When it Rains, It Pours...

I'll be honest; these last few months have been HARD!  We started out with a few fun events. For example, in February, we saw comedian Tom Papa at Foxwoods Resort, and in the first week of April, we saw comedian Nate Bargatze at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA. 

However, the fun didn't last long...  In March, Bruce came into the house limping. We hoped that, with rest, his hind leg would feel better. However, after two weeks of rest with no change, he had an X-ray, and we discovered not one but two of his "knees" had torn ACLs.  He needed a surgery called a TPLO, which cost $13,000. His recovery would be a full eight weeks, with very strict guidelines about taking him out on a leash and walking him short distances multiple times per day. 

In the midst of Bruce's recovery, my son Lewie was rushed by ambulance to the hospital on a random Thursday afternoon.  He told my mother he couldn't pee and felt uncomfortable. A few hours later, the discomfort turned into excruciating pain--Lewie couldn't stand upright and was crying in agony. My mom let my husband and me know she couldn't wait for us to come home from work; she had to dial 911. It's a good thing she did!  The nurses at the hospital said if Lewie had arrived only a few minutes later, his bladder would have ruptured!

Evidently, Lewie had a blockage in his urethra from "scar tissue." We don't know how he was injured, but a theory is that it came from a bad UTI he had back in 2020.  They had to "puncture" his urethra to help him pee, but they told us the puncture was just a temporary fix. He would need to return again in a week for a formal surgery to remove the blockage. The formal surgery sounded harmless enough--that is, until Lewie came home with a catheter he'd have to wear for five days!  To recap, Lewie had to have his urethra punctured, cut, and then probed with a catheter--his nerve endings kept him in unrelenting pain, and the bleeding didn't stop until three days later. I wouldn't wish what he went through on my worst enemy! At one point, he was developing dark circles under his eyes due to lack of sleep. It was just too uncomfortable!

The day Lewie could finally go back to the doctor to have his catheter removed was a good day. Lewie said he felt AMAZING, and I went to a higher education conference that was fun, too.  That night, having exhaled after all the excitement from the past week, my mom...FELL.  She tripped over Bruce's toys, and down she went. Her right hand was a bloody mess, and she knew immediately that she had done something to her foot.  She couldn't put pressure on it.  Hubby and I knew what we had to do... An ambulance arrived at our house again--this time for Grammy.  They examined her for her fall, took her vitals, and concluded she needed to be evaluated at the hospital.  Almost 12 hours later, they bandaged up her foot, confirming she fractured three bones, and wanted her to go to physical therapy immediately to teach her how to get around using a walker and hopping on one foot. The only problem is that my mom's leg is too weak for hopping, and her right arm is too injured to navigate a walker. We brought her home, but it hasn't been easy.  I'll spare the details, but I am essentially learning what it's like to be a caregiver--it's not easy at all!!!

They say bad things happen in threes.  I hope this is the end for us.  Bruce has another four weeks of recovery, and my mom now has six weeks.  June is going to be a long month. I'm sure we'll figure out a way to get through it, but we're all in a rush to get back to our old sense of normalcy. 

Mother's Day 2026 before Lewie's surgery and my mom's fall.