Turmoil…

It’s been a while since I’ve been here in blog land.  I’m sure this blog space is feeling quite lonely and neglected, as well as my blog friends.  Once again, I’m going to try to give both the attention they deserve. Unfortunately, my blog and blog friends will have to share my attention with about a million other things, at the moment. If you are a blog friend who’s stopped by, forgive me for not visiting you on a more regular basis.

Since January 16, my life has basically been in turmoil.  Ed got laid off from his job, which brought about many changes.  We’ve tried to meet each challenge with grace and determination, and adjust to the changes brought about by Ed’s unscheduled retirement, but the challenges have been almost non-stop!

The month of April was filled with all sorts of challenges for Ed and me.  At the beginning of the month, we discovered termites and mold under our house, and my back “went out” after several days of helping Ed plant our garden.  I was in a lot of pain, with sciatica, and unable to do much of anything for the entire month of April.  By the end of the month, our garden nearly drowned and we had spent several thousand dollars getting our house treated for termites and moisture, but the moisture problem still persisted.

We’ve experienced all sorts of glitches with getting our insurance changed over and getting Ed’s social security started.  Thankfully, the hospital offered Ed an eight week severance package, and he had almost eight weeks of vacation built up.  Those funds held us over for nearly four months, and helped pay for some of the home repairs we’ve experienced.  Now the checks from the hospital have stopped coming, and we’re waiting for Ed’s first social security check to arrive.  We didn’t take into account the fact that social security lags a month behind.  Ed’s benefits began in May, but he won’t receive a check until the third week of June.  Sigh.  Thank goodness for the small unemployment benefits he’s been able to get.

By the beginning of May, my sciatica was better, but my left leg has remained numb.  Our garden finally rebounded from too much rain, after Ed made a huge ditch at the end of it and drained the water away from it.  Then the drought set in!  We haven’t had any substantial rainfall in over a month!  The crawl space of our house remains moist, in spite of having a moisture barrier, having two fans installed, and experiencing a month-long drought!  Ed is currently working on replacing the underpinning of the house, and adding more ventilation.

In spite of nearly drowning, followed by a severe lack of water, our garden has produced many vegetables.  Thank goodness for water sprinklers!  Harvesting most of those vegetables has fallen squarely on Ed’s shoulders, due to my back problems.  I have been able to help freeze and ‘can’ some of the things Ed  has picked though.  I’m very tired of seeing cucumbers, squash, peppers, and green beans, but I’m thankful for all we’ve been blessed with.

Ed and I didn’t realize it, at the time, but our daughter and her husband, who live next-door to us, were experiencing marital difficulties during the month of April.  During the first week of May, the two of them separated.  They were apart for a few days, then came back together, shortly after Mother’s Day, to try to work things out.  On Memorial Day, our son-in-law packed up and left again.  At the moment, things are up in the air with them.

The week after Memorial Day, I made the mistake of going out into the garden.  I only sat on the garden stool for about ten minutes, but, apparently, that was  long enough to aggravate my sciatic  nerve, and I began having spasms again.  Tomorrow will make eight long weeks that I’ve been dealing with this problem.

Out of desperation, I called the doctor’s office, yesterday.  He was booked solid, but agreed to see me at the end of the day.  After hearing my symptoms and examining me, he agreed that it sounds like I probably have a pinched nerve.  He prescribed a round of Prednisone, and ordered x-rays to see what’s going on–x-rays that my insurance isn’t going to pay for.  Expensive x-rays.  Sigh.  I’ll be having my MRI today.  I guess we can just add the bill for the x-rays to the $900 worth of lab work we still owe for–the lab work the doctor’s office sent to the wrong lab…  And so our saga continues.

There is some good news on the horizon though.  It looks like our youngest son and his family will be moving back ‘home’ in about a month, or sooner.  They’re currently in the process of selling their house, and the closing is scheduled for July 1.  Brad and Jennifer have both gotten new jobs, as well, and they will both be starting those on June 8.  While Brad and family won’t be moving back to the family farm, they will only be living ten minutes away from us.  For now, they’ll be staying with Jennifer’s dad and her step-mother.  We’re ‘tickled pink’ about the prospect of having them so close.  It’s sort of like seeing a rainbow after a storm.