Friday, May 30, 2014

It's Friday night and I'm exhausted! We've had a busy week and it's been a sad week as well.

We had a very quiet holiday week-end. We only had church Sunday morning, but Ryan, Amanda, Kayden and Kiyann came for supper that evening. As we were dishing up lasagna, Kayden asked who was going to pray and Kiyann raised her hand before anyone could say anything. Usually it falls to Bill to bless the food. But, after everyone had been served she told us all to bow our heads and close our eyes and she then said the standard children's grace. I was very proud of her! It wasn't that long ago she informed me when it was time for the blessing that she would bow her head but she was not closing her eyes! These 2 kids have not been to church much until just lately and we are now seeing the results.

A dear little lady from church passed away Monday afternoon. She was 94 and the oldest member of the church. She had been the pianist when we started going there and once she found out that I could play, she said she had played long enough, and stepped down. It made it difficult since I'm not a member of the church and can't hold the office of pianist, so they had it entered into the minutes that I could play anytime I desired. Her daughter took over when I needed to stop, but I fill in for her. We were playing piano/organ for awhile, until the organ quit. It's an older one with tubes and we were told that when the tubes went that would be it. They went Easter Sunday! Anyway, Karla's funeral was yesterday morning. She looked so peaceful and relaxed.

I have noticed that Bill is having trouble with funerals now. I think that's a side effect of the stroke. We've been to 2 since we've been home and he has sat and sobbed. So, unless it's a funeral that can't be avoided, I won't put him in that position again. I don't know if he'll protest, we'll just have to see.

It's rained every day this week, not steady rain or storms, just pop up showers. It's supposed to continue for a couple more days.

Bill was up every 2 hours last night with leg cramps and going to the bathroom. I tried to check his blood sugar this morning, but the battery in the meter needs changed and I don't have another one. Since being up and down with him all night I've been really tired today. It was also a day that I was very short-tempered. But, I stayed mostly to myself. I did get all the laundry done, a roast with all the fixin's in the crockpot and was ready to sit by noon. I had to take Brianna to the orthodontist this afternoon, but didn't have to take the girls to a function at church. Their daddy was home this afternoon so he could do it.

Ryan and Amanda and Spooky (the dog) are here for the night. Their house is being sprayed and they have to leave it for 24 hours. So they're here. Ryan is also going to do some "honey dos" for us, like install a new ceiling fan and help me hang some pictures. I don't want Bill to get up on the ladder! Spooky has been really funny. He followed me all over as I was getting dinner on the table. They tried to give him some treats but he was having none of it. What I had was much more interesting!

So, early post this week and you can see why I'm tired tonight. It's not even 9 pm and I'm ready for bed. Although since we have houseguests, even though it is our kids, it probably wouldn't be nice to leave them. Of course we'll go to bed before them anyway, but this might be a little early. Hope everyone has a good week-end!

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Another week gone!

It seems like we've accomplished absolutely nothing this week, or done anything newsworthy! Just a normal week.

We've still been tired, it seems. And it's gotten very hot. Started the week with the heat on and ended it with the air on. I try to turn it off in the mornings and open the windows to get a little fresh air in, but that doesn't last too long.

We spent a little time with Brianna and McKenna yesterday. Emily and Bryan are out of town for the week-end and Em's dad is keeping the girls. They couldn't stay here because we haven't replaced our bedroom set yet so don't have an extra bed for them. So, after school we picked them up and took them halfway to his house. He met us for the great kid swap. Ryan and Amanda have Kayden and Kiyann this week-end, so we have no children obligations for the holiday week-end (not that we ever have children obligations).

We have no plans, especially since it's so hot. But, if we feel like doing something, or going shopping, we're free to do so. The only thing I have planned is...laundry.

Ron and Maria and Buddy came over for coffee this morning. Buddy followed me all around to make sure I had some treats for him. He was almost in my lap getting his bacon treats, and he's a lab! Since Ron has gotten a job painting at the hospital we don't get to see Buddy every day. I don't know who misses who more! Buddy's a really good dog and treats our house like his home.

I did try to set up Bill's colonoscopy but they have him on a 10-year follow up. Mayo wants it now so I gave Stephanie's number to the nurse. I haven't heard back from either of them so I don't know what the decision will be. I meant to call Stephanie yesterday but didn't so need to do that Tuesday. I still have the stool sample supplies we were given at the lab so we can still do those and mail them back.

So, that's it from this end. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday week-end. And, please remember that this week-end is not just to kick-off the summer. I remember going to the cemeteries with my grandmother early in the morning for a tribute to the fallen. And, if you don't know how and when Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was once called, started, Google it! You may be surprised at what you find!

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Good Morning! What a busy time we've had! We're still tired from all of our travels, but hopefully we'll start to perk up this week.

After we got home last Friday, we switched suitcases and headed to Illinois Saturday morning to surprise my mother for Mother's Day. We actually pulled it off, just showed up at church with my sister. After church we had lunch at my brother's and we finally decided that it had been 35 years since we had all been together for Mother's Day.

We had decided to do this at Easter and it was really hard to keep the secret. We didn't stay long because we were so tired so came home Tuesday morning. We did visit with mom and her new husband on Monday.

As I said, we've been tired and Bill has really been dragging. He's finally perking up some now and since we don't have to go back to Florida until October or November we'll get into a new routine soon. The major excitement of the week for me was untangling a slinky!

I'm going to start updating this in the morning instead of the afternoon or evening. It's a long story but this way my mom can check in. She's without a computer all the time for a little while, but if she can get to one it will be earlier in the day than evening. So, she'll be able to keep up with us.

That's it for this installment. As you can see, we didn't do much at all. Maybe I need to re-tangle the slinky! Have a good week!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

No rejection! Biopsy looked good, along with all the other numbers. So, aside from the little problem yesterday with the bleed and allergic reaction, this was a very successful visit.

Bill was very restless for most of the night but finally rested in the wee morning hours. He only had a little redness and itching this morning so gave him more Benadryl and Zantac. I think that it's totally gone now, or so he says. If it comes back I'm to call Stephanie in the morning and Dr. Yip will call in an oral steroid to help.

Dr. Yip feels really bad and has decided that he won't do any more heart caths. He will just do dopamine stress tests with echoes to check the pressures. He also said that any further biopsies would be in the neck as before, if he will even need them.

As it stands now, I need to schedule a colonoscopy when we get home. Then we will do labs in 3 months at home and a return visit in 6 months for an echo and clinic visit. I think we can handle a trip to Florida every 6 months!

So far the drive home has been uneventful. The traffic has been light and the weather very nice. Of course it's very hot but with the air conditioning we only notice it when we stop.

This will be the last post for this week. As my mother says, no news is good news. Take it on faith that we have an uneventful drive home tomorrow and rest up over the week-end. For all of the mothers reading this, including my own, Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy spending it with your families if possible, hopefully being spoiled!

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Today we have good news again, and not so good news. Nothing major wrong, just a little blip.

The heart cath went well. Dr. Yip said that all of his pressures were good and the heart was doing great. We'll have to do some labs at home in 3 months and come back in 6 months for an echo and clinic appointment and then continue the labs. He also said that Bill has a lot of scar tissue on both groin sites so any further heart caths would be through the wrist. I didn't know that was possible, but I guess it is. He also said that he may not need to have any more biopsies since he is at 2 years out, but if they were necessary he would go back through the neck again.

Now for the not so good. When it was time for Bill to get dressed for discharge, after he had walked and sat in a chair, our nurse saw that his back was bright red and as we watched other parts of his body started turning red. She also checked his groin and it had started to bleed. So, pressure and laying flat again for another hour. She also called Dr. Yip about the rash.

Since Bill is allergy to the contrast dye, he gets pre-medicated with Benadryl, Zantac, and Prednisone. Usually he gets it by mouth the night before and the morning of the procedure. Dr. Yip said that generally the evening dose was not effective so they would just medicate before the procedure. Well, Dr. Yip was wrong! Bill is so miserable! He did get another dose of the meds before we left the hospital, but so far it hasn't worked much. Hopefully it will start working soon, and I can give him more Benadryl tonight, but right now he's itching like crazy!

We're still planning on leaving in the morning. Since we won't be able to go to the beach for dinner tonight, I'm thinking we might go in the morning for breakfast. But, if not, it will be there next time! Right now sleeping in, at least past 6, sounds wonderful!

I will update again tomorrow, and it may be a shorter one, after we get the biopsy results. For now I'm going to put my feet up and drink my Diet Coke and relax! It's been a long couple of days!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

It has been an extremely long day but the news is good all around!

We started in the lab at 6 am and our last appointment was at 3. We actually got in early for the last 2 appointments so did get to leave a little early. The dermatology appointment also didn't take very long so we got to stop in to the support group meeting for a few minutes to see some people.

All of the lab numbers are good. There was nothing to be seen on xray and the dermatologist found no trouble spots for skin cancers. The bone scan did show that his bones are still thin but that goes with the meds and age. So, he continues the Fosamax and calcium. Dr. Yip and Stephanie were both thrilled with how he looked.

Tomorrow is the heart cath/biopsy. It will be another long day but we won't be running from building to building. We stay in the same one, on the same floor, it's just a long boring day while he lays still.

We had a good day yesterday. We met our friend Paul and he took us sightseeing. In the 15 months we lived here we didn't get out of our comfort zone much. We did more long distance sightseeing, going to St. Augustine and Daytona Beach. So, Paul took us downtown and we rode the "people mover", a short rail transit for the downtown area. It's totally free and you could ride all day if you wanted to. We also rode the water taxi across the river to The Landing, which is a boutique shopping, restaurant area. Since we're not big shoppers we didn't do a lot of shopping so we rode the water taxi over it's entire route, which isn't really big, but it was enjoyable. It was really hot so moving created a nice breeze. We also went to see the nurses. They always like to see their patients return in good health. They especially like to see Bill after all he's been through.

We met with Kristin, our landlady, and got the lamps I bought from her. They are the lamps that were in the bedroom of the condo. She's been selling a lot of things and I just asked her if she would sell them. They will go beautifully in our bedroom when we get it painted.

So, you're caught up for now. We're going to get something to eat before long and stop in at Walmart then call it a night. We may not get to the beach again this trip, but that's ok. I told Bill that since we want to wait until after rush hour to leave Thursday we could go to the beach for breakfast, but haven't made a final decision.

So, that's it for this update. I'll let you know how things go tomorrow!

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Happy Sunday!

We have arrived in Jacksonville! The trip down was uneventful, just long. But, other than stop and go in the construction zone in Birmingham, and heavier than expected on I-10, nothing out of the ordinary.

Our week was interesting. We started getting heavy rain Sunday afternoon. Church was cancelled for the evening because the forecast was dire and, as you all know by now, it was deadly that evening. We only had 1 tornado warning and that was at 2 am Sunday morning. The weather radio was going crazy until about 3 am. Luckily, our area didn't have any damage, we only had heavy rain and some wind. It also got cold again and we had to turn the heat back on. It was finally starting to warm up Friday and is supposed to be nice this week, in the low 80's. Figures since we aren't going to be there!

We went to Brianna's last home softball game for the high school season. But, it was so cold and windy we only stayed for the 1st game. She pitched the 2nd game and said she pitched better than she had all season. We're looking forward to the summer league season for both girls.

Friday was a scary evening for us. It was of course a busy day with laundry and packing things and getting ready to go. We had just finished dinner when Emily called and said she had wrecked Bryan's truck. She was nearly hysterical so we took off to where she was. She hit a pole in a parking lot. The sun was in her eyes and she didn't see it until it was too late. I don't remember a pole ever being in that location in the parking lot so it may have been something newly placed. I also can't understand why there would be a handicap parking space in the farthest spot from the store! But, that was what she hit. After Bryan arrived she asked us to get dinner for the kids, she we took an order from them. She also had her step-brother's 2 girls. The police said she could leave so we left Bryan to wait for the tow-truck (yes she hit the pole hard enough that it wasn't drivable) and we took her home, after a trip to get the food for the girls. She called her dad to tell her other step-brother to come and pick up the girls because she knew she wouldn't be able to handle them and didn't want Brianna to have to either. Her dad said he would come and get them and we arranged to meet him halfway. So, off we went with 2 of the girls to meet my ex (good thing we get along) to swap them. Of course they had no clothes to change into and we didn't know how long they would be there! Em said that her head was hurting and we could tell that she had hit the windshield, but she also said her jaw hurt and her arm was swelling in one place. So, after Bryan got the truck towed home, they took off for the ER. They didn't get home until after 1 am, but luckily, nothing was broken. She only had a slight concussion and they told her to take it easy for a few days. She's very sore now and probably will be for several more days. But, it could have been worse. So, we were up late. They were going to come by on their way home if it wasn't too late and pick up the thunderbird keys so that Bryan would have something to drive.

We didn't get a lot of sleep that night so we were both really tired last night. Bill had brought most of his lunch sandwich (chopped pork) with us, so we heated it in the microwave in the room, cut it in half and that and a cookie was dinner. We had stopped for a late lunch anyway and I didn't feel like getting back out. I was dozing by 7:30 and managed to tell Bill to take his meds a little after 8. He turned out the light then and we were out. Slept until 7 this morning and even though we didn't have to leave early this morning were on the road again by 8:30. Got in about 2:30 and we've already had dinner, at our favorite restaurant. But, we couldn't eat in because they had a first communion party. We told them we could come back but they wouldn't hear of it and asked if we could sit at the Vietnamese restaurant next door. So, that's what we did. We told them we would come back and visit before we left.

We were going to go to the beach tonight, but have decided to let it go until tomorrow. We're going to meet some friends for breakfast after his Mayo appointment. We also have to see our old landlady to pick up some lamps we are buying from her and hope to see some other friends.

Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of the transplant! It doesn't seem like it's been 2 years already, yet at times it seems like a lifetime ago.

I think that hits the highlights of the week, and probably has more information you want to know. And reading back over it, it seems pretty disjointed. But, chalk it up to being tired!

I will update this again on Tuesday evening, Weds. evening after the heart cath and then Thursday or Friday after we get the results of the cath since it will include a biopsy. If all goes well we're heading home Thursday and arriving Friday afternoon.

I've been seeing on social media that it's Star Wars day so I'll join in with everyone else with "May the 4th be with you"! Goodnight!