We are on Day 17 of Dad not being able to walk. Please keep him in your prayers. During Hurricane Ian his power went out so he went outside to start his generator when he tripped over some sandbags and injured his already fragile knees. Since then his legs and feet ballooned up with swelling and he has been in severe pain. He is staying at my Sister's house and has been laying on a recliner for over 2 weeks. Moving him is a pretty big challenge so he uses a portable urinal to minimize trips to the bathroom (he is on lasix). We have taken him to the ER, to doctor's appointments, and to get a CT scan. His doctor thinks he will be able to get a knee replacement in the next 4 weeks. That's a short time in the surgery scheduling world, but an agonizingly long time in the enduring pain & immobility world. It's all complicated by his kidney disease and heart disease because he is so limited on the types of pain medicine he is able to take and some meds like a cortisone shot would actually cause a couple month delay for the surgery. On top of the current knee issues he still has his other health challenges that I just mentioned that still require regular doctor's appointments and daily attention. So except for going to the bathroom or doctor's appointments he stays in a very comfortable recliner at Traci & Dave's house all day & night. He probably averages 20 hours a day in the recliner and we all take turns caring for him (helping him eat, drink, take his meds, empty his urinals, scheduling doctors appointments, change his clothes, shave him, move him to his rolling walker, showers, etc, etc). Traci & Dave did an amazing job while Carson & I were in TN. Now we are back and have been able to help for the past week. Laurie is a big help as usual, and his neighbors Tom & Cindy continue to be incredibly helpful. Mom is in a fantastic longterm memory facility called Seasons that is taking great care of her, except she continues to fall out of her wheelchair every few days and sometimes it requires her to go to the ER. Seasons isn't a skilled nursing facility so nursing isn't their specialty, but they pour out tons of love, enthusiasm, and nonstop activities for the residents so Mom's mental & emotional needs are being well cared for. In fact, to our pleasant surprise she loves it there... especially since they give her ice cream almost daily haha. We went about 2 months when we didn't have a medical crisis, and it was a very welcome reprieve as my Sister and I hit rock bottom back around May. We are beyond exhausted much of the time. I was very surprised how resilient I was during that 2 month reprieve. I thought it would take me years to recover. To my surprise I was bouncing back to more of my normal self and energy level in a matter of days. I'm very thankful to God for that. The amount of things and correspondence that I'm way behind on is very discouraging. Thankfully, to God's glory, we are still able to run group adventures at a very high caliber. But then after each event is done the wheels usually fall off for the rest of my life responsibilities (except for those 2 glorious months of no crisis in Aug & Sept haha!). We pretty much stay in a constant race... running from urgent need to the next urgent need. Now we will have to fit taking care of our Dad's house into the equation. I'm at my Sister's house for a week taking care of Dad while Traci, Dave, & Carson have a rare and overly deserved family vacation. As I mentioned they carried the whole load while I was in TN for a week running an event. We are tag teaming this. Laurie has rotated over to my house to take care of the animals and house sit for me. And Dad's neighbors are keeping an eye on his house. A total team effort. The only very big thing falling through the cracks now is visits to our Mom. Anyways, there are many things that we greatly appreciate your prayers for. My sincerest apologies to people I'm way behind on with text messages, phone calls, etc, etc. We are currently on our next family adventure :)
.
