My entire life is focused on getting Lea Clark! (the American Girl doll of the year)
He said
Well, this week wasn’t without it’s share of excitement! There was trips to the Emerg, trips to the dentist, trips to the hospital, trips to the eye specialist and then, on top of that unplanned shopping for a new television. Of all those things going on, only two of them were actually planned and we knew about before the week began!
The week started knowing that Danielle was finally having her root canal and getting some much-needed relief from the constant pain she had been soldiering through. It was scheduled for Thursday after her work day and as much as it sounds funny to hear, but was she ever looking forward to that date to the dentist. She had finally found solace managing the pain with Aleve which was cutting the pain while not needing to be taking it around the clock. But, Danielle was happy with the prospect of being done with the excruciating pain.
But, before all that could happen, on Tuesday just as I was getting ready to pack it in for the night, I got a call from Dad who was suffering from concerning head pain and he was at the point he felt he should head to Emerg and make sure it wasn’t anything more serious. In a half hour, I had picked up Dad and we were headed over to University Hospital to get it checked out. We were in and in the queue by 1:30 am but without life threatening symptoms not in the fast track to be seen. I didn’t have the heart to tell Dad the sign I saw on the way in that said the projected wait times were six to eight hours.
True to form we spent the entire evening in the waiting room, awake, waiting to be seen. Six and a half hours after checking in, we finally made our way in and were getting close to be seen. After Dad described the symptoms he was having, they quickly decided the best course of action was a CT scan and a visit with the team of neurologists. Fourteen hours after being checked in and after being seen by their team of Emerg neurologists, the consensus was that everything was fine on Dad’s CT scan and that the headache pain Dad was having was more likely related to the nagging cold he’d been battling for months.
With the unplanned, overnight visit to the Emerg, it meant the family had to come together to reorganize getting Mom to her pre-admitting appointment for her eye surgery scheduled for Thursday. In short order, we had everything organized and Greg was taking Mom. In fact, Dad and I spent so much time at UH, that we were already starting make alternative plans to get Emelia to gymnastics. But thankfully – and in enough time – we got dispensed from UH and were back to everything else that needed to be done.
After my first, full night of sleep in two days, I was over first thing at 6:20 am, the next morning before I had to work to help Dad & Mom get over the hospital for her cataract surgery. Thankfully, with both Dad and I needing to get sleep and not knowing how would be the next day, we made more plans to make sure Mom & Dad had a someone to help them get home and after the surgery. This time Testza stepped up and helped them out in a big way. And made sure they got home and were taken care of after for the next couple of days.
Which helped, because it allowed Danielle and I finally to focus on the thing she had been looking forward: Root Canal! We got her over to the dentist and then Emelia and I hung out at Mom & Dad’s while Danielle had her tooth fixed. In an hour and a half we got the message she was all done. We collected Danielle and headed back home and I think were all in bed and asleep within an hour of getting home.
By Friday, it seemed like the entire family was on the mend and out of using any form of healthcare which was great to hear. That left Danielle and I to re-focus on planning for the trip which was welcome given the crazy week we had. We pretty much have the way are going to surprise Emelia 100% settled and the pre-trip seeds planted, all that is really left to do now is to sort out packing and any final needs for the trip.
The bummer, and fitting given the week we had was, as Danielle and I were sitting down after work Tuesday to watch some TV, the television died on us mid show. The diagnostic light on the front of the television blinked the familiar three times it did the last time it died on us which meant it was going to be a $300 power supply reply. We decided we didn’t want to embark on that journey again with a nine year old TV, so we started begrudgingly looking for replacement options.
Given all the other things going on this week, and that they could have gone other much worse ways, it was the sort of realignment we needed to put things in true perspective. Sure, the TV died and we didn’t want that expense, but at the end of it, our family is all healthy and well, and we leave for Disney in 13 days! That’s pretty much the best way to wrap our week that was!
She said
This was one of the craziest weeks we have had in a long time. I think the Teeter family personally did our annual quota for OHIP billings all in one week. We certainly did our tests on the Ontario medical system.
The week was already set up to be a bit of a busy one and then Tuesday we sat down to watch a bit of TV, we were just about to change shows and the TV screen went black and then the dreaded power light flickering, I knew this blink as it had happened without warning 4 years earlier almost to the day. It was the power supply. When the TV died 4 years ago it was worth the option of fixing it but the TV is almost 9 years old and we are dealing with another major repair costs it was just not worth it.
All the stress about how were we going to figure out buying another major purchase this close to the trip was instantly put into perspective when at 12:30 the phone rang and we had a call from Doug saying he needed to be rushed to the hospital. Every stress you have in your life changes when you are worried about someone you love. John jumped out of bed and was out the door in minutes. He and I were texting once he got his father to the hospital and we messaged before he told me to try and get some sleep because it was going to be a long night from there end and that they would likely not have any updates for a while. I managed to get a bit of broken sleep waking every hour or so checking my phone for updates.
The morning came with still no real news. John messaged me just after I woke saying they still have not seen anyone. That is when the focus shifted, Helen had a pre-op appointment for her surgery the next day. I called Greg first and then Shawn seeing what could be done to get Helen to her appointment and start working on what help was needed for the surgery the next day. As always with with this amazing family we all came together in short order and had everyone taken care of.
Finally after over a 14 hours at the hospital all the scariest scenarios were ruled out John and Doug were released from the hosptial. Both were exhausted but relieved that the worst was over hopefully. Once we got Emelia finished at gymnastics that night we made our way back to Helen and Doug’s to check on the again to make sure everyone was still doing well. Everyone was exhausted and ready for bed so we got home and within short order everyone in both houses were asleep for the night.
The next day came early again, John was back across town to get Helen to her surgery. With John needing to get to work left bringing Helen home from her surgery to Testza and Greg. At first it seemed things were going smoothly but thankfully Testza had booked the day off work because things turned rough and fast for Helen. She was very sick and she was going back to the hospital to get checked again by the surgeon. She needed her meds adjusted and additional medication to get everything under control. Things were very rough for her for a few hours but thankfully once the medications started working she was finally able to get some much needed rest to recover.
The worry about Helen and Doug was in the back of my mind as we made it to my dentist on Thursday. After over a year of dealing with a problem tooth and six plus weeks of extreme pain I was finally getting in to get my root canal. I think I am one of the only people I know that actually was looking forward to a root canal but I was more than excited to be done with the extreme pain. The procedure took about an hour and a half and once done I was dealing with a frozen mouth and feeling like I had run a marathon. We knew that Helen was in great hands with a number of family members at the house so we got me home to get some food and then quickly to bed.
Friday morning I woke quite sore and hoping for an easy day with the little ones but they had other ideas. It was a long challenging day with my mini people and I was more than counting down to the end of the day and some down time. Emelia had a movie night at the school so I got a few errands done and then home to get our tired girl to bed. I was really feeling the pain of the procedure by then so I took something for the pain and tried to get some sleep.
Saturday morning came early and it was another early morning as we had a follow-up at the hospital for Helen to get some answers for her symptoms and to assure she was healing as she should. After a bit of confusion and challenges getting to the office on the weekend we got her there in time and had a great follow-up with her doctor. He did a full check and gave information to our questions. She has another appointment this coming week that thankfully Testza can bring her to. The next eye is being done the day we leave for Toronto before our trip so thankfully John has the day off and can bring Helen and Doug to her surgery and be with them for hopefully an uneventful follow-up.
By Saturday evening I think we were all ready for a good and fun night. After Helen’s appointment was done I made my way home and met up with some of the parents at the school to do the big spring clean up of the school property. In meeting up with some of the parents we are friends with a quickly planned gathering was hatched at our friends, the Grant’s place. In quick order we had a potluck organized and we were meeting at their place after John was home from work. After I got Emelia settled down with her friends John and I made a very quick stop at electronics store to price out TVs as we need to replace ours. We got some information and pricing to start the budgeting for a replacement. After we were done there we made our way to the Grants and spent the next 5 or so hours with great friends, great food and a couple grown up drinks as the kids were off playing together. This quickly planned gathering ended up with about 15 adults and 20 or so kids and it was as always with this group of friends a great time. As it was getting close to 10 we got a very happy but tired girl home to bed and John and I crashed shortly after.
This brought us to today – John had to work again so I did my weekend errands with Emelia. We started out at Costco to price out TVs and options. After that we got the rest of the weekend errands done before getting a worn out girl home for a bit of downtime. Shortly after 6 John was home and we were off again to go check on Helen and Doug – have a great visit and watch the Knight’s game. All in all tonight was a perfect end of an otherwise crazy and stressful week.