Tag Archives: hospital

Merry Christmas!

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Twilight helping me wrap gifts

Update From the Can Opener

The last time I posted, I had hardly published what I had written when my sister called again, crying, and saying -“it’s happening again!” I dropped everything and went to her house immediately, and this time I knew it wasn’t going to just pass on its own.

I had been taking care of her when these things happened, but this time I could see how hard her heart was pounding from the front door. I pulled up the heart monitor on her Apple watch and knew we needed to call 9-1-1.

Within minutes this was confirmed as EMTs loaded her into the ambulance and whisked her off to the hospital. I plunged into action, to take care of the mess left behind in the house, and to take care of Sheba and Smokey until she got home from the hospital.

That didn’t happen until a week later, and things looked scary. The doctors had said she’d had a massive heart attack and had got there just in time.

It has always hurt me to see how painful and afraid she was, so I spent a lot of time praying for her healing and safe return. I’m so relieved that now, over a month later, she is doing better than she was before those sudden attacks started happening. It turns out those “attacks” weren’t from a pinched nerve, or stress and anxiety- they were mini heart attacks!

Because of being sent back and forth and languishing so long in the ER waiting for care the first two times she went, she had decided she wasn’t going to bother going to ER again. She was just going to ‘wait them out.’

Every time she’d had an attack, I’d known this was a possibility- but the doctors were saying otherwise, and she is not able to just sit in a chair in a waiting room for over 8 hours (to only end up going home in tears from pain with no diagnosis). Every time this happened I would ask the Lord to give me wisdom for each situation and to protect and preserve her until she got a correct diagnosis. I’m so thankful He did.

While she was in the hospital, I was looking after her house and taking care of Sheba and Smokey, and the realization hit me that this Christmas was going to be my first since my husband passed and that I could have very easily lost my sister and best friend if she had decided to ‘wait out’ this attack also.

With also watching my grand-daughters, helping them with school, and the usual responsibilities, my blog had to fall by the wayside because I simply felt too overwhelmed with everything else. There were times I sat down at the computer to begin a post, but my brain refused to co-operate. I simply couldn’t think of where to start- being so preoccupied with everything else that my mind just got stuck.

It took me weeks to realize when I finally went to the Lord and asked Him “What’s wrong with me!?” and He showed me, that I hadn’t been taking care of my own needs. Still grieving the sudden loss of my husband last January, it occurred to me that I had neglected calling my grief counselor, I hadn’t gone to church (because of the pain of the IT band issue)- I hadn’t been getting enough sleep, I hadn’t taken time for the things that I enjoy because I felt I couldn’t afford to take the time, and I had neglected my normal workouts for the same reason (which didn’t help my IT band issue).

Without realizing it I was experiencing a sort of “Brain fog” that happens sometimes in grief. I learned this by emailing my grief counselor who informed me of ways that grief changes your brain. Thank God these changes are reversible.

This Christmas and all the activities surrounding the festivities became a lot easier for me once I realized after praying what was happening to me.

I’ve learned to give the grief and the things it brings with it to the Lord and to take the time I need to heal. He tenderly and beautifully healed and protected my sister who is now doing better than ever before and is doing all she can to protect her health- He also beautifully and tenderly keeps and guides me and I’m grateful for all He’s done. Instead of focusing on who has been lost, This Christmas is about all that has been saved.

Merry Christmas Everyone! Twilight and Sushi will be back tomorrow!

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The Surprise at the Hospital

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I’ve been stressed and I’m going to let Mom do this post. I don’t understand all that medical stuff.

“There’s no more Treatment”

In my last post (more than a week ago)- I wrote that my husband had finished the first chemo treatment. I discovered the next day when I went back to the hospital, that he had completed the first part of the first treatment. It took 3 days altogether for it to be done. I was thankful that they had finally allowed me to visit him, so during and after the chemo, I stayed with him and tried my best to get him to drink fluids and eat what he could.

He seemed to be doing well after the chemo – (except for having no appetite) – but he kept bleeding from his intestines and after about 5 different transfusions, it was clear that the bleeding wouldn’t stop and they didn’t want to do more transfusions (because of a blood shortage). That meant they also couldn’t give him blood thinners to get rid of the clot (still in) his leg, either.

On January 6, I came to see him and his countenance had completely changed. It was as if all hope of recovery had evaporated from him and the first thing he said to me was, “Call my sister.” I was surprised, because I had thought he had already told her about the cancer- so I took my phone to a quiet place to call her and had to let her know what was happening. Of course, she burst into tears, as I had known she would.

She asked if he was conscious and if he could talk, and I answered yes, and headed back to his room to hold the phone for him (on speaker phone), so they could talk. The chemo had somehow affected his eyes, so after the chemo he wasn’t able to see messages on his phone.

Right after I walked into the room with the phone on speaker still, a man appeared in the doorway, and asked if I was his wife. Then he simply said, “Here’s the thing. There’s no more treatment. We’ve done all we can do, and we are changing (him) to DNR (do not rescusitate). And we are sending him home for hospice care. He and I discussed this this morning and this is what he wants.”

I looked at my husband and knew He had wanted the Hospice Coordinator to tell me, and so it was. Within an hour, we were on our way back home in an ambulance.

And that began the last chapter of my husband’s life. I will write more tomorrow. It has taken me several days to get this far.

Thank you for bearing with me and for all your prayers and support. I love you all.

Wednesday Emergency

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My Can Opener dropped everything…

Ambulance trip for the Backup Can Opener

On Wednesday our Can Opener didn’t have the Critters, so she went next door to spend the day with her sister who was having a rough morning. The Backup Can Opener was having some new pain in his leg, but otherwise was feeling better.

She spent most of the day there until she got a text from him that made her drop everything and go home. 20 minutes later 5 strange people with blue hands and thingies hanging around their necks came in asking questions as I sat in the bedroom window watching… and they wrote everything down and the next thing I knew- They took him away in a wierd car with flashing lights!

Our Can Opener wanted to ride with him in that thing she calls an Ambulance- but they wouldn’t let her. They said if she went with him the hospital wouldn’t let her stay!

She was not happy…. and I wasn’t either! Why were they taking him away? But, I was glad they didn’t take her – because she’s the One that buys our food and treats and babies us and dispenses the Redi Whip..

But still… We don’t like that he’s not here. And we want them to bring him BACK!

So our Can Opener has been spending a lot of time at the hospital or doing other things (like constantly updating the Critters’ parents and friends, and talking to Doctors)- to get through it and we don’t like it.

More later….(there’s a SQUIRREL I HAVE TO GET)!