Pillow Fort

[Phoenix Stardancer]

Alright update time. Surgery went well. They said it was good that they got the Gall Bladder out as it was aggravating the organs all around it. The good news is that I am now home!

[PookaWitch]

That's very good news. I hope that your recovery is swift and complication free. ^_^

[Angel_of_Music]

Glad to hear you're doing better Phoenix

Update of my own. Mom's been in the hospital since last Monday. I got to go see her last Thursday as a friend of hers was able to come pick me up and take me to see her. She had planned to see her anyway and thought it would be nice to pick me up so I could go to. I made mom a little goodie basket and it made her smile. Nothing fancy, but I got a little white wired basket, blue/white checkered ribbon that I wove along the top and made a bow, a nice vase with a small assortment of pretty flowers(fake to make it easy to care for), a book of word search puzzles with a Philadelphia Phillies pen, and a couple of cards. She really liked them. Of course of all things, that night our stove decides to die on us. I had used it to cook my dinner and the heating coil went up like a roman candle. Crap. I got it out and two parts of it came down. Yup, oven dead. I didn't have the heart to tell my mom since we'd just had a nice visit. Friday when I got home, I saw my neighbor's son was around and I asked him if he could put the new handle on our front door...which when I watched him do it I was thinking 'crap, I could have done this myself', but figured better leave it to someone with more experience. I then asked him to look at the stove and he confirmed, it's dead. Yea, I had to do it, so I told mom about it being dead. I looked on Rent A Center's site and found one for $27 a week and she was all for it.

Saturday, I wound up missing a call from the breeder we got Blake(and Trace and BeeGee and two previous dogs from in the past and have known her and her husband for about 30 years now) from, but she had left a text. She and her husband wanted me to keep it secret from mom, but they were going to buy us a new stove. Oh my god, I wanted to right then and there at work when I saw that text. I had JUST finished my shift when I saw the text. I texted her back and said I'd call when I got home. She didn't know I was at work as she didn't know my work schedule. So when I got home, I called her and she did the first thing of making sure I was okay, asking if Blake was okay and such. I told her we were doing fine and when I told her I even trimmed the hair on his feet so he no longer had Grinch Paws and I even did his nails, she was surprised, but happy that I can do it. Then the conversation went to the stove and details and such. I told her what happened and then we went into looking at stoves. She found one on Home Depot's site and it was giving her grief. She tried all day on Sunday to order it and couldn't. Mom called me on Sunday and the first thing out of her mouth was 'did you get the stove?'. Okay, hi mom, yea we're doing fine. Haha...right. The only thing I could do was tell her that I went and looked and the one I had shown her was on back order, but I left my info and they'd get back to me. She...fell...for...it. I was shocked as all get out. Yea, trying to keep this secret and not blow it...hard, but I pulled it off. Monday I saw a text from the breeder saying that the stove has been ordered and it will be delivered on Thursday since I'm off. Yes!! Full installation, haul away of the old stove and a five year warranty. I just want to hug this woman. So we're getting the new stove and I can't wait. Not sure what to tell mom and such, but if anything I'm sure Roseann will drop that little bomb on her. I'm giddy.

Today I saw a text from my mom after I was done my shift asking me to get a set of sheets for the new bed that's supposed to be arriving on Thursday. Yea, she's getting one of those nice hospital like beds for here at home as it's more comfortable. This is...not going to be fun. This means that the lounge chair is going back upstairs, the coffee table goes back to where it normally does during Christmas and the bed is going in that space in the living room. So this means the living room gets smaller than it already is. Great, this is...going to be a pain. If mom could have it so that her old bed is just taken apart and moved out of her room and the new bed goes in her room, that'll just make it easier, but...no...whatever she says is what goes, I get no say in the matter. So, it sounds like Thursday sometime later in the afternoon she'll be coming home. This is going to be a long road and I know we're going to butt heads, but I have to remember to be patient with her as I know cancer is a beast. At least she's able to actually eat food again and enjoy it, able to taste it and know what she's eating. Blake will be happy to see her as well.

[PookaWitch]

Angel_of_Music

Did you ever discover what type of cancer your mother has? Sometimes it's not dangerous at all, such as basal cancer. There are a few that if caught early won't be a problem at all, unless it was left for years. I guess that the severity depends on if she needs chemotherapy or not? I hope the best for your mother and that it's nothing too serious and easy to stop/beat.


I'm so very sorry that I missed your message before. I'm terrible for glossing or skipping over long posts and had to come back to read it more carefully. ^^;

[Operetta]

*sending happy healthy vibes to everyone struggling*

[Angel_of_Music]

Mar 2, 2023 18:56:13 GMT -5 PookaWitch said:

Angel_of_Music

Did you ever discover what type of cancer your mother has? Sometimes it's not dangerous at all, such as basal cancer. There are a few that if caught early won't be a problem at all, unless it was left for years. I guess that the severity depends on if she needs chemotherapy or not? I hope the best for your mother and that it's nothing too serious and easy to stop/beat.


I'm so very sorry that I missed your message before. I'm terrible for glossing or skipping over long posts and had to come back to read it more carefully. ^^;

It's colon cancer and if she had gone in sooner to get it taken care of, she wouldn't be at the point she is. She let it get so bad that there were days I thought I was going to wake up and she would be gone u.u She is going to do chemo and radiation as she has a mass that NEEDS to be removed, but it has to be shrunk first.

As an update. I was woken yesterday morning around 6:42 from a text from Roseann(the breeder we've known for 30 years and we've gotten Blake, Trace, BeeGee, Bravo, and Shamrock from) and she was letting me know that the stove was out for delivery and we were the 5th stop and a link to keep track of where they were. I texted back with 'okay, cool! Thanks!' and went back to sleep for 15 minutes. I got up at 7, checked and it said we were the 4th stop. Okay. So I fiddled around and once I saw we were #3 stop, I went and moved the trash and recycling cans, then cleaned up the leaves at the gate. 8:56, the truck came around the corner and I got Blake into mom's room and put the gate up, then texted Roseann it was here. The guys were in and out in 15 minutes. The got the new stove in, took the old stove out right away, the one guy came back in and installed it, made sure everything worked, had me sign and we were good. Awesome. I put the bow on it, took a picture and sent it to Roseann so she could see. Awesome. 15 minutes later...here comes the guy to install mom's hospital bed. 10:50 he was done and taking his leave. Mom came home a little after 1 in the afternoon and the crew from the ambulance squad she used to work for were the ones to bring her home. We got her in and settled on the bed and I tried to get her to the kitchen, but...yea...she just snapped at me. She's back to normal, save for her appetite.

I showed her the picture though and she was like 'oh they had it! Cool!' and I said 'yea, it was ordered on Monday, but not from Rent A Center' and she was confused and went 'where did it come from?' and I said 'Home Depot' and more silence and then 'what do you mean?' and I said 'you'll want to thank Roseann and Rich at some point because they paid for it. Surprise!'. She was surprised. So after she rested for the afternoon and I had made a run to walmart for a few things she wanted. We played a card game and after that, I helped her up and she used her walker to come out to the kitchen to see the new stove. Her jaw hit the floor and she loves it. She got back to her bed and into position and called Roseann. She was nearly in tears as she thanked them for the stove and asked 'why...why did you do that?'. It was great.

It's...going to be a rough road for us, I can already tell this because mom has short patience when it comes to me helping her with things and if I'm not clicking on to something RIGHT AWAY she gets snappy with me. If she had just gone in a lot sooner when the mass was actually smaller, she wouldn't be in the position she's in now. I don't want it to sound rough, but I admit that I'm mad at her for not going in sooner and her one friend and even Roseann are on my side, saying i have every right to be mad at her for not going in sooner and making me worried as I was. It was so bad that I was having nightmares of waking up in the morning and finding her gone or going to work one day and coming home to find her gone. It was so bad that I had to pull out my angel aura quartz necklace and hold on to that while I slept. Once she went into the hospital, I felt some relief. Now that she's home, I know I have to be patient with her and help her as best I can, but I know this is going to test me as well.

[Moophles]

Man so much happening with everyone, I hope all things are going better for everyone

I recently was hospitalized for my Gallbladder and it finally got removed, Im finally home and recovering well It was pretty infected so I'm on some REALLY gnarly meds to make sure the infection doesn't come back, but I'm home and happier

[Angel_of_Music]

I'm glad you're feeling better Mooph-Mooph *gently hugs and gives cookies*

Update on my end: Mom's being a bit of a pain in my butt. If I don't catch on to something within SECONDS, she's chewing me out. I know I have to be patient and I'm trying. At least the docs prescribed her something stronger to help with the pain. She takes one of those before bed and she's out for the night, which means I can sleep through the night and not be a zombie the next morning. I'll put it this day, she either has Smeagol days where she's pleasant or she has Gollum days where I just want to get out of the house and not deal with her. More good news is that she's getting her appetite back for stuff now that she's not in pain. I've already made French toast, I've done scrapple, i've made milkshakes...yea...it's nice she's wanting to eat again. She doesn't eat too much of what I give her, but at least she's eating something other than half a sandwich or a small helping of scrambled eggs. She's had a few appointments and things are looking good so far. She also ordered a new loveseat for the living room. The couch that I've been sitting on for the almost 20 years we've lived in this house is finally going to be replaced. She told me where she looked and I looked it up and said it looked nice. She then said they had a loveseat too. I looked at that and she then asked 'which would you prefer?'. I said the loveseat because we don't need a full couch which we don't really have anyone over to the house and she agreed. So Sunday she ordered the loveseat. Granted the thing won't get here til April 20th, but still, we're getting that and it's at least a Thursday.

On another note...as of yesterday, the 19th, and tomorrow, the 21st, I've officially made it 4 years working at Wendy's. Can't believe I made it that long. Good grief. I'm glad I lasted this long, but...wow. I plan on celebrating tomorrow with a root beer float XD

[Phoenix Stardancer]

Feel better soon Moophles. I get to at least celebrate my birthday today at home and I hope you recover swiftly as well!

[Moophles]

Thanks guys I really appreciate it <3 I am happy you're able to have your birthday at home, Pheonix and Thank you <3

[PookaWitch]

Oh my goodness, so much going on here!
Moophles, I'm glad that you were able to get your gall bladder removed, it must be a relief to not have to deal with the pain any longer. Hopefully the infection has cleared up by now.

[Operetta]

I normally would not post here, but I am at my wit's end at this point. The last six months have just been one thing after another, nothing too major, just LOTS of small and medium things piling up with very little time to recover before something else has gone wrong. So, in the last six months, Rasa and I have dealt with the following.

1. My mother had a psychotic break again at the end of September. It was her second one last year, and it was a really bad one, which meant Rasa was caring for our dad while she was in the hospital, and that's its own can of worms.

2. I have been dealing with issues with my neck since October. I have had several accidents since I was 18, including falling 17 1/2 feet and several minor car accidents. Because of this, I have severe scar tissue in my neck that decided to latch onto my spine and pinch the nerves there. This causes horrible pain to shoot down my arms, especially my left one. Luckily, I am right-handed. So, due to all this, I have been having to see a chiropractor almost ever week, multiple times a week for the last six months. In March, he finally said that spinal decompression was probably the only way we were going to get anywhere.

3. Naturally, I have been having to do the spinal decompression. My first experience was about as bad as it could be, 25 minutes of pure agony when all my research said that it shouldn't hurt... at all. The assistant that was doing it didn't explain hardly anything and left me in the room by myself. Because of this, I had a massive panic attack. The other sessions I have done have gone better as they have turned down the settings. But, it was a pretty traumatic experience to be honest.

4. I have been having more frequent panic attacks since March, most likely due to the amount of stress, and I have a conference that I have to go to starting on the 16th of this month. It will only be three days, but I don't want to go. I have said that I don't want to go, but I have to go for my job. I am terrified that I am going to have more panic attacks while I am there. I don't even have the comfort of staying in the same hotel as everyone else since I registered late. I was waiting on the VP to approve all of us to go since it leaves our office without an immediate administrator present. I have issues with people to begin with and have not been anywhere in a large crowd since the pandemic.

5. We have had car trouble to deal with. In December, we had to get new tires for the car. Our tires are apparently stupidly special and have to be ordered as no one ever has them in stock. So, it's never a simple matter of just taking it to the car shop to get a new tire. So, we had to rent a car. The tire order go messed up, and the tires had to be reordered. Then just a couple of weeks ago, we had to get a new battery.

6. My mom was in the hospital just last Thursday because she fell in the middle of the night... again. We try and try to tell her to stay in bed because her medicines at night make her a bit out of it. So, she spent the night in the hospital for observation, which means Rasa lost more time at work, taking care of my dad.

7. My dad was taken to the hospital this morning. Rasa went to get him to take him to a doctor's appointment, and he was completely out of it, most likely due to a UTI. Neither he nor my mom drink enough water, and UTIs in older patients can wreak all kinds of havoc on their systems.

8. In October or so of last year, there was a nasty storm, and when Rasa and I got home, we found our dog Tai stuck in the bottom slats of the end table. He seemed fine for the most part, but as time has gone on, we noticed that he wasn't walking correctly. It turns out that his knee cap in his back left leg won't stay in place, so now he needs surgery. The surgery itself really isn't the issue, it's the recovery. Rasa and I simply aren't home the majority of the time. So, not sure how that's going to work and waiting on the orthopedic surgeon to get back to me with my list of questions about everything. If we can't do the surgery, then we're most likely going to have to put him down soon because he's not going to be able to walk. So, I've been super stressed and depressed about it since I've had to face the fact that he won't be with us much longer one way or another. He'll be 12 in June.

9. Rasa and I are completely alone in caring for our parents, who act more like teenagers these days and argue with us about everything. We manage all of their medicines and all of their finances, take them to appointments, fix their computer problems, pick up their groceries, etc. And all we ever get from them is complaints about how horrible we are, particularly Rasa as she's the main one that deals with them since I cannot drive. I have very bad depth perception due to issues with my eyes and have lots of anxiety just being in the car.

10. The only person willing to help us is our oldest niece, who lives about 45 minutes from us and an hour and half from my parents, and she's moving to New York on the 11th. I cannot blame her for doing what she thinks is best for her family, but it's just another blow.

11. Rasa has been dealing with her own health problem and can't get them taken care of because she's so busy taking care of everyone else.

12. Back in November, a storm damaged our house by loosening a piece of flashing. The insurance wouldn't cover it because it was a small job. No one would fix it because it was a small job. So, for six months I worked with five or six different companies trying to get the thing fixed. It took so long that the damage worsened, and the piece eventually ripped off the house completely during another storm. I finally got it fixed on Saturday but had to pay in cash, which was its own little adventure. Who carries hundreds of dollars in cash around?

13. Because of everything else going on, Rasa and I have been trying to plan a vacation so that we don't lose our minds. However, plane tickets have skyrocketed and are super complex now. You have to pay extra for everything, even choosing your seats on an international flight! Not to mention we're worried that if we do try to set up a vacation that there's the possibility my mom will have another psychotic episode that will prevent it.

14. Rasa and I work in the same office, and our office is a complete mess. We're short-staffed and cannot get anyone to apply for our jobs. A lot of the processes and regulations are changing right now, too, which puts added stress on the office. And all of our coworkers' personal lives look about as good as ours right now. The director has been out lately helping his mother with her health. Our part time worker's father had a heart attack over the weekend. Our tech person's husband got COVID in January and still hasn't fully recovered. One of our assistant directors' husbands was in a car accident. Our front desk worker currently has bronchitis. Our other assistant director is dealing with court issues and has like seven people living with her in a two bedroom house or something like that. And I feel particularly useless because I'm having to take time off to deal with everything else going on in my personal life.

Sorry for taking up so much space. I only numbered the things because that's how my brain works, not to try to outdo anyone else or anything like that. And even with all of the above, I know that I've left stuff off.
TLDR: Lots of junk has happened in the last six months with few breaks, and I am exhausted.

[Angel_of_Music]

-sighs and gently runs fingers through hair- I want this nightmare to stop. I want to wake up and find it all a bad dream, to wake up and find mom healthy and cancer free. This freaking bites u.u

Mom was admitted to the hospital today. She was supposed to go in for a chemo appointment/treatment this morning, didn't show up on time. The oncologist called me down at work to see if she was on her way. I told her what I could, told her that we had been waiting for the ambulance crew to get there, but they hadn't shown up by the time I had to leave for work. I then went to check something with my phone and just in time, mom was calling me. She asked me for the number of the chief for the ambulance squad. I told her I didn't have it, but I did have the number for the ambulance squad. I told her I could call them and get the number and get the number to her. She said okay. I hung up with her and I tried FIVE TIMES to get hold of anyone at the squad. No one was answering. It was ticking me off. I tried calling the extension for the chief, but he wasn't answering. I left a message telling him who I was and what was going on. I forgot to leave my number though for him. I don't know what squad got her there, but she was taken to the cancer center, however she was screaming in pain and taken to the ER. The doc called me around 2:45 to tell me she's being admitted, that things were really out of whack and she was severely ill and if I heard correctly I also heard severe renal failure. The Doc told me that she kept saying she wanted to go home, but they wanted to admit her and get her the care she needed, which I agree with because I can't give the care she needs if she's at home. I gave the Doc my cell number as they only had the work number for where I work and told her anytime after 4 is safe to call since I'm not allowed to keep my phone on me while I'm on the line. She also asked if I had any way to come see her and I said that right now I wouldn't want to go in, she understood. -sighs- The only reason I didn't want to go see her is because I knew I'd only break down...then again I already did do that. After I got off the phone I sat in the office and cried. Jen, our district manager, got me a drink and told me to take a few minutes. I was able to finish my shift, but I just wish this nightmare would stop and that's all it was...a bad dream, that mom was healthy u.u

[wolfrysk]

Wolfy has been having a rough time with health and family and other things these past few months, so I’m sorry I haven’t been around. I love you all and I’m looking forward to joining you for the Heb next week, life permitting <3

Rasa, Retta, AoM, I’m so sorry to hear about the struggles you’ve been having. Hugs and best wishes for you all and yours

[springacres]

I have been having a rough time with health myself. just got through surgery for endometrial cancer this past Wednesday and won't be able to lift anything over 10-15 pounds for the next 6-8 weeks. Rasa, Retta, AoM, I'm so sorry for everything you all are going through atm.