Ups & Downs of Life...Mostly Downs

I'll start with yesterday...
After getting Tom down for a nap, I knew I had about one and a half hours to squeeze in some shopping.  I didn't want to go out on a rainy, nasty Monday...but, I had a 20% off coupon to JCPenney along with a $10 off any $25 purchase!  If you know me, I can't pass up a coupon or a bargain, so off I went.  Earlier in the day I had my wallet out and didn't put it away after using it, I even thought 'you should put that away or you'll forget it'.  I got ready to pay for my merchandise and low and behold...you guessed it...I didn't have my wallet!!  I kicked myself all the way to the car...opportunity wasted.  I did get back to JCP after dinner to use the coupons that almost burned a hole in my pocket!
Last night Tom went to bed early and made a few 'weird' comments about how he felt...but you have to understand that Tom's communication, especially about feelings (not physical objects) is very hard for him.  He is so tough and so sweet that he is enduring far more than any of us can imagine.  He woke up around 2:30 a.m. to use the bathroom and said his head hurt.  I talked him into taking some Tylenol and then he slept until 10 a.m.!!  When he woke up I thought he seemed a little sluggish, but we were in "get ready" mode for therapy.  "Get ready" mode is a lot of work...getting dressed (very hard dressing a 6'7" man whose dominant side doesn't want to cooperate!), eating and brushing teeth takes every minute of the hour and 45 minutes we had before leaving!  Kay Scott, our home health PT and good friend, met us at therapy to check in on us and the PT staff there!  She wants the best care for Tom.  She saw right away that Tom's incision site was still draining (which it had slowed down, but this morning had regained it's pace) she encouraged me to text Dr. Zerick about it.  I did right away and Dr. Zerick said to come to his office on our way home from therapy.  After doing some PT we all noticed Tom's sluggishness, so the therapist checked his heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen level.  His heart rate was high, blood pressure low and oxygen was normal.  They said he could be dehydrated and made him stop and drink some water.  Of course by this time I was in tears and ready to crumble...I'm finding myself rather frail and easily moved to tears lately.  By the time the OT came Tom was physically shivering and unable to get warm or stop shaking.  She was able to do a little therapy before we loaded him in the car and headed straight to Dr. Zerick's office.  Because Tom had breakfast at 10:30 we didn't get lunch in before therapy so I thought that maybe he was just hungry and needed "refueled".  When entering the doctor's office Tom said he needed to vomit.  We quickly ran into the women's restroom (one thing I've noticed since all this has happened is no "family" handicap restroom is seen too often...what is a women to do with her husband who needs to use the facilities...men's vs women's??)  Thankfully he didn't vomit...close call.  While waiting we decided to eat some pretzels from the vending machine...regret that decision later.  We finally saw Dr. Zerick and he touched Tom's incision and out came the puss.  They took a culture of the drainage (results on Thursday) and decided Tom needs to have the incision opened up to irrigate/clean out the infection.  We are thankful that the surgery will be an out-patient procedure.  He will be put on heavy antibiotic IV while he is having the surgery.  An oral antibiotic has been restarted.  On our way home from the doctor visit Tom made a gesture and a grunt and I knew it wasn't good.  Thankfully my parents (who were with us) had gone to Lowe's to pick up some items I needed and had the bag ready when the vomit flew south.  Unfortunately, the gift card that they used didn't come out with the contents and swam in the murky mess.  Unfortunately, again...the bag had a small hole (I'm thankful it was small) that allowed some of the contents to flow onto our new car and Tom's jacket!  What a scene that was made on the side of the road...the Lord kept us safe as I was able to keep my foot on the break while holding the bag (I didn't have time to put the car in park!).  My dad jumped out of the backseat to come around and help, but the door was locked!  It all got taken care of, we're home, Tom's sleeping (after vomiting again at the bedside), the prescription is picked up, dinner is being delivered AND I even fished the gift card out of the vomit with a glove and some Clorox, it's brand new again!
Is this enough drama for a couple of days?  We think so!
PS - Therapy cancelled for Thursday...filled that slot with out-patient surgery!

"The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed; In his illness, You restore him to health."

Psalm 41:3