I Have to Empty a What?

Three in the morning my brother wakes me up.  They are home from the emergency room.  Dad's bladder after the surgery needed a break and Dad now has a Foley Catheter in to give his bladder some time off to heal.  Not that there is any great time to learn how to use a Foley Catheter bag, but three in the morning after waking up out of a sound sleep is definitely not the best time.  But I did and lost track of how many times I had to tell Dad that he couldn't remove the catheter.  It had to be uncomfortable, but the pressure was relieved and he was feeling better.  He went right to sleep, I tossed and turned for a while and finally went to sleep.  I am so glad that I had the presence of mind to call off of work the next day.  That is one advantage of being a substitute teacher I can choose not to work if I need to.

I picked up my anxiety meds today, so they were no use to me last night.  I luckily had a guided meditation app on my iPad so I used it a couple times and finally I was able to control my anxiety enough to go to sleep.

I was sure Dad would sleep in this morning.  He went to bed at 3 am, no such luck.  7:00 am he was up bright eyed and bushy tailed.  I however was stumbling around because well I did not sleep well.  Add to that the fact that I don't do mornings well and I took a deep breath and started the day.  I got him downstairs and gave him his meds.  He had his breakfast (The same exact breakfast that ha has every morning, how?), a bottle of water, coffee, and drained the bag into the reservoir.  Now I just had to figure out how to empty the reservoir.

The fun part of the day was convincing Dad that the bag and catheter were necessary.  He was convinced it was an open wound on his leg.  Now there was a plus side to this.  I didn't have to guide him in and out of the bathroom over and over again at night.  Plus I knew when I had to run errands he would sit in his chair and not have to get up.  That means less times I have to help him when he gets lost in the house.

The bag was getting more full.  It was fast approaching.  I was going to have to empty the bag.  I got a bucket and took a deep breath.  I studied the locking mechanism and figured it out.  The bucket was in place and I did it, I opened the latch and the waterfall was unleashed.  The bag was empty and Another one of my fears were conquered.  Now I know I can handle it.  He as to do his part, but I think we can do it.  Still February 21 is ten days away.  How many more times will I have to empty it?

So Many Worries

Tomorrow I need to get my father to the VA hospital at 7 am for bladder surgery.  He has bladder cancer.  He has had it for a long time and it seems more of an annoying cancer than deadly.  Of course that can change.  Every year or so he needs surgery to remove growths from his bladder.  No chemo, no radiation, nothing like that, just surgery every so often.

Of course usually Mom is the one who deals with this.  I only know what I have been told and I found out accidentally.  So I am sure there are things about his cancer that I don't know.  Dad is not a fountain of knowledge on the subject.  Then again he might be but just can't tell me what he knows because he can't get his brain to allow his voice to say the words he wants to say.  Mom can barely talk because of the tracheotomy so it is hard to get information out of her right now.  I wasn't prepared to deal with cancer, then again I wasn't prepared to deal with my mother almost dying five times.

Dad has been out of sorts these last few days.  I know the surgery is on his mind.   He has been getting ready for it for a week now.  Usually he doesn't know what day it is and thinks he needed to go to the hospital for the surgery over and over again.  He has been having more trouble sleeping than usual.  Today he came downstairs after bed to see if I knew his ID number for the VA.  He couldn't remember if he had the number right.

I am worried that I will over sleep.  I don't wake up well, I don't do mornings well.  If I could sleep all day I would.  Maybe I should stay up all night.  Probably not, I am sure driving on the snow covered roads while falling asleep isn't the best idea.  Of course that is just the beginning of my worries.

This is a surgery, he will be put under anesthesia and there is always a chance that he won't wake up.  I made sure to take him to visit Mom today, just in case.  Ugh, I hate even thinking that.  But one thing I have learned in the last few months is in the blink of an eye life can change.  The wind can knock a person over and cause a cascade of one health crisis after another.  A surgery can not go as planned.

Of course the house is quiet tonight it is my ex's night with the kids.  So my mind can easily dwell on all the bad that can happen.  I wish the kids were her to distract me a little.  I almost brought B back home because D was yelling at both kids and she claimed to not know why.  I tried to talk to him to find out what was going on, but he refused to speak to me.  Sometimes he can be just as bad as a pouting child.  So I don't know what was going on.  She wanted to come home and if I didn't have to take Dad to the hospital so early I would have gotten her.

So many worries and I try to focus on the good, the fun and the happy.  I had a visit from a friend today.  We grew up on the same block.  She helped me do some deep cleaning because my hip has been preventing me from doing a lot.  It just doesn't prevent me from worrying!