A Quiet Holiday

Any of you who follow me on Twitter know that I’ve had an interesting couple of months. For those who don’t know, here’s a recap, which I will try to keep brief.

The first week in November, the Wrinklies (as I call my parents) were packing for a trip to Maui. My mom (88 years old) decides she should mention to my dad that she’s been getting out of breath after just a short walk across the house and now, a few weeks into this development, she is having chest pains as well. She wondered, “should I go to Maui?”

Duh, no Mom, you should go to the emergency room. So, a few days later she was in the hospital, I’d flown to California to drive my dad (92 years old) back and forth to the hospital, two towns away. Mom had major heart surgery, which she came through like a trooper, I stayed a week, then came back home to Texas.

A few days home and it’s Thanksgiving at a friends house. I am just starting to wind down from the horrible stress of dealing with family. My supportive and wonderful friends helped a lot. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving, my husband and I had a lunch planned with a friend. I asked Tom to take some laundry downstairs on his way. He took ALL of the laundry in his arms and didn’t watch where he was stepping. Unfortunately, this is the one day EVER that my little Yorkie got terribly sick and vomited all over the stairs, starting on the landing right at the first stair. Tom steps in it and (his words) goes “ass over teakettle” down the entire flight of stairs, landing hard on his right ankle, breaking his tibia and fibula.

He had surgery on the ankle the following Monday. Friends rallied to help with food and (for me) sanity breaks from the constant caregiving. In addition to the lame husband, I also had a very sick dog (not the Yorkie, who was absolutely fine after the barf fest) to deal with at the same time.

So I spent the next few weeks running back and forth for medicine, veterinary visits, doctor and physical therapy appointments, and trips to get groceries and take-out food. It was crazy. My day would start somewhere between 4-6 am as the big dog desperately needed to go out. (Tom would text me from downstair where the two of them were stuck.) I would be completely exhausted by 8 pm at night. Rinse and repeat day after day.

Needless to say, after the expense of flying to California, the out-of-pocket cost of surgery and PT appointments (even with finally getting health insurance…1 week before the broken ankle), I was financially and emotionally drained. And in no mood whatsoever for a holiday.

When anyone asked, I gestured to Tom’s ankle and said “there is his present” and to the dog “and there is everyone else’s”. The good news is that they are both on the mend. Tom has his last “authorized” PT this week. I don’t think we’ll need any more than that. He’s hobbling around pretty well now, although he still tires out easily with the effort. As for Kafka, the big dog, she has been cured of pancreatitis, and diagnosed definitively with Cushing’s disease. She’s an old dog, but she is much better than she was a few weeks ago. That’s the best we can ask for now.

So, we had a very quiet holiday this year. We didn’t have our big, blowout holiday bash. I didn’t so much as bake 1 cookie. I invited a few folks over on Christmas Day (no more than I knew I could manage without the help of my sous chef). Everyone pitched in with side dishes and dessert. At the end of the day, we had a wonderful (group effort) holiday meal.

I hope your holiday was nice, relaxing, and most of all healthy! In fact, let that be my wish for you in the coming year as well. Stress-free and good health is the best wish I can give you for 2012!