This update has been long overdue. I'm sorry it has been two months. So much has happened the last two months. The month of September that I expected to be busy turned into a busy September and October with many unexpected challenges.
When I wrote last, I mentioned that Matt's dad may have had a stroke. He did indeed have a stroke. And that stroke threw him into full-blown dementia. He spent a week in the hospital. We were worried about long-term care for Matt's parents. This incident was enough to qualify him to get into a nursing home which was both an answered prayer and a problem. We had full-time care for his dad, but now we had to worry about his mom because his dad was her caregiver. It was possible that his stay there was only going to be temporary, but now it is permanent due to an aortic aneurysm which cannot be operated on. This is a sad situation for all of us.
After Matt's dad went to the nursing home on September 11, we had to step in and help out with Matt's mom due to the fact that other family couldn't or wouldn't help. We had to find and provide care for his mom. Matt and I had to rearrange our schedules and our lives to get her to dialysis three days a week, to get her to the nursing home to visit, and to get her errands done and her bills paid. It was tough on us, but if you can't count on family, who can you count on. We were hoping to get her into a nursing home, but even as sick as she is, she wasn't sick enough. To get her into the nursing home it would require a three day hospital stay. On Saturday, October 27, Matt's mom had a couple mini-strokes that the doctors are calling TIAs. She was in the hospital until Thursday, November 1. So when she came out, she went to the nursing home with Matt's dad. That was an answered prayer for us all, but we hate it was under these circumstances.
We had our own problems these last two months outside of Matt's parents. Matt was pretty sick. Matt hurt his back in September. Due to his parents and his back, Matt did not work at all in September. Thank goodness for FMLA! Matt went back to work on October 8 with restrictions due to his back. Matt missed some more time in October due to his mom's hospital stay, an eye injury, and a cyst by his ear. With all of this stuff coming up, finding out about Matt's stomach and the sleep apnea test have been put on hold. We will start trying to find out about his stomach problems after the first of the year.
The kids are doing well. Josh turned three on November 1. THREE!!! How did that happen? We celebrated his birthday with a Thomas the Train party on November 3. Josh had a great time and got a lot of nice things. Rachel will be four months on the 18th of this month. I can't believe that! Rachel is growing like a weed. She sleeps through the night and loves to laugh and smile. Both of our kids are tall for their age; thanks Dad.
Things are going well with me. We finally seemed to find a treatment that helped with my headaches. All this extra stress just hasn't been helping. I had a really busy time, but I made it through. Charge conference went well. We will be entering Advent soon, which is a very busy time in the church but I think it will be a very familiar and welcome distraction after all the chaos. I can't believe Thanksgiving is in 16 days. Wow! I've only bought one Christmas present, so I better get busy.
Well, this is the abridged version of what has been going on with us. I have said enough so I will be leaving now. I promise it will not be two months until you hear from me again. Things seemed to have finally calmed down some. But as always, I would appreciate your prayers for our family.
