Sorry guys, it's been a rough Sept/Oct/Nov for me. I'm not posting this for any personal reasons other than I felt you guys would like to know where I have been lately. Well, maybe a little personal reason of just getting it off my chest. Why the sporadic appearances.
Sept started off with union members for the company I work for going on strike. This strike caused a ripple effect that caused the company to do Furloughs. The plan was furlough one week a month for the length of the strike. That ended after 1 month as the company kind of went on hold that first month. Instead they are going to do lay-offs. I hope to not be in that group. Time will tell. My week for furlough was Oct 14-18. Really sucked not working and not being paid. It turned out to be a mixed blessing as my mom was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia the week before. Within 3 days of being in the hospital, my mom went from conscious, talking and aware of what was going on around her to going into afib, needing a respirator, and basically a zombie in bed. During this time she also ended up suffering 3 mini strokes that did who knows what. Due to the furlough, I was able to be at the hospital with my mom, dad, brother and whoever else from the family stopped by.
Initially my mom was expected to be on the respirator for 2-3 days. My mom's DNR stated only to do life saving measures if she was able to come off it in a few days. After 2 weeks in the hospital, 12 days on the respirator with no signs of coming out of it. My dad made the hard decision to enact her DNR. It's what she would have wanted. To me, it seemed like she was already gone and we were prolonging the inevitable. I'll tell you, taking a loved one off life support and being there; It's the hardest thing in life you may encounter. At least it was for me and I have had some very hard rough patches.
My mom has been laid to rest now 2 weeks tomorrow (Tuesday) and while it is extremely sad. I can be happy that I had an excellent relationship with her, my wife and daughters did as well. We also went to visit religiously EVERY week except for when someone was sick.
Remember those you love, talk to them often, visit often, have dinner often, take pictures often. You never know when their time may come. You can be comforted by those memories. I will miss my mom often, but I know she is in a great place now.
-Jerry
PROJECTS: Marshal ........................93 Craftsman GT6000 Red Bandit ...................72 Wheel Horse Raider 12 Dirty Rat........................77 Sears Suburban Bowser...........................01 Murray Widebody LT The Green Machine ....1990 Craftsman II GT18 Other projects