Life Update
Oh my, after being stuck inside for the last 2.5 weeks, being outside on a beautiful sunny 75* day feels like one of life’s biggest blessings. The month of September was a blur; one at a time, each of my family members went down with pneumonia.
The Pneumonia Takedown
Week 1: my oldest son. He can be 101 years old and if I’m still alive I will take care of him as best as I can.
Week 2: yep my turn…shows what taking care of someone can get you! Lol 😉 I honestly don’t ever remember a time I was that sick. 5 days of fever and chills, convulsive chills for 30 minutes at a time. Truly unreal and so debilitating. The whole time I was so sick to the point of being delusional. I kept praying that my youngest son, husband, father and mother would not get it as well.
Week 3: just as I finally drop my fever and chills, my youngest and most vulnerable son goes down! We did our best to keep him away from me and his brother but we lost big time. The way this hit each of us was so eerie…chills then 2 hours later, boom, a fever of 101+. It was like watching a movie of some freaky illness that takes out an entire leg of the family tree.
That same night my mother had been unresponsive to text messages and phone calls. I knew she had started to not feel well the prior day but kept praying it would pass or it wasn’t what we had all been dealing with. After no response by 9pm my oldest son went to her home to check on her and low and behold she was full blown in the illness that we had been dealing with and pretty delirious. So, after a bit of discussion, off to the emergency room at the hospital we went. After a night of sitting in the ER, they admitted her with positive signs of pneumonia as well.
Mom Mode
I felt a strong sense of being able to care for my son at home whilst I knew this illness would be very hard and possibly look different on him. I was aware there are certain changes that I would watch for and immediately need to reach out for help. I didn’t think that would happen before we hit the 24 hour mark. Needless to say, it did, and to expedite the hospital arrival we even took what what is now our maiden voyage in an ambulance.
4 glorious days spent in the hospital with my son to keep him hydrated left me barely able to walk. Apparently sleeping in a recliner while recovering from pneumonia or perhaps still suffering from it (no time for mama to be down) isn’t the best rest possible. My back hurt so much all I wanted to do was to get to my chiropractor as soon as humanly possible so I could keep up the care necessary for my son.
Missing Out
One side note: of course, the best laid plans can go south at the drop of a hat. The week that we devoted to recovery in the hospital was to be my annual week to retreat to Salt Lake City, Utah. This is for my business’s annual convention where we gather to see the new products being launched, meet new people that I have met only virtually over the past year and love on all my long distance BFF’s (some of which I only get to see this time of year)! All my years worth of planning, hotel, air, transportation, parties, dinners, events, hugs and more hugs, all cancelled within minutes.
“I am a 110% all in Mom, Wife, Daughter, Caregiver, & Friend.”
If you don’t know me that well yet, the one thing you should be able to pick up on pretty quick is that I am a 110% all in Mom, Wife, Daughter, Caregiver & Friend. I choose my priorities and keep them very close to my heart. I am the kind of person that truly lives with a no regrets mentality. I will always do my best and do really well at not looking back at missing or wishing. So you might say “how’s that working out”? Well, to that I say, “so far so good”! I won’t say it’s easy. In fact I will admit that life is hard. You will hear me say that quite a bit, but please don’t mistake my honest reality on the fact that I wouldn’t change a thing (of course, except for my son’s illness).
“This life that I have been given is mine. Full on mine. And that’s the way I take it. Head first, and all in! I love hard, play hard and work hard.”
Cheers to Convention2019 and getting extra hugs from everyone in SLC, XOXO… 2018 this mama had to do her mama thing!
