Work life runs into real life.

We went out to dinner last night with my parents and Brian's parents. I have been hearing about my father in law George's condition. He has these delusions for lack of better things to call it. I hadn't seen one until last night.
George and Kathleen were sitting at the bar at the resturant when we got there. Brian sat down and ordered a drink with his father for a moment. Brian told me later that his father asked him how Emily and the nephews were holding up. Brian questioned this and the conversation went to the delsusion that Brian and his brother in law John were kidnapped by the mafia and beat up. Brian assured his father that it didn't happen.
After dinner we went out for ice cream. Moments after my parents left, George became frantic that he needed to give my father money. At first I was thinking that he was just offering my father money for the ice cream, but no, he thought that my father needed money to set up the office we were supposedly building in our garage.
Once my in laws got home, the phone started ringing. My father in law wanted to call my father, to make sure that he understood that he was going to get his money and wouldn't be mad at George. It took a lot of convincing to get my father in law to understand that my father didn't ask for or need the money.
We aren't sure what is going on with George. One set of doctor's are convinced it's med related. One set think's it's something else. I think that George either has a progressive neurological disorder or that he's not getting enough oxygen through his corotid arteries to his brain. But he was due to have his corotids checked in May and no one will move it up. He's supposed to see a psychiatrist. My mother in law and sisters in law have come up with one. This guy screens his clients over the phone. You have to give the information to the office staff and then he calls you back. We are still waiting for that call. It's been 2 weeks.
I told Kathleen to call someone else.
This, of course, puts me in a funny position. I love George and I think that he needs a lot of help right now. But in the fashion that I have become used to, George is in denial that there is anything wrong and Kathleen can only do so much.
I get frustated when they call me to vent, to ask for advice, etc and I don't really feel like there is much being done. I would love nothing more than to walk into the house, grab the phone and not stop until there were appointments and answers.
The hardest thing is to try and keep the kids isolated from this. There is no way to explain this to them and they know something is going on. It's really hard. If mean, if he had a differnt kind of illness, like when his heart was bad, it was easier to to explain. Pop-pops heart is sick. But this is harder.
But on a lighter note, Emily spent the night before last at my parents. E-pa can't resist the puppy dog face. So, Saturday morning Em was sitting on my mother's bed, watching a movie, while my mother was sewing a jacket for Em. She was using the same fabric as on the pillow case on Em's pillow. Em went in to see what Nana was doing and when she saw the jacket had to ask if Nana had cut up her pillow. Mean while, Em had been sitting on her pillow on the bed.
Emily, a few weeks ago, at my mother's was telling mom and I about this pretend dog she had. A pink poodle named Schoonmaker ( the last name of my sister in law). When I was in Em's room a day or so later, I found in her pile of animals that she had a pink poodle. So, Schoonmaker exists. ANd has gone everywhere with us. And according to Em, it's really a whiney dog. She crys all the time and wants lots of attention.

Vacation.... yeah right

It's been a long time since I've written. No, I haven't been on vacation. I've been working, sleeping, driving back and forth to Albany all for the doctor to tell me that Emily is getting worse. Well, DUH! Plus, my baby sitter quit on me last week.
Plus there is this whole thing with Brian's father and his delusions. Brian's sister called us last night to tell me that Brian needed to call his father. Even though we had talked to George earlier in the day, he was convinced that his son and oldest son in law were being held hostage by the mafia. It's getting to the point that we are waiting for him to just loose it all together.
I was on the phone a few days ago with my mother and I got the sad extended family news. My thoughts and prayers are with the Clist family and their various extenstions with the passing of Mary Clist.
I can remember back to the Christmas' before the Clist's moved to AZ. We had Christmas dinner at Chris and Mark's in Saugerties. I remember Grandma Clist and Grammy Pollard (sorry if I killed her last name) coming down from Cobleskill. They treated my sister and I as part of the family, like their own granddaughters. I only remember going up to the house in Cobleskill once.
Grandma Clist even had a soft spot in her big heart for Emily.
I will miss her too.

Emily's been drinking

With everything that recently happened with Emily, there is a bit of silliness in it. We ahd to give her a rectal dose of valium. If anyone has ever taken it, the main point is to make you sleepy. But she fights medications that make her sleepy. So, when she got the dose, she couldn't stand, walk or even feed herself, she was so off.
Today wasn't any better. She kept falling down. She couldn't even manage to stand still, without falling over.
She reminded me of the drunk monkey from Dr. Dolittle (the Eddie Murphy version).
The down side is that the medication she is on makes her bruise really easily. So, of course she looks like she was beaten.
But, if she was home with Daddy all day, she got treated like the princess she is. He took her to this new resturant that came to the mall, Wild Buffalo Wings or something like that. She came home with tattoos, a buffalo princess crown and who knows what else. She brought her baby doll with her and the resturant catered to her doll too. Bitty baby got a buffalo princess crown too.
EMily is also in the middle of being punished. She loves gum. Especially the adult ones like Trident, Doublemint, Extra.... She will go through a big pack a week. But right now she's on a week long ban of gum. We have been finding it stuck in the bottom of the window next to her car seats in both our car and Nana's car. She's done with it and just sticks it there.
We have to ground her for things she does wrong. And the worst punishment is taking away her movies. We took them away the other day for breaking her glasses, again. Well, that back fired on us. We often have her watch tv while we are cleaning up from dinner or after she takes her meds at night while we are waiting for her sleeping pill to kick in. She's only ever been allowed to watch three channels. Disney, PBS kids/ Sprout and Noggin. That's it. From what we have seen these are the three channels with the best wholesome, real shows. So, okay Brian and I can sing all of High School musical and Hannah Montana. We know the names of all of the Jonas Brother and wouldn't know a naked brother if we tripped over them. But it's for the best.
Emily has been on an almost exclusive Disney kick for the last three or four months. That's fine. We never have to change the channel.
Well, after she was punsihed, she asked to watch Sprout. It's 24 hours of PBS shows... children's shows. Angelina Ballerina, Thomas the Tank Engine, Kipper. Great shows. If you are a pre schooler. But she loves them. Now that her punishment is over... and I'm not stupid enough to tell her that it's over because I don't think I can handle one more chorus of Chim Chim Chree right now, she's still watching Sprout.
A week or two ago I was home with her all day, while she was sick. She had just gotten Enchanted for Easter. We watched it. It was fine for Mommy. Patrick "Dr. McDreamy" Dempsy. But by the fourth time through, I was beginning to loose it.
Thank God it's getting nice enough out to send her out on the swings for hours at a time. Except that she can't keep her balance long enough not to fall over on her way to the swing!

I'm just so tired.

I got a call from the school today the Emily had another seizure. Back at christmas time when her seizure's started, the first time, her eyes rolled up into her head and were stuck up for half an hour at a time. Today she had her right eye roll up in her head and started yelling that she couldn't see. Then she began to seize. This is an esculation from the type of seizures that she has been having, a new one for her called a tonic-clonic seizure. She alternated between being very rigid and very loose. Then she started shaking very badly.
I got the call and began sobbing. I had to pull over on my way to the school and catch my breath.
I've talked to the doctor and we have an appointment for next week for a sleep deprived EEG. We can't get in any sooner. Then we have to see the doctor again on Friday and see what the EEG said and make a choice about the medications. If we need to increase it again or if we need to change it or add something else.
It was a scary day.
Then, when I called Brian's parents, just to let them know what was going on, I found out that it was not much better there.
Brian's father is not a well man. He's having some sort of parinoid delusions and the doctors haven't been able to figure out why. It's really bad and it gets worse at night. I don't know what to do. I'm torn between the things going on here with Emily, the things going on with George and then the other family things.

my fingers hurt

Sorry I haven't been on in a while, but I've been busy.
I sit at my computer a good part of the day and the last thing I want to do when I get home is work at the key board. Besides, the fact my boss' wife is pregnant. I am working on a baby quilt for the baby. It's been a lot of fun work, but my fingers are a little bloody from all the needle sticks.
We took Emily up to the neurologist last week to see what was going on. He thinks that she wasn't getting enough of a dose of her medication. So he upped the medication. Now he wants us to take her back up to Albany Medical Center to have another EEG. A sleep depirved EEG.
Now, tell me. Who is the one who is really tired? The child or the parent who has to keep the kid up all night?
I got to go up to Cooperstown last week and see my uncle's mother who is sick. It's been a while since I've seen her and I was glad that I got the chance. I hope that all her family, and you know who you are, knows that I am keeping all of you in my heart and thoughts and that I'm only a phone call away if you need me.
Being a nurse and having my specialty as geriatrics, I deal with death often. I can be a great shoulder if you need me and I hope that you all know that.
So, I'm stuck at work again.... late. I knew that I was signing on for a lot when I took this job, but when Brian and Emily came by to today, it was the look in Em's eyes when I told her I'd be home in time for bed that killed me. She was upset that I wasn't going to be there for dinner and that she wasn't going to see me for long. So, an extra chapter in her book tonight and a little bit longer snuggle......
Brian on the other hand....
No, seriously, I just wish that I could be home. At least I get to sleep in in the morning as I don't get over time and I'll just come in late tomorrow morning.