Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Home Sweet Olcay Home (Extended)

Hi,

As promised a more detailed story regarding what's going on since last Thursday.

Well last Thursday Jay and I went for a swim and that was great. We had a lot of fun, and for the first time since Olcay's been 'ill' Jay was okay with joining swimming class. At the end we went for the big water slide, but that turned out to be not too much fun. For some reason Jay doesn't like the slide. My idea about this is that at one point several months ago, we went for that slide when Jay was very tired, and he didn't enjoy it. Ever since he remembers not liking it, and thus he doesn't like that slide. It's not the height, since we went on far higher slides at the Avifauna play-park. Anyway, Thursday afternoon was supposed to be fun as well, going to get Jay a haircut and visit Olcay in the hospital. But we got a call from Olcay, telling us that she was being kicked out of the hospital.
Due to a lack of beds and too much operations on Friday, she was going to be transferred to the Neurology dept. but they didn't want her around, since patients with a hernia are supposed to recover at home. So far for hospitality.
So Friday morning we were going to pick her up but travel proved to be a challenge. The nurses took care of that and the ambulance was taking her. In the afternoon Olcay's dad went to get the morphine and other painkillers and that was it. 'Neighborhood nursing' were going to take care of her, injecting morphine twice a day, with an option for a third shot.
Friday night it turned out that the pharmacy had made a mistake and instead of 9 shots of morphine we only got 6. No problem since we were going for 2 a day and 3 x 2 = 6.
But Saturday it became evident that we had to switch to 3 shots. The nurse that helped us Saturday called the weekend-pharmacy and I was going to pick up an additional set of 3 shots on Sunday and we went for the 3 shots a day routine. Saturday night I administered my first shot of morphine to Olcay and everything went really well. Supposedly it was either beginner's luck or I'm a natural. Ever since the shots are going fine, so I guess I'm a natural .
Everymorning now, at 6 o'clock, I am giving Olcay a shot, and at 1400 and 2200 a nurse is coming over to shoot the remaining morphine.
This makes the pain bearable for Olcay and she can start recovering... although I think that it'll last until she gives birth.

So that's the extended version of yesterday's blog.

E-One

Today's cookie: Long Stories Do Not Always Tell More Than Their Summaries

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Home Sweet Olcay Home

Hi,

Here's just a quick bloggy for today. It has been a while, but I'm a bit tired, so I'm gonna keep it short.

Last Friday Olcay came home from the hospital. She was more or less forced to come home, but more on that later in a blog. She's now at home and still gets morphine. Three shots a day, and at least one of them I administer. Quite possibly that will be two. And although I've just begun, I'm doing pretty well in the needle department.

Well that's it for today, next time more later on.

Iwan


Today's cookie: Sometimes Things Need To Get Really Bad To Realize What Is Really Good

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Are things getting better, or is it just another twisted joke off faith?

Today I got a very cheerful Olcay on the phone, she'd had a great night of sleep and was feeling very good. The new and bigger band aid was working it seems. The general idea now is that it keeps on working like a charm and to be sure of that, she's got to stay in the hospital for a few more days, by the end of the week she's probably coming home... if things workout well.

Meanwhile Jay was examined today for his 18 months check-up (a normal affair in the Netherlands) and all was fine. He's 11.3 Kg and 83 cm tall. Both numbers are estimates, since he wasn't too happy being measured, crying like a baby. But the rest of the checkup was going very well. He was cheerful and playful. I think he's bouncing back from the set backs we experienced lately. The week at my parents definitely helped.

So what else? Not much, I fixed a little bug in the drawing routines of IFF, our mobile game. It's shaping up nicely. And tonight, I think, I will be working on some additional functionality. I'm not sure whether or not we're on track for the big event in March next year, but it definitely is a lot of fun.

That's it for today,

E-One

Today's cookie: The Road To Success Is Paved With Achievements

Monday, November 20, 2006

Let's stack all disappointments and reach for the moon

This weekend was supposed to be Olcay's last weekend in the hospital. It turned out to be something completely different.
Last Friday they started with a new treatment of her pain, using band aids. Initially the idea was that she would be home sometime this week. 'Home Care' was going to deliver a hospital bed. Even better, Friday late afternoon she was supposed to be home on Monday, so Home Care was called again and today they deliver all the goods. Meanwhile the morphine patches are not quite doing what everybody thought they would, so Olcay was in a great deal of pain Sunday night again. Yesterday morning she was back on morphine shots and she stays on them for the foreseeable future.
Something for the positive side of this blog. Jay's back home. He's had a great time at my parents, and he was really happy to see Olcay and me again, yesterday.

Something completely different: This weekend I received Gears of War for my Xbox 360, and gee, is this a great game. Looks really astonishing, sound's superb and the overall atmosphere is really gripping you at the throat. Interesting is the fact that it is a shooter, but you just can't barge in and start blamming away. Nope, you have to use tactics to survive. It's almost a crossover of Halo and Splinter Cell.

E-One

Today's cookie: If You Can't Have Fun, Find Something To Play With

Monday, November 13, 2006

A light at the end of the tunnel? Guess I still have a long way to go :(

Things are not getting really brighter in my family. As you know Olcay is in the hospital for about a week now, and since yesterday they've increased the dose of morphine as she's still in a lot of pain and still didn't get a really good night of sleep. This is truly mind-killing. Since 3 weeks she didn't get a full night of sleep, which is bad, really bad, considering the fact that she needs at least 8 hours and now with the pregnancy 10 hours of sleep a night.
Today she got here MRI, which introduced her to the feeling of claustrophobia. I saw once on a TV show that many people that have an MRI get claustrophobic inside the scanner. I can't imagine how that feels, but Olcay was scared big time. Tomorrow we should get the results, and quite possibly it is going to be the case that she's going to get operated. I'm not sure whether or not to be thrilled, but as long as she's going to be okay after that, and the baby is doing fine, I guess I'm okay with it.
For you to know; the baby is doing great. His big brother on the other hand is ill. Running a fever of 39.3 Celcius he's not doing too well. Thankfully the Paracetamol I'm giving him is doing a great job, and he's getting also some nasal-drops. Hopefully he'll be okay soon. Seeing him like this (when the Paracetamol didn't kick in yet) is sooo bad. He's always such a happy little fella and now he just sits with you on the couch watching TV. Trying desparately to keep his eyes open.
Tomorrow my parents will pick him up and he'll spend some nights at their place. Hopefully that will also take his mind of mommy, who he still misses a lot. He asks for her at least once every minute, and it pains me to have to repeat that she's not here, but in the hospital. He just doesn't understand.

So how about me? Well I'm recharging. The in-laws are back since yesterday night, to take care of Jay, while I'm at work. Having them around helps a lot getting some relaxation-time. But I think I'm on 70% recharge now, and it won't be a lot more the next few weeks.
Interestingly enough, I realized tonight how much time people are wasting sleeping. Nowadays I go to bed at around 10:30 PM, not uncommon for many of you, but I'm loosing out on at least 2 and a half hours a day.

E-One

Today's cookie: Every Minute Can Only Be Lived Once, You Better Not Sleep Through It

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Thursday is daddy-day, especially nowadays

Hi,

Today I spend the whole day with Jay, I left him for my in-laws to be taken to bed, while I was with Olcay in the hospital. She'd had a bad night last night, but tonight was good again.
Coming Monday 14:30 (or 13:30) the MRI is planned, so about a week later we should know more details regarding what the heck is actually going on. Considering that there was only a regular opening at November 29th for the MRI, this is a case of good luck. And on that note, the baby is doing well. Growing as can be expected for a 24 week baby, so that was great to hear. Things seem to be progressing, although I have to add that about a week ago, we were in that same state of mind.
Jay is doing better, still missing his mommy big time, but he's the cheerful little guy we all know and love. We had a great time at the swimming pool today, although he didn't want to join the class. Clung to me every second while we were trying to do the little dances and singing. But after we left the class and started playing around ourselves, it was great. He can now 'dive' into the water. And loves it when I throw him away. This afternoon we went for a bicycle-ride for about 2 hours and after that I prepared dinner. Which he didn't eat. I guess he's gotten used to the Turkish food Olcay's mother prepared for the last couple of weeks.
It's just great to see and hear him laugh again.

That's it for today.

E-One

Today's cookie: You Can Think Things Are Bad, But They Only Are When You Know They Are Bad

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Olcay's admitted to the hospital, things are rough at the moment

It has been a while since my last couple of words from the Netherlands. A lot has happened. Most importantly and with a shitload of impact on our family life is the fact that Olcay has been admitted to the hospital. Last weekend was hell on eath, for her, but also for the rest of us.
Last week it seemed that she was doing better everyday, but on Thursday her left foot started to hurt, big time. Up to a point where she couldn't bear anything touching it.
On Friday it seemed to be okay, more or less, but late afternoon she was back to the state of two weeks back. Pain, pain and yet more pain. After consulting our docter we decided to switch back to morphine. Things brightened up at that point and we refrained from morphine for the time being.
Saturday night the pain was back to a level where we decided to open up the bottle of morphine and hope that things would be better. They weren't.
Sunday I had arranged a day of Power Boating with Mark and Ashley on Ameland. So I was away for the full day. We had a great time, and I can recommend it to anybody who loves rollercoasters. This was so much more fun. Until I got a call from Olcay's mother urging me to get back, she was again in a lot of pain. That night was hell on earth and Monday morning our docter arranged for an ambulance and she was admitted to the hospital.
She's now on morphine again, 3 times as much of the dose I administered and it seems to help just enough to make the pain and therefore life bearable again. In the meantime they keep a close watch on the baby, which is doing great. Still, literally, alive and kicking.

Jay is now really sensing the seriousness of the whole situation now that mummy is not even at home. It's terrible to see him this way, asking for mummy pointing upstairs. It was tough on him while she was upstairs all the time, but now she's not even there any more. He misses Olcay big time. So do we all. But for me it's great to see her the way she is right now, compared to last weekend.


So what positive happened lately besides the powerboating? To be honest? I haven't got a clue. At the moment I'm just happy to be surviving and seeming to have enough energy to be there for Jay. Thankfully Olcay's parents are around, they're a big help. And next week my parents'll take care of Jay for a few days, which will do him a lot of good. He'll be at a place where he's used to not have Olcay and me around. I think that is going to be helpfull for him. We're gonna miss him, but this is for the best.

E-One

Today's cookie: You Are Only There After Passing The Finish Line