My Life

My life, these last two months, has become like a novel you would read where bad things happen so much that you finally are forced to put the book down shouting, “I get it already. This person has it BAD!”
The only difference is that the book is something that you know is fiction. My life is real. No one would believe that these things have actually happened, it really does sound like I made it up.
In the beginning of September, DH was hired at a school district 3 ½ hours away. We helped him move in, and Sept. 11th was our last “normal”, ”happy” day. I should have been warned, just from that date!
My FIL ended up back in the hospital for antibiotic treatments, and the next weekend my MIL had a major stroke. Each was in the hospital, but in different cities – an hour apart. They both deteriorated every day, and we thought it was the end, but on the same day, without talking to one another, they both improved. FIL was sent home with a special line so that he could go to the hospital every day for antibiotic IV treatments as an outpatient. MIL was released home with her now almost non-existent short term memory.
For weeks, six to be exact, I have driven to their home two to three times every week. They live 30 minutes away. I will help them clean, go grocery shopping, do laundry, whatever would make them happy. On the weekends when my DH comes home to see us, he would have to drive the same 30 minutes one-way to take his father to the hospital for the treatments. After six weeks of treatment, my FIL was no better, and now faces surgery this week for his aortic anuerysm. Because of his emphysema, the doctors have warned him that he may not survive the surgery.
This weekend would have been the first “normal” weekend in months. My mother, who has been sick for two and a half years, went with a friend to visit the friend’s aunt for the week. She has ended up in the hospital with a kidney stone, bladder and kidney infection that spread to the blood, and a low white blood cell count. This was the kicker. I have dipped into the sherry each night, and I have to admit to smoking a couple of cigs even with my asthma in bad form. Hey, I’m human, lay off!
Mom should be discharged from the hospital in Rock Island, Illinois today and come home tomorrow with her friend. I debated a thousand times about going there, and I will spare you the guilt ridden conversations that I have had with her friend, and I will also spare you the saga of my poor relationship with my mother.
Anyway, my sanity has been retained through most of this by finishing one of the baby gifts. Just take a look at how fantastic the Dale of Norway Fanasaeter pattern is.

Bestill my heart.... I can see the little German/Indonesian baby filling this up. Apparently others could also see the imaginary baby while I worked on the romper, as several staff at the hospital where my MIL had her procedure came up to ask me, ‘What are you doing to that baby?” only to realize that there was no baby there.
Some more photos and project facts:
Pattern: Dale of Norway FanasaeterYarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull in creamGauge: An incredible amount of stitches on sizes 0 and 2 US needles. Start Date: Somewhere between my FIL’s first hospitalization and his second. Let’s see – that would be about Sept. 1rst.Finish Date: November 1, 2005 at 11:45 pm.
Now I’ve started the same pattern in lavendar for size 6 months for my friend who cannot be named in case she visits. Darn, she is probably my only pregnant friend right now, so she will figure it out. Don’t look, Sharon!