...Grandma was there for me when I really needed her!
Chad's surgery to FINALLY repair his deviated septum was today & all went well. He has been more-than-usual nauseated & vomiting from the anesthesia...it seemed extreme to me that he was still vomiting as they were wheeling him out the door to come home, but he's so much better now that I guess they knew what they were doing.
We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 & didn't leave until just after 5 tonight. Thank goodness for Mom chauffering Cade to & from daycare today. She stayed with us last night so she could be here when we left so early, got Cade up/breakfast/dressed, and to & from school. On top of that, she brought over all the soup, sprite, & saltines we needed, escorted me to the pharmacy for Chad's meds after he was propped up in bed at home, and then helped me get Cade to bed. I never could have made it through today without Mom, and I am SOOO thankful!
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Now, the funny side of it all...
I was up at 4:45 am to get ready, lay out Cade's clothes (I forgot the night before and thought that might make it a little easier on Mom), & get Chad to the hospital. I just grabbed a bottle of water for breakfast b/c Chad couldn't eat/drink, and I thought that would be mean. After 2 1/2 hours of admitting & pre-op, I then clocked ~5 hours of work while I waited & had a snickers & diet coke from vending for lunch. From 2-5, I was at Chad's post-op bedside while he was nauseated & dizzy & in PAIN. Drive him home in rush hour traffic at a ridiculously slow pace avoiding bumps in our lovely Oklahoma roads via the most direct route w/o many turns or stops/ starts. Settle him in bed, nuke Cade's dinner, serve Chad some sprite, broth, & crackers, then head out in the 17 degree cold to go to the pharmacy for Chad's drugs and an armload-full of groceries while I waited. Home to Chad still in pain & incredibly light-sensitive and in-laws headed for the door. Change Chad's dressing then spend maybe 60 quality minutes with my son before putting him in bed. Start laundry, unload & load dishwasher, then Chad awake. Serve him step 2 of Mom's soup selections, more saltines, sprite & a caffeinated beverage (maybe caffeine-withdrawal, too?), and his meds. He's feeling much better, thank goodness; wait, no, he wants more sprite, more diet coke, cheesecake?! okay, nausea meds definitely working...when can I give him more pain meds?! whew-sit down to check email, post a few comments on the blog. okay, now Cade's diaper malfunction & bed is soaked. Change diaper & jammies, put him on dry part of bed with pillow blocking wet spot...I'm NOT changing his sheets now! Back to Chad...change his dressings again, re-position pillows, another sprite, finally 2 more pain meds...nighty-night! NOW...the "funny" part that made me post...after my 20-hour-long day I'm off to bed on the couch with Cade's monitor & a walkie talkie for Chad. Ain't a woman's life glamorous?!
p.s. we're really only on the 2nd day of Christmas at our house. I thought the last day was on Christmas???
What a day! Hope things are going better this morning.
Our mom is the greatest when she takes the time to be with us. I'll never forget after Jenni was born. She was there at the house, cooked, made cookies that Tim still talks about. I don't think I could have survived those first couple of days without her.
That is a special memory that I will keep forever! Glad she was here for you!
I just realized that I never posted about my even more glamorous end to that week...
after a LONG week of Chad's post-op recovery rendering him completely out of commission to supporting in any way (well, except that he IS on paid leave from work, so he will get a paycheck) the daily workings of our family... picture me on morning duty, night duty, kitchen duty, laundry duty, everything duty (wait...is that really different from when he's not propped up in bed...KIDDING...it does make you appreciate what he DOES do to help!) so I was stretched completely thin just trying to keep everything from exploding. I have plenty of leave from work, but there was a lot of stuff to get done before the end of the year, regardless of leave or not; so that was a HUGE weight of stress, but I was just making only the very important things with immediate deadlines happen. I was definitely burning the candle at both ends with a good night being ~4 hours of sleep.
STRESS, EXHAUSTION, HOLIDAYS...but I was looking forward to the Friday afternoon Christmas Party at Cade's school. So I had just walked into my office at ~1pm; one of my co-workers, needing my immediate attention to something, caught me to get answers as soon as he saw me. while he was standing in my office, in mid-sentence, the daycare called... "Uh Oh," I said outloud. One of the asst. directors sound panicked, "Cade is having a seizure."
can you even imagine???
ran out of the office, lucky I found a close parking spot on the main garage level, circle the garage to get out, then OF COURSE a parade of 6 OUHSC campus lawnmowers pulled out in front of me on the 1-lane road across campus. AAAHHH!!! must get to Cade NNNNOOOOWWWW!!!! and my mind is racing...on top of all my Mom worries about my son's health, the guilt of him being at daycare/ not being with him, but I'm worried about how FREAKED his teachers are & how all the other kids were probably woken from naptime from the commotion & how this has been a big party pooper for everyone.
get to school...he's burning up & post-ictal (sleeping & occasional jerking)...said it lasted maybe 2 minutes & they did NOT have to give the medicine...great news. they gave tylenol, but I wanted to get some motrin in him before we headed to our MD appt (I did get through on the cellphone for an appt while driving across town). His temp was 102. Motrin in. Waking up a little. Get to MD office 5 minutes after our scheduled appt; please don't notice we're late or tell me we have to wait for next available slot since we weren't there on time. whew, sitting in waiting room, cradling my precious, precious little one...not too busy in waiting room, just a couple other kids and one brand new family with a tiny little one...
then Cade vomits all over me, him, & 3 of the waiting room chairs...PERFECT.
a perfect end to my week. I'm in tears, no one is helping - my baby is sick, my pants are soaked, & the vomit has soaked through my sweater to the blouse underneath. vomit is in cracks I could never reach in the chairs. I only have a travel-pack of wipes. I quit carrying extra clothes for him 18 months ago; I never knew why one would need to keep an extra blouse for me. We are the gross, sick people in the waiting room that everyone wants to leave & NO ONE wants to help. A mom comes out of the back from her kid's appointment, "OH? [pause] Do you need something?" Me crying, "Yes, I need help..."
what it takes for me to ask for help...
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