Hello, friends! I want to apologize in advance for this blog post being scattered and all over the place. This weekend has been a whirlwind and packed FULL!
Friday around noon my sister called me at work and said that they had found my dad in the ditch by their road unable to get up on his own and that they were taking him by ambulance to PB hospital. I immediately contacted my principal and got permission to leave school and drove to Poplar Bluff!
I met my mom and sister at the hospital just as they were bringing dad in. He was in a lot of pain and extremely disoriented. Once we were able to go back to his trauma room and see him, he told us what happened. He said he let Lily (their dog) out to go potty and was waiting on the front porch for her. He then thought that the house was on fire and fell off the porch. When he fell off the porch he hurt himself really bad and wasn’t able to get up and laid there for about 45 minutes. He decided to crawl to their ditch by the road to try to get a car to stop and help him. Finally, a neighbor drove by and saw him out there and stopped. They were able to call my mom at work and she came home immediately. They weren’t able to get him up and he kept thinking the house was on fire (it wasn’t, it was fine) and that it was also under water because the kitchen sink was leaking. They called the ambulance from there and knew they needed to get him checked out.
In the emergency room, they did CT scans and x-rays. After all of his tests, dad actually perked up quite a bit and was talking and being more alert. We waited around for about an hour or two for the doctor to come in and talk with us. It ended up being about 4:00 p.m. at this time and I knew that Chris, me, and Emily all needed to be on the road to Liz’s cheer competition in Mississippi. Even though it was a tough decision, I decided to go ahead and go back to Dexter so we could start driving. My mom and sister and I all figured that they would let my dad go home because he was actually doing pretty well, just sore from the fall.
I had went ahead and sent Liz with a friend to Mississippi right after school since I didn’t know for sure what was going to happen with dad. That way she was down there and I didn’t have to worry about her missing her competition. I went to Dexter to get Chris and Emily so we could start making our way to Southaven, Mississippi. Well, when I got back to Dexter, Chris and Emily were feeling pretty rough and Chris made the executive decision that they needed to stay home and rest. Emily had been coughing her head off since Wednesday and Chris was actually running a little low grade fever and just felt horrible. SO…. that left me to head to Mississippi all by myself! I don’t do well driving by myself and was kind of nervous. I felt like I should still be with my dad, mom, and sister, but at the same time I wanted to watch Elizabeth’s first cheer competition and be there for her in case something happened. My heart felt like I was pulled in a million different directions.
As soon as I got on the road to MS, my sister called me and said the doctor had came in. The tests showed that dad had broken a rib and they were extremely concerned with his confusion. As soon as I left PB, dad had another hallucination where he thought there were hot dogs on the floor and he still thought that their house was flooded and on fire at the same time. The doctor wanted the neurologist to see him, but we had a horrible experience with the neurologist at that hospital, so my mom made the decision to have dad transferred to St. Louis (about 3 hours away) to be where his regular neurologist is.
My heart sank immediately. I knew my sister was with mom and they’d be okay, but I again felt like I needed to be there so bad for them.
I’ll be honest, the whole 3 hour trip to Mississippi I had a major cry fest. I prayed and cried and prayed and cried. I didn’t know exactly what they were going to say about dad, but with how his health has been declining the past few months, I knew it probably wasn’t going to be very good.
I really had to take my cares to the Lord and just pray that He would protect my dad. I was emotionally drained from the week and had quite a rough trip going down the MS. With taking little J man back to his family’s house, my mother in law falling and breaking her leg, and then all of this with my dad, I was quite a mess. However, I know the Lord is on my side and He will carry me through this.
I finally made it to MS around 8:30 p.m. and put on my happy face for Elizabeth. She knew what was going on with Papa Tim to some extent, but I wanted her to enjoy her weekend with her cheer group and not worry about anything. I told her that Papa Tim was going to be fine and we would get to see him on Sunday.
Once I met up with Liz and all the other cheer moms, we let the girls swim at the hotel until it closed down at 10:00. It was fun to watch them do stunts together in the pool and laugh and have a good time. The moms and I hung out and chatted as much as we could over the screaming, squealing girls. HA!
Liz and I went straight up to our hotel room after swimming and got our showers and turned in for the night. I knew she would have a big day on Saturday and I wanted her well rested for her competition.
Saturday morning started around 8:30 a.m. by meeting a few friends down at the hotel lobby for breakfast. We didn’t have to be anywhere until 11:00, so it was nice to have a more relaxed and lazy morning.
After breakfast we headed back up to the room to get hair/make up done and get dressed. I ended up having Elizabeth’s cheer coach do her hair and make-up while I made some phone calls to my mom/sister to check in with everyone.
Dad made it fine to St. Louis and his neurologist had ordered them to an EEG on his brain to see what was going on. He had a restless night and wasn’t able to sleep well at all with just getting up there late and being in a new environment. Mom said dad was tired and he would hopefully be able to rest some during the day. They were going to give him fluids through an IV because he was a little dehydrated also.
Mom and Julie knew to call once they talked with the doctor, so Liz and I headed to meet her cheer team for lunch at Chick-Fil-A. It was crowded and took us a while to find a seat, but we all managed to find somewhere to sit down and have lunch.
After lunch we had about 2 hours of time to kill so I made Elizabeth go into a few shops with me. I had some Old Navy cash I wanted to spend and wanted to look for a few things. I ended up buying a $10 sweater on clearance because I am cheap and that’s how I roll. I also checked in again on Chris and Emily. They were actually feeling a little better and had went up to the farm in Cape to do some exploring since it was a beautiful day!
Liz and I made it to Landers Arena for her cheer competition right at 1:00 to meet her team. They didn’t perform until 4:40, but they wanted to sit together and watch some of the other teams perform. It was a lot of sitting and waiting, but it was neat to watch the other teams. This was a JamFest competition which is one of the biggest competitions in the nation, so it was kind of a big deal. We were even able to watch some level 4 and 5 teams compete. I was thankful for a great group of cheer moms that made the time pass quickly!
It was finally the girls time to go and warm up and stretch! I wished Elizabeth and her team good luck and had the nervous butterflies feelings all cheer moms get. I wanted her and her team to do well and didn’t want anyone to get hurt!
This was their first cheer competition of the season and they did really well! They ended up getting 5th place out of 8 teams and won Best Choreography out of their whole division! I was proud of how hard they worked and I know they will only get better with each competition. The awards ceremony got over with around 7:30 p.m., and as soon as it was over Liz and I headed back to Dexter. We were able to make great time and were back home around 10:00 p.m. Since I had only been home for about 30 minutes since Friday morning, I was so ready to see my house and bed!
I had called my mom on the way home and told her how Elizabeth’s team did and there wasn’t really an update on dad. He had slept quite a bit that day and the doctor would hopefully be in Sunday or Monday to talk with them.
Sunday morning all four of us were up and ready to go by 8:30 a.m. We knew we wanted to be in St. Louis to see my dad.
We got up there right after the doctor had been in. The EEG of my dad’s brain showed that his brain is shrinking and he has dementia. My dad is only 57 years old, but has lived with the effects of a brain tumor for 30 years. So every seizure he has had and every fall he has taken has made his condition even worse. His brain never really started as a healthy brain and is now functioning as a 80-90 year old man. We don’t have a lot of answers right now with how fast it will progress or if more hallucinations will happen, but we felt better knowing exactly what was causing all of this. We are going to try really hard to help my mom get him covered with Medicaid so they can have a home health nurse come in and stay with him while she works. For right now, we are going to rely on family members to come and stay with him and my mom might have to take some time off until they can get everything lined out. Also, dad has to meet with his neurologist again in a few weeks to see exactly what his thoughts are on his condition.
Since there really isn’t anything that can be done, they went ahead and discharged my dad from the hospital today. We all made it up to St. Louis a little after 11:00 this morning, and he was discharged and ready to go home around 2:00 p.m. Dad was so ready to get out of the hospital and his own environment. While we waited around for them to discharge him we all hung out in his room and had a good morning together. My mom and sister were exhausted from being up there all weekend, but they were both in pretty good spirits. Dad was happy to see us and the girls and talked quite a bit. You could tell his broken rib was hurting him and he was tired, but it was so good to see him!
After we helped mom get dad loaded up in the car, Chris and I decided to take the girls to the St. Louis Zoo. Elizabeth and Emily have had a rough week because they have seen their Nana get hurt and in a wheelchair, had their heart broken with our foster boy going back to family, and then watched their Papa Tim in a hospital all morning. They’ve seen me cry more this week than they have in a long time, so we knew we wanted to do something nice for them.
It was a cool, but sunny day today! The animals were all out and we made it to every part of the zoo except for the elephants. The girls enjoyed seeing all the different animals and it was nice to walk around the zoo holding Chris’ hand and just talking with him. I had missed him this weekend since we were apart, so it was nice to have time to chat. Chris is truly my best friend and helps calm me when life gets crazy. He really helps me make sense with everything that goes on and keeps me encouraged that God has a plan for my dad’s life and won’t give us more than we can handle. Sometimes that is easier said than done, but I know God counts every tear and knows our cares and will take care of us.
After the zoo we headed to Five Guys to eat supper and then back to Dexter. We got home just in enough time where we could go and visit with Chris’ mom and dad for a while and check on them. Lequeeta’s surgery is scheduled for Tuesday and she is getting pretty nervous about it. It was nice to take the girls over there and help cheer her up for a while.
I’m not sure what this week will hold, but last week gave me a run for my money. I do know that God is faithful and just even through the hard times in our life. I know the devil is a liar and he won’t steal my joy. I have to stand firm on these promises and I praise God even through these hard times. Thank you SO much to everyone that has reached out to me and Chris this week and offered an encouraging word or offered help with the girls. I am extremely grateful for my family, work family, church family, and friends!
Leaving you with our #selfieSunday! We almost forgot to do one, but made it right before bed time. I pray you have a great week! The girls are excited about Valentine’s Day and we have a winter break coming up with a few days off of school, so we are counting down the days until that!
