And the winner is...

Drum roll please...

Oh, wait I have some things to say first! Wouldn't want to end the suspense this early in the post, what would be the fun in that??

First I would like to say thank you to all the wonderful ladies that left comments on the give away post and offered prayers for Dan and Abby. I am very sorry I haven't posted since Abby's surgery but life has been a bit weird for lack of a better term. I meant to post last Wednesday but the shiz hit the fan that day and today is actually the first time I have had a chance to sit down and collect myself.

Let me start with Abby and her surgery. She came through just fine, her tonsils were necrotic and full of infection so it was a good thing we did it when we did. Recovery has been a bit harder. It was like having a newborn that you had to get up to feed several times a night only it was a 22yr old needing meds every 3 hours which led to a severe lack of sleep and a complete inability to think straight on my part. I could type out everything that occurred during her recovery but lets just leave it at, she wanted to die and kept repeating that while tears were running down her face. Broke my heart. Then last Wednesday, while my sister and I were picking up a mirror for my mom's bathroom, and mom was babysitting my sister's kids...my dad disappeared. Mom got home from Mel's house and no dad. Anywhere. Mel had her look in the closets. Nope not there. Billfold was gone but cane was there and mom had the car so he didn't drive anywhere and without the cane he couldn't walk very far. We called our other sister and our brother thinking they might have come over and taken him somewhere. Sis had no clue and we couldn't reach my brother. We checked with the guys he plays chess with thinking perhaps they came and got him. Nope. Time is passing as the phone calls are flying and finally we tell mom to call the neighbors, see if perhaps an ambulance had been there. Mom argued the point, but finally called. Yep, the neighbor said, the ambulance was there at about 1:30. It was now 4:00. The neighbor thought mom had gone with them. We called around until we located him in the ER of a local hospital. He was stable but that is all they could tell us at that point. I hopped in the car and picked up mom and Mel and off we went. First thing mom asked was why weren't we notified that he had been picked up and where he was. Come to find out, Dad was passed out when the paramedics got there and when he came around as they were leaving the house he told them we would know where he was and they didn't need to leave a note. The hospital said they would have called eventually. Now how in the world we would know he had called 911 and been taken to the hospital is beyond me and why would they listen to an old man that had been unconscious? They couldn't tell us anything at this point except they were going to admit him. By 8 that evening they still weren't saying anything. Dad told us he had suddenly gotten dizzy, nauseated and was having trouble breathing so he took a nitro pill and laid down before calling 911. He doesn't remember much after that till they were leaving the house. Some of the tests showed a thickening in the blood in his lungs so they gave him extra blood thinners, said that was all they were going to do that night so we headed home. Because we weren't home to give Abby her meds she got off schedule that day and was feeling poorly when we got home. Got her situated and then addressed the issue of Amy needing to be taken to college the next day. It was decided we would wing it in the morning. Got up at 3 to give Abby her meds and went back to bed only to be rudely awakened at 4:30 by Abby slamming my bedroom door against the wall and announcing she was going to throw up. Which she did.
Both of us were worried it might break open her scabs and cause bleeding so I kept an eye on her while she went back to sleep. By 8 that morning phone calls were flying again. Mom was up at the hospital, Dad was doing fine, they were planning a stress test and an ultrasound of his legs to look for blood clots. If both were fine they would either release him or keep him for more tests. The Dr.s were split on what they wanted to do. Abby was doing okay, no further vomiting, no bleeding and she decided to stop taking the big drugs and drop down to tylenol so I made the decision to go with Dan and take Amy to college. And might I say what a freaking zoo that was!! OMG!! Cars and kids everywhere. I saw kids taking love seats in, 45 inch TV's, tables, rugs...you name it they were carrying it into the dorm. Amy traveled a bit lighter and we got everything into her room, unpacked and put away before our 1 hour time limit for the up close parking was over. We then took her out to lunch, picked up some groceries and dropped her back off at her dorm before heading back to Omaha. Dan cried half the way home. I had to distract him to get him to stop crying. I hate to see a grown man cry. I was surprisingly okay. I cried a bit but I think my mind was on so many other things at this point and functioning on very little sleep and then to have to get Dan's mind off of things that I don't think I had time to process that my baby was off at college. I miss her and I have talked with her almost every day. She is having a blast and joining all kinds of clubs and meeting all kinds of people. Loves her classes and is getting a tan from having to walk all over campus. I'm thrilled for her. Back to Thursday...we went straight up to the hospital when we got back into town. The stress test was good, the ultrasound showed no clots, so they decided to release him that evening. They don't know what it was, they haven't ruled out a heart attack or a blood clot. The Dr. that released him, and I use that term loosely as the man was a complete dweeb, when Dad asked if he should call 911 if this happens again told him he should just lie down and see what happens, it wasn't necessary to call 911. I about crapped my pants and so did Dan and mom. The nurse waited until the Dr. left and then told Dad that he should ignore what that azz just said and call 911 as soon as he feels any similar symptoms. Got Dad home about 8 that night and then went home to see about Abby. I had been in touch with her throughout the day and she seemed to be doing better. She was still sick to her stomach and worried about vomiting again. I stayed home from work on Friday so she wasn't alone just in case but she continued to improve as the narcotics left her system. I was practically the walking dead at that point so the weekend was spent doing absolutely nothing but sitting and resting. By Monday I felt almost human again and was back at work and now here I am. Ready to announce the winner of the giveaway! Are you still with me??? It was a long saga. But I swear it is all true. Mary Ann, my boss, says she has never seen anyone with as much drama as my family has. Let's hope for a good long stretch of calm now.

I guess I will go ahead and announce the winner and save all the other stuff for another post. So Congratulations to PegC of Lightening Fingers, you are the winner of the giveaway! Please send me an email with your snail mail address and I will get that mailed out just as soon as possible! If I don't hear from Peg within the next 7 days, I will draw another winner and announce it at that time.

Thanks again everyone for participating in my giveaway. I wanted to post on everyone else's blogs but...well...life happened and I didn't get it done.

Have a great evening!

Julie