August....How it Flew By!

Well, once again, I'm behind. The month of August was crazy. First off, my sister got married (on my and Shaun's anniversary might I add). So, we spent alot of time preparing for that. We all flew out (minus Shaun) on Wednesday the 11th. I got to stay over at my best friend's house, which was the highlight of the trip!! I miss her so much! I always love getting to hang out with her. She's like the sister that I never had. I have missed all of my college friends soooo much. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see all of them since they have since moved away from Utah.... :( Maybe next time we can coordinate our schedules!!! Anyway, the wedding was fabulous and Melissa's new in-laws are also fabulous. She is very lucky to marry into a family that is so sweet and so good to her. Sadly, not everyone is that lucky. But her mother-in-law is just one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. So are her new sisters-in-law. Her father-in-law is a funny guy and was already teasing me. lol! The brothers are really cool too. We had gone over to Rich and Ronda's house twice to have dinner. I loved hanging out with all of them.
My grandparents were able to come out for the wedding and my Uncle Tom and Aunt Kris came down for the reception (they were on the way home from dropping off my cousin at college in Nevada). It was great being able to see them, even if it was for a short while.
Shaun's two brothers, Eric (whom I call Erk) and Ryan (whom I call Ryster) got to come over to my friend's house and hang out for a little bit. Its always fun to hang out with them. The day before we left, we also got to hang out with them some more. I even scared Ryster while he was sleeping on the recliner...poor guy. :) I snuck up behind him and tickled his nose with a strand of my hair. His reaction was priceless. I never had any brothers to pick on until now. Mwahahahaha! Anyway, we also got to see Shaun's little sisters. I love those girls. They are too funny. Unfortunately, I didn't get too long to hang out with the girls like I wanted to. Oh well. I'm trying to talk them into coming out to visit us in RI! We also got to see Grandma Mullis. I got to chat with her for a while. She is probably the spunkiest ladies I know. That's what I love about her. She's feisty like me! All in all, it was nice to see them.
The trip out to Utah was hectic and a little too short. We didn't get to do too many fun things since we were bombarded with wedding stuff like the flowers, the bachellorette party and so forth (hehehe). But the important thing was that the wedding went really well.
We got home Monday night (the 16th). That week was just filled with unpacking and tidying up the house. My dad got sick right after he got home. He thought he had the flu. He went in to see the doctor on Wednesday since he was feeling awful. She was my parents' new doctor because their doctor of almost twenty years retired about a month ago. She replaced him in that clinic. Anyway, he went in and she concluded that he had a virus and there was nothing he could do but to rest and have plenty of fluids. She didn't even run any tests...her first mistake. Her second mistake was that she told him that if he got worse to call her and NOT go into the ER or walk-in clinic. Apparently, they would take care of him there. Yeah...right. Friday came along and he was feeling worse. I had him watch the boys the day before because I had an audition in Boston. He looked so gray. I didn't realize how sick he was. All the times that I had talked to him on the phone earlier in the week he was just joking around. He's hard to take serious sometimes. He said funny things like how he was going to die this Saturday and mom would be in mourning so she couldn't watch the boys for me. They were supposed to go to the temple on Saturday because they are temple workers, but since he was so sick, they canceled. However, when I spoke to him, he said "I should go to the temple, seeing as I'm dying. Mom is going to look away from me sitting in my wheelchair and then look back and the chair will be empty. I'll be translated in 'the twinkling of an eye.'" Then he was talking about how after he dies, to look at a picture of him once in a while and remember the man that left us with the money we're spending now. So, I laughed at him and called him a drama queen. Then I said that I was calling Melissa to laugh at him together. Then he said, "I'm dying and you guys are making fun of me." For those that know him, you too would understand the humor in this...I'm not being insensitive. So, on Thursday I asked him if we should just take him into the emergency room. Of course his reply was, "No, I'm fine." Typical. On Friday, he called the doctor and all she did was prescribe him some anti-nausea medicine so that he wouldn't get dehydrated. She didn't even ask to see him again. All I can say is Quack. On Saturday, we went down to Warwick to visit my parents. They had taken the kids overnight on Friday since Shaun and I had tickets to see Cirque du Dream Jungle Fantasy at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods. (It was really cool, by the way). We were going to go to the beach, however, dad looked bad. So, we went shopping and bought some food that we thought he could have. When we got back, I made some pasta for him and brought it up to his room. I also brought him a popsicle and a banana. He was having a tough time breathing and I was having a tough time seeing him in that condition. He finished eating and I brought up some water for him. We all left to run errands thinking that he could sleep better without us in the house to bother him. We left at about 3:30. We got home at about 7. Mom was the first one into the house. She went into the kitchen and I heard her scream "Oh no!" She came back out into the hallway. Shaun, the kids and I were still in the foyer. From the look on her face, I thought he was dead. I screamed. Then I heard a groan in the kitchen. I dropped my Iggy's doughboys and shopping bags and ran into the kitchen. My dad was on the floor trying to lift his head off the ground. Two chairs were knocked over and he was drenched in sweat. He looked like he had gotten dressed for work. I tried pulling him off the ground after seeing that he looked like he didn't break any bones. He was completely disoriented. Shaun, came over and got him up and we helped him sit down on the chair. He was having a really hard time breathing. Consequently, between the panting, we couldn't make out much of what he was trying to say. We asked him why he came downstairs and why he was dressed to leave the house. All we could understand from him was that his lip hurt (probably from bumping his lip on the chair while trying to get up). I asked him again if he wanted to go to the emergency room. He shook his head. Finally, Shaun said, "You have two choices, Kent Hospital or RI Hospital." Dad said, "Kent." So Shaun had to help dad get to the car. Luckily, their neighbor across the street came over and helped. Shaun drove mom, dad, and Caden to the hospital and followed in our car with Landon. The whole way there, I cried and begged with the Lord not to take my dad away from me. Landon was in the back, silent as ever. I somehow made it to the hospital and ran in. They had seen the condition my dad was in and they took him in immediately. Only mom could go in for the first little bit. That was the longest 15 minutes of my life. Let's just say, I was a mess. Finally, we got the ok to go in. I had called a family friend from the ward (my parents' ward) and asked if they could come get the boys and watch them. Before I could even finish explaining, Brother Miller said he would be there and hung up immediately. He got there before we got the ok to go in. He came and sat with the boys while Shaun went in first. He asked the nurse if we could both go in together (since they would only allow two people at a time...that included my mom). Shaun came back out and warned me that dad was hooked up to a bunch of stuff but they were taking care of him. He also told me that dad's nurse, Pat, said that it was totally fine that we both go in. So, Brother Miller took the boys home with him and in we went. Dad was hooked to oxygen and an iv. He also had some machines monitoring his vitals. While we were in there, we were trying to figure out what was going on. Dad had no recollection as to why he was downstairs and for how long. Shaun said that while they were driving to the hospital, he came to and asked where they were going. He said, "I don't need to go the hospital, I'm fine." He and Shaun talked BYU football a little (Shaun testing dad's memory...lol...he's so cute). When they got to the hospital, Shaun brought a wheel chair over to dad. Dad said, "What am I an invalid??" Shaun laughed and said, "Well, kinda." Anyway, the doctor scolded us for not calling an ambulance. Dad was diagnosed with double walking pneumonia that had gone septic. The bacteria was in his bloodstream. If we hadn't brought him, he wouldn't have made it. The thought occurred to me that while I was begging Heavenly Father to spare his life on the way to the hospital, He already had. If dad had stayed in bed, we wouldn't have brought him into the ER when we did. At the risk of sounding cliche, blessings do come in mysterious ways. Dad was in the ICU for a few days. They moved him out into another part of the hospital that was a step down from the ICU. Those first few nights I barely slept. I worried about him and I also wanted to march into that clinic and give that doctor a piece of my mind for almost killing my dad. But I never did, in case we were going to take legal action against her (which I'm not even sure dad is going to do that...he may just yell at her himself.) When they moved him, the doctor in that part of the hospital did some research. He concluded that dad actually had Legionnaires' disease (google it, it's interesting). It is still type of pneumonia however it is not contagious. You get it from faulty or dirty AC units. We found out that my grandparents also had pneumonia. My grandpa was also hospitalized for a couple days. They didn't have it as bad as dad did, or it was caught earlier. We then concluded that they got it from their hotel room out in Utah. They stayed in the same room for two of the nights. The hotel was nice too. Something that you would not expect out of a hotel like that. That just scares me now. Anyway, dad got home the next Sunday (the day after Melissa and Travis' second reception out in RI...yup he missed it because he was in the hospital...I think he did it on purpose!) That was the first Sunday that we went back to our own ward. We missed the first Sunday because of the wedding, and the second because of the scare that dad gave us. Apparantly, everyone in the stake had heard. I had people coming up to me looking for updates. People were in tears and very upset over him being so sick. The week that we stayed with mom in Warwick, the phone was ringing off the hook with people who were worried about him. It was nice to see the support of all of the wonderful people in the stake. Dad had done so much for all of them and worried over them too and they knew it. Anyway, dad got the week off of work after he got home. I had to teach voice lesson everyday that week. On Wednesday, I pulled into the driveway and saw that his car was missing. I thought, "Great, he's delusional again and gone off to who knows where." So, I called him. He answered and I asked him where he was. "I'm at work....but don't tell mom." Ugh. I only agreed to do so if he hurried home and didn't do it again. Oh dad. Luckily, he's doing better now, however his gallbladder is acting up due to the disease. So, he'll have to get that removed soon. Other than that, all is well!
The last weeks of the month were spent trying to prepare my student for her audition to get into the music program at URI. She has done fabulously and I have no doubt that she'll get in. Her last lesson was today and she got me a little gift. She had gotten me a cute little hand purse from Vera Bradley. I usually don't like Vera Bradley. I personally think its a little old ladyish...maybe its just because the ones that I have seen have been ugly. However, this one is way cute! She works at Vera Bradley so she knows which ones are the cute ones. lol! So, tomorrow is her audition and I'm heading down to URI to help her warm up and prepare. Then I will wait for her to audition. She should know after she's done, whether she got in or not. I figured that I should be there with her. I have a long day tomorrow, so I should get to sleep! I'll write again tomorrow with an update and hopefully good news!!