Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board Every 10 Years Forum SEVEN SPROCKIN' MONTHS????? aka- BRAINY'S LUCKY DAY MISERY FORUM

Apologies for the long absence Legionnaires, especially Drake whom I seem to have left in limbo in the Spaceopoly section. The past seven months have been difficult for my family, with both good and bad events happening so a brief timeline.

5-30-05. My daughter Rahne is born. much happiness.

6-11-05. My wife gets a call from the hospital at 12:15 a.m. They inform her that her father had a heart attack and ask her if he had any wishes regarding extraordinary lifesaving measures. She barely wakes me up before bolting out the door. I take 15 minutes to wake up and call my mom to come over and watch the baby.

6-12-05. The hospital has stabilized her dad. He had previously been diagnosed as having congestive heart failure, and they now tell us he has had a heart attack and is currently battling kidney failure, pancreatitis, and pneumonia. Prognosis not good.

6-14-05. Wife goes back into hospital with staph infection from C-section. And the hits just keep on coming...

6-18-05. Wife released from hospital. The staph infection is under control, but it will be another 6 weeks before her incision will fully heal over.

6-29-05. Wife's maternal grandmother suffers first of what will be multiple strokes this summer. Meanwhile, her father is still in intensive care and on a respirator. The pneumonia, kidney failure, and pancreatitis are treated and no longer a problem. However, he cannot breathe without the respirator.

7-7-05. Her dad is moved into long term care facility. During his stay in the hospital, he has had brief periods of consciousness and coherence, but for the most part he is either sedated or unconscious. Family meeting with staff scheduled for 7-9-05.

7-9-05. They stop blowing sunshine up our ass and tell us what we already knew: barring a miracle, her dad is never coming off the respirator. Family knows this is not what he wanted, they reach unanimous decision to remove respirator. I tell the people to do it myself so they don't have to feel guilty. Within 45 minutes, it's over. much sadness.

I'm gonna take a break right now. There are some good things that happened, but there's some more bad news left. The second half when I get back.


-Brainiac 5

My condolences on the loss of your father-in-law. I'm sorry to hear about your wife's and grandmother-in-law's conditions. I hope things have improved since then.

Congrats on the birth of Rahne.

7-10-05. Funeral arrangements. Since he didn't "want people gawking at me when I'm gone", decide on cremation with small memorial service. Grandma asks me to do the service since he wasn't very religious and she knows I'm a good public speaker. This begins a week of late nights trying to bang out a service that I think will be good enough. much pulling out hair and chain smoking.

7-16-05. Memorial service goes off without a hitch. Family very pleased with my work. Funeral home actually offers to keep my number if interested. Politely tell them NO FRIGGIN WAY! One of these is quite enough for me to do this lifetime.

7-20-05. Grandma Ford (maternal grandma) has another stroke. Throughout the summer she has been having mild strokes. Nothing life threatening yet, but her general health is deteriorating.

7-24-05. Grandma Ford goes into nursing home. Her general state gradually declining.

8-18-05. Get a call from home while at bluegrass festival with family. Grandma Ford had serious stroke. Mother-in-law, her brother and sister bolt for home. Grandma survives, but end is imminent. Once stabilized, Grandma is brought home and provided with in home nursing care.

8-24-05. 5 a.m. wife wakes me up to tell me she's going to emergency room with bad kidney pain. She bolts.

8:20 a.m. Mother-in-law calls, crying. Grandma Ford is gone.

9:00 a.m. Wife still in emergency room. Tell her the news. much sadness. Not supposed to take baby back into E.R., but the first person who gives me any crap is getting knocked the f**k out. Find out wife has kidney stone. She stays in hospital to get it zapped.

8-26-05. First day of viewing at funeral home. Wife has to kick some ass to get released from hospital in time. Discovers the joy of Vicodin. Moment of sunshine in otherwise gloomy summer. I love messing with stoned people. They're funny.

8-28-05. Funeral. much sadness. Not involved. much relief.

9-26-05. Reunited with estranged adopted sister. That whole story is too much drama to even begin to get into here.

2-1-06. Baby healthy. Still not sleeping through the night. Lots of leftover sadness from summer, but it's slowly getting better. Waiting for all my tax documents because with new baby and new house, I'm gonna get a gigantic buttload of money back from the gov'ment. much happiness. Life goes on.


-Brainiac 5

hope things pick up soon

B5, good luck man. Sounds like some serious ordeals. I got a grey hair just reading it. Stay strong.

B5 - Sorry to hear about all the pain / suffering / hassle etc. that you've had to deal with for the last sprockin' seven months.

I just hope that it's over for now and you can have a good 2006.



Spread them round.

Yeah, seven months of hospital stuff with multiple family members is overload for certain. May you now get seventy years of blissful peace & quiet.

Good to see you back here.

Hello, Brainiac 5. I joined LW during your absence.

I'm sorry to hear about all the terrible things that have happened to you. I send you my condolences, and my best wishes for things to turn around for you and get better.

Good to see you've come through, B5.

My condolences on your losses, and my best wishes for 2006 and beyond.

Brainiac 5,

As Outdoor Miner said, my condolences on your losses.

I'll ditto that, my friend. One loss, one illness is tough enough, let alone a whole pack of them.

Despite it all, life does get better. We heal, we remember, we live... and we live for those who have gone on ahead of us, too.


PS... Welcome back!

Thanks to all for the well wishes. I appreciate it.

I am seriously thinking of changing the name of this thread to "Brainy's Lucky Day Misery Forum". My back is screaming right now. I severely strained my back on Dec. 23. Rahne and I were doing some last minute Christmas shopping and I went to pick up her car seat and then WHAM! It literally felt like someone whacked me with a baseball bat.

And the hits just keep on comin'... Today I got the bill for the winter taxes due Feb. 15 for $585. The summer tax installment of $765 is due Feb. 24. Knockin' over that liquor store is looking better all the time.

So go ahead, everyone. Got something that just plain sucks? She got the gold mine, you got the shaft (or vice versa)? Come on in and vent!

My mortal enemy, my home town's tax collector who makes me pay a yearly car tax is now officially #1 on my list of mortal enemies. I feel your tax pain.

Hopefully the next seven months will go smoother for you B5! That's an awful lot of emotional highs and lows in a quick time period.