My year - 2020.1 Femoral surgery part 2

 You Can read Part 1 Here.... As I said it's been a long year thus far.

Coming home on that Saturday then after exhausting myself doing miscellaneous chores with next to zero sleep I began thinking about what life would or could be without the Hub's..?.. It was then that I decided I needed a plan for the What If moment 'if'' it came.

Was I prepared to manage on my own..?..

Do I know what bills are coming in..?..

What about yearly expenses..?..

What about home upkeep/repair expenses..?..

My car is paid for but What if I need a new one, could I afford it..?..

I needed a Single Plan..!..

I don't want to be one of those blubbering widows that don't have a clue as to what to do. Will I be sad? Of course! This man is the Greatest. And I truly want to spend many, many more years together. But I'm going to be realistic too. 

The next morning [Sunday} driving to the hospital I called my SIL...I explained what I was getting ready to see her Brother...and hopefully she would understand my stand point. The 1 1/2 drive gave me plenty to time to organize my thoughts. Time to emotionally prepare myself. Physically I was Tired...and felt it deep into my bones.

I arrived and thankfully he was sitting up and much more coherent, but still bed ridden due to both legs having surgeries. We found out he had MSSA so was also hooked up with a PIC line for Antibiotics. We talked for a bit, filling in the gaps he couldn't remember from surgery until now, nurses came and went, then I told him I wanted to have a frank discussion with him. It started like this---

"I Love You..deeply-truly Love You but since you are determined to make me a widow Much earlier than I want to be, I will be making a Single plan. It's been over 20yrs since being totally single and I need to learn How to do it again. It sucks! But I need to be realistic and prepare. And It Begins Today. I'm mentality, physically, emotionally Exhausted. I will be here every morning but I'm not going to spend 6-8hrs at the hospital like I did the other 4 hospital stays and then drive 1 1/2 hrs home and try to get every day household maintenance/chores done. I hope you understand." He said he understood and knows that it was a lot for me, and that he Loved me More!

We talked some more, he asked me to call a few people to let them know what was going on....and I said No much to his surprise. I promptly handed him his phone and a charger and told him No I'm not making any calls. If you want people to know how you are call them yourself or not it didn't matter to me I'm tired. 

When lunch arrived and everything set up, I grabbed my purse ready to head out when I seen his shocked face! He asked if I was going downstairs to eat lunch? Nope..I'm eating when I get home. Gave him a kiss, asked if there was anything he needed and told him I would call later to check on him. Mind you I cried All. The. Way. To. My. Car. and All. The. Way. Home!

I did the same thing on Monday left at lunch time...again Crying all the way to my car, and on the way home.

And on Tuesday left at lunch time....cried to the car, sit there for a few minutes and told myself to Suck It Up! Then went Home.

Wednesday left at lunch time, didn't cry.

Thursday left at lunch time. didn't cry.

Friday I was just about out the door when the floor nurse called me, looking back our convo was a bit amusing...

Nurse: Ms Cline?

Me: yes this is she

Nurse: your husband says you've been leaving early all week?

Me: umm yeah {was he telling on me?}

Nurse: well I do want to let you know, Once we get your classes set up this afternoon, your Hubby is being released later today.

Me: Oh OK...Classes??

Nurse: yes Ma'am, you are to go through Diet/Nutrition - Silver Sneaker PT - PIC line/antibiotic training - Wound Care.

Me: Hmmm😕

I made it to the hospital and the very first thing he asked was ''did the nurse call you?' Yep she did I replied back.... He says..ok good I didn't want you to have to make another trip back tonight....LOL, well it's a good thing you did have her call 'cause I wouldn't have came back tonight, you would've had to wait until after I finished working at my race tomorrow morning.

Then we waited, there were multiple Dr's that need to sign off for his release. I did my 'classes' acing the heart healthy diet [he's been on that for years], Silver Sneakers piece of cake - been trying to keep him active for years, Wound Care??not my first time people [4 previous surgeries]..PIC line - Whoa Nelly! Nope !! Nada!! Zilch !! not ME!! Do you know where that goes too? and Are You Crazy!! Ya need to be calling in Home Health and I do Not care how much it is to have them..., This #nursewife Will Not be messing with PIC lines.

I'm closing Part 2 here, next I'll post about being home....

My year - 2020.1 Femoral surgery part 1

 With the way the year's been going for me I've decided this is year 2020.1 for me. It Still SUCKS!!  OMG This Mr of mine! My last post was August 11th [ you can read about it HERE ] since then we have had another ordeal with his femoral artery...during the week of my last post he ended up not feeling the best, kinda puny, a bit of cough. But then he started running a bit of a fever and finally told me he had some drainage from his ear. So there we go with Alka Seltzer Cold & Flu for a couple of days..and he slept All. The. Time! I kept asking him about going to the Dr or ER and of course he said NO! Finally, after having chills so bad that heating pads, wearing sweats to bed, and multiple heavy winter blankets he wanted to go get a Covid test...he was so adamite that he needed the test 'before' going to the ER....😒 guess what ? He finally decides to go, the very first thing they do is give him a Covid test!! This man is driving me beyond Crazy. We wasted 48 hours..2 whole days 😖! He was there the entire day...we find out he has an infection at the wound site, a embolism, and a possible aneurism, finally the ER Dr decided to call his surgeon[6pm] and AirVac is called to transport - It. Was. THAT. Serious! Off I go to get the cats fed for the the night, grab a snack and off I went. Louisville is 1 1/2 hrs away from me at the speed limit (I made it under)...but not under enough to be able to see him before surgery.

I was the only person in the surgery waiting room, the nurse stayed for a while, I finally convinced her that she should go home and be with her family. Then I waited....and waited. 4 hours later the surgeon came to tell me how the surgery went. To my surprise the very first thing he asked was What in the world did he do?? 😧umm what?😧 It wasn't an easy surgery...the Doc had to 'harvest' veins from the right thigh to 'reconstruct' the left side femoral artery. So. Many. Thoughts going through my head...I decided then and there That Was It!  I'm putting both feet down HE WAS GOING TO PAY ATTENTION !! Once he finished I asked how soon I could go see him and if the recovery team had my number to call me back, to my surprise he said I wouldn't be able to see him, the Doc put him on a ventilator and said IF he made it through the night I could see him the next morning...to go home and rest until...morning...😲

I'm not sure if anyone else has had that remark given to them but I was In Shock! I sat for a minute or so then went to the car. The whole time I was in total disbelief, WTH happened? How did this happen? I sat in the car and cried..then cried some more😭. Again it's 1 1/2hrs to home..I told myself I could do it I had pets to tend too and needed to get things around for the next day. On the way I called to update the Kid and LOST IT! To the point I had to pull over from sobbing...and then again I pulled over sobbing...It. Took. Forever to get home 4 times I had to pull over. Finally I was home, fed the cats, rinsed off, put together a light lunch ate a spoonful of PB and went to bed around 1:30--1:45am... tossed and turned then got a call from the hospital around 3am. The Hub's was doing ''OK'' and whatever numbers they were monitoring they decided to wing him from the ventilator...he was 'stable'. I was told I could see him later that morning. Still I tossed and turned. 

8:30am Saturday off to Louisville I go. He's groggy [rightfully so] and confined to bed due to surgeries in both legs, on pain meds every 4 hrs. He was able to realize & acknowledge me but he was a bit different...you could tell he was scared this time. Then came the Infectious Disease Dr, I was ushered out of the room while they put a PIC line in and started antibiotics...STRONG antibiotics. He had MSSA in the bloodstream which meant I wasn't allowed to be there very long, had to wear protective wear, and wasn't allowed to get very close in general..😨. WTH !!

It was then I really wanted to Scream at the top of my lungs...Now I'M Mad at the Hub's! Why in the world was he trying to make me a widow??

On the way out again I'm sobbing...all the way to the car...while waiting in line to leave...on the way home. I called the Kid again to update her of course sobbing, then called the SIL. Once I collected my self I headed home. I mowed the yard, did the weed eating, started laundry, fixed myself a light dinner and decided then IF the Hub's was going to me a widow I'm doing a 'single plan'. And That's what I did.

I'm stopping here...but there's so much more that happened so bear with me....another update coming.

  

Priority Changes coming....

Lawd Have MERCY it's been a While...again, sorry 'bout that. Let's play a game I call catching up! Since last time blogging I've worked the inaugural Rainbow Run..what an Amazing race event. they raised just over 10,000$ BEFORE the race even took place. And talk about the most fun ever! They set up pop-up tents for shade, DJ music, pizza, BBQ, West Sixth Brewery brought beer, and OMG---FIREBALL shots, Woah! PARTAY!!

*****

Last weekend I had the honor to work the inaugural Blazing Blue Devils 5K--it was so much fun to interact with XC runners, and you could see just how much they respected their Coach! Unfortunately I missed the local Coach Plummer 5K, maybe next year. 

Also I went with the Kid to her half-marathon in Morrow, Oh. There's nothing there to speak of, but talk about a Great turn out for a race. They also had a 10K going on. 'Ol mom even scored a race shirt..Win! 

*****

I took the Mr for his first after surgery follow-up. They took out 60+ staples from his incision, and though he's not under any major restrictions our discussion driving home about continuing to take it easy until his next appointment in a couple of weeks...yeah that went in one ear and out the other...[sigh]. Though he's not back to doing much physically he's still made it to check things out at Church, went to Senior Citizen's Center, and is at the beckon call to the elderly [surrogate Mom] lady who in my opinion is taking advantage of him. 

*****

August 1st I decided that I was going to attempt to get back into doing what I want to do, I want to get in mileage for upcoming races, I want to re-join in hiking with my group, I want to complete a couple of home projects, I want to work on controlling Stress Eating...I Want...I Want...I WANT !!

*****

This all for tonight...

Hugs, Kisses, Be Safe Wishes!