Anyone see where I lost my marbles?

I’ve got a few (3 so far) sick kiddos in the house so I haven’t really started back the way I thought I would.   Three hours of sleep each night for the last few makes me a bit blurry-eyed. 

I mentioned before that I was going to come up with nicknames for the kids.  I haven’t forgotten, but haven’t come up with any either. So, yeah..I’ve been on a roll with the whole “not following through” thing.  I’ll work on it though. lol

I had to use the link from a friends blog to find mine. lol  I could not remember the address.  Wow!

Well, things are not as hectic and stressful around here now.  I have a bit more time on my hands that I should (hopefully) have more time to start posting again.  The fact that I have an insomniac 3-yr old should help that a bit since I’ll be the one up with him.

On November 18, 2009 my mom passed away at about 6:30pm.  I was able to be with her in the last few minutes of her life and holding her hand.  

 As mentioned in previous posts, she was sick for quite some time but in the last 2 months it was a very rapid decline.   On November 8th she was hospitalized (after the ER initially wanting to send her home).  Turns out she had a major infection which spread to her blood.  After 5 different medications, her lab values continued to worsen.  Her IV sites kept blowing and she was aspirating formula into her lungs during  her tube feedings.   She was in the hospital 10 days before finally leaving us.  Though her passing has been very difficult, we take comfort in all the prayers and well wishes as well as the fact that she is no longer suffering. 

Today we well bury her (next to my dad.  My 2 older boys were her babies and I worry about ow hard this will be on them.  I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet.  We  will be having a graveside service for her with the pastor of my brother’s church officiating.    Being Catholic, our funeral masses are totally different and long..this one is expected to be about 10 minutes, I’m told.   My mother was Protestant but not practicing.  She occasionally would attend my brother’s church (Baptist) and liked it ok so we opted to let him do the service.

So, I ask for prayers of strength for my family during this difficult time. 

Thanks and God bless!!

Speaking of late, it’s 2:05 am and I can’t seem to find my red pen so I apologize for typos ahead of time.   I had a crying baby who is now sleeping.  He was followed by B.M. who has a new molar coming in. It was hurting her enough to wake her up.  Gave her an icepack and some Ibuprofen.  Hopefully that will comfort her enough to allow sleep.

That reminds me..I’m going to have to think of some nicknames for the kiddos. I’ll get to that sooner, rather than later? Hope so, anyway.

I keep thinking I’m going to do better about my blogging.  It seems to just not be happening for some reason.   Well..many reasons anyway.

Schooling is going well.  The new curriculum is keeping us busy.  I thought my load would be lighter with provider doing the grading and transcripts. Yeah..not so much. The kids are learning a lot and that’s what matters most.

Both girls tried out for a part in the musical production of  Go, Dog, Go! Only B.M. got a part. A.M. accepted it after HUGE tears.  It broke my heart to see her so sad.  Anyway, there have been a lot of practices and this coming week there will be several performances.  We are looking forward to seeing it all put together.  This really seems to be something B.M. is loving.  Even better than getting a part, her best friend is in it as well.   They stay pretty busy, so not much time for chit chat, but they don’t seem to mind.  Hopefully they’ll have many more productions to be in together. (even if it does wear us momma’s out. lol)

We had a few birthdays since September.  B.M. turned 10 and J.B. turned 15.  Sadly, because things have been so hectic, we didn’t get to do much for them.  They got presents, of course, and we took them out to eat with the family.  They didn’t get a chance to do anything party-like.  My mom has been pretty sick and we had been going over to her house daily for over a month to feed her dogs and to make sure she got her tube feedings.  Thankfully, we are past that now….she’s doing it on her own…but it took its toll on the amount of time I had to devote to my own family so no chance for party plans.  My mom celebrated her birthday as well.  Her 70th. 

I too celebrated a birthday this week.  Good news!  My sister-in-law found some of my missing marbles!!!  It’s true…. 151 of them.  lol  She got them for me as a gag gift. Funny thing is, she doesn’t even know this blog exists so she doesn’t know the title of it.  Guess it means I’m not the only one who noticed I was missing some marbles. lol  I’m not sure it’s done any good to have them back.  Only time will tell. :0P  (nothing from you, Sue!) lol

This evening we are going to a promotion party some friends are having.  We are very proud of Ben and happy to share this day with him.  In a short time we’ll also be saying goodbye to him, as he is being deployed.  I ask that you join in prayer for his safe return to his wonderful family.  Also for all military families separated to fight for our freedom.   

Well…I think this is all I can muster. It’s now 2:45 and I should probably force myself to go back to sleep.  Sunrise will be here all to soon.  Thank God for daylight savings time to give me an extra hour before mass on Sunday.

God bless!

Poor hubby has been so very supportive with everything being upside down lately because of my mom’s condition.  Even after settling for take-out chicken that wasn’t from his favorite place.  He offered to go to my mom’s house this morning to take down the trash we forgot to take down when we left.  We missed last week and with once a week pickup, we REALLY couldn’t miss it again.  So, this morning he did that.  Afterwards he stopped at the store to pick up some stuff we  were low on.. milk, juice and cookies.  That was sweet enough. But, he also got me a beautiful assortment of flowers.  He came home to deliver it all.  Then he made sure my coffee was ready to brew and made oatmeal.  All while I slept! (I was up with the 2 littles quite a while)  How sweet is that?!

First of all, a very happy birthday to my girl, B.M.  She turned 10 on Sunday.  We did celebrate on time with Mass in the morning, chicken dinner with all the fixin’s in the evening, followed by triple chocolate cake and cookies & cream ice cream.  Earlier in the morning she recieved her gifts: a pink w/flowers guitar, lesson book/cd/dvd combo pack, Jonas Brothers school supply kit and a Jonas Brother’s CD.  She loved every bit if it!  Then when the older boys got up they had gifts for her as well.  J.B gave her a Miley Cyrus CD and J.M. gave her a Jonas Brother’s shirt. Both had hand decorated their gift bags. I was very proud of them for their effort.  Neither was asked to get anything, but they did.  She also got some money from her Godparents and my mom.  With that money she went with hubby and got a Webkinz opossum, a guitar strap and some picks.  I’m pretty sure her guitar is her favorite gift this year.  Her best buddy plays guitar and I think she’s hoping to play with her.   We thank God for the blessing of another year with our little girl!  I had hoped to be able to post pictures, but my camera batteries died. bummer!

My mom seems to be declinjing rapidly and could use a lot of prayers.  Wednesday morning she’ll be having a PEG tube placed.  We’re very concerned about complications that could arise. Particularly refeeding syndrome and gut atrophy.

We are in our second week of schooling and so far things are going ok despite all the extra running we are having to do taking care of mom’s dogs and keeping an eye on her.  I decided we’d enroll with Seton this year. So far the kids seem to like it.  I’m a little overwhelmed by the stuff I have to go over, but I think it will turn out just fine.  As a matter of fact, I know it will.

We had lots of rain finally. That was nice…except it was too much as one time.    We had some flooding in the yard and on the streets, of course.  But, we also had it coming in our chimney!  I noticed a wet spot in the middle of one side which happens to be inside our sunroom that was added on.  There was also water coming in at the corner.  I realized the only way for water to be in the middle of the fireplace was if it was coming from inside it.  I opened the doors and sure enough…water dripping just the an over hang does on the roof.  So, now we have an adjustor coming in to check it out.  Not what I wanted to spend money on right now, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Right?  *sigh*

Well, all this babble should make up for at least some time I’ve been away from my blog.  Hopefully it will hold y’all over for a  few weeks days or so.

Well, my mom is still with us and even walking around a bit.  However, she still can’t eat and is only drinking  small amounts.   This past Thursday I weighted her and she was only 71.4 lbs.  Also, when she is up and about, he blood pressure is all out of sorts and she gets dizzy and short of breath very easily. 

We have a hospice nurse 3 times/week and at the same time she is there, the home health aide (HHA) is there as well.  Both are pretty nice and my mom like’s them.

I ask for prayers for my mom.  Seven years ago  she was diagnosed with cancer. She had a tumor on her right vocal chord.  Her throat began to have some swelling so she ended up with a trach. Then she had surgery to remove the tumor and toughed it out through 7 weeks of radiation, 5 days a week, twice a day to her neck.  They treated from one side of the spine to the other.   Well, that radiation damaged blood vessels and tissue in her neck.   Because of this damage, she spontaneously bleeds from her throat out of her trach.  She had a massive bleed Feb 2007, while in the hospital, which she almost died from.  She had 4 units of blood replaced.  She made it through that after a stay in ICU.  She even made it through smoking cessation after 40 yrs of lighting up! 

Well,  Aug. 12th she had another bleed. Not quite as big, but big enough. She was home by herself.  She managed to call 911 and get help.  While in the hospital she had stress Cardiomyopothy.  She now has a 25% ejection fraction rate.  Her oxygen level is 88%. If that wasn’t bad enough, she has MRSA in her nose (most people do, but it’s not good for her weak immune system), pneumonia, a staph infection in her lungs, COPD,  heart failure and now malnutrition and dehydration. 

She can’t eat and has had very little to drink.  The liquid she is drinking  goes into her airway most of the time.  She is refusing a feeding tube (she’s had one twice and removed them both times.)  She can not sustain this much longer.  From what I’ve found online, it looks like she may have about 48 to MAYBE 72 hrs.  She looked terrible tonight and it breaks my heart. 

Friday night my sister-in-law called EMS because she was just standing in one place and wouldn’t acknowledge her or the neighbor whe she got her to help.  After she finally got her sitting, she refused help from EMS and they left.  Meanwhile, she was VERY aggitated. So much that she tried to throw stuff at us from her cabinet.  After about 2 hrs we got her calmed down. 

We’ve not been as close as we used to be, but I still love her. I’ve always  been there for her as much as I could regardless of what she said or did.   I pray that her death is a peaceful one that that she finds peace with God.

Sweet baby Matthew has gone to heaven.  I wish we could’ve met him in person. I know he’d be just like his brother and sisters.  He’s touched many hearts here.  Please continue to pray for this wonderful family!

So far, this is the best site I’ve found.

http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/info/rheumatology/diagnose/jpfs.htm

I’m sure there are more out there, but I’ve just started looking. Hopefully it may help someone else.