New News on Dad and Earwigs

Well, what started as great has settled into a state that can best be described as a nose wrinkle. I got Dad some weights, which I think I may have said before - as well as some new resistance bands. He was using those every opportunity he got yesterday. He really did a great job at them. He was trying and very diligent. He didn't feel strong enough to walk a lot, so he worked on his upper body, and just used the ankle weights a little. Although, we DID bring him into the house from outside, made him climb the 4 steps and walk to his seat with the ankle weights on (we didn't notice until way too late :) ). He made it, though!


Later that night (yesterday), Dad was walking in the kitchen with his walker and just sort of slowly tipped over. It was the strangest thing. I'm sure many of you can relate. You're watching something in slow motion almost. I looked over and saw it happening. My Mom didn't see it until it was all over. This is the second time he's fallen since he's been home from the hospital. He may have been safer there! Anyway, I think because it was the second time, and because my brother wasn't home this time to get my Dad up, it was a little too much for her. She was quite upset, as I would be too. We asked Dad if he was hurt and he wasn't hurt, so that was a big blessing. Then we had to figure out how to get him up. I tried once but failed. I was scared to wrap him too tight for fear of breaking a rib or something, but then I decided that if I did, at least I'd know it, and he would no longer be on the floor, so I just said, "This might hurt a bit, but hang on." I grabbed him from behind and wrapped my arms around his ribcage and just lifted him up. Praise God for the Urbanathlon! I was strong before I started training for that, but now I'm a force to be reckoned with, let me tell ya! We got Dad up and sitting on his walker. Audrey played nurse while telling Grammy not to be sad over Papa. He's ok, she said. She held up tissues because he did cut himself a bit. For my friends who are a little squeamish skip the next part to go to the next paragraph. He had a skin tear in about 3 places because his skin is like paper. It was bleeding a little, but more so, it was clear liquid coming out because his legs are unfortunately swollen again. The cankles have returned! Now it hasn't stopped oozing. Mom and I were thinking that we should just poke him all over his legs and just drain him of the fluid. Jokingly, of course, because he's on blood thinners and probably with our luck wouldn't clot. Oh, and besides that, it's a gross thought - what are we in a Twilight novel? Ridiculous books that they are...ok, not going on that tangent.


So for those of you who scrolled down. The fluid that had left my father, is now returning. Overnight he gained 3 pounds. Since he's been home from the hospital, he's gained 4, which is not due to eating, so it's all fluid, all of which are not good signs. He hardly eats anything and has to force down what he can. When weight gain (I think like 2 poinds in a day) happens, Mom has to call the doctor. At that point, she takes his vitals...I think three times a day so they can keep up on what's going on. The vital information goes over the phone lines and gets sent to the nurses! Crazy how that works. It's amazing what they can do. Anyway. Dad can't get out of a chair by himself anymore. That, however, should change when they decrease the dose of Prednizone again. Apparently a side effect is that it can compromise your quads, so we've been working on those.


I was going to sleep over my grandfather's house tonight to go to the 8:30Am church service tomorrow, but I decided to stay here in case Mom needed me in the middle of the night because Dad's on even more of a diuretic, so he may not get much sleep tonight. We'll have to have the kiddos outside tomorrow so he can get some rest during the day. I have a feeling he'll be up a lot. But if I can get him situated tomorrow morning and then he can stay there until my brother or I get home, then we're good.


Lastly, for all of those people who think it's a myth that those pincher bugs - you know, the ones with those nasty looking pincher things on their tails - commonly known as earwigs-don't bite, you're wrong. They do bite. I was bit by one today and it HURT. Oh man. It was a little worse than a mosquito bite. I had come in from outside and it was somehow on my shirt and then it bit me through the shirt, so I screamed and looked and it was one of those stupid bugs, so I ripped my outside shirt off (always layered - a GAP trick, and it worked this time!!) and yelled, "Seriously?! I wasn't even bothering it, why did it bite me?!" My Dad said, "Well, it WAS out of it's element on your shirt." Like it was my fault!! :) So I killed it. How do you like THEM apples? Now that THIS happened, I refuse to believe that they don't crawl in your ears. Seriously, they're named earwigs and now I find out I was right all along in thinking that they probably bite. I've always thought they get in people's ears, and I'm going to keep thinking that. Thanks a lot, Todd! :)