When it Rains, It Pours

For better or for worse, this little aphorism seems to be true.

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

Since you obviously cannot answer that question in real time, I will go with the good news first, since it's shorter.

I have a blind date tonight.

Blonde has a new boyfriend, and apparently he's got a friend who would be great for me. So tonight, I am meeting Blonde and her boyfriend. They are bringing my date. What do I know about him? Let's see...supposedly, he's cute. He's in medical sales. I think she said he's got blonde-ish hair. Which is good -- I like blondes.

(I keep getting "blonde" coming up as a word I need to spell-check, but dammit, that's how I learned to spell the word, and it's listed in the dictionary as an alternate spelling of "blond", so bite me, spellcheck!)

Where was I? Oh yes. He is rumored to be a big partier. As in, getting drunk every weekend. Did I mention this guy is in his early 30s? Yeah. I've dated too many guys (I will be discreet and avoid mentioning names) who were frat boys who never grew up. I am really kind of over that kind of lifestyle. Let's hope this guy is a little more mature than his reputation.

Besides, it will be tough for him to beat out Rob Thomas at this point.

Rob Thomas, who has "potential new boyfriend for VB" written all over him.

Rob Thomas, with the nice arms.

Rob Thomas, who has not called me.

Yet.

But he will. Right? I mean, there was too much chemistry! We had a serious make-out session! It lasted approximately an hour and a half. That means something, right?

Alright, good news over. Time for bad news.

Do you remember the P family? Although not blood relatives, I refer to them as Aunt and Uncle P. Their kids are basically like my cousins, since we all grew up together. This family is like my other family. Their house burned down last December. They lost everything. Luckily, their insurance company is taking good care of them and they are rebuilding.

Remember the story of their daughter, GP, who basically witnessed a double homicide? Ok, this is about her. It's bad.

A few months ago, she got knocked up. Oops. Anyway, her boyfriend (who is supposedly a total JERK who is trying to distance himself from her so he won't have to be involved with it) wanted her to get an abortion, but she doesn't believe in them. Her parents want her to give it up for adoption, since she and the boyf aren't getting married. They say it will be really hard for her to be a single mom of a newborn when she's a bank teller and only 24. (I have to say, I am thinking they might be right...) But she wants to keep the baby.

Ok, hold on. I haven't gotten to the bad part yet. Oh yes, it gets worse. If you have a weak stomach, you might want to just sort of speed-read through this part.

So she went to the hospital last week because of a kidney stone. I didn't know this, but if you are pregnant, you cannot take the usual medications for that. Instead, they have to insert a tube directly into the kidney and drain out your urine that way.

Well, they put it in kinda funny, and the tube was pressing on a nerve ending, so she was in a lot of pain.

[Note: sarcasm alert] Which is a really good time for the doctors to ignore you for the next four days.

I am not kidding. The nurses asked the doctors several times to take a look at her. "She's getting worse," they kept saying. Finally, totally fed up and scared to death, Aunt P (her mom) hunted down the doctors and chewed them a new one yesterday.

The doctors go in and look at her. By this point, there is an infection that is spreading through her body. Awesome.

There are crystals in her urine (or maybe it was in her kidneys? Something was crystallizing), which I am pretty sure is not a good thing. Then they realized one of her lungs had collapsed. Why had it collapsed? Um, because her lungs are filling up with fluid as a reaction to the infection.

Because her lungs are filling up with fluid, she cannot get enough oxygen, which has put a strain on her heart. So she has heart arrhythmia, too. So she cannot breathe successfully on her own, which is why they sedated her and put her on a ventilator. She's unconscious and in intensive care.

As a person who is friends with about 4 intensive care nurses, I know what the statistics are for people who go into the intensive care unit. They are about 50/50.

Meanwhile, her body is trying to go into labor, and the baby is only at about 25 weeks.

The doctors said that at this point, they don't know if they can save the baby. They said that even if they can save it, it will probably be mentally disabled for its entire life. They also said that there are so many things wrong with GP right now, that they don't even know what kind of a prognosis they can give her. So her family doesn't even know if she's going to make it.

Y'all, this family has been through so much, you don't even know. Uncle P has lost jobs in the past, one their sons was mixed up in drugs for a while, and then he knocked up his girlfriend and went on the run from the law to avoid his jail time....I know this is personal stuff, but y'all will never meet them, so it's ok. But seriously, this family has been through more than any other family I know. So for GP to get knocked up was bad enough, after they lost their house. And now this? I seriously don't know how Uncle and Aunt P keep their sanity. I would have to be on drugs. Or drink heavily. Shit, just typing this makes me want to cry and smoke a pack of cigarettes.

It seems they just can't catch a break. And I don't know how I can help them at all. I don't have any money, and visiting them would just make me feel like a burden. They are so busy with everything, I feel intrusive calling them. I will just have to keep praying for them and sending them cards. That's all I can do, I guess.

When Czarina told me all of this this morning, she was running around the house, tying up loose ends in case Aunt P (who is more than Czarina's best friend -- seriously, the women were separated at birth) called her and wants her to drive up to DC to be with her.

Czarina hasn't emailed or called me all day, so I am hoping that is a good sign. I am going to call her tonight anyway, though. So if you can, please keep this family in your prayers. They have a lot of support in their community and from their church, famly and friends, but everyone can use more prayers, don't you think?