Reflection on 2011

I didn't post anything for the whole month of January.  No I didn't abandon my blog.  It's just been even crazier than usual around here.  I went to my first Physical Therapist appointment last week (that's a whole post on its own).  And as he was look at my back issue he asked what was going on in my life......well let's see.

In January I was just getting settled in at my new job at Via Christi.

• On January 28th, Lena's baby Amira was born and I got to be there for her birth.  That same night, we found out that my 55 year old Aunt Marsha had passed away. 
• In February we moved in to the 3 bedroom 2 bathroom trailer house permanently because we got tired of running around like crazy people trying to clean up our house in town every time they had a showing.  We thought it was only going to be for a few months.
• Late in February, I took Libby by myself to a basketball tournament in Ark City.  Between games I ran her to a department store and had a major grand mal seizure (never had one before) and was transported by ambulance to the hospital.
• In May my Memaw went to the funeral of her first husband in Indiana.  While there she had a massive stroke.  They transported her to a major hospital. We weren't sure if she was going to make it.
• As a family, we decided that my Memaw and Pepaw didn't have access to the health care they would need on their rural farm. So we started working on getting her moved to Wichita.  We could not find a way to transport her.
• Finally in June she was well enough to ride in a car, and my Sister-In-Law and Pepaw drove her (while she was on a matress in the back of their mini-van) all the way to Kansas and we got her into a Rehab Facility.  Carrie (my Sister-in-law) decided to stay in Wichita to help take care of Memaw.
• Pepaw brought his large RV up from Oklahoma and parked it on our land, and he and Carrie lived there while Memaw was in Rehab.
• Lena totalled her car in July.  She had to wait on insurance money before she could get another one, so she and Amira rode the bus to her school and baby sitter until she could get another one.  And we also helped pick her up and get her places.  She stayed with us alot that month that she didn't have a car.
• In August, both Frank and Libby were in Junior High.  And Bob started his first year as our head football coach.  He wanted to make a good impression so he was immersed in football.
• The first week in August I took the kids to get School Supplies at Walmart and had my second grand mal seizure and during the seizure was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher which gashed my head open and required six stitches and twelve staples and caused a concussion.  I had to have an MRI and was officially diagnosed with Epilespy.  I couldn't drive for 2 months, and had to carpool with my friend Sarah who blessedly lives a few houses down and works nearby the place I was working.  It SUCKS not being able to drive BTW. 
• Our whole routine also changed as Madi and Carlie went to their new grade school and the kids began riding the bus for the first time.  Frank was playing football, Bob was coaching football, Libby was playing volleyball.  I couldn't drive anyone anywhere.  And I was terrified that I would have another seizure.
• Dec 7th we found out that Memaw had to leave the Rehab facility THAT DAY.  We had no place to put her.  They were working on selling their farm in Oklahoma, but it wasn't done yet. They couldn't buy a house here in Wichita until their house was sold.  So we rented a hospital bed and moved Memaw into our living room.  Along with a lift, port-a-potty, wheel chair, etc.
• Then we had Thanksgiving and Christmas sandwiched in there.
• Then Dec 30th, we learned that their house in Oklahoma was finally going to close on Jan 7th.  So we rented a UHaul and went down there to pack up and move 30 years of house stuff and farm stuff.

So through noboy's fault....just that crazy thing called life....in the month of January we ended up with five adults (one of whom was in a wheel chair), four kids, three dogs (two mine and one theirs), three cats (Carrie is allergic to them BTW) living in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom trailer house.

Oh, and did I mention that we were also building a house during that month, Madi and Carlie were playing Rec Basketball on Saturdays, Frank was wrestling at the Jr High, and Libby was on the Varsity Basketball team for Junior High.  Oh and Frank also call 911 on us...but that's another post too.

So that brings me back to why I went to see a Physical Therapist.  I hurt my back while we were doing all that moving and it wouldn't heal up.   So when the PT asked me what was going on in my life, I started rattling all this stuff off.  He looks at me with his mouth hanging open and goes "Well, you've got a few things on your plate!"  A Yep!!!!