Cliff's Notes version of weekend from hell
The full post will come later.
FRIDAY:
Go to infectious diseases doctor: find out from him that we can take care of infection. He gets nurse to put IV line in my arm and I have to do vanc therapy myself all weekend. One IV bag in morning and one at night.
Surgery is scheduled for Monday to insert the catheter in my chest
Go to work
Try to get things packed and ready
SATURDAY:
sleep in late and get on road late
hit the road to San Antonio with children
Hot Rod repeatedly kicks the back of dad's chair in the car, AoD informs me that he doesn't like road trips with children (although he said it more colorfully)
go check in hotel across from the hospitals in San Antonio (feel bad for my pity party with the really sick patients around me)
go to Sea World late - have lots of fun - determine four hours is all the fun that we can stand at theme parks - kids were AWESOME
SUNDAY:
get up late again
no pool at the hotel dammit
go to the Riverwalk and treat AoD to Hooter's for Father's Day
sit and watch children let ice cream melt on themselves along the river while listening to music
make very brief stop at the Alamo because Hot Rod wanted to see it
drive Pickle to the Boon Docks to drop him off at camp
he beebops off happily with a little apprehension while mom fights back the tears
stop at quickeemart to get air in tires, pee and get snacks
heading home till car loses power
heart stops as realize we have no power steering, no acceleration
Thankfully, AoD was driving and got us into a residential street
local man stops by and offers us his home to get the kids out of the heat
local cop stops
sounds like fuel pump, everyone agrees
wrecker comes, he takes AoD to hotel, cop takes me and kids to hotel
hotel is ok enough for the time being
order pizza and hang out
Call and cancel my surgery for Monday
MONDAY:
Wrecker tells us he can't fix it, is towing car to Chevy dealer
Chevy dealer calls, not a fuel pump but a timing belt
Go to hotel owner and ask if we can get a late check-out and explain situation
asshole hotel owner gives us till noon
call the chevy dealer and they send a SUV over and help us load up the cooler, the bags, the kids and take us to their waiting room
chevy dealer folks mortified that Prem the hotel owner was a dick to us, so they go out of their way to be nice
have lunch at Mr. Taco next to the dealer
kids play, annoy AoD, argue a bit (but were REALLY good in the grand scheme of things)
Told that head valves appear to be bent, $3000 to get a new engine to fix it all, may be less, etc, etc.
Plan to rent a car and drive home
Argue with AoD over money
Cry about situation (me, not AoD)
Service guy comes back and says, oops, something on the distributor wasn't connected, looks like hte timing belt did the trick
5:30 p.m. Finally get car and head home
Fight Austin traffic
Drop off kids at Granny and PapPa's at 9:15
Get home about 11ish
TUESDAY:
Roll out of bed
I'm heading to ID doctor to get more IV drugs
Work ALL freaking day
Surgery set for Wednesday afternoon now.
I promise, I'll write more later .... pictures to post, too.
FRIDAY:
Go to infectious diseases doctor: find out from him that we can take care of infection. He gets nurse to put IV line in my arm and I have to do vanc therapy myself all weekend. One IV bag in morning and one at night.
Surgery is scheduled for Monday to insert the catheter in my chest
Go to work
Try to get things packed and ready
SATURDAY:
sleep in late and get on road late
hit the road to San Antonio with children
Hot Rod repeatedly kicks the back of dad's chair in the car, AoD informs me that he doesn't like road trips with children (although he said it more colorfully)
go check in hotel across from the hospitals in San Antonio (feel bad for my pity party with the really sick patients around me)
go to Sea World late - have lots of fun - determine four hours is all the fun that we can stand at theme parks - kids were AWESOME
SUNDAY:
get up late again
no pool at the hotel dammit
go to the Riverwalk and treat AoD to Hooter's for Father's Day
sit and watch children let ice cream melt on themselves along the river while listening to music
make very brief stop at the Alamo because Hot Rod wanted to see it
drive Pickle to the Boon Docks to drop him off at camp
he beebops off happily with a little apprehension while mom fights back the tears
stop at quickeemart to get air in tires, pee and get snacks
heading home till car loses power
heart stops as realize we have no power steering, no acceleration
Thankfully, AoD was driving and got us into a residential street
local man stops by and offers us his home to get the kids out of the heat
local cop stops
sounds like fuel pump, everyone agrees
wrecker comes, he takes AoD to hotel, cop takes me and kids to hotel
hotel is ok enough for the time being
order pizza and hang out
Call and cancel my surgery for Monday
MONDAY:
Wrecker tells us he can't fix it, is towing car to Chevy dealer
Chevy dealer calls, not a fuel pump but a timing belt
Go to hotel owner and ask if we can get a late check-out and explain situation
asshole hotel owner gives us till noon
call the chevy dealer and they send a SUV over and help us load up the cooler, the bags, the kids and take us to their waiting room
chevy dealer folks mortified that Prem the hotel owner was a dick to us, so they go out of their way to be nice
have lunch at Mr. Taco next to the dealer
kids play, annoy AoD, argue a bit (but were REALLY good in the grand scheme of things)
Told that head valves appear to be bent, $3000 to get a new engine to fix it all, may be less, etc, etc.
Plan to rent a car and drive home
Argue with AoD over money
Cry about situation (me, not AoD)
Service guy comes back and says, oops, something on the distributor wasn't connected, looks like hte timing belt did the trick
5:30 p.m. Finally get car and head home
Fight Austin traffic
Drop off kids at Granny and PapPa's at 9:15
Get home about 11ish
TUESDAY:
Roll out of bed
I'm heading to ID doctor to get more IV drugs
Work ALL freaking day
Surgery set for Wednesday afternoon now.
I promise, I'll write more later .... pictures to post, too.
6 Comments:
At 8:49 AM, June 21, 2005,
Rachelle Jones said…
That sounds nightmarish...I am sooo sorry, about the vancomiacin therapy, and the grashong, and the car, and the crappy hotel owner(noon?) Wish there was something I could say or do to make it better....good luck with your placement today.
At 9:31 AM, June 21, 2005,
Gadfly said…
This is perhaps the most racist thing I've said in 20 years, but you know ... I remember a time when small motels in the U.S. were run by WASPs. And I distinctly remember it being better. That might just be a trick of age and memory.
At 11:10 AM, June 21, 2005,
Army of Mom said…
Thanks all for the good wishes. It turned out fine and things are ok in the grand scheme of life. It could be a lot worse and we know it.
Hotel owner was really named Prem. I didn't make that up. Indian dude. And, I have had many racist thoughts. Thing is, I like most Indians that I know ... I just couldn't believe that he was such a jerk. I told him our situation and asked for a late check out, he said he'd give me till noon (regular checkout is 11). ANd, I told him that we had no car, two small children and all our bags and he looked at me and said "can't they come pick you up?" I just looked at him and, with big tears in my eyes, said, I was just asking for a little bit of kindness. At that, I turned and decided that I'd let the whole world know what kind of dick runs the Coachway in Luling. I'll make sure the Chamber of Commerce, the PD (who referred us there) and everyone else knows, too. He was a jerk to the guy from the dealership who came to pick us up, too. Wouldn't tell him what room we were in. Told him to go start knocking on doors. Jerk.
At 5:48 PM, June 21, 2005,
Anonymous said…
I cannot believe you are able to be at work while taking antibiotics!
My last go-round with them left me feeling worse than the germs, and I slept 13 hours straight. You are one tuff broad, as all these posts have told us.
Good luck on Wednesday as well.
At 1:38 AM, June 22, 2005,
cashin said…
Thats chevy for you, always nice.
I'd have disagreed with the fuel pump from the scheme of things. Loss of other accessories before engine shut down SCREAMS a belt of some sort, especially since it was 2 different ones.
Bent head valves? Don't really know what that is but o well.
lol, you should stop posting car stuff because that's pretty much all I see.
At 5:30 AM, June 22, 2005,
Army of Mom said…
Cashin - sorry. I have no clue about car stuff either. I'm so useless when it comes to that and I infuriate the hell out of AoD because of it.
And, MrsDoF - it is hard to do it. I'm dragging all the time, so I'm only a little bit tough. AoD, I'm sure would disagree with the comment. He thinks I'm an enormous wuss. I tend to think that I put up with enough that I am entitled to be a wuss sometimes. Plus, I think if the shoe were on the other foot, he'd be a bit more sympathetic. I don't think anyone understands what it is like unless they've gone through something like it and I'm not a big tough guy. I'm a tender little gal. I only try to display a thick skin. It's all a big act.
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