Busy July

This summer has been very interesting indeed. During the tail end of June and into the first week of July, we hosted a family from our Sunday School class while they were waiting for their new house to "close" so they could move in. Our home has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a game room upstairs that we never use so we offered the space to our friends while they were waiting to move into their new house. Knowing that their two young children had "summer colds," the parents kept the kids upstairs as much as possible so as to not infect Ruthie.

Sandrine offered to cook dinner on Monday night for everyone. Her dill/garlic mashed potatoes, grilled fillets wrapped with bacon and sugar snap peas were delicious. Lawson however, could barely eat a thing. This surprised me. He must have been feeling very terrible to not have been able to eat. Then he decided to go to bed and from there, things got worse. Hubby requested that I pick up some things at Walgreen's to hopefully relieve his symptoms. I knew things were REALLY bad when I saw Lawson laying on the bathroom tile floor in pain. I personally, would never lie on the bathroom floor, but if I was in severe pain? Perhaps.

Later that night, I got up to give Ruth her usual feeding but then got exhausted waking up multiple times to see my sweetie husband awake, in obvious pain and turning lights on and off. He looked up his symptoms online using his IPhone and wondered if he might have a kidney stone or appendicitis. By morning light, it was clear that Lawson was not going in to work and he emailed his boss to tell her so.

The early morning hours were spent feeding and changing Ruth and trying desperately to find a urologist that had an opening during the morning. I found one that was available by 2pm but Lawson had better fortune. He booked an appointment for 9am at St. Francis, Memphis. Upon hearing that I had to drive us there, I hurriedly finished nursing Ruth, strapped her in her car seat, grabbed the diaper bag, my purse and shoved the Snap and Go stroller in the trunk of my little Saturn. Only later at the hospital did I realize that I had left my wallet with my driver's license at home, not to mention, Ruthie's Binky (how did I survive at the hospital without it for hours?) and my IPhone.

Upon arrival at the urologists office, Ruthie made it clear to me that she needed a diaper change with her crying so I surveyed the women's bathroom to find no diaper changing station. I had to make do with lying Ruthie on her changing mat using the floor to change her, shall I say.. LOADED diaper. After waiting a ridiculous amount of time, I found out from Lawson that he needed an X-Ray. So off he went to get that done while we waited in the hall floor. I must have received some odd stares from people as I entertained a crying baby in the floor with her little lamb and a teething ring. Some time later, Lawson returned and due to the diagnosis being unclear, a C-Scan was ordered.

We walked together down to the C-Scan area of the hospital which was a much better environment for Ruthie and I. After buying some Bayer for Lawson at the hospital pharmacy with Lawson's debit card, I decided to explore the "Women's Lounge" after overhearing the receptionist mention it. The lounge was paradise compared with the floor outside of the urologists office! Everything was brand new; a private bathroom, an empty lounge area with cushy chairs, a T.V. and best of all, separate changing rooms with curtains that could be pulled for privacy! For a nursing mother, this was a dream come true in a hospital! I quickly returned to the front desk to leave a message for Lawson that I would be in the women's lounge while he was having the C-Scan. I could have remained in the women's lounge for the rest of the day and night! Alas, our stay was short lived. Once I nursed Ruthie, we discovered that Lawson had finished up with the scan and went back to the urologists to find out the results of the scan.

Well, the results were not pretty... an emergency appendectomy was ordered. Lawson seemed happy and relieved that a diagnosis was made and he was on his way to getting pain-free. Unfortunately, unknown to us at the time, we would have to wait in the emergency room for five hours until he could be admitted and taken care of.

While we waited in the (shall I say, SCARY) emergency room, Lawson's parents arrived, followed by Sam whose family was staying in our home, then the church choir director came to chat it up with us and lastly, Sam's wife, Sandrine showed to offer encouragement. My mother in law drove to Chik fil A to get a necessary lunch for me, and Sam called before coming over to see if we needed anything to be brought to the hospital. I took the opportunity to have him bring the much needed Binky, IPhone, wallet and extra diapers and wipes. If it weren't for Sandrine's quick emails, and Facebook updates, people would not have been aware of our situation. If we hadn't had Sam's family staying with us during the week, it would have been terribly inconvenient for the in-laws to go extra distance to retrieve the things I needed.

Most people would think that bringing a three month old to the hospital is a bad idea. I had no choice with being a nursing mother for Ruthie. We found safe, clean vacant places for me to nurse without being interrupted. While everyone was waiting in the emergency room, I nursed Ruthie in the brand new Heart Center which surprisingly was empty and very comfortable. A kind nurse saw us through a window and came in to find out about our situation and gave me encouragement on nursing Ruth instead of giving her formula. "It's very healthy what you're doing, you know." She said this in front of my mother-in-law which must have been hard to hear.

By five, Lawson was finally admitted, I remained with him until he got settled in and a nurse started the assessment. Lawson's father took over and stayed with his son until surgery began. I was emotionally calm, knowing that God would take care of everything, besides I had Ruthie to care for. My mother in law went out to get dinner and the in laws and I reunited in the waiting room upstairs WAITING for Lawson's surgery to be over. As we ate dinner, we received periodic updates by telephone from the nurses explaining the progress of the surgery. This was my first time waiting at a hospital for someone to have surgery. I thought it was quite considerate for the hospital staff to update us. For them, it was probably customary.

By 8:45pm, Lawson was wheeled up to his recovery room and we hustled upstairs to receive him. The in-laws knew what to do and where to go and where to stand...they had obviously done this multiple times during their lives and I followed their lead.

When Lawson was wheeled down the hall, I saw him on a rolling bed, covered up with white sheets up to his neck and one surrounding his head. Eyes were closed and he responded weakly to our cheerful "hello's" and "How are you feeling?" I positioned myself up by the left side of his head and said quietly said; "Hi." He returned my salutation with a little smile. Two nurses (one male and one female) asked that we remain in the hall while they got things situated. Lawson was wheeled into his small room and the door closed. My mother in law wanted to know why they closed the door. My father in law replied; "He's undressed under all of those sheets. They did that to give him privacy." Very soon, we were allowed to see Lawson. I pulled Ruthie out of her carseat so she could give Lawson a "kiss." We talked for a little bit and left shortly in order to give Lawson some rest; he was fading fast into a deep sleep.

The following morning, I returned with Ruthie to the hospital to drop off Lawson's much needed phone charger and a change of clothes. He was not in the best of moods due to being in a lot of pain from the surgery. When things got unbearable, he would press a button on the pain pump and a calculated amount of pain meds would be delivered to him through his IV.

Rick Miller came by at noon to say hi and chat a bit during his lunch hour. It was odd to see someone from church in the hospital environment! I didn't stay very long after Rick's visit, Lawson was in a miserable mood to say the least.

Around dinner time, Ruthie and I came back to the hospital to learn Lawson was getting discharged. His parents took him home while I made a run to the store to get much needed semi-liquid foods for Lawson to eat for the next couple of days.

By the time Lawson arrived home, it was close to 9pm due to the wait at Walgreens for pain meds and my thoughtlessness! I had not brought hubby's wallet to the hospital, thinking he wouldn't need it. The night ended with Lawson and I sitting on the couch chatting with Sam and Sandrine for an hour before we all retired.