Thursday, November 8, 2007

In Sickness and in Health

Not sure where to begin. Guess I'll start on the homefront. Poor Joseph has had a low grade temp since Tuesday afternoon. Here he is at breakfast. I took this pic because of his rosey cheeks. His temp was 101 this am. It was so sad, usually when he wakes up in the morning he yells, "Mom-ee, mom-ee" or "Dad-ee, dad-ee", well this morning he just wimpered and whined. Definitely not acting himself. But at breakfast he ate his sausage and pancake on a stick with lots of OJ and water. His temp started on Tues. afternoon, and I thought he was feeling better Wednesday morning. Thinking Joe was up to snuff, I spent most of Wednesday away from home. Well sometimes babies just need their moms, because he was febrile when I got home Wed. night. Hopefully by tomorrow (Friday) his temp will subside, otherwise we may visit Dr. Miller. I spent most of Wednesday with my uncle at SMMC.

My uncle Mel has been sick for quite some time. I think it was around April or May, when his liver function started to decline. Well for the past month or two he has not been acting himself, and two weeks ago had a grand mal seizure, at which time he fell and hit his head. He refused to seek medical attention at that time. For the most part he wants as little to do with modern medicine as possible. I'll leave out all the details, but the last two weeks have been hell, for my cousin Kelsey and aunt Debbie. They've been walking on eggshells, and sitting on a time bomb just waiting to go off. Well, the s#&* hit the fan Tues. night, early Wednesday morning and my uncle was admitted to SMMC. Although I have stood back and watched all this unfold, I felt very responsible. I'm sure many nurses feel the responsiblity to help their own families navigate through the medical community and ensure that what needs to be done is getting done and I did not do that. I spent a lot of Wednesday at the hospital. It was an emotionally draining day watching my uncle seize repetively. I know Debbie, Mel and Kelsey feel lost and uncertain right now. I love them very much and will try very hard to be a guiding light through this time.

Here is a pic of "Blue", a companion for the hospital, until Mel can be reuntied with his real "Blue" at home!

Here is uncle Mel after his MRI, snoozing with Blue.

David has been home with a cranky Joseph while I have been with uncle Mel. I bought Dave his favorite, egg nog, at the store. Here he is drinking it in his favorite jelly jar glass.
Last but not least, she doesn't get a lot of props, but I would like to thank my trusty stead for getting me where I needed to go. We love you girl.


1 comment:

Valerie said...

I love your post! Just a typical "day in the life." I hope everything works out ok for your uncle and his family. I can't imagine it would be easy for your cousins to see their dad like that. Sorry Joseph's under the weather. Allie and I are both battling colds here. I better get a good nights rest tonight...CCRN tomorrow! Duh Duh Duh!!