Thank You Service Men and Women

We made a trip south on Saturday to visit my father-in-law.  It's becoming harder and harder to visit, and yet we don't want to stop going.  I talked with the nurse there and she told me he's on the highest dose of a behavioral medicine they can give.  What we want to know is why?  Five months ago, he was riding his bike probably 10 miles every day.  Now he can barely hold his head up, he shuffles slowly along, and he struggles to talk to us.  We know for the first couple months he was combative at times, and then they sent him off to another facility for a week. Since he's been back from there, though, he's gone steadily down hill.  And his wife lied to us about it.  She flat out told us that the only medicine he was on was thyroid medicine.  We have a hard time believing anything she tells us, and an even harder time being nice to her when we know she's lying to us.  

We have visited step-mother-in-law a couple times in the past month or so, and she has given us a lot of stuff that belonged to my father-in-law, his father and his grandfather.  Hubby has sorted through everything and this coming weekend, he has invited the siblings to come over so they can divvy up everything.  I suspect this could be an emotional day for them.  Hubby will be glad when it's over, but feels he is doing the right thing.  

After visiting my father-in-law, we visited my mother-in-law. She is doing relatively well, all things considered.  The trouble-maker has not been back to visit, although we half-expected to see him this weekend.  He should by now have received a letter from the lawyer notifying him that he has until September 1 to remove the vehicles he's dumped in the woods behind her house. They've been there for years, and his dad tried unsuccessfully to get him to remove them before he passed away.  Now, his time has about run out.  He can remove them, or lose his rights to them and she will have them removed.  We're concerned that things could get ugly over the summer.

Today we visited my mom and dad.  Mom is recuperating slowly from her second back surgery but she was moving around a lot better than the last time I saw her.  She is taking physical therapy, and in time I know that will really help her.  Dad was in a good mood, but we did talk about him having a couple of episodes where he has been really confused and upset about it.  I can't decide if he's pretending, or if he really is confused.  

Daughter survived the weekend without killing her boyfriend.  They talked (again) and he asked her not to bottle everything up, which she is guilty of doing. So she told me they are trying. So he accompanied her to the race track Friday night.  She didn't do as well there as she has done at the other track. Another car did a slide job on her coming out of turn 4, but she kept her foot in the gas and he ended up in the wall. He shouldn't have been where he was - I have video - but he was angry at her, and charged her pit afterwards.  We heard that he ended up at the hospital with a broken hand, but that has not been confirmed.  Daughter also ended up with a hand injury - her hand got caught in the steering wheel when he hit her the second time, and may have broken her knuckle.  It's still swollen so it's hard to tell right now.  He also caused a couple hundred dollars worth of damage to her car.  Luckily she isn't planning to race again for a couple of weeks.  Hopefully her hand - and her car - will be better by then!

Today, most importantly, we would like to thank those who have served our country fighting for our freedoms.  Thank you to all service men and women.  You are appreciated!

Memorial Day Already?

I can't believe another week has flown by and it's almost the weekend again. And it will be a long weekend -- in more ways than one!

Last weekend, we headed to the track on Friday night to watch Daughter race. I'm beginning to think Mother Nature does not want her to race at that track!  Once again, it was rained out - and I think it was the only place around that got rain!  A mile out of town on the way home, it was dry.  We're going to try again tomorrow, and for once, there is NO rain in the forecast.  Hopefully it will be a good night, but it's not going to be as warm as I would like.

Saturday we went to the other mother-in-law's to get more of my father-in-law's stuff.  We brought home another van full of stuff.  Hubby has been through everything now, sorting it out.  One day soon, we will have all the siblings over to take turns picking what they would like to have.  It promises to be a long day when it happens.  There is quite a bit of stuff, and we know there will be some arguments over who should get what.  Not looking forward to that, but it is necessary.

Sunday we went east to the other track Daughter to watch her race.  It was a gorgeous day!  She looked better than she did the last time out, and made the feature due to earning passing points in her heat race.  She started 14th, finished 17th, but overall it was a good race for her.  Because she started the feature, she earned money, which is always a good thing!  Even better, there were only three classes of cars that night, so we were done by 9:30 PM!  It was still nice out - we were all in our t-shirts and shorts.  And I was very happy to be home by 10 PM on a Sunday night.  I just wish that track would get us out of there that early every Sunday that they have a race...

This week at work has been a bear.  It has been a week of Mondays, again.  I sure hope it's Friday tomorrow!  I'm stressed, I'm behind, and I don't know if I will ever catch up completely.  I'm bummed that my officemate is going to retire soon, and I'm hoping we can find a suitable replacement for her.  If only I could retire too... **sigh**

Spent Monday night at the ER with Son and Daughter.  Daughter has been fighting the head cold, coughing, congestion bug.  Just generally not feeling well at all.  They gave her cough meds and suggested allergy meds to help with congestion.  She is finally today feeling some better on that front.  But on the boyfriend front, not so much.  Tonight she told me that she's done.  She wants out.  I asked her if she could hold on a couple more days.  I pointed out that if it all blows up tonight, she'll be worthless trying to race tomorrow.  She told me that's why I'm her mom and why she loves me... Because I know what matter - and that's racing!  LOL  Glad she can keep her sense of humor in the face of a failing relationship.  And I feel really bad for her because I know she loves him, but his negativity is really dragging her down and she is just not happy.  It's not worth the stress for her.  The coming days and weeks could be really difficult for her, and I pray that she can be strong and get through it.

Son was having strange pains in his chest when he ate or drank anything - like it was all getting stuck in his chest.  The doctor wanted him to have follow-up tests but we put them off since this week was finals at school, and she said it wasn't anything serious.  I googled his symptoms and came up with esophageal spasms, related to acid reflux.  Over the past couple days that has greatly improved, but now he seems to have the head cold that his sister had.  Good thing I had a stock of Puffs!  Only one more day of finals and then he said he will take some medicine.  Hopefully we can get him on the mend soon, without infecting hubby or me!

Tomorrow is Friday and I'm so ready for the weekend.  We plan to visit my father-in-law at the nursing home and then visit hubby's mom, too.  That will be a long day.  But then the rest of the weekend should be mine!  I'm looking forward to doing some things I WANT to do, instead of just things I HAVE to do.

And also this weekend, I plan to make time to appreciate those who gave their lives in order that we have the freedoms that we enjoy.  I hope you will too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Another busy week has flown by.  I need more hours in my day!

Mom's surgery went well, we hope.  The doctor was very nice, and made sure we all knew that mom shouldn't be charged anything for this second surgery.  He is taking care of it.  He indicated it was obvious on the MRI she had that one section of vertebrae was still pinching a nerve in her back.  This surgery lasted a little longer than the first, but he told us they took several x-rays to be sure they got it all this time.  I pray they did.  She only stayed one night in the hospital.  We visited her today and she seemed to be doing better.  She's moving slowly but the pain in her leg seems to be much less than it was.  She's afraid to hope for a full recovery, in case she has more problems.  I'm trying to be optimistic that she will only improve from here on out.  I think sometimes she expects to heal as if she were still 20.  But it's going to take time.

My mother-in-law was on the receiving end of another unfriendly call from the trouble-maker.  He was still aggravated that he didn't feel welcome in his father's house the day we had Easter dinner with her. On top of that, he was angry that all of us didn't jump up and fall all over him about how "cute" his grandson is.  He actually told her that!  I am thankful my mother-in-law is a smart, strong woman, but I do worry that he is trying to wear her down.  I think she is lonely, too, and I worry about her being there alone. 

Tomorrow is Mother's Day - a day to celebrate all the moms out there!  I'm so thankful my mom and I are close, even if she does drive me crazy at times.  That's normal, isn't it?  I'm sure my daughter would say that I drive her crazy at times, too.  Anyway... to all the moms out there, may you have a day of sunshine and be surrounded with family and friends who love you!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

April Showers Bring... May Showers?

May is starting off a lot like April -- with rain.  I hope, for several reasons, that the rest of May goes better than the first four days have!

It's been a stressful week at work.  I sort of had words with someone who annoys me.  I wasn't mean, but I was honest, and I won't apologize for that.  We all make mistakes - we're human.  I have no respect for people who never admit to their own mistakes but instead always blame others.

Mom met with the surgeon again after having a follow-up MRI last week.  She has to have her back surgery redone.  I'm not quite sure what happened, as the explanation I heard was confusing.  Either he didn't finish (didn't do both vertebrae) or he didn't get it all cleaned out.  The surgeon is not going to charge her for his portion of the redo, which says to me that he made a mistake.  Now we are concerned - mostly for mom having to go back under the knife, but also what it will cost her.  I'm sure the hospital is not going to comp her surgery and recovery, but she shouldn't have to pay when the doctor was at fault.

We visited my father-in-law today.  It's been about a month since we saw him last.  He was napping in his chair when we arrived, and we stayed a little over an hour.  He was obviously drugged up.  We tried talking with him and it was obvious he was struggling to put words together.  Most of the time we were there, though, he napped.  It's disappointing and very sad that he has gotten this much worse in four short months.  Before he was put in the nursing home, he could hold a conversation - even if he did repeat things, and he was biking several miles a day.  Now he can't hold a conversation - he can hardly put his thoughts together in a sentence, and he shuffles slowly down the hall.  Whether this was just a bad day, or if it is his new normal, we don't know.  But it's still very sad.

When we left the nursing home, we went to visit my mother-in-law.  She's doing well, all things considered.  We helped her do some things around the house.  The trouble-maker had been there again today, but he did call last night to see if she would be home.  Thankfully, he didn't stay long and was gone before we arrived. 

On a good note, daughter took the race car to the junior college for two days this week.  One of her former automotive teachers had invited her to be a part of "Females in the Automotive Industry", which was part of a program they host each year where high school students visit and get the chance to explore potential career fields.  The students enjoyed sitting in the car and checking it out.  She got a kick out of a couple young men who tried to get her phone number when the obtained her autograph. The VP of the junior college also talked with her about potential teaching opportunities there.  Overall, it was a great experience for her!

I'm glad we still have tomorrow to relax a little.  I could use a little downtime to regroup!