Let’s see if I can get all my scattered thoughts together.
Conference weekend was great!! Although by the time it was over, I felt like
all I did was sit and listen and eat for two solid days. That’s okay, though.
It was definitely the best thing to sit and listen to. I had a ton of snacks
like we always do plus we had 2 kinds of leftover soup and I made crock pot
dinners each night so there was just a lot of food! Sam was here spending the weekend with us and I am glad
we had another person to help us eat all the food. Plus, we enjoyed seeing him,
of course! He doesn’t have a car
yet, so a guy in our ward picked him up Friday evening and brought him here
(he works near Fort Meade) and I took him back on Sunday evening. On the
drive back, we were talking about some of the crazy songs Curtis sings on his
guitar and Sam sounds just like his dad when he sings the Boa Constrictor song.
It was funny!!
Conference was the best and I haven’t had as much time to go
back and listen to the talks again as I would like. I thought that the Plan of
Salvation was definitely a theme, though. Also joy—I
couldn’t believe how many people talked about joy! I really liked Elder
Cornish’s talk “Am I Good Enough? Will I Make It?” also. I think that talk must
have been comforting to a lot of people! Anyway, I am thankful we have the technology that we can
read or listen to the talks again and again and study them.
Enjoying Conference:
(I realized after I took Sam home that he was here all weekend and I didn't take a single picture of him! I will have to do that next time.)
Monday was a Jewish holiday so Seth didn’t have school. He
spent most of the day playing at a friend’s house. I ran a whole bunch of
errands and did Cub scout stuff and was very busy all day. On Tuesday Frank had
two doctor appointments that I took him to. One was with our primary care doctor which
was a follow up on his back. (He probably just needs physical therapy for that, but has to wait until after knee surgery to start.) We also talked to him about Frank’s right knee and
he decided to get an MRI on that knee too—that will happen on Tuesday. He also
decided to change Frank’s pain and anti-inflammatory medications to see if they
would help him better than the ones he’s been taking. The pain medication was
making him dizzy and nauseous too. So far, the new meds haven’t helped much
either but at least he’s not nauseous like he was. He had a very bad week as
far as sleep goes, until last night. He slept almost the whole night last night
and he is definitely happier today than I’ve seen him in quite a while, even
though he’s still in pain. A good night’s sleep really makes a difference!
Anyway, his second appointment on Tuesday was just a pre-op visit with the
orthopedic doctor. Tuesday evening I had den meeting (I did finally find
someone to help me) so that was a busy day. It sounds like they aren’t going to
be able to call a new den leader anytime soon, so I am just muddling along as
best I can.
On Wednesday I went to the temple and it felt SO good to be
there again. I just love the temple. When I walk in, the peace just envelopes
me, and besides everybody there smiles at me and says “welcome!” The traffic
was terrible getting there so as usual I missed the 10:00 session by not very
much but there was a big crowd waiting to do initiatories so I just waited for
the 11:00 session and it was wonderful. The sister I was proxy for was born in
the 1700s in some Asian country (the birthplace was written in some sort of
Chinese characters so I couldn’t read it) and her name was something like
“Im-Gyeoung-Bok-Ui Bu-In”. That was a fun one, but the temple worker told me
not to worry, just do my best with pronounciation because this sister had a
translator up in heaven. I loved that!
The temple took most of the school day,
so after I got back I picked up Seth and he came with me to Wal-Mart to get the
shopping done. He kept begging me to buy him Lego sets, but I was a mean mom
and didn’t get him one. He has a few things to add to his Christmas list now.
On Thursday I took Frank back to the doctor because his legs
and arms were tingling / numb like they feel when they’re “asleep” and that was
a bit worrisome. After examining him, the doctor said that he probably has some
nerve damage but nothing serious and although annoying, it will get better
in time. He did do some blood work just to make sure nothing else was going on
and that came back normal, and he also told us what symptoms we do need to
worry about, so we know what to watch for. So overall, that was a relief. On
that day I also got my hair done and took Frank to a client’s and ran a bunch
more errands and in the evening I had book chat, so it was a really busy day. I
totally gave up on reading the book (Plato’s Republic) because I didn’t have
much time and every time I tried to read it I fell asleep. It’s philosophy and
it kind of drove me crazy because it just went around in circles. But I did
enjoy the discussion we had and apparently if you wade through to the end
there’s some really good stuff in there. So maybe someday I will make the
attempt to finish it. In the meantime, I had reserved the book for this month
and got it and started reading it (A Man Called Ove). It is much easier to read
and I am enjoying it a lot. At book chat we decided to put it off another month
because the book is in demand and it’s hard to get a copy from the library so
we are reading a book called Set a Watchman first, which is a sequel to the book To Kill a Mockingbird.
This morning Frank and I went to meet with a lawyer and we
decided to hire him to help us with Frank’s accident stuff. We really weren’t too happy
with the lawyer we got last time so we got a referral for this guy from a guy in our stake who is a lawyer (he would have done it himself, but he and his wife are going on a mission soon). After talking with this lawyer and discussing what we didn’t like the
last time, we felt a lot better about this guy. It will help a lot to have
someone else dealing with a lot of the paperwork and phone calls and such. That
has been quite a weight on Frank and I both. That meeting took most of the morning and
after lunch I got the budget mostly caught up before I had to go pick up Seth
from school. Seth had asked me to go through the car line to pick him up, but
when I turned onto the street by the school I discovered that just past the
entrance to the school parking lot the road was blocked off by several police
cars with their lights flashing, so I went into the parking lot and walked in
to get him instead. I was a bit concerned about what might be happening down
the street, not because I thought it was dangerous for the school (I was sure
they would have been on lockdown or something if there was any criminal
activity nearby, instead of having a normal dismissal) but because I knew a member of our ward's apartment is right there. And sadly, as it turns out, I had a
reason to be worried because he passed away, and that is why the police cars
were there. I don’t know any details yet, but it is so sad for his family. His married daughter was my secretary and then one of my counselors when I was RS president. Her kids go to the same school as Seth so that is how she found out her father died, when she saw the police cars. She is one of the best people I know.
Last week I was complaining that we hadn't heard anything about Dad's CPAP but later that day he got a call about that. He has an appointment on Monday to go get that set up. It is not a cheap device and we will have to pay for it since we have a deductible for equipment that is more than the CPAP costs, but I'm sure it will be worth it!!
So I admit that this week has been pretty draining. As I mentioned, Frank didn't sleep well most of the week and of course he's still in a lot of pain all the time. Seeing him suffer is pretty emotionally draining for me. I also feel a lot of pressure being the only able-bodied adult in the household. Frank really does a lot to help me and keep things running smoothly around here, and when he isn't able to do the things he normally does, I really notice. I am lucky that he is so helpful most of the time. Add to everything else that I am also his caregiver now. It has just been a lot! I had sort of a meltdown yesterday morning but I've felt better since then. I guess I just needed to get some of the pent up stress and emotion out of my system. On to happier things...
It's here!:
Waiting for a friend to arrive so he can open his call:
I think that is quite enough for one week, don't you?
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