Howdy! We kicked off the week with a fun potluck at church. I drugged myself up pretty good on Saturday night with saline nasal spray, Vicks Vaporub, a vaporizer with Vaposteam, antihistamine, and Sudafed, and think I finally licked this nasty cold. I got up for church Sunday morning feeling like I’d finally turned a corner to feeling better. Hooray! It was in the 70’s and was a gorgeous day, but at the same time, we were issued a Winter Weather Warning for Monday. Look out…winter is still hanging on!
********************
The snowy weather brought the closure of schools for a couple of days, so we got to enjoy having Hayden home with us again. I let the other two kids off the hook for their homeschool work so they could enjoy some time with their brother.
Tuesday was a perfect day to have him home, because there was a lot of good stuff happening that day! It happened to be National Pancake Day, so we started off the day with a trip to IHOP for a free stack of pancakes plus some turkey bacon on the side and made a donation to a local charity on our way out. We were too busy stuffing our faces to take any pictures, but you get the idea.
I was out running some errands later in the morning and early afternoon, so I ran by our favorite local Mexican restaurant to see what the lunch special was. They had tacos for 99 cents, so I ran home and grabbed the kids, and we went back for lunch.
After that, we ran home briefly to get ready for a trip to the movies. Our Cinema Café runs a $1.50 movie special on Tuesdays, so we decided to go see The Nut Job while we were all together. We got lucky and discovered they were also running a half price special on the large bowl of popcorn, so we splurged and had that, too.
On the way home, Hayden snapped a photo of me sitting at a stoplight, and one of what was left of the snow on the ground. With this storm, there wasn’t much snow, but we had a major layer of ice that fell underneath it, and that’s what made it so treacherous out. By the end of the day on Tuesday, it was mostly gone, as you can see.
My husband said the roads early that morning were the worst he’s ever seen them, though, and there were tons of accidents. It’s good that the schools decided to stay closed, even though it creates a real problem with make-up days. We already have 3 Saturdays scheduled as make-up days from last month, plus 2 holidays we lost. There’s no telling what they’ll do for these two snow days. I guess it’s possible that they could interfere with spring break.
********************
The next day, we were back to our schoolwork. We got busy doubling up so we wouldn’t have to do school on Friday if we could help it. Holden’s Abeka art project for the week was to make a turtle in a pond from Play-doh. We were out of those colors, so we used modeling clay instead. That was harder to work with, so Haylee and I had to help mold it. Here’s how it turned out!
Pretty cute!
********************
By Thursday, we were back on track for school. Yay! For lunch, we decided to make some salads. We don’t eat small portions when it comes to salad…we go all out! Check this out.
Yum!
********************
On Saturday, we realized this was one of those rare days when we were not scheduled to do anything specific at all. Amazing! So I promised the kids a big breakfast when we could all sit and eat together without rushing off somewhere. Here’s what they got.
That’s a nice omelet with smoked turkey, cheese, green onion, and green pepper. Then French toast sticks, hash rounds, turkey bacon, grapes, and apple slices, plus orange juice. What a treat!
********************
Now for a little update on my mom. By Monday, my mom was still unable to speak more than an occasional word. She complained to her doctor of pain in her stomach, and he put her on a Fentanyl patch. That’s pretty intense! We were all concerned about that. It’s a narcotic likened to heroine. I was also concerned about how she could be accurately evaluated for her cognitive abilities when drugged up so heavily on pain meds. They made her sleep a lot, and she was reported as staring blankly into space most of that day and not responding to much. I told my brother I wanted her off those pain meds for at least 48 hours before anyone made any diagnoses of her mental state. The doctor also ordered another CT scan, and late that night, the results showed that in fact, my mom DID have another stroke, and that’s why she is now unable to speak. We were all devastated to hear that, but it was in line with what we all thought. Her symptoms afterwards nearly mirrored her stroke 4 years ago, and we recognized that immediately.
By Tuesday, my mom ripped the pain patch off herself. I imagine she probably didn’t like how it made her feel. By Wednesday, my brother had met with hospice care, and the doctor recommended that she go home under hospice care. They sent her home that day. Now there will be no more medical treatments or hospital stays. She will only receive supportive care at home. That saddens me tremendously. My sister had asked my mom’s doctor to fill out FMLA papers for her so she could get off work to go visit. He did so and sent them over to her on Thursday. On them, he wrote that death was imminent. That was certainly hard to hear.
My sister headed out on the road from Florida the next day with her husband. They arrived at my mom’s on Saturday, as did my brother from Arizona with his family. I hope they all have a wonderful visit, and I know my sister will take good care of mom while she is there. I’m anxious to get another opinion as to mom’s state of mind, and I’m hoping my sister can let me talk to mom, even if she can’t talk back. I just want to tell her I love her and that I’m thinking of her every day.
********************
I hope you all had a wonderful week. See ya next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment