October 31st...Darrell finds out that he has an infection. Don't ask me what the name of the infection was because once his doctor said it, my brain refused to hold onto the word. Oh, I will tell you though that it's an infection that men get. So a round of antibiotics and visit over.
November 6 th...Darrell hurts his ankle, badly, at his softball game. Emergency room visit to find out if it's a sprain or broken. X-ray shows it was as bad of a sprain as you could get. Sent home with pain meds and crutches.
At this point he is still taking his antibiotics for his infection, pain meds for his ankle and is unable to work for a week.
November 17 th...Goes back to the doctor because the ankle is still horribly swollen and Darrell cannot put any weight on it. More x-rays and MRI's to see if something isn't healing properly. Antibiotics from infection are over with but still out of work.
Week of Thanksgiving:
November 21st...Darrell sees an orthopedic surgeon. Luckily no surgery is needed but has to wear a boot for two weeks.
Darrell is finally able to go back to work but since he does home theaters/data work, he is restricted. Hey, some work is better than none right?
The same day, I take Tyson to the vet due to some weight loss. After an urinalysis and blood work, I was told he had an infection but they are unable to find it at this point. Sent home with several antibiotics and told to increase his food by double.
November 22 nd...take another urine sample to the vets office to see if there is a change in Tyson. No new findings.
November 25 th...Take Tyson back to the vet for a checkup and more tests. Still unable to find the infection but he gained almost 10 pounds within that week, so that was a good sign.December 5 th...Darrell goes back to the orthopedic surgeon. Ankle is doing better, but has to continue to wear the boot for another week then transition into a brace.
At this point we both are thinking ok things are getting better. Darrell's infection is gone, ankle is getting better, hes able to work, somewhat and Tyson is doing better. WRONG!!
That night (12.5) around 9pm Darrell starts complaining of bad stomach pain. Now, Darrell has had stomach problems his whole life so we thought maybe it was something he ate. He takes his stomach medicine and lays down. He complains that its getting worse and worse, to the point where I can hear absolute agony in his voice. We decided that it was time to go to the emergency room. Once he tried to get up and move, the pain got worse. I had to call for an ambulance. Seven hours later in the emergency room, we find out that his colon has failed and he was being admitted. When we heard the words" failed colon", we were like, what does that even mean? Well, no lies, it means just that!!
Darrell remained in the hospital for five days. I have never seen him in so much pain and discomfort, so weak and miserable. It was the longest five days we have ever had together. His week consisted of getting sick due to all the IV's, laying in the fetal position for almost three days straight, unable to eat for four days and unable to go to the restroom for almost four days. My week was hospital visits, very little work, home to get a few hours of sleep, to give Tyson his medicine and to keep things in order. In those five days, we only had about 20 hours of sleep...combined. Can't make that up. We received no answers as to why his colon failed, what caused it and yes, it can happen again. Apparently it's more common than we thought and it can happen to anyone at any given time. For those who know Darrell, you can only imagine what his attitude was like by the fourth day...it was the Darrell Park we all know and love (sarcasm)! December 9 th...Home sweet home. Darrell gets released from the hospital. Several antibiotics and pain medications to add to the list. He decides to quit smoking, cold turkey, and change his diet. I'm very proud of him for doing both. I'm not a smoker and I eat pretty healthy so I can only imagine how hard it was for him to go from smoking everyday to not at all and eating fast food quite a bit to eating vegetarian once a week. Extremely proud.
At this point we both have had it and are completely exhausted from the past months "mishaps". That night Darrell looks at me and said "it cant get any worse". HA it can and it does!!
December 15 th...Darrell has to go to Chicago for work so Tyson and I go with him the night before and stay the night. Work for him and a little rest for me. Though Ty seemed to be getting better the first week of taking his antibiotics, at this point something just doesn't seem right. He has stopped eating, getting around is a bit of a struggle, he's coughing and his breathing is labored. On the drive up to Chicago, I asked Darrell, "what if Ty is slowly passing away"? Darrell's response was, " that could very well be but I want you to know you gave him an amazing life". Though it devastated me to say and think that, I now look back and realize that at that moment I knew it was the end for him.
December 16 th...This part is hard to get through still. I take Ty back to the vet for some x-rays. This time I'm not getting any type of good news. I'm only there to say sleep well my friend. I don't even remember making the phone call to Darrell letting him know Ty has cancer. He's asking me questions that I can't answer because I'm completely blank. He is there by my side within a matter of minutes. Believe me when I say that if I could have done something, I would have. The vet was certain Tyson wouldn't have made it another week. It was unknown if he would pass peacefully and did I really want to take that chance of letting him pass naturally when I didn't know? We did know that he wasn't in pain...yet and so we had to make that awful decision that no pet owner wants to make. I would continue but my eyes are filled with tears to the point where I can barely see the computer screen. To wrap this horrible day up...Tyson is home and buried in the five acres he used to run around on.
December 17th and18 th...The house is extremely quite and just not the same. After several phone conversations with Darrell's mom and facebook conversations with the wonderful Lynn Cloyd, Darrell and I decide to get out of the house and take a gander at some dogs that are up for adoption. I was unsure about this because I was miserable. Darrell convinced me to just test the waters. Surprised at how well we did with the dogs, we picked out three we liked and went home to talk about the options. We go back out on Sunday to another adoption site. Darrell and I both notice the same puppy at the same time. She's shy but comes to us and she has us hooked. Her name was Joy and born on the same date as Tyson was. Darrell said "well maybe this is a sign and she is going to bring joy to our life". Corny but he sold it...we take her home. Her name is now Luna and shes almost four months old. We couldn't ask for a better puppy.
Christmas has arrived and we are surrounded by friends and family. There is a sigh of relief, days have gone by, no surprises have popped up. Life is great and getting back to normal for us. We have a wonderful Christmas but cant wait for the new year. I don't even give 2011 a courtesy wave. Darrell and I reflect on everything that has happened the past few months and decide that 2012 is going to be different. We both have never been for resolutions but change is sometimes good and a list of ten resolutions is made for 2012. (Throughout the year I will be blogging about our ten resolutions and keeping you updated WHEN they get crossed off).
So there you go. That was how our year ended. Pretty stressful but we are a team and we pulled together. I don't think there is much more to say other than at any given point did you say holy crap?! Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday season. Cheers to the new year!!
No comments:
Post a Comment