I have not posted since last Saturday, so I’m here with an update and your Stream of Consciousness prompt by Linda G Hill:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ring.” Use it as a noun, a verb, an adverb, or an adjective…use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

This post may have a ring of disappointment in it, so I am asking all my prayer warriors to once again join me in an effort to save my uncle’s life because he is so important to my whole family.

We talked last week about my need to go see my uncle in Mississippi and how I was going to leave Monday morning not knowing exactly when we would return. Well, we are back. My brother had to get back to prepare for his jobs on Monday. We got in around 10pm last night, road weary and emotionally exhausted but happy with the way it turned out…until this morning.

Let’s back up for a sec though. When we left, Uncle Tony had been admitted to the hospital for hemodialysis to remove toxins built up in his body due to the home dialysis not removing them properly. He was feeling better after two dialysis treatments, had eaten well, and was sitting up in bed and sent me a photo of himself smiling because, of course, no one can visit while he is in the hospital due to the COVID restrictions.

This morning, I was told that things had changed once again, he was confused and “talking out of his head” so they were waiting on the results of more labs and a visit from the nephrologist. I don’t know if he needs more dialysis, or something is off with his medications, or what the problem is yet, but I have confidence they will get to the bottom of it and have him right as the mail in no time! We were very disappointed we never got to visit him, after driving such a distance, but we know the rules are what they are right now and nothing can be done about that.

Actually, we did try to see him at his home on Tuesday morning, but he was semi-conscious and falling asleep constantly, so he didn’t see us or know we were there. We did get to visit with his wife a bit and some of my cousins before we had to go back to Edie’s house (the cousin we were staying with) so my dad could take his medicine. We were told by my uncle’s dialysis nurse that he was just tired and to let him sleep because he had had a very difficult night.

As far as I was concerned, we would surely see him later that evening or the next morning, so I was very disappointed to learn that he awoke sometime and was talking for about an hour and no one called us. The next morning, he woke up with a fever and was advised to go to the hospital for observation and lab work to see what was causing the fever.

Now, here I must tell you that it was his thought that he was nearing the end of his days, therefore, he had previously discussed not going into the hospital with his immediate family so that he would be able to spend his last days surrounded by family. He knew if he got put in the hospital, no one but Tammie would be allowed to go see him.

With that being said, Tammie was near out of her mind with worry that they would insist on admission and fought it tooth and nail. I’m not sure if he was, but I figured he must have been for them to perform dialysis and lab work and now they are saying he shouldn’t go home yet because of this new wrinkle and because he also needs physical therapy due to his weakened state. I am waiting on the latest word from the doctor, and his family is being very good about keeping me informed.

In the meantime, we used the waiting time to visit with as much family as we could, and despite being worried about what was going on with Uncle Tony, we had a most enjoyable visit. Stay tuned…

*Without permission from the family to post pictures yet, I will just post some pics of the storm damage the area sustained after hurricane Zeta-a fact that I was not informed of until I arrived to see it for myself. Trees were down everywhere and since Lucedale is chock full of trees, it was a miracle that was the worst of the damage. Only a few people had damage to their homes or vehicles.

Well, there was more but I can’t seem to load the video to show you. Maybe tomorrow after I work on some things.