ICU

On opening my blog I notice that the last time I blogged was the 19th of December! How ironic .... little did I know that exactly one month from this day I would fall violently ill and almost die! 2012 made its' appearance as every other new year, with the hope of a better year than 2011. I am sure this is everyone's hope, while we make resolutions and turn over new leaves! It was 4pm, 17th January 2012. Danie and I were sitting outside watching the new Rottweiler puppies, and just enjoying the setting sun and peacefulness of the farm. I suddenly felt very strange and told him I feel sick and was going to lie down. Fever raged the whole night through, with Danie trying to break it with Disprins. The next morning I still felt rotten, but put it down to the normal 24hour bug that normally goes around. Danie kept wanting to take me to the doctor, as he could not break my temperature and every fiber of my body ached! I kept assuring him that I would be fine if I could just spend the day in bed and sleep it off. Another night of fever, wet pajamas and chills passed, and when morning broke I told him I needed to get to a doctor and fast ... it was exactly one month from my last blog - 19th January 2012!

From this moment I remember very little except a flash here and there, vomiting in the doctors rooms, lying on a bed at the consulting rooms on a drip, and then in a bed in hospital. I vaguely remember my parents, Danie and children around me and then being wheeled to ICU late that night. I had somehow developed and extremely serious lung infection and was coughing up bright red blood and having extreme difficulty breathing. The first seven days in ICU are a blur of beeping machines, pipes and needles stuck in my arms, a catheter and a drain in my right lung.

I was put on some or other weird machine that helped me to breathe but looked more like a fighter pilot with the contraption strapped to my face. I had to sleep like this every night but was thankful for the strong medication which knocked me out. In the day it was one hour off the machine and four hours on !! What a nightmare!

As the days dragged on, each day I got a little better and began to regain my strength. After much prayer from family and friends I was sent home after 12 days in ICU. I have now regained my strength, am back to myself again. In the interim, my 85 year old mother got ill and had an emergency operation to remove her gall bladder which had gone rotten and was poisoning her body - she was in ICU for a week! A month later a close and much loved family member died of aggressive cancer.

However amid all the sadness, my two daughters and I, went on a long awaited dream come true - cruised on the Sinfonia to Maputo, Portuguese Island and back to Durban - awesome time!

For those who have been following Karen's story .... I will start blogging again and hopefully on a more regular basis! Today my father turned 84 and my mother is now 85. How blessed am I?? So blessed that I can wake up each day with a song in my heart, grateful to my Heavenly Father for all His amazing blessings he has bestowed on me! I would have loved to have seen Karen again, but realise that my other two children, my husband, parents and family still need this crazy nut to be around! Thank you Jesus for restoring my health, and giving me a new lease on life, help me NOT to waste it!

Life Goes On!

On 28th April this year, 2010, Danie and I will celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary! Goodness how time has passed. I have found that the older we get, the more time seems to fly. I remember so clearly, as a young girl how long a year was.

I love every moment of being a farmer's wife. It is so different and exciting to the business world I had become accustomed to. I look at my hands, and no longer are there long, red painted nails, with little butterflies or pictures on the tips! There just is no more time for that. My mind goes back to the first time Danie slaughtered a sheep for us for meat. I stood opposite him at a table, with the meat master machine between us. As he sliced the meat into sections, I was to pack into plastic bags and put them into the freezer. My nails, so immaculately kept, were sticking to the bags, I battled to get the them open, and I remember breaking out into a nervous sweat, as I heard Danie's voice saying "Come on, quick, quick you're getting behind me." Suddenly, this business woman, had to dirty her hands with the blood from the meat, stand the smell of it, handle it, and then later on have to cook it and eat it.

Well, four years down the line, I pack faster than what Danie can cut, I can hold down a dog when he needs to inject it. I can do a whole lot more that I could when I arrived, but have put my foot down when it comes to helping deliver a calf! Not after having seen the mess Danie is in, I have decided that is a no no for me. I also refuse to pull any ticks off the dogs. I can be a farmer's wife but there are limits! I walk to the dam, ride with Danie on the quad bike and get full of dust, no more the neatly dressed made up lady of the city. But after all is said and done, if we go out anywhere, I know how to dress and look the look again!