God is good, ALL the time!

So, I'm not sure how many of you have been aware of what's been going on this past couple of weeks, but I thought I'd try to throw some thoughts down into the blog so I can come back to remember them later.

These have been probably some of the worst days that I've ever known. Also, they've been some of the best. I know, that sounds weird, but let me explain.

A week and a half ago, on a Tuesday, Dad had surgery on his shoulder for a total joint replacement. Everything went very well, and he recovered well in the hospital. He discharged home two days after surgery, on a Thursday. That's when it felt like my world started falling apart. On the way home, Mom said that Dad started getting kind of goofy, but she didn't know what to make of it. By the time I called later that night to check on them, I could hear Dad in the background. He was hearing things and looking for things that didn't make sense. I told Mom to stop giving him the pain medication since that was what had changed since before the surgery. I wanted to come down for the night, but Mom was insist ant that everything was fine. She ended up calling 911 that night because Dad woke up in a hallucination that people were coming to get him and they had surrounded the house with guns. She spoke with the dispatcher and then tried to call my uncle who lives close by. Dad thought my uncle was going to get killed too so he grabbed the phone out of Mom's hand and threw it across the room, breaking it into pieces.

The ambulance came and by the time they got to the hospital, Dad started to clear up. They just xrayed his shoulder and sent him home (I bet anyone reading this can guess which small town hospital that was!). She called me early that morning to tell me what happened. I felt like God was telling me I needed to be down there that night. Mom tried to convince me otherwise. Needless to say, I drove down for the night. Mom and I were going to take shifts staying up with Dad. He started to get confused with me, seeing a few things, but nothing bad. Then I went to sleep. I woke to hear Mom and Dad struggling over his sling and Dad getting pretty worked up. I went out to see what was wrong, and Mom was holding Dad down. Then, Mom almost passed out. I made her go to the other room and I stood near Dad so he wouldn't do anything to hurt his shoulder. He looked up at me like he didn't recognize me, had this wild look in his eyes, and just started yelling for help. Mom came back in, and I ran for the phone. I called my uncle and 911. Mom swears she was just hugging Dad to help calm him, but I'm pretty sure she was holding him down in the chair. Anyway...we ended up going to a different ER, one that I knew would call his neurologist in Madison. This ER did a full stroke workup and ran labs and tests. They then called Madison who agreed that Dad should be transferred to UW. This was early Saturday morning. Dad stayed as a patient until Thursday.

While in the hospital, he required a PSA (personal safety assistant) to be by his side at all times. Nights were horrible. He had to have security and the behavioral response team called one night because he overpowered the nurses, and had to be restrained, due to the same paranoid hallucinations. The next night, he had more hallucinations, but they weren't as bad. We were sure that we'd have to start looking for nursing homes, and this was the way things would be. That's not what happened.

Dad was admitted to the nursing unit that I work on. I knew the doctors and the nurses. They were absolutely amazing. Dad was put on medication to stabilize his mood and hallucinations, and sedation to help him sleep. They adjusted his Parkinson's medications. He cleared completely. He's been home for a night and doing very well. Mom and Dad are having someone stay with them for while at night so that Mom's not by herself if the delirium comes back.

They decided that many factors contributed to Dad's delirium. The type of Parkinson's that he has predisposes him to periods of delirium. The Parkinson's medications that he takes can cause hallucinations if the levels are too high. He hasn't slept more than a couple of hours a night for the last two years. The surgery was a huge stress on his body. And...the anesthesia from the surgery could have triggered something with his Parkinsons. Add into that that he's also old enough to be geriatric now....and you've got a mix of things that was a ticking time bomb, so to speak.

Basically, any surgery he has from here on out can result in a period of delirium. So, no more elective surgeries.

How was God working through all this? EVERYONE I know was praying for us. God convinced me to come down Friday night. God placed me on that nursing unit almost 9 years ago....I had no idea that my family would need neurologists at that time. God used this hospitalization to help Mom and Dad to see that they need to ask for help....BEFORE a crisis. They have an amazing support system of family and church family. Everyone just bonded together to help each other through everything. I don't have to worry as much about my parents because I know people are taking care of them. I don't think this is the end of it, but I know we're a little more prepared for what's to come.

Potty Training Chronicles, Part 2

Well, I wish I could say that it was going well. It's not going poorly, just not well. Abby has all the right cues...they're just in the wrong order. She no longer keeps a pull up dry, and won't keep underwear dry either. Oh well....

Abby is also starting to either refuse naps or just prolong falling asleep. We've had to start sitting in the room for her to sleep during the day. She goes to sleep at night with no problems.

The Potty Training Chronicles....

Okay...so I'm not going to give a play-by-play....don't worry! I didn't want to say anything about starting to potty train Abby because I didn't want to have to report when things didn't go well. I know, I know....but we had such a difficult time with Caleb! Anyway... It's the weirdest thing. Abby won't stay dry in a diaper. I then tried underwear, thinking she needed to feel wet to not want to pee in her pants. She won't stay dry for more than 20 minutes with underwear. I decided that we'd do pull ups (which I swore I wouldn't) because they were easier to take on and off than diapers. Guess what. She keeps them dry. For HOURS. She still won't tell me when she has to go.....but she'll go as soon as you make her sit and try. She'll stay dry for 3-4 hours at a time. She stayed dry all day at daycare today! Including the nap! Hey....if it's workin', don't fix it!

Kind of surprising....

I didn't realize that it's been so long since I blogged last! Let's see what's new... Caleb has started seeing an occupation therapist to try to help with his anxiety. He hasn't been formally diagnosed with anxiety, but he's been struggling with some things in preschool and social situations. The occupational therapist is working with him to help develop coping strategies....we're in like week 2, so still early on. He'll be seeing the OT every other week for right now.

This was a really rough weekend. I close friend of mind was admitted to the hospital on Friday morning, and I've been at the hospital on and off since then. She's been not feeling well since about September, and kept getting told it was allergies and an infection...got put on antihistamines and antibiotics without any relief. Had an ultrasound on Tuesday which prompted a CT scan on Wednesday. Friday morning, the pain was too much and started affecting her breathing. She has been diagnosed with lymphoma. They won't know what kind until the biopsy results come back. She's been released and will follow up as an outpatient. It really makes you think about your own life and what's worth worrying about....like are my little struggles really worth getting upset about?

One of the gifts I received this Christmas was a huge set of cookie cutters....and since I now have them, I am required to make cookies more often, right? We made alligator and dolphin cookies tonight. Caleb and Abby each picked out what animal they wanted. You can see the cookies below. The pictures after that are what happened when the sugar started kicking in...(right before bedtime)

Christmas-time

So, every year, our Christmas celebration seems like a marathon. We are blessed to be able to live close to both our extended families, so we have a lot of people to see at Christmas. We started a week ago, Friday. We went to my parents' house for the weekend. My brother and sister-in-law made it up from Indiana. We opened gifts with them and my parents on Saturday morning. Saturday evening, we went to my grandparents' house (my mom's side). We had a big dinner and opened yet more gifts. We drove back here on Sunday.

Caleb ended up coming home from preschool on Monday with pink-eye. Brent took him to the doctor. I had them look in his ears too, since they were bugging him a bit over the weekend. Sure enough, he had the beginnings of an ear infection. As Brent was backing the van out of the garage to get Abby, the garage door broke. At least they were on the outside!

Tuesday (my birthday), Abby woke up, and sure enough, pink eye for her too! So, I went to take the kids to Abby's doctor's appointment, and sprained my ankle. The doctor looked in Abby's ears too....and guess what, she had the same thing! Matching antibiotics for both of them!

I had to stay home from work on Wednesday since Abby couldn't go to daycare and Brent had taken a sick day with Caleb on Monday. I didn't mind since the winter storm was starting, and I'd rather not drive in it!

Thursday was spent digging out from the snow and ice storm.

Christmas morning, we had a very nice time with the kiddos. We played with the new toys for a little while, and then loaded up to head back to Illinois. We had lunch (and more gifts) with my dad's side of the family. That afternoon, we went to Brent's parents' house for the weekend. The kids had a blast with their cousins! We had our big meal/gift opening on Saturday....and sledding in the afternoon. Abby took a nap and Caleb went outside with our neices.

Sunday brought more sledding fun. And...I guess I ate too much that weekend, 'cause I managed to deflate the inflatable sled. It was fun anyway! We had to leave that evening since Caleb had preschool on Monday, and Brent had to work. We somehow managed to fit everything into the Rav on the way home. It was a cozy fit, so say the least! We managed to only forget a few things. :)

That, is our Christmas in a nutshell. As you can probably guess, I took way to many pictures to post on here, so here's a link to our picturesite online:

http://thewellsfam.shutterfly.com

The Big Storm 2009

Okay, so I didn't post the pics from cookie decorating, but I thought I'd skip that and post some from the snow storm we just had. We got 15-18 inches, depending on what side of town you lived on! The governor declared a statewide emergency, all state government was shut down. The National Guard was put on notice that they would be mobilized if an emergency happened (like the huge back up on the interstate the last time we had a big snow storm).

The temperature was nice enough that we had the kids outside almost all day...if we weren't eating or sleeping.

The snowplow took out our fire hydrant. Now there's just a hole with a traffic cone over it.

Here are some pics.

Our Snow Dinosaur



By the next morning, our dinosaur was buried. You can see his head sticking out of the drift!



Let them play long enough with the front loader and shovels...and our driveway was taken care of. (okay, so the snow blower did most of it)






Brent and Caleb hiding in the "snow castle." It has three rooms and is deep enough for the kids to hide from the "snow monsters."