Long Week

I don't even know where to begin other than I've had one of the most hellish weeks I can ever remember.  If you haven't noticed, and really, I don't blame you if you haven't, I've been MIA from the blog world this past week.  Since my last post I have had my world turned upside down.

It all started last Saturday when my dad called me to tell me he was rushing my mom to the ER with heart attack symptoms.  After many tests they ruled that out and sent her home as being merely "stressed."  Little did I know that it was just the beginning.

Sunday I got another call in the early morning that my dad was again bringing my mom back to the ER as she had severe abdominal pain and was throwing up.  We were there for what felt like an eternity.  We waited on test after test, CT scans, x-rays, blood work.  Finally, after 9 hours they told us she had a ruptured appendix and needed surgery right away!  We had no idea that morning when we brought her in that we would end the day sitting in a surgery waiting room.

Her case was severe.  It had ruptured and sent toxic stuff through her abdomen and bowels.  Originally they told us she would be home by Tuesday.  But Tuesday turned into Wednesday, and Wednesday turned into Thursday and so forth.  Today is Monday, 9 days later and she still isn't home.  The infection went gangrene and really hit her hard.  The worst day was Friday when she seemed to have regressed, ending up on oxygen and pretty incoherent.  It has been a hard week since my dad had started a new job and couldn't be there much.  My brother lives about 120 miles away in Sacramento and couldn't be here much, and on top of it all, my sister's boyfriend had heart surgery on Tuesday.  As of yesterday she is doing 100% better as compared to Friday and they are talking about sending her home today or tomorrow.  Fingers crossed. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty bad, too.  I was back and forth between two hospitals with my sister's boyfriend at one and my mom at another.  He was going to have a simple procedure where they shock the heart back into normal rhythm, but the doctor made a mistake during it and cut an artery in his leg that left him bleeding out on the table.  That was a roller coaster of emotions, as my heart was hurting for my sister, Joe and my mom.  Thankfully Joe should be okay, he's out, but in a ton of pain in his leg.  And the crappy thing is, they didn't finish the procedure and have to do it again in a month!  Oy vey!

Through all of this my running has suffered.  Normally when I'm stressed or worried, my running is my sanctuary.  It is my time to think only of one foot in front of the other, my breathing and my foot steps.  But this week, running was hard.  My legs and heart were heavy and they didn't want to move.  It really made me mad as the week before I had a great running week, finishing up with just over 45 miles nailing every pace and distance.  This past week though, hitting three miles was difficult.  I managed one 7 mile run, and a couple of 5 mile runs, but really three was my limit.  I even had a half marathon race to run yesterday but I just couldn't do it.  I got all the way to the race and decided that I couldn't muster through 13 miles.  I knew I would be miserable and angry and didn't need to add any more stress.  So I came home defeated.  I was more mad because I really wanted to try and hit my PR again as the course holds my 1:36 half mary PR time.  But I knew yesterday wasn't the day.  I ended the week with 21 miserable miles.

Today I'm hoping that we get some good news and she will be on her way home.  She will still need a lot of help when she gets home so I will be still taking care of her.  But it will be a million times better than having to spend the day at the hospital.  I now know what it's like to take care of an ill parent.  It's draining, it's scary and it's the most difficult thing I have ever had to deal with. 

Thanks for reading this and letting me dump it all on you.  But I thought I would let you all know where I've been :)  I haven't turned my computer on in a week.  I know I'm so behind on catching up on all your fun running and races!  I promise this week I'll get caught up! 

Hope you all have a great week!  I'll drop by soon and say hey!
Happy Monday and Happy Running peeps!