Wow! Break Needed Here!

Lord, I need a breather, please!

Ya ever have one of those days? One of those weeks? One of those months? It feels like it's becoming the norm around here and I need a breather. I haven't really even stopped long enough to mourn my father, to give it more than a few moments of thought, and then there's something that needs to be attended to, some place I need to be (usually a doctor's office).

I think TB's hit a wall after so much unrelenting pressure, running, and do-do-do. He was having muscle pain in his back (or he thought it was muscle pain) that started the day after his carpal tunnel surgery. I figured he was overdoing it and needed to rest. Mom thought he looked awful, drawn and sick. This morning he woke up with a fever, a wet cough, and more widespread pain. Uh-oh...pneumonia? So I made an appt with him to see Dr. Bross.

Kristin already had her usual Saturday appt so I dropped TB off and then took Kristin for hers. Then we went back to get TB. When I went in to pick him up, I really "saw" him the way my mom has these last couple of days. I wasn't surprised when he said Dr. Bross wanted him to go to the ER. The doc was sure TB had pneumonia but wanted the hospital to rule out a blood clot that may have been caused by the recent surgery.

So off we went. Luckily I was able to contact Heidi (poor kid's been home sick herself with bronchitis the last two days) to come and get Kristin from the ER. Even luckier, Bill wasn't working and said he could make dinner for us. So TB and I sat in the ER and waited for the X-ray, the bloodwork, the CAT scans, the results, the diagnosis, the release. We were there around 4 hours.

Now, we were supposed to be somewhere else--some place fun, some place we wanted to be. There was an International Fest in town and our church was having a table there. We were going to help with the table but I knew we'd have time to go around and check out the other tables. This is the kind of activity TB and I love--it gives us together time, it's fun...and it's free. With our financial situation, it's got to be free or we can't do it.

Funny thing is, yesterday TB and I were talking about how all the things we have to do seems to crowd out the things we want or need to do. What's worse, it's not that it's too much going-to-work, it's usually need-to-go-to-the-doctor or need-to-take-care-of-an-emergency type stuff. ARGH!

Anyway, now we're home. TB doesn't have a blood clot, thank God, but he does have early stage pneumonia. He's all washed-out looking and tired and weak. He has antibiotics now and is currently resting, reading a book. Hey, that's one fun, free thing we've been able to do no matter what doctor's office we've been to--we can read our books! That's a plus, right?

Our week also included me taking Heidi to the clinic because she had such bad bronchitis, she was wheezing like a squeeze organ--worse. There was physical therapy and other assorted doctor appointments. There was trying to help Mom with her unpacking and re-arranging of her things. There was the dog, biting himself bloody because of sand fleas.

The beginning of October came and went during the week.

When I sat down to read some news and entertainment magazines, I realized how out of touch I was lately. Philadelphia won the National League pennant? Hello? Who won for the American League? Michael Vick is back with the Eagles? Um...who is Michael Vick? There's an election this November? Oh, that's why I'm seeing Corzine trash Christie all the time then, huh? Christie seems to be taking the high road--no similar negative commercials about Corzine. What's the president up to? Oh...what's he doing running around Chicago? Oh...Chicago lost the bid to get the 2012 Olympics...where are the 2010 Olympics going to be anyway?

Most of all: where did September go? Why don't I remember it?

Lord, I need a break from this...