Papaw

My papaw had a stroke.  Several of them...

On June 2, 2015:

Mom is still at the hospital with Dad.  He isn’t getting released until Wednesday, June 3.  She asked me to bring her some clothes and bring dad some clothes he could wear when he leaves.  I went by mom’s house and checked on Papaw while getting their belongings.  He didn't look too good. His face looked real slouchy and droopy.  When I try to talk to him he couldn't talk, his words were slurred and long. Hey was ‘heeeyyyyy’. It appeared to me like he had just had a stroke of some sort.  I was really concerned.

I went ahead and packed mom and dad’s stuff and went outside and asked Pete to come in and look at Papaw.  He dealt with his dad having a stroke and was better equipped at what to do. He even called his friend’s mom who is a nurse and had her help us determine this. 

He came in and had Papaw raise his arms to see how high they would go.  We had him talk to us and asked him questions about himself like what his name was when he was born when his birthday was. He knew all the answers but he still didn't seem quite right. We decided to leave because I didn't know what else to do.   I got down the street and I had this bad feeling so I turned around and went back and checked on him again. His face wasn't as droopy when I got back as it was the first time I saw him. I decided to call mom and ask when Sheila was coming out to check on him. She said Sheila was on her way so I wait until Sheila got there. I told her about everything that I noticed with Papaw.  His face, his words.  She said that's normal and his face normally looks like that. I didn't think so, but she spends every day with him so I figured she would know better than I would. We went ahead and left, heading toward Bay City to give mom her stuff. It was a 40 minute drive from Angleton to Bay City. The moment I walked into the hospital room, Sheila had called my mom and told Mom that she doesn't think  Papaw is ok.  she thinks something is wrong with Papaw. I told mom exactly what I noticed when I was there, and  what was going on. She decided to call an ambulance so I had to rush back home to meet the ambulance or to take care of hospital stuff. Mom wasn’t able to leave dad and James was out of town so I had to be the one to handle all the hospital experience. Five minutes away from the hospital, Bo calls me to tell me that Papaw was just admitted that he's got the admission paperwork ready for me.As soon as I walked in the hospital he greeted me at the door and sign the paperwork and walked me over to Papaw’s bed area. It was a long ordeal.  All night long the nurses didn't know what they were doing the doctor didn't seem to know what he was doing.  Nurses wanted to repeat tests because they didn't document correctly. Luckily I was there to help advocate for Papaw.  I actually kept a log of everytime a nurse came in, what they did, and what they said.  It came in handy. I watched them  give him a catheter and that was traumatizing. I heard him crying in pain because it hurts so bad. They didn't give him any pain meds but they documented that they did so he went the whole evening without pain meds.  About 12:30 AM, they finally moved him to an actual room and out of the ER room.  Nurses came in shortly after to ask me questions about his health and other things about him.  They argued about his medicines he was talking, insisting I was wrong (like they would know over me?? One of the nurses initially entered it wrong so now I didn’t know what I was talking about).  I told them what I've noticed about him throughout the evening. I even told them how he had several mini-strokes while we were there and no one seemed to even care. I didn't leave the hospital until after 5 AM only to be at work three hours later.

He ended up staying in the hospital for nearly a week until the following Monday when we transferred him to a nursing home under hospice care in Bellville. I've seen him once since he’s been there and Aunt Jeanne goes and visits him regularly when she sees Grandma Ruth.  James and Dad and Coleton have seen him a few times. He seems to be doing ok.

Papaw was diagnosed with kidney failure, prostate cancer, colon cancer,  90% blockage of an artery in his brain.  He's had several many small strokes (they call it TIA)that day.   He's had strokes in the past and has had a severe stroke years ago that I just found out about. 

Steak

June 20. 

Mmm. Really don't have a lot to post about this. Other than my baby grilled some delicious steak on the grill. I did the garlic bread. Yay me!! :-)

Dad

Dad had an accident at work. May 31.

******WARNING! BLOODY IMAGES BELOW******

I think I've cursed my family… 
Every time I say somebody's going to get hurt it ends up happening.  In July, I wanted to test that theory so I made sure I didn't say anything about anyone.   I couldn't bear the thought of hurting someone else. 

Recap:
February my brother broke his back/tail bone while playing on one of the kids’ toys.
March my mom messed up her back and couldn’t move for a week.

March Austynn got a severe 2° burn on her leg
April I had horrible neck inflammation where I couldn't move for two days and I was crying in pain the entire two days it hurts so bad. I went to the dr three times, skipped work for two days, barely move for weeks. The Chiropractor did X-rays and said it looked like I got a bad sprain; the same kind of injury someone would get from a car wreck when they get bad whiplash. I don’t know what I did, but I have NEVER had this much pain in my neck before. Not even during my accident. 
Shortly after that, I made the comment that to Candis that Dad needs to take care of himself because it seems like it would be his turn to get hurt. I didn’t think much of it. 
We almost made it through May.  And then, on the very last day, May 31, this happens:

Mom calls me upset  at about 11:30 AM.  It's a Sunday and me and Pete had just pulled into Lake Hardware to buy stuff to work on the house.  She tells me that Dad was in an accident at work. He had fallen down some stairs flat on his face and he's got a broken nose, and not sure what else. An ambulance transported him to a hospital in Bay City. Later that afternoon mom sent me and James a list of things she wanted us to bring to her, since she was going to stay up there with Dad at the hospital. Me and James drove up there Sunday evening to see dad. He looked horrible.  His nose is all bloodied; his forehead was bloody; his eyes were bloodshot. You could see it in his face that he was in excruciating pain. I didn't want to make eye contact with him because I kept thinking how horrible he's got to be feeling And bad looking At him.
It was great for all four of us to be together in the same room to sit and talk and know that we're all OK.

He had to have nose surgery Monday after arriving.    Dad ended up staying in the hospital until Wednesday evening.  They sent him home he was OK and he was on pain meds because he was in a lot of pain.

What we now know:
He was walking up a flight of stairs carrying 50 pound weight for work.  He ended up blacking out, falling face first onto the concrete. He was on the bottom stairs so he fell about 6 feet total.  His head hit his gun he was holding.  All the bones in his nose shattered through his forehead. He ripped out a chunk of meat from forehead from his gun hitting it. He was able to become alert right after the fall, and used his radio to call for an ambulance to come get him. Two months later he still diagnosed with concussion symptoms and he's also diagnosed with PTSD and has to go see a second neurologist. He also has to see a cardiologist.

 Top two are right after he was at hospital.  Bottom left is that evening.  Bottom right is Monday after his surgery.

OMG

OMG.

That is all.

me me me

Can I just do one conceited post about me?  I took these all pretty recently. (within the month of May).

Listen Linda, listen!

When you talk to others, hold a conversation with your best friend, or your mom, or a co-worker, or your child, are you really listening?  The majority of time in a conversation, the ‘listener’ is often thinking of what they are going to say next that is relevant to themselves, rather than listening to what is being said to them and commenting back on that.  Pay attention next time you really have a conversation with someone and see are you a true listener? Everyone needs a listener and if you are only thinking about yourself and what to say next, you are not giving your conversation partner the time they need to talk.  If you learn to actually listen, then they will reciprocate and begin listening to you also. 

I’m not a listener… I’m one of those that are thinking about the next thing to say to make the conversation about me.  This was pointed out to me many years ago, and I started noticing it then, but I don’t realize to actually listen until the conversation is over and I reflect back.  That’s when I’m beating myself up for being selfish when my friend, or family, or co-worker just wanted to get something off THEIR chest.  They don’t care how their situation is comparable to mine at that moment.  Start paying attention to what you say and what you hear, see if you are that person they can really come to, or if they avoid you for a reason??

My Aunt is the best listener I know and when we talk, I always think how I want to be more like her every day. She asks me questions and genuinely wants to hear what I have to say about myself, and she feeds off that and continues to talk about me as well.  That is what your conversation partner is looking for when they initiate a conversation.  Be that listener!

30 days

30 days left and It will be Saturday, June 27.  Why am I waiting so anxiously for a random Saturday in June? Oh, that’s right. It’s because I will be flying to JAMAICA on June 27.  That is correct, my friend. J  My beautiful cousin is graduating high school next week and her grandma (my aunt) wants to take her on a celebratory senior trip.  They were originally looking at London and Paris.  Once my aunt did a tiny bit of research, she realized just HOW expensive this trip is, and that my cousin didn’t know anything about the area, other than seeing the Eifel Tower. That’s a long and expensive trip just to see a tall piece of architecture.  From the beginning, I was included in the plans.  My aunt would love to have someone a little younger to help watch my cousin, and also in case anything happens to her, there will be another mature, responsible adult there (has she MET ME AT ALL??? :P )  Eventually,  they narrowed down to a place and booked Jamaica.  My mom is also going to keep my aunt company. Me and Alivia will be able to venture off on our own and do our stuff and leave the old folks to lay around and talk about old folk stuff.  – ok KIDDING.  They aren’t old. They will probably be right there with us through it all and it will be an amazing trip because I love these ladies so much! 

 

And I need a vacation. I need a week-long break from life and responsibility.  My only hiccup is my aunt will try to put a damper on things by wanting to have real moment conversations and keep me from just drinking away the week… Either way, it’ll be great J

Now if I can just get my butt in gear to work out a tad bit…