Mark's problems just seems to get worse and worse... Wednesday night around 12:30 a.m., he got me up and said to call 911. Well, he managed to come up and I took him to the ER because he was having excruciating pain from his hernia. They spent the next five hours doing tests and determined that his hernia wasn't the problem but it was a gallstone in left behind when they took out his gallbladder, one that goes to the liver. They removed it and his pain went away. But it was quite a fiasco... Around 36 hours in the hospital, then when he came home he was still acting drunk from the anesthesia - zig-zag walking and slurred speach. He managed to get himself downstairs, but within an hour he fell down in the bathroom. Thankfully, I was able to help him crawl to his chair and get into it. It seems that life has become one crisis after another with him... It kind of feels like I'm in this giant cosmic game of dodge ball and I can't seem to get out of the way of the ball!  I'm almost afraid to check on him this morning...

So, I managed to lose those two days this week.  I was supposed to work Thursday but didn't - even if he had come home from the ER, I lost the whole night of sleep and wouldn't have been good to drive. Oh, and as if THAT wasn't enough to deal with, Thursday around noon Jessica (my boss) called to tell me Darlene, one of my co-workers, tested positive for Covid!  Darlene is the one from out group who refuses to get vaccinated.  I worked with her all day Tuesday - just freakin' fantastic!  So now here I was, going back and forth to the hospital and I've been exposed.  Granted, I've had my shots, the last one nearly a month ago, but I can still get it, which means I can still be contagious.  So I took a quick response test on Friday morning.  Of course I learned that "quick" means hopefully 1-3 hours, but up to 24 hours!  So I went on up to the hospital - on Thursday, once he was admitted, I went up there and no one was actively screening people, so I thought maybe they were relaxing those standards now that the mask mandate is getting so close to being over.  Well, apparently they just weren't paying attention when I came in.  Friday, they hailed me over to the info desk and asked who I was there to see, called the nurse because "no one is on the approved visitor list."  Then they started the barrage of questions - I wasn't going to lie, and when they ask that STUPID question, "have you been exposed to Covid?", I would handle it like I always do... "Don't you think that's a silly question?  Of course, if you go out in public, we've ALL been exposed to it!"  Then they usually roll their eyes at me (I must not be the only one who thinks this is a stupid question) and say "...for a fact..."  At which point I would simply point out that I have no symptoms and I've been vaccinated.  Would that be enough?  I don't know...  But, for some weird reason, she didn't ask the question so I never had to answer it...

So I'm going down to see Mom today.  I need to get away for a few hours...

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Now it's Sunday.  Life just gets more interesting by the minute.  My plan was to leave at 11 a.m. yesterday to go see Mom, and Mark was going to go get some milk and donuts for his breakfast.  (Yeah, that's how he rolls!)  But as I was leaving, he got up from the front porch to go to his truck and he could barely walk.  It's his balance, and I think (I HOPE) it's exacerbated by having been under general anesthesia the day before.  He was also still slurring his words.  He opened his truck door and literally fell into it.  I said, "STOP, I'll take you to get your donuts and milk!"  So I did, and I insisted on going into the Casey's to get them because it was my fear he would fall.  Brought him back home and got him inside and crossed my fingers he would be ok for a few hours, and I left.

On my way to Plattsmouth (which is about 25 minutes), Mom called and said, "Do you mind if we go to Red Oak again?"  Of course, I knew that was about her friend Sandy who is in hospice.  She said Merry (my sis) would be driving.  I was hesitant because of Mark, but I said yes...  Turns out Chris (Sandy's daughter) called Mom at 7:15, but Mom was in bed and didn't get it.  She called her back later when she got up and Chris couldn't even talk she was so hysterically sobbing.  All she gleaned from the conversation was that Sandy was apparently very close to the end and she was not handling it well... 

We got down there and Sandy was not conscious and obviously was struggling to exit her body.  I could see why Chris was a blubbering mess.  Most people see death as some kind of finality, even many with a religious background.  But with Chris, I don't think her sadness was about her mom's suffering, but about how her death would affect HER.  She actually said at one point, "I want to shake her and say WAKE UP!!  I need you!"  She didn't seem to understand that her mom was probably holding on because Chris couldn't let go.  We (along with a neighbor lady, who had some experience in hospice care) told her she needs to let her mom know it's ok to let go, that she would be ok...  Merry called Chris's brother, who lives on the east coast, who called his daughter who lives in Nebraska City, about 1.5 hours away.  She drove up to stay with Chris to the end... and we left at about 5:00 to head back to Plattsmouth.  Mom got the call about 8:30 that Sandy passed. Good for you, Sandy!  I'm glad you made the transition and I'm so sorry it was rough at the end...  She was one of the kindest souls I've ever known and I hope she'll be part of my greeting crew someday!

Here's a little interesting tidbit... Chris claims she never made that call that Mom got at 7:15 a.m. (She didn't leave a message, but her name came up in caller ID.) When she left the room at some point, I looked at her phone - I told Mom, wouldn't it be interesting if it didn't show up in her phone?  It would prove that someone... maybe her dad (deceased) or even Sandy on some level, had made that call for "help".  They say that spirits are able to manipulate electronic devices and though Sandy was still "here", I think when they are that far gone, they have one foot in this world and the other in the spirit world...  If it wasn't listed, that would prove she really DIDN'T call Mom.  It was listed, so I thought we'll never know... Chris is no stranger to lying.  Well, a little later, that neighbor came back when Merry and Chris went for a little ride and we were telling her how Mom had gotten this call from Chris at 7:15.  She shook her head and said, "No, I don't think so.  I've been here since a few minutes after 7:00 and she hasn't made any calls.  She was in no condition to make any calls.  Her phone was in on her bed most of the morning and I know that because I kept trying to get her to call her brother and let him know what's going on and at some point, I went and found it for her."  WOW - now we know!  Crazy, right?!

So I came home and Mark had managed to go downstairs and back up and was on the porch when I got home, which gave me some new hope that he was getting his land-legs back.  I went to pick up supper (which he would normally do, but I still don't want him driving...) and when I got back, my neighbor, Marcy, came running up and said firemen had been here and in our house... Damn, he'd fallen again.  This time, it was in the kitchen and he conked his head and broke his glasses on the stone counter!  And he was just sitting at the table like nothing had happened!  He later told me they wiped some blood off his head!  FUCK!  This morning, he's still slurring his speech.  I wonder if this is going to be the new normal... **SIGH**

Well, I managed to get quite a few Hoyas (and a few Epis) out to the shelf I put against the north wall of the house...

I still have room on the bottom and top shelves.  I won't put anything precious on the top shelf in case we have a hail storm...

 

Here are some hanging in the tree:

Not a great pic, but it shows there are more than most years.  I think I have around 9 or 10 hanging in the tree this time.  Hope the mowing guy doesn't cuss at me every time, but at least I tell him to do the back every other visit.

 

I bought some Sempervivums (Hens & Chicks) for the pot on the patio:

They seem to be happily settling in.  Three varieties, plus a pup off one out front.

I hope they survive the winter!  And here is my succulent shelf:

And since I need to get started on my newsletter, that's it for today!