Monday, May 14, 2012

Ungainly Progress

Let's see where did we leave off?  Ah, yes.  A week ago, Monday.  When the world was full of promise and I was certain things were on the up-and-up.  Well, apparently I was wrong.

I finally got Jack in to see the doctor on Tuesday.  Not only was his the cut on his finger infected but he also had a scrape on his chin (the result of a bad fall) that I thought was getting worse because he kept picking at it, but apparently it too was infected.   I would post pictures of his injuries just to give you an idea ... but I don't think anyone would appreciate it.  They were BAD.  We ended up having to get a cream and an oral antibiotic and now, almost a week later, things are starting to clear up for the little guy.

That afternoon my two biggest guys decided to tackle the yard.

Photobucket

I'm not sure why Jack is pushing his 8 ounce lawn mower like that.  The grass must have been really long.

Photobucket

And yes, those are his pajama pants.  We had a little "accident" and since Jude was still napping in their room I had to give him the only article of clothing on this side of the bedroom door.

Photobucket

Afterwards we had a delicious dinner of Shrimp Scampi, which Jude thought required additional seasoning.

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

That evening Jon started complaining about a sore throat.  Dun dun dun.  After a long, feverish night he decided to head to the doctor first thing Wednesday morning.  We had a family wedding in New Jersey over the weekend and didn't want to take any chances.  The rapid strep test came back negative but since I had just had it the doc went ahead and started Jon on antibiotics, and I went ahead and started worrying about more "live" germs in the house for the kids to catch.

He seemed to be feeling a bit better by the evening so while I made a completely grilled dinner of steak, potatoes and broccoli he set to work sanding the kitchen ...

Photobucket

... and turning my house into quite the dustbowl.  And so, if anyone out there was thinking of surprising me with a visit one of these days, now is the time to do it.  Because although my house is filthy, I at least have a proper excuse for it. 
Photobucket

It was a tough evening.  I was worn out from work, appointments, living in chaos, and doing the dinner/tubby/bedtime routine on my own while Jon worked on the kitchen.

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App
I apologize for the onslaught of mobile pics. You know I'm stressed when I don't pick up my "real" camera for days and days.
 
By the time I got to bed, I was ready to crash and looking forward to a full night's rest.  Not so.  At 1am Jon woke me up and asked me to pray for him because he was having chest pain and difficulty breathing.  And so I did.  And then I proceeded to lay there next to him for the next few hours, listening to him struggle, contantly verifying his heart was still beating, and alternately asking him if he wanted me to drive him to the hospital.  Finally, at 4am he asked what I would do with the kids if I took him in.  Put them in the car of course!

And so I did that too.  One by one I got kiddos out of bed, carried them out to the car, and buckled them in.  And they took it quite well.  They were a bit groggy at first, but the boys must have thought it was a game because soon they pointing out the moon and stars and making each other giggle from the back seat.  Meanwhile, Jon was sitting next to me clutching his chest and grimacing in pain.

I dropped him off at the ER, parked in the garage, put some shoes on Jack, put Julia in the stroller, slung Jude on my hip and somehow we managed to make our way to the waiting room where we evinced a few sympathetic looks from the receptionists.  Jon was already seeing a doctor so the boys and I raided the vending machine and then settled down with some magazines - National Geographic for Jack and some cat magazine for Jude.  That was interesting.  After 10 minutes of hearing "kitty cat" over and over again, I decided it was time for a bathroom break and diaper changes.

When we got back out there were a few more faces in the waiting room.  One was a very friendly lady who, despite the rows and rows of empty seats, decided she should sit right next to me.  She tried to make buddies with Jude but he wanted none of it.  And so I spent the rest of the morning being crawled all over by a frightened 2 year old who only wanted to get as far away as possible from the strange lady to my right.

At about this time Jon called my cell to let me know he was going to be admitted and would have some testing and I should just take the kids home.  By now it was 6am, they weren't going to go back to sleep, but at least I could look forward to a peaceful morning of cartoons or something.

My parents decided to come down to help me out so I could be at the hospital with Jon.  We also had the cabinet installer coming that day and needed to have someone around for that.  And so, I'll mention yet again, how much I appreciate having both of our parents within a reasonable driving distance.  I try not to think about what this past week would have looked like had we been living somewhere else.

The final report from the doctor was that Jon had a viral infection (probably not strep) and that it had caused the sack around his heart to swell (pericarditis) as well as part of his heart itself (myocarditis).  It's fairly serious.  And although it was good he went in to the ER, he probably should have called an ambulance immediately rather than wait as long as he did.  He still needed some blood tests and a sonogram so Julia and I hung out with him at the hospital.  Okay, so Julia and Jon slept and I sat there and twiddled my thumbs.

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App
If you're going to be trapped in a hospital room chair, might as well have something this sweet to look at.
It was looking like they were going to send Jon home that night but later they changed their minds and decided they wanted to monitor things a bit longer.  While the pericarditis and myocarditis do go away, and he is feeling much, much better, the whole ordeal did slightly weaken his heart.  But we're believing God for total healing and restoration!  He came home Friday afternoon and is now resting for the next few days.  Well, as resting as one can with 3 small children around.

Meanwhile, the show must go on.  And by "show" I mean "kitchen renovation."  It's no secret, I'm horrible with decision-making.  It was a nightmare being left to deal with the contractor on my own for 24 hours.  Not that he was a bad person.  He was quite nice in fact, but his constant questions and dilemmas did nothing for my current stress levels.  Two electrical sockets need relocated, the sink drainage pipes are an inch too far to the right, the stove exhaust is 4 inches too low, yada, yada, yada.  I knew we would run into dilemmas with this project, that's how it always works.  I just didn't expect that my husband wouldn't be around to manage them!

Photobucket

For the most part, we got the challenges smoothed over.  And by Friday afternoon this is where things stood with the kitchen.

Photobucket

Finally, some progress.

Photobucket

I was so excited I started filling up the cabinets right away.  But we still have a long way to go, especially since the countertops can take up to 2 weeks to complete.

Progess.  Nothing like I had imagined, but apparent nonetheless.  And despite these ungraceful twists and turns, I'm looking forward to what lies ahead - mountains, bends and all!

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...