One Year Ago Today: 01/07/2013 - Momma Bear & Mr. Mom

(01/07/2013, Monday) Evie's blood pressure was lousy through the night... in the 140's over the 100's, which caused them to come in frequently to perform manual blood pressure checks. She coughed a lot and slept until 1000. They added a new medication (a blood pressure patch) at 0900. Evie went to dialysis and they removed a liter of fluid. Unfortunately she missed school because she got back late. She did make it to the playroom though (aren't we good with our priorities?) and enjoyed playing "Don't Break The Ice" with Mommy. Afterwords Heather took the gloves off and challenged Evie to "Uno" and Evie destroyed her every time, for several rounds.

She had PT and the recreational therapist was on-hand as well for moral support. Every time it was Evie's turn (Candyland I think) she had to stand up using her walker. She did well.

They kept blood pressure cuff on Monday night, and momma bear didn't allow any manual blood pressure checks. The nurse's assistant came in to try to weigh Evie around 0330 and momma bear grew four extra feet as she reared up on her hind legs to protect the cub.
 
On the homefront: As alluded to previously, Heather and I had formulated a plan where we swap places halfway through the week so I was home on Monday. This enabled me to get the girls to school, drop baby brother off to be babysat at the house of a friend from church, so that I could spend time tying up loose ends at work. It had been well over a month since I had been there, and although I had not forewarned my co-workers that I had any plans to come in, I was immediately sucked into a technical discussion upon my unscheduled appearance.

My team continues to be crazy busy and would be even if I were not absent, so the fact that I continue to have no plans in the short term of actually being at work until things with Evie are able to reach some kind of equilibrium is a bit stressful. My Monday was not overly restful or therapeutic, but it was very Mondayish. I returned home and picked up all the kids (sans Evie), and then ran several errands: post office, grocery store, bank, etc. We fell behind schedule fast--dinner was late, as was bedtime. I think it is easy to appreciate your spouse most of the time, so long as you don't choose to be blind, but when you experience being a single parent, even if only briefly, the needle provides clean entry and exit wounds which prick you to be much more vocal about that appreciation. Thank you Heather, love of my life, for everything you do, I'm sorry for the times I'm too blind to notice all that you do for us.

DISCLAIMER: Posts Labeled "One Year Ago Today" are a record of what transpired when Evie first became ill.  The slightly edited text comes from emails which we sent to family to let them know what was happening, and to keep them updated.  These posts are usually long, but if you want to truly understand what life was like for us, and what led to this point, it makes for great "light" reading.