Sunday, June 12, 2011

Strangely quiet . . .

It has been a really hard year or so.

At the beginning of 2009, our oldest daughter had a very large terratoma removed from her abdomen. Thank God it was a benign cyst. Following that she had a seizure. It had been several years since she had had one.

I had a kidney stone attack a week after my daughter's surgery.

God found me a temporary job. It turned into a very enjoyable permanent one.

The doctors ordered blood tests that turned out to be twice the high limit for indicators of Crohn's Disease.

We took what turned out to be our last Conn family vacation to Cape Cod. I really didn't enjoy the trip because I felt horrible. My father had a hernia at the time and really didn't feel well either.

At the end of 2009, the diagnosis of Crohn's Disease was made official by visual confirmation. Between Christmas 2009 and Easter 2010, I was in the hospital 5 times culminating in a bowel resection. Following surgery I weighed 96 pounds and was 7 handknit sweaters warmer.

I still had a job but due to the economy, hours were reduced. I was just lucky to still have one at all.

By the fall of 2010, I had gained back 70 pounds and have since taken off about 10 of those. The doctor said to wait till my weight plateaued and then start to lose. Something that is not quite as easy as it used to be. Being over 40 has some challenges of its own.

You would think that would be enough to keep me quiet on its own but God thought I could handle more.

In August, my husband's grandmother died.

In September, my mother-in law's second husband died. She had just lost her Mom.

After my surgery in 2010, my brother bought a new house in California. In September, my parents decided that we should all help with the beautification. They sent us girls to see what we could do to help. During the beautification process, we discovered mold. Not just a little but large, tree like mold growing in the walls. we ripped out walls in the kitchen and living room. We also took out the ceiling in the living room, dining room and kitchen. Lifted up and discarded about 4 layers of linoleum and some ceramic tile. We really didn't beautify anything. But we did leave him with new drywall on the ceilings and enough piles of drywall to finish the walls we had destroyed.

While we were all together, my parents told us that our father had terminal bone cancer and had 6-12 months left. It was their intent to come to California also but Daddy was too sick already. We talked about a rotating visiting schedule to help Mom care for him. We were all able to see him and spend time with him before he passed on November 1, 2010. This was all in a fast forwarded 8 weeks.

My immediate family survived our first grandpa-less Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Just this past Saturday, we attended the last interment of ashes.

I am ready for something uplifting.

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