Society for the Preservation of My Sanity

At least nobody died.

There's just something about July 19. Something that makes people want to get sick, injured or um...well, check out!

Tommy's gramma passed away on our anniversary a couple of years ago. A couple years before that is when he pulled his grand doozie and broke his collar bone. But we won't talk about that now, WILL WE?????? And then here we are... yet another two years later... with Tommy's father in ICU after the appendicitis episode.

*sigh* I don't know what it is about those people. Sheesh.

So anyhow...more stuff went on after that last post. I mean, of course it couldn't just be like a simple appendectomy, doncha know?

After that surgery was over and all seemed well with the world, he started feeling ill... his blood pressure dropped slightly, then he started throwing up blood.

Hmm... not a good sign. Of course THEN his bp dropped hugely!! Tommy had gone back to work by then, so I got the call from the hospital lady telling me that This is MM Medical Center...Is Tommy there? I'm like um, NO...what's going on? So, she explains to me that FIL is having a little trouble and MIL is a little upset and wants him to come.

I told her I'd get in touch with Tommy if I could and if not, I'd be up there myself.

Ya'll can't imagine how freaked out MIL gets over stuff. *sigh* I knew if SOMEbody didn't get up there to do Outburst Control, someone could possibly be calling security on her.

Seriously...

But more on that later....

I got hold of Tommy, so he headed up there, and I hurried to swab off the sweat and dog hairs (I'd been weeding and brushing a very hairy, shedding dog! Urgh!) and pull my sweaty hair into a ponytail and Casey and I just hurried up there too.

When I walked into the Obseravation area, he looked like a little white lumpy pile. He was in really bad shape. Turns out he was hemorraging and they were going to take him back into surgery.

And yeah...MIL was in Freak-Out City.... matter of fact, there was talk of electing her as mayor, I think.

MIL has always been this way, but in years past, I didn't have to deal with it so much. But now with so many things happening with FIL, who can usually keep her calmed down???? Ya see?? Well, it's been a whole different ballgame, but I'm finally learning to quit tiptoe-ing around her about how she's behaving.

She doesn't seem to be able to help it in one way...I mean, it seems to be her nature to just immediately start all this I'm so AFRAID *bawl with head in hands* If he dies, I don't want to live!! *bawls louder* I don't know what I'll do if he dies! *voice getting higher & shakier* She just works herself up into this frenzied state and she'll get mad if you try to stop her. She'll ask you questions geared to feed her panic fire and if you try to put water on it? She will get this look as if you've betrayed her and she'll start bawling again...

I'm telling you. She's about impossible!!!

Anyhow... their pastor was there, and I really like him. At that time, after they'd just taken him for the second surgery and she was working her way up to a full-on fit, my dad, both the boys, Tommy and I were all there, too. We'd been trying to y'know...comfort her with analogies of how God takes care of things and we're not supposed to worry. How that no matter what, God is in control and whatever happens, it's all in His hands and it's all in our best interest because God never does anything that is not for our good, even if it doesn't seem that way at the time.

So Preacher walks up (he's a big ol' country fella) and she's started that bawling and wailing again. He says it's going to be alright. She answers with wails of BUT I'M SO AFRAID!!! And he says Mm-hmm...and there you sit, a-sinnin'.

*gasp* (and snicker, too!!)

She looked up with her mouth wide open and then frowned and told him she didn't wanna hear that! (see? I told you she'd turn on you if you didn't feed her pity fire!) So he said, That may be, but I'd be doing wrong if I didn't tell you so.

And he just stood there, smiling. I coulda kissed him. ;)

Later, after one of the nurses had run out to say he was doing really good in surgery, MIL calmed down a little. I pulled her off to herself and talked to her head.

I asked her What good does it do when you do that? Does it make FIL feel any better? Whether he knows you're carrying on like that or not? NO. Does it make YOU feel any better? NO. How about God? Does it show Him that you're trusting Him? Um, NO. Now, I know that your family all reacts to things in a similar way. They like to jump to the worst case senerio and make a mountain out of a mole hill. And I KNOW, over much smaller things than a surgery!! I know that.
But you have to work on quitting that. It's not good for you. You need to start recognizing when you're getting on that 'track' and stop yourself. ......

Anyhow...she agreed, etc. But that's how she usually is, too. She'll be all apologetic about how she acted after it's all over. Then she'll do the same thing again. It just freaks ME out. I just can't quite handle someone carrying on like that. Makes me wanna just smack her sometimes, ya know? Like in the movies.... Snap out of it!!!

*sigh* So FIL came through surgery #2 very well. They'd given him so much blood that the bleeding had stopped before they even opened him up (he takes a couple of blood thinning meds, thus the bleeding, so...med-free blood helped stop bleeding) They cleaned out the hemorrage mess and reglued all the previous incisions and closed him back up.

He's been doing really well ever since. Tommy's stayed the past two nights in ICU with him while his mom went home to sleep. I have been going during the day for several hours, just to give her a break to go eat or whatever.

Going to MM Med Center? You need someone in the room to watch out for you.... If you're not mobile enough to get up and leave or whatever? You need to have someone there to take care of you or ask questions or chase down a nurse/doctor or who knows!!! *sigh* It's just not a good idea to be up there alone, okay?

We're hoping they'll move him to a regular room today and maybe let him go home tomorrow. That man bounces back from this kinda stuff quicker than anyone I've ever seen!! Pr0st@te c@ncer/surgeries, heart @tt@ck/surgery.... He just keeps on ticking.... amazing.

So anyhow...um, there was no anniversary celebration. The evening of the 18th, I stayed at the hospital til about 1:30 the next morning... I went home and left Tommy there with his dad. When I got up that morning, the 19th, I got dressed and headed back to the hospital but Tommy had already gone. He'd had to stop by work to take care of some stuff (of course *grrr*) So I didn't see him til like 4pm... he was still sleeping and I was exhausted, so I piled into bed and we slept til about 6pm. We got up, I rustled up some supper, we ate, talked to Corey, who hadn't been home from work very long, poor baby, and went back to the hospital. I stayed til about 11pm, and Tommy spent the night up there again.

So there you go. Another lovely anniversary marked by memories of the hospital ER.

Gah.