I haven't been keeping up with blogging, at least on this blog. It was over a year before I blogged last night about my husband's surgery. I've often thought about it though. I do have a nature blog that I use to keep track of my Kamana journaling. September was the last blog posted there. I haven't been out journaling because of the invasion of progress to my neighborhood. I believe I will post a bit of my last evaluation though. This week has been up and down with emotions. And Jim has been up and down with how he's been feeling. Some days are good and he's sitting up watching TV or a movie. Other times he's feeling slow and in bed. I did call the doctor again to find out if any of his symptoms have been unusual but I guess not. He still has another week before going in to see the surgeon. I'm not sure what's going to happen. Taking it one day at a time. I have a hard time with caregiving. With kids, it's a piece of cake. But with adults, it gets a bit harder. I did help with Jim's mom and dads a few years ago when they were going through diabetes and heart failure before passing into heaven. That was a difficult time. Oh, it wasn't both at the same time, a couple of years apart. And I've had mom living with us for a while now making sure she's comfortable, taking her to the doctors and to JoAnne's for her yarn. However, she's now living with Melanie again, for a while at least. Now with Jim, a little different still. I'm praying for a quick recovery, but still no idea what the future holds for him. Whether he'll return to work or completely retire this time. I can't really see him doing that though, since he loves being around people so much and I'm just pretty boring. Ha! We'll find out more after his doctor's visits. In the meantime, I'm trying to relearn to cook, in a more healthy manner. It's not easy since I haven't cook much in years. With Jim's schedule so varied, we eat on the fly a lot of times. I'm afraid I'm in need of help. I had fun with the boys this week. Friday we went shopping for Operation Christmas Child to fill our shoe boxes for a child someplace in this world who may not get Christmas otherwise. We tried watching the new Veggie Tales Christmas movie but the boys weren't very interested. But we still had fun. Till next time...

The Heart of the Matter

I’ve taken on a challenge--that’s right--to blog once a week this month. From whom you may ask? From a friend at lovewritecreate.com. Check these 3 authors out if you are currently writing or if you’re an aspiring author. I haven’t blogged in some time and I have been thinking about it this week. So here I am. On Halloween, my husband Jim, had an appointment for an angioplasty. He had been having some symptoms which he thought were bronchial/respiratory. After seeing his doctor, he was referred to a heart specialist and a few days later this test. We got to the hospital around 7 a.m. for the 9 a.m. procedure. They were running late but I just hung out in Jim’s room. I received a text from a friend out in the waiting room and went out to talk. MJ is a nurse and she just felt she needed to be there with me. And was she ever right. A while later, the nurse came to get me, however, not just me. She insisted that my friend come along. I knew things must be serious. After talking with the doctor, I was informed that Jim had 2 arteries that were blocked at 99% and that he’d need a triple bypass surgery. Well, I sure wasn’t expecting that. I saw pictures of the blockage and was told that the catheter couldn’t even enter into the blocked area--they had to shoot die into it to see further. I was later informed that this blockage was called the “widowmaker” because it often times ends in a major heart attack and even death. The doctor was surprised that he hadn’t had a heart attack or even any heart damage. Jim had been having these symptoms for 2-3 months. Needless to say, Jim wasn’t leaving the hospital that night. Later that afternoon, my kids arrived to stay with me awhile. I decided to go home that night to get some sleep. I felt Jim was in good hands. The next morning, bright and early, my sister and I headed for the hospital again to hopefully catch Jim before he went in for surgery. We made it. We got to see him a few minutes before they began anesthesia. We went in once more, right before being wheeled to the OR and he randomly asked: “Did Ben get a job?” Then began the waiting game. It took about three and a half hours for the surgery and the staff was good about informing us of the progress about every ninety minutes. We sat, we talked, we snacked, and we walked, waiting for the outcome. Around 11:30, surgery was over and we could speak with the doctor. All went well and we peeked in on Jim who was hooked up to so many machines and IV’s it was a bit scary. We had to leave him for a few hours and returned after they had removed his breathing tube. It ended up being a quadruple bypass. We were extremely pleased with the hospital, the doctors, nurses and staff. They were wonderful. And so happy that Jim finally listened to his friends and got checked out. He’s home now recuperating but is missing work and his coworkers.