Part 8 ~ Home at Last!: More Provision!
July 2016
It was so nice to be home. The couch became mine, as it was where I sat during the day and where I slept at night, at least for the first week or so til I could get in and out of bed without any help. We bought that couch in February. We had been looking for a new living room set for a while as we started hating our old couch. It was no longer comfy to us and the cushions just no longer held their shape. We checked out several furniture stores looking for a good deal and kept coming back to this set. The night we went to buy it was a Friends & Family sale and we were sold! Little did I know then how important that couch would become to me!
During this time we had 2 fur babies. Sasha, a Cairn Terrier (think Toto from The Wizard of Oz), and Jenny, a wire-haired Jack Russel Terrier. Jenny was, and still is, my shadow! She had been wondering where I was for so long! She wanted to get to me in the worst way! I padded myself with all available pillows to protect my incision and she got to come snuggle with me! She was so excited! We had some special time together each day!
I was sent home with meds that I needed to take including those for pain, Lovenox injections to prevent blood clots, etc. The Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) came twice a week for several weeks to check my vitals and change my wound vac. I dreaded it each time. Just having the tape removed was painful. I cried before, during and after some of those visits. The nurses were as gentle as could be, but it still hurt. After a visit or two we found ways to make it less traumatic like loosening the tape myself and them not always having to remove it, but being able to cut right around the top edge of the sponge and then taping over the existing tape every other time.
My s-i-l, Jen, was bringing my mom, Charlotte, over for a visit after the first time they came to change it. (In case you were wondering why you haven’t heard about my mom up to this point – she does not drive, but she is my biggest prayer warrior!) I was sitting on the couch and all of a sudden, I looked and saw bright red in the clear tubing of the wound vac. Mary and I were unsure if this was normal or not as we had not seen this output. After speaking with the doctor’s office, we decided to call an ambulance (my 1st ride!). The ER doctors said everything was fine and that it was normal!
A couple days later at the office of Drs. L. & M., we found out that my cancer was Stage 4. I was devastated! I felt like I had just been given a death sentence. All I knew is that I had always heard of Stage 4 as the end with not much likelihood of a cure.
On a lighter note, Mary, a former EMT, had been taking care of Bean and the household duties while I was in the hospital. She stayed on after I was home as well. She took Bean to swim lessons and did other fun things with her and took care of me. She made sure I had all of my medicines and kept me fed, hydrated and comfortable. She encouraged me to get up and walk when I didn’t want to. She emptied my drain. She did all the not so fun things. She returned home each Friday to see Kert and their doggy and hopefully relax as best she could. And then would return Sunday night and start all over again, all so Kris would be able to keep working.
The company that Kris worked for was outstanding during this time. They counted some of his time as sick time so he wouldn’t lose vacation days. They let him come in late or leave early and were very flexible with his schedule if he needed to be with me for any appointments. They even let him borrow a company laptop so he could work from home. They sent me flowers several times as well!
Over the next few weeks, friends came to visit and brought meals. It was nice to hear about how they were doing and what was going on outside of my house. I couldn’t really go anywhere with the wound vac as I had to be plugged in.
I love God’s provision. He sees needs we can’t even anticipate, and He meets them. He met my need for a comfy place to sleep and spend my recovery, my need for visits from friends and to be loved on by them with their offerings of tasty meals and gifts of items to keep me comfortable (comfy slippers, socks, and personal care items) and to help me spend my time (books, magazines, puzzles, fun pens, a yarn bowl!), for a live-in caregiver, and people to watch my child and furbabies. Our Heavenly Father gives us good gifts! All the time! And it doesn’t even have to be our birthday! How wonderful is that?!
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