April...showers

It has been a rough couple of months.

You know that saying, "when it rains, it pours?" I believe it. I realize there is never a good time in our busy lives to deal with turmoil or drama, but seriously, sometimes the timing of it ALL, is just bad.

Since this is a public location, I will not go into the details of my work drama. Let's just say, it has been a BAD month. Really bad. Things happening outside of my control, getting pulled into issues that I have never had to deal with, having my hand slapped for things that I was held responsible for (though never warned I was was responsible for), and an absolute butt-load of work. And yes, I just wrote butt-load. That is the nice way of saying the amount of work that has hit me over the head this month. When I tell you I have been working 12 and 14 hour days, without feeling like I even make a dent in the work, surely that says something. Heck, the intense pain in my back and neck and the tension headaches I keep having say something about this workload. It sucks.

Yesterday, I finally breathed a sigh of relief, not because it's done, but because I could see a dent in the pile. There was progress. I'm no where near the light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm doing my best to balance life a little. Lots of work = stressed, not-fun Melody, who often snaps at people (mainly Jesse and Ryleigh), who lives in a dirty house, with a never-ending to-do list. I just keep praying that this will all be over soon, and when all is said and done, someone will look back and say, wow- that girl works hard. Even if that someone does not say it until the judgement day. :)

I wont mention my continued morning sickness or Ryleigh getting sick, and the drama we have had with Jesse's job. Too much whining for one day. So, enough about me and my pity party. My stressful life has been nothing compared to a few other people I know and love.

My sister Sarah and her husband Micah have had quite a difficult couple of months. A few weeks/months ago, Sarah had been sick and so Micah took her to the doctor's office. While they were there, Micah passed out and starting having a pretty severe seizure. Originally, they went to see a neurologist to figure out what had happened in his brain to cause the seizure. They had him complete a sleep-deprived test to trigger the seizure and watch his brain waves. Sure enough, they triggered the seizure...and also caused his heart to stop. It started back up on its own, but a few more seconds, and they would have had to use the paddles. They scheduled an appointment with a cardiologist, who actually called them before their scheduled appointment wanting to see him right away. Within days, he was admitted to the hospital and being prepped for heart surgery to place a pacemaker. Please remember, this is a 26-year-old male. Most pacemaker candidates are over 50! Anyway, so sure enough they had the surgery as planned, and inserted the pacemaker, and within 48 hours, he was discharged to go home. A few days later, while changing the bandages, they noticed that the wound looked funny and had been oozing- not good. So they took him to the ER (it was after hours) and had it checked out in the same hospital where the surgery took place. The next morning, Sarah still did not feel right about it, so she called the doctor who performed the surgery, who immediately sent them back to the hospital. Micah was re-admitted and on watch for infection. Mind you, Micah felt fine and was extremely irritated about this. Within 24 hours, he was diagnosed with a stapph infection at the site of the wound, right over his heart. Not a good place for an infection! He was treated by serious IV antibiotics, hoping to clear it out, with no luck. A second heart surgery was scheduled to remove the current pacemaker and insert a new pacemaker to the other side of his heart. Meanwhile, the doctor spoke of transferring him to another doctor/hospital downtown, because he simply did not feel comfortable performing the procedure. Apparently,putting in a pacemaker is routine. Taking one out, is not. And its very risky. They literally are pulling it out of the heart muscle, hoping that when they pull, it does not tear a hole in the heart. The risks of course, are much higher, and if a hole is pulled, open heart surgery right then and there is inevitable. I could not sit in Houston while all this was going on, so Ryleigh and I went up to be there. As it turns out, they were not able to transfer Micah to another hospital, due to a shortage of beds, so the specialist doctor had to come out to him. The doctor did not feel it would be wise to remove one pacemaker and attempt to put in another one- no need to open new holes with a stapph infection! So, he performed the removal surgery and left the wound open and packed with antibiotics designed to draw the infection out and away from the wound. This surgery was much more painful for Micah, and he was in the hospital for over a week. They finally sent him home, but with home health care to come by and clean his open wound, check his heart, etc. He cannot be left alone, because without a pacemaker, and all the trauma his heart has endured, they dont want anything to happen. So, family has been staying with them non-stop. The plan is to make sure all signs of infection are gone, give his heart some time to recoup, and then have a third heart surgery to insert a new pacemaker into the other side of his heart. Needless to say, it has been a scary and emotional time for them. Not to mention the fact that he was supposed to be starting a new job and moving this month! Now he is on short-term disability and just praying his new boss is patient. They will celebrate their 1st anniversary in a few weeks, and I just cannot imagine all they have endured in their first year of marriage. Please pray for physical healing, emotional healing, and a little rest for their weary bodies and souls.

On to the next health prayer. My other sister, Sarah's twin, Susan and her fiance Brent, have been having their own share of issues!! Brent is a professional hockey player, and had been playing hurt for awhile. When I say, "hurt" I mean, it was STUPID of his team to ask him to play. Brent suffered a concussion awhile back and continued to play. He was having severe headaches and finally got it checked out by someone wise. It turns out he had several concussions, somehow stacked on top of each other, and his brain was a mess! Needless to say, he was officially pulled from playing hockey, as well as doing anything else in his life!! He has to rest his brain, meaning, no driving, no reading, no movies, no nothing. No nothing. Nothing. Catch that? What in the world do you do? Sleep? Well, since he was already out for this injury, he decided to have someone take a look at his shoulder too. Sure enough, it had some pretty significant damage and required surgery. Brent figured it was a good time, since he was already laying low, to take care of it.Problem was, due to his brain injury, they could not put him under. When he heard that he was going to have to be awake, he said "heck no!" So, back to the drawing boards, and sure enough the doctor agreed to put him under, which was a risk in and of itself. He had his shoulder surgery last week, and it went well, though with a lot of pain. Within 48 hours, they were discharged, and headed home to heal. Pray for their patience during this healing process and wisdom from the team doctors before attempting to let him (or anyone else!) play when hurt.

My mom lost her job about 2 months ago. It was a shock, and not a welcomed event. BUT, it has been a blessing in disguise, as she has suddenly been freed up to help out with all the family drama lately. She was able to go spend a week with my granddad when he was released from rehab and able to go home. She was able to go be with Sarah during each of Micah's surgery, and able to stay with them this week, allowing Sarah to go back to work and Micah to not be left alone. She has helped me out with Ryleigh during all my crazy work drama. She might need a little break and downtime from family once this is all said and done, but she sure has been a life saver for the rest of us!

So yeah, when it rains, it pours.

On a side note, I thought it was ironic that I started this post over the weekend, and then literally it rained for 36 hours straight, flooding large portions of Houston. I think they said we received 8 inches on Sunday night within a matter of hours. That's a lot of rain. Kind o a down pour, I would say.

And sure enough, that's what this month has been. A down pour. I'm sorry I have been absent from blogland, but there are only so many hours in a day! I'm just hoping that some of these April showers will bring...yep, you guessed it....May flowers.

You turned my wailing into dancing;

you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Psalms 30:11-12