Monday, November 19, 2007

Life is Busy Out From Under the Rock

First of all, let me assure you that I did NOT crawl back under my rock. I've just been really super busy, probably because I did spend so much time under said rock during the last month. So what have I been doing? Glad you asked . . .

1) Helping my mom and dad. Just helping with daily life at the house and I took my dad to therapy a couple of times.

2) Tutoring. Yup, it's been a full schedule, 3 afternoons a week.

3) Shopping. Yup, it's that time of year again and who wants to wait until the last minute.

4) Brian's aunt just moved out here, so we have spent some time with her.

5) Hockey. After not going to any games for a couple of weeks we went on Wednesday night.

6) Acupuncture. Seriously, it takes half a day to drive there, have the treatment, and drive home. Oh, and stop for a little shopping on the way.

7) Pukey, poopin' Pie. No, I haven't been baking. Our sweet Molly is sick, sick, sick. She got really sick last Wednesday night and got me up out of bed every 30 to 45 minutes for several hours. Finally I spent the rest of the night on the couch. And the next night too. The first vet visit resulted in some pills to shove down her gullet. It didn't work very well. That brings us to yesterday, and another vet visit because she refused to eat (and hadn't eaten in over 24 hours) and wouldn't even eat the tastiest treats we made her. So now it appears that she has a $600 tummy ache. And 2 more medications to take. Oh, and they gave her fluids since she was dehydrated. We are still waiting for a few more test results, but so far everything looks good. And she is eating again. But pretty much just scrambled eggs. Hopefully she will be ready for turkey in a few days.

Oh, and that brings me to Thanksgiving. We are hosting again this year and there will be about a dozen of us. Brian is in charge of the turkey, stuffing and green bean casserole. He is on-call over the 4 day holiday so I really hope that nobody has a heart attack and spoils their holiday as well as ours. Eric, Kari and the munchkins are arriving tomorrow and staying until Saturday.


Oh, and here is my dad at therapy one day last week. He is gaining so much strength. He is learning to transfer from his wheelchair to the mat table using a transfer board rather than the lift like at home. He is also learning to balance himself using his arms. He has some abdominal, or core control, but it is very slight so everything he does is with his arms and shoulders. It is very tiring, but he works his tail off 3 days a week at therapy. He is also able to move his legs a little bit. Using his hips he can move his knees together slightly and he can draw up his knees just slightly. My dad is really working to get better strength and control in his hands. Each extra little thing that he can do is just huge and can lead to great things for him. Last year my dad was released from the hospital the day before Thanksgiving. We had to feed him his dinner. This year he will be able to feed himself, and he is strong enough that we will be able to remove the sides of his wheelchair so that he can come all the way up to the table. He has come a long way since last year, and for that we are very thankful. My parents are coming over for Thanksgiving dinner. (For those who don't know, last year my dad fell and broke his neck in 3 places. He is now a quadriplegic.)

Thanks so much for all of the kind comments and emails that you have sent to me welcoming me back. Even Brian tells me almost every day that he is so glad that I am back. And a special thanks to Sunny, Kristen, and Baby Step for passing along the Blogger Flame of Fortitude to me. It was very thoughtful.

11 comments:

  1. Wow, the stuff on your dad is very very amazing! Wow - that must be where you get your strength from. As for being back, I look forward to watching and reading and just keeping up again cuz selfishly I like it when you're around.

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  2. He sure has come a long way. What an inspiration!

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  3. I am so glad you are back! We missed you out here in blogland.

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  4. You've got an awful lot on your plate. I hope the acupuncture is continuing to help.

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  5. I am glad you are doing better. You are such a busy person!

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  6. Hey. Just dropping by to let you know I was thinking about you. I am glad your dad is on the road to recovery. Thearpy is very hard and losing independence is so frustrating. (I was in a car wreck which I broke both legs and fractured my hip my senior year of high school. So I had therapy 5 times a weeks so I could learn to walk again--I wanted to walk at graduation!) It is worth every aching muscle and the tiredness it causes. Hang in there! Happy Thanksgiving!

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  7. Anonymous8:54 AM

    I'm so glad your dad is doing so much better. He has really come a long way from those first several months. He must be a very strong person.

    Have a happy Thanksgiving!! And I'm glad your back!

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  8. Sending really good thoughts to your dad.

    And to an easy, happy Thanksgiving with everyone.

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  9. Your dad is an inspiration! Looks like great progress!

    Have a wonderful holiday with your family!

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  10. It's good to hear what you have been up to! Looking forward to seeing you on Monday - will you be there? I'm sorry to hear about your sick doggie. :( But amazed to hear how well your dad is doing! What a miracle!

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Chris! See you soon.

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  11. I am still so inspired by you. I hope you know what a strong person you are and I thank you for sharing your life with us. Enjoy the holiday with your family.

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