Whirlwind

Wow. It’s finally 2010. I am so happy to be done with 2009 I almost cannot express it. I just read back over my last post from December 7, when Aunt Margie was struggling for her life. So much has happened since then! If you had seen Aunt Margie on Christmas Day, at her rehab center, laughing and joking and sneaking the deer bologna we brought her when her nurse left, you’d swear I’d jumped the gun by posting that. She is doing great. Is she healed completely? No. Do her lungs work? Nope. Never will again, but that’s not new. But she’s survived and she’s ready to bust right out of that rehab center. After my post on December 7, Aunt Margie suffered a heart attack. She had a fever so high she was packed in ice. There was an obvious infection, and she was diagnosed with sepsis. Finally, the doctors uncovered four different areas of infection in her body and said that if she was able to be stabilized, then surgery would be necessary as one of those places was a heart valve, according to the Hill Grapevine. A few days later, she was responding well to antibiotics, was moved from CICU, and was discharged about a week later to a rehab facility here in town to receive eight more weeks of IV antibiotics. She has good days and bad days, but she’s doing so much better than anyone anticipated. At one point, she told us that she remembers waking up and seeing her whole family standing around her bed, crying. She said that she realized at that point that something was bad-wrong, and that she must be in a bad way, and that she better get better right away. She’s strong, I’ll give her that.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, 2009 continued. And continued to suck. The week before Christmas, my great-uncle Billy passed away. He was Mama’s maternal uncle and the only remaining sibling of my grandma. We lost his sisters last year, three weeks apart. Uncle Billy had cancer and was recently admitted to the same rehab center where Aunt Margie is hanging out. His death came as a blessing to him, but a blow to us. While it was expected, we’re sad to lose the last of an entire generation.

The following week, Uncle Billy’s brother in law, Mama’s uncle Ray died. He was Aunt Ruby’s widower, and had suffered from dementia for a few years. He took such good care of Aunt Ruby during her struggle with Alzheimer’s, and we think the strain eventually took its toll on him. He was a sweet man, always smiling, and dearly loved. At his funeral on the last Sunday in 09, we all remembered how much he loved life and his family. He will be sorely missed, but his family knows he is better now.

This has been a horrid year. We’ve seen Cousin Mike, The Bum, and The Godson move too far away, lost an uncle, two great uncles, nearly lost another uncle and an aunt, saw Mama through major surgery, a minor but scary surgery for Brian’s sister, dire financial straits for us (and many others in our close circle of friends), a hospitalization for Brian, and so many little personal tragedies that I never even posted about because it was too depressing. I am so glad it’s over. Already 2010 has a brighter gleam to it, and is full of so much promise.

I was actually getting on here to post pictures of Christmas and of some of the craftiness that occurred around here in preparation for the holiday. I’ll set those up to publish later tonight or tomorrow, because later tonight I’ll be watching the recorded version of the WVU Bowl Game with Brian tonight. Please do not tell us what happens, we prefer to watch it!!

Instead, here’s a quick Thank God…It’s Friday because I just realized it’s Friday. I love holidays….

Praises

• Aunt Margie’s doing well!
• 2010 is here!
• One of my little guys from daycare has become a big brother Wednesday. I don’t post their names, so suffice it to say that Big P welcomed Little P and everyone is doing well.
• Mama may have found out why her legs have been swelling, causing her a lot of pain. The culprit? Country ham. Hopefully now she can continue to heal and run around like a crazy woman (seriously, she ran the other day) once she gets rid of all that salt-induced fluid.

Requests

• Brian needs a new job. I am so not kidding.
• I think I’ve pulled a muscle in my back. I’m used to my back hurting in the morning, but it hasn’t stopped today and it’s in a different place than usual. It hurts a bunch, so I’m taking it easy today in hopes that it heals up fast!
• We’re hoping to go to West Virginia in a few weeks. We pray that trip will go off without a hitch, as we’ve had plenty of hitches in the last few times we planned to go. We miss Brian’s family, The Bum/Godson/Cousin Mike, and all Brian’s friends that we only see a few times a year.
• We’re hoping to start IUI this month. I’m nervous and there are a million details to iron out, but we’re praying it all goes smoothly. And is successful!!