Adventures of a Tribe

One more thing…

Posted on August 26, 2015

This evening I sit writing from the Emergency Room.

Our morning began in what has become a normal fashion. I woke for Jan’s 5am oral meds and shot and went in to give him kisses on his beautiful bald head to wake him up – but he was awake already and had been since 3am. We chatted quietly for a minute and then I gave him a love tap, told him how much I love him and went back out to Danny.

Yesterday we heard back on Mommy’s MRI and they told her she has torn her newly repaired rotator cuff clear across and will be having surgery on Thursday again. About an hour after medicating Jan, I received a frantic phone call from Mommy, saying that her Ortho doctor had called saying he had a cancellation and wanted to do her surgery right away. I went in to her as she scurried around gathering up what she needed, and in a wild whirlwind, her and Aunty Liz were out the door and down the road.

Danny and i took Jan to his return Oncology appointment, where Dr Adams was encouraging about Jan’s choice to do radiation, and spoke to us about what to expect. We then went over to the Radiology Oncology Office where Jan met the team that would be working with him, and they took him back for his session. They told us that since he is on the steroid for shrinking swelling in the brain, he would probably not have the headaches that many radiation patients have. They said he may experience increased fatigue, but otherwise nothing at all. Jan was gone for about 20  minutes, and when I asked him what he’d experienced, he said that when they were performing the treatment, his eyes were closed, yet he saw purple and white lights and could smell ammonia.

We headed home and upon arriving, saw this in the driveway.

Never a good sight. Two of my parents neighbors were at the front door and I asked what was going on, and they said Mommy was having difficulty breathing.  I went in to her, and she was gasping for breath.  Bernadine had the fan on her and the EMS crew were working on her. I knelt on the bed behind her and kissed her face, told her I loved her and that everything was going to be okay. Bernadine said that when she came out of surgery she had had a similar episode, but after arriving home it had worsened. Just as she began breathing a little easier, it became labored once again, and it was decided that she should be brought by ambulance in to the hospital.

So, here we are. They are doing a CT scan on her to check for blood clots, and have given her Benadryl to sleep and treat any possible allergies to meds from surgery.

And so it continues…the ever eventful adventures of our tribe.