Grayfeathers Blog; A Bit of Good News

https://tchphotography.smugmug.com/Prints-For-Sale/Tannehill-State-Park/i-bDJRc3K/A

For those that are keeping up;  my parents are back at home and are doing pretty much everything on their own now.  They still are not able to cook much and basically they don’t have much of an appetite for food anyway.  My sister, as well as others, have cooked enough food for them to last a month or so and have frozen much of it so when they do get hungry all they have to do is nuke it in the microwave a couple of minutes.

Both mom and dad are off of the oxygen throughout the day.  However, mom still sleeps with her oxygen at about 1 ltr I believe.  They have also put away their walkers for good I’m told.  Dad is still having difficulty finding a comfortable place to sleep.  Neither one is able to lay flat on their bed so their both having to sit nearly straight up in order to get comfortable.  Dad often times gets up during the night and heads to the recliner and will sleep there for several hours.

Their lives has completely changed since the accident.  I doubt very seriously that they will ever get back to what I’d call normal.  However, mom keeps telling me that they are still here for a reason and that God has a mission for them to perform once they are able to get around better.  I can’t imagine what this mission would be but I’m sure mom will tell me when she finds out herself.

On a side note.  My daughters have been college hunting for quite some time now.  Once I think they have it figured out where they want to go my wife will bring up another school to consider.  I really wish she would stop doing that because we don’t have the money for one car much less money for two.  The wife and I have been praying for some sort of an answer as to which college to “push” them toward.  Since my son is about to graduate for Alabama university I figured it would be hands down which college these girls would want to go to.  I think they’ve known all along too but they keep going to these other colleges just to satisfy their mother.  We had an answer to our prayer this past Saturday.  Both my daughters not only got accepted into Alabama but they each have received scholarship money worth over $20,000.  For those that know math, that’s over $40,000 in scholarship money if they will choose Alabama as their college destination.  Guess which college they’ve sent acceptance letters to today?

We needed some good news in our household for once.  It’s been a long time since anything seemed to go our way.  There is some stuff going on with my health and my employment for that’s for another story.

Grayfeather’s Blog A Week in Review

Since my last posting, my parents have greatly improved.  More that I thought they ever would considering their circumstances.  After spending nearly two weeks in the hospital and another two weeks at my brothers house we finally moved them back to their home today.  Dad has graduated from his oxygen tank but is still with his walker.  Mom, on the other hand, has graduated from her walker but is still on 2 liters of oxygen.  She had some breathing problems even before the accident so this was not unexpected.  We’ve paid a sitter to stay with them during their time at my brothers house but today they’ve decided that no sitter will be needed.  At least for the time being.

After getting my parents settled in, I took the time just to watch them get around.  I have no doubt that they can get around without much of an issue.  Mom has an air hose from her oxygen generator that is long enough to go from her living room, to the kitchen, through the den and into her bedroom.  My biggest fear would be for her to get tangled up in her oxygen hose and take a fall.  My other fear is that she doesn’t have enough strength to do much of anything.  So, for the time being, someone else will have to cook and clean for a while.  They have several relatives that live in the area that have already volunteered to help so I think we have that covered.

Mom just turned 75 last Monday and dad will turn 78 in the last part of June.  My siblings and I find it hard to believe, after seeing the site of the accident and seeing pictures of the car, just how lucky we are to have them still with us.

Life is slowly getting back to normal.  I will continue to make daily phone calls and at least a weekly visit just to see how they’re doing and to make sure they don’t need anything. I have a sister that lives a lot closer than anyone else in the family so she’ll be checking on her on a daily basis.

 

 

 

It’s Been a Challenging Year.

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

On February 8th my mom and dad were heading to pick up my 11 year old nephew from school when out of nowhere this car veered over into their lane and hit them head on.  Both mom and dad suffered many broken ribs, fractured sternums, collapsed lungs and many cuts and bruises.  Dad also suffered several fractured vertebrae and along with a collapsed lung, he had a small hole in one of his lungs creating fluid to build up around his heart.  The first hospital they were rushed to could not handle dad’s injuries so they decided to ship them to UAB trauma center which in my opinion is one of the best hospitals in the southeast.

For nearly three weeks, both mom and dad were laid up in the hospital, mom in TBICU and dad in TBU. As of this past Saturday they went to stay with my brother until they can learn to do things for themselves.  They are still on oxygen and having to use a walker to get around.  They are doing much better but they have a long way to go.

For these three weeks my siblings and I have taken turns spending time with my parents trying to help them the best way we know how.  Both my parents are in their late 70’s and even before the accident, were having difficulties getting around.  Now, it’s doubtful that they will ever get back to where they were before the accident.

Grayfeathers Blog A Week in Review

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

12509473_1003094429755269_1616185825551015039_n

After being off for two weeks from being sick and in the hospital, this past week was tiresome to say the least.  I did a lot of traveling for work and I got to meet the new guy they’ve hired to give me some help.  Next week starts with Monday off so I’ll only have to work four days.

I’m going to be a proud father for a minute and share a picture he sent me.  This picture was taken just after the Alabama Crimson Tide won its 16th National Championship.  One of his section members sent this to Mugshots and they are going to have a canvas print made to hang in it’s Tuscaloosa location.  They already have one hanging that was taken just after the 15th title game a few years ago.  What a way to go out his senior year!!

“Life Goes On!”

Grayfeathers Blog 2015 in Review

Since my plans for making my last post of 2015 was somewhat averted because I was spending time in the hospital during this time, I decided to end 2015 with this post.

2015 was not what I had intended for it to be.  As the new year started I spent a couple of weeks off from work due to having to have eye surgery to remove floaters.  The surgery itself wasn’t that bad just having to spend time off from work due to the type of work that I do.  Didn’t want to rupture anything and have to go back in to the hospital.

Not long after getting over eye surgery I had to take a week off due to having pneumonia.  My time was quickly dwindling down and really needed to get a handle on things.  As time went on I had to take less time off and my time was finally started to build back up.  I was determined to have enough time built up to be able to take a week off during the summer months to be able to take my family on a vacation.  It hurt to take a week off but I was able to do it with nearly two weeks to spare.  But with having to constantly take off for dr appointments really took it’s toll.

About four weeks prior to Christmas I had the flu, two weeks after that I had kidney stones and now I’m off with UTI and upper chest infection, spending a week in the hospital with that.  I’m down to zero time and I’m having to take a week off with no pay for the first full work week in January.  So, 2016 is not starting off great.

My daughters will be graduating high school in May, my son will be graduating college in May as well and we’re planning on going to Disney for their graduation trip.  I have no choice but to make sure I have enough time built up to take off during the summer for them.

I’d like to thank all the followers that I’ve acquired during the year. When I first started the blog I had no intentions of having any type of followers.  This blog was just meant to be a sounding board for me to be able to release some stress of my everyday life.

For 2016 I still plan on doing some blogging on here but I’m mainly going to be using my other blog to share some recipes and such.  That’s one thing that I really love doing and I’ve been told that what I need to do what I love doing.

I’m still going to be hanging around and viewing and reading your blogs so don’t think I’ve gone because I’m not.  I enjoy it too much to leave.

“Life Goes On!”

I”ve Been Released!!

Tags

, , ,

In case you’ve been wondering if I’ve fallen off the face of the earth I haven’t. I went to the dr on Tuesday, he sent me to the ER where I sat for six hours before being emitted.  I had no phone service nor a computer so therefore no internet.

This is all I’m going to post for now as I haven’t been home long.  I”ll try to post my last post of the photo challenge tomorrow.

Everyone have a good weekend.

365 Day Photo Challenge 363/365 “Feeling Miserable”

Tags

, , ,

_1TH7269

This is going to be short and sweet.  I’ve got a headache that I’ve had for several days and today my chest started hurting when I breath. These are all  listed side effects of the new meds.  I called my oncologist today and he has taken me off the meds for a week.  I’m hoping that I’m coming down with a cold or something and it’s not my new meds.  If it’s not one thing it’s another.

365 Day Photo Challenge 362/365 “Feeling Side Effects”

Tags

, , ,

https://tchphotography.smugmug.com/Botanical-Gardens/i-VHCv9xc/A

I’m going to make an early night.  For the fourth day in a row I’ve been dealing with a headache that I can’t get rid of.  It’s not a migraine but a dull pain across my shoulders and around the back of the head.   Although it is one of the side effects of the new meds I’m not going to condemn the meds just yet.  It could be a sinus headache but I seriously doubt it.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 361/365 “The Aftermath”

Tags

, , , , ,

Thankfully we were spared most of the damage.  We had 200 road closures throughout the state either by flooding or by the roads being washed out.  We had two tornados hit within miles of where we live and although there is still an ongoing search for some missing people, there hasn’t been any confirmed fatalities and I’m praying that they are found alive.

We’ve had two tornadoes that were in close proximities of where we live.  One in 1998 and the other in 2011.  The one in ’98 hit a town not far from us and traveled to within a mile to the left of us.  There were over 30 fatalities and hundreds of homes destroyed.  The other was in 2011 with 13 dead and again, hundreds of homes destroyed.  This one hit within a half mile to the right of us and practically destroyed the city in which I live in.  I might add that in both cases I was not at home at the time the tornadoes hit.  The first, I was in a night class not far from home.  The other, I was with my son on a band trip headed toward Orlando Florida. Both times I left my wife alone with either one kid or alone with two girls.  Either time was difficult for me to get over.

“Life Goes On!”