Under The Chocolate Milky Way: Uncertainty

It's the middle of the night and I can't sleep. This has been a hard, hard week. It started out on Monday with a phone call from my Mom. "Your Dad fell and he can't get up". "Is he conscious?" I asked. "He was talking a little bit ago." she replied. This began our hard week.

Kevin drove a very confused Dad to the hospital Emergency Department. After a CT scan confirmed that he had not injured his head, he was admitted for Sepsis. Dad had just begun treatment for another UTI but it had escalated quickly into Sepsis. For the first time, my "sharp as a tack" Dad was confused and had developed Delirium. Due to Covid protocols he could only have one visitor per day. I sat with him on Tuesday. He seemed to be lucid at times but, he couldn't remember simple things like the town he has lived in for 85 years. I was informed that this was common with UTI's at his age and that he may not regain his memory. I was devastated and due to Covid, alone. More days of confusion followed.

Thursday, I went to see a Retina Specialist. Within a few moments I was diagnosed with a rare disease called Acute Macular Neuroretinopathy. What the Ophthalmologist could not explain over 3 visits, a specialist diagnosed in minutes. He told me that this was the best diagnosis of all of the possible diagnosis it could have been. I had more tests, including a test to check the arteries in my eye and told that if I don't hear from them the results were good. My next appointment is scheduled for 3 months. I am to chart my vision loss every other day to make sure it doesn't get worse. My vision (with glasses) is 20/20; however, there is a blind spot in my left eye. Thankfully, the loss is not in my dominant eye and with both eyes open, the other eye is compensating for the loss.

This is how I am supposed to chart my vision loss:

The blue blob represents where I have lost vision in my left eye.

Back to Dad. He was taken to a rehab center to continue treatment for his infection and receive therapy for his cognitive loss. According to the therapists on his first day (today), he is doing really well and his cognition has returned. I have no idea if that is the correct way to say it but, Dad is back to being Dad. They plan to keep him for a week until he finishes his UTI meds. I spoke with him on the phone and finally was able to breathe a sigh of relief. That was until an hour later. As I was on the phone with my brother, he got a call, my cell phone got a call and mom's phone got a call from the rehab center. It was a robocall saying that a staff member had tested positive for Covid-19 for the first time since July. My heart sank. Dad had mentioned to me on the phone that the workers would just come right up to you coughing. I didn't think too much about it at the time. Now, it terrifies me.

I've been knocked off of my feet, again. I was already drained physically and mentally. Now, I'm a little bit devastated. I'm going to have to give this to God and trust Him. He loves my Daddy even more than I do. I didn't tell my Mom; she would never make it through this time if she found out.

I don't know how this will play out but I do know that God is in control.

I also received some hard news this week that my sweet friend and most loyal blog reader, Lorraine, had a stroke. I am heartbroken but praying that she will have a full recovery and be better than ever in the near future.

A few good things:

Daniel went as a hamster for Halloween. This is year 3 for the hamster costume I paid to have expedited from China. Money well spent.