Sunday, July 8, 2012

Please Pray for us

Richard began complaining of a headache on Thursday, I should have made him go to the doctor because he never has headaches.  Friday he took off work, I knew something was wrong then because he never does that, but he said he did not have any other stroke type symptoms and there has been a virus that includes head ache going around, so he tried to get some rest and said he was feeling a bit better.
Yesterday we took the kids and drove up over a mountain pass that is so popular, but it is a pretty narrow high dirt road with many drop offs and a considerable way from town.
When we got home I was talking to our son on the phone for his birthday and Richard went to lay down , about 15 minutes later I heard the weirdest sound coming from our bedroom.  I walked to the door and saw Richard slumped over on our bed making this horrible noise, I thought he was having a stroke and trying to call me but unable to make the words come out, so I hung up on Levi and called 911, once I got into the room I could see he was having some sort of seizure.  He would not respond to me at all and he was turning purple, foaming at the mouth and nose, clenching his body, the 911 operator had me get him from the bed to the floor (not an easy task) and do CPR.  I noticed  his color was getting better but he was still not responding and his breathing was very deep and labored.
The paramedics came and he was coming out of it, he was able to stand on his own and his color was better, but he had no idea who or where he was, we got him to the hospital, I followed in the truck and he said about half way there he came to and was very confused as to why he was not longer in the bedroom.
At the hospital they did a CT scan and found some bleeding on his brain, so he needed to be transferred to Anchorage to see a neurosurgeon, they loaded him back in an ambulance and I ran home to get him some stuff he would need then headed out.
I had no idea where the hospital was, but figured there would be signs, I was wrong, there are no signs, I drove all around trying to find my way, crying, worried,  convinced of the worst ect. When I got it together enough to get directions from my phone I made it there and he was fine, sitting up in bed talking to the doctor.
It turns out they are pretty sure the brain is still bleeding, so they need to stop it, the only doctor here who can do it is on vacation, so he had to be flown to Seattle.
I could go on the life flight with him, the VA would pay for that, but they notified me they do not pay for my accommodations when we get there, there is a motel type place for families of Veterans I might be able to get into on Monday, the hospital will not let me stay there because he is in ICU.  If he is sent back home on a commercial flight we would have to pay for mine out of pocket, I had no clothes with me ect. I still planned on going until they told us he would most likely be there  7 to 14 days after surgery for observation.
We do not really know anyone to stay with the girls and animals for that long, and so on.  I was so worried and torn, should I go or stay.  They were giving Richard medication to bring his blood pressure down, because the higher it was the biggest risk he had of more damage, I noticed he was getting upset the more upset I got the higher his BP went even with the medication, he rose 10 points in 15 minutes after meds.  He kept telling me to stay and take care of the kids, I was worried about him and them and not knowing what to do to a point I was pretty sure I was haivng a nervous breakdown, the chaplain came and talked to us, that was pretty helpful and then a nurse who deals with this type of brain trauma came in and talked to us, she assured me he was doing well and would be in good hands, so I agreed to stay here, his blood pressure went down and they took him on the plane.  He promised to call or text me non stop, I promised to not have a break down. ( am  not sure I can keep my promise )
I am scared, I am alone here, and for the first time wondering if this move was the right choice, we are so far from everyone we know, when he was still active duty I had a whole Army family to turn to, I knew who I was supposed to call, I knew what I was supposed to do, now I just feel very lost, very alone and more and more scared.
He made it to the hospital I talked to him twice today, right now they are moving him to a room and running more test to try and figure out why the bleeding is happening, keeping him on pain killers and bp meds to control the amount of bleeding, it is hard to talk to him on the pain killers, it is pretty strong, but I don't care I will talk to him anyway and time I can.  It is just hard to get complete information, I hope to talk to his doctor soon and have more concrete information.
As I know more I will let everyone know what is happening.
In the meantime Please pray for us, Please pray he will be ok, I really still need him.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Girls Day

I am lucky during the summer if I go into work early or stay late to make sure all my billable notes are done I can take off after half a day on Friday.  I try to take that afternoon and do something fun with the girls, today we decided to go check out some of the fun boutiques and consignment shops here.


We started off at a great boutique everyone had been telling me about, it is quite large but crammed full of all kinds of great stuff, antiques, clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelery, they have it all, and they give all their shoppers pink cotton candy (I don't like cotton candy but the girls did.)
We had fun window shopping there, it is a special occasion store for sure, one you would go to for a special gift, I thought a bit expensive for everyday shopping.
We hit the perfect shopping day at our second consignment stop, a section of stuff originally marked down to 1.00 but today it was 5 for 1.00, I got these super cute ballet flats
and the girls picked out an aborcrombie shirt, some earrings, a wallet, and something? for our 1.00, I love that each item was 20cents!!! we found some other cute shirts fairly inexpensive as well, so we were happy.
We made our way to a couple of the new/used book stores after, I am lucky my kids all love to read, I can hardly keep the girls in books, we found some good deals on some books to keep us going for summer and then headed off to our favorite coffee/smoothie shop.  They were closed so instead we bought our own fruit and ice cream and made our own super yummy smoothies at home.
It was a really fun day just hanging out with the girls and the whole afternoon cost me less than 30.00 and we made some fun memories.
I am so glad my girls still want to hang out with me even as they hit their teen age years, now if their sister and my sister and Mom were just here it would have been the perfect girls afternoon.