A Message to my Friends...

This isn’t a card post and unless you know me personally, I wouldn’t read this… I wanted to share this with my friends, but I didn’t have time to send a bunch of e-mails. I thought this might be a good platform to contact the Brian’s, Duane, The Richard’s, Alfredo, The David’s, Greg, the Matt’s, Mark and all of my friends all at once… I am not a happy camper. My lovely wife, who is my best friend and the all around coolest person on the planet is very ill and has been in the hospital. It’s funny, earlier this week I cut into “our time” in order to try and post my Gint-A-Cuffs packs, but since she has been in the hospital and I have all the time in the world, I have no urge to blog or post or really do anything…

Anyway, I am not checking my emails (well, I am, but not really responding) and although I have several packages ready to go, I won’t be shipping anything this week. I MAY do a post or two, I don’t know. I just wanted to let you guys, my friends, know where I was at.

My wife has been sick for over a week. On Sunday night she started to feel immense pain. She has a severely wounded knee and is scheduled for surgery on that next Thursday, but the pain in her chest was bad enough that she barely noticed the knee pain. She couldn’t eat and the pain got worse and worse. Without eating you really can’t take pain relievers either… Neither of us are “hospital folks”. Things have to be BAD to see a doctor. Things got REALLY bad on Tuesday night and she finally went to our doctor. They recognized right away that she had a severely infected kidney. She got some shots and antibiotics and was sent home and told if the pain didn’t subside to see a specific specialist the next day.

Of course the pain only got worse and she saw the specialist. After an ultrasound they said she needed to be admitted to the hospital immediately… She has been there since. They are keeping her hydrated, monitored and comfortable. It is a good thing, but it makes for a lonely Troll. A lonely puppy, too. Our dog, Emma, normally sleeps at the foot of our bed. She spent last night sleeping at the front door waiting for Mommy to come home…

Anyway, Heather AKA my Wifey AKA Esther Gin N Juice will be at the hospital for at least one more night… All they know for certain is that her kidneys are enlarged and badly infected. They need to treat the infection before they can determine anything more. They took cultures and biopsies and things of that nature. She is in the “Cancer Wing” at the hospital, but they assure me that her location doesn’t indicate that they think she has cancer. Still, I am super nervous, stressed, lonely, scared, bummed, worried and feeling generally helpless. The hospital she is at, Blake Hospital is VERY good. It is ranked as one of the top 100 hospitals in the country. We have 3 hospitals in this county and 1 is much closer to us, but has a bad reputation, so I am pleased that she has been able to get into Blake. When I was there visiting last night after work (at 2 AM) she had an RN check in on her like 3 times in an hour. It was reassuring.

Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know where I was at… I am still reading, just probably not commenting. I did want to remark and say CONGRATS to my good friend Brian who just made post #1000 on his blog Play at the Plate. Brian and I were trading buddies before he got into blogging and I remember encouraging him to start a blog back then. I recall how excited I was when he started a blog and I remember how moving so many of his posts have been to me. He hits home. We have all shared so many of the same experiences and it is comforting reading about someone else dealing with the same issues, good and bad. Brian has grown into a fantastic writer with a “must read” on a daily basis blog and I am so proud and honored to know him long before post #1 and on through #1,000.

I am heading over to the hospital now. Gonna get a hug and a kiss from the Wifey before I go to work tonight… I WISH I could be by her side 24/7, but we agreed that maintaining at least one income would reduce stress and would be more valuable than companionship right now… I am happy to do my part in that way, but damn, I miss my Wifey!!!

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I will be posting good news soon, I hope… I will make a post in the next day or two. It will be a contest, not to the degree of Play at the Plate's, but a little one for a little fun with the intention of promoting a new blog. Another trading buddy who has taken the plunge... Take care mi amigos! Troll out.