Happy Tuesday my friends!  I hope your Thanksgiving was filling and satisfying, and your upcoming holiday isn’t too stressful.

I had an interesting experience last week! Mom had an appointment at the local urologist’s office, it was a follow up from the CT scan she had the week prior.  Interestingly enough, this was the same place that told us in June of 2022, to not come back, because UTI’s are super common in old people, don’t bother testing for the UTI at home because it will always come back positive, only bring her in if she starts to act crazy.   She landed in the hospital again at the end of October, because she fell from being so weak from the UTI she had been fighting for a while, remember that was the time where the hospital tried to send her home when she wasn’t ready….and I had to fight to keep her in there until they figured out what they were going to do to get her strong enough to go home….it was a shit show, that was exhausting and frustrating.    

After she got out of the hospital she had a follow up with her general practitioner early November….who sent her to the same damn urologist office that told us not to come back.  I considered canceling her appointment but decided to just go with it and see what happened. 

Anyhow…back to the original story for Pete’s sake….

The CT results were so alarming that they called us and wanted to see us promptly, so I set up an appointment for the following day.  I had to work that day, so her caregiver transported mom into town, and I met them over there.  The three of us were sitting in the office chatting, kidding around, and laughing.  The nurse came in and took mom for an xray, mom came back in, we continued to sit in the little room and visit. 

Then the door opens again…in walks this lady who I’ve been following on IG for the last several months.  I had just told the caregiver about this doctor and how amazing she is, and how much I admired her.  And here she walks into the room!!  It was crazy!  I almost fell out of my chair!  I had no idea she was local!!

Her name is Kelly, she’s a straight forward, tell it like it is-type person.  She’s very knowledgeable in her field, and here she is looking at my mom’s chart, telling us mom has kidney stones in her pee pipes, making UTIs a constant battle, and all she needs to do is have an outpatient surgery to get rid of them. 

WHAT?  The last three years we’ve been fighting this, and this is all the issue is?  Granted, it might not be that easy of a fix, but, honestly – WHY…..WHY…..have we not looked at this until just now? 

It wasn’t Kelly who ordered the CT scan, it happened to be the same ass hat that told her not to come back – remember the words “do not come back, no need…”, I wonder what changed for the ass hat to order a CT scan? 

I should be happy that we might have found the issue – but honestly, I can’t help but wonder what life could have been like if we had tried this sooner. 

I’m worried mom will not do the surgery, I’m worried it will take a lot out of her, it’s possible some of those stones are stuck like “concrete”, if that’s the case, she has to have two surgeries, she scared, rightfully so mind you, but man….here we are….why was this so difficult?  People will tell me it doesn’t matter now, that at least we have a direction now…..that doesn’t help me feel any better right now, right now I’m just angry that we’ve had to deal with all of this for the last three years, when it could have been found a long time ago. 

So, now we wait, they have to look over her chart to be sure she can handle this surgery as an outpatient, and hopefully get it scheduled.  I’m hoping Kelly will be the one that can do her surgery, she said they want to do it sooner than later, so there more phone calls to make and paperwork to wait for.  It’s exhausting….but hopefully this will make a big difference in mom’s quality of life and it will all be worth it. 

I know mom is a bit scared because she’s recently lost her close friend Bill in July, and her other friend Glenda, just passed away about a week and a half ago. It’s scary for sure, the unknown is always difficult to face.  But we can face it together, and help her through it. 

As for new baby news….our GB #4 was born mid-November.  She’s beautiful, healthy, happy and amazingly well.  Mom and baby are troopers, everything went really well with the birth process.  Lily is over the moon to have “her baby” here, there’s even a picture of Nora and Lily locking eyes last week – it’s certainly sure to be the beginning of a wonderful sibling relationship, I’m sure!    

We were able to be with Lily while mommy and daddy took care of business with Nora.  I was able to provide meals and time to hang out with everyone for a bit, it was so lovely, such a treat, and such an honor! 

Off I go to finish out the workweek, and prepare for the holiday gatherings coming up – ornament day (at the daughter-in-law’s), cookie day (at my sisters), presents & pizza day (at our house) sleep overs, and craft day (at my house) for my mom’s birthday.  All of which I’m super looking forward to!  I’m sure the holiday break will fly by!  The weather is looking very unremarkable, which will be a bit of okay.

Until next time my friends, hugs to you.