The Week In Review

It's been a week of ups and downs. That's fine if you like roller coasters. Me, not so much.

Monday we were awaken at 5:35 am to the police at my front door. Apparently, they'd received an "anonymous" call stating that there was furniture being moved around in my house and the sounds of a domestic disturbance. Both my son E and I were asleep and there was absolutely no sound coming from my home. I had to explain that my neighbor continuously accuses me falsely of making noises when in fact he is the one making all the noise. Thankfully, one of the officers has come on several occasions whenever my neighbor has called, and said the complaints have been determined to be unfounded. Nevertheless it was unnerving, especially considering what was coming up later that day. 

My son E had his dental appointment to remove his wisdom teeth that afternoon at 2:00. I am so incredibly thankful for the group of women in my Bible study class who prayed for my son's surgery. Everything went well, and while he was in a tremendous amount of pain that first day, it has lessened to the point where he is no longer in any pain. There is still some swelling inside his mouth which prevents him from chewing anything too hard, but he is able to eat. Good thing too - the medicines he is on (antibiotics and anti-inflammatory) make him sick to his stomach if he doesn't have any food in his system.

Sadly, just before we left for the dentist, I received a frantic call from my ex-husband J. His mother is dying. Back in October, J's brother succumbed to a brain tumor that was first detected in December of last year. Surgery, chemo, radiation, all tried but none worked.  He was a month shy of his 49th birthday. It was an extremely painful time for the family, but none suffered more than his mother. She had been told just a couple of months before that her kidneys were starting to fail (she is diabetic) and she would have to start dialysis. She refused. Her children begged her to reconsider, but she said if her son died she wanted to die as well. I believe that, having lost her husband in September of last year and finding out her son was dying of cancer, while her daughter had a double mastectomy in July, was too much for her and she was suffering from severe depression. At 77, her body can only take so much. Late last week she was vomiting and couldn't hold any food down. Her oldest daughter took her to the doctor, who told them her liver was only working at about 4% and she needed to go to the emergency room. Once in the hospital she was put on dialysis, but within a couple of days she suffered two strokes and a mini heart attack. As of today she is on a respirator, her vitals are stable but she is in a coma, and doctors don't know how much brain damage she's suffered or if there is any brain activity at all. She has been completely unresponsive since the strokes. The family is devastated. It's easy to say that the cause is her kidneys or the diabetes or the strokes or heart attack, but I believe she is dying of a broken heart. It has broken my own heart; no one can understand her pain unless they've experienced it themselves. We are all praying for a miracle, or for the Lord to take her away from her suffering. 

I did some more Christmas shopping on Friday, just last minute items and stocking stuffers. I was happy to go out. My neighbor left his tv set blasting from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm in his bedroom (which is directly below my master bedroom). While it's easy enough for me to close the bedroom door and not have to listen to it, I knew it would be the prelude to more harassment. I was right.

Saturday he got up at 10:30 am and began randomly punching the walls. I ignored it. Then around noon, he began blasting the tv set in his bedroom again while punching the walls. I was able to record him on my phone, then I called the police. My son needed to take his math test and he needed a quiet room to take the test in. My bedroom usually fits the bill, but with all that racket it was impossible. The police came, heard the noise and the recording, then tried to talk to him. Again he blamed me, said I was the one making all the noise, then told them I'm attacking him because he's Jewish. I had no idea he was Jewish. The man has a life size Buddha outside his front door; why would I think he was Jewish? Even his last name isn't Jewish. Once again, the Lord opened the eyes of the police and the sergeant recognized that the man is suffering from mental illness. He told me they would be investigating him to see why there are so many reports and complaints against him.

I'm so thankful for the gift my son R gave me for my birthday.

Monday morning I installed the Ring video doorbell beside my front door. It's been working like a charm. It allows me to see what is going on without having to run downstairs which is a huge blessing. 

And that brings us to today. We got home just a little while ago from having lunch with my daughter and son-in-law. They took me out today because tomorrow is my birthday. I didn't want my daughter to rush home from work to take me out to dinner, so instead we went out today. We had a lovely and pleasant afternoon walking around the mall after lunch and enjoying the gorgeous weather that December brings to South Florida. I am thankful that the Lord has seen fit to grant me another year with my loved ones. I pray that this next year I can live even more for Him, glorifying the Savior for all that He has done.

Have a blessed week y'all!

Week in Review - It's Been A Difficult Week

I've wanted to post a few times this week, but time kept getting away from me.  How I would love a day when I can do absolutely nothing.  Just sit around watching TV, which I haven't done in awhile.  Some days I miss that.

Molly is scheduled for her surgery tomorrow.  She has been getting steadily worse this week, though you wouldn't know it from her demeanor.  She is still as loving and affectionate as ever, even if she doesn't have the same amount of energy or spunk.

The surgery can't come soon enough.  The tumor on her belly appears infected, and I mean badly infected.  It oozes, and has turned dark, almost green, and it smells awful.  I discussed with my daughter today that I'm concerned it might become gangrenous, which would be devastating.  Even if she comes out of the surgery well, which of course is our hope, there is no guarantee we will have her with us for very long.  We are both convinced this is a cancerous tumor, and more than likely it has spread, though we don't know to what extent.  We have to wait for the surgery, then make a decision as to her future.  It's not something any of us is looking forward to.

My son E had a very busy school week.  He had an English paper and presentation to finish and send in.  He started quadratic formulas in algebra which were complicated to learn.  There was a science quiz and a review portfolio which he just finished today.  Music history is usually just reading, but this week he had a review and critical thinking paper, class discussion, and lab to complete.  Usually he doesn't have to work on the weekends, but this time he worked both yesterday and today, with a Hope assignment still not completed - it should be done by tomorrow.  There's about 8 weeks of school left so of course it gets hectic as we approach the final stretch.

Work was also really busy this week.  Many of the students we tutor took their ACT exams this weekend, so they're done with tutoring.  New students that have been on a waiting list are now starting this week, which meant lots of paperwork had to be completed.  As busy as we were, I had to help with tutoring a few kids.  Two of our teachers were sick - one had kidney surgery and the other had a kidney infection, so both were in the hospital at the same time.  MM arranged their students as best she could, but there simply weren't enough teachers to go around, so I was assigned homework help students.  Since they were all elementary school age it wasn't a problem, but I felt like I would never get my work done.  Thankfully everything fell into place and I think we're back on track, but I have to say it was pretty stressful.

Then Friday, my "day off", started off at 6:00am.  I went to bible study where we finished studying the book Daniel by Beth Moore.  It was such a great study that I'm actually sorry it's over!  Afterwards I came home to do schoolwork with my son, make lunch, then take him to the doctor.  He has a rash on his left hand, a very itchy rash.  When it first appeared I thought it was ant bites.  As more bumps appeared in clusters, I thought it was similar to what he'd had on his eye, so I had him put on the cream they'd given him for his hand.  It did nothing.  It kind of looked like eczema, which he's had before, so I got him eczema cream.  It got worse.  The skin around his thumb was cracking, and it was very painful.  So I took him to his regular doctor, who believes this is a fungus based on the fact that it's only on his hand and the hydrocortisone made it worse.  He prescribed a cream, and antibiotics because of the cracked skin.  I'm keeping an eye on it; it seems better, but if I don't see enough improvement by Tuesday I'm gonna have to take him to see a dermatologist.

As exhausting as my week had been, I was looking forward to cleaning my home on Saturday and then relaxing.  That wasn't meant to be.  My kid's father showed up after two weeks of not seeing or calling any of his children.  He put on a show of concern for E's hand, and suggested yet again that we get rid of Molly because he blames her for E's allergies and anything else that happens to him.  He actually asked if any of us could catch what Molly has.  Since when is cancer contagious?  He finally left without E, because he didn't think E should go out with his hand looking the way it did.  Meanwhile, once again, I was left feeling angry and resentful and bitter, which I absolutely hate feeling, but he brings out the worst in me.  It is so frustrating that he acts like he's so concerned about his kids, then he disappears for a week or two.  It took several hours before I was able to calm down - that, and a trip to Target ;-).  I looked through the tops for clearance items, and found 3 tank tops and a v-neck, each under $10.  I don't usually recommend retail therapy, but I needed to get out of my house and focus on something else.

This week our Sunday school class was challenged to learn Psalm 23 by hard.  And let me tell you, it was hard!  I know bits and pieces of it, but I've never learned it straight through.  For some crazy reason, I thought I'd learn it in the King James Version.  It sounds so beautiful with all the thee's and thou's, but honestly, what was I thinking?!  I actually made it harder on myself.  I was relieved to find out everyone else had a hard time learning it as well ;-).  We are gonna continue working on it this week.  I printed it and put it up on my fridge to help me remember it.

That's my recap for the week.  It has been rough, and I don't think the coming week will be much easier, especially with Molly recovering from surgery.  If you think of her during the day, please say a prayer for our puppy.  We love her dearly, and just want to see her get better.  Thanks y'all.  Goodnight, and God bless.