It has actually been slightly more than 15 months since my last post, which was a chronicle of three weeks of sheer insanity that we had been dealing with at that time. I commented that I hoped it was time to move out of Crazyville and back to our regularly scheduled chaos. Unfortunately, nothing remotely resembling that has happened so far. We did attend the wedding of our friends on the first of June, which was a lovely time of celebration prior to the craziness ramping up yet another notch.
The first full week in June, my mother-in-law had a bilateral knee replacement, which entailed multiple long trips to out-of-town doctor appointments and pre-op procedures, and finally the long day of the surgery itself. After several days she was released from the big hospital to the hospital in Staunton for rehab before finally returning home late in June. At that time I thought that things should SURELY calm down since she seemed well on the mend.
But alas, it was not to be. As she slowly recovered from the knee surgery, other issues began to appear, resulting in more doctor appointments, diagnostic procedures, assorted treatments, and finally exploratory surgery in September which brought a devastating diagnosis: cancer. Sadly the chemo that was recommended for her particular cancer was ineffective and she died in October.
After the funeral we were faced with the reality that my father-in-law, at 94, was really unable to care for himself at home alone, but he stubbornly refused to consider any out-of-home living arrangement, and didn't want anyone but family coming in to help him. After several falls, we coerced him to get a LifeLine button, and eventually convinced him that he shouldn't remove it under any circumstances (only after several instances of having fallen without the button in place and lying on the floor unable to get up until someone came to check on him). There were (mis)adventures in driving, culminating with a totaled car but thankfully no injuries to himself or anyone else. Finally, when we reached the point where it took two of us to deal with him after a fall, we had no choice but to place him in a nursing home whether he wanted it or not.
Meanwhile, my parents were having their own issues. In late July my dad had fallen in the pasture and injured his hip but insisted on still traveling to Vegas to meet my sister and go ziplining. They were unable to do that because the zipline was closed for renovation, but he ended up in the ER in Vegas with hip pain which was diagnosed as a severe contusion. He returned home using a walker with instructions to rest until the pain was relieved. Over the next several months, he saw a couple more doctors who reiterated the original diagnosis. He continued to use the walker and only got around with great difficulty. At one point we borrowed a wheelchair to get him around at the large holiday gatherings. Finally in January a new doctor sent him for another x-ray and it was discovered that his hip was indeed broken. After the hip repair surgery he recovered quickly and is now getting around better than he has in some time, despite the fact that he still struggles with Parkinson's disease.
My mom's dementia continues to progress, and we've taken her to several medical appointments as well, although there is really no effective treatment for her, and we continue to struggle with keeping her well and safe. She no longer really remembers how to knit, although she keeps talking about trying again. It's very sad and stressful to watch her slowly disappearing before our eyes.
We are so thankful that my grandson has totally recovered from his bike accident and continues to amaze us and keep us on our toes. This summer he competed in the Litchfield version of American Idol, and although he didn't win a prize we were incredibly proud of his performance. He started the fourth grade a couple of weeks ago and is a wonderful bright young man.
My childcare adventures have increased as Bitty Girl is now two years old and the proud older sister of Teeny Beanie, born in May. We also are blessed to care for Little Buddy, who will be a year old in just three short weeks. There are days when I'm kind of outnumbered, and days when I'm SERIOUSLY outnumbered, but these precious little ones also bring joy, delight, and lots of laughter to our home.
And, the obvious question (this IS a knitting blog, after all!): YES, I'm still knitting! That's really the only thing that has helped maintain my sanity these last several crazy mixed-up months. In late December we traveled to visit my youngest son and his girlfriend in Arizona and I came back with a pile of projects:
If you're still reading at the end of this novel, stay tuned for actual knitting content coming soon. I no longer have expectations that my life is going to calm down soon, so I'm just going to have to learn to deal with it and try to keep up.
