Bloom where you're planted

I've been back to my usual schedule since Monday and it feels great! Health is a marvelous thing - don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Now, of course, I have two weeks worth of stuff to catch up on here at home, and I'm not sure when I'll get it all done. But I'm healthy! Hooray!

Today i feel reasonably well: I got up, showered, and dressed; played with Rick; accepted and put away a medium-to-large grocery delivery (thank the good Lord for online grocery shopping!); drank 1.5 quarts of gatorade (gotta keep drinking!); read a little bit; laid down but didn't sleep; and tidied up some financial stuff (I was behind on some reconciling). I think we may go out for dinner. It will be my first time driving since Tuesday night, and I'd like to see how a short trip goes before tomorrow morning.

My Plan A for tomorrow (subject to revision as necessary) is to take John and Rick to school and see my doctor tomorrow, as instructed by the ER staff. I'd like to see if I can get some work done - maybe half the day. I'll take it easy and listen to my body, though. My stamina is still not what it should be and my voice is still distinctly frog-like but I am pretty sure I'm past the contagious stage. I've missed roughly 56 of the last 78 work hours (that's about 72%, folks!). I glanced at emails once or twice, and called in a couple of times, but I've got work to do!

It feels good to be among the living again!

Last night, just after I posted last (about 9:45 p.m.), I started to experience distressed breathing. We called Dad and Stepmom and they came over; Stepmom stayed with Rick while Dad took John and me to the emergency room. After chest x-rays, blood work and a three hour wait, they put me in a room and gave me IV fluids and some pain medication for the body aches. The x-rays and blood work came back just fine, but the doctor sounded pretty sure that I have H1N1. I was also, apparently, pretty darn dehydrated. They put 2 liters of fluids into me and my blood pressure was still a lot lower than normal - 106 over 60.

After they pumped me up like a Foster Farms chicken wanna-be, they let me go (around 4:00 a.m.). It's amazing how much better I feel today! Today I feel like a normal person who has a cold instead of like something disgusting scraped from the bottom of someone's shoe. I looked it up, and the typical person has about 5 liters of blood... now of course, 'fluid' and 'blood' are not the same things, but still - I figure that my fluids were down by a third or so. Not good. Fluids, apparently, are important.

Now I think I may take a shower and get dressed. I think that would feel very good.

Rick, by the way, has no idea that anything out of the ordinary happened last night, and I'd like to keep it that way.

john went back to work today - his sweet mother took him. rick and i stayed home again. i talked rick into a nap this morning but he woke up in tears because his ear hurt. my dad and stepmom were going to be coming by later with a care package (essential groceries and medicines) so i called them and they said of course they'd be able to take him to the doctor - i am still much too sick to drive. we discovered that my poor child has two ear infections. poor kid!

he came home and we gave him his antibiotic. within 15 minutes he was nodding off on the couch so john wrestled him into his sleeper and we put him to bed at 6:30. hopefully he sleeps well tonight - last night was difficult, to put it mildly. rick sucks his thumb at night and when his nose is congested he can't suck his thumb. he came into our room around 2 very upset about the injustice of the situation. i gave him some medicine and put him in bed with us. he was still coughing and coughed some stuff up onto his beloved dondee. dondee, of course, went immediately into the washing machine and rick was bereft of both his thumb and his blanket. poor kiddo! he did eventually go to sleep but it was much harder for his parents to go back to sleep - something about having a kid throw up 3 inches from your ear will do that. john ended up sleeping in rick's bed but said he just had gotten to sleep and was dreaming about how comfortable he was when the alarm went off.

while rick was at the doctor's office i got very cold and went to bed with a heating pad. even with lots of blankets it took me an hour and a half to get warm. later in the evening i got too hot and had to strip down almost to my undies. weird.

thank goodness for family! i don't know how we would have gotten through today without them. i honestly don't think i could have driven rick to the doctor today. and then there's the thought of me possibly taking h1n1 into a busy pediatrician's office - i would have been lynched!

speaking of being sick - i am out of energy and must go to bed.

Man, am I sick today. Last week I had no energy but seemed to be all better by Sunday - I went to work on Monday and felt fine. Starting yesterday, though, I have been experiencing a typical cold with congestion and coughing - one that has hit me particularly hard. I got up for an hour and a half this morning and went back to bed for almost 3 hours. I took my temperature and it's 100.6 (though I had just been sleeping and was too hot when I woke up). Achy, too, though that could be because I've been sitting or sleeping so much.

I'm beginning to wonder if I have acquired H1N1 (I had a seasonal flu shot this year). I've never really been good at distinguishing between colds and flu, and usually rely on body aches as the defiining characteristic. I looked up symptoms of H1N1 and they seem to be identical to those for seasonal flu. Whatever I've got, it's run me over a few times now.

When I picked Rick up from preschool yesterday, he had a dry cough, a slightly runny nose, and not much energy. By bedtime, he also had a fever of 101.8. I gave him some Motrin and put him to bed. This morning, he is still coughing and his nose is still running. The fever is gone and he is full of energy. Grandparents were unavailable, and John didn't have enough notice to prepare lesson plans for a substitute, so I am staying with him today.

This morning I woke up with a sore throat and painful cough; John is low on energy and has a dry cough. He went to school (see previous note about lesson plan) but is thinking about having another caller fill in for him tonight. He and Rick have the day off tomorrow for Veteran's Day, so hopefully I will feel well enough to go to work and accomplish more things.

I do not like being sick. Being sick without being sick is better, I suppose, though it leaves me feeling that I should be as productive as I usually am.

Let me 'splain. I was feeling fine over the weekend. Monday morning at work my tummy got very unhappy and I went home around noon and read and napped. Tummy felt much better. Tuesday: Tummy fine, but very little energy. I took the guys to work and school then came home and read and napped, but felt fine by the end of the day. Yesterday: Went to work but had to leave around 1 due to an incredible headache that didn't respond to drugs. I took Rick home with me and slept for 3 hours. Picked up John, came home and went straight to bed. Slept for 11 hours. Woke up with very little energy. I took the guys to work and school and was going to come straight home but remembered an important project at work; I stayed long enough to show someone else how to do it. Half an hour at work and I was so low on energy I was shaking. I stopped at the store to pick up some chicken soup and other supplies. Now I'm going to veg out in front of the tv and laptop.

What gets me about this cold is that I have no symptoms except complete lack of energy and the occasional pounding headache. That's what leads to the guilt: I'm not feeling bad - why aren't I getting things done? 

...fruit flies like a banana. I am having trouble believing that it's the end of October. It's time to buy Halloween candy and figure out when we're going to carve the pumpkin - it'll be Rick's first Jack-o-lantern. Next weekend will be busy - in addition to pumpkin carving, trick or treating, and changing clocks, we'll be celebrating my father's birthday. Dad's birthday will be followed shortly by our 9th anniversary, Thanksgiving, and the insanity that is December. However, I have already ordered presents for Rick, John, one of my step-brothers, and my step-mother, so I feel like I'm getting a good jump on things.

I suppose we need to get through this weekend first. Today we have a morning dance and an evening dance, with a girls-go-shopping trip in the afternoon (myself and my sister-in-law). This morning while John is calling I thiink Rick and I will hit the Pumpkin Patch - a mini carnival thingy that he really enjoyed last year. Tomorrow we have church - which will be full of people wanting to know what happened to Grandpa and offer condolences - and an evening dance. Somewhere in all of that we need to do laundry, plan menus, and go grocery shopping. We also need to buy a new vacuum cleaner because ours has lost a wheel and it is beyond repair. I looked up Consumer Reports' recommendation and we'll probably buy that one. With three cats and a kiddo who brings sand and woodchips home in his shoes we need a good vacuum cleaner!

On Monday we picked up a book on death for kids and read it to Rick that night. It's a pretty good book. It treats death as a natural part of the life cycle and explains not only what death means - the person stops breathing and their heart stops beating and they stop thinking - but also deals with the emotions we feel and explains very explicitly that the person did not die because of anything we said or did. It also discusses funerals and touches briefly on the concept of souls and the afterlife. Anyway, we read it to Rick and he started sobbing that he didn't want to die. We told him that he wouldn't die until he was very, very, very old but it really didn't sound  like he believed us. He hasn't talked about Grandpa since Monday  but on Thursday night he wanted us to read the book again. Again, he said that he didn't want to die (a bit more calmly this time). Once again we said  he'd live for a very long time and he said, "I know that, Mommy." We'll see how he does  tomorrow at church - it'll be the first time for us that there will be an obvious Grandpa-shaped hole in the universe.

[sigh.]

Well, the laundry won't do itself. I'd better get started. Have a good weekend, everyone.

Life is going on with itself, as it seems to do no matter what the circumstances are. My mother-in-law and her sister are beginning to clear out Grandpa's place - the sister is going to move in. Other than that, I don't know what they're doing. When I talked to Jane Tuesday evening it sounded like she was undecided about having a memorial service. If one does happen, it probably won't be until next week sometime. Grandpa is going to be (or already has been) cremated. The ashes will be interred in Nebraska, where he was from and where his wife is buried.

I'm starting to think about Christmas so if anyone reading this is on my gift list and has requests and/or suggestions, please let me know. :)

rephetibel, how is your roof? ross_teneyck, how are your classes? mteneyck, how is life treating you?

Grandpa Mike passed away a few hours ago. He was talking about going home from the hospital and his heart failed. He had a "do not resuscitate" order on file, so they let him go HOME.

Grandpa MIke went home from the birthday party early because he wasn't feeling well. Later in the evening he became disoriented and fell. He was taken to the hospital and is now doing much better. He didn't break anything though a scan revealed a previous injury to his back. He's bruised and had to have some stitches on his hand where he had a pretty deep cut. The disorientation was from low blood sugar. Apparently at the party he injected some insulin and then didn't eat any dinner. He's still at the hospital under observation and will stay there at least one more day.

Today John had his Callers Association meeting at 8; after we dropped him off at the meeting, Rick and I went grocery shopping. $200 later, we came home and unloaded groceries. Then we headed out again so I could get a haircut. From there we went to the mall for a birthday present for a party this afternoon. Lunch, home. Made two no-sugar-added apple pies (they're in the oven now, and they smell delicious!). I somehow feel like I'm cheating because I am using purchased pie crusts and disposable pans. The filling, however, is 100% prepared by me. After the pies are done and Rick wakes up from his nap we'll go to John's cousin's house to celebrate October birthdays.

Tomorrow we just have church but I volunteered to teach Sunday school to Rick's class and I haven't gotten anything ready for that yet. They've been learning about creation and I had come up with an incredibly elaborate idea which I finally convinced myself to abandon - I wanted to make replicas of Earth, the sun, moon, trees, etc. out of rice crispies treats (colored, of course). I still think it would have been fun... but I barely have time for everything else on my agenda.

In happy news, my computer is now Super Fast! (trumpet fanfare) Before a few days ago, my alleged computer was a brick with an internet connection. It would sometimes take 45 minutes for the web browser to open. Other times it would only take half an hour. We added more memory and now I have a REAL computer - and a fast one at that! I picture little flames coming out of the back from the turbo boosters. It's so nice to have a responsive computer!

One of our neighbors has recently purchased a car of the same make, model, and color as my father's car, and they park it in front of our house. It's a little startling to look out and think that Dad's here. (It wouldn't be bad if he was here, but he usually calls first so it surprises me.)

I think the pies are ready. Gotta go!

I don't usually post from work but I thought I'd let everyone know that my father-in-law was discharged from the hospital yesterday and went home.

Paul (John's dad) is still in the hospital. He developed something which is apparently pretty common after abdominal surgery where the bowels stop working temporarily (that may not be entirely correct but you get the general idea). He's being treated for that; in the meantime, he seems to be healing pretty well from the surgery itself. We got the results of the tissue sample - it was malignant but the surgeon is confident that he got all of it. Based on the abdominal scan that detected the growth to begin with, they know that there aren't any other growths that they need to worry about, so Paul won't need chemotherapy or radiation treatments - just periodic checkups. Yay! In the meantime, since he's spending all this extra time in the hospital, he's talking about going straight home after they release him instead of coming here and staying with us for a few days. (We had offered that as an alternative to going home after the surgery.) We'll see how things go.

We had a busy weekend of getting things done. My list was quite impressive but 13 of the 15 things on it are done now. I didn't mop the kitchen floor or hem all of Rick's new pants, but I did wipe up the worst part of the floor and hem one pair of pants. Tonight John has a one night stand beginners' square dance party that he's going to lead while Jane babysits. Hopefully we won't be out too late - I'm tired!

I have been negligent and haven't been posting about Life. My apologies.

My father-in-law had his surgery on Monday, and all went well. We visited him yesterday and he was in pain and grumpy. The biopsy results won't be back until Monday. The hospital may release him tomorrow, but we think that he'll be going home instead of to a convalescent facility. We're not sure how to handle this - John and I both have to work and Paul doesn't want anyone in his extremely cluttered house. Hmm. We'll do what we can, of course, but depending on the level of care that he needs, we may need to hire someone to come and take care of him. Hmm. We must ponder.

John's union and the school district have come to a tentative agreement; soon the union will vote whether or not to accept it. It looks as though the strike won't happen, thank goodness!

And, in the "Just In Case You Were Wondering" Department, Splenda is not an acceptable substitute for half of the powdered sugar when making frosting. It makes the frosting all puddly and it slides off the cake. The taste is pretty good once you scoop it off the dish and pour it on top of the cake, though.

John and I took Grandpa to a baseball game last night. Grandpa enjoyed it "except for one inning." That was the inning that the Giants got 6 runs. MY least favorite inning was just after Grandpa went to the restroom - he came back very short of breath and discovered that he had not brought his inhaler. He claimed to be okay but was breathing very heavily and his lips were blue. I went off to the first aid room and asked if someone could please come check him out. I wasn't expecting three paramedics and a gurney to come, but decided I was more reassured than panicked. Better to have the gurney and not need it... They calmly talked to Grandpa, measured his oxygen levels, took his pulse, and brought him an inhaler of the type he needed ("a yellow one," he said). He kept assuring them he was fine - but after they left he immediately took a puff on the inhaler and then his lips turned back to the right shade of pink and his grin came back. A few innings later, I asked him if he was upset with me and he said no. All is well...

John's father's surgery is now scheduled for Monday and his friend is able to take him. Yay!

Today, Rick and I are going to go clothes shopping while John is calling his dance. Rick has no pants that fit and the weather is beginning to think about cooling off. This evening, Dad and Stepmom are coming over to play with Rick while John and I go out on a date - dinner and dancing.

On Sunday we're going to go to church and then to Disneyland for a couple of days. Shh! Rick doesn't know yet!

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The High Holy Days are almost over! All the preparation work has been done; now all that's left are the services themselves. Yay! Now we just have to get through Paul's surgery, the labor dispute, and fire season. Oh - and I'll finally get the car into the shop tomorrow to get the bumper and muffler fixed.

One of the new country songs has two friends talking. One is going through a litany of woes - car won't start, baby's teething, Mom had to go into the nursing home, etc. The other friend says, "Sounds like life to me!"

So life's been getting scary eventful interesting recently.

The union John belongs to has been in increasingly bitter labor disputes with the school district for a while now (at least one year, probably more). The union has asked the teachers to "work to rule" - which means doing only what they are contractually obligated to do and not anything more. Don't allow kids to come in your classroom at lunch for tutoring; don't stay on campus or do work after your official duty day ends; don't grade papers at home, etc. etc. Teachers have been picketing in front of the school for the last week or two. The district has chosen to implement some of its proposals even though there isn't a contract. Said proposals are now in litigation. A two week vacation is coming up soon and the scuttlebutt is that during the vacation the district could and/or will vote to impose a contract. If that happens, it is quite likely to cause the teachers to strike.

John's father called recently and told John that a scan of his abdomen showed a lump on his kidney. Laproscopic surgery is scheduled for October 5th to remove the lump. The doctor said there's a 70 to 80% chance that the lump is cancerous. Follow-up treatment, if any, depends on what they find, of course. In the meantime, Paul has been telling John where all his important papers are and what his wishes are, just in case. I think he's really scared. Paul's father had some type of cancer, and Paul smokes fairly heavily, so those are a couple of strikes against him. On the other hand, he's not aged and decripit - he's just shy of 67 and is very physically active.

Finances and/or job situations have hit the red zone for at least 4 members/couples of our combined families. Lay offs, potential lay offs, cars not working and no money to repair them, really tight finances, etc. etc. I really wish we would win the lottery so we could write a few checks and make things better. Our little family is doing okay except for the looming possibility of a strike... Hopefully, if there is a strike, it'll be a short one. We could come up with two or three mortgage payments, but after that it'd get really tight.

Stress, stress, stress. Did I mention that I bake when I'm stressed? In the last week or two  I've made brownies, coffee cake, and bread pudding. I'm fighting a very strong urge to bake a dessert that involves a base of chocolate cake or brownies, a layer of mint frosting, and a topping of melted mint chocolate chips. What has saved me so far is the lack of powdered sugar in my cupboard.

It's supposed to get 15-20 degrees hotter by mid-week - that will take it up to 105 or so. Thank goodness we have air conditioning - it has made such a difference! The heat will be due to a Santa Ana, which raises the fire danger level tremendously. October is when the county tends to burn... Stress, stress, stress.

We've been planning on going to Disneyland on October 4th and 5th but now don't know if we'll be able to go on those days because Paul's surgery has been scheduled for the 5th... We'll see how things go and play it by ear. Taking a trip to Disneyland can be rescheduled; John's father is more important than some R & R. Luckily, we've been speaking of "scenic downtown Anaheim" around Rick instead of "Disneyland" so Rick doesn't know what we had planned.

I hope all is well and not stressful for you...

Rick is all better and will be going back to school tomorrow!