L’Chaim

No, I’m not Jewish but I do know a little Hebrew and Yiddish, not to mention seeing Fiddler on the Roof like a bazillion times. L’Chaim means “to life” and is typically used when toasting or celebrating. Well, Life has lots of ups and downs, sometimes all at once - we may be celebrating at the same time as other not-so-great things are happening. When I wrote "What Doesn't Kill You...", I thought my life was little nutty. Well, let me just tell you, this past week Life said, "hold my beer" and "hey Bubba, watch this."

Our middle daughter was expecting her first child this month (my first grandchild) and we knew she was going to be induced this past Monday. We also knew our future grandson would need surgery shortly after birth.

Well, induction got started and after a c-section, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy at 6:24am on Tuesday. (Thanks to all the viral crud happening in the world, this grandma wasn't allowed to be there but was on call.) Then, as my dear hubby was surveying the roofing work being done on our house, he missed the sidewalk edge by the house (it was covered with a tarp), rolled his ankle, and heard it pop. I left work early, drove home and took the hubby to an urgent care facility. Yes, he broke it and was referred to an Orthopedic surgeon. We then spent at least an hour driving from one place to another looking for crutches with no luck. We stopped for to-go pizza on the way home and after managing to hobble into the house, we called it a day.

Well, that was Tuesday.

On Wednesday, I went on into work (with sleep deprivation thanks to waking up long before the alarm). I generally spend Tuesdays at one office and Wednesdays at another office. I had not been to the other office since before Thanksgiving, so I decided to spend a few hours there while waiting to get updates on my grandson. I left work a little after 11am and set out to look for crutches again. Still, no luck but I did get some groceries so the hubby could have some food at the house that was easier to prepare while using an old office chair to get around. I had just finished lunch (late) when I learned that our grandson was transferred to the Egleston hospital (as expected) with his daddy riding along in the front seat. When it was time to pick up the Daddy, I drove the 6.5 miles to Egleston, stopped by Community Q BBQ to get some dinner for Daddy and Mom, then drove to Northside Hospital, got the drive thru dinner for myself and the hubby, then made it back home.

Thursday morning arrived and the hubby's ankle was feeling worse, so the hubby finally agreed to see the orthopedic surgeon and we got an appointment before lunch. They took a few more x-rays and put it in a new (removeable) cast that was way better than the temporary cast. They even had crutches - YAY! Well, Mom's Uber service drove back to Northside Hospital to transport the Daddy back to Egleston to spend some time with our grandson. (Due to some health issues, driving is not a current option for Daddy.) Once the drop-off was made, the hubby and I stopped by @Community_Q_BBQ again to get some lunch for ourselves. After lunch, I drove to the Veterinarian's office to pick up medicine for our cats then back home in time to feed the cats and make dinner. While eating dinner, I got the call to go back to Egleston and return the Daddy to Northside Hospital. When I got home, we realized the hubby's foot was wet, so we spent some time unwrapping and re-wrapping the new cast. Then it was time for bed because surgery had been scheduled to start at 7:30am Friday and Daddy needed to be transported back to Egleston so he could spend some time with our grandson before the surgery.

Friday arrived bright and early at 4:30am - not so bright - actually quite dark and rainy. I got the cats fed, drove to Northside Hospital then back to Egleston, dropping off the Daddy then back home. I showered, ate some breakfast (I think), then went back to pick up the Daddy and transported him back to Northside. When I got home, I had some time, so the hubby and I drove to Grub Burger Bar for some to-go lunch then back home for a bit. We knew it would be a long surgery, so Mom and Daddy were getting updates then updating us. As our daughter was being discharged around 1pm, the hubby drove us back to Northside. (Thankfully, he broke the left ankle and not the right ankle.) We picked up our daughter and son-in-law, then I drove their car to our house with our son-in-law while our daughter rode to our house with the hubby. We got everyone settled at the house for a bit, then the hospital called to say our daughter and son-in-law could see our grandson a little after 5pm. We also had to stop for our daughter's pain medicine, so off we went back to Egleston, picking up meds on the way. About the time I got dinner on the table, our daughter let me know it was time for me to go back to pick them up, but I was able to finish dinner and take a short breather first. After getting everyone back to the house, we all got settled and I finally hit the pillow around 10pm.

Alarm Cat in the Foreground

Saturday morning started with the alarm cat sounding a little after 5am. I fed the fur butts, got my coffee and spent a little time on the couch with our daughter, but I needed to make a trip to Sam's Club for a few things, so off I went and got home a little after 10am. Due our daughter's c-section, getting back to Egleston was being delayed until after lunch, so we decided to treat the new parents to Longhorn's for lunch. The hubby would be riding in the front with our daughter and son-in-law in the back seat of my Mini Countryman. On the way to the car, the hubby hit a slick spot and went down on the concrete garage floor. Thankfully, no real damage, but we all had a bit of heart failure. We all decided that the office chair would be a much safer mode of transportation at that point. Lunch was good and the hubby very carefully navigated the restaurant floors, requesting the table closest to the front door. Afterwards, I took our daughter and son-in-law back to Egleston to spend the afternoon and early evening with our grandson. I took a nap, then cooked dinner. The hubby is good with some home cooking and takeout for the next few weeks. After dinner, I drove back to Egleston and got the new parents back home. Once home, I started trying to go to bed. Tired does not even begin to describe how I was feeling, but I re-wrapped the hubby's ankle/cast again, then hit the pillow.

Sunday morning tried to begin with the alarm cat around 4am. Our daughter and son-in-law were awake, so we locked the alarm cat in the den with them and went back to sleep. When the alarm cat sounded again a little after 6am, I drug myself out of bed to feed him and his siblings, got my coffee and sat on the couch with our daughter for a bit. Then I decided to water the plants on our sun porch and noticed that it was quite chilly out there - 65F, so I turned on the little heater in our den and went on about my business. After a while, the hubby texted me asking if the heat had turned up, as it was long past when the programmable thermostat was supposed to trigger the heat. Well, the heat wasn't running, so I had to see if I could get it running again. Based on info from the hubby from the last time it did this, I made my way to the basement, then made my first attempt with no luck. I contacted a co-worker asking who to call - after all, working at a construction company should give me someone to try. While waiting, the hubby did a quick internet search and found a few more things for me to try. So, back to the basement and less than 15 minutes later, the heat was running again. Then I made brunch for the four of us, cleaned the kitchen, hopped in the shower, dressed, walked to a neighbor's so I could notarize some paperwork, took out the garbage and recycling, put a load of clothes in the washing machine and drove the new parents back to the hospital. Then, once I made it back home, I wrote this article while waiting for the next call.

So, L'Chaim - To Life. You never know what will happen. And yes, our grandson's surgery went well, and his recovery is also going well. He is doing so well that the doctors think he might be able to go home just in time for Christmas. We are cautiously celebrating.

L'Chaim!

What are you celebrating?

#Life #NewLife #LifeisPrecious #Babies #LChaim #Grandbabies #Grandsons

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