September: School started the first week of September, but since Ethan was home-schooled, it was a stressful start for me. I really felt like I had no clue what I was doing. "Okay," thought life, "I'll throw a curve ball at you!" My husband was having pain from kidney stones again. We have been thru this before; we know what to expect. He was scheduled for a CT on the mainland, to help locate the problem area for surgery. The night before our trip off island, he is in so much pain, we end up with a house-call from our local GP. He provides pain medication to help get us thru the night an onto that first ferry off island. Morning comes and hubs is having a severe reaction to the pain and/or the medication (I am still not sure which) and we end up having to call 911. He gets flown off island to the hospital and I'm left at home with the two kids and rushing for the ferry. It took me 4 hours to reach the hospital. 4 hours of not knowing how Brian was doing or what was wrong. Later in the day I had arranged care for the kids and took them back to the ferry where they met up with their aunt who they would be staying with at least over night. Most of the day was spent waiting. Waiting to be told what to do, waiting to find out when Brian would have surgery. Finally he is scheduled for surgery. He gets taken to the OR and I head out for a quick bite to eat with my brother. We have a nice time, and I get no calls to worry me about the man so I assume all is well. Well, you know what they say when you "assume." My brother drops me off and heads home, while I'm trying to track down Brian. Turns out he was in his room, surgery never happened. Just before starting, the doctor notice atrial fibrillation and canceled the surgery. Brian is now under observation. Every time he gets out of bed his heart rate spikes dangerously high. No one seems to know why this is happening. He finally was allowed to have his surgery on Sunday morning, but we still had to stay for observation. I arrange extended care for the boys and get comfortable. I was staying too. By Tuesday, Sept. 9th, he was allowed to return home after a very long 5 day stay. This was a big day. Yay we get to go home. Oh yeah, happy anniversary. "Hey what'd you do for your anniversary this year?" Me: "Well we decided to change it up and spent a luxurious week at the hospital! WaHoo!" Brian recovers, and does a post-op follow up with many doctors and over time his heart learned is lesson and started to behave itself again. No more A-Fib. Most likely was a medication balance related problem.
October: Now this was a rough month. As if Brian hadn't had enough going on, his dad has been very ill. Cancer is a nasty thing. After many, many trips to and from the island for hospital visits and doctor appointments, a day came when he had to go back off and (after I put my two cents in) Brian goes with his parents. His mom was worn out. I didn't think she should go alone. I was worried. Poor Bill just progressed so rapid in his illness. After a week in the hospital he passed quietly away with family by his side. Brian was fortunate to have a wonderful company he works for. He was able to spend that whole last week by his mom and dad's side. He was such an amazing support for them. It broke my heart to be away from them, but it was decided that the children shouldn't be there. We made a trip off to say our goodbyes, but we didn't not stay. It was heartbreaking. I learned something though. Death is a very busy business. There is so much to do when someone passes. I had never been this close to a death before. I was so surprised. We planned a memorial service for 5 weeks out. It seemed like a long time, but we wanted family and friends to have a chance to arrange things to come.
November: November 16th we held a memorial for Brian's dad. It was lovely and the turnout was amazing. He was so well loved. We spent time with our family afterwards, before they headed home. Brian was not feeling well. He was in pain again. Around midnight he was flown off island again for kidney stone related pain. The kids and I head off island on the first ferry and find him in his room, waiting for a surgery time. Everything goes well and we are sent home after surgery as normal.We had previously arranged to adopt a dog and surprise the kiddos, so one of our dear friends went in my stead and picked the pooch up. Not the best time to adopt a dog, but he was a perfect fit for us. As a 3 year old Malti-Poo (Maltese mixed with Poodle) he is medium small in size, young enough but out of the puppy stage and most importantly, he is allergy friendly. Our boys named him Jack and he is wonderful. Just a bit of extra work with two kids and a husband recovering from surgery.
December: So far health wise we are doing well. I'm finally starting to get into a semi-organized home school routine. Maybe things are improving. On December 16th we had an appointment at the Children's Hospital for an assessment for Ethan. This would determine if he was on the autism spectrum or not. He is. He is high-functioning, but he still has autism. It explained much of his behavior and theoretically has opened doors for us in his care. (I am still trying to figure it all out.) At least it is a start. We also had to have major dental work done on the boys in December. Caleb had to have his upper two front teeth surgically removed due to an abscess problem caused from a fall he took about a year prior. It was traumatic for me watching him come out of anesthesia but he did well. Caleb, my baby, also turned 5. This was monumental for me as a mom. He's moved from a little boy into a big kid. He will be starting school in the fall. I couldn't help but think back to the drama of his arrival and marvel at his health now. He is a strong and healthy boy. However, the older he gets, the more I question his behavior and wonder if he will have similar issues to his brother. I see a few flags, but wonder how many are learned things from his big brother. Time will tell. For now I will just enjoy his gaped smiles.
January: This month seemed to fly by. We have had a few bouts of sniffles and things in the house, but it seemed calm. Too calm. When is the storm coming? It is here now. The end of January brought on a new round of discomfort and pain from the all too familiar kidney stones Brian suffers from. It has come and gone thru the month, but by the last week, he was off island back at the doctor looking for answers. We have no idea why his body makes them so frequently. We have changed his (our) diet and increased water intake and still he has issues. It looks like another round of surgery is headed our way. "Surgery number 7 come on down!"
I wonder what will fall on our plate next? You just never know, but it's always something!
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