14dabucs's Blog

...  Okay, so the mother-in-law finally and reluctantly went to the hospital Friday night.  She has congestive heart failure, but she really hates hospitals and doctors.  She was not doing the best, but she wasn't doing the worst either.  We went and saw her Saturday morning and she seemed like she was doing better.  

Throughout the day she  complained about shortness of breath and her back hurting.  When we called that evening to see how her day went, she asked my husband to bring her inhaler, which he said he couldn't do.  He told her to ask a nurse for help, she was really struggling, and she was frustrated and hung up on him.   We called the nurse's station and the wonderful folks at Missouri Baptist responded immediately.  She said she was walking into the room right then and that she was sitting up and would speak with her.  The nurse said that the MIL walked from the chair to the bed and then laid down while the nurse began checking her out.

 It was a good thing too.  Throughout the day, fluid was building up around her heart until it was putting pressure on her heart like a vise.  Usually when you have a heart attack, your heart goes all bonkers and THEN stops.  Hers simply stopped.  For 14 minutes.  Her heart failed.  Her kidneys failed.  Her lungs failed. 

 Things were looking very grim.  They were working on her throughout the night.  Because she was on Coumadin and had not had her protein level checked, her blood was dangerously thin.  The doctors wanted to put a line into her heart but couldn't because it was too risky.

Sunday we went to see her and she was still unconscious, but she was starting to produce urine again.  She had pulmonary hypertension, which if I understood right, means that the blood vessels in her lungs were under a lot of pressure and blood was not flowing very well there, so it was backing up everywhere else.  The doctors thought they saw her doing a thing called "posturing," which is a kind of involuntary movement that indicates brain damage, but a CT scan showed no sign of stroke.

 Well, yesterday afternoon, my good ole 82 yr old MIL WOKE UP.  She already is acting a bit like herself again, or at least as much as you can while you are still hooked up to a ventilator and getting your food through your nose.  How she survived all this, how God watched over her and the nurse just happened to be in the room when she flatlined... it's all amazing.

 Today she was even more alert and she may be weaned off the ventilator tomorrow.  They saw she is still very weak, but she's also much stronger than they originally thought.  It's still a LONG way to go, but she's made a LOT of progress.

 Thanks to all of you for your kind thoughts and prayers.  Please keep them up. 

 

 

 

Tonight was supposed to be awesome.  Billy Donovan up close!  The atmosphere of March Madness IN PERSON.  What could be more awesome?  With the way every game seems to be coming down to the wire, you never know who is going to finally run out of steam.  I was hyped, as they say.

 Instead I spent the evening with my M-I-L at the emergency room.  I don't think I'd have it any other way, either.  She's been bummed a bit, but when Wednesday was so gorgeous and she wouldn't even go for a ride in the car, I knew something was really wrong. 

 It's tough trying to help an elderly parent.  You want to be respectful, but you want to see them better too.  It turns out her congestive heart failure is acting up again.  I'm blessed with a M-I-L that is easy to deal with and that I love hanging out with.  Sure, she's over 80, but she has a great sense of humor, shares great stories and in general, is just plain fun to be around.  However, since the new year, she didn't seem to be interested in the things she was.

 Another tough part is being the daughter-in-law and not overstepping bounds.  She would have tests run every few weeks to make sure her blood-thinning medicine was okay.  We've barely been to the office this year to have it checked.  I thought that was odd and mentioned it to my husband and he said he wasn't sure about it either.

Tonight in the emergency room, the doctor asked about her blood medicine and if there had been any changes lately, to which she said not really.  Turns out her blood was WAY too thin.  I make myself very available to her, and I cannot help but feel guilty for not pressing the issue of getting her blood checked more. 

 I guess my question to you guys is how do I handle this?  Gentle prodding?  Maybe some semi-tough love?  This is totally new territory for me.

Sorry I missed Glen's show and I'll do my best to get to blogapalooza, but I may be at the hospital instead.  Hope everyone is well and hug your family!

 

Bethany
 

 

 

I don't know what the heck is wrong with the planet this week, but for crap's sake! Stop the ride! I want off!

 

Britney checks into rehab and then out in 24 hours (maybe), shaves her head, gets a tattoo. I'm not one to judge, but isn't she in the middle of a custody battle? Where is her family? Where are the "no" people? Sheesh!

 

Some guy on the board of trustees at St. Louis Community College hired his friend WITH NO POLITICAL EXPERIENCE to head up a campaign to get Prop EJ passed, shoots $570,000 dollars of the college's money his way, starts a non-profit corporation with his father and brother without the college's knowledge and then spends the $13,000 left in the coffers on RETAINING HIS OWN LAWYER when the poo starts to hit the fan AND ALMOST A YEAR LATER IS STILL ON THE BOARD? And his friend, Earp is thinking about throwing HIS hat into the ring in the next round of trustee elections? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

 

The couple that kept their mentally handicapped kids in cages get TWO YEARS for what they did? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

 

Jose Padilla wants to be declared mentally unfit for trial because his incarceration has traumatized him? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

 

People from the St. Louis City School Board won't step down when they have completely and utterly FAILED the children (and future) of the city? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

 

WHAT IS GOING ON?

 

My brain is melting and I am going back to bed.

Well well well! I went to post a blog about the video snippets and what do I find? All sorts of shiny new options to use while posting! Thanks guys! Your hard work is seriously appreciated. (you still know where to send the goodie bag, right? right?)

 

 EDIT TO ADD:  WOOHOO!  Now it really works!  Thank you!

Is everybody else like me and typing on their laptop as they relax on the couch watching the news, or what? I can't believe how many people on here when the news is on! What are you guys doing?

Also, how come there are 6,000 people and about 12 new posts? What's up with that? You big bunch of lurkers!

Craziness!

Okay folks. Time to put up or shut up. Where do we go from here, as a country? It's obvious from the polls that we don't like the job the president is doing, so what should we do instead?

I'm very interested in what people think we should do about Iraq, national security, health care, immigration, poverty, etc.

... I heard last night that it is safer to live in prison than it is to live out in the real world.

Apparently the death rate for those incarcerated between the ages of 15-24 is about 250 per 1000, while the rate for "civilians" is around 308 per 1000.

Totally crazy, I'll find a source momentarily.

It seems that a lot of folks do not understand the issue many residents face regarding the trimming of trees and right-of-way maintainance (or complete lack of it) by AmerenUE. I have included pictures of both our family's own right-of-way and my mother-in-law's right-of-way to help those of you with buried lines or lines in FRONT of your house understand what many of us are so up in arms about.

Please keep in mind a couple of things.

These pictures are from the dead of winter, so the growth is, at this time, pretty minimal compared to how it looks in late spring, summer, and early fall.

Also, please note that these trees are NOT, I repeat NOT on private property. Ameren is SUPPOSED to be able to drive a truck back into this area, after all... that's the point of a right of way, isn't it? As the pictures show, this is impossible.

Also, keep in mind the fact that power lines are intermingled with the overgrowth. I would love nothing more than to go back there and hack stuff to bits, but the lines make it a suicide mission. I have gone back there each spring and fall and cut as much of the undergrowth as I could, but I wonder why I spend so much time working on landscaping that is not my own and suffering from poison ivy that hides in the English ivy that proliferates the area.

Lastly, please keep in mind that these trees are a straight up pain in the butt. Because they are not maintained, they usually fall apart in storms. They drop leaves that I have to rake up. They look atrocious. Ameren has said that people will complain about the trees being removed and their ensuing lack of privacy. As is plain for all to see... NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Hope this clears things up! Thanks for letting me vent!

My jaw about hit the floor when Mandy Murphey came on and said that not only was Ben found, but Shawn was too! Every time I walk into Schnucks, I walk past the bench with his smiling face on it and think of him.

Police in this case caught a number of breaks. Good looking out and hard work solved this case and will bring these boys home.

I'm not sure how many of you remember the Elizabeth Smart case, but to all the people that are saying "Why didn't they run?" and things like that, I have to say that we, as people who have not been in that situation, and for the most part, adults, cannot understand or know what poor Shawn was told by this Devlin jerk.

Shawn was only 11 years old when he was snatched, and that is a truly impressionable age. What matters is that Shawn has been found. It's not for us to judge.

Also, the sheriff said that even he did not recognize Shawn when he saw him, and probably would not have if he had walked into his office.

For now, what matters is that these boys are back home, and that their captor is caught. Hug your kids, folks, and say a prayer of thanks.

Yesterday I attended the PSC hearing at UMSL, and I highly encourage anyone out there to attend whatever hearings are left. After suffering 14 days without power during the hottest and coldest days of the year, not to mention numerous shorter outages (Allied Waste truck backs into pole, power is down to 60+ homes for more than 18 hours... RIDICULOUS), I have been more and more steamed each time Ameren is mentioned on the news.

Now, that frustration is gone (at least until the next outage), and I feel like my complaints were really heard. This being an active citizen does have some nice benefits, although my fingers are crossed that Ameren forgot my address.