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Man, this has been a weird holiday season for me.
A few years ago, Mom ended up having her leg amputated. The reasons are complicated, but boil down to a poor immune system not allowing her leg to heal after knee surgery. She dealt with it, and has generally adjusted well, but she has repeated issues with the back of her stump rubbing against the edge of her wheelchair seat, complicated further by a lymphedema "ball" hanging off the end of her stump. That rubbing against her leg caused her to develop a blister on the back of her leg, which got infected.
As a result, a few days before Thanksgiving, she had to go to the hospital to get it checked. We had hoped it would be, at best, an overnight stay, some meds, maybe an IV, and she'd be released in time to come back home for the family celebration.
That didn't happen. That blister had actually gone deep into her leg, the infection was MRSA, and it was causing the end of the amputated bone to get infected. So they had to do surgery and further amputation on her leg. That kept her in the hospital longer, but we were still hoping she'd be out in time for a family celebration of mine and Nephew Deux's birthdays.
That didn't happen. They were going to transfer her to a rehab facility, as being stuck in a hospital bed for a week and a half caused her to lose a lot of strength in her arms, as you might expect when one is 70. The transfer was delayed because the facility had no open rooms (she needed her own because MRSA), but she eventually got transferred. And we were hoping that she'd be home in time for Christmas.
That didn't happen. It became clear that, if she was going to be released to go home, it wouldn't be until too close to Christmas for her to do any holiday prep, and so she asked that we delay the family celebration until after New Year's, before agreeing that we do it on New Year's, so Nephew Uno could have his Christmas before going back to preschool. But we were still hoping Mom would be home by Christmas Day.
That didn't happen. They were delaying on releasing her from the facility, for no reason that we can discern. (My personal theory is that no one at the facility is really communicating with each other, they're slow to help set up at-home aftercare, and already mentally checked out themselves for the holiday.) When Dad and I went to visit her on Christmas Day, we found out that she's the only one in her ward that isn't infected with COVID. But we were still hoping that everything could proceed forward for a family Christmas celebration for New Year's.
That's not going to happen. Sis texted us last night to tell us that someone at Nephew Uno's preschool tested positive for COVID. So now they have to quarantine.
...
Generally, I've been fine with all this delay and postponement and everything. It's meant I'm not overly stressed with needing to wrap gifts and do holiday prep and whatnot. I still got to hang out with friends on Christmas Eve.
But, for crying out loud, can we just stop with all the delays and everything? This is just getting ridiculous.
A few years ago, Mom ended up having her leg amputated. The reasons are complicated, but boil down to a poor immune system not allowing her leg to heal after knee surgery. She dealt with it, and has generally adjusted well, but she has repeated issues with the back of her stump rubbing against the edge of her wheelchair seat, complicated further by a lymphedema "ball" hanging off the end of her stump. That rubbing against her leg caused her to develop a blister on the back of her leg, which got infected.
As a result, a few days before Thanksgiving, she had to go to the hospital to get it checked. We had hoped it would be, at best, an overnight stay, some meds, maybe an IV, and she'd be released in time to come back home for the family celebration.
That didn't happen. That blister had actually gone deep into her leg, the infection was MRSA, and it was causing the end of the amputated bone to get infected. So they had to do surgery and further amputation on her leg. That kept her in the hospital longer, but we were still hoping she'd be out in time for a family celebration of mine and Nephew Deux's birthdays.
That didn't happen. They were going to transfer her to a rehab facility, as being stuck in a hospital bed for a week and a half caused her to lose a lot of strength in her arms, as you might expect when one is 70. The transfer was delayed because the facility had no open rooms (she needed her own because MRSA), but she eventually got transferred. And we were hoping that she'd be home in time for Christmas.
That didn't happen. It became clear that, if she was going to be released to go home, it wouldn't be until too close to Christmas for her to do any holiday prep, and so she asked that we delay the family celebration until after New Year's, before agreeing that we do it on New Year's, so Nephew Uno could have his Christmas before going back to preschool. But we were still hoping Mom would be home by Christmas Day.
That didn't happen. They were delaying on releasing her from the facility, for no reason that we can discern. (My personal theory is that no one at the facility is really communicating with each other, they're slow to help set up at-home aftercare, and already mentally checked out themselves for the holiday.) When Dad and I went to visit her on Christmas Day, we found out that she's the only one in her ward that isn't infected with COVID. But we were still hoping that everything could proceed forward for a family Christmas celebration for New Year's.
That's not going to happen. Sis texted us last night to tell us that someone at Nephew Uno's preschool tested positive for COVID. So now they have to quarantine.
...
Generally, I've been fine with all this delay and postponement and everything. It's meant I'm not overly stressed with needing to wrap gifts and do holiday prep and whatnot. I still got to hang out with friends on Christmas Eve.
But, for crying out loud, can we just stop with all the delays and everything? This is just getting ridiculous.
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