After this past week I firmly believe in Mental Health Days!
Just like everyone else, the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is stress laden for anyone but especially women. Mine actually started in August when MIL had her pacemaker surgery. September brought my husband being diagnosed with prostate cancer. The October had us searching for the best treatment methods for him. He had a total prostatectomy done by the DaVinci robot on November 19th. He was able to go back to work the 1st of December but developed an infection later that week so was off for a few more days. The infection cleared but his lifting restrictions remained.
In November we also found out FIL had very high calcium levels which led to a diagnosis of hyperparathyroidism. So 90 year old FIL had surgery December 10th and they removed a walnut sized parathyroid. He was hospitalized overnight. His confusion remained but his energy level slowly returned to a level that we haven't seen in him in quite a while. He had gotten to the point he had been sleeping most of the day and night but by Christmas he wasn't sleeping at all which was hard on his caretaker (MIL).
Of course, like everyone else, we had shopping, etc to get done. Daughter decorated our house for us and I combined lists to shop at the fewest number of stores possible. I missed my package carrier (hubs) since he was still on a weight restriction but managed. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner here for inlaws, Christmas eve dinner at inlaws house, Christmas Day here for our family, then Christmas dinner for my side of the family (50) the Sunday after Christmas. In between we worked.
Monday the 29th as we were closing the office for the day, we got a phone call from BIL who stated that MIL's speech was slurred. Since he was over 2 hours away he wondered if we could go check them out. I grabbed a blood pressure cuff from the office and we headed to their house (over 45 min away). We got there and found both highly agitated. We sat both down to do assessments and I took their blood pressure and checked their neurologicals. Both passed but as we were sitting talking to them we learned that FIL has not been sleeping and has become highly combative and aggressive, which was a change or called an altered mental status, while MIL's speech was garbled like she was talking with a bunch of marbles in her mouth. We loaded both into our car and took them to the ER. We were there from 5pm to 2am with FIL being admitted with changes shown on his CT scan of the brain. MIL was still in an agitated state but her neurologicals were fine and she kept saying all she needed was sleep. So after having her checked out too we took her home. BIL went out there the next day and got their doctor to run tests on MIL too since her sleeping did not improve her agitation and speech. They found she had a stroke too, only what is called an aphasia stroke and not a motor stroke. She was allowed to go back home. Thus began the daily visits along with working.
In the meantime, hubs had his 6 week followup appointment with his urologist and got the all clear with no signs of cancer seen so no treatment would be needed at least for another 4 months. Hubs and I had MRI's scheduled on New Year's Eve - mine: breast and a CT scan on my still hurting ankle, and his for a check on the acoustic neuroma (removed 1996) and spinal tumor (removed 1985). We then left and went to inlaws and discharged FIL from the hospital and followed the ambulance and commited him to a locked psychiatric facility to assess his dementia and aggressiveness. By the time we got home, hubs and I looked at each other, ordered a pizza and just collapsed on the couch. We were asleep shortly after the new year.
The rest of the week has been spent driving MIL to see FIL and taking MIL around and checking out different places for him to be discharged to after this evaluation. Of course MIL doesn't like any of them but it is no longer safe for them to be together and she won't hear of both of them going into assisted living together. She will be seeing a neurologist this coming week (none were available during the holiday) so she might be forced into assisted living herself.
To top the week off, my CT scan of the ankle from hell showed more bone chips which means I need another surgery. My breast MRI showed a suspicious probable cancerous area so I will be getting a biopsy done as soon as I can get it scheduled. Hubs went to the hospital today and got the radiologist who read my MRI to show him where the 3x3cm lump was because neither of us could feel it. The radiologist said that was a good sign that we couldn't feel it yet. Doctor's appointment for that will come this coming week when the office reopens after the holiday.
I realize this post is pretty depressing but since I needed a Mental Health Day I took Friday where I didn't get out of my robe or PJ's the entire day. I am actually feeling much better, hence my ability to even post at all.
Today we went to church and are going to take MIL to visit FIL and then go to see another 2 facilities, then going to our neighbor's wake. She passed New Year's Eve.
Somehow I feel and know everything is going to be okay so bear with me.
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