I Suck. Now Everybody Knows . . .

I've gotten feedback lately that I should have gone to the hospital with Ed, when he went rather than letting Robert talk me into staying home. So, the consensus is in. I suck. I know it. Ed knows it.

In some things I'm just a wimp, and I admit it. My mother died of a brain tumor, when I was 14. That was a very hard time in my life. My poor dad was commuting between San Francisco (Treasure Island Navy Base where he was stationed) and Sacramento, where the rest of the family was living. My parents had opted to do this for the school year, because we'd just come back from two years in the Philippines, and it was my brother's senior year. We'd lived in Sacramento before moving to the P.I. and still owned a home there. That way my brother could at least go to school with kids he'd known earlier.

Unbeknownst to us my mother had been struggling with the brain tumor since we'd lived in the P.I. She had bouts with the slowly growing tumor that were terribly painful--dreadful headaches. That was such a hard time, to be there with her when she was hurting so much and being helpless to do anything for her.

Ed was in a lot of pain (even the nurses were feeling bad for him once he was admitted). I cannot imagine having had to sit there with him, once again being completely helpless. Robert is much tougher in some things, and this is one of them. So I admit it--I suck. I chickened out and let Robert go in my place.

I'm just very thankful that Ed wasn't taken "Home" at this time. It would have been bad enough to lose him without feeling guilty again for not having been there with him.

General Conference

Once again, it was a wonderful General Conference. I don't know why, since it's been 12 years since I worked for the Office of the Twelve, but I'm always surprised by how old some of the Twelve are looking. *sigh*

I was especially impressed by (I think) Elder Oaks talk where he compares debt with addiction. That is really hitting the nail on the head, in my opinion.

And Elder Holland made me cry--again!

"Papa"

We watched two of our grandkids on Saturday, so their mom could go to lunch with some friends. Tyson put on Ed's (giant) dog slippers and sat at his desk and said that he (Tyson) was now Papa. Well Savie bought into it, and she would come up to "Papa" and ask for chips or cookies. Ed is notorious for having secret stashes of treats, and the grandkids always know there's a treat in store if they see their Papa.

Nice Weekend to Come

Well, we've survived the week, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow--Saturday. It's supposed to be 58 degrees and will be the warmest day in the forecast. It's been a tiring week, but not a horrible one.

I've been busy this week helping Robert and Michelle get their pictures printed for their announcements. We need to get them cut out now. They are still gathering addresses and need to get the paper for the announcements, so I can get those printed out for them. It's like pulling teeth.

Ed's really tired and hopes to reach a point where he won't have to take the blood thinners anymore. He'd like the docs to give him a firm yes or no as to coming off the meds. They tell him they'll all have to wait and see.

Happy weekend!

Update on Ed

Ed's doing much better, though he's still got some pain. They have him on a blood thinner that he's got to give himself shots for--twice a day in the stomach. Yuck! His poor belly is just covered with bruises from the shots. A coworker's father is on blood thinners but he takes a pill, so I'm hoping this is a temporary thing to deal with the clots he's getting rid of now and not prevention for any future ones he may have.

They don't really know what the cause is. PE is normally caused by deep vein thrombosis (I read), and you can't usually see where the problem is. He does a a problem with a varicose vein in one of his legs, and it's causing him a lot of discomfort, but since it's on the surface I don't know what to think. I guess that's why they put him on blood thinners. One good thing is he has to stay away from foods that are high in vitamin K. Now he has an excuse to bypass broccoli! =D

He may have to get out of the handyman business though, because it's really hard on the body. But what an economy for a 59 year old man to be job hunting in.

ETA: Ed just saw the doctor, who says the clots are still there. *sigh* Ed will have to continue taking it easy with lifting, stairs, etc.

On the Mend

Ed came home from the hospital yesterday. He can't work again until Monday, and he's going to have to learn to do things differently. He's always worked very hard, and his body has paid for it. Being on blood thinners means he will have to start taking better care of himself. It's also been hard because he has to give himself shots--yikes! This is the man who absolutely hates needles. At least he's not like David Patrick, who gets woozie around needles.

PE

This is pulmonary embolism, not physical education. It's what happened to Ed on Monday. It was late in the evening, and we were asleep. All of a sudden he started gasping in pain and clutching his side. After a few minutes, he and Robert (who had heard the sounds of Ed's groans of pain) decided Ed needed to go to the emergency room. They left me home with instructions to get some sleep (yeah right!). Robert kept me up to date via texting, and I distracted myself by finishing a book. Considering how much pain Ed was in, I'm really glad I didn't go. It reminded me too much of when my mom would have episodes of great pain when she had a brain tumor when I was 14. That's such a horrible feeling to watch someone you love suffer so much and be completely helpless to do anything about it.

They admitted Ed to the hospital at 4 a.m. with blood clots in his lungs--both of them. Thanks heavens for Morphine! Tuesday was a terrible day for him, but they have him on blood thinners now and the pain is receding. He looked much better today, though he still has a fair amount of pain. Actually, the pain is a blessing because there's a pretty high mortality rate for this, and Ed's lucky (we prefer "blessed") to be alive. Looks like he'll need to be on blood thinners for the rest of his life.