August 2023 - To Sum Up.

We had an awful time in August of this year. My husband got a small rash on his leg that very quickly, within hours, turned into cellulitis, and by the time we got to the ER a few hours after the rash started, to sepsis. Sepsis is treated with antibiotics and fluids. He had an allergic reaction to the first antibiotic (his first ever to a medicine) and went into fluid overload / congestive heart failure due to the fluids. That was on August 5th. After 10 days in the hospital, he was discharged home to recover. He didn't want to get up and walk on the leg because it hurt, so he spent a lot of time (too much, it turns out) on the couch. Then he got a blood clot in his leg and it moved from his leg into his left pulmonary artery. Pulmonary embolism. Second trip to the ER. Second time admitted to the hospital. This time, for only 4 days, thankfully. He came home on oxygen. So far, he's missed four complete weeks of work. I worked in between so I didn't miss quite as much. It's been so stressful and awful. I have seriously wondered if I will make it many times. To top it off, in between the two hospitalizations, everyone in our family got sick. My husband, daughter and I got COVID and our son got strep throat. We were all extremely ill. Right now, we are getting over COVID and waiting for the clot in my husband's artery to resolve on blood thinners. Please pray it does soon. I tell you all of this, to tell you something funny that I thought/did. I was walking down the hospital hallway that is about a city block long (no exageration) and I suddenly thought. "How am I doing this? How am I propelling myself down this hallway". (This was after hours and hours in the ER). I thought "It can't be food, because I haven't had any. It can't be water/hydration because I haven't had any. No coffee. It can't be sleep because I haven't had any." Walking some more. "Maybe it's prayer". Walking some more. "I hope it's fat cells". Another funny thing I did was to give myself a pep talk. Between the hospitalizations I was out doing some errands and seriously trying not to freak out over my husband getting more short of breath (it was the PE). I was giving myself a pep talk in the car, complete with hand gestures and facial expressions, a really good intense pep talk. What I was trying to say was "I'm not going to freak out. I'm just going to trust God" but what I actually said was "I'm not gonna (hand gesture to indicate freaking out). I'm just gonna (hand gesture to indicate trusting God". To me this was hilarious and I'm thinking if I can figure out how to do it, of getting a tattoo on my arm that says this. I'm not gonna. I'm just gonna. You have to laugh to keep from crying. Please keep our family in your prayers.