Posts Tagged ‘family

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30
Jul
13

this is a bad day

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children, Family and Medical
Tags: , , , ,

Once more, one of RTA’s brothers-in-arms has killed himself. I often joke about “RTA’s ‘little friends'”, but in reality, their association with my child has made them my sons. And now, another of my children is dead. I often hear of programs designed to prevent such things, but they don’t seem to be helping much from my point of view. I can no longer count (although I am sure RTA can remind me) how many he and I have lost. RTA and one of my other sons have an idea that I think will probably be more effective since they have been there. My prayer is now that they will find the funds, the will and the help to succeed. I am willing to do anything to help them. Anything to save my boys. If I hurt this much at this remove, I cannot imagine how RTA and AVB (Andrew of the Volleyball), his business partner, feel.

At the same time, IRP is in the hospital with the doctors trying one more thing to clear the blockage in her intestines before they must operate. She is barely speaking to me because I lost it and yelled at her because she was not following instructions or doing anything to help herself. Since scar tissue is the main cause of her on-going problems, every surgery seems like just a set-up for more trouble. I am praying fervently that it doesn’t come to that.

I thought about starting this post with a question as to how one can sleep all night and wake up feeling as if they hadn’t been to bed at all. I think, though, that I have answered my own question.

All prayers and good thoughts gratefully received,

TSG

26
Jul
13

down and then up

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children, Family and Medical
Tags: , ,

Yesterday, the doctors took another set of scans of IRP’s abdomen to see how things were progressing. There is still some distension of the area of intestine where the blockage was. They were also concerned that she had not passed anything but gas into the temporary colostomy bag. So, they had the tube put six inches further down so that it is now draining from the small intestine instead of the stomach.

For a bit, this made things worse for IRP. The new position of the tube puts pressure on her right eye socket. It was rather painful. Also, her abdomen began to swell again and was very tender to the touch. Finally, we were having trouble controlling her pain in general.

The nurse brought an ice pack for IRP’s eye. Then, she put IRP’s pain medication on an every-four-hour schedule. The result of these two actions is that IRP is now so comfortable that she is sleeping and moving about in her sleep normally. The tube has also done its work and her abdomen is flat once more. Now, we just need her to pass something and we can begin to look forward to her discharge.

Thanks for all your prayers and well-wishes!

TSG

21
Jul
13

the prodigal returns

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children and Family
Tags: ,

Good news! IRP has returned home. In her words, the friend’s house she was staying at had “too much drama”. She first called to ask me what the conditions were for her return. I told her that the only condition was that she let her father and me make her medical decisions for the rest of this year. I told IRP that we would not seek to have her hospitalized again unless she refused to go to the doctor or the doctor told us that IRP needed to be hospitalized.

IRP agreed to these conditions and moved everything back in Thursday night. Thanks to everyone for their prayers. And, thank You to God for His mercy.

TSG

16
Jun
13

Happy Father’s Day

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Family and Parents
Tags: , ,

In the sixties, when I was born, most men wanted a son first to carry on the family name. My father just wanted a child. The fact that his first-born was a girl didn’t faze him at all. He was delighted. He was every bit as delighted when my two sisters followed me in the next four years. It was not until six years afterwards that a boy was born.

My father taught me that I could do anything that I determined to do. He never met my suggestions, no matter how wild, with scorn. Instead, he provided me with the tools and taught me the skills necessary and then let me go. Now, when someone tells me that something can’t be done, I tell them to get out of the way.

When I was ten, I decided that the tall cylinders my mother’s hose came in would make great pencil holders if I could just melt the top to make a hole. My father got a small blowtorch and taught me how to use it. When I had the hang of it, he left me outside with instructions not to point it at my sisters or the house. At the time, I was so proud that I could handle something dangerous all by myself. Now, of course, I know that my dad was nearby watching just in case. The pencil holders were a great hit as Christmas presents for grandparents, aunts and uncles. This was my first experience in learning that homemade gifts are the best.

Today, my sisters and I all work in education. We help others reach their goals, even if they seem difficult or impossible. People who have never met my father are benefiting from what he taught us. My brother is a lawyer. We tell him that three sisters were excellent trainers in arguing.

Thanks for everything, Dad! I love you!

TSG

11
Jun
13

Here for the Party!

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children, Family, Friends and Fun
Tags: , , , ,

When I graduated high school, my mother began the tradition of taking the graduate out for dinner with four of his/her friends to the restaurant s/he chooses. CPI chose P.F. Chang’s. We had so much fun that it was almost illegal. One of CPI’s friends has mistaken the day and had to be lured away from another graduation party. We ate huge amounts of delicious food and topped it off with dessert. In all, we spent two hours. My mother and I paid and got the leftovers together and waited for there to be a break in the fun. After twenty minutes, we stood, gathered our things and edged towards the door. Realizing that we were alone, we turned back to discover the “children” absorbed in conversation and laughter. Finally, I said, “CPI, we are leaving”. Everyone looked at us in shock.

Here is a picture of, from the left: L, M, H, CPI (in the suit) and G. Don’t they look pretty/handsome and happy?! I think so.

TSGMericandtheGang

04
Jun
13

A Sad Necessity

By thissideofgaudy 1 Comment
Categories: Children, Family and Medical
Tags: , ,

As I mentioned in my last post, IRP began to show signs of severe depression again Thursday. She even posted a letter on her bedroom door that she had written the day before. The letter talked about her urges to cut and otherwise harm herself. She said that she had given up. These and other things obviously alarmed us.

When IRP would not accept our help and moved in with a “friend”, we had to do something. We were afraid she would either actively harm herself or neglect herself until she was once again critically ill. Reluctantly, FMP spent most of Friday filling out a mental health warrant on IRP.

Yesterday, the warrant was served and IRP has been taken to a mental health facility involuntarily to be given help. As expected, she is very angry with us. In fact, she is currently refusing to see or speak to us.

Obviously, this is not something we did lightly. In fact, we feel horrible about it. But, we would rather have a live daughter who hates us than a dead one who does not. Please pray for IRP and for us. We believe we did the right thing, but it is still so very hard.

Thank you!
TSG

02
Jun
13

Won’t You Please Come Home?

By thissideofgaudy 2 Comments
Categories: Children and Family
Tags: ,

Thursday night, we realized that IRP was beginning to be severely depressed again. When we began asking her how we could help and offering to take her to get such help, she decided that we were over-reacting. As a result, she has moved to a friend’s house.

We are afraid that IRP will not take care of her wounds from the surgery properly and that she will not take the medicines and eat the proper diet as the doctors have told her to do.

Please, sweetie, come home and let us help you!

30
May
13

Success!

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Books, Children, Family and Fun
Tags: , , ,

When the lovely children were young, I would buy classic children’s books at garage sales cheaply so that I did not need to worry about their getting torn up. At first, I read them aloud. As the lovely children grew older, they read some of them again for themselves.

Recently, CPI’s 12th grade English class read “Gulliver’s Travels” and we were obliged to buy a new copy. Marsh, our aged Labrador, had chewed up the first one we had in his puppyhood. CPI left the book in the back seat of our car until I was sure that he had forgotten it. Finally, I brought it up. “Oh,” he said, “I apparently remembered enough from your reading it to me as a child that I made an ‘A’ without reading it again.” Score! I win! Hurrah! Etc……..!!!!!

22
May
13

Hippo birdies, two ewes

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children and Family
Tags: , ,

Happy, happy birthday to IRP! We are so glad that you made it!

Love forever!

Mom (aka TSG)

21
May
13

The Pollen Farm

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children, Family, Pets and Texas my Texas
Tags: , , , , ,

I am convinced that we live in the middle of a pollen farm. As you know, CPI put off dying of allergies to attend Prom. Yesterday, however, he had to stay home since they were still in force. He has gone to school today since he is now merely coughing loudly as opposed to shaking the house. FMP was not so lucky. He spent most of last night getting rid of the gunk in him by a much less pleasant process than coughing it up. I, on the other hand, am the Queen of Sneezes. The only one not affected is IRP. I guess God thinks she has had enough to deal with this year already.

Last night, when the door was open, Whiskey decided to take himself for a walk. He had never even tried this before, so no one thought he would do it. We had to go in search of him since apparently his map did not include return directions. I had this problem with a GPS I once owned. It kept wanting me to go up non-existent ramps. It is now in FMP’s possession. We found Whiskey and brought him home. We do hope he doesn’t subject us to that type of panic again. I guess we will have to be careful when we open doors.

TSG

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