Thursday, January 31, 2008

It's been a long month

Thank you to my blogger friends who have stuck with me even though I haven't written in so long and to those who have inquired about how my Dad is doing.
It has been a long month as nothing has gone smoothly for him. He returned to the emergency room on Jan. 3rd with pneumonia and was very ill. Since then he is now on his fourth hospitalization. He came back after having a reaction to an infusion he needed for his leukemia and then after being home a few days he came back with confusion caused to low oxygen. He came home to my house Tuesday with home oxygen and then returned on Wednesday to start his chemotherapy treatments. They started out rocky also--he had a reaction and they had to stop the treatment but once they got him the right medications to stop the reaction they were able to start the treatment again. As of right now, he is tolerating it well.
I also got an update from my agency that basically said all is well but waits are longer than they have been because of more and more families going to Kazakhstan. It is a little disappointing but I think that this wait is giving me time to concentrate on my Dad right now which is what I need to do until he gets a little more stable. My dossier is safe and sound at the MOFA so I will do what I need to do with my family and wait patiently for the call.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

What a way to start the New Year

Happy New Year--a little late.
I had a terrible cold turned into sinus infection over the New Year so didn't feel like posting then. I worked as much as I could to save my time off for the adoption but finally had to cave in and take a couple days off work.
The same day that I decided I couldn't get up for work, I got a call that my Dad was coming by ambulance to the hospital. He was having difficulty breathing and his oxygen was very low. X-rays showed fluid on his lungs so the initial thought was that his heart wasn't working well and he had congestive heart failure. Afte several tests, we discovered that wasn't the case and he had a terrible case of pneumonia. They used a needle and aspirated a liter of fluid off one lung! Needless to say, he could breathe much better after that. We are thankful that tests show his heart is working well and his recent surgery was successfull but given the fact he has chronic luekemia, the pneumonia is quite serious also. He spent 6 six days in the hospital and was just released today but will continue with IV antibiotics every day. Unfortunately, he isn't out of the woods yet. While he was in the hospital, my mom stayed with me. I am just glad that I can offer them a place to stay and some support when they have medical problems.
I have had many thoughts on being a "sandwich generation"--that is what my mom says and she means that I have to take care of my parents and my child, which may be true at times. I also had thoughts about it when I got a flyer for preparing for my retirement and realized that I am trying to balance saving for retirement and for bringing home a new baby--no small feat to come up with funds for both. I feel like I am not quite doing enough for either right now. Sometimes it worries me to think along those lines and at other times I just know that everything will work out okay when I have my daughter because it is just what I am meant to do. My whole life I've known I should be a mother and that I would be a great one so now it's time. All the rest will follow.
Maybe it's affecting me more today because tomorrow is my birthday and I turn 47 (yikes).
Here's hoping I will be home with my daughter before I'm 48.