Whilwind

Last week was busy busy busy. I came back Sunday from girls' weekend in Houston (which was wonderful, by the way), went to work Monday and Tuesday and then headed up to Monroe Tuesday PM after work. Neal and I stayed at his parents' house in Baskin and then got up at 4 Wednesday morning to be at the hospital before 6am. We stayed at the hospital all day until his Dad came out of surgery and went into ICU. By Wednesday night he was talking and coherent so all seemed good. I stayed in Baskin Wed night and then got up at 4 Thursday morning and drove home from Baskin so I could make it to work for 8.

I worked Thursday and Friday and then planned on staying at home the rest of the weekend (which I did). But Mr Steve started to have some complications with his breathing Friday so they had to call in a pulmonary specialist. I mean, he's smoked cigarettes for about 40 years, so honestly I think this was a little expected. He had fluid in his lungs and, on top of that, he was panicking when he tried to take deep breaths and couldn't quite do it. The man just had his chest cracked open, so again, this was all somewhat expected.

Neal's sister (Dawn) calls me Saturday morning to tell me that they're putting him back on the ventillator because they think the best way for his lungs to heal is for the ventillator to breathe for him. So they sedated him, but him back on the machine, put him on some antibiotics and waited for his lungs to heal. Dawn tells me that she thinks this is the worst of it and that he should start to heal since the machine is breathing for him. But, she says that Marilyn is freaking out and would like for Neal and I (he's back at work - 10 hours away) to both come up there. But Dawn says that she doesn't think that we need to come up there because he is starting to get better.

Not 5 minutes later Marilyn calls me and tells me to get in my car and come up there. I started to get choked up and was like, "Miss Marilyn, I'm so sorry, but I can't. I'm exhausted, and I just can't. And honestly, I think he's going to be okay." She is not okay with this becuase she thinks he's about to die, but judging from what Dawn told me, I don't think that's the case. And this is her husband, whom she loves more than anything, and I get that she's freaking out and cannot imagine life without him, so I understand. Completely. But really, I was so fucking tired and it was pouring rain outside and I couldn't even imagine getting in the car for another 4 hours to go up there and sit in the waiting room with her when he wouldn't even know I was there because he was sedated. I went up there last week, I told him I loved him and gave him a hug, and you know, I'm okay with that and I think he is too.

And she has family up there. I kid you not, when he went into surgery there were 28 people in the waiting room. The only ones from out of town were me, Neal, Dawn and Neal's Uncle.

So Neal gets off of work tomorrow night and he'll probably go up to Baskin again Wednesday or Thursday. If Mr Steve is still in ICU later this week, I'll probably go back up there too. He is still improving though, but I think everyone will feel much better about it after he's out of ICU and in a normal hospital room.

And my 17-year old sister is in rehab. So, there's that too.