Wednesday, March 29, 2017

House stuff - micro post

Our future house was inspected today and there's nothing that needs to be done except have the gutters cleaned out and get a replacement breaker-box, as the current is an old model that has been known to cause fires.

Zac signed all the paperwork for the loan and such, so we just have to wait until closing to do anything last minute. I am so excited! Four weeks to go.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Update on Dad

Dad's been in and out of the hospital for the past two months (I think?). He fell a few times in February, which caused more brain bleeds. Earlier this month, he had an appointment to get another CT scan and it was discovered that the blood was completely surrounding his brain and causing a fair amount of pressure, which explains his change of behavior (mostly inappropriate and child-like). He was admitted to the hospital and had tubes put into his head to drain blood from both sides. Obviously, the tubes caused a bit of brain trauma, so his behavior fluctuated as his brain healed. He was put into a rehab facility for two weeks after the tubes were removed in hopes of creating healthy daily habits (feeding himself at the table, getting dressed, using a walker, etc.). 

The day he was to come home, two blood clots had formed in his left leg, so he had a blood filter inserted into the artery of that leg. Once he was home, he had pain in his leg (side-effect), but after a day or so, his leg swelled up twice the size of his right and he couldn't walk on it. Normally, my dad is one to hold back if he's in pain. "Pain is for sissies," he would say. However, he was obviously in pain to the point where he made groaning sounds and would lose his breath if he tried to stand to go to the bathroom. Emily and I took him to the emergency room because his leg was incredibly huge last week. After blood work to search for an infection came back negative, he was sent home. He had a followup appointment earlier this week, so Mom brought him to the doctor's office. Before even getting to the doors to get him a wheelchair, Dad passed out from the pain. He was taken by ambulance to the emergency room and was put in ICU for observation.

Tonight, he was moved to a room, so Zac and I went to visit him and let him say hey to the kids. Unfortunately, Dad had a reaction to one of his medications and his mood was incredibly altered for the worse. He was agitated and angry and confused. We couldn't stay long because he was being too aggressive toward Mom and the nurses. He managed to calm down for a few minutes, so the kids told him goodbye and Mom sent us down to the cafeteria for dinner. I went back to bring her back her debit card and Dad was acting violent again. He thinks he's at home in his chair and wants to leave the hospital bed to go to his bedroom. He also thinks he has a project to do (build a model train engine) in the garage... He kicks Mom and yells at her, tries to hit her or grab her. He also tries to pull his tubes and wires from himself in anger and managed to pull out his IV. The nurses had to put him in restraints. It's upsetting. I know the medication is altering him and that's not really him, but it's still him and it's hard to see him like that. He kept shouting at Mom to "Get the hell away from me!" and "Once this is over, so is our marriage!" She's upset, but she's coping as best she can. 

Meanwhile, Dad's got a few cysts on his kidneys, he's been peeing a lot of blood, and it's likely he has some sort of internal infection from the filter. The doctors have done blood work but can't find anything. His body is behaving like that of a diabetic, even though he isn't one. His blood sugar keeps dropping and his heart rate keeps increasing. I can't imagine what it must be like from his perspective. I'm sure it's beyond frustrating when you think you're somewhere or some place in time you aren't, being told you can't do this or that, etc. I hate seeing him like that and am hoping peace comes soon.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Good News, Everyone!

When Zac and I were dating, we often talked about getting our own place and raising our family. Things didn't go as expected and many of our major life events were out of order. But now, ten years and three kids later, we've bought our first home. It's exciting and scary, but we're ready. Our move-in date is late April, so I'm going to be getting all our things packed, downsized, and ready to go.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

There, and Back Again.

We went to Louisiana for the weekend since the St. Patrick's Day parade was coming up and we hadn't seen our friends in a while. I woke up early Friday morning to bring Zac to work. The car needed new brakes, so I dropped it off at the Car Care Clinic for a few hours. Meanwhile, Mom came and picked me and the kids up, so I managed to get our suitcases packed. I let the kids have the day off school since I was so busy (which they thought was a fun surprise). I borrowed Mom's car to bring some clothes to the consignment shop down the street (and found a pair of 50¢ jeans for Elias!) and we hung out at the park for about an hour.


I stopped at Bop's on the way home for some frozen treats, then finished getting last-minute things together. Zac got off work at 4 instead of 5, so I picked him up and we went together to the Car Care Clinic to get our car. He dropped Mom's car off in the garage and I loaded up our trunk and we headed out. Emily agreed to babysit the pets for us, though next time, I'm most likely going to board them. That litter box just can't stay dirty more than a day.

We made it to Sean's near midnight and got the kids to bed, though none of the three were asleep until after midnight at least. I made plans with Jena for Saturday. I haven't seen her in a long time and our friendship has been a bit strained. We met at Italian Pie in Slidell for lunch and spent a good few hours catching up. It felt like when we were in high school and could just sit and talk and be silly. I've missed it.


On Sunday morning, Zac and I managed to forget setting alarms to wake up on time. Add Daylight Savings Time to the mix and it was a jolly-good adventure trying to get dressed, caffeinated, and wake three monsters within an hour. Luckily, Jessie called to tell me the parade was going to be a bit late and not to rush. We met up with Jessie and Joey at their place and followed them to her mom's house as usual, since her mom lives right by the parade route. The big kids were so into it this year! Leah was dancing and Jac was enthusiastically trying to get cabbages and beads. It was so much fun and so, so cold!


We hung out with Jessie for a little while after the parade. Joey brought the big kids and Orrin outside to teach them how to play soccer (which both absolutely loved). Jessie was going to bleach the blue out of my hair, but all of us were so exhausted, we just sat around instead. Elias took a nap upstairs, which was good for all of us. He was so good at the parade, but grew fussy in the car.

Zac had an interview in Pensacola on Monday morning. We went to bed late (because of course), but hung out with Kyle for a bit before heading to bed. Zac set his alarm and we were up around 6:30am. I packed our things and loaded up the car, then woke the big kids. The drive to Florida was rainy and cold. I waited in the car with the kids while Zac had his interview. It seems promising, though the pay isn't what we will be able to live on, unfortunately. The beach calls to us hardcore, but when it's meant to happen it will. Tennessee isn't off the list, though. So we're going to throw things at the map of America and aim for a place. I told Zac I'm going to start packing like we're moving next week. I know something will open up. We ate at Peg Leg Pete's, per the tradition, and walked along the pier to see the ocean. We were freezing to death, but it was worth it.