Flashback Friday

Currently Reading:  I've been a busy reader this week.  Finished Streisand and have been listening to a lot of her music now!  Was also disappointed there was no mention of her relationship with Barry Gibb, and was surprised to learn she'd had a relationship with Don Johnson!  Also finished Four Blind Mice by James Patterson, and was disappointed.  Maybe it's the fact my dad and I have discussed his novels before, and dad points out obvious clues to different things?  This time I was reading with my mind on high 'alert', and found a major 'flaw' in the story line.  Now reading I Never Fancied Him Anyway by Claudia Carroll.

E-book-wise, I loved Ryelee's Cowboy!!  I wanted to shake Ryelee many times, but it all worked out in the end.  Also read Desiree Holt's Dark Desires and Blind Ecstasy.  All three are Definite Recommended Reads:)  Now reading Heather Peters' Rules of The Game #2.  I just finished the first one and am nearly finished with the 2nd.  Another Definite Recommended Read:)


Yes, I've been a bad blogger this week.  No, I'm not going to apologize; I've had to prioritize my time this week.  But I promised you the continuing story of my spouse's health issues, so here is what took place this month, ten years ago.

Story So Far:  Spouse had blood pressure issues after hitting 9K-volt power line with construction equipment.  Heart cath revealed his aortic valve now resembled a butterfly's wings.  He went in for surgery Jan 10th, and after ten days, was sent home.  But after the Super Bowl that year, he wasn't feeling so great.

February 2003:
Our normal am routine was like this:  I woke up around 6:30, start the coffee, and wake the kids.  I'd take them to school, and arrive back to find the spouse enjoying his first cup of coffee.  But the Friday morning after the Super Bowl, something woke me up at 6am.  I went into the restroom to do my morning business and was alarmed when a) the spouse was already up and b) there was a faint but noticeable pink tint to the toilet water.  After I finished, I went into the family room and found him in his chair.

"Are you all right?"

"I don't know.  I think something's wrong."

I considered my options.  "Can you hold on until I take the kids to school?"

"I've been sitting here since around 3.  I think I'll be okay for another two hours."

I made a pot of coffee, then dressed, woke up the kids, drank my coffee and ate a quick breakfast, then hustled the kids into the car and drove them to school.  When I arrived home, he was dressed.  I drank another cup of coffee and called a neighbor to come down and help me get him into the car.

"If he falls, I won't be able to help him up.  I'd appreciate having someone he can lean on."   (There was still plenty of snow and ice on the ground)

He came down and between the two of us, got him settled in the car.  I went back in the house and picked the plastic bag with all of his medication bottles, thanked the neighbor, and we took off.

"Where are you taking me?"

"I'm not taking any chances.  We're going back to St. V.  Can you hold on for one more hour?"

He smiled and settled back in his seat.

And hour later, I pulled up at the ER, jumped out, and grabbed the first wheelchair I saw.  Two orderlies followed me out to the car and wheeled him inside while I parked the car.  When I arrived, they'd already taken him back and hooked him up to the monitors.  After many tests, they determined he was bleeding internally, and was again whisked back to the cardiac ICU.

In the meantime, snow begins to fall.  I called a friend to find out the weather conditions near our house, and to make arrangements for the kids.  Turns out it was much worse down there, and I was told by the friend not to worry; she'd get K to solo/ensemble the next day and that both kids were taken care of.  I then called the school to let my children know where to go after school, and returned to hubby's side.

I began to worry about my own accommodations.  Money was tight, and my closest relative was a half hour away.  Thankfully, St. V put me up in their hotel for the night, free of charge.  I walked into the spouse's room the next day to be met with, "NASA lost the space shuttle!"

I turned around and watched the footage of the shuttle catching fire upon reaching the atmosphere.  Brought back memories of Challenger in 1986.

Met with his doctor, who scheduled him for another surgery on Wednesday, to remove the fluid around his heart and the mass behind it.  I managed to return home that night, and promised to bring the kids up on Sunday.  They were very happy to see their dad, and promised to behave for me again.

It was during this week my Author's Assistant at iUniverse and I began playing phone tag.  I contacted her the following Monday with the glaring mistake I'd discovered in the book, and she left a message for me on Tuesday while I was gone to pick up my kids from school.  I had no cell phone, so couldn't give her an alternate number.  My dad met me at the hospital on Wednesday, and kept me company during the surgery.  The doctors ended up removing 3 units of blood/fluid from his pericardium, and a blood clot so large, "It fit in both of my hands", said the surgeon.  "My assistant literally held your husband's heart in his hands while I fished this thing out."  It probably equaled another unit of blood.

What caused the bleeding?  Turns out he's very sensitive to coumadin!  They knocked his 10mg dosage down to 5mg and he maintained a good INR.   But then he went into A-fibb (atrial fibrulation), and when he didn't convert on his own, they took him down after 3 days and shocked him back to normal sinus rhythm.  And then we were able to bring him home again.

Oh, my son's baritone solo?  He placed 1st:)

And my phone tag with the author's assistant?  I came home on Wednesday to another message "Going before the editing board at 2pm.  Please email me the changes."  I arrived home around 5pm that day, my neighbor taking care of the kids again, since we didn't know how long the surgery would take.  And my AA had already left for the day, so I called her the next day and explained why I'd not returned her calls or emailed the information.

"It's too late.  The editing board looked at your 1st correction sheet and decided what you'd written didn't meet the requirements to fix it.  Your only other alternative would be to pay us another $200 to reprint."

I mentioned money was tight, right?  So yeah, this was an expense I couldn't afford.  I just had to hope and pray no one would slam me for the fact Challenger explodes twice in Love Is Sober!

Next Month:  The Spouse turns 49:)