Our rough weekend has grown into a downright rotten week, particularly for my Mom’s family. I had something cool for a WFMW post, but I have completely forgotten it. I got the groceries purchased, but haven’t gotten around to doing any cooking today. Here’s what’s up with us.
{Required background info for non-family members: My mother is the youngest of 12 siblings and grew up in Mississippi. I grew up in Florida and only saw my aunts and uncles once a year at most. Some of them I saw only every few years during my childhood. I was closest to my Aunt A and Aunt D, two of the aunts my mom was closest to. My aunt D died when I was in college and my Aunt A (just a few years older than my mom) died about 10 years ago (can it really be that long!). My mom is also pretty close to Aunt C who is the oldest sister and is old enough to be my grandmother (she has kids older than my mom) and Uncle B who is closest to her in age. They both still live in Mississippi. The other aunts and uncles who are still alive are scattered through Texas, Mississippi, and Florida, I think. Confusing? Yes, but that’s my family.}
A couple of weeks ago, my mom told me that my Aunt J was in the hospital and had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She lived in Texas. After hospital discharge, she was going home with hospice care. Aunt J was one of my older aunts; my mom had actually grown up with Aunt J’s daughters. Last week, my parents drove from Florida to Mississippi, picked up Uncle B and Aunt S (his wife), and drove to Texas to visit Aunt J.
On Friday afternoon as Mr. Math Tutor was getting ready to take me to the clinic for treatment for my migraine from H*LL, my dad called to tell us that Uncle B had been taken to the Emergency Department (in Texas) for chest pain. Saturday morning, they had determined that he had had a heart attack, so they did a heart catheterization with the hope of doing an angioplasty (balloon treatment) or stent placement. They found, though, that his heart disease was quite severe and that he needed to have bypass surgery. Unfortunately, it had to be done in Texas, not closer to home.
Sunday and Monday were rather uneventful except for the generally high stress level among the family. In addition to the whole waiting thing, my mom was trying to sort out her work situation in Florida and my dad was trying to make funeral arrangements for my Aunt J for a Mississippi funeral even though she was living in Texas (and had not passed).
Tuesday morning, Uncle B went into surgery around 9am or so. My mom called around 10 to tell me that Aunt J passed at about 8 am. They did not know before Uncle B went in to surgery.
Early in the afternoon, Mom called again. Uncle B was still in surgery, but had had a very rocky beginning to surgery. He had coded even before they started and they had had trouble getting him on to bypass. They got the surgery done eventually, but with definite concerns. Uncle B is now in the hospital on lots of drips and specialized care (which I won’t even try to elaborate and I’m sure changes regularly anyway). He had an episode of a bad rhythm last night, so the family stayed in the hospital most of the night.
Things here are pretty stressful, too. We can’t really do anything from here. Going to Texas wouldn’t really benefit anyone. We pray a lot. Even more than usual. So, we pray and pray and pray some more.
My purpose in writing this is partly cathartics, but largely to request that you join my family in praying for my Uncle B’s recovery and my family’s peace. Thank God that Uncle B is a believer and pray that those who around the family are positively impacted even in the middle of crisis. We cannot see God’s hand right now, but we know that He has a plan.
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