What the...?

Weather update: Absolutely beautiful. Cool. Low Humidity. Bring on Fall!

I know it's been a while since my last post, (and I was getting better about posting more regularly, too. Rats.) but I've spent the better part of this past week in the hospital, sitting next to my husband. He's got diverticulitis - which is basically when pouches form in the lining of the colon (wonderful!), and they get either inflamed or infected. A common belief is that a low-fiber diet plays a huge role in it, but really, that's neither here nor there right now. All I know is that he's been on IV antibiotics for a week now and they don't seem to be working. He's most likely going to have to have surgery later this week. And since he is considered to be very young to get this (36), there's a greater chance of recurrence. Great. Just what I needed to hear.

Let me catch you up on my week. I was down the shore last weekend with the kids, visiting my in-laws. It was a lovely weekend - not too hot, not too humid. Almost perfect. Then at midnight Saturday (or Sunday, depending on how you look at it) the phone rings. Now, I knew my brother in law was out and about, and it's not uncommon for him to call late - but this was late even for him.

A few minutes later, my mother in law is in the hallway whispering for me (I had just decided to go to bed. It's a looong day with the Boy and the Girl and the pool), and she tells me my husband just called and he wants me to call him on his cell.

Never good. Nowhere in the history of the telephone does a good call come at midnight.

I get him and he tells me his stomach hurt. Now, he's always been prone to stomach problems (now I know why), and usually I tell him he's being a baby and to go to bed. But I swear, I've never heard him sound so awful - I could actually hear the pain in his voice.

Now, I was an hour and a half away from home. So I tell him to hang up and call the local rescue squad (which is literally right around the corner from our house.) But no. He doesn't want the ambulance, and the lights, and the police cars (God save me from stubborn-ass men!)

So he drives himself to the ER.

Ay yi yi.

Well, I get off the phone with him, tell my mother in law I've got to go home (my mom was down there with us as well, so I woke her to tell her, then proceeded to spend the next fifteen minutes insisting she didn't need to come north with me to sit in the ER. Besides, she needed to help my mother in law with the kids.)

I get dressed, grab my purse and cell, and head out, leaving everything else behind. I made it to the hospital in a little under and hour and a half - I had to stop for coffee, even though I was pretty much wide awake.

I get to the ER and he's got an IV and is on pain meds. My first thought is appendicitis. Ah, no big deal, right? Piece of cake. Snip, snip, and we'll be on our way.

No.

I sat with him from 1:30 AM until 7:30AM, when the doctor finally came in. He had a CAT scan around 3:30AM, and the doctor had the results.

Diverticulitis.

Damn it.

But, they thought the antibiotics would clear it up. No problem. He'll be out of there by Thursday.

No.

DAMN IT!

The antibiotics don't seem to be doing jack. So he'll have another CAT scan on Tuesday (God forbid the doctor's holiday weekend plans get messed up) and then we'll know.

So that's why I haven't been around lately. Everything's on hold until this passes. Right now, I just don't have the energy to do much more than come home from the hospital and vege out. As soon as things settle a little, I'll get back to regular posting. But for now, my family comes first. Between two kids, trips to the hospital, and the edits for my upcoming book, I have very little time and even less energy to deal with much else.