The Mobile Home Woman

So sorry for not updating the blog, I was updating the Facebook page only because it was so quick and easy.  The last 48 hours have just been such a blur!  But we are home now and it’s so very true… Home is best!  I understand now why the surgeon really wanted to get Maggie home, to her own pillows and blankets, her pets, her own clothes and just everything that makes a person’s home place.

The surgery on Monday went well, but long.  Dr. McKernan said he was very pleased with the repair.  It was extensive, but he thought it went well.  She had several pins placed in the break, that was about sock height on her tibia.  She had the ankle set and then the torn ligaments on either side of the ankle repaired.  Oh my…  waiting those two and half hours for the surgery and then another hour or so in recovery was just awful.  I haven’t had to do that forever it seems and I had somewhat forgot the dread feeling of waiting while your baby is under the knife.

Monday night was perhaps the worse.  When they finally wheeled her back into her room around 8 PM or so, she was a mess, teary and in pain.  If you knew Maggie well, she DOES NOT CRY.  Just seeing her in tears about killed us all.  She was dreadfully uncomfortable and they just started in on morphine and some other meds and it just wasn’t helping.  Thank goodness Jessy, her sister, was there, because I was already exhausted from Sunday night and no sleep, and here was another night without sleep on the horizon.  Every hour on the hour, there were more issues, pain and folks coming and going.  They say a hospital is the best and the worse place to be when you are in trouble.  I totally understand that now.

The staff were so sweet and caring and everyone really tried hard to get her comfortable and to get ahead of her pain.  The nurses were all just wonderful, and they are just angels in this world, I tell you.  Not only did they care for Maggie, they would be concerned for Jess and I and just really seemed to be passionately concerned for their patients.   I don’t know how you couldn’t be, and be in that profession.

Jessy and I sort of took shifts.  I was up till about 2 am with Maggie, actually, we both were, because it was so rough right then, after the surgery.  Finally about 2 am, the morphine had been maxed out and Maggie finally fell into a light but fitful sleep for a bit.  Jessy stayed with her and I got about 2 hours of fitful naptime on the couch in the day visiting room.  I had tried to nap in the recliner in the room, but there were people in there so much that I could not manage to drift off.  The day room was just around the corner and empty.  About 4:30 or so, I could not sleep anymore and went back to help.

I really do think that you need an advocate for your patient in the hospital.  They are in no real place when they are in pain and hurt to really think straight and all.  Especially Maggie, she was just so good at hiding her needs and all because she just hates to be fussed over.  Eventually her nurses began to read her like a book and knew that even if she said she was fine, the quivering lip and teary eye meant she was not.

 

Sorry that the pictures are upside down.  I haven’t the faintest idea why they are doing that.  I’m working on the old laptop.  Hmmm….  It’s also duplicating the picture too!  Weird…

Well, they finally found the right meds for her and got things under control.  She had one little therapy session with the walker and that was that.  Homeward bound.  I really did not think she was quite ready but it’s so hard arguing with the powers that be.  I figured the very worse situation would be us back at the emergency room.  And I knew that Maggie at home would be a much more relaxed and healing situation for her to be in.  And I was exhausted and needed my bed so badly, oh my stars.

We had a lot of trouble getting her into the house, because we have four short little steps up into the place and the walker was no help.  And the railings are too far apart for her to hold both and hop up.  And there was no way she could hop up even holding on one railing and going sideways.  The poor thing ended up on her butt, scooching up the steps with a bunch of us helping.  I believe she was mortified, but well, sometimes things happen and it happens to us all.

Jessy and I took shifts, and once we get her settled in, I laid down for a few hours while Jessy took the first one.  I knew that the night would be hard, so I wanted that shift so Jessy could get a normal night’s sleep.  It was hard.  At one point I could see that Maggie was laying in the dark, her leg hurt, she was still upset and exhausted but she was fighting sleep and just so emotional.  So I went and got a box of kleenex and sat down beside her on the bed and said, just cry.  It’s okay.  Let it out.

Now, Maggie is not a crybaby.  She NEVER cries.  Really.  Maybe it’s the autism thing, maybe it’s just her personality, but I think I’ve seen her cry about 3 or 4 times in her kid/young adult time.  Heck even as a baby, she really never cried.  Not much at all.  But after the last 48 hours of pain, uncertainty, fear, upset, and all the strangers and loss of routine, she just let loose of the floodgates and oh my gosh, half the tissues were for me.  But I just knew that a good solid emotional release like that would just get so much ucky stuff out of her head and after a good long cry, she finally stopped with the sobby breathes, and had a little sip of clear soda and a couple pain pills and fell into a wonderful deep restful sleep for about 4 or 5 hours.  The first time since the accident.

Her dog Ratchet was SOOOO excited to see her that evening, oh my goodness.   I think he barked about 2,000 times and was just whining and running back and forth when he saw her sitting in the car in the driveway.  We had to put both dogs outside for awhile till we got her situated and then when we finally let them back in, had to really watch for awhile so he wouldn’t jump on the bed too much and bother her.  We finally got him a chair by the bed for a while and I think he just nearly died for want to sit and just wag his tail and get petted by his girl.  It was the best thing for her.   And Luna…. her kitty, she was just as smothering, and followed her everywhere, wanting lots of pets and cuddles.  I snapped this shot with my ipad late last night as she was making a trip to the restroom…  with her pets in tow.  Ratchet has even learned just where to lay on the bed with her, calmly and quietly.  Up against her side so she can stroke him and fall asleep.  He would make a good therapy dog!

I stayed up mostly with her, but got a little light dozing in the chair nearby.  Got her pain pills in her on schedule and then she slept a bit more until Jessy got up around 7 am and took over.  Poor Jessy, she was all stressed up and had been standing so long the day before and all, that she woke middle of the night with terrible Charley horses in her legs!  So at one point I had both girls up and in distress….  oh my goodness.  But she finally got back to sleep as well, and all is good now.  I got a few more hours of sleep after 7 am and by noon, everyone was up, in much better spirits and we got started rearranging the furniture in the dining room because it was so clear that she could not hop all the way from the bedroom to the bathroom over and over through the day.   We made a sort of day room for her… moved in a recliner and a hard high chair.  Moved in her computer and turned the dining room table into the corner to give her enough room to maneuver with the walker.  She could spend a good deal of time in there, and save all that hopping.  And I think she likes being able to move around a bit more, change positions.

Jessy and I have taken over the farm chores and my gosh, the work Maggie did!  Haha… we are both farm whimps apparently.  It’s not too hard, really, but I suspect that we are both still pretty tuckered out.   We’ve got a huge series of storms tonight, so we had some extra chores to get everyone locked up and tucked in for tonight and maybe tomorrow.  Maggie has little faith in us apparently, and is worried to death about all her farm babies, but we’ve not lost a single one, yet.  (haha)

Our good friends Bob and Terry and their son Stephen came down Tuesday morning and took care of everyone for us.  So sweet.  And they brought an extra bag of chicken feed down and that was just so thoughtful.  I didn’t have to run to town for that, it was so nice to have a little extra to get us through the next day or two.

And of course, Julia and Jr. have been wonderful and helpful, and brought over a potty riser that has been so helpful…  and helped with Evee, who was a little fearful of all the things going on and refused to come out to the yard to potty when we weren’t there.  Just a lot of routine mixups and all.

Sigh…  looks like it’s going to be a long summer!!!  (gg)  Oh well!!!   Thankfully, so much of the big projects and heavy lifting are done.  But it will be hard to keep Maggie from wanting to be out with her critters and such.  6 to 8 weeks without a single bit of weight on the leg!  And then therapy and all…. goodness….  It’s just all starting to sink in with me.  Trying to not be too anxious about it all.  I know that with the good Lord watching and our wonderful friends and family, we will get by.  Just taking it a day at a time.  I hope tomorrow to get back into some work and get my own routines a little more normal.  We’ve got some awful storms tonight, I just hope we don’t loose power.

Just a little update on all that is going on!!!

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