Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The Worst of Times

Thanks, so many of you for e-mailing me to see if I were sick or something because I didn't blog last week. I'm afraid you were so right. It was a pretty hectic time, I must say. We had to go to Villa Park for a funeral on Saturday the 7th. Two weeks earlier we heard that my daughter's father in law had stage 4 cancer and it was too late to do anything. This is a man who was a very vigorous 81 years old. Van had never smoked in his whole life and was always healthy and hard working. He hadn't been feeling quite right for a few days so decided to go to the doctor. You can about imagine how we all felt when he got this diagnosis and in two weeks he was dead. Our granddaughter, Kristin and her family had planned to come and see him on the weekend so that they could see him before he died and they barely got there for the funeral. He was a pilot for United Airlines and my thinking is that he must had gotten it from second hand smoke in the cockpit before they had the no smoking laws.

Anyway, that was a crazy weekend. We went to Nikki's on Tuesday morning to see Kristin and family as they were leaving that night and we wanted to see them one more time before they left. We didn't get home until it was almost time to go to bed, so just didn't have time to post that night. The next morning I woke up with a horrible sore throat. I figured it might last a couple of days, so didn't go to the doctor until Friday, when I found out it was a bad bacterial bronchitis. He put me on Cipro and I still have to take it for five more days. I hope I get to feeling better pretty soon because I am so weak I can't even walk across the room without getting exhausted and really short of breath. I have a terrible cough and my ribs and stomach are so sore from it. Oh well, I am sure I will live and I just don't want to talk anymore about my being sick, except to say that I was just beginning to feel pretty well too when that hit. I hope it doesn't take me as long to get better as it has my friend who is still coughing and weak after six weeks!!

Easter was really a lonely day. I hated to miss church as I always look forward to our Easter Sunday services. Of course, I heard they were lovely, and I missed hearing Dick's group sing, which didn't thrill me either. Plus, I was alone until late in the afternoon as there were so many things for Dick to take care of after our meetings. We go from 11:00a.m. until 2:00p.m. and he had to leave around 8:00a.m. He did come home between Sacrament and Priesthood Meeting to see how I was, which helped, but still, it didn't seem like Easter to me.

I also went to see my orthopedist yesterday. I wasn't about to cancel an appointment that I had made four weeks ago, because he has been so very busy, it was the soonest he could see me. I could have gone to his PA, but I really wanted to see HIM. He confirmed my own diagnosis about my left shoulder problem. It WAS my rotater cuff. He gave me a shot of cortisone right into the middle of it and it was pretty unpleasant, I must say. It was really bad yesterday and I had to put ice packs on it for 20 minutes out of every two hours all during the rest of the day.

When I went to the doctor with my bronchitis, he told me that if I weren't feeling much better by Monday, that he wanted me to get a chest Xray and had given me the lab orders. So we also went to another building to get that. We left our house at 9:00 in the morning and didn't get home until a little after noon, so it was a very long morning for me. My shoulder really does feel quite a bit better today though and I just hope that shot lasts for a long time.

In just six days, on April 23, I will be 85 years old!! I should be feeling somewhat better by then, I hope, but don't think we will do anything special to celebrate. I had such a wonderful birthday on my 80th. All my kids came for the big party that Sue planned for me. It would have been fun to have had them come again, but everyone is way too busy this year. It's okay, I am going to do my best to ignore it. At least by the next day, I will be able to have something more interesting to post about. I think it might even be the day I usually post about one of my grandkids. That would be a fun thing to do. I can't remember whether I do that every third or fourth week of the month, but since I haven't done that yet, I'd better do it for sure because had it been today, I certainly would not have been prepared. That takes Dick to help me with the pictures. Even Dick can't figure out why the spacing goes crazy when we post the pictures. It looks perfect on the blog as we are doing it, but when it posts, the spacing between the pictures is way too much. I used to have Sue go into my blog and fix it, but I'm getting so I don't like asking her to do it, so Dick still tries to work it and sometimes he can get it pretty well, but it is never perfect. Go figure. Dick is pretty darned good on the computer but he has never posted a blog before and certainly has no intention of ever doing it, but he does read Sue's every day and so many times he will make a copy of it and take it into his Bishopric Meetings with him to share and everyone loves to read them. What's not to love about her blogs. They are all so interesting and different too. She can be funny, serious or whatever and they are all good. I wish I had half her talent.

Well, to tell you the truth, I'm about worn out, so it's back to my chair for me. Next week will be better, I promise. Love you all,

Darlene

Special note to Rune from Norway and Linda from Scotland: You really should read my daughter Sue's blog, just once and I think you will be hooked. Go to grannysuesnews.blogspot.com and look at some of her older entries too!

10 comments:

  1. I wish you didn't feel hesitant about sharing your health challenges with us. I always want to know, and I'm sure everyone else who reads your blog, does also. I've heard of those rotor cuff problems sometimes just resolving on their own at times. Hopefully now that the shot has brought some of your inflammation down, it will just go away and leave you alone.

    I had just regular viral bronchitis last January and I thought I would never stop coughing. My Dr told me that typically bronchitis lasts between 2-6 weeks.

    Please keep us posted on your health.

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  2. Thank you for the link to your daughter (though I misread your reference and called you her grandmother. I hope you can ask her to forgive me :-) ) Marvellous blog with some literally stunning shots.

    Sad to hear that you have been feeling bad - take care of yourself! Bronchitis is no joke for anyone.

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  3. Good morning Darlene, I'm sorry to learn that you've been so sick and that you've spend a lonely Easter all by yourself for most of the day. There are some nasty bugs out there that can really give a person a hard time. I'm glad that you're on the mend though. I hope that your shoulder get to feel well again soon and also your breathing.

    Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving such a nice comment. Sometimes I have a hard time myself getting those pictures to go where I want them to go. If I don't click that space key before choosing a picture everything goes out of place, hahaha. I wish that they gave clear instructions instead of us older folks trying to figure out by ourselves.

    Your blog is still wonderful even if the pictures are not all lined up perfect. At least you are sharing a bit of your day with us and that's what matters unless you are going for a blog award of some sort... lol.

    Just do the best you can at the moment and leave the rest.
    God bless you my friend and I hope that today will be better for you.

    Hugs & prayers, Julia

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  4. I was happy to hear your cough sounding better yesterday, Mom.
    But I did hate hearing that so much of your Easter was spent on your own.
    Is that the weekend Nikki and Perry had planned to come?

    Sure do love you and hope you are all the way back to normal sooner than later.
    We are definitely getting excited about our visit in May!

    xo
    Sue

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  5. Darlene, you will be in my prayers and I will put your name on the temple role. I am sorry to hear you have been sick. I know just how you feel. I had pneumonia 2 years ago and it wasn't fun. It took me a while to get over the weakness. I will pray that you are up and about very soon and especially by your Birthday.
    Isn't it wonderful to have husbands that will watch over and take care of us during these moments of time. Of course, we hope to do the same for them. I always love to read about all you are doing. I think you are a very busy sister going to and fro to all of the family events.
    I know you are greatly loved by all those who know you and I am so happy we connected. I too think Sue is very talented an I love following her blog posts too.
    Blessings to you and get well quick.

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  6. I feel terrible about not contacting you. I did notice you hadn't blogged but I thought for sure you were out visiting or just having too much fun to blog. Dumb me.. I hope you are better real soon. I'm sorry you had to miss Easter and all the junk that's been happening to you. It's not fair and I'm glad when you tell us what's going on with your health. I sure hope that shot does last for a long time. You don't need any other aches..just get over that cough and enjoy your birthday!Love you!

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  7. I feel bad that I didn't know you were so sick either. Bronchitis is no fun, and even worse when your shoulder is so sore. I've seen how much pain a rotator cuff injury was for LaMar, so I know it really hurts! I'm sad that your Easter was so lonely. I should have been sitting in a chair visiting with you instead of hurting my ankle being on my feet all day! But I always say that we'll make better plans next year.
    Picture spacing is no big deal - we come to read your fun musings, not look at perfectly spaced pictures. You are so genuine and fun - and it all comes out in your posts.
    If you feel well enough and the weather is nice, sit outside and get some sunshine/Vitamin D. I will help you heal and recover. Have a wonderful birthday next week - we'll all be thinking about you and I hope you'll tell us about it.

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  8. Hope you are on the mend now! I've had bronchitis and it's the pits!! As for your shoulder, the cortisone should help but that's what we do a lot of in surgery, repair of rotators.
    I know what you mean about Easter. When you can't do the traditional things, it doesn't feel like the holiday. This year I will miss our yearly outing as a girls group to go to a home tour. My chemo starts this week and I think I will miss many events for a while. I just think that they will, be there next year and keep on trucking. Not much fun though, huh?
    Glad you have Dick to help fix your computer gremlins. They sure are there sometimes. That Sue....she sounds like a wonderful daughter as well as magnificent writer!!
    Hope you are having a good day....and thanks for the cheer-up comment on my blog!!

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  9. Dearest Darlene
    I so hated reading about you being so sick that you could not attend Easter Services. It doesn't seem like Easter when you miss church and everyone is way from home. I was able to attend services but the rest of the day I was by my lonely self but I was really lucky the day before they all came home. So I am really grateful for those times.
    On top of everything your also dealing with a rotater cuff. I dealt with that one year and honestly I thought sometimes I could not deal with it a second longer so I really hated to hear yours is giving you trouble. Lets pray that shot last forever because they too are painful.
    Your right about Sue's blog. It is just the best but I have to say I think yours is too. I would miss you terribly if I could not come by and visit you weekly.
    I sure need to find more hours in the day so I could keep up with blogging. It seems all I do lately is mow. haha
    You should see me when I walk in the house at night not a pretty picture. Or should I say crawl. It depends on what tractor I am using.
    Well enough on me I did not mean to rattle on.
    Hope by the time you get this your feeling much better so you can celebrate this very special Birthday that is coming up.
    Love ya
    Maggie

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  10. Me again - thank you for the comment! The photo was shot straight down towards the water and you see a rope floating and the bottom of the sea (close to the shore) as background.

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