What a week!!!

Wow!!! What a week it has been.  I am a person that does all that I can not to have to call in sick to work.  I have gone to work with severe sinus infections, severe headache, and even gone in while feeling extremely nauseous.  This week however, I called in sick to work for three days straight.  I hate the fact of calling in but I was sicker than I have been in years.  I couldn’t tell you the last time that I ran a fever. That is of course before this last week.  It started Friday; I went to the doctor for a checkup and was feeling fine.  About two hours after leaving the doctor’s office I started to have a tickle in my throat and was coughing just a little bit.  I didn’t think much of it and thought it might be the fact that I was at my grandma’s house which she keeps pretty cold.  It wasn’t until Saturday morning that I starting feeling a little worse.  I woke up fairly early to help my sister with some stuff.  At that point of the day I was extremely tired, this is not too unusual since it was Saturday.  After helping my sister I returned home to take a short nap.  After my nap I decided that I wanted to go get a pedicure.  I first went to the house that I was dog-sitting to let the dog out and then headed to Webb City to get a pedicure.  The first place that I stopped at had taken their last pedicure appointment so I got in my car and decided that I would try somewhere else.  I couldn’t get a pedicure at the second place either because the lady that did pedicures was off that day.  The day was not going as planned…..I just wanted a pedicure!!  After leaving there I decided to wait on the pedicure because I just wasn’t feeling very good.  I made one more stop before I headed back to dog-sit which was by my sister’s work.  When I walked in I told her that I wasn’t feeling good, to which she responded, you don’t look like you feel very good.  Not really the answer that I wanted to hear, that just validated the fact that I might be getting sick.  I got back to the house to walk the dog and all I wanted to do was lay down, so I did.  After that I starting chilling and running a fever.  What is this, a fever?  I don’t get these!!!  Wrong, I got one!!  I was so miserable and couldn’t do anything but lie on the couch and wait to be able to go home.  Once I got home I took some Advil and Mucinex and went to bed.  I stayed home from church on Sunday and stayed in bed all day.  I then began to get a cough and had the body aches.  I knew something wasn’t right.  I called my boss Sunday night and told her that I wasn’t going to be at work on Monday and that I was going to try to get into see the doctor.  So, first thing Monday morning I called the doctor’s office to see if I could get in to be seen.  Of course, they were booked solid and couldn’t get me in and advised me to take Advil and Mucinex and get rest.  I informed her that I had been doing that and she suggested going to an urgent care or the ER.  I took that advice and went to the Urgent Care.  Turns out that I had the flu!!! I was frustrated that this had happened especially since I had received my flu shot for the year!!  I was finally able to get rid of my fever on Wednesday and return to work Thursday.  I had never been so glad to be able to go to work!!  I am still a little worn out but am getting better and I was finally able to get my pedicure today!!   

Abuse

There are many different types of abuse.  There is physical abuse, emotional abuse, and verbal abuse.  All of these types of abuse are serious.  I hate seeing people go through any of these types of abuses.  The really sad part of it is that most people that are being abused either do not think of it as abuse or they are too scared to leave.  I have seen people that have been physically abused and have obvious marks from it and they find an excuse or they say that it was their fault that they got beat.  I think mental and verbal abuse happen a lot more often than most people realize.  I hate seeming a man or woman belittle their significant other in public or even at all!!!  I have a person close to me that is separating himself from a relationship that there was a little of all these abuses.  The most obvious was the physical.  Not only was he on the giving end but also on the receiving end of the abuse.  Ranging from a 2X4 to fists.  This has gotten him in some legal trouble and he now has to live with that.  There are many resources for people that are victims of abuse of any kind.  However, many people do not utilize these resources.  I worry about people that are in a dating relationship with abuse and then proceed on to marriage.  It is then even harder to remove yourself for that type of relationship.  Divorce is hard on its own and even worse if you are afraid of your spouse.

I had a coworker that was abused by her ex-husband in unbelievable ways.  I only know of some of the situations but just knowing those makes my heart break.  The last straw for her was when he beat her so bad that she was put in the hospital.  She now has a lot of trouble with her knees and has to walk with a cane.  That man ruined her physical abilities!!!  Thank goodness, she utilized the resource of the Lafeyette House.  She was eventually able to get her own place and her own car.  She still worried about her safety, which was tough to see.  She does not have to worry anymore about her safety because a few months after she left him, he passed away of natural causes.  It is sad for anyone to lose their life, but I am glad that she no longer has to worry about him hurting her.  I am glad to say that she finally starting dating and found a wonderful man that treats her like the princess she is!!!  She was very lucky to survive the entire trauma that she received. 

I know that when you are "in love" with someone it is hard to see if there is abuse happening, but i wish people would step back and evaluate their situation especially when their loved ones have voiced concerns.   

It Breaks My Heart

This has been a long week for my family.  My grandmother was admitted to the hospital last Sunday night.  She was having a very hard time breathing.  This is especially bad since she is on oxygen 24/7 already.  Earlier in the week she got to the point where she was to weak to walk to the bathroom so she had to use a bedside commode.  If that wasn't bad enough she also got to the point where she was to weak to stand up and wipe herself.  I had to hold her up and my mother, being the great daughter that she is, had to wipe her.  Even after having us to help her she was struggling to breath because of the stress on her body.  The doctor finally ordered a catheter so that she would not have to get out of bed.  In order to do this they had to lay her down, which caused her to have a major panic attack because she was unable to breath.  She starting yelling "Dear God I am going to die".  This is was so heart breaking!!! It is so hard to see someone that you love struggle to catch a single breath.  She was finally able to calm down some.  After this episode the doctor order her an extended breathing treatment in addition to the breathing treatment that she normally takes every four hours.  He also allowed for her to have a treatment every hour as she needed.  They still do not know exactly what is causing all of this.  She has COPD for as long as I can remember.  Her having this is probably part of the problem but not the main problem.  They did a chest x-ray, which came back fine.  In the meantime she starting having blood in her urine.  They took her in to clean out her lungs this morning, which hasn't really changed anything except that her lung are a little more clear.  They were going to do an MRI to see if they could find a tumor or any signs of cancer but decide to do a CAT Scan instead since her breathing was so hard and would have messed up the MRI results.  The CAT Scan also can back fine.  However, the blood work came back showing her CO2 levels very elevated.  To help reduce the CO2 levels the doctor order her to wear a BiPAP.  She had this put on at 5:00 and has to wear it through the night and then they will check her leaves in the morning.  Seeing her have the mask put on was another hard thing.  Grandma is very claustrophobic and started freaking out when they put the mask on her.  In order to calm her down they had to give her a Valium.  She is finally asleep and doing pretty good with the BiPAP machine.  She will occasionally wake up and try to rip the mask off and my mom has to pull her hand away and then she is fine.  Her blood pressure is also elevated.  All we can do is pray that she gets better and that nothing happens to her.  We just lost my grandpa in July.  I am so thankful for my family that has been here to take care of her and make sure that she gets what she needs.  I love her and hate seeing her this way!!!