My grandmother passed away peacefully on Sunday night. She was surrounded by family. Please pray for us during this time.
I’m taking Lent off from blogging because I need some quiet in my mind right now. I’ll see y’all again on Easter Sunday.
Category Archives: Daily Life
Prayer Request
My grandmother is expected to pass in the next week, likely the next few days. She’s 98 and will be with my grandfather again (seriously, it’s the most amazing love story), so it’s not an entirely sad thing. If you could please pray for a blessed and peaceful release for her, I’d appreciate it. Her name is Jerry.
7 Quick Takes: Last Week’s Thanksgivings Edition
I was discharged from the hospital last Thursday afternoon and replaced my laptop that afternoon as well. (Thanks go to my mom for picking it up for me.) Here are my thanksgivings for things that went well in the hospital.
We discovered the anemia before it got worse. Seriously, I was lucky. My hemoglobin was at 6.6 g/dL when they transfused me and normal for women of my age is 12.0 g/dL. (7.0 and below is the threshold for transfusion.) I’m pretty sure my mom is still rolling her eyes over my comment that “this explains the ice-chewing” when the doctor told me. (One of my classmates actually commented earlier in the quarter that ice-chewing is a sign of anemia and that the hospital has the best ice. She was right on both counts.)
Someone donated the blood that was given to me. Seriously, I’m incredibly thankful for blood donors because this is the SECOND transfusion I’ve received. (The first one was during my first week of life because I’m a preemie.)
Every IV placed was done so without too much pain. I’m quite shocked at how well the ER nurse placed both IV’s in my right arm because it was almost painless. When both of them leaked on Wednesday, my hospital nurse called IV therapy to place one in my left hand, and the young man doing it put some lidocaine in first which made it almost completely painless. Given that it usually takes 2-3 tries and I usually end up in tears, I’m incredibly thankful to them.
My church jumped in to take care of me pastorally. My priest came twice, our prayer person came once, and the Eucharistic visitor came (though he didn’t bring me Communion.) In addition, I had people calling and checking on me as well as multiple messages and cat memes devoted to me on the church’s Facebook page. 🙂 (I’m very spoiled loved.)
Mom and Dad were able to take care of Daniel. Neither of my parents are trained to tube-feed him, so they had to get him to eat… and they did. (Kiddo did not lose any weight while I was in the hospital.) Additionally, they had to get him to take his two inhalers… so Dad taught him how to be a fighter pilot. 🙂 (I was impressed.)
I got a really good ER doctor who took me seriously. When I had the mutant death respiratory thing last January, I got an ER doctor who refused to treat me because I refused steroids. (He also forced me to talk, which wasn’t necessary because I had everything he needed to know written out.) My ER doctor this time took me at my word when I told him that I couldn’t have oral steroids, and he remembered me from treating Daniel in the past. He was incredibly compassionate, asked good questions, and was gentle with his exam. (He also asked how Daniel was doing, which made me even more willing to trust him with my care.)
I had good nurses and student nurses. All of my nurses, student nurses, and CNA’s were delightful. This really does make a difference.
For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.
Taking a Surprise Break
On Monday, I ended up in the ER with what I thought was just some asthma exacerbation. I didn’t know until I was triaged that I had a fever of almost 102F, and the EKG they did showed tachycardia. They tentatively diagnosed me with pneumonia, and the ER doc came back 5 minutes later to ask when I started bleeding badly because I was severely anemic.
…
Wait… severely anemic? I joked that this explained my ice chewing habit, and the doctor told me that he was definitely admitting me now.
They gave me a blood transfusion yesterday morning, and have been doing extensive bloodwork and ultrasounds to try and figure out what is going on.
Adding insult to injury… MY LAPTOP DIED, which means I can’t do any homework until I get discharged and can borrow my mom’s computer. (I’m typing this on my phone.)
So… I’ll be taking at least a week off from blogging until I can get another laptop.
7 Quick Takes: Dispatches from Snowmaggedon Edition
Understatement of the year. So, it’s been kinda snowy here…
Super Bowl Sunday. It started snowing the morning of Super Bowl Sunday and didn’t stop until the next day. I blame Tom Brady. (Everything is his fault.)
Snow days. It was forecasted to be a very warm and dry winter (as El Nino is up here), so everybody understocked all the ice melt stuff. As a result, none of the towns and cities were prepared to deal with all the snow and street clearing that needed to happen. Monday following the Super Bowl was a snow day for both Daniel and me. Tuesday brought a 2-hour delay for the kid and another snow day for me because the college was having so much of a problem clearing the parking lots and walkways.
Freezing things off. A large problem is that it was so cold so that instead of melting away as it usually does here, it stayed around. My dad was shoveling like heck and trying to source some ice melt or something to keep the driveway and steps clear. Unfortunately, there was almost none to be found in western Washington, and Amazon wasn’t going to be able to deliver until Monday. Thankfully, my uncle had 100lbs of it sitting at my grandma’s house because she hadn’t wanted it used on her driveway.
Snow panther. Minion thought watching the snow was AWESOME and wanted to go play in it. He would try to sneak out at every opportunity. I finally put him in a snowbank during one of his trips out and covered him with snow, thinking that he might get cold and not want to go out again. Instead, the little demon thought it was the BEST DAY EVER and has continued to do it since.
Cats!
More snow days. It started snowing again this Monday, and campus closed early. We got another two inches on top of the six that we already had. They announced a snow day for Daniel on Monday night and called me at 5:30 am on Tuesday to let me know that the college would be closed. I blame the L.A. Rams.
Melting. It’s been above freezing for a couple days, and all our snow on Monday night was wet so much of it is melted now. It meant that Tuesday and Wednesday were like walking and driving through a gigantic Slurpee. I blame the Dodgers.
For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.
The Simple Woman’s Daybook: February 12, 2019
For Today… February 12, 2019
Looking out my window… 34F and snowing.
I am thinking… about my design project for this week for my Publisher class.
I am thankful… to not have to go out today unless I want to.
One of my favorite things… quiet.
I am wearing… charcoal-colored shirt and khaki capris as I am in the house.
I am creating… business sets for Publisher
I am listening to… classical music coming from another part of the house.
I am hoping… we don’t have another snow day or 2-hour delay tomorrow. Today is my third snow day in two weeks and my paycheck will suffer as a result.
I am learning… design principles.
In my kitchen… defrosting something later.
Post Script… some fun stories to read.
Shared Quote… “I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let people fool themselves. They didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn’t argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn’t.” — Marilyn Monroe
Hosted by The Simple Woman.