Jayne Earhardt here.
I am afraid things aren't really that much better since the last time I wrote. I can't seem to get a break from caring for our younger son, Micheal Patrick, who is severely disabled. My mom, who lives in Orlando, isn't home; I forgot she went on that cruise to Alaska just a few days ago; she won't be back until two weeks from now.
Add to that, the demands of my two other (healthy) children, Hughie, 10, and four-year-old Flower Grace, who have baseball practice, ballet lessons, and other goings-on from their schools.
I am stuck at home while my husband, Robert, works extra hours at his job, just so we can pay the bills on time. It seems that the bills are only piling up faster than we are able to pay them off, often leaving us with very little money to use for necessities.
Worst are the medical bills. Micheal had another hospital stay last month. Pneumonia. Again. Both lungs. It's left him terribly weakened and dependent on oxygen, which he wears most of the time now, since his lungs are so "twitchy": it seems any little thing can set them off again.
We are afraid to go anywhere, especially with this fear of the swine flu. If Micheal gets it, we might as well be calling the morgue right now; he wouldn't be able to survive it. That's how delicate his health is. One minute, he's laughing, cooing, or smiling; the next, he's fighting for his very life, laying helpless in the Intensive Care unit of Children's Hospital, tubes and monitors attached to him.
In the last four months, Micheal has been hospitalized five times, mostly with pneumonia. Doctors said that the next time it happens he may die; that's how bad his lungs have gotten. He can't seem to shake off things once they hit him; even a simple sniffle turns into a major worry, not only for Micheal, but for all of us, because we don't know how he is going to handle yet another sickness.
We are still looking into placing Micheal into a home for disabled kids, where people who are better equipped to handle his needs, can care for him. We are getting past the breaking point: it seems that whenever Robert is home, all we do is fight, and it isn't going to do Micheal (let alone, Flower or Hughie) a bit of good! We have looked into several different places, but we aren't sure as to whether this would be the best situation for us.
It's a terrible position to be in. I wouldn't wish this on anybody, but when we are already stressed out enough as it is, what other alternative is there? If things don't get any better (and soon), we just might end up hurting (or even killing Micheal); then what would that solve??
Just keep us in your prayers; we really could use a break from all of this strees! Thank you in advance!
~Jayne Earhardt. :(*To be continued.*
