Chewing the Fat

Checkin in

jwhaas — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:24:14 +0000

I’m still around. Dad is doing great, he has been moved to a regular room now.

I’m still writing. Not as much as I would like but I think that pretty much goes for everybody.

Been playing WoW a lot. Too much for my wife’s comfort I’m afraid so there is a good chance you will start seeing more and more posts. Seems like I have a lot of time for other things when I don’t spend so much time in Azeroth.

Until next time,

A Quick few words

jwhaas — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:45:44 +0000

Just writing something rather quickly before dashing out the door to work;

Dad’s still doing well, started physical therapy yesterday.

I applied for yet another job, this one also at TSU but as a student recruiter this time around. I think that would be a blast to do, in all honesty.

I feel like a slacker for not having worked on my short story or any writing lately.

And, Ony is back!

Until next time,

Awesome, simply awesome

jwhaas — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:30:40 +0000

Let me get you up to date on Dad’s situation.

Yesterday I get home from work and am greeted with a voice mail explaining to me that Dad’s blood pressure had dropped the night before to the point they gave him medicine for it and put him back on the breathing machine. The breathing machine was breathing for him. Later that evening I get a phone call and Carol tells me to hold on a second, the next thing I hear is my dad’s voice asking my how I’m doing!! Simply amazing.

What a turn around!! Today he has continued to get better. Got to actually eat some food They start the physical therapy tomorrow and all looks well. Still in ICU but probably because of the MRSA. Maybe before too long they can move him to a normal room and then eventually he can get to go home again.

As life starts to settle down a bit I might even be able to update the blog with more than just my dad’s progress. Let eveyone know what’s going on with me and the family and what not. Which, by the sounds of it, shouldn’t be too much longer!!

Until next time,

Made me think

jwhaas — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:48:27 +0000

The other day I was talking with my wife about my short story idea. I explained to her that I fear I will not be able to give the story justice. It’s such an awsome idea that I don’t want to mess anything up by not being able to write well enough. She gave me a bit of advice: “Don’t let the fear of screwing it up keep you from actually writing it.”

After reading today’s Quote of the Day I couldn’t help but smile at their similarities.

Quote of the Day:

John Wooden
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

I will write the story, I know that I will. Here’s to hoping it comes out as good as I hope it will.

Until next time,

More of the Same

jwhaas — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:32:40 +0000

He’s starting to talk more and more and seems to be waking up little by little. We are very hopeful. I am trying my best not to get my hopes up too much because in all honesty he is still in ICU, listed as critical condition and isolated. I’m sure this has a lot to do with his MRSA but either way I have to keep that in mind. If I let myself believe that he is completely in the clear and recovery is inevitable then it will only hurt that much more and be so much more devistating if something were to go wrong now.

——————————

I would like everyone to know that I am writing again though. Quite a bit too. I wrote a poem about my dad and the hospital visit and all that jazz. I also am working on a kick ass short story too. That’s right I said it was kick ass. Now the writing might not be but the idea behind the story is. As I come up with new ideas about poems or short stories or what not I ask myself “Would I read that? Would I pick it up off a shelf and read it?” And with this idea it’s a hell yes!

Also, I teased a few posts back that I had good news and it related to a collaborative work of writing with my wife and me. Well, I’m not going to spill all the beans about the details of the project but to give a little more info, we have a date night every week. We might not go out or do anything but every week we try to spend a little time alone. Sometimes it works out and sometimes not but at least we are trying. So, now we are going to be working on a writing project together which will always give us something to do for date night. The plan is that each week we pick a topic and write something about it; be it a short story, a poem or an essay. And then we present our writing to each other at date night and critique them and share our thoughts and what not. I guess you can say it’s a very close and intimate writing group.

Oh, and I have been meaning to brag on my little brother, hell big one too but that’s a different story, but haven’t taken the time to find the links I need. Probably going to make that my main focus for tomorrow’s post, but either way he is a musician and has been invited to tour next year with one of his favorite bands. Ill give more details with links in a future post.

Until next time,

Slowly but surely

jwhaas — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:04:41 +0000

Quick update here because I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up too much since I’m not quite certain of what is going on. But. Dad is talking! Not just moaning and groaning, but talking! Nurse during the ct scan said my dad said “Hey! Hey! I don’t like you!” lmao … and then he proceded to ask for his wife. Carol said he is talking and responding to questions. She said he is still talking to people who aren’t there but this still seems to be an improvement.

I appreciate everyone’s support and let’s up hope he just continues to get better!

Until next time,

Keepin’ ya in the loop

jwhaas — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:29:23 +0000

Still nothing new. Sorry but that’s the update for this morning. Hopefully I’ll know something more by this evening when I get off work.

As many of you know I’m back to cooking at Montana Stephenville due to some shananigans but I am looking for a second job. So I have applied for a couple of cool ones.

First one, is for the First Year Experience Coordinator for TSU. Sounds pretty cool too actually. Basically I’ll be working with first year TSU students to ease the transition into college, enjoy their time there and help with convincing them they need to return and stay at TSU.

The other is to be a substitute teacher for the school district here. Mel was looking at it and according to some website that reports average salaries and such reported that the avg salary for SISD subs last year was like 45k+. Not sure how that’s possible seeing as first year certified teachers don’t make that but hell that’s twice what I’m making now, so I threw a resume out there and I guess we’ll see what happens.

Gotta run, have to get ready for work. As soon as I hear more about my dad I will keep all of you in the know.

Until next time,

Nothing really new

jwhaas — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:15:53 +0000

Much of what follows may or may not be decipherable but I didn’t have access to or the time to actually hop on the net and post any more blog posts so I simply typed them up and have now transferred them over to the blog. I failed to date each one as I wrote them but they are all about the last few days; the time I was able to spend with my dad while he was in the hospital. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have regarding this post. As always, thanks for reading.

So they took him off the ventilator this morning and he seems to be breathing well on his own. His heart rate is somewhat elevated and they are worried about kidneys but as of right now the outlook is good. He isn’t all that alert but he seems to be trying to wake up and trying to talk.

Showed up this morning and they were taking dad down for a ct scan bc they feel as if dad should be a little more alert and coming around and they are just taking precautions to see what may be going on bc there is the possibility of dad having an infection in his brain or that he also suffered a stroke.

Well no new news just yet. We haven’t got the results yet for the cat scan. All we know is that they want to do an MRI as well. They originally wanted to do an MRI with (or by, not certain) contrast but the kidney doctor said absolutely not bc it could cause serious damage to the kidneys. So, pretty much status quo right now. Nothing new and nothing certain.

Im on my way home now. Just about to Brenham as I sit here typing this and still no fucking clue to what is wrong with dad. No word of the cat scan and the mri is not a possibility. They said Dad is too big for the MRI machine. Kind of confused about that bc although my dad is a large man he isn’t really that big. So they are looking around the area to get him an open MRI. Don’t know what that is but if it will help him then im all for it. Got there this morning and they were administering an eeg to see what kind of brain activity was going on. And they want the MRI bc they think dad might have another abscess somewhere else in his body which would be the cause for his fever. But just as before; nothing new, nothing certain. This has to be the hardest part of this entire ordeal for the family. Not knowing what is going on or what is causing his sickness and then only being able to wait. We have no control on what is going on and the feeling of helplessness sucks.

much the same

jwhaas — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:50:32 +0000

Dad is pretty much the same as before. Just dropping a quick line to make sure everyone knows how he is doing. They ordered a cat scan because the neurologist feels that Dad should be a little more alert than he is at the moment. He is still responsive to commands. He will still squeeze your hand and answer some questions by shaking his head back and forth. So nothing really new to post about today. I’m sure we will know what’s going on in the morning unless it’s something super serious and then they will call Carol so no worries there. But ill get back into blogging on a more regular basis so do please continue to come back and see my latest rambling-ons.

Until next time,

One day at a time

jwhaas — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:51:48 +0000

Sorry to leave my post yesterday so vague but I didn’t have much time to sit down and actually type up a decent post. But I have a few minutes this morning as I try to peel back my eyelids to let in the new day. Sometimes I think I should buy some extra Scotch tape and just use it to keep my eyes open

Anyway, I told you yesterday I would be back to explain the hospital comments. Tuesday night, not certain the date and not that important anyway, my dad had a minor heart attack and had to be taken to the hospital. He has since been taken off the ventilator and is breathing fine on his own. The doctors say his heart looks normal and healthy so the heart attack didn’t cause too much damage to the heart. However, three months ago my dad broke his ankle. Now, this man only does things one way and half-ass just isn’t it. He sheared his tibia and fibula off just above the ankle. His foot doctor misdiagnosed it as gout and so my dad’s ankle was left as such for almost three months. As a result a massive infection set in and started running a muck. In an attempt to save my dad’s life the doctors have amputated his left leg from just above the knee. The surgeon told us, in order to get ahead of the infection he had to go that high. Which means, in three months this massive infection and crept all the way up his leg damn near into his knee. According to the doctors, the infection in his ankle could be the cause for most of his problems at the moment. Either way, it’s been 36 hours now since the amputation and Dad has seemed to make 180 degree turn around. He is still in isolated ICU because he has MRSA and I realize at any moment everything could come crumbling down again and he might be right back to knocking on death’s door but for the time being we are all hopeful and everything looks to be on the road to recovery.

I will keep you updated with any new information as I am made aware it.

And don’t worry, I do have some happy news to report. But I don’t have the time to type it up and get it to all of you. But I promise, it will make you smile. Hint: collaborative writing project between my wife and me!!