Wednesday, September 29, 2010

NURSE RATCHED'S UPDATE.....

I loaded up the patient and took him to the Doctor today. All in all, she was pleased with his progress. Although he is still hurting, he's going to. Seriously, why wouldn't he? For some reason today the broken ribs are hurting. This is really the first I've heard him complain about those in particular. They probably hurt this bad all along, but everything else hurt so much, he didn't notice....

Anyway, he's to continue on doing what he's been doing. Which is not much. Resting, NO drinking, NO driving, No heavy lifting and NO working. So what that translates loosely to is 'hanging out at home'. Not much fun for a 22 year old. I know he's sick of it,( for the 4 or so hours he's awake every day) and that's NOT his idea of fun, but, that's just too bad. Nurse Ratched has spoken.

On another note, my city girl came to visit him yesterday and brought me these- I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE SUNFLOWERS!
Aren't they cheery? She brought him cheesecake- which he said was delish!



Thursday, September 23, 2010

LIFE.....

Let me start by saying, I should be on an airplane to Italy tonight. The Amalfi coast, for our 30th anniversary.

I'm not. I'm home. Being a nurse for my son, whom I can thank God is alive.

Sunday morning we got the knock no parent ever wants. I, of course didn't hear it, but Mark did, got up and came down to see who was at the door. It was a police man. He had the lovely job of telling us our son had been involved in an ATV accident. A serious ATV accident, and was on his way in a helicopter to a trauma center.

Mark came up stairs and woke me with the horrific news, that Corbin had '3 brain bleeds and a broken spine'. I reacted as any mother would~ beginning to cry and shake. From somewhere I got it together enough to get dressed, run wet hands through my hair and get ready. We jumped in the car and began the longest drive of our lives.

The hospital is only an hour away, but it felt like days. Days of terror. Would he be alive, if he was alive, would he be brain dead, would he be paralyzed, would he know us? And an overwhelming fear that I would have to make the decision no parent should EVER have to make. To unplug my child. God wouldn't do that to me would he? That doesn't happen to people like us.... but yes, it does. Just one week prior, a girl I went to school with had to make that decision for her 19 year old daughter. In the same hospital. The same ICU.... I wanted to turn my mind off. Then we saw a hearse. That was the final straw and I totally came apart.

We finally arrived, to our handsome, healthy, fun loving son, unconscious, a bit battered and hooked up to too may tubes, on a ventilator in the ER. He was being moved to the Neuro ICU. After talking with the trama Dr. we found out that he did indeed have a skull fracture, with 3 bleeds, but that it hadn't changed since he left the other hospital. That was a good thing. We also learned that his 'spine' wasn't broken, it was a couple vertebrae knobby things cracked. And there were 3 broken ribs.

There was no response from him to our arrival. We learned that he was sedated, and they would unsedate him every hour. That hour finally rolled around. He opened his eyes, and when I asked if he knew who I was, he shook his head. Thank you God.

As the day wore on, every time they unsedated him to do the neuro checks he seemed to be a little more engaged. By the time the last one we could be there for (they actually kicked us out) he was quite awake. Awake enough to make the write motion and the text motion. The nurse said not to let him write, as it is too aggravating, but I finally did... he wrote 'what'? He remembered NOTHING of the accident. Then he began circling his face with his hand. The nurse asked if something hurt? He shook his head no, I said, face.... ah...your face is fine. There was a little hint of a smile and a thumbs up. That's my vain son!! Worried about his handsome face!

Monday the vent came out- thank you, and he could talk. Still very groggy and sleeping but we could actually hear him make sense. And that was wonderful.

Late Tuesday they moved him out of the ICU into a regular room. And late last night, Wednesday,(like 8:30) they DISCHARGED HIM. I. AM. SERIOUS.

What is wrong with this picture? Yes, he is very lucky, and responding well, but the severity of his injuries? C'mon... so here I am. Watching him sleep and worrying about whether the headache he's complaining about is serious enough to warrant a trip to the ER.

This boy is running out of his nine lives. This mother is aging at an accelerated rate. Some thing has got to give here. I'll follow up with what's going on as I can, it's a hard job being Nurse Ratched.




Monday, September 13, 2010

CLASS REUNION

First off, I survived my birthday. Actually it turned out quite nice- I got great gifts, a yummy cake and had dinner with some old friends. Dinner was a warm up for my High School Reunion, the fun started on Thursday and went on through the weekend.

The Reunion. I helped plan it. Well, in reality, I was the committee from my class. What a group of slackers my class is. I'm dumb struck by the people who live close by and can't be bothered to come see people that fly across the country to see them. Seriously, what keeps people from coming? We haven't had one since 1994.... I know some people had legit conflicts, and some who the hell knows, they didn't even acknowledge the invitation. Okay, so maybe I'm just a little bit irritable.. I had a root canal today.

Off my soapbox, sorry.

We had such a great time- it was FAB to see all the people! Some people looked the same (more or less), some I never would have guessed who they were. Thank god for the name tags. I'm sure my husband and I didn't look any different than we had! hahahahahahahahah I did have one guy tell me I looked better than I had in high school... he really needs glasses, or is just full of s***...but I'll take it! I'm not proud!!

Here's a couple shots of me, courtesy of Sandra. I took a few pictures, but haven't uploaded them yet. I guess I was remiss in taking them, I was having too much fun talking...
and take one and two of a picture of my husband and me

It was a lot of fun. I hope it isn't another 16 years before we have another!


Wednesday, September 8, 2010

tomorrow............

Tomorrow is my birthday. I HATE aging, so my birthday is far from my favorite day.

There is really not much else to say. (and yes Barb, I KNOW it's better than the alternative~ I STILL HATE IT)


signed, a verklempt, aging

Monday, September 6, 2010

LABOR DAY WEEKEND....

Let me start by saying, I didn't take any pictures. So if you're in it for the photos, move on.

Saturday, the nautical forcast was nasty. There were gale force winds, 7 foot waves, so we stayed home. Now this was good, I guess, as my husband got a new computer and wanted to play with it. Our city girl and her beau were home for a wedding of one of her high school friends, and we got to chat with them, so that was nice.

Our older daughter and her beau also went to a wedding. This was also a high school friend, and the groomsmen, who were also life long friends all wore kilts. I gotta say, it was pretty fun to see pictures of these boys in kilts. Anyway, late in the afternoon, we took a convertible ride and ended up perusing mattresses. WE NEED A NEW ONE. REALLY. We made no decision.... ugh.... I did see a kick ass bed- and I mean kick ass. It was expensive, too expensive but cool none the less. We didn't buy it. We didn't buy anything. We came home.

Sunday we headed into the boat finally- it seemed like everything took too long but we did get there. Our son joined us and it was a FAB day. Great wind, not real rough but enough to enjoy the sport. We had a great sail. Afterwords, we headed to a 'sailor bar' my husband has wanted to check out. Great food and a fun place- we'll go back.

Today, it was ugly out. Gray, windy and not anything like predicted. I did the 'Brooke Sheilds' Fashion show' for my mom and husband of the dresses for our high school reunion. We ALL agreed on the same dress for the reunion, and there were two others that were just too cute to return, so I'm ready for any dressy occasions that come my way. After that, my husband and I headed into Chicago, I needed to return a dress (see earlier post). We had lunch with our daughter and headed over to the boat. It was really rough. Mark managed to refill the compass with an evil looking hypodermic needle. He did this without his glasses! I tell you that man amazes me...he can do anything, with or without being able to see.

So that sums it up. Not too exciting, but overall it was a good weekend. Stay tuned for a week of aging........

Thursday, September 2, 2010

O.O. OPRAH.......

So, you all know who Oprah is... well, I went with my good buddy to see her today.

NO, I did not get a new car, or refrigerator, or even a cup of coffee. She wasn't in a generous mood today. The topic of the day, was a woman with 20 personalities... and this was 'kind of' a follow-up to one she did 20 years ago on a woman named Truddi Chase who had 92 personalities. I can't say it was exactly an uplifting show. Obviously these two women have endured horrific abuse to have this situation.

We decided that we'd go in last night, as neither one of us is exactly a morning person and we would have had to leave at a totally uncivilized hour. As it was, we got up at 5:15... yep, that's right- no typo, 5:15.

We checked into our hotel, and headed up Michigan Avenue to Nordstrom to visit my daughter and her beau (they both are employed there). I tired my best to find some delightful shoes, so I could buy them from him, but alas, nothing in my size that was what I needed (ha, wanted). So I headed up to the 'special occasion' dress department to see what I could buy from my daughter. After trying on a bunch of dresses, I settled on one, and bought it. But, on the way home today, I bought 3 more, so this could be another 7 dress event coming up... but... anyway...

After our shopping, we met up with my friend's son, for dinner. He suggested a fun place that had yummy food. Unfortunately, I ate so much I probably need a bigger size dress. After spending some time in a book store,we headed back to the hotel, to in theory go to bed early. Right. It was a short night.

So back to Oprah... she looked tired this morning, like I DIDN'T. And she came out in little flat shoes, but changed into some EXTREMELY high ones and complained and SAT in them. They were sittin' shoes ~ women know all about this type of shoe. After the show, she did sit and chit chat a bit about the price of shoes, (like it matters to her) and other things, that was fairly light. She also let a couple people who were goofy for her get their pictures taken with her, which is cool. I didn't...now if it was my girl Babs...a totally different story. However,not to speak ill of her, but, she's lost some of her 'caring personality' and has kind of taken on a reporters roll. Some of the questions and statements she made, were a little harsh. Now, before I get a barrage negative comments, I'm not dissing her- she is a great woman, has done some fabulous things. She is extremely generous ~ just not today.