Turbulent times

Well, I don't know how my dad is doing. I talked to him Sunday and he sounded better but still insisted his plumbing was backed up. I then got hit with an extremely painful sinus and ear infection (which I have had for a few weeks, but it reached the excruciating pain stage). I went to the doc yesterday and she gave me some strong antibiotics and said I have to take them a full 14 days instead of the usual 10.

I was home sick in bed yesterday and there was a huge upheaval in my company. The President of the company "retired" very unexpectedly and another guy named "Butch" stepped in.

Me thinks I smell a fish here.

I believe that the board of directors is MAKING the former president step down. The man has been here for 10 years. If he was actually retiring, we'd have a big company party to say farewell and give him a watch, or whatever, and there would be a few MONTHS notice.

But the board of directors came to town and had hush hush secret meetings, then the Pres came in on a Saturday and packed up his stuff and they just made the announcement yesterday with no warning whatsoever.

It's sad. But I guess that is life.

It makes sense to me. I've been here almost 5 years and I think the Pres. had dementia or early stage alzheimers (seriously, I am not being funny or sarcastic). Then when he entertained investers a few weeks ago by hiring a limo and sending the receptionist with these 4 men to STRIP BARS and got them drunk..... that was shocking!!!!

So, yeah, it's time for him to go.

Update on Dad

I talked to my sister. She said Dad was improving a little. He was able to keep down some jello and gingerale and a little pudding. She had to leave him alone and he seemed to be ok with that idea.

She said the poor man had thrown up in his bed Tuesday night and he was too weak to change the bed or do laundry or anything so he had been sleeping in that icky bed for 2 days.

That just kills me. Anyhow she did a bunch of laundry for him, washed dishes, etc.

It just kills me. I don't know what to do. I feel helpless. I am helpless.

My own health is just scaring me. I have horrendous head pain now on top of everything else. I don't know what is going on. I see the pain doc Monday morning and I will tell him what is happening.

Airfares are real cheap right now so I want to take David to Vermont with me in June for a few days. Maybe. He said he would go. And I explained to him there is no internet/wifi/ etc at my dad's house. Or movies. OR a shower. Or a dishwasher. And there are lots of ants and spiders and mice....

He may change his mind. LOL

City in the Clouds.....

I think this is a really cool photo. I'd call it "City in the Clouds" or "Heaven's Suburb"....

Utah had ground fog like this the other day and as David and I drove to school we saw a condo complex that looked just like this.

This is also a cool photo. I love ice. I don't like driving in it, but I think there is a magical quality to ice sculptures and ice in general.

So seeing the bottom of this pier is just really neat.

Today is Friday and even though I have a ton of work to do and it's so quiet here because half the people are gone... I just can't focus and get anything done. I'm dilly dallying around and it's making me crazy. Pam and Polly and I are heading out at 4pm to go see the opening of "The Haunting in Connecticut" and then I can go home and watch something funny so I can sleep tonight. LOL. I don't know why I do that to myself but I just love scary movies. I don't like some of them, but I do like the more mild ones.

My ear is sending shooting, sharp pains through my ruptured eardrum. (Yep, it IS definitely ruptured).

I found a new Primary care physician. I am NOT going back to St. Mark's family practice. They seem to screw up EVERYTHING that I go to them for. I have coworkers who recommended this new doc who is located in the medical building at Pioneer Hospital. I still prefer to get any tests, surgeries, procedures, etc... done at St. Mark's hospital because they are wonderful at the hospital. But just everyday simple doctor stuff can be done at the new office.

And I still have my pain doctor at St. Mark's Pain center. He's good and I will stick with him. I do think I am going to save up money to go back to Master Lu for accupuncture again. When I went to him, I had 10 treatments and did not need a pain pill for 6 months. When I went to Dr. Kris for accupuncture I spent the same amount of money and it did absolutely NOTHING at all. I believe Master Lu knows his stuff better even though I can't understand a word he says. He speaks with a heavy Chinese accent.

Well, the boss is heading over here. Gotta look busy.

And The Mountains Shall be Laid Low.....

A look at Alaska's Mt. Redoubt blowing it's stack Monday. Scary times these.

I saw Brian on Sunday when he came for dinner. He was hurting pretty bad in his back and I hope he gets it looked at by a doctor because I think he hurt himself when he fell. He was in a lot of pain and was moving very slowly.

He claims it was from laying on the ER gurney for 5 hours, but I think it's more than that.

David has his Rebel Men concert tomorrow night. Next year he wants to be in the school Concert Choir where they have to wear tuxes for every performance. Which, means, of course, I have to buy a tux..... ouch.

Utah is getting hit with snow again. So much for spring eh? David was threatening to kill MR. Groundhog for lying.

I have a great recipe I am going to post later. If you like Twix bars, you will like this. It's not calorie friendly but the best foods, in my opinion, aren't. LOL

Guess who is home?

Little Markie who was in Primary Children's with RSV for a week, has come home as of yesterday. He had to bring oxygen home with him, but at least they let him leave the hospital.

Brian went to work yesterday. He says he feels like he has full lung capacity back. They had him doing a spirometer and he can get it to 100% now.

My ear still kills. I am pretty sure the eardrum is ruptured. I'm so mad at that M.A. I could spit. But whatever.

My house is a disaster. Oh my heck.... spending time recovering from my epidural injection....... then Brian going in the hospital....... means I have not done laundry or cleaned for a looooooong time. That is what I MUST do tomorrow. My bathrooms are so ick... and even though I did 3 loads of laundry.... it barely made a dent.

I hate living in a house that is dirty. So tomorrow I am going to grab a Sobe No Fear energy drink, pop music on my CD player in the kitchen and go to town cleaning!!

Ok, well, now I am at work and just learned the VP of Sales quit and today is his last day so now I pray they hire a SINGLE, good looking man to replace him...... (I had a dream long ago that I would find my next husband because he would be an employee here. At the time I thought "Huh, that will NEVER happen, we are not hiring! " But since that time we have hired several people and now we have another position open..... sooooooo..... we shall see.... LOL.

Yays and Woes........

First the YAY: Brian came home from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. He spent yesterday resting at home and was planning to go back to work today!

Woes: I have a problem with getting earwax impacted in my ears. Two weeks ago I tried ear lavage myself to get it out and didn't. I have had a ringing in my right ear ever since and then it started to hurt and felt like there was fluid in it so I went to the doctor yesterday.

The nurse or MA, did ear lavage on me and nearly made me pass out. She used so much force and pressure that she MADE MY EAR BLEED! It was not bleeding before... but it was bleeding after and today it is STILL bleeding and hurts so bad I could cry. And she didn't even get the wax out! Some of it came, but the rest is impacted so tight it won't budge and I could not stand the pain to let her keep trying.

We were told (when I trained to be a Medical Assistant) that you do need to squirt the syringe firmly, but NOT real hard........ and this gal just BLASTED it and refused to listen to me tell her she was doing it incorrectly. She said, "Hard and fast is how it has to be done."

Well, I think she made things worse and possibly ruptured my eardrum.

I am going to find a different doctor. I don't like that place at all anymore.

Oh, and on top of that.... they didn't even give me antibiotics so I am SURE this is going to end up as a raging ear infection. I am so mad.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

A Mother's Worst Nightmare.........

I wanted to make you aware of what is going on with my oldest son Brian (age 23).

When he was in 8th grade he had a grand mal seizure in class. Tests were done. Nothing found. They said it was a fluke.

4 years later (almost to the day!) when he got his wisdom teeth out and was coming out of the anesthesia, he had another grand mal seizure and they attributed it to the anesthesia. Nothing was done.

Yesterday he woke up and felt ill, thought he was going to throw up, so he went in the bathroom. He had a seizure, and when it happened he passed out and hit his head very hard. He bit his tongue and slammed his nose which caused a HUGE amount of bleeding. The way he landed, the blood did not go out of him, but he aspirated it into his lung. The doctors say he had to have been unconscious a good 20 minutes because his right lung is nearly full of blood. He almost drowned in his own blood. Luckily he came to, but he could not walk or breathe and he literally crawled out of the bathroom and down the hall (he lives with his dad and step-mom. They were upstairs and not aware of what had happened). He was making some terrible moaning sounds which caught his dad's attention and so Mark went down and found him. He yelled to Angela to call 911. The ambulance was there in 3 minutes and transported him to the emergency room.

When I got to the ER he was just covered with blood, all over his face, his neck, his arms, his hands, his stomach.... it was very unnerving. After 5 hours in the ER they transferred him to Intermediate Care (a step down from the ICU). He can’t breathe very well at all and they are pumping him full of antibiotics to try to prevent bacterial pneumonia. He's on oxygen, but even with the oxygen his saturation is not very good. They gave him a nubulizer treatment, but that also did not seem to help much.

After they got him in his room he had an episode where his heart rate plummeted to 30 bpm (and actually hit 10 at one point); (normal is 90-100) and so now they suspect he has something going on with his heart. And they think that whatever is going on with the heart may be what is triggering the seizure. He will be in the IMC at least 4 days, maybe more. The doctors said it is very serious. (My mom died from aspirating contents into her lung so I know how bad it can be).

They need to get the pneumonia taken care of before they can concentrate on figuring out what else is going on. He is a very ill young man. It breaks my heart to see him so helpless when he is normally this big 6 foot 5, 230 pound athlete. I call him my "gentle giant".

On the positive side he is young, extremely healthy otherwise, exercises every day, eats fruits and vegetables, doesn’t drink soda, doesn’t take so much as an aspirin, so we hope and pray that works in his favor.

Please keep him in your prayers.

UPDATE: 11:30am, MONDAY, MARCH 16 ---

Brian had a good night and this morning his breathing has improved dramatically! (Back down to 21 respirations instead of 43)

His blood pressure has been good. No more scary drops. So they took him off the continuous monitor and just come in to check that every couple hours.

They had him up and walking a few steps. Not a marathon, but he walked a little and didn't fall down so that's excellent.

He ate breakfast. (you know he has to be feeling better if he was hungry right?)

His color is much better. (yesterday he was an awful blue)

His response is really amazing. The doctors were preparing us that he was going to get worse before he got better. He's still not out of the woods yet, but WOW, he has improved dramatically and I am so thankful!

I am feeling MUCH more optimistic and extremely relieved!!! Prayer works. Yes indeed.

Developments

Introducing baby Mark Joseph L. who was born on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. He weighed 8 pounds 5 oz. He is my friend Lisa's grandson.

But today........ he is fighting for his life. He has that stupid RSV and is in Primary Children's hospital. He is having a lot of difficulty breathing. They said he may be in the hospital for several days. The priest just went over and gave him a blessing.

They told us to expect him to get worse before he gets better. I know so many babies die from this virus -- it is very scary.

I am keeping him in my thoughts and prayers.

Woes, Whaaas and Duhs!

First the woes: My poor father who is 78 years old, frail, blind, and lives alone, had a low blood sugar on Friday while he was outside. He passed out and laid in the snow for 2 hours! When he came to, he could not get up. He does have a Life Alert bracelet/monitor so he pushed the button. Help arrived and transported him to the hospital where they stabilized his blood sugar and warmed him up (he was hypothermic). It just makes me cry to think of my dad laying helpless in the snow for hours.....

Now the Whaaaaa! I watched "Marley and Me." The book was way better than the movie, but I have to admit that at the end of the movie I bawled like nobody's business. I didn't just sniff, I WAILED. I have not cried that hard in a long time.

And finally the "duh".... my son-in-law gave me several packages of salmon and halibut from Alaska that he caught. I had everybody over for dinner sunday and told them several times during the week we were having "Maple glazed salmon"......... When we sat down to eat, Brett said, "This halibut is amazing!" I said, "Huh? It's not halibut... it's.... uh..... salmon....." He said, "Nooooooooooo, salmon is pink.... this is white. This is halibut."

I knew that. DUH!!!!

ARGGGGGHHHHH

I have got to lose weight. I have no willpower. But I try to avoid the bad stuff if possible.

My friend gave me a huge bag full of all different kinds of WHITE CHOCOLATE candy bars. (my favorites!) I'm talking TONS of it. Like a dozen huge bars, and bags of stuff, and let's just say a good 20 pounds worth -- not how much the candy weighs, but how much weight I'm going to gain when I eat it!!!

I appreciate the thought so much. She knows it is my favorite. But can we say "diet sabotage?" To the nth degree???

Whew and Whew!

Our company has training every year and I have to do part of it. This morning I made it through my one hour presentation despite having a major toothache.

David saw the cardiologist yesterday and has nothing wrong with his heart which is GREAT news. He has been advised to increase his salt and water intake. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Our company is being very generous this year and is giving us all the days off between Dec. 25 and Jan. 5 as PAID holidays. Woo hoo! AND they are giving us our bonuses. For me, since I have only been here 4 years, the bonus is not a lot, but every bit helps. And I really did not anticipate we would get a bonus since they are shutting down and giving us the days off with pay. So it's nice that we get both. I sent a thank-you to the president of 0ur company for doing that.

Nothing Like STRESS for the Holidays....

I took David to the doctor yesterday to see about the fainting spells. They did an EKG and drew blood. He sent us home with a glucometer, and an appt to see a cardiac specialist at Primary Children's hospital. If none of that shows anything, he wants to do an MRI on his brain.

David had another bad episode last night and this morning. I'm worried about the kid.

I saw my own doctor this morning and she told me my blood pressure is dangerously high.... -- it was 175 over 80... and if it has not come down over the next 2 weeks, she is putting me on blood pressure meds. I'm sure it's high just because I'm stressed out over David. At least I hope that's all it is. But I have been having chest pains lately... though I have been trying to ignore them.

I just can't deal with all of this right now.

I'm worried

My son David is 13. Over the past month and a half he has fainted 2 times, come close to fainting another 6 times. He gets nauseated, dizzy, drenched in sweat. He says sometimes he feels like he got hit in the stomach with a baseball bat. He has also been covered with huge bruises from just playing around.

Could he be anemic? We don't eat a lot of meat at my house. We are a quesadilla, grilled cheese, mac and cheese family. We do eat meat, but not a lot. Maybe he needs to take vitamins, but in the past they upset his stomach (even the children chewables).

He has missed two days of school this week.

He has a doctor appt on Monday. I hope they find what is wrong.