Thursday, June 26, 2008

A good time to be retired...(aka unplanned disappearance)



The first two days were great...got up earlier than I should have on Sunday, spent a half hour on the treadmill first thing; Bill came and mowed then we bought barbecue as a retirement celebration. He left just before 9, I went to bed before 10 with every intention of getting up early on Monday.

I slept 16 hours!

Still, I started trying to "de-packrat" the house a bit, and ran some other errands along with hitting the treadmill twice for a half hour.

Tuesday Dottie had to prepare for a colonoscopy on Wednesday, and just as she did we got a phone call from my Mom's nursing home that they had been worried about her, done a blood count and her levels were off, so they were having her transported to the ER. Mom has been fighting MS for 40 years, can't walk at this point, and these last few months we have stopped trying to transport her for fear of hurting her or ourselves.

Dottie couldn't leave to go with me, so I spent the afternoon and evening at the hospital while they gave her a unit of blood, one of Nexium then another of blood. They had thought she had either an upper GI bleed or an ulcer, but the scan they did yesterday showed neither. This morning they did a swallow test to make sure she can stand a colonoscopy tomorrowp; if they don't find an explanation (they seem to expect to, especially given that her mother died of colon cancer) then we are told a bone marrow test is next...

So I'm sorry I dropped off the face of the earth, and will continue to remain there at least through the weekend most likely...

May it be kind to each of you!

alan

addendum: I should have mentioned above that Dottie's test results were wonderful, and that she was told she needn't come back again for 7-10 years!

11 comments:

Kranki said...

AW jeeez! Just when you can relax and take it easy all sorts of stuff happens. Your poor mom. I hope she is feeling better soon. And I hope you get a few more 16 hour sleep marathons.

Jo said...

Hey here's hoping for your Mum, and for Dottie.

(Cake looks good honey)

Jennifer said...

16 hours? You had some catching up to do!

Every best wish for your Mom, Al. And for Dottie. Keeping a good thought for all of you.

Shinigami Liz said...

Awwww, poor guy, just when ya get to relax the stress level spikes back up. That's not an easy thing to deal with and hopefully your mom will pull thru ok. Glad to hear Dottie's test was fine, seems like good news tends to be counterbalanced with something bad. I'll be thinking about ya. Hugs XXXX.

Sassy said...

I feel like I could sleep for 16 hours. Glad Dottie's test came back fine. I'll be thinking of you and the family. And praying for all of you, of course.

ryssee said...

Best of all wishes for your mom-I sure hope all ok. I still think about your Christmas/Guitar Hero post and I love that picture.
Glad Dottie's came back great-going in for those tests always makes one worried about what they could find!
Keep marching on that treadmill and getting all the sleep you need.
Oh-and CONGRATULATIONS on the retirement. I almost missed that!

HAR said...

YOU MADE IT!! Scarred a bit but your are officially a free man.

Congratulations Alan.

Sit back and feel proud. Nothing wrong with working hard some of your life but you need to enjoy the second half of your life too.

I am happy for you and happy for Dottie and hoping that you two watch lots of old movies together this weekend. Thinking of mom too.

fineartist said...

Yay Dottie, and Yay, Alan, and hope mom is well.

My daughter was diagnosed with ms in july of 2006...we keep hoping they'll replace the weekly shots she has to take with a pill, but mostly we hope and pray for a cure.

love you Alan, mean it!
Lori

Calamity Jen said...

Congrats on your retirement, Alan.

I'm pleased to hear about Dottie's test results but sorry to hear about your mom's woes. She's in my thoughts.

Mystical Me said...

Hi sweetheart, I m back in Blogger town doing my rounds to say hello to everyone Ive missed here.
Your retirement, HUH? How are you doing with that? Now that you have all the time in the world to do whatever you want to now? I wish you well sweetie & do take care of yourself. Love always, MM XOXO

Green tea said...

Congratulations on your retirement Alan and also glad for Dottie.
My sister in law spent last week in the hospital for similar reasons, they found nothing and gave her blood transfusion's and put her on Iron tablets.
Good luck to your Mom..

The Ford plant in St. Paul got a two year extension, and are going to be pushing out more Rangers.
So there are some jobs that have been saved for now anywoy..