weebiscuit
Well-Known Member
I don't unload my personal problems on the internet, but at this point, I guess I just need a few shoulders to cry on. Things are piling up and maybe it will just be a little cathartic to unload.
First... my husband's brother, Mike, is 64 years old, and in January he was diagnosed with an extremely rare (3,000 people a year) blood cancer called amyloidosis, which is always fatal. In February he went to Mayo in Rochester, MN, for treatment. Mayo told him that no one has ever survived this disease, but they wanted to try, none-the-less. He was in Mayo for a month. First, they started harvesting his red blood cells. Then they harvested the stem cells. After that, they gave him massive doses of chemo, on a daily basis, which killed off every blood cell in his body, and then began feeding his enriched stem cells back into him.
During that month, my husband had to go three hours away to where Mike lived, and care for his 95 year old father. Mike and his wife have a small house built right onto their home, in which their father lives. He has a lot of dementia, but is very laid back and sweet. We hire daily help to come in for Grandpa, but someone needs to be there during the night, so my husband went. BIL came home from Mayo and every three months he goes back for three days. He keeps hoping he will be the ONE person to beat this, and he is part of a study and experiment with this stem cell thing to treat it. However, he's not been feeling well lately. He left for Mayo yesterday so my husband will be gone this week.
Husband's father is sort of getting to the point that when Mike is home his dad is becoming too much for him. Mike doesn't have the strength to get up all night and check on his dad. So, we are all facing the possibility of putting this dear, sweet man into a nursing home. Grandma died a year ago.
Now.. my father. He lives in Florida, and is as nasty as a viper. My brother lives there and takes care of what needs to be done. Dad went into Assisted Living a year ago. My mom died two years ago. Dad broke a hip in early July, went into surgery and rehab, and returned to Asst. Living on Saturday, only to fall again, and then have the staff at the Asst. Living center tell my brother that he is belligerent, uncooperative, strikes out at staff, and needs to go to a nursing home. He also has periods of dementia that leave him out of touch with reality, but then becomes cognizant and knows everything. So, brother is trying to find nursing care for him. We also need to find a home for his Shih'tzu.
On top of this we had construction start here. We built this house 32 years ago and never had a garage... because during construction my husband's job was cut to part time and I had just gotten out of college and didn't have a job. Once we were both working we were raising kids and just now got around to having a two-car attached garage built. We are on a hillside, so it was a major undertaking. The excavation was unbelievable! Because of the garage roof, we also had to have an upstairs patio door removed. It was in my dining room. I didn't want to lose all that light, so we had a window cut in a bit farther down the wall. A BIG mess!
But I also wanted the entire family room gutted, with new walls, all new wood trim, and new carpeting. So, we were basically living without the family room for the last three weeks. Everything upstairs is shoved into the middle of the living room while they are working on the wall and new window. Everything downstairs had to be moved out of the family room and into the two bedrooms so the family room could be redone and carpeted. this is a huge room... about 28' by 30', so it was quite a project. Carpeting went into the family room today, so tonight my daughter-in-law and I had to move all the furniture back into the carpeted area, and then remove three beds and all the furniture, armoire, gun cabinet, and clean out the closets in the bedrooms so they can be carpeted tomorrow. I have stuff stacked in the entry way which also has to come out tomorrow so they can tile it.
Right now the garage is done except the doors aren't on it yet. And, the entry door from the garage into my mud room isn't hung. There's just a piece of styrofoam insulation propped up against that door, and it will be that way for another two days. I'm worried that a raccoon, skunk, or possum will get into the house!
Upstairs, the china cabinet, TV, and most everything else is all sitting in the middle of the room. It's an absolute wreck around here. I'm trying to deal with contractors building the garage and siding the house, plus the carpeting people, plus the electrician who is doing some re-wiring and all the garage wiring, and between the illiness of BIL, problems with FIL, and with my own father, and doing all the barn chores in between, and having my husband gone, I'm totally stressed out!
Then on top of all that, my car broke down on Sunday. We were going to buy a new one this fall, anyway, as it's 14 years old, but with all the construction expense we decided to wait till next year to save money, but who knows how much it's going to cost to fix it? It began overheating to the max and lost engine power and I had it towed yesterday morning.
And then I just found out tonight that my beloved daughter-in-law, (they live just across our hay field), possibly has yet another tumor. She's only 37 years old, and this time the tumor is either on her ovaries or uterus. Not sure yet. Five years ago she had a brain tumor, sitting right about her pituitary gland. The surgeon went in above her front, upper teeth, and removed it and she had a long recovery but did recover! Eight years ago she had an 8" long tumor removed from her lower intestine. And now this.
And I'm also dealing with my most favorite of my three dogs, who came down with yet another yeast infection last week. He's on an internal medication, and it makes him not want to eat. If we cut the dose, his itching gets to the point where he;s scratching himself raw. I hear him scratching all night long. I have him on Benadryl but it doesn't seem to help. I also keep rubbing Gold Bond anti-itch lotion on his chest where he's scratching his hair off. I absolutely have to get him into the vet, but can't possibly do it till Thursday.
I went to the doctor last week because my knee keeps going out and I wake up at night with a lot of pain in it, and was told I need a replacement. there's NO WAY I'm going to get that knee replaced at this point. I want to wait at least another five years.
Well anyway, sorry for the long post. Right now I'm going to make myself a big lime margarita and find the biggest oinkin' piece of dark chocolate I have and curl up on the bed with a few dogs, a crossword puzzle, and my snub-nose .38 revolver and hope tomorrow looks a bit brighter.
First... my husband's brother, Mike, is 64 years old, and in January he was diagnosed with an extremely rare (3,000 people a year) blood cancer called amyloidosis, which is always fatal. In February he went to Mayo in Rochester, MN, for treatment. Mayo told him that no one has ever survived this disease, but they wanted to try, none-the-less. He was in Mayo for a month. First, they started harvesting his red blood cells. Then they harvested the stem cells. After that, they gave him massive doses of chemo, on a daily basis, which killed off every blood cell in his body, and then began feeding his enriched stem cells back into him.
During that month, my husband had to go three hours away to where Mike lived, and care for his 95 year old father. Mike and his wife have a small house built right onto their home, in which their father lives. He has a lot of dementia, but is very laid back and sweet. We hire daily help to come in for Grandpa, but someone needs to be there during the night, so my husband went. BIL came home from Mayo and every three months he goes back for three days. He keeps hoping he will be the ONE person to beat this, and he is part of a study and experiment with this stem cell thing to treat it. However, he's not been feeling well lately. He left for Mayo yesterday so my husband will be gone this week.
Husband's father is sort of getting to the point that when Mike is home his dad is becoming too much for him. Mike doesn't have the strength to get up all night and check on his dad. So, we are all facing the possibility of putting this dear, sweet man into a nursing home. Grandma died a year ago.
Now.. my father. He lives in Florida, and is as nasty as a viper. My brother lives there and takes care of what needs to be done. Dad went into Assisted Living a year ago. My mom died two years ago. Dad broke a hip in early July, went into surgery and rehab, and returned to Asst. Living on Saturday, only to fall again, and then have the staff at the Asst. Living center tell my brother that he is belligerent, uncooperative, strikes out at staff, and needs to go to a nursing home. He also has periods of dementia that leave him out of touch with reality, but then becomes cognizant and knows everything. So, brother is trying to find nursing care for him. We also need to find a home for his Shih'tzu.
On top of this we had construction start here. We built this house 32 years ago and never had a garage... because during construction my husband's job was cut to part time and I had just gotten out of college and didn't have a job. Once we were both working we were raising kids and just now got around to having a two-car attached garage built. We are on a hillside, so it was a major undertaking. The excavation was unbelievable! Because of the garage roof, we also had to have an upstairs patio door removed. It was in my dining room. I didn't want to lose all that light, so we had a window cut in a bit farther down the wall. A BIG mess!
But I also wanted the entire family room gutted, with new walls, all new wood trim, and new carpeting. So, we were basically living without the family room for the last three weeks. Everything upstairs is shoved into the middle of the living room while they are working on the wall and new window. Everything downstairs had to be moved out of the family room and into the two bedrooms so the family room could be redone and carpeted. this is a huge room... about 28' by 30', so it was quite a project. Carpeting went into the family room today, so tonight my daughter-in-law and I had to move all the furniture back into the carpeted area, and then remove three beds and all the furniture, armoire, gun cabinet, and clean out the closets in the bedrooms so they can be carpeted tomorrow. I have stuff stacked in the entry way which also has to come out tomorrow so they can tile it.
Right now the garage is done except the doors aren't on it yet. And, the entry door from the garage into my mud room isn't hung. There's just a piece of styrofoam insulation propped up against that door, and it will be that way for another two days. I'm worried that a raccoon, skunk, or possum will get into the house!
Upstairs, the china cabinet, TV, and most everything else is all sitting in the middle of the room. It's an absolute wreck around here. I'm trying to deal with contractors building the garage and siding the house, plus the carpeting people, plus the electrician who is doing some re-wiring and all the garage wiring, and between the illiness of BIL, problems with FIL, and with my own father, and doing all the barn chores in between, and having my husband gone, I'm totally stressed out!
Then on top of all that, my car broke down on Sunday. We were going to buy a new one this fall, anyway, as it's 14 years old, but with all the construction expense we decided to wait till next year to save money, but who knows how much it's going to cost to fix it? It began overheating to the max and lost engine power and I had it towed yesterday morning.
And then I just found out tonight that my beloved daughter-in-law, (they live just across our hay field), possibly has yet another tumor. She's only 37 years old, and this time the tumor is either on her ovaries or uterus. Not sure yet. Five years ago she had a brain tumor, sitting right about her pituitary gland. The surgeon went in above her front, upper teeth, and removed it and she had a long recovery but did recover! Eight years ago she had an 8" long tumor removed from her lower intestine. And now this.
And I'm also dealing with my most favorite of my three dogs, who came down with yet another yeast infection last week. He's on an internal medication, and it makes him not want to eat. If we cut the dose, his itching gets to the point where he;s scratching himself raw. I hear him scratching all night long. I have him on Benadryl but it doesn't seem to help. I also keep rubbing Gold Bond anti-itch lotion on his chest where he's scratching his hair off. I absolutely have to get him into the vet, but can't possibly do it till Thursday.
I went to the doctor last week because my knee keeps going out and I wake up at night with a lot of pain in it, and was told I need a replacement. there's NO WAY I'm going to get that knee replaced at this point. I want to wait at least another five years.
Well anyway, sorry for the long post. Right now I'm going to make myself a big lime margarita and find the biggest oinkin' piece of dark chocolate I have and curl up on the bed with a few dogs, a crossword puzzle, and my snub-nose .38 revolver and hope tomorrow looks a bit brighter.
