One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

A lot has happened since my last post - I took Kuochun to see the urologist Wednesday morning and the good news was that the nurse was able to relieve the intense pain he had been experiencing since his heart procedure. I will not get graphic but his bladder has not been working correctly and more than a liter of fluid (mostly blood) was drained. A catheter was installed and the doctor gave Kuochun two medications, one to work quickly and one more slowly. He was ordered to wear the catheter for four weeks. Total time spent with the doctor - less than four minutes.

However when he got home and started taking the medication, Kuochun started experiencing extreme dizziness. He does get vertigo occasionally and has medication for it which he started taking. It was not helping and he was continuing to lose blood. We left a message with the urologist's office Thursday night and the doctor on call responded promptly but he was clearly annoyed by our call. He simply said this was normal.

Things were getting worse Friday, Kuochun kept feeling like he was going to pass out and any time he tried to get up he could not function. We left another message with the urologist's office Friday night. This time the original doctor was on call and he was super annoyed. He told us to go to urgent care and basically hung up on me. I immediately looked up urgent care and it was 8:30 PM, urgent care closes at 8:00 PM. I asked Kuochun if he wanted to go to the emergency room but he said he did not. Finally at 1:15 AM he decided he should go. It was very difficult to get him into the car because he was so dizzy but I told him all he had to do was get to the car and then he would not have to walk anymore. He thought about calling 911 but I said he could get help much more quickly if we just went ourselves. The hospital is only 10 minutes away.

When we arrived at the emergency room I ran in and said I have someone who needs immediate help. I was told to grab a wheelchair and bring him in. I said OK but he cannot sit in a chair and wait. Once we got inside, Kuochun said the magic words - I have chest pain. All of a sudden everyone sprung into action and started attending to him. It turned out he had dangerously low blood pressure, only 42 for the top number and one of the medications the urologist prescribed caused a very bad reaction.

Kuochun is still in the hospital. Some great news is that his catheter was replaced and his urine is finally running clear of blood. Some not so great news is that he will need to wear the catheter an extra two weeks and all is still not quite right with his kidneys. It seems that he will be in the hospital a while longer while this is sorted out. The big lesson Kuochun has learned through all this is that he should listen to what his body is telling him. I told him yes, like anything else preventative maintenance is so important so nagging issues do not turn into big problems.

In the meantime, I have been holding everything down on the homefront. Our poor little Margot has been through a lot of trauma this past year - right before Mother's stroke, Kuochun and I were in Arizona with Vivi and Mother was taking care of Margot. Mother and Kuochun switched places so she would not have to make the driving trip back home. Kuochun and I were in Tucson when Mother called and said Margot ran away. That was one of the worst feelings we both ever had as we were far away and helpless. We were so worried about her being eaten by a coyote or hit by a car as busy streets are nearby. We truly felt we would never see her again. All I could do was sit on the floor and sob. It turned out that Margot never ran away, Mother burned a pizza in the oven and the smoke alarm went off. Margot is deathly afraid of the noises the smoke alarm makes and went and hid. After hours of searching overnight and in the rain with the police and neighbors, everyone went back to the house to regroup and there was Margot standing at the front door.

When Mother had her stroke shortly after we were still in Arizona and it was a week before Rachel could get home so Margot was home alone for a week. Luckily Mark, Maureen, Sue and Kelly all helped take her out and feed her and after that Rachel took care of her until we could get back home. I do wonder if the stress of thinking Margot was lost triggered the stroke.

When Kuochun had the heart attack, he had both Vivi and Margot and Mother and I were in Arizona. Kuochun said both Vivi and Margot were extremely upset to see him being taken away on a stretcher by four strangers and that time they were home alone for two days before I could get back home. Margot watched Kuochun cling to me trying to walk and she has not seen him since. Both our girls have deep feelings for their people and have been through a lot so I have been doing my best to give Margot extra TLC at this time. Here she is the first night without Kuochun in my room on the Stearns & Foster dog bed I got her at TJ Maxx. Vivi has one in two-tone grey. Yes, they are pampered!

Because we were slower with estate sales this winter, I have had to really work hard on online jewelry sales to keep up with bills no matter what is happening with family members. I posted this group of jewelry last week which was kind of a mixed bag of items. This happens when I run low on inventory, there is not as much turquoise represented. Turquoise is most definitely the number one love of the online customers so as a result not as much sold this time. I found buyers for the the watch, lightning bolt pin and petrified wood ring. The unsold items were posted to the online store, eBay and Etsy. Most all of these items can be found in the Vintage Native American Silver Jewelry collection and a couple are in the New Native American Silver Jewelry collection.

I also sold two more high-end pieces - this amazing Federico Royston turquoise cluster ring and a Navajo multi-stone bug pin on Etsy. I will need to slow down with the jewelry work as it is time to resume estate sale paperwork and work on taxes before the tax deadline in less than a month. I definitely look forward to resuming the jewelry work as any positive results are very rewarding to me.

Due to everything happening with Kuochun, I was not able to post a bonus collection on Thursday evening. My plan was to post the adorable Buffalo Dancer heart jewelry I found at the Tucson Gem Show. I already have the group photo shot and just need to work on the details. I think I will take a break from the vintage and post the Buffalo Dancer tonight.

I am going to leave it here for now and hope to be able to report better news next time!