He fought the battle long and hard. He conquered the cancer several times but it always found it’s way back. I was so sad to hear that the cancer finally took him from us.
Indeed, the world lost another good man today.
It’s THAT sort of day
Some days you just don’t want get out of bed. The funk has gunked up your mind, body, and soul and it’s just THAT sort of day.
To be honest, there’s been quite a few of these sorts of days lately. Sleepless nights and morning that come way too early. The boys have been having them too. [Read more…]
Babysitting Required
My Mom’s surgery went well… aside from being told that her boney structure is very small, requiring small replacement parts, and subsequently resulting in a less stable joint than if the joint was comprised of a larger ball and socket. She went home the evening after her surgery after demonstrating the ability to get out of bed properly, walk, and go up and down a step. Home heath was set up for a physical therapy appointment to assess home safety.
She has been home 3+ days at this point. I returned to my life-as-it-were, complete with an ankle sprain (BoBo), ear infection (Ronin), and the usual work frustrations. I checked in regularly and, knowing my Favorite Brother and Lil Sis were visiting, did my best to not interfere anymore than that.
Then today, I learned that the Physical Therapist didn’t come on Thursday. In fact, they aren’t planning to visit until NEXT FRIDAY! Needless to say, I am furious. If hospitals are going to push their patients out this quickly, they’d better insure that they remain free of complications. This home health agency is the same one that told me that everyone was in a two hour meeting, therefore unable to help me, when I called (a 2nd time) to check on why my request for better pain control for my dying husband had not been attended to. It took me reading the sign they’d placed on my refrigerator regarding the services they promised of 24 hour care and demanding that they get someone on the phone within 5 minutes to help the receptionist better understand her priorities.
Given my mom seems to be doing okay, I will not make a repeat performance today. Her pain is under control (2-4 on a scale of 0-10) and is doing her post operative exercises independently and hopefully correctly. Instead, I will head over to set eyes on her myself. I have also instructed my mom to report the incident to her surgeon so that he is made aware that his discharge care was not carried out per his orders.
Meanwhile, back at the office, I’m on the verge of tears having this memory unearthed from my memory banks. [Read more…]
transitioning to spring
![IMG_4980[1]](https://keeping-pace.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_49801-1024x1024.jpg)
It’s that time of year again — when sluggishness and sadness creep into the daily grind. I swear, I don’t bring this on myself. But I do respect it. That is, once I acknowledge it.
Fortunately, I suppose, it is not as blatantly obvious as it has been for the past 9 years. I may not be jumping out of bed any faster, but I am not under the covers sobbing anymore. At least not thus far. Nonetheless, there seems to always be an undercurrent of the loss. It is no longer the in-your-face memory of Tom’s final weeks of life that it once was. I guess time does heal the pain…eventually.
In past years, this is the time of year when YaYa tends to run himself down to the point where any sickness he has been hit with is easily able to take over. With pneumonia taking him out of school for a week’s time on three occasions, I am always nervous when he falls ill. As for BoBo, since he has not been with me until now, I am just beginning to see if he has the same tendency to fall ill during the transition towards the first day of Spring.
Well, BoBo has been fighting a cold for nearly two weeks now while YaYa stayed home from school on Monday and begged to stay home on Wednesday. As for me, I have found that although the days are getting longer, I have been excessively tired. Like I have observed in the boys, I have found myself shifting into overdrive this past week in an effort to override the exhaustion. As a result, I can now add being sick and sore to my tiredness.
*sigh* [Read more…]
My Little Word (2016)
Those of you who don’t follow me on both of my blogs, probably have no idea of the physical struggles I continue to go through. Though nothing compared to the vicodin-popping, daily icing year of 3 cortisone injections (2013), my daily yoga practice is an essential part of my life. Even with that, I am forced to dish out the $ for bodywork (massage and chiropractic adjustments) on a regular basis. Thankfully, the regularity of my visit requirements has significantly decreased.
This past week, I saw my chiropractor. Dr. P (or “Brant”) is not only skilled and passionate about his work, he is one of the coolest guys you’ll meet. While he was putting my spine and pelvis back in alignment with each other (they have a tendency to go in different directions lately), he asked me if I had a word of the year. I paused — before responding.
If you can remember a few years back, I used to do a my-little-word thing EVERY year. My-little-word phased out about the time my regular blogging phased out. Subsequently, my year-in-review also went away. It’s tough to review without a year of posts to look back and see where you have been.
Yet, I hesitated in choosing a word for 2016. In past years, I have chosen words like “focus”, “health”, “balance” and “patience” and found the year that followed was particularly challenged in respect to my chosen word. Hence, I am not sure I want to commit to year of having my chosen word challenged so-to-speak.
The thing is, simply the question “Do you have a word for 2016?” has prompted words to surface for me. I’ve changed the question to “IF you were to choose a word for 2016, what would that word be?” IF seems safer — though I sure it’s all the same.
Do any of you choose words for the coming year? What has been your experience/observation in doing so?