What a Circus....

Okay... I am still alive, I do remember that I have a computer, I do remember that I have a blog, I finally got five minutes to go thru my "reading list"  - but I will admit now, as time is limited, I only got to go back on my reading list a few days so please forgive me and know that I will try to keep up better in the future and still plan to finish catching up on your blogs - and have to try to squeeze this post into today (bwahahaha, as if I actually do anything else!).   I just read Shimelle's post at pretty paper.true stories. and decided that, even though I'm a day late, I'm going to list my 10 things which are actually the 10 moments of superduperdrama in my life this week.

1.  As I stated in my previous post (forever ago!!), I came over to stay with my mom for a little while as I was feeling so terrible and just needed to get out of that RV for a little while or for whatever reason it was that I did come over here as I have totally forgotten it now.  While I had no intention of an extended stay, on May 4th my mom left me here to house/dog sit while she and my dad headed down to Tampa for about 18 days to see my brother.  When I say dog sit I mean it too - she has four (yes 4) very sweet, adorable, lovable toy poodles (mom, dad, and their two daughters).  One is too fat and one is too small to jump on the furniture so I spend a good part of the day lifting them up and down from their favorite sitting spots, usually wherever I am sitting.  Of the other two, one doesn't mind worth a darn and the other (the only male) you really never see unless it's potty or food time.  And yes I have my favorite - but I try to give each one of them some special one-on-one loving time.  Oh, and in case you thought I was being mean about the too-fat comment, as all of us middle-aged women will understand, momma dog has had a hysterectomy and has a thyroid condition - so she's a little plump!  At any rate, all four dogs have completely different personalities and, while totally funny, the 3 females make me realize why they call them bitches.  Also, I am doing spring cleaning on my mom's house for her while she's gone.  She is just in no condition to do it herself and with 2 weeks to get it done, no problem.  But....

2.  Friday night, about 11:30 pm, I woke up with my stomach hurting.  Hmmm.  Well, I was pretty wide awake and went outside to smoke a cigarette (horrible habit!) which usually calms my stomach if it's upset.  But while I was out there I got seriously dizzy and wierd feeling - very very wierd feeling.  So I put out that cigarette after only about 1/4 was smoked and started making my way back in the house.  Apparently, I passed out on the deck at 11:35 pm.  I woke up and my right flip-flop was inside the door, but I was laid out on the deck!!!  I got in the house and could barely walk, I laid down on the floor once on the way to the phone and then once I got to the phone I had to lay down again - right there where I stood.  It took forever for me to get the phone dialed and I had to lay on the floor while I was talking by which time I was sweating from head to toe so badly that all my clothes were soaking wet.  Hmmm Hmmm.  I called my daughter and told her that I was in some bad shape and needed her to get the girls (GiGi and friend) and come stay with me.  By the time she got here (1:00 am!!), I had stopped sweating and changed tops and was lying on couch as I still felt like I couldn't sit up.  Now I will say that I had a similar episode (without passing out, but sweating/dizzy/unable to walk without lying on the floor) while staying here at my moms back in Nov of 2010... just that once while GiGi and I were here alone.  Was it my heart?  Was it my sugar (if I follow suit of my grandmother and mom, it's about time for the diabetes to set in)?  Is it just something wrong with me being alone in the house? Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm.  Then....

3.  As the kids were supposed to come over on Saturday and stay while my grandson was home, they just got here extra early.  Did I mention that a refrigerator fell on my little buddy on 4/26 and broke his leg in 3 places - two bones above his ankle in the growth plate and a fracture in his foot - and that there was so much blood on his knee and so much swelling that they weren't sure how much damage was done and no cast could be put on for over a week?  So he was going to spend the day Saturday with his mom and go back to his dad's on Saturday night... but since they were staying here and it's so much easier and more comfortable than the mobile home, he just decided to stay 2 weeks - he knows that as long as he is here I will take care of him.  And that's fine!!  I'm glad he's here, he is fun and I love taking care of him.  However...

4.  National Scrapbooking Day, which I have been counting down all year for some reason, was totally missed.  In all the chaos that comes with taking care of the four dogs and JC and my daughter and her dog and GiGi, I totally missed NSD.  I didn't even see my computer that day.  I didn't watch TV much that day.  Even worse, I didn't even realize that I missed it (hardly recognize that it's May) until today.  Now I'm just a little pissed off - but I'll get over it.  Considering...

5.  We took JC to the doctor on Monday and there was a bright green cast put on his leg.  Also, he got to finally return to school the next day as long as he was in his wheelchair.  Did you know that now they have determined that there will be no wrapping the cast for baths (only sponge baths with those baby wipe thingys), no being in a steamy bathroom, no humidity allowed whatsoever, no going outside because he might sweat, etc???!!!  He's scheduled to go back on Tuesday to have X-rays to make sure everything is still in place and that there is no "skin-rotting" under his cast.    I made two trips to the grocery store that day to get things to make for dinner as well as his and GiGi's lunch the next day (GiGi had a field trip).  So...

6.  On Tuesday, I drove JC to school and took him in where we talked to the 7th grade guidance counsellor about his situation... no gym, no going outside at all, no getting out of the wheel chair, etc.  JC was to report directly to the library in lieu of going to PE.  Then I went back to get him after school and picked up GiGi while I was there.  We made a trip to their house to get more clothes (got there and had to get a load of laundry out of the washer and bring home to rewash and when I started getting them out, realized that "someone" had put about 3x too many clothes in the washer!  More work, oh well.)  then made a trip to the store to get a few odds and ends groceries for lunches.  When we got home, GiGi started on her homework and we found out that mom's printer isn't working and that, as its the last day of the week's sale at Publix, we needed to run and get a couple more BOGO taco dinners.  So JC and I run over to my RV and I get the printer and my box of genealogy files (gotta have something to do as all my scrap stuff is at home).  As I was walking out - printer under left arm, 15 lb filebox under right arm - I step on a HUGE nail while coming through my gate. (I had nailed a small piece of plywood onto the bottom of my gate until I could get around to fixing a gap there - someone had broken it off and just let it lay on the ground - and I had used a BIG (roofing??)  nail so that it would stay!)  Yep, I stepped down hard as all that weight was on my right side and I was stepping around the gate.  Plomp, right down on the ball of my foot with my lightest weight espadrilles on - little rubble soles thinner than my flip-flops.  But it didn't really hurt.  I did say a loud "OH SHIT!" because I realized what I had done, but there wasn't any intense pain.  So once I had put the printer and filebox in the back seat, JC asked what had happened and I told him.  He asked if it was bad and I said that I didn't know, we should probably look.  I took off my shoe and blood comes pouring out of it... and when I look at my foot, it's pumping blood out.  JC nearly got totally sick while I said another Oh Shit.  Well, I didn't want to drive on that foot because I drive with the ball of my foot and didn't want to pump anymore blood out than was already spurting - the floormat was already full of blood.  But there was no one to come get me, so I drove home with my left foot.  (While not impossible, obviously, not ideal either as, even though I gassed fine, everytime I stepped on the brake it was like Bamm, we're stopped... no easing into a stop when doing it left-footed.)  When I got home, GiGi was outside cutting back my rosebush (totally another funny story; needless to say, all my dozens of rosebuds that were about to bloom are gone!) so I asked her to grab the stuff out of the backseat while I limped in the house.  JC jumps out of the car with his crutches shouting "Nonna stepped on a nail, Nonna stepped on a nail and she's bleeding to death!!".   Bless my daughter's heart, she jumped up and started running around like a chicken while I limped to get a washcloth from the hall closet and then limped to the other side of the house to my mom's bathroom (GiGi and I are staying in her room while Star & JC each have a guest room).  She comes running behind me with a pantyliner and 3 different kinds of first-aid tape.  I washed it well with anti-bacterial soap (but I did not pour peroxide on it, I'm such an idiot!) and dressed it with half a pantyliner and three long strips of paper first-aid tape.  Still didn't hurt... I'm in good shape.  Almost...

7.  I promised Star that she could take me to get a Tetanus shot on Wednesday a.m. after we dropped the kids at school.  (The only down right annoying thing about JC's broken leg is the fact that we have to take him and pick him up from school... the one chore I hate as it has everything to do with poor school location and tons of traffic... but he'll never know that I hate doing it.)  So after getting GiGi off and JC in the wheelchair all good-to-go, we take off for the local ER.  (Let me state here that I have had an entire blog post about the crappy local ER and the fact that if I were gut-shot go ahead and risk the other 45 minutes it takes to get to a real hospital - however, they are pretty good for minor cuts and things that just require a shot of Dilaudid like kidney stones, etc.).  When I get there I explain that I stepped on a nail, that it only hurts on the top of my foot where there is a bruise where the nail came in, I probably need someone to deaden it and clean it and look at it as it went in so far - no, it doesn't really hurt but then again I have MS; well, at the very least, I need a Tetanus shot.  No I don't have insurance, I am awaiting disability.  The person at the ER proceeded to tell me that I just needed to go get a Tetanus shot and that I should go to the local County Health Clinic to get it. 
I'm going to interject here, of course.  First, let me just say that whenever you have a disease whether it be MS, diabetes or whatever that causes neuropathy, getting a serious injury to your feet and not feeling pain is a very. bad. thing. - especially something like sticking a nail in your foot to the point that it goes in so far as to bruise the top of your foot.  Second, I'm awaiting my disability and am destitute - the County Health Clinic charges you a minimal fee if you don't have insurance, Medicaid or whatever, while ERs having billing practices (Medicare will pay retroactively) and programs for the destitute.  Just sayin... 
I went to the clinic and was charged $35 for a Tetanus shot.  (I happened to have money that my mom left me for gas to take the kids to the Dr, school, whatever  - guess they'll have to miss a few days (hmmm)).  I will say here that you couldn't have asked for a nicer bunch of people.  The clinic doesn't usually give vaccinations on Wednesday, and I didn't have an appointment, but as I've got a serious hole in my foot we'll go ahead and get it done. The nurse was amused when I told him it was a pantyliner on my foot as we had no gauze and I hadn't been to store yet; but he said that it was better as pantyliners are made to soak up the blood and gauze just gets wet and leaks.  Other nurses stopped me on my way out and told me all the things to be aware of regarding caring for my wound and when I should go ahead and go to hospital - because with the MS I may not feel like anything is wrong.  It was a very pleasant experience indeed and I'm feeling pretty good.  Until...

8.  When I got home from the clinic, I got on my mom's computer to pay her bills... at her desk... in her office.  As I was sitting there, I noticed that my foot was starting to ache - not really the kind of ache like I would expect but more like the circulation was being cut off and that I had to get that bandage off right now!  It wasn't as easy as it should have been:  my foot had started swelling; thus, the tape had gotten tighter and harder to just grab and tear.  Once the tape was off, I noticed that my foot had swollen considerably and that I couldn't move my toes.  Then they started screaming.  When I say screaming, I mean that someone had hooked each of my 3 smaller toes up to a car battery and flipped the switch!  Oh my!!!  Then my leg was aching.... badly.  (No red lines so nothing to worry about.)  Oh, and lest I forget, now I can't walk on that foot at all because I had been walking on the side of my heel and it had gotten raw.  Why had the feeling come back so suddenly  now?  I haven't a clue.  But I should say that the hole in my foot still doesn't hurt, the ball of my foot is slightly tender when I put my weight on it but, oh my God, I can't walk on my heel or my poor toes.  I hit the recliner as fast as I could.  Star got the footbath out and filled it with warm water & epson salt.  It occurred to us that maybe it was time for the peroxide.  So we poured the peroxide on my foot with it hovering above the footbath.  There was no foaming bubbles on my wound... only a large black spot on the pad of my foot.  Hmmm.  Good sign or bad sign?   We added about 1/2 cup of peroxide to our epson salt footbath and I sat there until the water got cold.  Then I leaned back in the recliner with my foot elevated.  Every once in a while, when the stabbing pain went from my toes up my leg all the way to my thigh, my eyes would glaze over and my lips tightened.  And then something else, I became very very tired - sleepy in fact.  I spent hours dozing because I couldn't keep my eyes open.  Of course, someone (human or canine) would wake me up about every 15 minutes.  Finally about 5:00, I got up and made spaghetti for dinner.  We ate and I washed up the pots and pans and went back to my recliner where I dozed in 15 min intervals until we finally went to bed about 9:00.  In the meantime, JC says his foot is sweating; so one task during my wake-ups is going in & blowing cold air down his toes into his cast with the blow-dryer and giving him Tylenol PM & a Benadryl.  Because...

9.  Yesterday I woke up at 5:00am, took the dogs out whle the coffee was finishing, got the spoon of peanut butter & thyroid pill for momma-dog, got my coffee, and sat on the porch while I gave her meds to her.  Got GiGi up at 5:30, JC up at 6:00 - foot sweating, blow-dryed his foot and gave him some Aleve which usually takes care of the pain all day. I made their lunches, made sure they had everything they needed together, got GiGi on the bus at 6:15.  Star took JC to school while I staightened up the kitchen then went back and laid down - I never do this.  Not this early.  No matter what time I get up and get them off, I usually can't lay down until at least 9:00.  But yesterday was different, I was still exhausted feeling and dozed until about 10:00.  About 12:00, the school nurse called and said that JC was there with his foot hurting.  Well, that's odd because the Aleve has been working; but, he had been complaining extra about the heel of his foot the night before - he had already worn a blister on his heel while wearing the splint; they had put a medicated pad on it when doing his cast and said they would keep an eye on it when he went back for X-rays.  This was especially worrisome for fear of skin-rot.  So Star called the school back and they said that JC had gone back to class.  She decided when she was leaving to pick him up from school that she would just go ahead & take him up to the Dr's office to see what she should do.  When I told her that I just could not go along, she became a little concerned, I think, and said she would have GiGi ride the bus home.  By the time GiGi got here, I was in bed asleep again.  I slept until about 5:00 when Star called and said they had just left Dr's office - they had put a new cast on JC's leg.  The reason he was hurting was that the other cast had somehow become too big in the past 3 days.  Now I watched them put that original cast on his leg - they squeezed it so hard that his eyes glazed over - it fit like a glove when he walked out of there.  How in the world had it become too big in just 3 days?!  So now JC has an orange cast - the top half of the green one sits next to his BB gun and at first glance looks like a foot and leg wearing extra long green pants - kinda scary in the dark!  Finally...

10.  It's Friday again.  I got up early this morning, got the kids ready and drove them to school... I have to leave in about 10 minutes to pick them up.  I feel pretty good - my foot hurts a little, is tender on the bottom where I walk on it, but at least it fits in my flip-flops again.  I found out on the way to school that the guidance counselor never talked to JCs PE teacher about the fact that he was in the library so she got pissed off and is giving him extra work.  Also, she has made some derogatory remarks about the fact that he doesn't run fast because he's related to GiGi (who runs just like her mom did when she was little - we thought it was the JRA but we don't know why GiGi runs like this which isn't really running at all) and that he's a smartaleck like his dad's family.  What's that about?!!!  No bullying, right!!!  But teachers can get away with making derogatory remarks - something is very wrong!  Anyway, it's been a long week... throughout all these big events, we've had the usual drama over and over, as well as GiGi's dad's seriously wrong drama making her miserable.  So my stress level is pretty damn high.  However, GiGi and JC are going to be with me this weekend, so no matter what, it will be a good one.  And even though I certainly didn't plan to be at Mom's this long, it's been great being out of the RV - it makes me realize just how small and dark it really is.  But my stuff is there, especially my pix and scrap stuff, and I miss. my. stuff. so badly!  I can't create anything from here - actually with the drama and feeling under the weather it's hard for me to feel creative.  Still I'm not being totally lazy - I've been working on my genealogy (looks like after 23 years I'd be done by now!).  And that always leads to a new album so I know there's one in the works.

Hope your ten things were better (and shorter) than mine.  I guess I really did my ten things in my last post when I wrote about why I can scrapbook, so I guess I'm caught up for next month too!
Whatever you're doing, have a creative mind and things will not look so bad.  To be totally honest, I can't wait to scrap about JC's broken leg, GiGi cutting back my rosebush and the fact that I poked a hole in my foot at 50.  Just thinking about scrapbooking these events makes me smile and makes the entire load lighter.  Hope your load is light and that you can find your creativity in it.

Cheerio.

"Anxiety is the hand-maiden of creativity." - T.S. Eliot