A Very Emotional Week

Tuesday 7/7/09

As you know yesterday was the funeral of Gary’s Mom, Francis Quick.  It was a beautiful day and everything was perfect.  I want to thank the people who got up and said all the wonderful things about Franny.  I knew she was a wonderful mother to her boys, but I didn’t realize just how many other people she had mothered through the years.  Sheri, Dave’s daughter, put together an amazing scrapbook of her life with her high school diploma, marriage certificate, an article about Gary’s Dad and how he died and much, much, more.  Thank you for all your work on that.

Thursday 7/9/09

Sorry I didn’t get the first post finished, but I was exhausted and went to bed early.  I was nauseous and had thrown up the day before and started again on Tuesday.  I was still sick on Wednesday and I had become dehydrated so about 7:00pm off to the ER.  They kept me overnight because even with the medicine they put me on I was still nauseated.  Then I had a reaction to the one of the medicines they gave me so and overnight stay was needed.  They came to the conclusion that it was the stress of everything I was going through plus I had a random infection in my left big toe and I caught a stomach virus all at the same time.  Once they got my stomach settled and got me rehydrated, which took 4 1/2 liters of IV fluids, they released me from the hospital.  Enough about me onto wrap up of the last 2 weeks.

As you know we had our party on Sunday 6/28/09 and that went well, but it was also sad taking things apart and I sold most everything, so no garage sale is needed.  Earlier that morning we had received a phone call from Gary’s oldest brother, Jack, telling us that their Mom was rushed to the Hospital, but that she was OK for now and he’s keep us informed if anything changed.  Which is especially good now that I’ve had my bout with exhaustion.  

Monday 6/29/09 we went to the Cleveland Clinic to have Gary’s hips check out again and to find out about possible surgery on his hips.   What we found out wasn’t good news.  When we had Gary’s very first hip done we were told by the radiation Dr. that if the HO returned that we would be able to have the surgery done again and more radiation and then less chance of it returning.  Dr. Lietman, Gary’s orthopedist, gave us other news.  He told us that once the HO comes back that the likelihood of it returning was greater.  The surgery is a very difficult and dangerous one and he didn’t feel it was in Gary’s best interest to put him through that again.  He said the HO would just return and he would be no better off than he is now and we would have put him through a needless surgery.  So Monday was sad for us as well.  While on our way back home from the Cleveland Clinic we received a call from Gary’s brother Dave informing us that their Mom had taken a turn for the worse.  She had a staph infection that turned into CDIF.  With her advanced age they were worried that this was going to be a problem.  The problem with CDIF is it is very contagious so I decided to wait and see what happened before exposing Gary to this Illness.  Then Tuesday morning we received the call that his mother wouldn’t make it through the day.  So I got myself and Gary ready and or daughter Lindsey and her husband, Joshua, were already here for a visit and they got ready and we went to the hospital.  

The rest of the week I was working on getting all the kids in from all over the place and we they all stayed here with us.  We went to movies and out for dinner and sat around the fire pit and visited and had a wonderful time, but you know how it is when you have family in for the first time in a long time you want to stay up and chat and have fun.  Sleep is the last thing on your mind.  During the time that all the kids were arriving I noticed my big toe on my left foot was hurting and beginning to swell.  I thought, great an ingrown toenail.  Not so, the redness and soreness began Friday and by Saturday morning my toe was huge and the redness had spread, so off to the Urgent Care Center.  

Friday night dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

They told me it was some random infection and put me on bactrim for it and told me to come back the next day so they could check it again and make sure it was healing properly.  The bactrim did wonderfully and my toe looked and felt great Sunday.  Once I got home it was time to get Gary and myself ready for the viewing of his Mom.  We went to McArthur and the roads are very curvy getting there.  Everyone, but Gary and myself (because I was driving) were carsick.  We got home about 10:00 pm that night.  Then we got up before 8:00 am to get ready for the funeral at 11:00 which meant we needed to leave here around 9:00.  Trying to get 10 people moving that early is a difficult task so we were a little late leaving, but we still had time to arrive before the service began.  

The entire family July 2009

Alas, on our way Gary needed some medicine so I had to pull over and give him it to him so this put us behind by about 5 minutes.  Needless to say I was kicking myself for not leaving 15 minutes sooner, but we made it and the service was lovely.  We took a family photo while we where all there as it had been 3 years since our last family photo and nobody knows when we’ll all be able to get together again.  Weddings are finished for a while and hopefully so are funerals.  It was on our way back home from McArthur that I first got sick, but I’ve already told you about that.  What I want is to show off my family.  Here are a couple of pictures of mine and Gary’s complete Family, in-laws and all.

 

 Please continue with all your prayers and good thoughts.

4 Comments

Filed under hyperbaric treatment for tbi, tbi, tbi and stem cells