There's no way I'll be able to catch up this time....

but I'll try. October saw Mom in the hospital again for a few days with pneumonia/broncitis and Atrial Fibrillations. Then the 29th of October I ended up in the hospital with chest pressure..it ended up being nothing. Or at least nothing they could pin down. The following Thursday I had an appointment with my new cardiologist..well my first cardiologist. He wanted me to have an angiogram because of the family history. I went for that the following Monday. It was an experience. Mom says she was awake through hers...I don't think I was. I remember bits and pieces of it..for example the doctor saying he was going to have to go in through the groin because he couldn't get the catheter in through my wrist. I think I woke up once and the nurse was pushing on my groin to get the bleeding to stop. oh and my nurse is dating Beck of Kimberly and Beck..not impressed. She was a bit of an old teen ager if you understand what I'm saying. So...angiogram showed 20% blockage in one artery. I'm happy about that. Monday night I started having pain in my upper lungs when I swallowed water or took deep breaths. Ended up going back to the Cath Lab Tuesday but they said my lungs sounded ok so take some tylenol. Wednesday or Thursday I called my cardioloigst office at 7:10..they're website said they opened at 7:00. The phone was answered by an answering service who said they'd have the doctor on call give me a ring back. Within 10 minutes he called. I explained to him what I was experiencing...pain in my lungs and pain in the upper arm that they couldn't cath. He told me to call the office at 8:00 when they started taking calls in the office and tell them to get me in. I hung up feeling good that they were taking it seriously. 10 minutes later the phone rang and it was the office asking me if I could be there at 8. Rush rush and we were there...on time. EKG,Echo cardiogram...back at 1:30 for a carotid artery scan. Echo showed a thin layer of fluid around the heart..but they don't know that it wasn't there already and superficial inflammation in a blood vessel in my arm. Got permission to take Ibuprofen. Mom was having a lot of A Fibs so her visiting nurse called her cardioloigst office and got her an appointment for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. That day we found out that her cardiologist died. He was hit by an airport shuttle about a month ago. She'd been seeing his assistant so we could keep the appointment. He told her he wanted to do a cardio-something or other..where they shock the heart and try to get it into a normal rhythm. That was scheduled for the next day. I'm thinking ...oh great...the day before Thanksgiving. So we were at RGH at 6:15..at 6:30 they called her back and got her ready. I was with her until they got ready to do the procedure then I went out to the waiting room..with in a half an hour the doctor came out and told me they'd tried twice and had failed to get it into rhythm . Great..now what? I'll try to give her a medicine..do you feel confident enough to make sure her blood pressure doesn't fall to low? Other wise I'll put her in the hospital for 5 days..ummmm NO way ..she's been looking to forward to this Thanksgiving with Shaun being home. We had a good Thanksgiving..Ken,Me, Mom,Jen 2, Nicole ,James,Shaun,Jen1 and Ken's dad. We ate early coz Shaun and Jen had to go to her families for supper and Nicole and James went to his brothers for supper. Today Shaun went and got the grandkids..so I have a house full again..and I love it. Next week is Raymour and Flanigan supposedly coming to fix the couch and getting Mom's blood work done on Monday. I have an echo cardiogram and cardiologist appointment on Tuesday..Wednesday is pay the bills day...other then that I don't know what's going on.The week after is 2 doctor appointments for Mom. Cardiologist and Primary Care Physician. And Ken has an appointment that week also. Busy Busy Busy....till next time

Mommy Update

Mom's doing so much better...Thursday we went to the cardiologist and he said to expect good days and bad days because that's just how recovery from heart surgery goes. So now that we know its normal it won't be quite as scary. Friday we went and got the Auntie and went to Aladdins for lunch. We were down stairs out on the deck which this time of year is wrapped in heavy plastic with gas heaters going. We could watch people walking by on the canal and watch the ducks swimming. It was a good time of family time. Eating, laughing and spending time together. Hubby was off most of last week as he's having problems with his back again so he went with us. Saturday was Jen's soccer game at church and Mom went to that also for the championship game. Our team came in second but hey they can't win every year.And besides its character building. Sunday was her down day..she didn't even get dressed..just sat around on the couch and made an awesome batch of homemade chicken tortillini soup. Yesterday we did a Wegmans run. Today its raining and its going to be hard getting her out of the house but I'm going to try. Now to figure out what to do......

Peeking out the curtain

Man oh man...its been a very long time since I've written...Its 7:25 AM on September 27, 2010 and here's what's on my mind..I'm so thankful for the time I'm spending with my Mommy. She's 75 years old and I still have her here to look at and hug and kiss. On August 23rd she went to Rochester General Hospital for an angiogram..As my son and 2 daughters sat in the waiting room I got a call from the Doctor doing the angiogram..."we found blockages...I'm going to send them to...whoever it was...I don't think its anything serious that will have to be dealt with immediately..? 15 minutes later my phone rings again..."This is so and so..I'm a Nurse Practioner with Dr Split your chest open..we're admitting your Mom and doing a triple by pass tomorrow". I'm so glad the kids were there with me. So I called my aunt..and my sister...and my Mom's boyfriend to let them know what was going on. The surgeon came in that afternoon and said he was available to do the surgery that evening. Mom said no and I was kind of glad because I hadn't gotten to get my sister yet from Warsaw. Surgery was scheduled for 10:00 AM. He told us to be there by 8:30 if we wanted to see Mom before she went down. Later on that afternoon we had her side of the room packed..Me, my hubby, my 3 kids, my aunt, my cousin and her husband and my sister. Family...being there for each other because that's what families are supposed to do. We all went home..at 6:45 AM the 24th my phone rang..it was Mom..they were taking her down in half an hour. I was angry and scared. You've probably never seen so crazy as my sister, 3 kids and I running around that house trying to get dressed and out the door to make it to the hospital and up to the 4th floor in under a half hour. We didn't make it. Just thinking about that morning makes me nauseated which is pretty much how I felt after they told us she was out of surgery..nauseated to the point that shortly there after I lost the contents of my meager breakfast in the bathroom or the CTICU waiting room. Its been a very slow climb from that day...there was another stay in the hospital..originally pain in her left lung that turned into a slight kidney malfunction. She's here with me now..trying to get better..we have to remember she's 75 years old. Yes I'm thankful for this time I have with her. Time to love her and be what daughter's are supposed to be a caregiver...doing for her what she did for me the first 18 years of my life. So this week is 2 doctor's appointments..maybe getting her hair cut...and trying to get her to eat and drink and walk so she gets her strength back. Yep its work...but so was feeding me and changing my diapers and making sure I had all that I needed. That's what I'm trying to do for her..well minus changing the diapers I hope coz that's what families do. I love you Mommy

playing catch up ....AGAIN

On the mouth front.... bottom left tooth had an infection so went to the dentist and got an antibiotic for it..went back a couple of days later and he splinted 4 teeth together and tried to numb me and laser off some of the infected tissue...I say tried because it didn't numb and it hurt so he quit. A couple days later I was flossing and a tooth I'd had a root canal on over 25 years ago broke off at the gum..didn't hurt because the roots were already dead. So yesterday I had the roots pulled. It didn't hurt a whole lot but I couldn't get it to stop bleeding. Guess I should have stopped taking my daily low dose aspirin when I found out he was going to pull my tooth. Had the grandkids last week for VBS at church. We had a blast..VBS in the morning and dirt bike riding and swimming in the afternoon. They didn't give me a whole lot of problems about going to bed at night. Monday Ken, Jen 1 and I went golfing and got rained on..we sucked. I hit one ball and the club was wet..the club flew farther then the ball and ended up in the sand trap. Monday night Shaun got back from Missouri..oh man it seems good to have him home again. Tuesday He,Ken,Jen1 and I went golfing and AGAIN got rained on..but it was a much shorter rain and I sucked again. OH lets see....Nicole is working at Kay Jewelers in Webster and Jim has his name in lots of places but nothing yet.

Always playing catch up

It just seems so hard to keep up with this blog..not that there isn't stuff happening..maybe that's it..maybe there's so much happening that when I do get on the computer its spent catching up on e-mail and facebook. Got the window on the van replaced Tuesday. Had a great 4 days with my hubby and was sorry to see him go back to work on Wednesday. He was sorry to have to go back also. Saturday Jen #1 came over and she,Ken and I went to Kayla's birthday party in Geneva. Its a beautiful park and we had fun. Came home and my cousin, her husband and Auntie came over and we had a BBQ and then talked for awhile before heading over to make a run around the carnival grounds. Candy apple for cousin and fried dough for Ken and Auntie. Then we came back to the house and played Apples to Apples for a couple hours until it was time to watch the fireworks from the Webster Fireman's Carnival which we watched from our back yard. It was an awesome day but I'm beat. Tried to lay down and take a nap but got a phone call in the middle of it so I'm sure I'll sleep good tonight. Unfortunately a tooth that I've been having trouble with has decided its time to be taken care of so I'll probably have to make an appointment this week to get it pulled. AAARRRGGGHHHHHH so that's it for now

The Latest in My Life

Well its been kind of a sucky week health wise..Monday we went golfing and it was just so hot that it kind of knocked the stuffing out of me. Tuesday I went and spent time with the cousin and the auntie..Wednesday Nicole and I went to Nazareth College and gave blood..her for the first time. Came home and took a nap and then didn't feel real good after that. Ken came home and was hot and sweaty and tired from working in the extreme heat so after eating supper we just stayed home in the air conditioned house and watched church on the internet. You gotta love the internet that will allow you to go to church without leaving your house. Thursday and Friday are kind of a blur...though Friday night I did manage to get to Reformers Unanimous at church..first time I'd been in a while. Saturday Ken,Jim, Nicole, Jen #1, Taylor and myself went to a Rochester Red Wings games...we really thought the Wings were gonna pull off a win but they fell apart in the top of the 9th. Stuck around for the ESL sponsered fireworks and walked out to the parking lot to find out someone had smashed out the back window of the van. GGGRRREEEAAATTTT !! It was a breezy ride home..Because nothing was taken..ie 2 sets of golf clubs and 2 purses the cops wouldn't even come out and do a report. I told Taylor there's never a dull moment when you hang around us. Today we celebrated the 40th anniversary at our church so we had Sunday School at 9:20 instead of 9:45 and morning service at 10:45 instead of 11:00 and then a picnic on the grounds..came home and called the glass department of my insurance company and I've got an appointment scheduled for Tuesday morning to get the back window replaced. Now just sitting around trying to figure out what to do the rest of the day until Big Brother comes on.

Sunday Night Fireworks

After church last night I made up some Aldi's Giant Pizza Rolls and Jim,Nicole and I headed out to Irondequoit to watch the fireworks...we couldn't get anywhere near the place..talk about traffic. So we decided to see if we could get to the top of the St. Mary's parking ramp to watch the downtown ones. Pull into the entrance of the ramp and get met by a guy Jim used to work with..Nelson. Nelson is a cool guy. He's a security guard at St Marys. He was squatted down by the back car window talking when somebody let off a fire cracker. He flinched..laughed...looked at me and said,
" Did ya see me duck? " St Marys is in a very bad neighborhood..its where Main St, Brown St,Genesee St and West Ave meet. He was a smart man to flinch. So we drove up to the top of the parking ramp and sat there waiting for the fireworks to start. There were only 2 other cars up there. I stood outside the car watching the cars go by..it was a very warm night. Listening to the cars vibrating from the music in them being played to loud with the bass turned up to high. People walking by talking and laughing..remember..I'm above them..they don't know I'm there. An ambulance roaring by with its siren going..a while later a fire truck. And all around on every side little firework displays.As I stood there a man walked by on the other side of the street...a white man in a black neighborhood..carrying a bag and I watched him and wondered...who is this man? Where is he going? Is he a little scared? or is he comfortable in this neighborhood? It was a new experience for a country born and raised white girl. Then the downtown fireworks started and all it was was me hanging out with my son in law and daughter,in the semi darkness, on the top of St Marys parking garage, watching fireworks and celebrating the birthday of our country...on the way home I told them thank you ...thank you for letting me spend time with you...and what I didn't say was thank you for the experience.