The Reason I Dye My Hair

As far as I know, I don't have any gray hair. But I haven't actually seen my natural hair color in about 12 years, so I really can't be sure. However, I'm having one of those weeks that begs the question, how long can the human body function on Diet Coke, adrenaline and concession stand nachos?

Some of you may have already heard that my sister Shiloh's two youngest kids are in the hospital. (Six week old Adam and 18 month old Lydia.) They were admitted with RSV, some kind of respiratory virus. It was pretty serious for both of them, they were running high fevers and had a hard time breathing. Her Preston, (who is almost 3) also has RSV, but he's at home, receiving breathing treatments every four hours, so they don't think they'll have to admit him.

As many of you who know my mother can imagine, with Shiloh in Columbia, SC spread between sick kids at home and sick kids in the hospital and mom stuck in Idaho, my mother was pretty desperate to get out there and help. So Monday morning when Shiloh called to report that both children had gotten worse over night, naturally, mom pretty much lost it. But that's okay, because within an hour, we'd booked her out on a red-eye flight that night, and made all the logistical arrangements to getting her to and from the airport. She arrived yesterday morning (although her luggage is, as I write this, still MIA) and I know Shiloh is very grateful to have her there. Especially since they upgraded Adam to the ICU and began forcing air into his lungs (the breathing tube just wasn't cutting it.)

Yesterday was a bad weather day in Idaho with sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts up to 90 mph, they actually cancelled school. They didn't cancel wrestling, though, so Cody had a meet at Shelley last night. But before we could even get there, we got a call from Hillary saying that somehow between the wind and the ice, she had ended up rolled on her side in a ditch. Thankfully she's not hurt. The same cannot be said for the car. They called the sherriff's department and a tow truck and towed it to the mechanic my parents use. I guess we'll find out this week what the damage really is. In the meantime, they're sharing Cody's truck to get to school and work and wrestling.

Cody did well last night, he pinned both of his guys, so at least we know he's not hurt. Hillary isn't physically hurt, but once the shock wore off, she did kind of break down last night about everything. I can't say I blame her.

News from South Carolina this morning is that Lydia is finally eating & drinking on her own, so they've taken out her IV, but she's still on oxygen, and it will be a couple more days before she's home. They're hoping to have her home by the end of the week though. As for Adam, his color is better now that they're forcing the air into his lungs and they've had to move his IV to the femeral artery because he was so dehydrated. He still has a long road, however, so keep them both in your prayers. Preston has more engery, but of course, he's still being treated at home.

As far as I can tell Shiloh has managed to keep her sanity, and is doing better now that mom is there to help. Jason never had any sanity, so no loss there.....

Travis, missed out on all of this fun drama, because he got sent to a jobsite in Casper, WY on Sunday. His dad visits the doctor today to find out if they got all the cancer in his recent surgery. So we're crossing our fingers for that as well. Sadly, he hasn't been recovering as well as they hoped he would, so the doctors are being very conservative about what they tell us at this point. We'll know more after his appointment today though.

In the meantime I'm playing the roles of substitute mom, wrestling cheerleader and stats keeper, long distance wife, dutiful daughter-in-law, big sister and (in between all the drama) mortgage professional. So with all this jugggling, I don't think I'll be going back to my natural hair color anytime soon. Simply because I really don't want to know the truth.