Of Coyotes and Insurance Companies

It has been so long since my last post! I meant to keep this blog more up-to-date but have obviously failed. No excuses... just busy, I suppose. So much has happened in the last few weeks, I hardly know where to start:

My seven year old started second grade.

My four year old started preschool.

Our cat, Peanut, is missing and presumably dead as a result of coyote ingestion. All that's left of our poor kitty is his blue collar and a small tuft of fur. My boys are keeping the collar to remember their first real pet. We buried the fur in the backyard and plan to hold a memorial service on Thursday. My future Donald Trump (the seven year old) wants to charge people to attend the service. I doubt anyone besides us will show up to pay their respects.

My dad, who has been has been in and out of the hospital and nursing homes over the past few months is back in the hospital again.

• He started with back surgery due to a bad disk
• Came home
  
• Had a small stroke
  
• Went back to the hospital and then to a nursing care facility
  
• Sent home prematurely, thanks to the insurance company
  
• Went in for another back surgery because the first one was unsuccessful
  
• Back to the nursing care facility to recover from the surgery
  
• Sent home prematurely... thanks, again, to the insurance company
  
• Fell on his first day home
• Called 911 (nobody else was home)
  
• Back to the hospital
  
• Had an MRI to make sure he didn't damage the surgical site
• MRI revealed an abdominal aortic aneurysm
• This is a life-threatening condition if not diagnosed before the aneurysm ruptures

Actually, it is a blessing my dad was sent home from the nursing care facility... even though we all considered it a premature move. If he had not been sent home, he would not have fallen on his way to the kitchen. If he had not fallen and been alone in the house, he would not have called the paramedics. If the paramedics had not taken him to the hospital, he would not have had the MRI. If he had not had the MRI, the abdominal aortic aneurysm may have gone undetected... until it was too late.

So, as you can see... life has been a little crazy for my family.

I hope to be more consistent once things become more routine.

Did I just write that out loud? Routine? What's that? I think Routine is somewhere under the towering stack of clean laundry that needs to be put away one of these days. If I ever do find it, I'll probably need to toss it back into the dryer for a few minutes just to get the wrinkles out! And then, it will end up back at the bottom of the pile.

And with that thought, goodnight all!