Thursday, December 11, 2008

Tough Week and It's Only Thursday!

It's been a tough week here. My mother in law went to the emergency room on Friday and she is still in the hospital. She is being transferred to Brooks tomorrow for physcial rehab. We don't know at this point exactly what is going on with her but the cardiologist said the neurologist would be talking to my husband about cerebral atrophy. He believes it's related to her long years of being a "party girl". She is only 60 and is so shaky she cannot walk. She has been sober for 12 years but her doctor said she has the body of someone at least 20 years older. G is dealing with this all on his own. I know he has unresolved feelings towards his mother and that makes him feel guilty. We don't have room for her here, she needs more care than we can give her, and she has spent every penny she ever had - which admitedly is not much. I'm doing everything I can to be supportive but at the end of the day the decisions he has to make are his own. He never thought at 39 he'd be this responsible for his mom but then again in many ways he's been taking care of her since he was a child - which breaks my heart.

So that has been going on all week. Meeting after meeting with doctors, social workers, etc. Then today my oldest son calls G and asks him to come home. There were tornado warnings this morning but we're used to that...it is Florida after all. Turns out there was some type of wind event at our house - the neighbor says it was a tornado but I don't think so. I drove home quickly to see what was going on. A large portion of our fence is down. The 4x4s in this section were snapped off even with the ground.
Here's part of the back fence and the neighbors little john boat. About 2/3 of this is down.
Tree limbs from our trees in the neighbors yard. J spent some time this afternoon cleaning up their yard. We have a big pile of limbs stacked out front.
The large branch that hung over the driveway and the middle 1/3 of our 14 year old oak is missing.
Well...not techinically missing. It was ripped off. There are goudges in the ground where it fell. Not sure how it all got shoved back in the middle of the ligustrum and twisted around. The entire section between our house and the neighbors (pictured) is filled with the other side of the tree. Who knows if the tree is hiding any further damage. Let's hope not.

Oh...and we're missing about 50 shingles from the roof.

Now we have a roofer, a fencer, and a tree removal service. I've also talked to my insurance agent for the first time in ....well....the first time ever.
Thankfully no one was hurt and the damage was very minimal. It could have been much, much worse. The good things about this? The fencer came out within hours. The tree guy...here tomorrow at 8am. The roofer? We have not called him yet....we need the tree removed first. In January I scheduled to be off tomorrow. No one has to miss any time at work to meet people. All the neighbors have been updated with timelines as stuff from our yard is in their yard. G has his hands full with his mom, but I can take care of most of this on my own. We are indeed very fortunate.

8 comments:

Simone de Klerk said...

Wow, Jackie, you really have some big issues going on in you life )O: I'm thinking of you!

Beth said...

I hope things get better...I'm so glad no one was hurt!

Teresa said...

Oh my, that is awful the damage at your house. It does seem like life just tosses bunches of trials at us all at once. I hope your husband can get peace about his mom and her care and that all the repairs go smoothly at your house.

Debbie said...

I'm sending good thoughts your way. Take care fo yourself too. Hugs, Deb

Jean in Georgia said...

Prayers for you and your family. You've certainly got more than your share of stuff going on! Thank goodness nobody was hurt with the storm damage at your home.

Chris Daly said...

I'll say a prayer for you and wish you all lots of strength in the road ahead!

sewtakeahike said...

Hi Jackie, this is my first time stopping by your blog and I have to say you are such a blessing to be going through all this and to be thank-ful for being so fortunate! I'm praying peace over you and your family!

Mam said...

Jackie, peace, prayers and love to you and your family.