Okay, I'm really embarrassed. Its been a whole year since I wrote anything. Been busy. Almost died. Things like that. Really! I've been busy!
So lets step backwards. Yesterday was my dad's 75th birthday. He is not doing well. He told mom it was going to be his last. I told her that he was tougher than boiled owl shit and he'll be fine. Tuesday was my grandson Connor's 3rd birthday. We had a party at my house. We grilled hot dogs and I got him that cake.
It was kind of cold but we still had a great time. He is growing up so fast, as is Mila. She is starting to talk. Says 'hi' a lot and she said poppa once so that was really cool.
Jason's stepdaughter from his first marriage, Kacy, is back into our lives and I could not be more happy.
She came down for easter weekend but went home early because she got sick. We did have an egg hunt and dinner at my house. Loads of fun.
The holidays went well although we got way too much snow right after Christmas and what a long cold winter it turned out to be. We got an ice storm that stopped everything! People would pull into the park and just sit and spin. The aid from Michael's school that brings him home got stuck twice. Couldn't do anything but spin the tires. Took him 20 minutes just to get to my house from just 3 doors up the road. And when he left he was stuck for over an hour until the manager from the school came with her Cherokee and pushed him out.
Not that brings me to why Mateo brings Michael home. I no longer take him to school. They come and get him in the morning and Mateo brings him home in the afternoon and showers and shaves him. He also does my wash and any other chores I may need him to do. The reason for that goes back to the first of the blog when I mentioned almost dying. So over five years ago I had been diagnosed with type II diabetes and didn't do anything about it. Oh sure, the doctor gave me metformin to keep my sugars in check, but I ate whatever I wanted and as much as I could get down my throat. I've been over 400 pounds since before Julie died, so at least 10 years. I had not been able to stand on my doctor's scales since they only went to 400.
Well on August third my life changed. Actually it was maybe a week before. I started getting some symptoms that I just ignored. Both my arms started to jerk in spasms uncontrollably. And then my words started to slur, but was I worried? Did I think to call the doctor? NO!
So the night of the third I was getting ready for bed and realized I had not turned my oxygen on. My jazzy was right next to my recliner so getting into it was no problem. Wrong! I stood up and my legs quit working. They hurt so bad and I could not move them. I couldn't sit in my jazzy or my recliner so I fell to my knees and over the coffee table. I knew I was in trouble but wasn't sure how to get help. I knew the deadbolt to the door was locked so if anyone did come they were going to have to break in to enter. And I couldn't get to the phone. So I fell to the floor and using just my arms, crawled to my jazzy. It was only two feet away but it took me 15 minutes to get into it. So I got to the phone and called Sharla. It was nearly midnight. She called 911 and my son Cameron and my brother Matt. So first the ambulance came. These guys didn't take my vitals, check me out, nothing. One of them actually told me to get back into my recliner and sleep it off. That's when Matt arrived. Being a cop, he knew what needed to be done and asked why it wasn't. They told him they felt there was no need but if we wanted them to still transport me to the hospital, they would. Matt said 'the hell you will!' and they put me in my car and Cameron and Naomi drove me to Davis hospital with Matt right behind. The ambulance showed up just to save their butts. Well, what seemed to be an eternity of tests and films the doctor finally came in and told me I had kidney failure. They put me into intensive care where I stayed for two weeks before finally spending a week in a regular room. My blood pressure was as low as 47 over 17! So low that they could not put me under to put the port in my neck for dialysis. So just a local! Lots of fun. I had to have six rounds of that before my kidneys started working again. I also got sepsis. I needed to transfusions. I had a reaction to the antibiotic I recieved that gave me 'red man syndrome'. I virtually burned from the inside out.
My legs were in so much pain and I could not move them at all that they had to give me some heavy duty pain killers. One night while I was really bad off my nurse brought me an Ambien and a syringe full of Aderall. He said that would take the edge off. WOW! I went on the best vacation that night I had ever been on! Suddenly my hospital room turned into a hunting cabin. There were head trophys all along the top of the wall. My tv was still there but apparently Elvis had shot it out because it had a big hole in it. Next to it was my clock which was spinning backwards. I reached for my water mug, but there was green mold all over it. And when the nurse asked me if I was okay, I said ' I don't know. Am I?' He said something else but he was no longer speaking english. Lets just say it took me a while to return to my regular room and reality.
I spent three weeks in the hospital and then three more weeks in rehab learning to stand and walk again. Still can't walk very well. Need a walker. Mostly I use the jazzy. Needless to say I got better. And guess what? I've lost 120 pounds! Yippee!
I am just so grateful to still be here to watch over my family. I don't think Julie was ready for me to join her. My father in heaven has blessed me with a second chance to live a long life and I am going to take full advantage of it, and stay as long as I can. Thank you all for the visits and the well wishes, esp my facebook nation. I know its what kept me sane for all those weeks. I didn't get to see Michael at all while I was gone so the homecoming was so special. He sat at my feet and removed my slippers and rubbed and hugged my feet for at least twenty minuts. He missed me so much!
Thanks again for all the support. I'm doing fine now!
