Post Meltdown...

I am sorry that I haven't been on in a while. Most of you are already aware that on Monday night, my Dad had a stroke. It's been chaotic at best around here. We had just gotten back from catechism and Emily called Nana to chat. Nana immediately told her to put me on the phone. To make a long story short, he was having a stroke.

EMS driving skills come in handy when you are in a major hurry to get somewhere. I am the furthest away and beat the ambulance to the hospital. I waited outside the ER enterance because I didn't see the fire department truck there yet. They arrived moments later. When I saw my Dad, my heart broke. My very strong Daddy was a mess. He was very upset and even more so when he saw his family in the ER.

They found out he had a clot in his brain, so they gave him a thrombolytic drug to dissolve it. On Monday night when this happened, he had facial drooping, extremely slurred speech, and no use of his right hand at all. I can't believe this happened to my Dad when he just retired in August. He is supposed to be home watching Fog Horn Leghorn pick chicklets off of the bird feeder.

I saved my meltdown for today. This was the final straw... I had my meltdown. Emily woke up a bear this morning and I had to make her stay in her room until we left for school (it was safer for her there). Greg's bus driver decided to come early and as we were running out the door, she left. Dennis had to take Greg all the way to school. I sobbed to Dawn (my cousin) all the way to the hospital (via cell phone) about how overwhelmed I am with school, keeping the home straight, a new job starting soon, and most importantly my Dad. I just couldn't handle it any longer.

Not to mention that I would like to clean my English Teachers clock. She is so disorganized that I have NO idea what it is we are supposed to be doing... that is until today. I wrote down EVERYTHING she said today in my notebook. She flips between 3 different books, one of which has almost 2000 pages in it and very small print. She flips out at us for not reading a story in the book, until someone tells her that we're not supposed to read that story until next Monday. Hellloooooooooo!? So I'm hoping that my fabulous note taking skills will pay off.

Back to the hospital. (Now I'm sounding like the English Teacher). I walked into my Dad's room in ICU. The view was breath taking. My Dad was sitting up in a chair reading the newspaper, and across from him is my Mom, knitting. The TV was on and they were just doing their "thing". The only deficits that I can see on my Dad as of today involve his right hand. He can move his fingers, however not his thumb. It is very weak. It was almost humorous to see him try and fold a newspaper. Try doing this without using your thumb on your dominant hand. He successfully folded it into a ball, lol.

My Dad looks like not a thing has happened to him. He looks exactly the way he should, just in the wrong place. I thoroughly enjoyed this site and visiting with him. During the visit, my Mom says, "You won't believe what I did". My Dad and I both say simultaneously, "We'll believe it". lol.

I'm not sure what the next course of action is for him, but I do know that it involves his cessation of drinking, and that we will all be visiting him soon for a family meeting involving his newly acquired psychologist. No more sugarcoating, or "truth" altering will they be doing. Those days are over and Mark and I both agree... We're not willing to give up our Dad for a drink. It isn't going to happen.

That has been my week and here it is only Wednesday. I am worn out, and I've also decided that I'm going to take more online classes when they are available.

Oh and one more thing... I talked to my new "boss" at the Urgent Care today. He cleared the air on some issues for me. It sounded like the "chiefs" from the doctors office were going to be migrating to the Urgent Care to work. I was a little concerned, because I need a flexible schedule. A lot of them are working on "fixed" schedules. I was almost scared out of a job. He is my boss, he is my scheduler and I can tell.... it's going to be a great place to work. Nothing like having a boss that once held the position of a "tech". He knows my abilities, and he knows the job, because he's done it!

And that is my .02 cents for the day. Now back to my regularly scheduled program of psy 111.