Good Morning Company Girls!

It has been awhile since I have blogged...life keeps getting in the way!

We are coming into the Christmas season and I will admit to having somewhat of a panic developing since I've hardly boughten anything ....there are no decorations up...the tree has yet to be cut down and transported home....in other words , pretty well absolutely no preparations have been made and less than a month to go!

In looking back over the last few weeks, the schedule has been slightly overwhelming to the point that at the beginning of last week I declared that I was running away from home on Friday ( that was last Friday) ....people laughed but I was truly serious! Hubby had an appointment with the surgeon that had been set up when he left the hospital in October on the Thursday, so that's why I had to wait for the Friday.....the surgeon was supposed to give him all the details of the upcoming surgery , which we really needed to hear to fill in the blanks and answer all the questions we had......this was not to be, we had the appointment but not the answers.

Son Ben, started a special bus transportation class that runs every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon til the middle of December...this is a class where they teach developmentally delayed adults to take public transportation in the city. Ben does have some experience locally but not city wide so it was thot that this would be beneficial for him......unfortunately this interferes with my quilting group which meets for the day, every Tuesday....so Ben comes with me and I leave group early to take him to his class...then I find something to do for two hours until he's done...unfortunately it's located in the part of the city where there isn't any shopping, so I'm no further ahead in Christmas prep!

Back to the surgeon visit last Thursday.....when we arrived the surgeon took one look at Don and said ' you look great'.....and he did, he'd gained back some weight, his colour looked good, he had energy....so the surgeon said...'since you're doing so well, we'll just set you up with a cat scan and see how things look'.....kind of like putting things in a holding pattern.....good grief.....what a way to spend your life...not that we want surgery...but to put off the inevitable was kind of disappointing....he did an exam, and even though hubby said the area where the Crohn's was tender and a little thick feeling the last couple of days, the doctor said it was probably just the Crohn's ....he would put in the requisition for the cat scan...which usually takes a number of weeks to happen.

That was last Thursday....Friday....my running away day, was also hubby's alternate Friday off....so, I asked him if he'd like to join me in running away...he said sure...right after he got his Twinrix vaccination and also a needle for pneumonia ....not that he has these but they're part of the preparation for the drug therapy they want him on after the surgery....whenever that is.....so,.....we ran away late in the morning.....went down to our favourite place ...Niagara On The Lake......had a lovely lunch and went to a few shops.....by later in the afternoon I was quite weary of running away so we headed home....good thing.

When we arrived home hubby started not feeling well....chills, nausea, fatigue...he thot it was the vaccination reacting .....the Crohn's area was becoming more swollen...the rest of the evening, he just dozed on and off...not wanting to eat.

The next day Saturday, I was supposed to go to a craft show with eldest daughter.....but hubby didn't look well at all.....he insisted that I should go, and if needed we could go to the hospital when I returned....I had him show me the Crohn's area and when I saw one side if his abdomen twice the size of the other side, I put my foot down and said we were going to the hospital now.

We arrived at the hospital and they looked after us right away...blood work and ultrasound revealed that the abscess had returned and would need to be drained...he was admitted...again....they started him on two very strong antibiotics right away...

The next day, Sunday, we were surprised when a porter showed up at his bed saying he was there to take him to intervention...that's where they put the drain tube in...we were quite surprised...and so were the doctors later on...they never put drains in on Sundays....turns out the doctor that did it was called in for another emergency procedure and decided to do hubby as well....this was great as hubby was still feeling nauseous and lethargic from all the infection in his body....

Two days later we were back home...the doctors telling him that since the abscess came back so quickly that surgery would have to be done...now it's a case of waiting til the infection clears up and going back to the surgeon on the 13th of December...the drain tube will stay in til that time.

The previous week had been rather intense because Emma...daughter that left home just over a year ago, has found herself pregnant...for real this time....she wasn't getting herself to the doctor so I offered to go with her....she gladly accepted....now this was a pretty big deal , on my part because Emma lives in the Toronto area.....I've never driven the major highways around Toronto, on my own...I google mapped her location...(I don't have a GPS)...then I wrote each highway/ exit I had to take on individual post it notes....put them across my dash and set out!....hubby laughed when he heard this but multilane highways around major cities intimidate me!.....about an hour later I arrived.....poor Emma has got herself in quite the dilemma....she's one of these pregnant woman that has morning sickness ALL morning....some people might say it serves her right but I'm her mom and I feel bad for anyone that is constantly vomiting....I, myself hate that, so don't wish it on anyone. We saw the doctor...he needed blood work to confirm....we went to the lab, got that done...in between runs to the bathroom...then I took her to the drug store...got a script for nausea, went to the grocery store...bought ginger ale and soda crackers....and took her back home....that took all morning....the blood test did confirm the pregnancy but for some reason Emma's been out of communication for almost a week now, so I'm not sure what's happening there.

One if my older sons, was in a motorcycle accident a number of years ago and is just getting a financial settlement now....not that he deserves it, but that's the way the system goes I'm afraid.....he was just as much responsible for what happened to him as the guy that was driving, but the lawyers see it otherwise....so now he's come into quite a bit of money...unfortunately the guy will probably spend it unwisely...you see his birth mom drank alcohol while pregnant and now he has Fetal Alcohol syndrome...very bad....he does not make good decisions and acts impulsively....but he's 29 years old...not too much we can do....trouble is...all the guy really wants is what a lot of people take for granted...a home and a family....he just wants to be like everyone else.....

So, all these things...plus day to day living with 3 developmentally delayed young adults...has put me way behind in Christmas prep....and also made me want to run away.

Do you ever want to run away? How do you handle it...where would you go?

Location:Are you ready for Christmas?

Joy

Good Morning Company Girls!

Although it is still dull and dreary out at this time of the morning.....we must keep pushing on....a lot of people post that fall/autumn is their most favourite time of the year...I, myself find it depressing....I hate to see everything dying off and everything so barren....but that all seems so insignificant in light of the week that some people have endured. My goodness, some of those pictures on the television of what some people went thru with the big storm, ...well, it just made you really thankful. We experienced the wind and the rain, but fortunately we didn't lose power. I was really afraid of that....we have a sump pump to take away the excess water off our property....no hydro means the water doesn't get taken away and means my basement gets flooded. Eight weeks ago, before I broke my arm, I was on a schedule...a mission to clean my basement and purge all unnecessary paraphernalia taking up residence there...it was supposed to be done by Thanksgiving! I was on a roll...it was getting done...I was very organized about it...dividing the basement into sections, doing a bit at a time....unfortunately the broken arm kind of bunged that up, and the mess is still down there...I was alarmed that if our power went out, all that stuff would be a soggy mess....wet stuff is much harder to move than dry, that's for sure! I was so thankful that our power remained on! Hopefully, I can get back to the huge clean up very soon...the arm and hand are making progress....I can move the fingers although they still swell and I can't wear my wedding rings yet...very disappointing....I can't lift any weight without experiencing pain....I am trying to use it as normally as possible...well, lets put it this way....as normally as possible for me!.....there's never been nothing normal about my arms since I was born without fifty per cent of the muscles in them!

Moving on....hubby had another doctor's appointment yesterday.....he still has the drain in his abdomen to drain the abscess ...fortunately the nurse practitioner has taken charge and before we left he was given an appointment for this Saturday to have an ultrasound and hopefully the drain tube removed. So back to the hospital we go and hopefully that will be done. I joked that we should have gotten a monthly hospital parking pass since we've been there so much! I also have to return to same said hospital next Tuesday to have another exray of the arm done! Parking at hospitals is very expensive! It's like adding insult to injury...geesh! Then, in a few weeks, on the 22nd, hubby has an appointment at the hospital, with a surgeon, to discuss cutting out the section of Crohn's disease that's taken over his bowel..well, a part of his bowel.....this getting old is for the birds..really...

My older sister and her husband are retired...which is a good thing because, being the eldest and a take charge kind of person, she has pretty well taken over the care of our mother. Mom is in a retirement home, so yes ,the day to day needs are met but sister is there almost daily making sure those needs are met...plus she takes her to all medical, dental and financial appointments. Twice a year sister and her hubby trek down to Florida for a few weeks for a holiday. It is much needed since she does so much for our mother...I will admit that that quite often I feel guilty that with the constraints of having a large family that it usually doesn't leave a lot of time to help my mom. I'm grateful that sister and her hubby have that time....so, myself and my one brother are on tap to take care of mom for the next three weeks because sister and her hubby left for Florida this past week. I have all my instructions and hopefully all goes well .

Emma called me last night and apparently her and her boyfriend got kicked out of their place yesterday....so, she's come full circle and is back at a shelter..she called yesterday, from the shelter...next week is her nineteenth birthday. This shelter is 66 kilometers away from our house, it's the other side of Toronto...I hate Toronto traffic and hubby isn't able to go with me, I'm not sure what I can do to help her....sounds kind of lame I know, but it's more complicated than that...really. I have to keep reminding myself that this is what Emma wanted when she left our home a year ago.....to be on her own, to live her life the way she wanted, without rules....but...my mother's heart is sad.

Praying this week and this weekend for fellow Company Girl , Star Walker Neely....her and her hubby are in Uganda to hopefully bring back their new daughter! Cant wait to see pictures...they have to stay there a very long time ...away from their four kids at home....must be soooo difficult...

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend....hopefully hubby gets the drain tube out, hopefully Emma finds a place to live and she doesn't have to stay at the shelter very long....hopefully I can stay on top of things with my mom and nothing goes wrong....hopefully youngest daughter Megan doesn't drive me totally around the bend....hopefully, daughter Maya, who starts her drivers Ed course tomorrow does well in the classes...( class work is not her strong suit)...that's a lot of hope.

I read Sally Clarkson's blog today and the last few lines caught my attention......
Joy comes through exercising faith right on the path that God has led. Faith catalyzes joy as we worship by choosing to see God right in our midst at this place, in this step of life.

I'm going to try and dwell on this thot this weekend.


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