Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Trip to New Hampshire

Had to go on a weekend trip to New Hampshire.  Yes, had to go.  My uncle lives in New Hampshire and has been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's and cancer of the bone.  He has been given a year to live.  My mom needed to see him.   My husband and I offered to drive her up because there is no way she could have done this on her own and my siblings have a lot on their plate as well.  She needed to see him before he gets too bad with the Alzheimer's. I also really wanted to see him one last time as I probably will never get the chance again.

We left on Friday (the 13th of course) and drove the 7 hours to Nashua, NH.  I was really worried about my son making the trip.  He has never had a car ride that long and sometimes gets car sick.  He did great.  I was worried about myself making the trip, cannot be thrown out of my routine.  He did better than me.  We arrived around 10:00 on Friday night.  We got ourselves settled and went to bed.
    
Saturday morning was clear and crisp.  29 degrees to be exact.  We had a great complimentary breakfast then off to see my uncle.  I was prepared for the worst.  We were told he lost a lot of weight and he rambles on about the Irish.  Well when we walked in I was surprised.  He knew who we were and was sitting up eating his lunch.  Don't get me wrong, he wasn't the uncle I knew, but was way better than I was expecting.  Relief, for me and mostly for my mom.  He smiled and greeted us and joked with my mom.  My husband and I took our son back to the hotel so my mom could visit with her brother without all the distractions (yes my son definitely would have been a distraction).   My son was so excited the hotel had a pool.  That was all he talked about was swimming.  So while they were swimming I watched TV in the nice dark part of the lobby by a fire. 

My mom called and was ready to be picked up.  All of my cousins came to see her and she really enjoyed that, but couldn't really talk to her brother as he cannot keep up with all the conversations.   I went to the pool to get my boys and get them ready to go get her.  On the way to the lobby my son says his eyes are burning, they were getting redder by the second.  So we got a towel and rinsed them with water.  (What happened was the pool is salt water as it is easier to maintain, never heard of that before.)  He told us they felt better and we hop in the car.   Got to see 2 of my cousins which was super cool. We stopped to have dinner on the way back and my son fell in love with our waitress and left his phone number for her (a fake one of course).  And this totally took the focus off of his hurting eyes which were looking better by the minute.

When we got back to our hotel, of course my son wanted to go swimming again.  We insisted he wear goggles.  Aces!!!  It worked.  Downside of letting him back in the pool, he swallowed so much water he threw up on the middle of the night.  Awful!!  In his hair, complete bed change, pajama change, shower, the works.  Ugh!

Mom was undecided if she wanted to go back the next day to see her brother.  I suggested it might be a good idea.  There will be less people there and she could talk to him more, plus my aunt said he is better in the morning.  She decided when we woke up on Sunday that she would like to go to see him before we leave.  Again he recognized who we were and was pretty clear with his speech and what he was trying to say.  We said our goodbyes and left.  It was hard for me to walk away, can't imagine how hard it was for my mom. 

We drove the 7 hours home.  Got a little lost around Palisades.  My son did great again.  As a reward my husband took him to the movies today.

I on the other hand did not do well again.  The trip really took me out of my normal routine, of course, and put me in a not great place with my Post Concussion Syndrome.  I was dizzy, unfocused, physically shaky, and anxious.  On the way home I started to get really restless.  My bulging disc in my neck was hurting, my shoulder was hurting and I was getting claustrophobic.  PANIC ATTACK.  We got to a rest stop in Montvale, NJ and there I am crying in the middle of the rest stop.  My mom started talking to me and making me look at different things, basically changing the subject and it worked!  Yeah for mom!  I calmed down and was able to eat and make it the rest of the way home.

I spent all day today in my cave/bedroom.  Slept  most of the day and still feeling bad, well more than normal.  Tomorrow I will try to get back to my regular routine and hope I can get back to my "normal" post concussion self. 

I have to thank my super, supportive husband for doing all the driving and arrangements!  He really did great and cannot thank him enough!

Note to self:  no long road trips in the foreseeable future and one of my siblings will have to take her next time.

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