I have spent the last 3 days at the hospital with my mother because she had unexpected gall bladder surgery. She's been a miserable lady since last October and at 77 the doctors were more concerned about her heart than why she had such pain in her lower back and stomach. Well, Thursday early AM, her system decided enough is enough and my dad took her to the emergency room. On a scale of 1 to 10 her pain was a 10 and her blood pressure was 209 over 93. They admitted her to a room and plied her with blood pressure medicine so they could get her bp down. She had surgery Friday night and had a rough night. When the surgeon spoke with my father and I after the surgery, he told us her gall bladder was half dead and that she should have had the procedure two weeks earlier.
With all the poison from the sick gall bladder, she had a white count of 27,000 (normal is 6,000). This surgery can be done on an outpatient basis. She's going to be in the hospital 5 days. It's hard to sit by and watch anyone suffer. There's not much you can do but be there. My daughter was quite good given all the hours we spent hanging out. She gets bored easily (7 year olds do), yet she behaved herself very well. She's enjoying a brand new Game Boy cartridge.
So today, I get home (after some seriously overdue grocery shopping) and jump on the computer. I didn't have any e-mails waiting for me so imagine my shock when I checked the Divas's website (as is my habit) and saw the 2007 Spring Into Romance had announced their placements and that my two manuscripts took 1st and 2nd. I can't begin to express how happy this made me after such a difficult weekend at the hospital. The placement of the two manuscripts reversed how they had done in the preliminary round and gives me some direction.
What I'm grateful for: My mom's going to feel better than she has in a LONG time.
Today's goals: Polish my manuscript
Yesterday's achievements: Learning from my mistakes
