Happy New Year! We haven't posted since who knows when. The important thing is we haven't forgotten about you and we hope you haven't forgotten about us! Last year was full of ups and downs. We'd like to think that there were more ups than downs, but you will get the highlights and lowlights of 2021.
Mom is still working at the call center. She's been there almost two years (January 27, 2020). She's still working from home and we like having her home.
Our Uncle Greg (mom's brother) had triple bypass surgery on January 22, 2021. He did well and spent a week in the hospital. He was released and sent to a nursing home for physical therapy. Mom couldn't visit him because visitors weren't allowed due to Covid-19. While he was there he tested positive for the virus and spent around 10 days in isolation. Uncle Greg never showed any symptoms, which was a good thing. He was released to home in mid March. He started cardiac rehab as an outpatient in May.
We had an ice/snow storm in February 2021. Mom hadn't started her SUV for a week or better and thought it would be a good idea to go outside and start it up. As soon as she stepped out and onto the front porch she should have come right back inside. The steps were covered in ice. Mom carefully held onto the handrail. She stepped down with one foot. So far so good. You know where this story is going. Mom moved her right foot to step down. Her feet went right out from beneath her. She fell down three ice covered steps only to land flat on her back and smack the back of her head on the sidewalk. She laid there, stunned for a moment, and the started yelling for help. No one heard her. It the dawned on her that she had her cellphone in her purse. She called 911 and they sent help. The firetruck showed up first. The firemen helped her up, then took their axes and chipped away at the ice on the steps and then put ice melt down. The paramedics showed up and asked mom if she wanted to go to the hospital. She declined. They were concerned that she might have had a concussion. They did help her inside and checked her blood pressure. Within two or three hours mom started hurting all over. She took some OTC pain relief and that didn't phase the pain. When she tried to go to bed she almost screamed because her left side hurt so bad. Although she works from home, she didn't work that week because she hurt so badly. She slept in her recliner for a week because she could get into her bed. Mom did go the immediate care center where she had some x-rays taken. There were no broken ribs, a good thing, but more than likely had twisted and bruised herself when she fell. That happened on Valentine's Day weekend.
The spring and summer were uneventful. Well, there was that incident of filing for bankruptcy. Tell you purrents to get rid of their credit cards! They were nothing but trouble for mom. She had stopped making payments in late 2020 because she was getting nowhere getting the balances down. Basically she was paying the interest each month. Money is still tight here, but mom has been credit card free since January of 2020.
Mom got her septum pierced over Labor Day weekend. She said it hurt for less than a minute when the needle went through. She was very pleased with the result. The day before Thanksgiving one of the balls came off the curved barbell. She went to a different tattoo/piercing shop and had it switched out and then got a traigus piercing of her right ear. It's still healing. Eventually she'll get the left ear done.
Mom had fall No. 2 on Halloween night. She was her friend's house. She stood up and either tripped on an area rug or on the chair leg. She twisted her back and had to come home. She had no time off so she worked through the pain on Monday. It took about two weeks to stop hurting.
Uncle Greg went into the hospital in December. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and afib. While he was in the hospital our sweet Seren crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Mom couldn't find her during the day. She finally found Seren curled up in a corner underneath a table. This was around 9:00 PM. Mom got her out and was going to wrap Seren in a blanket and just hold her. Seren wanted no part of it. She sunk her teeth into mom's thumbs!!! Mom managed to get Seren into a carrier. She was going to take Seren to the vet the following morning. Seren crossed the Bridge overnight. It was a blessing as she had grown very thin and had kidney failure. It was almost 24 hours before mom got started on an antibiotic. She had waited too long.
Uncle Greg came home on that Friday. Mom went to the immediate care center on Sunday. They took one look at her thumbs and said she needed to go to the hospital downtown because that hospital had a hand surgeon there! Mom was admitted to the hospital because she needed to have a course of IV antibiotics. The following day, mom had minor surgery as the bites needed to be opened and cleaned out. She three nights there. She has a followup appointment with the surgeon on January 19.
Uncle Greg went back into the hospital on Christmas Eve for fluid in his chest. He was there for four days, then moved to a different nursing home. We are hoping that he will be able to come home soon. Mom said he should be able to get a home health nurse to come to see him.
Mom had fall #3 in early December. She literally rolled out of bed and hit the floor. She needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap.
There are pictures below of mom's thumbs. You've been warned. It's not pretty.
