Yet again a two week hiatus from my dear blog… I will try to cover what has happened in the interim as best I can. Events have been rolling along one after the other at a furious pace.
Tech week for MoezArt was super busy, with rehearsals every day plus of course the last RE class of the year for the two youngest. On top of that, mother’s foot pain from the sore on her foot became brutal, and on Monday I took her to Urgent care, where she got a round of antibiotics. After a thorough cleaning of the wound it was bandaged and home we went with instructions to contact Primary Care and the Wound Clinic for follow up. Returning the next day for a bandage change, things were looking better. By Wednesday, however, the pain was excruciating, some redness had spread up the ankle, and that was the day we saw the doctor. She prescribed a second antibiotic and Tylenol 3 for the pain, scheduled some X-rays and blood work to be done and sent us home. Thursday morning we went for the X-rays, and then things began to go down hill even further, as the combination of medications began to affect mother’s stomach. We did the best we could to manage the pain and keep her comfortable that day.
Thursday night was opening night for “Honk Jr.!” – a retelling of the story of the Ugly Duckling – and mom felt she would be ok for the evening, so I did get to attend what turned out to be both a light hearted musical and an emotionally powerful performance about celebrating differences, featuring Mason Shrader as Ugly, an incredible young actor who has Cerebral Palsy.
From Opening Night:
From Closing Night:
First thing Friday morning, we had to go to the lab to get mom’s blood work done. They always tell you “you don’t need an appointment” at the lab. Never believe them. Always, always make an appointment. *_* I actually had to leave mother there after we’d been waiting for over an hour, in order to take Megan to a chiropractic appointment. Fortunately it was nearby and a quick in-and-out adjustment, so mom didn’t have to wait around too long for us when she was finished.
Pain and nausea continued on Friday, and by Saturday morning we were back at Urgent Care. They took one look at her foot and said she’d better get to the ER. So we swung back by the house, gathered up her meds, and were at the hospital by 10. And that is where mom has been ever since. It seems like every day there was something new and at this point it is a bit of a blur. There were various procedures, and a team of doctors – an infections doctor, a foot surgeon, a couple of vascular surgeons – and every day each of them comes in and presents their piece of the puzzle.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, two years of religious education classes at Ss. Simon and Jude for Geneva and Jacob culminated in their confirmation and first Holy Communion. Since our Bishop and his auxiliary were both in Rome attending their quinquennial visit ad limina apostolorum, the Vicar General came to do the confirmations. It was a beautiful service, and Paul and I were both quite the beaming pair sitting in the front row of the parent’s seating (directly behind the confirmandi and their sponsors) in a packed-to-standing-in-the-aisles cathedral.
I was so happy to be able to attend, so sorry that Mother could not be there, and afterward, we all went up to the hospital to visit for a little while so she could congratulate the children, and see them in their lovely confirmation outfits. Then the crew headed back to the house for a celebratory BBQ and they had a great time there.
And that brings us up to date I think. Regarding mother’s situation, the upshot, after 8 days of care, and one surgery so far on the foot, is that mother will need a peripheral artery bypass in her left leg in order to provide enough blood flow to her foot for the infection to heal. That surgery will happen tomorrow. We’re taking it one day at a time, praying like crazy for the doctors, and learning a little more than usual how to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Heb. 12:2)
