Wake me in a week, kthxbai

I got up at 10 after 7 and rushed to get the kids off to school. They were late by a minute or two. I dropped Bethy off and headed to Tyler to see Michael. Koni, one of the MOPS co-coordinators, had graciously offered to pick Bethy up and keep her for me so I could go see Michael.

I went to Tyler, dropped off the Valentines at The Scroll, then drove around the hospital parking lot for 15 minutes looking for a place to park. I finally parked, but ended up with my back tire on the curb because the car next to me had decided to share the parking space.

Michael and I took a walk around the floor – two laps – and visited. It was nice to just be in the same room with him. The doctor came in and told us that the paperwork to get the VAC at home would delay his discharge by another 24-48 hours. We met with a woman from admin to discuss getting a VAC to use at home. The rental alone is $1700 for two weeks. That doesn’t include the $300 home health nurse visit three times a week to change the dressing. Youch.

I got a call at 1:00 from Brandon’s school saying he needed a change of clothes and couldn’t go back to class without changing. So off I flew to Mineola from Tyler to get clothes and take them to Brandon, only to get there and discover the nurse had sent him back to the classroom anyway.

I was more than slightly perturbed.

I went to the Primary school and met Koni to get Bethy, then drove to the parking lot in front of the school to get Bethy out and go in to get Sarah. Then we went to get Brandon and went home. I called my grandmother to update her, then called Mom when she got home to update her and tell her that Bethy wanted her to “join us” for dinner. Koni and Shawna brought over Pizza Hut pizza for dinner and prayed with me, which meant a lot.

Mom came over and we ate, then watched Wheel of Fortune and the Charlie Brown valentine show. Mom went home and I turned off all the lights and went to lie down with Bethy. She was asleep inside of ten minutes. (and she just started crying…)

resuming…

Sarah came out and wanted to call Michael and tell him goodnight so we did that, then I proceeded to blog.

And now I’m going to bed.

Catherapy

I dropped Brandon and Sarah off, then took Bethy to the store and put gas in the car. I called Michael’s cell and left a message on his voicemail while I was waiting in line to drop Bethy off at playschool. A few minutes later the phone rang and I assumed it was Michael since it said “Private” and he has just been moved to a private room.

I was wrong. It was a perv.

I hung up on him and he called right back. I told him to “Get a life and find Jesus” and hung up on him again. He called again and I fought tears as I told him to stop calling me while the playschool director got Bethy out of her car seat. I told her what was happening with Michael and the phone and left, then called Janet and cried to her. I can’t tell you how dirty I felt. How dirty I feel just remembering… *shiver*

I called Michael and told him and he talked to me for a bit, then I went and sat in Grandpa’s chair and crocheted while listening to classical music on the tv with Bootsie in my lap.

I went and picked up Bethy and we took a nap.

Michael’s bgl continued to go down, hovering in the 230 range. Still very high, but a big improvement over Monday. The doctor mentioned discharge on Wednesday.

Lynna's lovely bread!

The kids and I went to the library after-school program, and I got to crochet for a while and visit with the “library girls,” as I call them. They were encouraging and it was so cute to watch Lynna excitedly tell about her two very first from-scratch loaves of bread that she had made. She had posted pictures on Facebook – they were gorgeous and I was very proud of her. She also went in and learned how to crochet with the kids, so she was beaming by the time she left. It did my heart good to see her. Matthew brought me a copy of the South Beach diet book, which Toni had used when she was being treated as diabetic during one of her pregnancies.  I got a learn-to-knit kit from the librarian with some sumptuously soft gray Bernat yarn that I can’t wait to make a cowl from so I can have it next to my cheek.

A dear friend and former MOPS discussion group leader Jessica met us at the library with a yummy lasagna, garlic bread, corn, and fruit salad from Becky for dinner. Mom came over and stayed for a while so I wasn’t so lonely.

Managed to get Bethy in bed by 10:30 and I went to bed at midnight.

Kid, your parents are writers - write, already!

I’ve been too exhausted to post, so I’m going back and writing a post for each day. They’ll be choppy and listish (it’s a very technical term, patent-pending). Here’s Monday’s mayhem

Michael’s bgl was between 388 and 402 before meals. At breakfast and lunch they gave him 4 and 5 units on insulin, respectively. At dinner they gave him 16 units. A nurse from the Wound Care unit came and attached the Vacuum-Assisted Closure system. Basically, they put a sponge in the wound and a vacuum sucks out all the “ick” (another technical term) to help the wound heal from the inside out. Michael sent me a picture of the wound before they began and another after they attached the VAC. I then freaked out for a good ten minutes wondering how on earth I was going to care for him and keep the wound even remotely sterile.

Michael had three visitors, which really lifted his spirits.

I got this month’s Out of the Box Sampler, and even let the kids “help” with the vlog. That was a Major Fail. They were rude and obnoxious, shoving things in front of the camera, jumping up and down saying, “This one next!” or making smart-mouthed remarks. Needless to say, I decided I’d need to reshoot it, but I’ve been too exhausted to do so. Which sucks, because that means I can’t raid the chocolate in it yet…

Brandon’s school is having a “Camp Write-Along” this week, where they write from a prompt each day to  practice for the writing TAKS test. He refused to write during class, so the teacher sent the booklet home, where he also refused to write. The question was too open-ended and he couldn’t make a decision. After several hours of suggestions and crying, I finally called Michael in desperation, which made me cry even more as I griped at Brandon that I shouldn’t have to call his father in the hospital to ask him to talk to Brandon about doing his homework. We decided to let him suffer the consequences – he has to learn that he needs to write from the prompt, even if it is “non-fiction and boring.”

Michael was moved to a private room that night.

Toni called to check on me and threatened to call the MOPS co-coordinator that offered help behind my back if I didn’t accept her offer. I e-mailed her and told her it’d be wonderful to get to go see Michael on Wednesday.

Bethy wouldn’t sleep until I finally gave up and shut everything down at midnight and went to bed with her.

Boots woke me up at 3:45 wanting to go out. I went back to bed, but tossed and turned because my shoulder hurt. At 4:30 I gave up and went to take a shower, then sat in Grandpa’s chair with a heating pad on my shoulder working on Jackson‘s blanket. At 5:30 I went and got the alarm clock and reset it, then slept in the chair until 6:30 when I got up and got the kids ready for school, which began Tuesday’s Trek.

I'm... uh... huh?

I’m tired. I’m stressed. I’m spacey. I’m forgetting words like parking lot and hole punch. I got pulled over tonight shortly after I left the hospital because I forgot to turn the headlights from parking lights to actual headlights.

Oy. Thankfully, the officer (M. Riggle – thank you for saving us!) was going the opposite direction and just barely saw the parking lights. I can’t imagine driving all the way home without my headlights. It was a great opportunity to reinforce to my kids that policemen are there to keep us safe.

Michael’s surgery went well. The surgeon said he has a hole about 5 inches wide and a half-inch deep in his back now. It’s about the size of my hand. He’ll stay in the hospital for another “day or two” to make sure that the wound is healing and to keep up the antibiotics, as well as working on his blood sugar levels.

The last time they checked his sugar it was 285, which is the lowest it’s been since he’s been in the hospital. It’s still way too high, though, so he’s getting anywhere from 12-16 units of insulin before each meal. The doctor came in this evening and told him that he’d probably be getting shots when he went home since the metformin didn’t seem to be affecting his bgl. He said at this point it’d be two shots per day.

Please pray for Michael about this. One of his biggest concerns about having diabetes was having to have shots. He was really hoping he would be able to avoid it. We are well aware of the nutritional and lifestyle cure for diabetes, so please pray for us as we prepare for and begin the changes to reverse this diagnosis.

I’m emotionally fragile right now from the stress, getting perturbed easily in an effort to keep from crying because I’m worried about my husband and I miss him. The fact that I’m exhausted probably has something to do with it, too, ya think? Anyway, I am moody, but I know why, so I try to catch myself and redirect when I get wacky. The elder two kids will be at school tomorrow and it’ll just be me and Bethy for most of the day, so that will probably help.

And the swiss cake rolls.

Thank you all again for your prayers and thoughts. An old friend from high school called tonight to check on me and make sure I was okay. I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to see a new tweet, facebook post or comment, or message somewhere so frequently. It helps me keep from feeling so alone and lost in all this. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that social networking is just a bunch of fluff – I’d be much worse off if it weren’t for all my “friends I haven’t met.”

A special shout-out to my Frugal Moms girls and Paul Askin. The girls in my group and Paul have been an especially constant encouragement during this time, and I want to let you guys know how much I love and appreciate you!

Michael will have surgery at about 10 am CST on 7 February 2010

Michael is having surgery around 10 or 11 am to clean the abscess completely. After that they will continue to work on getting his blood glucose levels (bgl) down. He was officially diagnosed as having Type II Diabetes. His A1C level was a 12. It’s supposed to be between 6 and 7. His blood sugar level before meals is running just under 400 (it should be around 80-120). At his last meal they gave him 16 units of insulin. The doctor said the infection will throw his bgl off and make them high.

The doctor mentioned today that he might get to come home on Monday, but I have a feeling they won’t let him come home until his bgl are controlled. In order to come home Monday, they have approximately 18 hours after the surgery to get everything under control. I’m not convinced at this point that will happen. Please pray about this.

He’s at ETMC in Tyler in room 3536B if you’d like to call or visit. The kids and I will be waiting in the room during his surgery, so if you’re local, feel free to come help me entertain them, lol!

We can’t thank you all enough for your prayers and encouragement. Please keep them coming. The next few days will be especially difficult because I will be taking care of the children and Michael will be alone at the hospital. We were supremely blessed that my mom was off work and able to take care of them for us all day Friday and Saturday. Please pray that Michael will have the strength and clarity to be an advocate for himself, or that the Lord will send one to be with Michael while I’m not there.

With much gratitude and love -