The Holiday Season That Didn't Happen

[Jay 2K Winger]

Latest update:

Mom's in the hospital to deal with this infection. She had surgery to clean out the infection and get a wound vac installed. Apparently she had sepsis, which of course alarmed the hell out of me when I heard. Plus there were some concerns about her heart, since she had very low blood pressure.

I spoke to her on the phone yesterday, however, and she was in good spirits, even if we still have no timeline on her coming home. I encouraged her to try to maintain a positive mental attitude, since that can go a long way toward making a faster recovery.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Just spoke with Dad, and it's generally good news. They're discharging Mom from the hospital on Monday... into rehab for antibiotic treatment, wound care, and physical therapy. It's to a different facility than the previous one, one just down the road from my job. She's responding well to the treatments so far, the bacteria infection is down-- possibly even cleared-- but they're keeping her on antibiotics for a while to make sure. I approve of this; nothing's ever simple when it comes to Mom's health issues, so erring on the side of caution is a good thing.

Sis and her family are all in the clear now, the Nephews made it through their quarantines without any concerning issues (Deux had a single day where he was fussier and wouldn't sleep, but was fine the next day) and are now back at daycare.

All in all, things are progressing well, and already my own stress levels are going down.

[Jay 2K Winger]

NEVER GET OPTIMISTIC ABOUT MOM'S HEALTH, JAY.

...

(sigh)

Not a downturn in her health, thank god. But the rehab place we were going to send her to, backed off that and turned her down, saying she's "too expensive" because of the daily meds she needs as well as the antibiotic treatment she'll need while she's there.

Dad was already in talks with another rehab place when he called me after work today, but being that it was already mid-to-late afternoon when he was talking to them, she's not going anywhere until tomorrow at the earliest.

I should've known. I got optimistic that things were finally trending in the right direction, that we were past the worst of it, and then WHAM, fate threw a damn curveball again.

[Jay 2K Winger]

After more than three months, Mom is FINALLY back home.

Our much-delayed Family Holi-birth-day Celebration is now scheduled for the weekend of March 12, now encompassing Christmas, my birthday, Nephew Deux's birthday, brother-in-law's birthday, and Dad's birthday.

I've joked we should lump Sister's birthday in there (March 31) too.

But, finally this whole ordeal is over with.

[XCashier]

Throw in St. Patrick's Day, too, and have a nice meal of corned beef and colcannon!

But seriously, I'm glad your mom is back home (and undoubtedly, she's glad too). Hopefully there will be no more health issues for a long time, for anyone.

[Nunavut Pants]

Colcannon? I suppose it would be less dangerous than Hotcannon, but I'd be worried about breaking a tooth on the barrel!

[XCashier]

Very funny! It's a dish made with mashed potatoes, cabbage, scallions, etc. Market Of Choice offered it in the deli the last few St. Patrick's Days (not this one, unfortunately), and theirs included bits of bacon. Quite tasty.

[depechemodefan]

I'm glad your mom got to go home. This was reminding me of my mom's trips to the hospital. Hope you had a great family holiday.
I like anything with Mashed potatoes, Xcashier, but it really has to be good for me to eat cabbage.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Funnily enough, the family holiday still hasn't happened yet. But not because Mom got sick or hospitalized again.

Mom just was still exhausted after her ordeal, and still in pain from her stump and hips, and wasn't able to sit for long periods in her wheelchair yet, so hadn't been able to put in as much time as she'd wanted into wrapping her gifts. So the holiday's been pushed back to April 2-3.

Which means Sister's birthday is now lumped in with all the others, as I joked it should have been!

[Android Kaeli]

How about just celebrate Easter while you're at it? Throw in Mother's Day as well.

[Jay 2K Winger]

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!

I'll admit, earlier in the week, a persistent cough got me worried that I had a cold (not The Other Thing, since I ONLY had a cough, no fever, no other symptoms) that might keep me out, but hitting it with cough drops, Mucinex, and NyQuil for a couple of days got it cleared up.

And even when we had the Delayed Family Christmas weekend, it got cut short early. Nephew Uno was sneezing a lot on Saturday, which turned into a nasty cough and breathing problems Sunday morning, so Sis and BIL decided to leave early so they could get him home to use their nebulizer. And Mom was still in enough pain that she couldn't be in her wheelchair for long periods.

But gifts were exchanged, good times were had. Uno was full of energy, even despite his cough on Sunday, and he's at that age (almost four) where he has his words, but doesn't quite understand patience. No tantrums, but he doesn't quite get the concept of "not right now" or "you need to wait," as he'll just keep asking for something over and over and over and over. Nephew Deux is walking, and we know when his birthday and Christmas roll around this year, he'll get the concept more and will probably really enjoy it.