Sunday, July 1, 2012

Long over due posting!


I can hardly believe it has been over a year since I’ve written for this blog!  So very many things have happened it is hard to know exactly what to start with!  Our lives have changed a great deal since my last post!
My time off the road with Ed extended greatly from what we had initially anticipated.  On Memorial Day weekend my Dad began complaining of some shoulder pain to the extent that he REQUESTED me to take him to the ER (that’s not something that my father would do unless it was really serious).  I loaded Dad in the car and off we went thinking he’d just pulled a muscle in his shoulder.  While we drove he was seemingly fine chatting along with me.  By the time we arrived still not much had changed except he said he was cold.  While I went to check him in I told him to go sit down, by the time I turned from the counter to see if he was ok he was shaking violently. The nurses rushed to him and wrapped him in blankets. He was rushed to a room very quickly and found his temperature was 105 but he was freezing. From that point on things seemed to spiral out of control for what seemed like hours. My sister arrived and finally we were told that he had an infection seeming on X-ray like a pulled muscle but it was in fact a staph infection that was raging out of control.  Dad was admitted into the ICU and after 24 hours of IV antibiotic therapy he had not begun to respond.  He was transferred to Riverside Regional Hospital the following evening.  They told my sister and I that he would need surgery on his shoulder in the clavicle sternum area to remove this infection. We got my mother on the phone with the doctor by our side to give her the news.  Without the surgery he would die, with the surgery they believed he would be fine, she agreed to the surgery and it was scheduled for the following day.  That morning, as my sister and I made our way into the room to see Dad before his scheduled surgery, we found him sitting on the side of his bed eating breakfast.  I thought that was odd after working with a Vet’s office and understanding that you’re not supposed to be able to eat after midnight prior to having any kind of surgery.  I went to the nurses’ station to ask how he could have surgery if he was eating and was told “Oh he can’t have breakfast or any food until after the surgery.” I responded that he had already been given his breakfast and had just finished his tray the nurse seemed taken aback by that tiny bit of info and insisted he could not eat..  The foolishness continued at Riverside the Doctor was furious that my Dad now had to wait until the next day to have his surgery risking his life as the infection raged not to mention his mental condition deteriorated to the point we barely recognized him nor did he recognize us. That night when we prepared to leave we informed the staff that if he got out of hand at all that they should call us and one or both of us would come and stay with him.  They did not contact us, we arrived the next morning to find his room that we’d left him in empty.  Fear turned to anger when we found they’d moved him into a room with a ‘sitter’ (a sitter of maybe 16 years old just to watch him and make sure he didn’t hurt himself).  The details of the ensuing battle with hospital staff are now in the care of the patients’ rights advocate not that it helped. I can say that my dad’s stay in Riverside Regional Medical center on this particular incident was at best the worst show of hospital care and staffing I’ve ever had the misfortune of dealing with!
Finally after 2 more days of delays the doctors decided that surgery was so urgent they would be doing it on Friday evening.  The infectious disease people said that he was slipping fast urgency was impressed on us we agreed to the surgery again.  We’d called our cousin in from DC to be with us, while we waited and the surgery was supposedly being done a surgical tech came to us in the waiting room.  She explained that Dad’s heart rate was dropping fast and that in order to do the surgery they needed us to approve them using only a local like Lidocane!  If they don’t do the procedure to remove the infection he will die, if we do the surgery under just a local he may die still..  Opting for the lesser of the two options we agreed.  The doctor was able to collect all of the infection but Dad’s heart rate was still a big issue.  At last he began to return to somewhat normal still confused and missing large parts of the past week.  He would need IV Antibiotic’s administered daily for 8 weeks.  They wanted to put him in a facility to do this but we refused as my mother’s condition at home was getting worse knowing my parents like I do they certainly would get better faster if they are allowed to be together.  We made a call to Union Baptist Church and Pastor Whitehart.  I have never been witness to so much love and prayer!  The church men rallied to help get Dad to and from his IV appointments daily so that I could stay with Mom who’s health was really going fast.  By the time Dad had finished his injections things seemed like they would calm down.  Mom had become so weak she couldn’t any longer go out and needed someone to stay with her constantly.  The new cancer in her bones was raging, we consulted her doctor and sadly nothing could be done but to keep her comfortable. Hospice was called in we hoped for the best but knew that prayers would be the best for her from this point on.  Grateful and thankful to a loving God who allowed us to keep Mom with us for so long is not enough to say but the best I can manage.   Dad had only been home a few days from yet another round of hospital stays during the summer months of 2011.  Upon his return from the last stay Mom looked at me and said “He’s back he’s going to be just fine now!”  I nodded and told her she would also be fine too.
My sister’s 30 year High School class reunion was scheduled to be held that weekend July 30, 2011 after what seemed to be a debate lasting longer than what should have been necessary she and I decided we would go together.  That evening as my sister and I set about getting ready to go Mom lay in her bed listening to us and watching us.  We’d purchased “tan in a can” (lotion designed to give the appearance of a real tan which ultimately if not applied correctly and allowed to dry will give the appearance of something far from what was originally planned) applied and giggled about what we looked like 30 years ago.  Finally, Mom inspected us and laughed at our antic’s and we were off.  The night was fun and very hot we’d sat around the pool with some great friends for at least an hour talking about old times while we dangled our legs in the pool water.  Not realizing the affect the pool water had on our “canned tans” until the next day when the line at our kneecaps showed our foolishness.
The morning of July 31, 2011 at around 5am I was awakend to the sound of a huge thud and my sister saying that Mom had fallen.  Dad had gone to help Mom to the bathroom as small as she had become he thought he could help her.  She slid through his arms and fell hard.  She’d broken her shoulder or a bone in the shoulder.  The cancer that had been raging in her bones now was spreading through her body rapidly into the blood stream.  We called Hospice to help they had the rescue squad come and help put her back in bed, ordered a hospital bed and told us time was short now.   We decided to make the calls to family and friends and attempt to decide should we call my son home yet.  We should my daughter said as she placed the call.  He would be home within a day or so.  Mom only came back to us briefly that day she was only slightly aware of most of us from that time on but when Dad held her hand she always reacted.
Will got home and was picked up at the airport around 6am Jenn picked him up and arrived back around 9am on August 3, 2011 at 3:15pm my beautiful mother went home to Jesus.  We believe she’d held on until he got there.   A blur of funeral arrangements and plans clouded the next weeks.  Then the blur of figuring out what to do and how to handle house hold issues ensued.  I felt as if I’d never be able to think clearly again for what seemed like weeks.  My Dad is to this day deeply mourning the loss of his wife of 50 years and best friend of more than 54 years.  Our loss of a beautiful mother, wife, sister and best friend has been very difficult but I do take peace in knowing I will see her again!  She’s no longer in pain  no longer weak no longer suffering in anyway she’s gone to be exactly where God wants her to be now.  The sense of loss that we feel is somewhat selfish knowing that she’s no longer here with us but has been granted a place in heaven!
I stayed with Dad for several months after Mom left us and returned to be a ride along with Ed in earnest just after the holidays last year.   Ed, during the time I was involved in helping my parents during the past year, has been very busy! He no longer works for Ready Trucking!  He’s moved on to a bigger company Abilene Motor Express.  Just a few side details here. Nearly 2 years ago Ed and I made the decision to drive OTR (over the road).  We went to school together, me to learn the basics and Ed to get a refresher since he’d not driven for nearly 10 years.  I graduated in January of 2010 Ed got his refresher done  earlier and went to work for Ready Trucking with the promise that in time he’d be able to train me as his team mate.  All of the other companies we’d talked to had given various answers to the request ranging from; “We’ll we will put her in one of our trainer trucks with a trainer of our choosing” to “Oh, sure you can train her after you’ve driven with us for 2 years” and many other offers none of which suited us.  Just before I had begun the extended visit with my parents we’d gone to apply for jobs at Abilene Motor Express. I was a no go not going to happen not ever would they hire a trainee, Ed well he didn’t have 2 years current experience so neither of us where hired.  Just 2 weeks later after a huge shake up at Ready, Ed was told to go back to Abilene and try again for a job for him, and he did and was offered a job on the spot! Thrilled, Ed began working within 2 weeks and not just east coast but all over the country what we’d been looking to do for so long.   Ed and I had prayed about the situation over and over again and decided that when God was ready for me to drive he would indeed open the doors that needed to open.  I do believe that God had me at the place I was in life at just the right time when I was needed the most. I do NOT regret the time I was able to be with my parents at all.  I will always treasure the time we had together before Mom left us.
Other things happened during my time off the road with Ed.  My son and his high school sweetheart finally got married in January 2012! All too soon though, my son would ship off to Afghanistan with his squadron in the Marine Corps.  With that marriage I was finally given the granddaughter, Peyton, I’d been trying to talk my daughter Jenn and her husband into having!  (See God does answer prayers in his own way) Jenn and Zach had become pregnant though rush of excitement!  I’m super pleased and happy and thrilled and all those great adjectives to announce the birth of our third grandchild Zachary Todd Wood Jr. Born June 19th!  He’s absolutely awesome just like his parents and big brother.
As I said earlier I returned to riding along with Ed just after the Christmas Holidays this past year and had been happy to travel the country as a passenger but began getting a tad flustered that I had not been able to use the training I’d gotten to drive!  Again, God answers prayers and knows the plans he has for us!  In late March we got a message on the QUALCOM from Abilene that they would be interested in any drivers willing to be trainers for new hires and new trainees!  We could hardly contain ourselves to get back to the yard and have me apply!  That day we walked in handed in my application and within 10 minutes I was off to get a physical and plan when I could start orientation!  By mid-April I was not only a trainee at Abilene but Ed and I had been given a brand new 2012 Volvo with 256 miles on it!  With a rush of excitement we took our first assignment to Oregon.  I won’t say the first trip out was textbook but I certainly didn’t hit anyone or ding the truck.   When we arrived in Oregon Ed called dispatch to explain that my son who was stationed in California was to be deployed in a few days was it possible for us to get a load south so that we could see him before he deployed.  Within 15 minutes loads had be organized after a quick trip back to Nebraska we headed to southern California.  We got within 100 miles, give or take, to Will called dispatch to find out the next move.  We were shocked to hear them say just go don’t worry about the miles just go call us when you are ready to get another load.  In today’s world of trucking that’s totally unheard of!! That’s how companies build employee loyalty!  We spent the entire day with our son, after driving a huge rig onto a military base; (of course Ed carry’s his military ID and we both have TWIC cards which helped) we toured the base in the tractor and totally enjoyed the time we had with him.
That brings us close to current day we’ve put nearly 60,000 miles on this truck already!  It is very comfortable we’ve decided.  It does everything but kiss us good night (Maybe we haven’t found that button on the control panel yet?) It’s fully automatic right down to temperature controlled cabin cruise control with Jake brake on the column a simple push button and the cruise control engages the jake brake.  No gears to grind fully automatic gears!  We even have massage at the push of a button in both passenger and driver seats.  Even Tara is happy about this truck.
Since I’ve brought us up to our current status I’ll close for today.  I hope to begin writing more frequently now so keep checking back!
God Bless
Pam and Ed