PRIORITY "Reality Check"

I titled this post using these words because things happen in life that trigger a reality check of what is deemed a priority. This is happening to me right now. It just so happens, that the name of my company (actually mine & my husband's company - Bamboo Balance) materialized from combining his love of bamboo (and it's strength) and my belief in the importance of living a balanced, healthy life. Seemed like a great way to choose a name of a company that focused promoting simple, healthy, fit living.

Well... as of late, our lives have been thrown way off balance and "simple" it has not been. This all has absolutely nothing to do with the manic gas prices or the state of our nation or anything of a "global" nature. It is totally about my world and what is happening in it right now.

I have always believed that things happen in life for a reason. This is why I am struggling while searching for one at this moment in time. All I have come up with is this... Right now I am due for a - Priority "reality Check". And what is that? It boils down to this question....What is truly important in life? What is a Priority? For me - The answer is - Relationships. Relationships with those you love tops the list...my order is - family, friends and beyond that acquaintances, those we meet and take interest in - even those we don't meet (personally) but somehow care about anyway (this includes animals too). Family is top rung in my world, and in my opinion if you don't have that "familial" thing going on - it is truly a great loss in what can help provide balance when the tipping point comes and you're about to fall.

Most recently, a tragic medical mishap (that's being nice) occurred in our family (specifically my husband's mother). It has completely turned life up side down for us, as a domino effect can when a situation like this befalls a family member.

On July 23rd my very healthy seventy year old mother-in-law went to have a routine procedure done by her doctor as a preventative measure as suggested by of course, him. We are all familiar with after hitting the 50 year old mark, a colonoscopy test seems to be the "dreaded" test that now has become commonplace to get. This was my mother-in-law's fourth time having this done (preventative measure) so she was extremely familiar with the preparation protocol as required, prior to having the procedure done. What she certainly was not prepared for, was the result of 12 days later being in the ICU of the hosp (1 week so far at this writing), hooked up to machines that are allowing her to continue to survive, while the medical staff is trying to figure out what is wrong. Imagine...All this from a "routine" medical procedure that is suppose to be a preventative measure.

Mom's colon was ruptured during the test- this resulted in immediate emergency surgery having to be performed to repair the perforation. Fortunately, she was under anesthetic and felt nothing, however when she awoke, instead of preparing to leave the doctors office, she was lying in a hospital bed in pain, wondering what the hell just happened to her. What initially seemed like a successful repair of the damage and a hospital stay of four days to recover - turned into a fiasco with each passing hour. She progressively became worse (due to an infection occurring), this resulted in her having to be transferred to the intensive care unit. Her breathing became labored, she "coded" and had to be revived ,hooked up to a respirator ( a tube shoved down her throat) because her lungs failed, she went into renal failure and now needs dialysis daily and the nightmare goes on and on. She has so many bottles & bags dangling around her, tubes going in and out of her body, machines beeping and numbers flashing monitoring her systems as the doctors struggle to keep her alive and to best of their ability get her well.

My husband, being the eldest of two sons, takes personal responsibility for his mother and her care. She is the only parent he (and his brother) are left with. His dad died almost four years ago and my husband still continues to feel that loss everyday. His mom is his priority and her medical care is of the utmost concern and importance to not only him, but the entire family extending far and wide. So needless to say, he has spent many hours by her bedside forsaking everything else in life that is also deemed a "priority" (work, sleep, assorted projects etc...). We are self employed and our business revenue depends on providing a service, so taking any time away from providing that is a tremendous sacrifice of income for our family. With this crisis however, not a thought of doing anything different but being there for his mother ever crossed my husband's mind, she comes first - that's his priority. I never had a second thought of him doing anything different and that became my priority. After this week of not working and dealing with hours of medical jargon, and bedside hours - it sends you into a frenzy. So for the sake of some sense of normalcy and the reality of having to pay the mortgage he had to go back to work. So now my husband's time is split between working, then driving 25 miles to the hospital, spending late hours there (getting little rest & food) and repeating it the very next day. My role is to keep all the balls in the air and not let them drop and break into a million little pieces. I always look up....

That is a priority reality check.

When it comes to the question of who will do the right thing and be accountable for this horror show...WELL... I can only hope that the Doctor(s) and Hospital own up and take responsibility. Yes we are human and human beings do make mistakes, however, we are not blind to the fact that this was all a result from something that went terribly wrong after she walked through the doctor's office door to have a routine colonoscopy procedure done on July 23rd.

This domino effect which began with good intention to do something right to care for the betterment of health and life longevity, has turned into the most unfortunate of circumstances effecting many lives in an extremely devastating way. It will leave it's mark on our family for a long time, if not forever. It would be nice to hear an apology and hope that the medical community has a heart and a priority to the care of the patient and not to greed and the "almighty dollar". All we ask is for everyone connected with this medical situation DO THE RIGHT THING...that's all.

We can only now just keep the faith and know where our priorities are.

Till the next time.....