So, here's a massive update:
School's out! So the whole family is home. Whee. With no work, we have no moolah to send Elder Son anywhere for any kind of supervised, organized activity this summer. We'll see how that goes.
My mom is in the hospital. She was born in 1931. In the past few years, her "strong peasant stock" health has kinda fallen into the crapper. She had a heart attack, then a mild stroke, then another heart attack while in the hospital for the stroke, then was diagnosed with diabetes. She has a pacemaker and has had her hip replaced. She also has all of these weird sensitivities, like artificial vitamin B, and acetic acid, and all kinds of weird stuff.
She is in this time because her heart was working more and more poorly, she was getting less and less oxygen, and finally it got all weird and fibrillat-y, and she did the classic "I've fallen and I can't get up."
When they got her in and ran the camera wire up to her heart, they found a constricted valve and multiple blockages, sometimes more than 2 in 1 artery. So, on Monday, the 16th, she had a triple bypass and valve replacement. She got a valve from a cow heart, and they stripped out some veins from her legs. (So now she's part robot, and part cow.) They CUT OUT a section of her ribs, and then wired it back into place.
She's doing "fine" now. She's weak, in a lot of pain, and crabby as hell, because due to all her weird sensitivities, there's not a lot of pain meds they can give her that work. She's doing physical therapy, and is supposed to be coughing and breathing deep to prevent pneumonia - she doesn't wanna, cuz they CUT OUT a section of her ribs, and wired it back into place. My Eldest Sister, while giving me the update this evening, recounted how she went off on one of the nurses, who was trying to get Mom to spit, because Mom was raised to be a Lady, back in the day, and they don't spit. Eldest Sister thinks she's the only one in the family who can spit. Hah. Middle Sister (I'm the baby) and Brother have been sharing with Eldest Sister the sitting by the bedside, yelling at nurses, getting reports from Doctors job. Cuz we're so far, and have the Young Son, we can't really serve in that capacity (we being me and Hubby). We did visit last Friday, before her surgery, though Elder Son was too freaked out by the hospital to even come in her room. Younger Son was not intimidated at all, and was climbing all over her bed while she was sitting in a chair.
I sometimes feel guilty about not living closer, because the time when my sibs will be taking over total care of Mom is looming fast, and yet, I'm glad I'm far. My family kinda baffles me, sometimes. Eldest Sister cracks me up, she is so much like Mom, though never seeing it herself.
Middle Sister recounted about how, while preparing to go to training in D.C. for a political campaign (Hubby thinks it is for Moveon.org.), my Niece was packing and was sure to bring her little militant feminist purse, with the "I heart vagina" button. (Fuck you, I can't be bothered to find the key pattern to make the symbol, and I don't do smilies.) This is the closest Middle Sister has EVER come, nay, that ANYONE IN THE FAMILY, even Bull Dyke Elder Sister, has come to saying in any way that my Niece is a lesbian. I figured it out on my own from her reaction when I expressed my concern over her living in a co-ed dorm, warning that boys are insane. Realizing that she and her friend were always taking off to "shower" at her friend's house was pretty convincing, seeing the giant picture of Angelina Jolie's cleavage that the two of them had hung up in their photos of their shared dorm room kinda clinched it for me. (Though I wish I knew where she got it...) So, I've been operating under that assumption. Then, when we gave my Nephew a joke graduation present of a video tape of "how to pick up girls," and my Niece said that maybe she should watch it, well, that's as close as it ever came.
I dunno if it's weird, to think it's weird that it's never just been said, "this is her girlfriend," or something like that. It may be because Niece's paternal Grandfather, who lives there along with her Grandmother, is, well, let's just say, he really likes Bill O'Reilly. I dunno, I'm just the kind of girl who doesn't like to edit for that kind of person. He gave some extremely right-wing book to someone for Christmas one year, and Hubby seriously had to talk me out of getting "The Audacity of Hope" for him the next year.
On a more immediate and domestic note, Hubbie and Elder Son both suck at applying sun block. The boys all went to the local water park today, while Mommy got to see a Movie. In a theater. Alone. (I saw Prince Caspian. They made the bad guys Spanish, instead of Turkish, which, y'know, nowadays is a forgivable choice. The "entire movie full of people speaking with accents like a whole movie full of Antonio Banderas, so that you know they're foreign" is FUCKING IRRITATING. But that might just be me. A few "Wow, I am a total fucking nitpicking gamer nerd," moments. Overall, I really liked it. I cried. Eddie Izzard as the voice of Reepicheep is SUWEEET.)
Anyway, Dad did sunblock on the sons, Elder Son helped put some on Dad's back. They both suck, they both are burned. Younger Son only had a strip of stealth sunburn, about 1 inch wide, along the back of his head, following his hairline - got his neck, got the top of his head, oops, missed a spot. MUCH great fun was had, swimming, floating on circle thing, going down slides. Whee. By the time I got there after the movie, Younger Son was completely freaking from sun, hunger, and tiredness. Zoom home, feed, rest, etc. This evening, getting him ready for bed, I notice that the spots (which apparently are hives) on his feet are MUCH worse, including blisters on his widdle toes.
I had already given him his prescription allergy med, but since I consider this pretty definitely an allergic reaction, I wonder if I should give benadryl, also. Him being 2, I decide to call the advice nurse to ask.
IHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISER
I checked the website they push all the fucking time, since there was no obvious "Nurse" phone number of the card. THERE ARE NO PHONE NUMBERS ON THE FUCKING WEBSITE. I called the appointment number on the card. I went through about 10 layers of fucking menus and gatekeepers before I got to a nurse, who just wanted to ascertain he wasn't going into anaphylactic shock. When I said I just wanted to know about drug interaction, she put me on hold forever, then gave me the number to a pharmacy that was closed. I tried the number for the local one that is open 24 hours, and when I pushed 0, was told that was not an option. So, fuck it. Younger Son was tired enough that he passed right out anyway.
In addition to all that, we are dog-sitting Sis-in-law's dog, and he apparently can't stand our dog, who is a hyperactive puppy. Growls and barks at him all the time. He is also making the puppy look really good by sneaking into the bathroom any chance he gets, and pulling out diapers so he can eat the poo. [sigh]
Really, somebody, get ME a job, so I can get out of this fucking house, please?
And I know it's hot all over the bay area right now, but, here's this.
"Yeah, we, uh, we edited that." (Soup quote)
But, hey, at least I got a shower.
My mom is in the hospital. She was born in 1931. In the past few years, her "strong peasant stock" health has kinda fallen into the crapper. She had a heart attack, then a mild stroke, then another heart attack while in the hospital for the stroke, then was diagnosed with diabetes. She has a pacemaker and has had her hip replaced. She also has all of these weird sensitivities, like artificial vitamin B, and acetic acid, and all kinds of weird stuff.
She is in this time because her heart was working more and more poorly, she was getting less and less oxygen, and finally it got all weird and fibrillat-y, and she did the classic "I've fallen and I can't get up."
When they got her in and ran the camera wire up to her heart, they found a constricted valve and multiple blockages, sometimes more than 2 in 1 artery. So, on Monday, the 16th, she had a triple bypass and valve replacement. She got a valve from a cow heart, and they stripped out some veins from her legs. (So now she's part robot, and part cow.) They CUT OUT a section of her ribs, and then wired it back into place.
She's doing "fine" now. She's weak, in a lot of pain, and crabby as hell, because due to all her weird sensitivities, there's not a lot of pain meds they can give her that work. She's doing physical therapy, and is supposed to be coughing and breathing deep to prevent pneumonia - she doesn't wanna, cuz they CUT OUT a section of her ribs, and wired it back into place. My Eldest Sister, while giving me the update this evening, recounted how she went off on one of the nurses, who was trying to get Mom to spit, because Mom was raised to be a Lady, back in the day, and they don't spit. Eldest Sister thinks she's the only one in the family who can spit. Hah. Middle Sister (I'm the baby) and Brother have been sharing with Eldest Sister the sitting by the bedside, yelling at nurses, getting reports from Doctors job. Cuz we're so far, and have the Young Son, we can't really serve in that capacity (we being me and Hubby). We did visit last Friday, before her surgery, though Elder Son was too freaked out by the hospital to even come in her room. Younger Son was not intimidated at all, and was climbing all over her bed while she was sitting in a chair.
I sometimes feel guilty about not living closer, because the time when my sibs will be taking over total care of Mom is looming fast, and yet, I'm glad I'm far. My family kinda baffles me, sometimes. Eldest Sister cracks me up, she is so much like Mom, though never seeing it herself.
Middle Sister recounted about how, while preparing to go to training in D.C. for a political campaign (Hubby thinks it is for Moveon.org.), my Niece was packing and was sure to bring her little militant feminist purse, with the "I heart vagina" button. (Fuck you, I can't be bothered to find the key pattern to make the symbol, and I don't do smilies.) This is the closest Middle Sister has EVER come, nay, that ANYONE IN THE FAMILY, even Bull Dyke Elder Sister, has come to saying in any way that my Niece is a lesbian. I figured it out on my own from her reaction when I expressed my concern over her living in a co-ed dorm, warning that boys are insane. Realizing that she and her friend were always taking off to "shower" at her friend's house was pretty convincing, seeing the giant picture of Angelina Jolie's cleavage that the two of them had hung up in their photos of their shared dorm room kinda clinched it for me. (Though I wish I knew where she got it...) So, I've been operating under that assumption. Then, when we gave my Nephew a joke graduation present of a video tape of "how to pick up girls," and my Niece said that maybe she should watch it, well, that's as close as it ever came.
I dunno if it's weird, to think it's weird that it's never just been said, "this is her girlfriend," or something like that. It may be because Niece's paternal Grandfather, who lives there along with her Grandmother, is, well, let's just say, he really likes Bill O'Reilly. I dunno, I'm just the kind of girl who doesn't like to edit for that kind of person. He gave some extremely right-wing book to someone for Christmas one year, and Hubby seriously had to talk me out of getting "The Audacity of Hope" for him the next year.
On a more immediate and domestic note, Hubbie and Elder Son both suck at applying sun block. The boys all went to the local water park today, while Mommy got to see a Movie. In a theater. Alone. (I saw Prince Caspian. They made the bad guys Spanish, instead of Turkish, which, y'know, nowadays is a forgivable choice. The "entire movie full of people speaking with accents like a whole movie full of Antonio Banderas, so that you know they're foreign" is FUCKING IRRITATING. But that might just be me. A few "Wow, I am a total fucking nitpicking gamer nerd," moments. Overall, I really liked it. I cried. Eddie Izzard as the voice of Reepicheep is SUWEEET.)
Anyway, Dad did sunblock on the sons, Elder Son helped put some on Dad's back. They both suck, they both are burned. Younger Son only had a strip of stealth sunburn, about 1 inch wide, along the back of his head, following his hairline - got his neck, got the top of his head, oops, missed a spot. MUCH great fun was had, swimming, floating on circle thing, going down slides. Whee. By the time I got there after the movie, Younger Son was completely freaking from sun, hunger, and tiredness. Zoom home, feed, rest, etc. This evening, getting him ready for bed, I notice that the spots (which apparently are hives) on his feet are MUCH worse, including blisters on his widdle toes.
I had already given him his prescription allergy med, but since I consider this pretty definitely an allergic reaction, I wonder if I should give benadryl, also. Him being 2, I decide to call the advice nurse to ask.
IHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISERIHATEKAISER
I checked the website they push all the fucking time, since there was no obvious "Nurse" phone number of the card. THERE ARE NO PHONE NUMBERS ON THE FUCKING WEBSITE. I called the appointment number on the card. I went through about 10 layers of fucking menus and gatekeepers before I got to a nurse, who just wanted to ascertain he wasn't going into anaphylactic shock. When I said I just wanted to know about drug interaction, she put me on hold forever, then gave me the number to a pharmacy that was closed. I tried the number for the local one that is open 24 hours, and when I pushed 0, was told that was not an option. So, fuck it. Younger Son was tired enough that he passed right out anyway.
In addition to all that, we are dog-sitting Sis-in-law's dog, and he apparently can't stand our dog, who is a hyperactive puppy. Growls and barks at him all the time. He is also making the puppy look really good by sneaking into the bathroom any chance he gets, and pulling out diapers so he can eat the poo. [sigh]
Really, somebody, get ME a job, so I can get out of this fucking house, please?
And I know it's hot all over the bay area right now, but, here's this.
"Yeah, we, uh, we edited that." (Soup quote)
But, hey, at least I got a shower.