My Saturday

My Saturday the 24th was a whole bunch of mixed up and changed plans that actually ended up being a pretty nice day.  I can tell you for sure that I NEVER would have dreamed when I woke that morning that I’d have done what I did.

Let me explain.  Kelli was supposed to work a 12 hour shift at the hospital on Saturday.  I try not to do childcare for the kids on Saturdays or Sundays unless they are desperate.  Having kids 10 hours a day, five days a week can be a lot.  Having kids on the weekend on top of that leaves me with little time that I can get stuff done around here.  I decided that on this particular Saturday I would help Kelli out a bit.  She had to be at work at 7am and she had one of my childcare parents (who needed a baby fix) lined up to watch Georgie but she didn’t want to ask them to take her at 6:15am.  So I was to keep Georgie until 8am or so and then take her there.  I’d get the rest of the day to myself.  Well..that didn’t happen.

Kelli got put on call.  There weren’t enough patients for the amount of nurses who were working so Kelli got called off work.  She did some calculating and figured they’d have to get 7 patients admitted before she’d get called in.  (The record for admitted patients in a 12 hour shift is 6 so it was VERY unlikely she’d get called in.)

Kelli and I made the decision to go down to the Amish and get some produce and groceries.  We each took a vehicle and we strategically parked hers in a spot, should she get called in that she could quickly get to work.

No trip to the Amish is complete without a stop to our favorite bakery.  It’s the small sign in the weeds.

This time of year the Amish gardens are amazing.  I’m really good aboutnot taking many pictures there.  Their religious beliefs frown on cameras so I respect their beliefs when I am there….trust me, it’s gorgeous.

Georgie was really good.  We did have to stop to feed her….This beautiful bench came in handy….

Once our shopping was done Kelli reminded me that we are really close to the Mexican restaurant we like so…off we went to eat.

While there Kelli asked how my niece Jody was doing.  I told her that I didn’t know.  I had messaged her but she didn’t answer back.  That bothered me a bit as she always answers.  I told Kelli I’d message her again and check.  I grabbed my phone and messaged her.  We knew Jody had been hospitalized after a rough patch in her chemo treatments.  She had spiked a temp and that put her in the hospital.

Jody ended up messaging me back but it was odd and didn’t “sound” like Jody.  That got me worried as she didn’t seem right.  What I got from the the messages was that her temperature spiked again, her blood pressure was too low, at one point she wasn’t responding and she was now in ICU.  OH NO!  Kelli and I debated.  From where we were we were only just over an hour from the hospital.  Was I over acting?  Was she okay?  So much of what I gathered from her message sounded like Roger’s time in the hospital.  AHH.  Who could I call to find out what was happening.  Was it appropriate that I call?

I decided to call Jody’s dad, my brother in law.  I didn’t have the right number so I messaged Jody’s daughter and asked for the right number.  She got it for me.  Once I talked to my brother in law, he said pretty much what I gathered from Jody’s text.  Kelli and I decided we were going to the hospital.  She quickly called into work and told them the situation and that she would take PTO or whatever she needed to do to not come be called into work.

Off we went.

On our way we called the other kids to let them know.  Buck lives right in Cedar Rapids where we were headed and Kayla lives just a bit away.  They both made plans to come too.

We ended up meeting up with everyone in the waiting room.  Jody’s son Matt was happy to play with his second cousin Georgia.  He’s a precious kid.

I got to see Jody and so did Kelli and Kayla.  We all took turns.  I imagine she was pretty pooped by the time we all saw her.  She was doing okay.  She was her talkative self that I love.  We’re hoping this is a speed bump for her and she’s back home soon.  Even with her cancer she fights to get to the kids’ events and still volunteers as much as she possibly can.  I know her, and I know she fights for each day so she can spend it with the kids.   Most of our conversation wasn’t about her or how she was, it was all about missing the first day of school and her oldest kids car shopping.  She’s a great mom.

After we left, my kids and I went out for supper…then we all parted ways.  Kelli and I still weren’t done with our day.  I needed groceries.  By the time I finally pulled into the garage here it was 10pm.  It was a long day.  I was nothing like I had planned but I’m sure happy we made the choices we did.  Visiting Jody and seeing her family was the perfect way to spend our day.  I only wish Jody hadn’t been sick.

In the mix of all of this Kelli and I got a chance to visit the quilt shop in Oelwein.  It isn’t Lou Ann’s Quilt Garden anymore…it’s now Farmer’s Daughters Quilts and Retreat Center.  You’ll have to stop back and in a future blog post I’ll tell you more about that.