Surgery, Sick, Lana del Rey

Thomas had a surgery on his arm on Monday, September 18th. He had been having significant pain for a while and had tried lesser invasive methods with no luck. We had to be at the surgical center at 6am. The older kids leave for school at 605 and we didn't want to leave Luke by himself to wake up, get ready for school, etc. With some help from friends, we had it worked out, but then Sunday night, Jack didn't feel well. He ended up staying home from school Monday, which alleviated the childcare concerns. Thomas and I got there at 6 and they took Thomas back shortly thereafter. They let me wait with him for a few minutes. Then, they wheeled him away. 

pre-surgery Thomas. They wanted to make sure they cut into the right arm!

The surgery went well--we think. The surgeon called when the surgery was done, but it was an odd conversation. The waiting room was full of people, I wasn't expecting to hear from him in a phone call, so I didn't ask the right questions. I thought we would speak in person. He said that the surgery went well and the nerve was really tight and he thought this would fix the problem (or words to that effect). I was surprised by the non-committal language. 

Eventually they let me go back to see Thomas. It took longer than expected because he was in a lot of pain and they had to do a nerve block. I got all the instructions and we left there around 1pm. Thomas was pretty out of it, he asked me repeatedly if I had his sneakers. He was very worried about leaving them behind.

Because of the nerve block, Thomas couldn't feel his arm at all for the rest of the day, which was weird for him. We are now 10 days out. There is still a lot of pain and Thomas obviously can't use his arm, which is frustrating for him, but hopefully he is on the road to full recovery. He has met with a physical therapist a couple of times and will meet with the doctor next week to hopefully get some additional answers as to what they saw and did during the surgery.

He was allowed to take the bandage off on day 5. It looked like a withered, wrinkly mess!

Day 10, looking a little better.

In the meantime, my throat was kind of sore all day Monday. It was mild, so I brushed it off. Jack also had a sore throat. On Tuesday, he still wasn't ready to go to school. Luke also stayed home with an upset stomach. By Tuesday afternoon, my throat really hurt. At this point, Jack was feeling mostly better and was planning on going to school Wednesday. I tested him for Covid and it was negative. Anna's throat hurt on Wednesday, but her test was also negative. She ended up missing a day of school as well. I took Wednesday off from work, but felt considerably better on Thursday.

By the weekend, I felt pretty good, tired, but no sore throat or anything. Saturday, I took Anna to her skating session in Lakeland (stayed far away from everyone else). It did not go well. We knew her coach wouldn't be there, but she assured us the other coach would run Anna's program. He didn't. I was really annoyed. We don't need to get up at 430am and drive to Lakeland for her just to skate, she could do that at a more reasonable time and much closer to home. We left there and I came home and took Luke to his baseball tournament (Thomas couldn't drive yet). 

I was super tired, probably a little from being sick and a lot from not sleeping enough. It had been more than a week since I had gotten a full night's sleep, which is probably why I got sick in the first place. Sunday was more baseball tournament, they played three games, including for the championship. They lost the championship game and finished 2nd out of 15 teams. We were home by 3 and I was able to take it easy the rest of the day. This was important because Monday night was Lana Del Rey!

No shame in second place!

Kara LOVES Lana del Rey. She is a musician I had never heard of prior to her becoming Kara's favorite artist a year or two ago. I am not sure if I wrote about buying the tickets. If not, I will just say it was a bit of a fiasco. I didn't grasp how popular she was and got tasked with buying tickets for Kara, her friends and myself. Thomas and I both attempted to get tickets right when they were released, but trying to get 5 proved impossible. Eventually we bought two tickets, while still trying for 3 more (figuring that would be easier than 5). Well, we never got the 3. So, I had to resell the 2, one of the friends backed out, and we bought 4 on the resale (aka ridiculously priced) market. Kara was incredibly excited. I was super nervous when I got sick, but fortunately, I was over it before the concert and more importantly, Kara never got sick.

So, Monday night, I drove Kara and 2 friends to Tampa. The drive took about 2 hours, thanks to traffic. We stopped at a Wendy's, Kara's choice, for a quick meal and arrived in plenty of time, which was important because the merchandise line took 53 minutes. The girls got matching tour shirts and we were in our seats to watch the opening act (Nikki Lane). Then, there was a 30ish minute break before Lana entered the amphitheater to 20k screaming fans. Lana was a great performer and the girls loved the concert. They screamed, cried (at least Kara's friends did) and sang-along. I served as videographer. It was a fun atmosphere (except for one idiot smoking marijuana); people dressed up to look like Lana's various album covers. The girls all said it exceeded their expectations and they were super sad it was over. We got home shortly after midnight.

Wednesday, I took Anna to Lakeland for skating again. She had a lesson with her coach and it went really well. I dropped her off and then had a meeting with my dad. We did a tour of his community's assisted living facility. My dad was under the impression that he had a life-care contract. However, we learned he is merely a renter and assisted living would cost him over 5k a month, which he cannot afford. We are still hoping he will recover from the cognitive issues, which I am 100% convinced were the result of his surgery, but if not, we will need to figure something out. For now, he is going to stay where he is. 

Practicing for her program. Less than 3 weeks to go!

And, now, I am fully caught up!