You’ve probably had one of those weeks where everything that can go wrong does go wrong–well, at least almost everything. That’s how it feels, anyway, until you think about what else could have gone wrong. Well, this past week has been one of those for my husband and me.
It started out okay for the most part, except for my husband’s stomach problem that started Sunday night. He thought it was caused by some Mexican food he’d eaten. He took Pepto Bismol and figured he would feel better in a few days.
On Wednesday morning we discovered our two year old kitchen faucet was leaking–had been leaking enough to wet the floor of the cabinet underneath the sink and drip a little outside (into our screened in back porch). Okay, well, we bought a replacement faucet and got a plumber to replace the messed up faucet same day. That turned out all right. We’d caught it in time to prevent any damage.
Next, my husband’s stomach problem was getting worse and was accompanied by a low fever. We went to the hospital ER on Thursday. They ran some tests and diagnosed appendicitis. I tried to call family from the ER to let them know what was going on, but discovered my cell phone battery was discharged. I had to wait until I got home.
The hospital kept my husband overnight and told us they would remove his appendix the following day, but they didn’t know what time they would operate. They told me I could not stay at the hospital overnight.
At home that night, I kept trying to call my husband at the hospital. I had the phone number for his room, but every time I tried calling, the phone would just ring and ring. I ended up calling the nurse station and a nurse went to his room and told him to call me. I told him I kept trying to call. He said the phone never rang. The nurse did some investigation, and finally got a different phone put in his room.
We still didn’t know what time his surgery would be done. We also couldn’t find out from anyone when visiting hours were. I showed up at the hospital at 7 AM the next morning. His surgery was done at around 11:30 that morning. The surgeon told me, immediately following the surgery, that my husband’s appendix had been perforated, but he was okay. Because of the perforation, though, the surgeon was going to keep him in the hospital another night to keep an eye on him. That night, they moved him to another room. I tried to take a few photos before I left, with my tiny Sony camera. The battery was dead. Of course.
The following morning, 6 AM, he called me and suggested I come at 8 AM and bring my laptop computer to the hospital so I could do some writing while we waited for them to release him. Shortly after I arrived, they took him downstairs for another test. I set up my computer on the tray next to his bed and turned it on. I looked at the time on the computer so I would know what time the took my husband downstairs. Then, I glanced at my watch out of habit. The clocks didn’t agree. I turned and looked at the time on the wall. It agreed with the computer. My watch battery was dead.
I shrugged it off and wrote for half an hour. Got one page written in my new book. I saved that page, then got up to go to the bathroom. A few moments later, I turned around and went back to move the computer since it was sitting out in plain view of the hallway. When I reached the computer, it was shut off. It wouldn’t turn back on. Okay, well it must be the battery was discharged. I packed the computer back into its carry-bag. While I waited for my husband to return, I read something on my Kindle and I watched some TV.
They brought my husband back to the room about an hour later. We sat around until they finally released him at around 4 PM. Then we had to go to a store to get his prescriptions filled.
When we got home, I hooked up my computer and turned it on. I left the room to feed our cats and cook our dinner. After dinner, I went back to my office to check my computer. Nothing. It wasn’t on. I kept trying to turn it on. It wouldn’t. My husband came in to check it, too. Not even the little power light would come on. The computer appears to be dead. That’s the computer where I do all of my book writing. It has all of my photos, too.
Luckily, I had been backing up my books on an external hard drive nightly on days when I write. I also had most of my book stuff backed up on flash drives. I’ve probably lost a lot of photos and that one page of my book. I may be able to retrieve the stuff on the internal hard drive, but I don’t know yet. We’re pretty sure I’ll have to get a new computer.
All I can say is, it’s been a bad week, but it could have been much worse. My husband is home from the hospital and he’s going to be okay. For that I am very thankful. Batteries and watches and computers can be replaced. My husband can’t be. I’m so thankful he’s still here.
Good gravy! You had an awful week! I'm happy your husband's appendicitis didn't go systemic. You can always take your computer to a techy who can extract your photos to a new drive. Poor dear. Better weeks to come, to you and yours. -S