MAKING A TURN

Lots of things happening.

Yesterday afternoon the ICU Ward was serenaded by the Oregon Symphony – such beautiful music! What a privilege :-) They played 3 sets before moving onto other hospital floors:

video of the Oregon Symphony

Late afternoon the surgeon team made it in to talk to us and I didn’t let them go before drilling them for straight answers. They took my 3^rd degree pretty well and answered me directly. So what I heard was … Drs. Gilbert & Morgan say that for the moment they have done all they can do for Hubs until the cysts ‘rind’ over enough to safely be drained. Right now the imaging shows that the cysts are located “in a bad place” (we have seen the imaging taken after the canceled procedure and agree) and that will make working on them very difficult at any time, so they want to be sure that the procedure proceeds as safely as possible when it can finally get under way: Wednesday was hard on all of us, and we want to make the next attempt successful.

So.

New plan is that Hubs will be released from OHSU Monday – or Tuesday – to be transported back to Longview to a Nursing Home Facility for a temporary rooming solution where he will undergo intensive physical therapy and continue tube feeding. Since the goal is to get him home as soon as possible, he will still be on the tube at home for a period of time; so I will be instructed on how to administer him his feedings using the tube. That’s a little scary because his nose is so tender already and I don’t want to hurt him any further. Plus the tube will need occasional deep cleaning, so I will be shown how to do that too. The tube will stay in until he can drink and keep down a 2000 calorie liquid drink without getting nauseous and vomiting it back up. At the rate things are moving forward (a snail’s pace) that will take some time.

In the meantime, cyst imaging will be revisited in 3 weeks’ time, and since Hubs will be an outpatient this coming week, he will need to be making frequent trips back and forth to OHSU from Longview; probably by OHSU Shuttle if his feet and legs are still swollen like the Michelin Tire Man …

MICHELIN TIRE MAN

… or if his feet and legs seriously counter back the serious edema caused by excess water in his body and get back to walking order, I will be driving him back and forth via Hyw. #30, switching to the 405 overpass and on to the Terwilliger/OHSU junction. I loathe Portland traffic but I WILL learn to do this drive because Hubs is depending on me to ‘man up’ and get him from A to B without hysterical road drama.

This little jaunt from our home in Washington State over the Rainier Bridge and down the Oregon side to OHSU will be a precursor of things to come because I made an executive decision earlier this afternoon and decided to move us to Oregon sometime in 2019; not sure when as that will depend on what we can find affordable and how soon we can find it/secure it. But all indicators are that Hubs will be a long-term outpatient of OHSU and OHSU is in Oregon … driving 1-1/2 hours several times a week or even several times a months does not make financial sense when living on a limited income. Selling the house and moving closer within a short driving range makes more sense. Our lives took a drastic turn in August and it will never be the same again: we simply cannot make where we currently live work for our new reality – for lots of reasons, and it is time now to rationally look forward and make adjustments. Hence the “executive decision”, and this time the contemplation of moving to Portland will be going through because it really is the only thing that makes sense financially; plus Hubs will be extremely tired being shifted back and forth on 1-1/2 hour drives: his health is not what it was before all hell broke loose in August. Things have changed, and we must change to keep pace with harmony and balance to walk in beauty. So while getting a crash course in city driving was not something I ever wanted to do, circumstances have thrust me into the thick of it and I need to buckle up and just DO it. I did half the shift driving to get us across the USA a year ago, for Pete’s sake! I should be able to get us across Portland, right? We’ll see. Portland, OR drivers are the worst road rage drivers on the West Coast – just thinking about joining their ranks makes me jumpy already.

ROAD RAGE – Goofy in Disney’s 1950 ‘Freeway Phobia’

I started this striped garter stitch Baby Blanket in ICU last week, and have turned a corner this afternoon, working now on the downturn diagonal and hoping to complete it before this time next week:

MOD Striped Baby Blanket. Pattern will be posted when completed.

There have been many corners turned the past few days. I am optimistic that they will all lead to a happy ending. While Hub’s current situation is not a joyous one, we do believe that it CAN BRING joy into our lives if we allow Elohei a free hand in our lives to bring about His Will in our lives.