and waiting for the closing.  The people who own the house are obviously packing up, so it seems clear that they don't expect any problems. 

This is exciting, but of course with all the other things going on, moving is going to be a huge stress.  It will be super nice once we're there, and we are sure that this will be our last move for a long, long time, so that's a comfort. 

I should get to bed.  I always stay up too late.  I just finished a test for my class, and my brain is exhausted...