Drama, drama, drama

If you don’t want to read about my RL issues, then skip the rest of this journal post.

I’ve mentioned previously that I’ve been busy in RL, which has kept me away from chats in streams and in general. In some places I’ve mentioned a little about my mother. And she’s one of the reasons I’ve kept away. It’s hard to be upbeat and talk about RL issues if you’re in chat and that’s all you have to talk about.

Mother is a 13 year breast cancer survivor. She had open heart surgery 3 years ago in Boston a few days after the marathon bombing incident. She’s Type II diabetic. The diabetes has caught up with her. They amputated a toe about 2 years ago. It never properly healed, so they had to take part of the foot last year. It never properly healed, though they tried everything. It was actually starting to heal and then in a matter of a couple days in April, the wound became infected and the infection spread into the bone and her blood. They’ve taken her leg below the knee and she’s been on and off of heavy-duty IV antibiotics ever since. She’s been in 3 different hospitals in the past month and today is being relocated to a rehab facility.

She’s got cellulitis (bacterial skin infection) in her remaining leg. And it’s bad. If they can’t get it under control soon, they may have to amputate that leg (which means a trip back to Hospital B). As for those antibiotics, the reason she’s on and then off them is that they can cause kidney damage. She’s bloated, holding a lot of water, so it’s possible that there’s already some damage.

On top of all that, just before the foot infection in April, she had a stool test and the doctors didn’t like the results, but before they could have a colonoscopy performed the whole infection of the foot/blood started. Her other issues need to be stabilized before they can do that. So, all this could be moot.

But then again, our family have had 13 bonus years with her beyond when we should have first lost her and the last 3 are extra bonus as the heart experts don’t know how she was still alive when they examined her and operated in Boston—5 blockages, three at 90%, a fourth at 85% and the fifth was over 50%.

Mom could use all the prayers anyone is willing to provide.

Poor Dad is exhausted from the last 3 years. She had just started to recover from the heart surgery when the foot trouble started. He’s talking about seeking grants through work to make their home wheelchair accessible. Honestly, I don’t think Mom is going home anytime soon, if every at this point.

So, basically, if I peak in on your stream, I’ll watch, but I may not react much out of fear of breaking your chat rules and not wanting to bring people down. Don’t ask me how I’m doing ‘cause I’ll be forced to lie in order to keep the “chat stream positive” and I hate lying.

If you read this far, thanks. No comments needed. Seriously.