Monday Night Different

Today is Monday, November 24, 2008.

Today turned out to be a very different full day. Missy and Joshua watched movies last night and went to sleep downstairs in the living room, while CC and I went to sleep upstairs in our bedroom. So the kids were up for awhile time and definitely later than CC and I were up. CC had to work this morning, so she got up at her usual time and was able to get off to work in plenty of time without waking the kids up, so that when I woke up, which was around seven o'clock, I walked out to the stairwell and noticed that the kids were still asleep. So, I worked a little bit on computer and then went downstairs to make a breakfast for myself. The morning of itself really has little to offer in the way of interest, with the exception that late morning around 10:45 to 10:50, while Missy and Joshua were upstairs in my bedroom watching a video, I was in my office and was typing and thinking, so the house was very quiet and I could hear everything around the house. Annie had been out of her crate and had already been outside and back inside by this time, so she was seated by the front window, at the front corner of the house, staring out the front window looking at the street, like she normally does, and resting there. It's at probably 10:55 or so, that I heard are sliding door open and in that instant, I thought that it was strange that CC would be home early and be coming in through the back door... and then I heard Annie bark in a very ferocious and vicious bark that I have only heard her use a couple of occasions. She barked and ran into the kitchen area sliding on the hardwood floor and then I heard her claws trying desperately to gain traction on the hardwood floor in order to chase the intruder back out of the house. I went from my office into Joshua's room and looked out his window quickly to see if I could see anything; I couldn't and then I went into our bedroom and out onto the balcony and I looked out onto the street to see if I could see anyone on the street, but I could not see anybody. So then I made my way downstairs and went outside for Annie was continually barking at our halfway fence, which separates the very front fenced boat section of the yard on the side of the house from the backyard. Both sets of Annie's hackles were up, and when she caught eye of me, she spun around, very much ready for business until she recognized that it was me. And instead of coming up and being all apologetic and submissive to me, she remained on guard, and she immediately ran to the other parts of the yard, smelling and sniffing. When she came back to where I was, I had opened the gate to allow me to walk beside the boat towards our cyclone gate and she followed with her nose on somebody's trail, that had hopped over the fence and then had gone out through the cyclone fence.

It felt almost surreal to accept and realize that someone had just come into our backyard and had opened our sliding glass door to come into our house, not seeming to care whether or not we were home. He DID seem to care quite a lot that there was a Doberman hound that wanted to meet him. I'm thankful nothing happened to her. I'm not so thankful that nothing happened to him, and do believe it would have been very appropriate for him to of had a rather painful going away gift courtesy of Annie. However, that was not the case. This brings to light, a number of different home habits that have to be changed in terms of being a better steward of the property, taking better care of ourselves and securing our possessions and our doors and windows even when we are home. And interestingly, when I heard the sliding glass door, my very first thought was of CC being home early and how that couldn't be correct. My very next thought and impulse was that I needed to grab my rifle and load it; I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling, or that impulse. My two young ones were up in my bedroom expecting and believing that they're perfectly safe in daddy's home. And some man of evil put their faith to question. May he and I never meet.

After all of this had taken place, I called the sheriff's department and asked for their direction; I wasn't sure that I should have called 911 at that point in time. So, not wanting to take a chance, I called their business line, and they sent out an officer (actually two officers) and it was the officers who suggested that in the future that I call 911 with anything remotely similar to something like this happening; message received.

So following that whole significant section of fun, my adrenaline had been pumping rather quickly and hard and within 40 minutes or so of that happening, the attack began slowly at first and then went into full scale. What makes the most sense to us is that the attack was triggered by the stress and the anxiousness of what was just taking place and had taken place. After the attack, I was down for a few hours and then after CC had come home, she let me know that we needed to head down to South Sacramento for a pre-op appointment, so, very slowly, I made my way down stairs and into the van for us to leave for the appointment. I forgot to mention that around 12:30 or so, my niece Kirsten came up to visit us and see the kids for the night, so it worked out perfectly for CC and I to go to this appointment and Kiersten was able to stay with the kiddos.
The long story short, from the pre-op appointment is that there was no pre-op appointment tonight. We drove most of the way there, only to be caught in traffic and recognize that we could not make it in time. And so CC was fielding phone calls on both cell phones from both, the dentist as well as Kaiser, talking about how this whole process was going to work out. Bottom line now is that I will go in early tomorrow morning to South Sac do the pre-op appointment, get all the information handled and then go into pre-op itself and get prepared for the surgery and then do the surgery tomorrow itself as well. My parents have driven up and are staying at my aunt and uncle's house and they will be here to help me and to help CC while we come to grips with getting through the oral surgery. Needless to say, there is a lot going on.

As a matter of fact, I'm recalling that yesterday was a good yet, busy day, in that we did not go to church, because CC had to work yesterday morning, but Joshua and I had some time together, while CC, after she got home from work, spent some one-on-one time with Missy watching a video together with her, joshy and I went and took Annie for a very long walk. It was not our usual walk, this time. We walked over in to the green belt area on the other side of our house and we took the pathway out to an adjoining street. A disconnected block over from where we live, and then we followed that street as it twisted and turned its way back around to Fair Oaks Blvd. and then we rode down Fair Oaks Blvd. back towards the park where we had originally started from. CC and Missy were waiting for us at the green belt, and they have brought tennis rackets, and tennis balls with them. So we crossed Fair Oaks Blvd., and we went over to the small tennis courts located at the front end of the park. We brought Annie in with us and we secured the gate so that Annie could run all around the tennis courts and be free from restraint, while the four of us could bat the ball's back and forth to each other. And I managed to do that whole time without sitting in my chair and without suffering any attacks. At that point in time, I knew it was going to be eventually painful, but I thought it would be worth it and I was right. When we got done playing around, we all went back to the house, and it was then, while CC and I were talking in the kitchen, that my head became very light and my balance simply went away. CC caught me before I fell and Missy came in and helped her hold me and then they got me into a chair and got the potassium into me and the other medicines into me. And once things mellow out I slept for a while. It was after that, that CC and I went upstairs, while the kids stayed downstairs. Going to sleep that night was not a problem.
Two attacks in two days; not what I'd want, but then again, no one's asking me either.

I'm running out of words, and I'm running out of the ability to think of them. It is time for my medicine and to go lay down.