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!!!!

Driving...The wheels on the bus...again....

You know I really took being able to drive for granted. After my Epilespy diagnosis, it was recommended that I not drive for a while. I was very lucky that my neighbor and close friend, Sarah works close to where I work. And she was able to take me to and from work.

But once I got to work, I couldn't go anywhere!! I couldn't go out to lunch, or run down to Walgreens to pick up a prescription, or cash a check. Or even go get a pop.

One day I walked half a mile to the QT on the corner to get a pop and candy bar. One day I had a doctor's appointment and everyone at work was gone.

So I decided to ride the city bus. This is actually a very complicated procedure!!! I looked up the fare online and it said it was $1.25. So I made sure I had enough quarters to get there and back. I waited on the corner for the bus, and he waived at me that I had to be on the OPPOSITE corner before he could pick me up. So I jogged over there.

I step up to the bus to put my fare in, and he announces that the fare has gone up THAT DAY to $1.75. So I have enough change to get there....how am I going to get back!!! I dig a few more quarters out of the bottom of my purse. Whew.

I look a tad bit out of place on the bus with my business clothes on and my leather jacket.

And that was just a simple route....God Forbid you had to switch buses. I don't think I could have handled it. Transfers they called it.

But no one can say I'm anything if not resourceful!!! I made it to the doctor's appointment and back!!!

And I will add that many people were kind during this difficult people and took me places and offered rides. But it feels like a huge loss of freedom.

The Things I Now Notice....

This is a picture of our building they are remodeling at work. Notice that the fire extinguisher is attached low to the ground (unlike in Wal-mart) so that it will not fall and hit anybody on the HEAD. LOL. I notice these things now!!!

How I Became "The People Of Walmart"....

In Feb of this year I took Libby to a basketball tournament in a city about 45 minutes away. It was just the two of us, and between games I took her to a local department store to get a tank top. While I was in there I passed out. I had started to feel faint and my vision was going Dark. I said "Libby Help Me". She couldn't hold up my weight and down I went.

They took me by ambulance to the local hospital. Libby was so grown up and calm. It scared us all. I had been changing some meds and one of the potential side effects was seizures. So we thought that was probably what happened.

I had pretty much forgot about it.

Well a week ago Monday...seven months later...I had taken the three girls to buy school supplies at Walmart. It was crazy and busy in there, and I was trying to make sure the girls got everything they needed. And they were "helping" buy throwing whatever they thought was cool into the cart.

We were almost done, and I started to feel faint again. I dug in my person and took some medicine, thinking that if I got it down it would keep me from passing out. Well it didn't work. Madi was at the end of the aisle, and Libby and Carlie were around the corner.

I went into a full Grand Mal Seizure. I fell backwards and into one of the support poles. This particular pole at Walmart happened to have a fire extinguisher attached to it. I don't remember any of this, but Madi said my head clipped the bottom of the extinguisher and knocked it loose from the pole. It flipped upside down and followed me down to the ground and the metal handle of the extinguisher slammed into the back of my head making a huge gash.

The girls said I was laying there in the aisle at Walmart with blood pooling around my head. Head wounds always bleed horribly. One of the employees ran over to the clearance rack and grabbed a shirt off of it to put pressure on the gash. I'm sure there's a good joke in there pertaining to that...I just can't think of one right now!

Libby was again very calm and cool in a crisis. She was able to tell them what meds I am taking, and used someones cell phone to call Granny. Bob wasn't answering his phone. They called 911.

They worked on me a while in the ambulance in the parking lot. My blood sugar was 63 and my heart rate was 180. I came too briefly in the ambulance. My Mom called Bob's sister and she came and picked the girls up at Walmart. Someone called the Butler County Sheriff's office and had them go find Bob out on the football field.

The first time I really came back to my senses it was 8:30pm. My parents were at the ER and so was Bob. The seizure had happened right after 6:30pm.

They gash went to the skull. They had to put in six stitches and fourteen staples. CT Scan showed that I did not have any tumors or skull fractures.

I saw a neurologist a few days ago. He says that I have Epilpsy and put me on anti-seizure meds. He said we'll probably never know why I'm having seizures or suddenly started having them in "Middle age". And YES he did use the phrase middle age. Humph!!! And yes he did look like he was 14 or 15.

He said he believes the meds will take care of it and that once we get it to the right levels I won't have any more seizures.

Being carted out of WalMart on an Ambulance stretcher in front of half my friends and acquaintances was definitely NOT on my list of things I wanted to do before I turned Forty. Just trying to be grateful it wasn't something more serious.

It really scared Madi and Carlie. They thought I'd lost all of the blood in my body.