surgery

Well my life's a little topsy-turvy right now. I forgot to mention in my last several entries that Santiago has been having serious back issues that finally led him to surgery (spinal fusion for Spondylolisthesis, if you're into all that medical jargon). He had surgery on Friday and is still in the hospital trying to recover. The surgery lasted over 6 hours, plus 2 hours in the recovery room, and following that he had to receive 2 units of blood because he lost a lot of it during the surgery. He is doing fine now, at least as fine as can be expected for someone who underwent major surgery 2 days ago...still in a lot of pain, with weakness, dizziness, occasional nausea, tingly feet, elevated heart rate. But he got up and took a little walk today, which is a major thing!

I have been trying to juggle taking care of Pipsqueak and taking care of Santiago and it is wearing me out! My family has been helping a lot but tomorrow everyone will be back to work so I'm not sure how I'll swing hospital visits... When I'm at home I feel like I should be at the hospital with Tiago...and when I'm at the hospital I feel like I should be at home with Pip. And now I am also out of clean diapers, clean dishes, clean clothes, clean bedding/towels, and food to eat (though no time to cook so I guess that's a non-issue). I honestly can't remember the last time I bathed...Thursday night? Wednesday? It's almost funny how disgusting everything around here looks: my hair, my kitchen, the laundry room...!

I'm okay though. I am scared for Tiago's road to recovery. I am terrified of how I will manage to keep it all together once T comes home and needs me full-time. But it's okay, we're managing. I feel mostly peaceful.

Well the Squeak is asleep and it is now my chance to get that much-needed shower! Maybe I'll even have time to tackle Mount Dirty-Dishes in the hour I have before Church starts... Or maybe I'm being a little too ambitious. One thing at a time. Right. Off to shower!

8 April 2008

I have been MIA for a long time! I didn't realize it had been that long. Life is moving faster than I can keep up with. It's not that I am so terribly busy doing much, it's just that living, in its own right, is taking up a lot of time, if that makes sense. The weeks are rolling right by, weekends are a blur, and the next thing I know we are well into April!

We had beautiful spring sunshine for a time (which was a large part of the reason I was gone from the world wide web), but now we are back to cold and rain and gray days. Easter came and went. My sister and her family came into town and so we stayed very busy with them (outings to museums, the park, sleepovers, game nights, eating out, etc). It was wonderful for us to all be together as a family. It doesn't happen enough.

Santiago defended his thesis with flying colors (can that expression be applied in this context?) and will graduate with his M.Ed on May 2.