Best laid plans gone awry . . .

Something about the best laid plans of mice and men . . . and for us, the best laid plans have gone so wrong! But, this Pollyanna keeps on plodding away thinking positive thoughts . . . as we all should!

That being said, here is the update . . .

I arrived home, at last and reluctantly, yesterday afternoon after a full week in the hospital with John. . . at the prodding of the doctors, friends, family, and my kids – who finally drove me home, made me some food and put a big glass of wine in my hand . . . hey, it was 5 o’clock somewhere! Andrew took over for me. I had been in the hospital with John 24 hours a day, sleeping in reclining chairs that got progressively less comfortable as each nite wore on . . . do you remember being young and agile and being able to sleep anywhere?!?!

The week we spent in Progressive Coronary Care Unit seemed to start out okay, but began declining rapidly . . . by Thursday John was having tremendous difficulty breathing and his heart became irregular all made worse by the amount of fluid he was retaining due to being on 24 hour a day IV drips of everything . . . he sometimes had 3 different drips going in (and not much coming out). Scared the hell out of both of us!! By Friday we were all pretty sure we were going to lose him within hours.

But, the good docs came along and after plenty of consulting back and forth, it was decided on Friday afternoon to transfer him to ICU. In an hour all of his vital signs showed big improvement, his breathing was MUCH improved, and he (and I) finally had a fairly peaceful sleep. He has calmed down, the muscle tremors have stopped and he is so much more lucid . . .

Andrew reported last evening that he was finally shaved and bathed, reading the newspaper, watching some football, had eaten a little (after 2+ weeks of not eating), and even had a bite of his favorite cream donut!! The edema that was visually apparent in his legs and feet and showed up on X-ray in his lungs, is finally beginning to abate . . . let’s keep those fingeres crossed for that to continue! Andrew assured us that he was doing much much better.

I am anxious to go see him . . . but first I will enjoy a bit of peace and quiet this early AM . . .

I want to once again thank all of you who have been so supportive to all of us as we go thru this . . . many have brought food and gifts . . . I have gotten some lovely hospital “survival kits” (peanuts, cookies, candy), a beautiful pair of sivler earrings that have been blessed by a priest especially for me, a hot pink sleeping shirt that is sure to keep the staff and patients chuckling as I breeze down the hospital corridor finding ice, soda, blankets, etc for our boy! There have been so many kindnesses shown me that I can’t begin to name them all here (especially at 5 AM), but I thank you all!

So, I must run and try to get myself back to my old self . . . it has been so long since I had any makeup on or fixed my hair, and while my dear husband thinks I look beautiful anyway, I do think it is time to make an attempt to look like my former self . . . right now I look like I just returned from the beach!!!

So until next time, keep those prayers coming in and be sure to keep positive! Hug your spouse or partner and tell them how much you love them, enjoy your children, be thankful for your blessing, and cherish your friends! And remember, that while John and I have been going thru a terrible terrible time and fear our loss, we are also thankful for all of the blessings in our life . . . we still count ourselves lucky in the grand scheme of things! We have had nearly 30 years of love, laughter, tears and joy, and the benefits of John’s hard work that have allowed us to have so many of the good things in life! John and I have worked hard together to be able to enjoy our life together. We are blessed with 5 beautiful children, their spouses and partners, 7 fabulous grandchildren, a large network of cousins and aunts and uncles, and many many dear and loving friends. So, while this is certainly NOT what we had planned for our 60s, we are thankful for all we have had in life . . . and we hope for at least a little more time together – a MIRACLE would be especially wonderful, but that might not be what the Powers that Be have in store for us. . .

Love, laughter, tears, hopes, positive thinking, and prayers . . . Linda