Mom Update

I called mom today. She’s doing really well. She got up this morning and is now walking around. She had to wait until the incision in her femoral artery healed before she could even sit up.

The change in her voice is startling. She’s clear and alert. Her breathing isn’t labored, like usual. And she said there’s been no pain in her legs, which she’s dealt with for the past 10 years or more. I’m no doctor, but it would make sense. When your heart isn’t pumping efficiently, by the time the blood gets down to your legs, you would probably have very weak circulation, which would make your legs ache. And the harder your heart has to pump to get the blood through those clogged arteries, the more taxing it is on your lungs. Now that she has the stents in, the blood is flowing better and it’s less work for her body.

If you’re a doctor and I’m wrong, please leave a comment.

She said she figures she probably had a mild heart prior to this. She had, what felt like, heartburn. She’s never had heartburn before (lucky woman). It lasted about three hours, then went away and she didn’t think anymore about it. But then Saturday night, it started up again and really hurt her throat. She said the pain went down to about the middle of her chest, and her left arm was tingly. But she’s felt that before, so again, she didn’t think anything about it.

Then early Sunday morning, in addition to the heartburn, she got hot flashes, but then would cool off really quickly. That’s when she woke dad and said something wasn’t right. It wasn’t just heartburn.

The nurse at the hospital said back pain, especially between the shoulder blades, is a clear sign of heart attack as well, but mom has had pain in her back for 30 years so, again, it just seemed normal to her.

She doesn’t know how long she’ll be in the hospital, but I’m much more comfortable with her there right now. I’ve been reading up on stents and blood clots are a concern at this point. The weather is horrible and roads are icy, so if something were to happen, it would be difficult to get her even down to the little clinic in town. With her at the big ol’ hospital (which is two hours away), she’s surrounded by doctors 24/7.

Thanks for all the good juju. Despite mom’s protests (“Did ya have to tell EVERYONE?!”) she really does appreciate it.

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We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog…

Happy New Year!

So, you may notice a change in the blog. Just a little one. I figured, new year, new marriage, new house (INHALE) new car, new kids and experiences, I might as well change up the blog, too. And why not?

Our new year started off Thursday with a lovely dinner at Anthony’s, downtown on the water, followed by adult beverages and games at Dan and Trish’s. They had a couple of other friends over, so it was a quiet evening. So quiet, in fact, that I asked if we could pop open the champagne around 10pm and toast, so I could go home and go to bed. No one went for it. I made it until midnight, then shortly after, Todd and I headed home (after I slipped on the stairs and drove the corner of the Apples to Apples box into my back. Happy new year, indeed!)

Friday was muy productive. I cleaned the kitchen and the bathrooms, while Todd and the kids took out garbage and recycling and tidied up. We took down the tree and other decorations, but left the multi colored lights up around the windows because we were having people over for a Rock Band movie night. The colored lights just added to the….rockiness….of it all.

At 6pm, Steve, Stephanie and Raff came over and we ordered pizza and watched This is Spinal Tap. Then, while still in rock out mode, we broke out Rock Band. And the house was officially rocked. I sang a couple songs, played drums once, played bass once, then just hung out to watch and chat with Steph. It was a fun night.

Saturday began with breakfast at the Easy Street Café (cheap, cheap, cheap) then turned into a mission to find a couple of Rock Band expansion packs (classic and country – just like Todd and me). Once those were acquired, back home for miscellaneous projects around the house. Then some family bonding with Family Guy’s Something Something Something Dark Side and few episodes of Buffy.

Yes, the new year was starting off well.

Until 5am on Sunday morning, when my dad called to tell me that mom had had a heart attack.

When he called, she was stable and being flown to WVU hospital. He called a few hours later and said by the time he’d driven to the hospital (two hours away), they’d already placed two stents in her completely blocked arteries and she was doing much better. The pain was virtually gone and she was able to eat. She was in good spirits and joking around with him.

She’ll be in the hospital for a few days, just for observation, but should be home for the weekend. I’m sure I don’t have to tell some of you this, but there is no feeling like being 3000 miles away from a parent when these things happen. There is panic, guilt, sadness, more panic… It’s exhausting. At least when I got the call about her lung cancer, I was in a position to pack up and leave for a month. Unfortunately, I’m not self employed these days and can’t tell my clients to just clean their own toilets.

So, needless to say, I wasn’t very productive yesterday. Todd and I watched the Seahawks game (thank gawd the season is over) then walked down to the store for dinner fixins. Hamburgers, french fries, onion rings and green beans. Yummy.

And here we are, back to the grind, the holidays over, my cube un-decorated. Sniff. Oh, but Presidents’ Day is a mere two weeks away. If we can just make it until then…

Update on the Retirees

Oh, they’re having the time of their lives up there in the hills. Just look at how much fun Dad’s having.

Bet Florida ain't lookin' so bad, is it, Ma?

Incommunicado

TD here by Raechelle's request, letting everyone know that she is out of town for the next two weeks and will have no internet during that time. I will be giving status updates on my blog for the next week, then I'll be gone too. I'll be taking the laptop with me, but it remains to be seen what kind of connectivity I'll be able to get.

Until then, have a wonderful New Year and Raechelle will be back in the blogosphere in a couple of weeks.

Cheers!