For the fourth time in five months, John has pneumonia. He's in the hospital and the doctors are concerned. I don't understand all the medical terms but the pneumonia is in both lungs, its viral but is staph(spelling on that) which confuses me - is that infection bacterial on top of the viral or is it a viral version of staph and if so, how do antibiotics help? Or are the antibiotics for the other symptoms? I'll ask again tomorrow when I see the doctor.
I met on a more intimate basis two of John's caretakers at his new home and I'm impressed. The house manager came to check on him and the caretaker watched him while I ran an errand. They are genuinely are interested in treating him as a family member, as the person he is and the person he can become.
He's sleeping now, relatively peacefully. He occasionally wakes and is very obnoxious which is a hint he's feeling better. But he's still so tired.
His lungs are chronically scarred. Each bout with pneumonia is another life threatening encounter. However, we are aware and we are watching, all of us. We're family.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Temporaryness
This blog is about all of us - me, my sister and my brother.
I need a little more perspective though before I can write about the last month with any clarity. So let me write with extreme emotion.
I moved home in May after my brother almost died in April. There really was no question in my mind what the right thing to do was - family trumps work any day. Especially when its a case of life and death.
Obviously he's survived and thrived. In fact he almost killed us! Well not exactly but it felt like it in the middle of June when he was fighting pneumonia and channelling the antichrist!
By mid July my mom and I and family moved him into a group home of four people plus 1-2 staff members at all times. He's doing well and everyone is adjusting.
I stopped to take a breath and then on August 7th I lost my job. Since I was technically 'discharged/fired', I have to wait 21 days for my unemployment to kick in. There was no gross misconduct - I just have to wait.
I'm job hunting. I'm spending a lot of time researching freelance writing. I'm moving towards practicing writing more than just blog entries. Until then, keep me in your thoughts and remember that with every door that closes, there's a window that gets broken open from the door slam ;)
I need a little more perspective though before I can write about the last month with any clarity. So let me write with extreme emotion.
I moved home in May after my brother almost died in April. There really was no question in my mind what the right thing to do was - family trumps work any day. Especially when its a case of life and death.
Obviously he's survived and thrived. In fact he almost killed us! Well not exactly but it felt like it in the middle of June when he was fighting pneumonia and channelling the antichrist!
By mid July my mom and I and family moved him into a group home of four people plus 1-2 staff members at all times. He's doing well and everyone is adjusting.
I stopped to take a breath and then on August 7th I lost my job. Since I was technically 'discharged/fired', I have to wait 21 days for my unemployment to kick in. There was no gross misconduct - I just have to wait.
I'm job hunting. I'm spending a lot of time researching freelance writing. I'm moving towards practicing writing more than just blog entries. Until then, keep me in your thoughts and remember that with every door that closes, there's a window that gets broken open from the door slam ;)
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