The Monday was pretty normal and routine except I had to accept the job at DOT. I got that phone call that morning and I had to say yes to it even though I didn't want to leave L&I. I couldn't wait and see if I got the program assistant job at L&I at the end of the month. If they said no and I said no to any job offer outside of L&I, I could be in the mailroom for a while. I told them yes and thus starts the summer off somewhat stressful. After work, and since it was hot, I wanted to relax with all the job stuff going on I decided to take Erika's kayak to Lake St. Clair to get a couple of caches that were easy to get to. I expected to be gone a couple of hours since Ben was going to be at work for a 24-hour shift at the fire station. I took snacks with me because I basically got home, changed, packed some snacks and some drinks and tied the kayak to the top of the Escape. I had to bring the step stool because I wasn't tall enough. This was my first time back to the lake since last summer and noticed they had paved the parking lot which made it nicer than it was.
It was warm and peaceful once I got onto the lake.
I grabbed three caches, 'Tis Wood (GC4QMQV), There Are Things I Can't Resist (GC4G0BZ) and Bee Careful in Octopus Lake (GC4NAKH) one was a Crossed Anchors cache and the other two were Ohjoy caches. Two were a traditionals and one was a letterbox hybrid. I got the traditionals first and the letterbox second. The traditionals were easy...once was hanging along the shore tied to a branch and the other was tied to a stump near the shore of the lake, residents could basically watch me retrieve it. The letterbox was kinda hard to get to kayak to. I had to maneuver the vessel around a bunch of downed trees and branches without hitting myself in the face. After I grabbed the last one I took a snack break.
I headed back to shore once everything was secure including my phone and keys. I tied the kayak back onto the Escape and headed home.
The next day, Tuesday, I felt weird in the morning. Something was off and it wouldn't go away. I continued getting ready for work, got in the Escape and headed to Tumwater. It still wouldn't go away and I was afraid to eat breakfast.
I got to work and started doing what I needed to be doing. My right side was killing me. It feels like kidney stones but it's not. I've had this happen to me now four times. It hurts for a few hours and then goes away. The third time we actually went to the ER in Puyallup (we were at Ben's mom's house) and got some tests done and they didn't find anything wrong with me. I did my floor run at 8 and pushed myself to finish my checks. I went to the back room and started opening claims mail and I had to run to the bathroom a few times because I was nauseous and thought I would puke. Just before 9 I asked Trina if I could go home because I was dying. She said of course you can. Up to this point I have never left early from work because I didn't feel good. I grabbed my stuff and headed to the parking lot. I had to race home because I didn't want to puke in my car.
I got home, changed my clothes and laid in bed. I got up several times to puke but I mostly just tried to sleep it off positioned carefully. I also got a phone call from Ecology letting me know that they selected me for the job and to call them back so I called them back around 3ish since I started to feel a little better. I had to tell them that I accepted another job the day before and thanked them for offering me the job. You could tell that they were frustrated because now they had to go with "Plan B." I took the one at the time with the most money and movement.
I felt way better later on that evening around dinner time. Whatever was going on took its course and now my whole torso and lower back were really sore.
I went to work on Wednesday and that whole day it seemed like I was in a haze. My body still was sore from the fiasco the day before and something else seemed off. I went about my day like I usually did but today I was going to miss about two hours around lunch time for the insurance services public service week recognition lunch in the auditorium. When that time came I sat with my Retro peeps at one of the back tables. That table was hoppin' because our table was one of the ones that won Jeopardy and a few raffle items. We came away with a cooler, a sleeping bag and each of us got a camping chair. It was insane!
I went back to the mailroom and finished off my day and at break time I met up with Linda at the cafeteria. We talked about my upcoming transition I was not too excited about.
While we were visiting, I got a Facebook message from my sister (my phone does not work inside the L&I building so I do not received texts or phone calls but I do get WiFi) and she sent me the most heart and gut wrenching news.
"I know you don't always get texts at work but did you get the news about Grammie? She had a stroke and is at St. Peter's room 921."
Those words were going to haunt me every day.
At first, I wasn't sure if I read that right or not. I read it again and I know Linda was watching my face the entire time. She knew something was wrong and asked what happened. I shared the bad news with her. She told me she was sorry and wanted to know if she should let me go. I told her, after I internally composed myself, that there is nothing I can do right now because she is stable and being taken care of at the hospital and I will just go there after work. I kept telling myself that it was just a stroke and people can recover from strokes. She was still with us but the thing we never wanted to happen is happening slowly. Every day since May 16th was hard.
After work I went to the hospital and spent most of the evening there with everyone who came to visit. Grammie looked very tired and her left side suffered the stroke. That meant her dominant side will never be the same since she was left handed. She told us the story.
She was sitting in her chair, thinking about calling Tracy for her birthday that morning around 10 a.m., reached for her coffee and could not move her left side or speak. Grandpa was in the bathroom and she could not get a hold of him and tried texting Tracy. Eventually Grandpa came out and saw what was happening and called 911. The EMT's from Tenino came and loaded her up in the ambulance and took her to St. Peters. She had not had any care for at least an hour. They say the quicker you can get to a stroke victim the better chances they have to recover. I was really hoping that the time was not our enemy that morning.
I prayed every night hoping that she would improve every day.
The next day was pretty routine at work and we all went to the hospital again that early evening after work for a few hours to find out if any thing had changed. She looked much better than she did the previous day and she was more talkative.
Friday, on Mt. St. Helens Day, I was suppose to leave early from work to go with mom and Doug to a Mariners game but because of what happened we decided not to on Wednesday when this happened. There will be more Mariner games. Instead, I stayed at work the entire day and we celebrated Dianne, one of my co-workers, who was being recognized for 35 years at the state. We had a taco bar lunch and I made her favorite chocolate chunk cookies for dessert.
That weekend we visited the hospital a few more times to go and visit, took care of some chores and cleaned the house. This was going to be a really hard summer.
Next Adventure: Cedar Creek Grist Mill, Moulton Falls and Oregon Hwy 22
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