Okay, so where was I? Oh, yes, I think I left off about noon Sunday. In the afternoon, Kaitlyn went ice skating with Dakota's family so I took the boys to Safari Sam's. For those of you who aren't familiar with that place, it's rather like a McDonald's Playland on steroids. The kids love it! Brendan ran and ran and climbed and ran some more. He worked up a good sweat. Alex played, too, just at his own slower pace. Mark came with us, too. I hadn't expected him to since he hadn't slept all night, but he wanted to come along. He was so dusky and in a certain amount of pain. I kept watching him, but he did okay. And again, no ER visits.
Monday, though, he did decide to go in. I guess the pain just got to be too much for him. Or maybe he was spooked by some arrhythmias he's been having. In any case, he had probably the best combination of medical professionals he could have had that night -- Adam and Dr. VanEaton. The doc, always kind and soft spoken, stayed with Mark and watched the monitor, chatting about the kids (his and ours) and other such things, until he'd witnessed the arrhythmia on the monitor and was able to reassure Mark that this isn't one of the kinds that can be dangerous. I went home then, to be with the kids and (to be honest) to sleep. Jason tends to be up far later than me, even on his days off, and he had agreed to go pick him up when he was ready. I was asleep when Mark got home so it wasn't the next morning that I got the whole story. After I left, he chatted some more with Adam and with Dr. VanEaton and decided to try to tough it out without any medication. They let him stay there, just to be near help, I think, and at one point he decided that he couldn't do it. He called Adam, asked for some meds, and was about to get some when he said, "No. If I'm going to this, I have to start now." And he weathered the whole pain crisis without any extra medication.
He's been pretty upbeat since then. He still has pain, of course, but it seems like it has clicked in his head who is boss. He still has to rest a lot, but he has been up and around, doing things around the house and going in to work at the church. He's even talking about volunteering in the ER. I asked him what he would do and he said, "Just help out. Take people blankets, see if they need anything, stay with the little kids when they're getting IVs, that kind of stuff." I think he would be good at that. And I think it would be good for him as well as the patients if he were allowed to be on the giving side of the equation from time to time. The ER staff is eager to have him come help. It's just a matter of working out the details now.
And me? I'm doing well. Thanks for asking! :) I've been writing a virtual blizzard. Just finished another short story this morning, which I must say felt pretty darn good! And I've been spoiled, too. I got a card from my sister Katie with a quite generous check in it for a 90 minute massage. Oh!!!! I'm quivering in ecstasy just thinking about it! (Although I'm afraid I'll be sound asleep within ten minutes ...) Also, my sister-in-law Joellen came over yesterday while I was gone taking Mark to the pain center and cooked dinner, cleaned part of my house, and put together the shoe rack I purchased last week but had stasshed (still in the box) in the closet. I don't do puzzles very well -- unless they involve words! Anyway, I was touched by her willingness to use her time and energy on me like that.
And another thing that made yesterday extra special ... I got to talk to my friend Perri! She's an amazing person, so incredibly busy with a two hour commute (each way) three times a week, a job working with emotionally and behaviorally challenged teenagers, three young kids of her own (all seven and under), and a small farm that she and her husband run. Oh, and did I mention that she's writing a fabulous book? She has an agent interested in her story, but she has to do some rewriting in all her spare time! All this to say that it has been quite a challenge finding a time to chat. But we finally managed to get together for an hour yesterday -- well, as close together as you can get when one of us lives in Massachusetts and the other lives in Oregon! It was a gem of an hour.
I think sometimes about my "ideal life." It would involve a new heart for Mark and private schools for the kids, music lessons, and dance lessons, and fenced back yards for puppies. I would have book contracts and an office (with an actual closing door) in which to write. I would have a house with three times this amount of space so that we're not always jammed in here like we are. And if you can move all this 90 minutes west, so that I can have a view of the ocean from my office window, all the better! But seriously, would I trade all this for Adam and Jack VanEaton, for Katie and Joellen, for Perri, for all of those who make my life so rich? No, not a chance. Not in a million years.
Monday, though, he did decide to go in. I guess the pain just got to be too much for him. Or maybe he was spooked by some arrhythmias he's been having. In any case, he had probably the best combination of medical professionals he could have had that night -- Adam and Dr. VanEaton. The doc, always kind and soft spoken, stayed with Mark and watched the monitor, chatting about the kids (his and ours) and other such things, until he'd witnessed the arrhythmia on the monitor and was able to reassure Mark that this isn't one of the kinds that can be dangerous. I went home then, to be with the kids and (to be honest) to sleep. Jason tends to be up far later than me, even on his days off, and he had agreed to go pick him up when he was ready. I was asleep when Mark got home so it wasn't the next morning that I got the whole story. After I left, he chatted some more with Adam and with Dr. VanEaton and decided to try to tough it out without any medication. They let him stay there, just to be near help, I think, and at one point he decided that he couldn't do it. He called Adam, asked for some meds, and was about to get some when he said, "No. If I'm going to this, I have to start now." And he weathered the whole pain crisis without any extra medication.
He's been pretty upbeat since then. He still has pain, of course, but it seems like it has clicked in his head who is boss. He still has to rest a lot, but he has been up and around, doing things around the house and going in to work at the church. He's even talking about volunteering in the ER. I asked him what he would do and he said, "Just help out. Take people blankets, see if they need anything, stay with the little kids when they're getting IVs, that kind of stuff." I think he would be good at that. And I think it would be good for him as well as the patients if he were allowed to be on the giving side of the equation from time to time. The ER staff is eager to have him come help. It's just a matter of working out the details now.
And me? I'm doing well. Thanks for asking! :) I've been writing a virtual blizzard. Just finished another short story this morning, which I must say felt pretty darn good! And I've been spoiled, too. I got a card from my sister Katie with a quite generous check in it for a 90 minute massage. Oh!!!! I'm quivering in ecstasy just thinking about it! (Although I'm afraid I'll be sound asleep within ten minutes ...) Also, my sister-in-law Joellen came over yesterday while I was gone taking Mark to the pain center and cooked dinner, cleaned part of my house, and put together the shoe rack I purchased last week but had stasshed (still in the box) in the closet. I don't do puzzles very well -- unless they involve words! Anyway, I was touched by her willingness to use her time and energy on me like that.
And another thing that made yesterday extra special ... I got to talk to my friend Perri! She's an amazing person, so incredibly busy with a two hour commute (each way) three times a week, a job working with emotionally and behaviorally challenged teenagers, three young kids of her own (all seven and under), and a small farm that she and her husband run. Oh, and did I mention that she's writing a fabulous book? She has an agent interested in her story, but she has to do some rewriting in all her spare time! All this to say that it has been quite a challenge finding a time to chat. But we finally managed to get together for an hour yesterday -- well, as close together as you can get when one of us lives in Massachusetts and the other lives in Oregon! It was a gem of an hour.
I think sometimes about my "ideal life." It would involve a new heart for Mark and private schools for the kids, music lessons, and dance lessons, and fenced back yards for puppies. I would have book contracts and an office (with an actual closing door) in which to write. I would have a house with three times this amount of space so that we're not always jammed in here like we are. And if you can move all this 90 minutes west, so that I can have a view of the ocean from my office window, all the better! But seriously, would I trade all this for Adam and Jack VanEaton, for Katie and Joellen, for Perri, for all of those who make my life so rich? No, not a chance. Not in a million years.
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