We're In Crisis Mode Now

I’ll confess that I have initiated a number of new blog entries over the last month and I have not completed one of them. The volume of words I have typed over the last thirty days easily surpasses, by an order of magnitude, that of any month since I began this blog.

The distressing news about Sandy has only increased, and seems inversely proportional to the ease with which I can communicate it.

The topics in each of the attempts were far reaching, including Hannah’s recent trip to Ohio to play for the Maryland U-13 lacrosse team, a recent NBAC swim meet, and Haley’s gymnastics injury. Her spinal injury could be an entry by itself. They included lacrosse tournaments for both girls’ SkyWalkers teams and mine, and the successful completion of the school year by both girls (with tremendous performances by both—we can forgive a single B in chorus, right?). Also during this time, all four of us went to Michigan to visit my mom as her health was declining. It was a warm, positive experience for all of us, despite the underlying sadness. I started to share the eerily parallel experience, as my mom struggles with the final moments of her war with cancer. As you would also expect, there were several attempts to synthesize Sandy’s struggles into bite size pieces, digestible by all. I get half way through, and the indigestion is prohibitive.

Simply put, we have been in crisis mode. Sandy was admitted to a Hospice inpatient facility late this afternoon. This was after several days of decline, where the pain and discomfort became overwhelming. Sandy was scheduled to have a single dose of radiation on the vertebra at C3 today, because of her broken neck, but she was just too sick to get out of bed and make it to Hopkins for treatment. When she finally made it out of bed at around noon, she collapsed on the floor. The medications are inadequate to manage her pain, and it became necessary to intensify the focus and attention to her comfort. She could only get this in an inpatient facility with consistent nursing attention.

As of this writing, we are hopeful that her discomfort can be managed effectively. We will take measures to prepare the house for her return, hopefully very soon. It is a terribly sad process to witness.

I apologize for how discontiguous this post must appear. As you probably gather, the crisis only deepens.

Please check back. I will try to fill in some of the gaps and keep this site updated.