All are graduated....

Woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday to get ready for the journey to Son's college for the graduation ceremony.
Of course it was humid and the forecast called for thunder showers.
It was sprinkling here when we left for the 2 hour drive.
15 minutes prior to leaving I went into Daughter's room and told her that we were leaving in 15 minutes, so if she was coming she best be ready by then.
Then I gave her a 10 minute warning.
We had to be at the college prior to 9 am as we had to meet son to get the tickets.
We borrowed my parent's van as we still had to move him out of the dorm.

The sun was still shining in the College's town.
We were early enough to get a decent parking spot in the lot closest to his dorm.
WE met him out side the dorm and walked together to the arena.
He looked rather studious in his cap and gown, and I could see the look of pride in Hubby's eyes.

The seating was bleachers.
We took seats on the top row so we didn't have anyone behind us.
As I am tall, it was very uncomfortable.
My legs/knees extended over the bleacher seat in front of me and when an older man tried to sit in front of me he got poked in the back by my knees when he sat back.
Not a pleasant experience for either of us.
I apologized for my long legs and luckily he moved.
2 petite ladies took his spot and I had enough room to turn my legs sideways and face the stage.
I wasn't about to sit with my legs spread apart for 3 hours...even though I was wearing slacks.
To make it more uncomfortable, It was hot and humid in the arena.
It was so crowded.
They had baskets of hand sanitizing wipes at all the enterances.
I was glad I wore comfortable flat shoes when I saw the women in dresses and heels trying to maneuver around on the bleachers.
Surprisingly no one fell although an older gentleman almost did right next to where Hubby was sitting.
The introduction to the guest speaker took longer than the guest speaker's speech.
Daughter commented that she was expecting the announcer to pull out a small box and drop to one knee.
The speeches and introductions actually took longer than the actaul calling of the graduates across the stage.
There was no rhyme or reason to how they went across stage.
They were not seated in alphabetical order or by major.
So we had to pay attention as we didn't know when Son's name would be called.
He graduated with honors. :-)
The graduates were called by 2 announcers from both ends of the stage and the graduates exited down the center so it went a lot faster than the usual one at time.
It didn't allow for a lot of time for the families and friends to get to rowdy
Half way through the graduates, it got rather loud in there.
I thought that it was people talking until I looked out the open door and saw that it was pouring rain.
We were prepared with rain coats and umbrellas.
After an hour or more of pouring, it let up by the time everyone had to leave.
We went to the reception afterward and had some cookies and tea.
Then it was off to the dorm to move out the stuff.
Thankfully my Son lived in a dorm with an elevator.
We loaded up a trolley and made 3 trips on the elevator to the van.
I was glad that we had the van as all of his stuff would have never fit into my car.
No one wanted to stop anywhere nice for lunch as we were all tired and sweaty so we just went to Wendy's on the way home.

So both Kids are home again and the job hunt begins.
Hopefully they won't have to move too far away.
I gave Son a GPS for his car for graduation so he can find his way to job interviews etc..

My parents would have liked to have gone to the graduation, but it would have been very hard on my Dad, and Mom wasn't about to leave him alone. We would have had to take 2 vehicles because of the space we needed for all of Son's stuff.

And so ends the college tuition chapter of our lives.
YIPEE!!!!

Peace

WIld Week

Things have finally calmed down.
It was pretty hectic and stressful this past week and a half.

Dad ended up bedridden for about 3 days after the trip to the emergency room when they discovered the fracture in his hip/pelvis.
He would only get out of bed to go to the bathroom.
Even with the walker he could barely get around as he was in severe pain.
You could see it in his eyes that he was in a lot of pain.

My mother's cousin was visiting the day after the ER day and kept telling my sister and I how upset and stressed out my mother was.
Well DUH!!
All she was doing was stressing us out by saying...oh, your poor mother doesn't know how she is going to get him to his Dr's appointment Mon as he can't walk...
I told my sister if he couldn't get out of bed Mon that she should call the ambulance to get him to the hospital to get his pain medication regulated.
The appointment was at 3pm, so I asked my mother if she wanted me to go with her and my sister to the Dr as between the 2 of us we should be able to get him out of the house and into the car...maybe.
So I left work early Monday.
The Bulldog (my supervisor) didn't say anything, we basically communicate via e-mail as she seems to not like talking to me directly if she doesn't have to...and the feeling is mutual.
BTW, she hasn't yet asked me how my Dad was doing or how I was doing.
WE made it to the Dr's office and luckily they had a wheelchair that we could use.

He saw the surgeon who was putting in the Chemo port.
HE was the same Dr who took out both parent's gall bladders.

Tues I was late for work as I had to go see my Dr. as they wouldn't give me a refill on my high blood pressure medication without seeing her first.
I ended up with 2 scripts.
The blood pressure meds and an anti anxiety/depression pill.
The feeling like all I want to do is cry is gone.

My Dad finally went to see a pain management Dr, who gave him pain patches and another drug to relieve the fracture pain.

I took Friday off from work to go with my mother to take my Dad in for the port insertion surgery.
My BIL drove us all to the hospital.
While he did a lap around the parking area, I ran in to get a wheel chair.
The surgery took 15 minutes, but we were in the hospital for 6 hours.
We had a heck of a time getting him in and out of the car and up 3 steps into the house.as the pain medication wore off and he could barely walk.

Yesterday was day 1 of Chemo, and he is doing well.
The pain is under control.
He has a schedule of what drugs he takes when and is walking without pain.
My mother said that he walked by himself up the ramp into the Chemo place with his walker.
He looks a lot better too.

Today he had many visitors, so he is in good spirits and got out to sit in the sun and get some fresh air.

Mother's day was ok.
Son is still at college till he graduates Saturday, but he did call me.
Daughter gave me a card and said that she and her brother were going to take me out for dinner and a movie when he gets home from college.
Hubby got me a card and lottery tickets..I won $4.
also got a Gnome on a stick for the garden.
My sister, Daughter , 2 nieces, my mother and I went out for dinner to Roby Tuesdays.
Hubby and my BIL kept my Dad company.
I picked up the bill and paid it which seemed to bother my sister...which is why I did it....I usually end up paying more that my share anyway so I figured I would just pay for the whole thing and she left the 20% tip.
After dinner, daughter went to the store and made us hot fudge brownie sundaes...Yummy.

Looking forward to the graduation Sat.
He is in the 1st group so we have to be at the college by 9am
No sleeping in for me as it takes 2 hours or so to get there...argh!!!
I'm not a morning person and they are expecting thunderstorms.
After graduation we have to move out all his stuff from the dorm.
I won't be wearing a dress that's for sure.
Maybe some Khakis and a nice sweater set.

Finally ....NO MORE COLLEGE TUITION BILLS!!!!!!
YIPEE!!!
Now all they need are jobs that pay enough so they can go out on their own.

Happy DAys are here again...for a little while anyway...

Post interupted

My last post was cut short .
The phone rang and it was my Mom.
"We have to take your Dad to the emergency room as he is in severe pain and the pain medication doesn't seem to be working....can you go with us?"
They called the doctor, but he couldn't prescribe anything stronger over the phone and told him he had to go to the emergency room.
I told her I would be over in a few minutes as I wasn't dressed yet.
She said that would be fine as she had to get dressed herself.

I asked Hubby to go over to see if my Dad needed help getting ready and to distract him from thinking about his pain.
After taking a quick bath and getting dressed, I walked over and took the keys from my Mom, who was relieved not to have to drive and off we went to the emergency room.
Driving as carefully as possible I tried to avoid the potholes and braked slowly as to not jar his back and cause him more agony.
We chatted about everything and anything just to keep him from focusing on what was hurting...at least that was my goal.

Emergency room waiting rooms are interesting places. you see the whole spectrum of illness...from a bump on the head of a pudgy toddler to a possible broken collarbone of a pale teenage boy dressed in black.
Stupidly, I forgot to bring something to read or do....so I just had to watch people for amusement while I waited and waited...
3 hours or so later...
They discovered after x-rays that he has a hairline fracture in his pelvis/hip.
Nothing they can do for that...
Gave him a prescription for pain medication.
Which turned out to have the same generic name as the generic name of the pain medication he already has....but the numbers after it are different...so I told them it must be a different concentration..
ARGHHH!!!
I should have went into the exam room with him too.
Hopefully I am right in thinking that the pills are stronger.

Dad is soooo depressed.
He just had bone scans and x-rays a few days prior and this wasn't on them. "How could this have happened so fast???"
He basically spent the rest of Sat. in bed, just getting up to use the washroom.

We think he over did it Friday.
My parents have their washer and dryer in the basement.
With mom's knees being so bad, it is difficult for her to go up and down the stairs carrying laundry.
So, after much convincing, they finally decided to get a new washer and dryer and put them in the family room as connections could be made to the water and gas lines from there.
That way, no one would break their backs trying to carry the old appliances up the basement stairs.
My BIL decided to do the installation that Friday as the appliances arrived a few days prior.
Well, Dad being Dad, felt he had to get in on the fun and went up and down the basement stairs several times...
I asked him how the heck did he do that ......and he said that he just held on to the rails on the stairs....of course all I could think of was what if he would have fell... then come to find out that he went down there while my Mom was out grocery shopping...
Friday, he also went to the doctor and for blood work and to the hardware store.
I can just picture him hobbling around the hardware store with his walker....
It's got to be difficult wanting to do stuff, still having your mind as sharp as ever and having your body fall apart.
Unfortunately, I think he learned the hard painful way that there are things that he can no longer do, or ever do again....

Peace People.....

The results are in...

and they are not good. :-(
My Dad has bone cancer.
It has spread to his hip, ribs, leg and arm and is still in his spine.
So it's Chemo time.
Which they told him has a 50% chance of working.

He wants me to shave his head next week.
Which should be quick considering he is balding anyway.
I asked him if he was going to shave his beard/goatee.
no, just going to let it fall out...
well maybe it won't fall out.
But it says in the brochure that all my hair is going to fall out along with my eyebrows and eye lashes...

May is going to be a crazy month.
Son graduates from college...finally.
He has an associates from a 2 year community college.
And now will have his bachelors...3 years at a state college (SUNY)
Graduation is in 2 weeks.
He is staying there till graduation.
We are going tomorrow to get some of his stuff so we won't have to try and move a lot of stuff after graduation ceremony.

I bought my father's old car for him for a graduation, he needs a car anyway present.
My daughter is having a fit.
We gave her a car when she was in her 2-3 year of college and signed it over to her when she was 21.
He never has had a car...and he is 23.
But in her mind he is getting a newer car than her and it's not fair...
OMG!!!
Let's see....
He lived off campus during his first 2 years at the community college which was 2 hours away from home and had to walk everywhere including the grocery store.
A 23 year old guy needs a car...