![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
at my house
Nov. 4th, 2019 06:48 amIt's about 6:50 am, and kids are stretching, munching cereal, combing hair. A baby fussed for a moment and quieted, probably nursing, Carl is pouring himself some coffee. I let the dog out, Mike fed the cats -- he was the first one to be on his way. Denise is coming down for coffee now. There's too much stuff shoved in the dining room -- a fridge, a twin mattress, chairs all over -- Denise is winding her way through to get to her coffee.
The dog is walking along licking up Capt'n Crunch off the floor. Good girl.
Last week, my dear friend Geriann went in for surgery on her back and 24 hours later she had a seizure and a hemorrhagic stroke. Her daughter Danelle called me when I was finishing up my work week on Friday, and I was able to get off early, pack Chris up in the car, drive to Lansing, drop Chris off and pick up Mike, and drive up to Marquette.
She's ok. The bleed was minor - there's no paralysis, no long term memory loss - there might be some deficits but we won't know for a while. I stayed up for 24 hours, reassured myself and explained things to her kids, and we drove back home.
But I was so afraid. I've always been very cool around injury and death; my reaction surprised me. Danelle thought that it was bad. Geriann was in ICU and though she wasn't intubated, she wasn't responding to anyone. We can't stop a hemorrhagic stroke. I imagined her bleeding and bleeding. I told Danelle that she needed to get with her brother and sister so that they had a plan if things got really bad and they had to make decisions about life support. I told her that medical science was really good at keeping mostly dead people alive for years and years. I told her that I knew her mom wouldn't want that.
We hung up and I lost it. Then I got it back together and the day proceeded.
Today is a day for moving this mattress out of the dining room, finishing up some laundry, sending off Chris' beginning of the month aide paperwork, and checking the budget. Chris and I will leave in the late afternoon, and I work tomorrow. I'll be back home next Friday and probably spend the weekend here doing laundry.
The dog is walking along licking up Capt'n Crunch off the floor. Good girl.
Last week, my dear friend Geriann went in for surgery on her back and 24 hours later she had a seizure and a hemorrhagic stroke. Her daughter Danelle called me when I was finishing up my work week on Friday, and I was able to get off early, pack Chris up in the car, drive to Lansing, drop Chris off and pick up Mike, and drive up to Marquette.
She's ok. The bleed was minor - there's no paralysis, no long term memory loss - there might be some deficits but we won't know for a while. I stayed up for 24 hours, reassured myself and explained things to her kids, and we drove back home.
But I was so afraid. I've always been very cool around injury and death; my reaction surprised me. Danelle thought that it was bad. Geriann was in ICU and though she wasn't intubated, she wasn't responding to anyone. We can't stop a hemorrhagic stroke. I imagined her bleeding and bleeding. I told Danelle that she needed to get with her brother and sister so that they had a plan if things got really bad and they had to make decisions about life support. I told her that medical science was really good at keeping mostly dead people alive for years and years. I told her that I knew her mom wouldn't want that.
We hung up and I lost it. Then I got it back together and the day proceeded.
Today is a day for moving this mattress out of the dining room, finishing up some laundry, sending off Chris' beginning of the month aide paperwork, and checking the budget. Chris and I will leave in the late afternoon, and I work tomorrow. I'll be back home next Friday and probably spend the weekend here doing laundry.
