Is the Coast Clear?

I think it might be.  I'm not going to hold my breath though.  Dad's healing, despite his best efforts at "cheating" by trying to move himself from rolling desk chairs to his walker to chairs that slide on hardwood floors.  Mom says she feels better than she has in years now that the surgery is over.  Amazing what removing a dead organ can do for you...

I'm under doctor's orders to pretty much do nothing for a while.  The stress had started giving me anxiety attacks, which felt more like chest pains for a few days.  ER's are not very much fun and both of my hands are still bruised from the IV needles.  However I have proof that my heart is just fine, so what I need now is rest.  And rest I've been getting.  It's kinda neat how much I can get done now that I have to say "no" to most things.

While I was down south taking care of my folks, I started a simple yet elegant wedding announcement for my niece.  She's getting married this September.  I'm almost finished with it... pics when I'm done.  Once that's done I'll be figuring out how to divide my days so I can get several more projects done.  The list as is follows:

*The Panda Nursery (really, really want this one done)

*Rose Cuttings cross stitch for Auntie Rose

*wedding announcement for Oct 8th wedding

*wedding announcement for Oct 15th wedding

*baby gifts for 5 different babies (three girls, one boy, and one ?)

*clothing for the Steampunk themed wedding in Oct

*a roombox setting for Becka

*FH's black bear cross stitch

*holiday gifts for family and friends

Somewhere in there I need to update the Guild website with new pictures and information.  And plan to make trips south for those three weddings... which are all in the St. Louis, MO area and all in the same four week block of time.  At least the babies are all spread out.

On the critter front, Tempie is doing great but her eye is still weird looking.  I'm afraid it will be permanent.  Nothing we've done has fixed it, but it doesn't seem to be causing her pain.  In fact she has a new habit of playing with Artan... who is absolutely huge now.  He weighs over five pounds (none of it fat) and hasn't even gotten his adult molars in yet.  When I took him to the vet last week for his last distemper and rabies vaccines, the vet said I should call the zoo and see if they're missing a baby panther!  Pollux has been a bit down for a few days.  I'm hoping it gets better now that I'm back.

Oh and I will have fun pics of new minis to post too!  I just haven't had time to take the photos, and of course new pictures of Artan.  I should be back to regular blogging soon.   I'm going to shoot for twice a week for now and see how that goes.

When It Rains

So a few people already know I'm back in St. Louis taking care of my dad because my mother had to have emergency surgery today.  I hadn't even been home for a week yet when I got the call to turn around and come back.  I do not know when I will see my projects, critters, or husband again.  I do know that I'm getting fed up with being the one that has to drop everything in my life and drive 200+ miles to take care of things when there are five of my siblings living in this metro area.  They offer to help, trust me on this.  But they are usually brushed off.

Currently both Pollux and Artan are sick with gut flora imbalances, caused by stress, and FH is having to medicate them twice a day.  I can't bring them with me as the stress of travel would be worse than the stress of me not being there.  Not to mention that wheelchairs and walkers don't mix well with kitties.

At this moment I do not know when my mother will be released from the hospital.  I only know that it's impossible to sleep here knowing that I have to be able to hear my dad call for any kind of help (like late-night trips to the bathroom) or even a drink of water, as he's not allowed to move from a sitting position to his feet unassisted yet.

Oh and he's home instead of being in a rehab facility after a snafu at the rehab place.  We were all less than impressed and it was decided to just bring him home.  Mom was doing a fantastic job with him here up until she got sick over the weekend.  I had come back down shortly after his return home to help move furniture around to accommodate the wheelchair, so things were a lot easier for both of them.

And the kicker of this is I'm sick.  We don't know with what.  I'm actually supposed to be seeing a specialist but it's kinda hard to do when I keep getting called down here.  It's really hard to tell your parents "no" though.  Sadly I think I'm getting to the point where I will need to just so I can take care of myself.

Sorry for the rant.  I needed to vent.  Miss you all lots.  I hope to be back soon.

Update

Sorry it's been a while but things are rather less than sane right now.  During the last week of June the rehab place sent my dad back to the ER for blood loss.  Many tests were run, many more were vetoed as being too risky for his health.  In the end no real conclusions were made.

FH and I were planning on heading down to St. Louis for 4th of July/helping my parents/taking Tempie to the vet.  However those plans were thwarted big time.  Fifteen minutes after we left home on Saturday morning (two separate cars, animals all with me in the car with working AC) the car I was driving blew a tire.  [I should also note the car with no working AC belongs to my parents.  They loaned it to us until Dad's able to drive again, since we only have one car and this frees me up to come down and help.]  FH had to double back in the car w/o AC, offload the luggage and pets, and take the pets home.  Happily it didn't take long and he was back with me waiting on the tow truck... which never showed up. 

Instead a very nice state trooper came by and made sure the highway traffic moved over so we could get the spare on without worrying about being hit.  In fact he helped out with a better lug wrench than the one we have in the car!  I did have to call and cancel Tempie's vet appointment though.

So we limped the car to two different tire places before we found one that stocked the tires we needed.  However we didn't get our car back until Sunday and by then we were too tired to drive all the way to St. Louis just for FH to turn around and head home after one night.

The problem was I still had to take the car with no working AC back to my parents so the AC could be repaired.  This meant taking Tempie along was going to become very risky.  I called the vet and explained the whole mess.  He agreed she should just stay at home with FH.  He also said we could stop the bicilian injections, which is one less medication to worry about for FH.

So I'm here and they are all at home.  Tempie is doing great!  She's eating somewhat normally again.  And she's being more active than we've ever seen before.  Apparently she has more energy to find new places to hang out ike on top of the ottoman footstool.  She had to go "ATB" (all-terrain bunny) to get up there.  In fact that's where she was hanging out Saturday when we got home from dropping of our car.

Tile is also no longer a deterrent.  We've had to block off the area to the cat litter boxes because Tempie will happily wander off to them and dig out half of the litter onto the floor!  FH told me that he caught her exploring the bottom two steps on the staircase!   We're going to have to do something about that new interest. 

Oh and for the folks thinking healing thoughts for my dad, thank you and they are working!  He's actually home-home from the hospital.  The rehab place filled his spot after they sent him back to the hospital and my mom decided she was unimpressed with them anyway.  After a physical therapy evaluation it was decided he could go home!

Of course this means getting furniture rearranged to accommodate a wheelchair and whatnot, but that's why I'm here right now.  Speaking of, I'm really glad the vet decided Tempie should stay home.  When I got off the highway about a mile or so from my parents' house the car started overheating badly.  It was really sudden and I was able to make it the rest of the way here.  Turns out the water pump decided to die.  So it's being fixed along with the AC.  Tempie was almost stranded with me on the side of the road, in the dark, late at night (midnight), and with no one able to come and get us!  So happy she's safe at home with her daddy and the cats.

I'm worn out after a day of furniture shuffling.  But it was worth it to have my dad able to sleep in his own bed for the first time since his fall.  I'm going to get some sleep and hopefully be able to go home soon.  Thank you again to everyone who is sending us good thoughts right now.