As much as I've looked forward to spring, May has turned into a pretty rough month. I'd planned to take a week off in April, and really, REALLY needed it. Because of tight scheduling at work, though, I had to postpone it until the week of May 8 - 12.
Mom and Dad were in Pigeon Forge that week and offered to take Randy and me to Dollywood on their guest passes on May 8. (I refused to buy season passes this year, because I bought them LAST year and we didn't get to go to Dollywood a single, solitary time!) I made reservations for the 8th, and we planned to drive down that day, go to Dollywood, spend the night, then go to the Appalachian Museum in Norris with Mom and Dad on Tuesday, then come back home on Wednesday.
Randy got violently ill on Saturday, May 6; one of the worst viruses I've ever seen him have. All day Sunday I kept saying "I'd better call and cancel our reservations." He said it was just a bad virus, and he'd probably be better by Monday morning (which actually DID make sense). So, on Monday he insisted that he felt a little better and away we went. We went to the campground where Mom and Dad were staying and they took us to Dollywood. We'd only been there a short while when Randy got so sick we had to go ahead and take him to the motel so he could go to bed and suffer in peace.
I left him with a cell phone so he could call me if he needed anything, then went to lunch and to Cades Cove for awhile with Mom and Dad. When we returned, they planned to grill burgers. Randy thought he might be able to eat a little, so I took him to the campground. Poor thing still couldn't eat. I'd stopped at Walgreen's and picked up Pepto-Bismol and assorted OTC remedies. He was up and down all night long. I was getting really concerned that he wasn't keeping his seizure medication down long enough to keep his system stabilized.
Early Tuesday morning, we gave up, checked out, and came back home so I could take him to a doctor. I didn't even go by the apartment, just took him directly to the Urgent Care center. They prescribed Promethazine for the nausea and put him on a clear liquid diet for the day and said he could move up to a "BRAT" diet the next day.
The nausea meds made him sleep all afternoon and most of the next day, but at least he was able to rest. On Tuesday afternoon we received the sad news that one of his favorite aunts, "Glad" (his mother's sister), had passed away in Maryland. They were going to have a service for her there, then bring her back to Honaker for a local service Sunday evening.
Randy had a brief backset on Thursday, but was well enough to go back to his apartment on Friday, armed with applesauce and Gatorade in case of another backset. He was still too weak to attend Glad's service, but was quite a bit better by Monday.
In an effort to salvage a little of my vacation time, MeggieDog and I spent Saturday and Sunday lazing about, watching "chick flicks". I'm not sure how we managed it, but neither Mom, Dad or I contracted the virus, thank goodness.
Yesterday (Wednesday), more sad news arrived for Randy. His Uncle Don (his mother's brother) had passed away in Honaker. Two of his mother's siblings in eight days....it was a terrible shock to the family.
So far, May has just not been great at all.
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