An ER visit during a Pandemic....

So the day was quite uneventful until this evening....
Our oldest had baseball practice, and the rest of us hang around and play at the park with friends...it's a weekly ritual, with rare casualties.

However, tonight while we were packing up to go home our middle son FLEW down a hill on his Razor.
That's nothing new.....but apparently hitting the rubbery playground flooring stopped him dead!
He took a dive off the scooter and lay there twitching in pain!

We checked him out for scrapes but I guess that rubber saved him from losing any skin....
Then I noticed his right arm. It was bent.....yes BENT above his wrist. Gnarly....that's really the best word to describe it!

I tend to be ultra calm during times like those....but even I knew he had to go straight to the emergency room.

And if you're a germaphobe, like me, you can cringe now.......
So I stalled momentarily......called our Ped. Dr. to see if they had an after hours clinic but it was inevitable...we were off to the hospital.

So my hubby and my son went straight there...and I calmly went home to fix dinner. That probably sounds weird, but I went into survival mode. I knew he was in capable hands with Daddy, and since the menu was super easy (chili dogs and corn on the cob)..it was ready in a jiffy! I managed to get the rest of the family fed, bathed and in pjs before I dropped them off with their grandparents.....All within an hour.

But I was NOT prepared for what I would see at the ER!

There were triage tents outside for anyone who thinks they might have the Swine Flu......complete with an armed guard and caution tape.....um can we say Freaky!

Thankfully I bypassed the tents, and walked into the main lobby where the boys were waiting. They had given him a sling already and he was asking for food........even in pain he has his priorities!

So I sent them outside with GermX wipes and they ate their dinner in the car while I waited in their place. Can I just say there were more than a dozen surgically-masked people coughing and sneezing around that place. I took my wipes and sanitized my chair before I sat down.......seriously it was like being in a war zone! In my mind I kept saying...."I'm in a bubble, I'm totally immune...."

You can probably imagine that my 20 minute wait was filled with sideways glances everytime some one sneezed. And I'm ashamed to say that I was COMPLETELY antisocial! So unlike me, and yet, SO believable....sometimes I actually think I SEE germs in the air!

Fortunately the boys came back just as we were given a room....Lord, knows, I might have asked for a mask for my son next!

Now that the Lobby-trauma was over I could focus on replaying the accident in my mind. Was there anything that could have happened differently? I was amazed that we could spend over 2 hours at the park and NOT have an injury until the last 30 seconds of our time there! And really, there weren't buckles in the sidewalk, or scary changes in elevation......and when he fell he was atleast 50 yards from the hill he had just come down.....So there came a point where I just felt REALLY grateful it wasn't worse. He could've landed on his face, or hit someone else when he tripped.....I became SO thankful for the protection that is afforded our family! Surely it would extend to our ER triage exposure!

So back in our private room, our boy was being SUCH a trooper....with an amazingly high pain tolerance! He was moving his fingers and his wrist around like crazy....the Dr. was baffled....he had broked TWO bones just above his wrist! She said most kids would cradle their arm and drop it at their wrist with this much pain. Instead, he was more enthralled by the Immunity Challenge happening on Survivor! (Jarrod and I laughed that he was just hopped up on Codeine by then!)

If I could find a positive about this night it would be about school. We've been studying our Skeleton......so he actually knows a lot about the bones and what they are made of, etc. So when the Dr. showed us his x-ray, he could see many of the 27 bones he had heard were in his hand! That and now we can officially label his broken Radius and Ulna bones on the skeleton diagram we have on the door.....

Ah, talk about learning by immersion!

As an aside, can I mention that the entire hospital staff thinks the Swine Flue is a farce?!?!......(One tech said that 3,500 people die in the U.S. each year from flu-related symptoms. This is nothing new....just highly publicized)

Hmmmm.....exaggerated or not, I'd like to keep our family FAR from the ER, for any reason, thank you very much!

Ponderings about....

..........my cell phone use....or lack thereof......

I have been without my cell phone for weeks.....heck, maybe even a month....I had thought it was only a couple of weeks, but I'm realizing it's been MUCH longer.

It was definitely before Easter.....well, before my Auntie was in the hospital......I'm not actually sure I even saw it in April......until now.

I kept telling everyone that my house swallowed it up. And that couldn't be closer to the truth!
In fact, I NEVER would have found it if I hadn't had the urge to clean the Black Hole that is our office. And during that quest I decided to pick up socks UNDERNEATH my office desk. I know, close your mouth, the amazement doesn't help.......

You see, I'm warm blooded, but I DO get cold toes from time to time. So I walk around in socks, and then when I'm on the computer I'll use my ambidextrious toe-claws ;) to pull them off (with that description I hope to coax a comment out of Angela). I've obviously been doing this for quite some time, since I didn't realize I had a few-pair-pile going on down there.....

Little did I know that those socks had banned together and made a resolution to hold onto my phone until I put them in the wash. Nasty ol socks......ill-tempered and dirty!

But rescue mission aside, I'm cracking up at the thought of using my phone again. I mean, the world ACTUALLY didn't stop turning, and hearts didn't skip a beat without my ability to call at a moments notice.

I think I even made a few extra 'house' calls since I wasn't able to call ahead...and who DOESN'T like a drop-in visitor with three kids ;)

Now what will I do with all the money I saved on that phone bill????......oh, that's right, I don't PAY that phone bill. Dang.

Well be on the lookout for my call.....I've got minutes to burn through for April ;)




and now that I've spent ALL my weekend energy on these ramblings.....you'll have to stay tuned for tomorrow to comment on:
Sunday Service Snippets....

More Happy Thoughts

My thumb is not green, heck it's not even in the green family....it's probably more red, especially since I shut the van door on it this week....but that's another story.
But the Green thumb I'm talking about has to do with plants....
it's a foreign concept to me. I do my best to water them, heck I'll even conversate with the darn things to make them grow. But beyond that I'm at a loss.
So that explains why my 10 year old palm tree is slowly withering in a corner of my home, or why I think it's ok for a plant to be watered only once a month.

However, I am VERY conscious about watering when I FIRST plant a new flower or plant.
But then my reasoning takes over and I think my 'thoughts' are enough for the plant to drink from. Oh, I THOUGHT about watering the plants today....doesn't that count!?
So I'll keep putting it off until I see brown leaves or withering stems......them I swoop in and drown the poor dears. I'm really a very unsympathetic gardener.

So I was really jiving with Jeremiah 17:7-8
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."


Wow, so if I'm like a tree to God, and He's this Master Gardener.......then I'm fully assured to get water. And not just any sporadic watering like I might give, but STREAMS of living water!

There is no fear of being left alone to wither and even half die......my leaves will always stay green ....that makes me smile!

Because this promise covers me, even if I choose to scoot away from the Gardener, or try to do it all on my own, without His water. He knows I'll start to wither, and He's right there keeping up the supply.

I was just so grateful when I read that. My heart did a happy dance. I'm not alone in this walk, and I can have CONFIDENCE that there WILL be good in my life as I see His 'fruit' bud and grow and turn into nourishment for others.

I'm a tree...I'm a tree ;)

Sunday Service Snipets

S.S.S will be a weekly place to highlight points of encouragement.

Whether you're listening online, sitting in a service, or laying in the grass with your Bible in your lap......drop by on Sundays and share a point that stood out to you.

It's all about mutual edification baby!

And if you're new to this whole Bible Study thing....dive in.....the water is deep but the nourishment is well worth the splash!



Pastor John Snoderly spoke on Ephesians chapter 6- regarding spiritual warfare:
Here are snipets from his sermon, they are taken from my 'mental' notes and not meant to be verbatim.

"The greatest warriors fought on the offense, not only the defense. Don't wait for the fight to come to you. If you're doing anything right then you WILL encounter spiritual warfare.......the greatest tool the enemy uses is denial. If we deny the existence of evil then he was already won. We will be oblivious to the fight going on all around us, and then vulnerable and weak, or caught off guard when we are attacked."

I found this relevant in my life as I sail along.....keeping up on the 'busy work' in my life. But getting soft around the middle.....lazy about the strength training of being in the Word daily or constant in my prayer life, not fervent in sharing my faith.

....it's time to strap on the armor or God and engage my foes.




What do you have to share from YOUR week?

A slice of life- Doggie Roleplaying....

So what do you do when the kids come out before bedtime and they want to perform?
Well since the Pirate has a light saber and the Storm trooper has a laser gun, who's going to argue?
It was part musical part wrestling match....but the surprise of the night came with the puppy dog.

No, not Foxy Loxy.....but the little girl dressed up like a puppy dog...

In her before-bedtime-giddiness she was wearing a dog jacket, complete with a dog face on top of her hood, and a tail hanging down her behind. Except for the blank look on the 'dog's' face

she looked like a real canine. Which is where I had started to get uncomfortable.

You see, Foxy Loxy here took a liking to Talia's 'dog' head.....sniffing away and then staring her down as Talia got down on all fours. The best part came when Foxy decided to say a proper Hello...and......well.....you guessed it....she circled around to Talia's 'business' end and sniffed away. That's......what we like to call in our family.....Awkward!

Talia soon moved on to pulling at the boy's costumes for entertainment. She is SUCH the bug-a-boo to her brothers. "Didn't she Realize??" They had a 'serious' play to work out here.....Well they all wrapped it up with minimal canine interaction.....and ran off to brush their teeth.

And that's how we roll before bedtime. Never a dull moment!

A slice of life- Kid quote

While playing a game with her older brothers, daddy asked her this question first.....


Name a place where people live, other than a house........
Her 3 year old reply?
With a fox in a box......

Gone Home

Early this morning Kathleen Frances McCarty went home to be with her Lord....

When I found out there was SUCH peace......My heart broke with the tears of mourning...but that was mostly for those who seemed SO hopeless about this death.

Though, I must admit, my sadness was short lived......there were wet bed sheets to change, breakfast to be made, Dr. appointments to keep.....God kept me terribly busy today......
distracted I guess.........But that is life right?

It's a gift the way the world keeps spinning....there is still so much life to be lived....so much more glory to behold......

....and I'm not ashamed to live this life.......the same life that Auntie Kay lived with gusto!
The life she giggled through...and mothered her way through....(oh, MAN did she mother anybody that stopped to listen!) Nurturing was her specialty.........and in my opinion, that kind of caregiving is a lost art! I can't help feeling a kinship with her as I run around wiping butts and cleaning up messes....she lived this too didn't she?

As for the end, I'm calmed with the knowledge that her body no longer aches, that each breathe is no longer a struggle, that she has SUCH a legacy that will continue.

After all....isn't that all any of us could ask for? That we would live in a way that positively affects those around us. That our faith, our hope, our love touches someone, that the kids we rear change something for the better, that the joy we share lives on in someone's thoughts........all of those things will be shared with another generation of their loved ones.

This life is not the end......It's only the prelude to eternity......

Happy Forever Auntie, I'm missing you already....but there is no chance of forgetting you.

For those of you standing with us in love.......Thank you SO much for all of your prayers....they are cherished by myself and our extended family.

Waiting....

***Updated 1pm Tuesday afternoon

I took the last shift at the hospital tonight.....

I wanted to quietly hang out with my Auntie for awhile.

As the machine pumped sharp bursts of air into her chest....she moved her mouth a bit as if to talk to me. She also made eye contact with me whenever she was awake but........ there was no response in her muscles as I held her hand. At this point she has had atleast two strokes so her movement is very limited. She is no longer reaching to remove the tube in her throat.

But it was so good to be there alone.....just to relax and hold her hand......and mostly I sang to her.....quietly so as not to disturb her......

I don't mean to sound dramatic, but the only song that kept coming to mind was the one I've sang for several funerals. And if I couldn't get the words out I hummed:

"Why should I feel discouraged. Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart feel lonely and long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion....a constant friend is He. His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me......"

When I'd sing her heartrate would go up to almost 90.....and when she was asleep for a minute or two, it would rest in the upper 70s. I was hoping the singing wasn't disturbing her....but she definitely was responding somehow.

So I made sure to let her rest again. I stood there rubbing her fingers. They were plump with all of the fluids they have given her.....I know she'd find it amusing that her crooked, little arthritic fingers were almost straight!

Man, I'd give anything to hear her laugh again.

So I tried to say funny things here and there......but mostly

I kept saying..."It's ok.....you can rest now. Love you."

And she'd close her eyes again.

Tomorrow they will unhook the ventilator and wait for her to breathe on her own. The doctors have predicted that she will not last more than a few days.** (they decided to wait a few days before removing the breathing assistance. I'm glad since I feel like she was really 'there' last night.......she'll have a few more days to get stronger before they make another decision about the ventilator)

This will be a tough week. As if Easter week wasn't already beautiful enough.......now my tears anticipate more than one resurrection...... I'm so thankful that she has a Home to go to soon.

Her body will be whole again and she can see Mac (Uncle Dick), her big burly hubby.

But my heart aches with a tangible groan for all those who feel 'left behind'.....and confused by this loss. I'm longing for wisdom and extra compassion as I talk to various family members.

But what would please Auntie Kay more than anything is that we will be together on Easter. Annually, the Easter Bbq at my parent's house branches out with over 50 people each year.

So whether she is still in the hospital or not, our family will be together.

If you're reading this, then I know we've been in your thoughts.

Thank you, thank you.