Update

I think I have now met all the ER docs at Spelman and am working on all the on-call cardiologists and MD's at St. Luke's -Barry Rd.

First it was Sean, he has venous stasis ulcers that got infected on both legs. Took going twice and seeing two different docs. He is still dealing with them not healing.

Then it was Rosie, she developed a diaper rash that then got infected and abscessed in two areas. They sent us down to Children's Mercy Hosp. There they were able to drain the abscesses and get her on an antibiotic. It is looking really good today.

Next it was G'pa. He woke me up last Thursday nite because he couldn't breath. You have to understand that he NEVER voluntarily goes to the ER. So when I asked him if he wanted to go and he immediately said yes and got dressed, I knew something was not right. He ended up transferred and admitted to St. Luke's for CHF and Pneumonia.  They got his cardiac stuff stabilized then started working on the pneumonia. Monday, there was concern that his creatinine was to high so they gave him fluids to try to flush the kidneys. Yesterday it had gone up another 0.1 points. Still working in this one, basically his kidneys aren't very happy right now. In addition, he had a "episode" of extreme confusion , combativeness and was very argumentative. This is not his norm with nurses and MD's....with me he can get that way some times....but them, no. So I went down there and sat with with him so they could get the labs and EKG they needed. They did a head CT but didn't find a cause for the "episode". We are now in wait and see mode.

In the meantime, Ian got the evil ick that everyone else had and has been a miserable child to deal with. He is better and went back to school this week. Although, he still has a nagging cough.

G'ma has also caught the ick and has a UTI. Took her to the MD and they put her on an antibiotic that will cover the kidneys and lungs.  Again this is a wait and see situation. I am hopeful the meds will kick in and she will be back to telling the kids to "hush" soon.

Tim left for Seattle yesterday. 

Nic seems to have gotten over the evil ick with minimal lasting effects. He starts track next week. So be on the look out for divots in the back yard as he perfects his shot put techniques.

As for me.....I got the evil ick too, but mine went straight to my sinuses. I am now fighting a sinus infection.  My biggest issue right now is finding the time and energy to keep the house clean, do laundry, feed people and run errands. 

It seems to be a losing battle, but I press on.

I want a do-over.....please!

I want a do-over for the past week. 

First I want the evil ick that has invaded our house to go away and NEVER come back.

Sean got sick, Nic and Tim were sick, Rosie was sick with it and now Ian has it. And I was sick with, even though Mommies aren't allowed to be sick.

Second , I want to have taken Rosie to the ER sooner than I did.

Rosie broke out with a rash. I thought it was due to the evil ick or her pull-ups so, I switched her to cloth panties. The rash got worse. I thought maybe chicken pox, as it was itching her. Then the rash developed white pus on the tops. Next, she had what resembled a boil on her flank. I  treated it like a boil and put warm compresses on it til it burst. Then cleaned it. The rash continued to itch so still thinking it might be chicken pox, I put Rosie in a baking soda bath. It helped for a bit. But I noticed she had a boil (#2) on her thigh. It hurt her alot. Now, I am really not sure what I am dealing with. She has had a cold symptoms all week and this rash and now another huge boil (#3) in her groin. I am completely freaked out so I took her to the local ER. The MD, very nice, calm guy, looked at her and said I think this is Staph and you will need to take her to Children's Mercy so they can sedate her and open them up. (This is where I recieved my first nomination for the worst mom of the year award.) He set everything up and we headed off (there is more to the heading off part but I will get into that in a minute). Once at Children's we were seen by Dr. Giovanni, who had been warned we were coming. She looked at Rosie and agreed that it was probably Staph or MRSA and would require opening the abcesses to drain them. That done (I will spare you the details), we headed home.

Third, I wish I had been able to come up with a better solution than having Nic watch g'ma.

Not being able to get ahold of anyone else, I called my ever faithful son Nic and asked him to come babysit so I could take Rosie to the hospital. He agreed. I felt horrible having to ask him but knew he could handle it (all except getting g'ma to bed) and would know what to do in an emergency.  After I picked him up (this is the more than just packing up and going part) and picked up Sean from work, I got ahold of Mom. She agreed to come over and help Nic get g'ma to bed. I expected she would go home afterwords. Instead she stayed. She said she wasnt comfortable leaving Nic there by himself. I agree with here it wasnt the ideal situation but I couldn't come up with a better one. (This is where I recieved by 2nd nomination for worst mother or the year.)

Fourth,  it would have been great if I had remembered that on Fridays Sean goes in at 9a.

(And in a special catagory, the nomination for worst wife of the year). I went to the store this morning thinking I could get things done and get back by 10 a so Sean could get to work by 11a. He didn't say anything, so off I went at 8:15. Needless to say I figured this out at 9:45, on my way home.......................... He was late.

So if some one has a "Wayback Machine" I can borrow I would really like a do-over.

Mommies aren't allowed to be sick....

Mommies do not get sick. It's a rule. But, don't look for it in your handy-dandy "What to Expect When You're the Mom" book. They don't tell you the ugly truth - moms are not allowed to be sick, even if we do have a doctor's note.

Oh, we're allowed to catch germs, of course. Bacteria and viruses are allowed to invade our bodies. But we're not allowed to indulge them by doing something frivolous like staying in bed and drinking plenty of fluids.

So naturally, we  try to avoid getting sick. This isn't easy. We live with children, who everyone knows are walking, talking, coughing Petri dishes who bring home every germ imaginable. It does not matter how many times we wash our hands. It doesn't matter how many counters and sinks we wipe down with anti-bacterial wipes. Frankly, we could shower with Purel and we would still be exposed to germs.

But, as every mommy of a 2-year old knows, just because you aren't allowed to do something, doesn't mean you're not going to do it anyway. The problem is, when mommies get sick, all hell breaks loose. I know this from experience. I have spent the last two days being sick. 

The problem is, I'm the mom. And apparently, even though we all live in the same house - they don't know where anything is. So I am pestered constantly to find bread, medicine, toys, TV channels and  clean underwear.

And then  I took the cold medicine - and had hallucinations. At least I hope that they were hallucinations and that there really aren't several large elephants living in my bedroom .

Being the mommy when you're sick sucks!!

Scene from Pretty Woman

For those who don't know, Pretty Woman is one of my favorite movies.  There is one scene where Vivian (Julia Roberts) comes to the concierge, Barney (Hector Elizondo), very upset because she has money to spend and no one will let her. He was able to fix her problem with the help of a friend and a phone call. 

I have felt like I was living this scene today. Unfortunately for me, there is no concierge with a shiny silver phone to come to my rescue.  I got our tax return and wanted to get some things today. Only no one wants to take my check and I haven't gotten my debit card yet.  There wasn't any problem yesterday when I wanted to buy groceries. I double checked to make sure the deposit had cleared (it cleared yesterday) but still could not purchase my items.   Luckily, I wasn't purchasing anything that can't wait a few days for my debit card to arrive or the bank to be open. It was just terribly frustrating.

And hysterical laughter insued

This past week has been less eventful than the previous week.  We only had one major mishap with Rosie. As a mother of four, I should know better than to let a two year old wash her own hands. Apparently she thought she needed to wash her face too. While washing her face, she pushed the soap up to get it out of her eyes and thought...well my hair is already wet, might as well wash it too. So 1/2 a botttle of baby wash later, she comes to me and says , "Mommy, I need help!" All I could do was laugh. It was one of those moments that you know you should be upset but it is hysterically funny instead. 

And people wonder why moms are tired....

Names...

YOUR REAL NAME: Kristin Elaine VanCleave Smith

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother and fathers middle names) Miller Claude

YOUR SECRET SPY NAME: (your first name backwards) Nitsirk

NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad) Jim Hays

STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Smikr

DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Green Panda

SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, county where you were born) Elaine Indianna

SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning) The Purple Hypnotic

FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name) Krth

STREET NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie) Chocolate Oatmeal

PORN STAR NAME: (1st pet's name, street you grew up) Pudding Beechaven Drive

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of last name plus izzle) Smiizzle

YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Sumner

YOUR NEXT CHILDS NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy) Ombre Rose Peppermint

You have to answer in ONE word...

This is one of the few survey thingies I think I might be able to do.You are supposed to type only ONE word answers. Here goes.....

It's harder than you think!! 

Where is your cell phone?....kitchen
Your hair? .........messy
Your father? .......amazing
Your favorite thing? .........daffodils
Your dream last night?...none
Your favorite drink? ...........lemonade
Your dream/goal? ..........survive
The room you are in? ......kitchen
Your fear? ........failing
Where do you want to be in 6 years?.....comfortable
Muffins? .............sweet
One of your wish list items?.........book
Where you grew up? .......Midwest
The last thing you did? .......dinner
What are you wearing?.......jeans
Your TV?........... news
Your pets? .........dog
Your computer? .....laptop
Your life? .........complicated
Your mood? ........exasperated
Missing someone? ....yes
Your car? ....van
Favorite store?.....thrift
Your summer? .....fun
Your favorite color? ........green
When is the last time you laughed? ...today
Last time you cried? ....... saturday
Three people who email me? ..........sean, david, nic
Favorite foods? ........pasta
Where would you rather be right now? ....elsewhere

weighty humor....

This was just cool...

This is the sign outside of my grandparents MD's private office. I just thought it was really cool.

Combining of Blogs

For those of you following my other blog about the grandparents, I have combine that with this one. I found that it is easier. My blogs will continue to post to Multiply as well.

Simplify where you can. :)

Not a routine MD appt.

Today was supposed to be a simple run of the mill doctor appointment. Instead it turned into a fiasco. I took G'ma for a md appointment to have her coumadin level checked in Bethany. (We have an appt with a new MD next week closer to home) For those who don't know, coumadin is a bloodthinner. Levels are supposed to be 3 to 5, hers was 14.9. That is scarey high. So they imediately gave her vitamin K, which reverses the effects of the coumadin, but it wasn't enough. Her MD confered with his partner and decided to sent her to the hospital for fresh, frzen plasma. So what should have been a 1/2 hour appointment has now turned into several hours.  

To back track abit... Thinking this was going to be a routine visit, Sean, Ian and Rosie came with me. It is a 90 mile drive to Bethany. So while I am sitting next to G'ma at the hospital, trying to keep her from pulling out the IV, Sean is trying to entertain the two rugrats. He took them for dinner at Country Kitchen and then to Walmart for toy shopping. Meanwhile, G'pa is home. Mom went over and got him dinner and Tim came home to stay with him. G'pa has a tendency to freak out if we are gone to long (he also has no concept of time). 

While at the hospital, the nursing staff took pictures of G'ma's bruised knees and hand (see blog about her tumbling down the stairs). I know they have to do it for documentation but it sure made me feel like a heel. I know I couldn't have caught her but, I feel like I somehow should have prevented it. 

 I wonder if I can handle having G'ma and G'pa at home. I thought I could. But my experience has been with multiple patients as a nurse, with several aides to help me. It is different being one on two. It is like have a two year old who is 5'2" and too smart for their own good, combined with a forgetful, frail, fall prone, stubborn 80-something old. 

I feel like taking care of them is the only thing I can do to lessen the burden on my mom. She has enough on her plate with dad's situation. But I also feel like I am making it worse because she is the one I call first when something like today happens. 

I hope things will settle into something of a routine soon.

Nurse Humor

And life gets interesting...

We have managed to get thru 5 days without incident. Then today comes along...

The morning started out normal. G'ma got up about 9am, I convinced her into the shower (that was a feat unto itself), she had breakfast and decided to lay down for a nap.   For those who don't know the layout of the house, there is a door in the kitchen that leads to the finished basement. The kids rooms and the rec room are downstairs so they are up and down all the time. I was working in the kitchen and had the basement door closed (we have been keeping it closed to discourage G'ma from the stairs). I turned around just in time to see G'ma open the door and tumble down the stairs. Luckily, she summersaulted the whole way and did not get hurt badly. She has a small cut on her palm and bruised knees. I, on the other hand, think my heart skipped several beats in that moment.  I feel horrible that it happened.  I thought we had taken the correct precautions to keep her from falling but I was obviously wrong. Needless to say, I will be purchasing and installing a gate to keep her from doing it again. I have found a safety gate that is secured / screwed to the wall and can be positioned in the doorway high enough to keep her from going over the top.  What's next?

Day 3 with G'ma

It has been interesting. G'ma has a routine of sorts going. Unfortunately, G'pa is totally discombobulated. He wants her in his room but doesn't understand when she doesn't want to get up in the morning at 7am when he does. He also is having trouble with letting her do things. He wants her to sit in the recliner all day. I keep telling him it is fine for her to walk around and there isn't anything she can get in trouble with. Mainly she just putters and tries to "clean-up".  It is especially funny to watch her try to "clean up" the computer as Sean is working on it.

Frustration followed by excitement

I am sooo frustrated!!! and also excited.

Let me explain, I am on this weight loss quest. I have been really good...going to the gym daily, eating healthy and not snacking, cut down to two sodas a day (working on cutting it out completely), etc. As part of this I having been weighing once a week. I dropped 5 lbs right off the bat. That was two weeks ago. The scale has not moved since, not down and not up. I was so frustrated with it that I made Ian stand on the scale just so I could make sure it was working correctly.....it was. 

Now on the flip side I was able to put on a pair of jeans this morning that 3 weeks ago I couldn't get into. These were the jeans that you have to lay down on the bed and use a pair of pliers to pull up the zipper. This morning, I put them on and not only could I get into them fairly easily, I could zip them.....while standing up!!!!  I was excited, because although the scale hasnt moved, I now have proof that what I am doing is working.

Grandma moves in...

Grandma moved from Crestview today. She is doing pretty well. The trip home to Smithville was fun. Tim drove so I could pay attention to her. She apparently enjoys Tim's choice in music. She was clapping along and singing.  Once home she was greeted by Grandpa Jim. She recognized him and sat holding his hand for awhile. He seems happy she is here. There was a bit of a issue because he expected her to stay sitting still and she wanted to walk around. He finally realized she was not going to sit for more than a few minutes and that I was there and watching out for her. She walked around investigating closets and rooms. She settled down and sat at the dining room table with us for dinner. She doesn't understand silverware anymore so she has to be fed. She ate really well, though. After dinner she was content to sit in the living room with Grandpa for a bit.  I helped her get ready for bed. We have her room at set-up but at Grandpa's request I helped her to bed in his room. I am holding my breath everytime I think I hear something from that room.  I told Grandpa that if she woke up to call for me or Sean, but I doubt he will. He is stubborn. 

It is proving interesting for Sean. He has not dealt with someone with advanced Alzheimer's before now. He is kind of sitting back to see how I do things then following my lead.  I find myself going into nurse mode. I keep waiting for a little icon of a nurse's cap to appear above my head.  

Karma points

I was at Sam's Club with Mom and Nic earlier today. I went out to bring the van up to the door ahead of Mom and Nic.  As I was walking out to the van I notice a older woman, about 85ish, struggling to get her groceries out of the cart and into her car.  She had a cane in her cart and was having to hold onto the edge of it to keep her balance, so she only had one hand to use to get things out. I saw that she had one of those roasted chickens and a big box of hot chocolate. Both of these items require two hands to pick up.   I went over and offered to help her. I picked up the chicken and asked her where she wanted it and put it in the car with her hot chocolate. Then I handed her cane to her and took the cart back to the stall. As I turned around, I saw her looking at me with the "What just happened?" look.  I had to walk back by her to get to the van. As I passed her, she said thank you again and I said, "I hope you have a good day". Her response was "I think I will now." It made me feel good to think that just by giving her two minutes of my time I was able to improve her day.

Getting things ready for Grandma

I spent this morning with Mom shopping for items we need before I move Grandma down. We got her a bed and bedding along with a shower chair and toilet riser. I am waiting for the bolts for the daybed we got from Seth and Staci; the plan is to get them tomorrow. Once that is put together we can start the arrangements to bring her down from Bethany. The plan is too try to bring her down the first week of February.

Strength training setup

I met with my trainer at the YMCA today and we set up a weight program. Last week I was able to meet my goal of going 5 days. I took yesterday, Sunday, off. My goal this week os to go everyday but Sunday and do the weight circut at least three of those days. I am not counting today because we just set it up. I did do a full cardio workout though. I rode the bike. Now the cool part is the bike is not just one of those upright pedal til you think your legs will fall off things. It has this screen that allows you to pick a course to ride and it appears on the screen as if you are really riding it. You can move the handle bars to avoid other riders and it increases you're intensity to mimic the grades of the course. You also set the gears just like a regular bike. It also allows you to plug in head phones and choose from different music stations.  For those of you who are used to going to the gym this is probably not news but I still think it is cool and I'll take anything that keeps me motivated to keep going.