Time For Some Good News (For now)

Mom came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon about 1pm. She immediately sat down to her computer and began playing with FACEBOOK and also typing emails with both hands pretty fast. By watching, you would never know the woman had suffered a stroke just a couple of weeks ago! She continues to improve. Hopefully the coming week will be nothing but improvements.

Dad continues to be a bit rattled. Dealing with him is frustrating for me because he is so very child like. I have been here for two weeks, and I am a bit frightened at the prospect of leaving them alone. But they assure me that they can take care of themselves this week.

I am going to be leaving tomorrow...to work this week. However, next week I need to return so that I can shuttle them to their host of medical appointments and dad's chemotherapy. I find that all this is quite stressful....and worrisome.

The home care nurses are going to be dropping by several times this week...plus the physical therapists will also be checking in on her. All my nearby relatives are also going to be popping in and calling them. They will all be keeping in touch with me.

The other thing I am worried about is the fact that mom has two new spots on one of her lungs. A scan must be scheduled so that we know what is going on. However, we're awaiting word from the insurance company to bless this approach.

I am working diligently to remain "happy."

A Brand New Year ~ Blah!

Greetings to all of you. This is perhaps the longest I have gone without writing something. For this I apologize. But much has happened, so let me take a few moments to update all of you.

First, the day before Thanksgiving, my dad received word that he has lung cancer. So this started a battery of treatments and he has been doing very well in his chemo treatments. I was in WV with my parents for Thanksgiving and with my daughters. It was probably the bluest Thanksgiving I have had because of the uncertainty of dad's diagnosis. Nevertheless, we seemed to survive.

As Christmas approached, I decided to have a very lowkey Christmas...and not do anything -- just stay home....count my blessings and plan to go back to WV after the beginning the year to help with dad's treatments. Coupled with all this, the weather was dangerous around Christmas with icestorms forecasted for the Shenandoah Valley and I-81 corridor on Christmas Day.

Well, to add more drama to my life, I received a telephone call from my daughter who had chosen to spend Christmas with my parents. She said that my mother was acting "funny"...and when I head more, I thought she was either having a manifestation of cancer in the brain or having a stroke. My daughter was able to get mom to the hospital in time. The diagnosis was a massive stroke. Thankfully, she got the help she needed and was home within three days with minimal longterm damage.

I went to WV last week to spend time with my parents and to help them get to their medical appointments, but last Thursday, mom was sent back to the hospital because of a high white blood cell count and the fact that she had an unknown mass in her lower abdomen. They were very afraid of cancer. (They said she has two new spots on her lung...but we will deal with this after her current hospitalization.)

So, as of this writing, mom is still in the hospital. I'm still in WV...and my daughter that lives with me is here also. It has been very frightening for me, an only child.

And my life continues....