We haven't had a real good week, or at least I haven't. The changing of the seasons cold got me the first part of the week. Felt really miserable Monday, but it's been off and on the rest of the week, feeling good one day and not so hot the next. I think it's been a combination of the weather changing plus smoke all around from the fields being burned.

I noticed Tuesday night that my right calf was very tender just below and to the side of my left knee. It didn't feel feverish, but I could tell it was swollen. It still hurt Wednesday so I got in to the the nurse practitioner. She said she could feel good pulses everywhere along the leg, but was concerned that my foot was cold...until she felt the other one. It was freezing in the waiting room and I had worn sandals. Since there is a family history of blood clots, plus being overweight and a mostly sedentary lifestyle, she sent me to the hospital for an ultrasound of the vein. She also told me to then go home and put my leg up with heat on it. The technician said she didn't see any clots, just that it looked like a varicose vein. I followed Connie's instructions and sat with my leg up with heat, but that seemed to make it hurt more. When the nurse called the next day she said that there were no clots, but there was no plan of action. So I guess I'll just watch it and try to move some more and sit differently. I do tend to sit with my legs curled most of the time, and I know that I shouldn't, but it is what it is.

I haven't slept well most of the week. Part of it was because of the baseball play-offs, with one game going until 2 am. I think it's more stress than anything since I've been worried about my leg, getting ready to go to Florida and just general worries.

Bill's cough has gotten worse, or so it seems to me. He's also been stuffy and then runny so it may be the same thing I've had. He's been doing better with keeping his O2 on when he's moving around and I can tell there's a difference in his cognition. He seems to be more aware of things. 

I've got to figure out all of the logistics with the oxygen again for traveling. I know I can have some delivered while we are there but it's for all of the down time we will have at Bill's sister's house. We could take the small concentrator to her house from the hotel, but her house is very cluttered and I don't know that we could find a place to put it and plug it in. I could also have one of those delivered to her house, too. Something else to work on before we leave Thursday. I also need to find a rolling tote that opens at the top to carry a couple of the small tanks while we are at Mayo. I looked here in town and couldn't find anything so will probably have to make a trip to Jonesboro in the next few days. Need to start making my list.

We tried an automatic feeder for the cat this week and Thursday night I think we fed every nocturnal animal around. We were afraid that the cat was gone or dead since she didn't come out when I took her some wet food. It stayed in her dish all day, but when I checked about dark it was gone. I went out with some dry food and she finally came to the opening of the crawl space, and then came out after I went in to eat, so she's OK. She didn't look injured anywhere. So now we have to figure out something about getting her fed while we're gone, but I think we have a plan for that.

We do leave Thursday for Florida and will be in Jacksonville for the week-end, then to Clearwater for a week to visit family and then back to Jacksonville for Bill's check-up and then back home. We'll be gone a full 2 weeks this time, the longest in a quite a while. I was hoping that early voting would start before we leave but it doesn't start until the 24th. But, we'll be back in time to vote. I just don't want to have to stand in line on election day.

I guess this is it for this week. I'm not sure when I'll get this updated while we're gone. I'll try to keep on the same schedule of sometime Saturday, so don't worry if it's not updated until later in the day or evening. Until next time...

 

We have a cat! Well, we kind of have a cat. When my sister was here we went out the backdoor to sit on the patio and there was a tortoise shell cat sunning on the wood box. As we came out, she ran under the house and then sat there looking at us. The next day when we went out, she was "hunting" and we watched as she caught and devoured a lizard, completely! She's not skin and bones so she's been eating. My sister put out a left over piece of pizza and some parmesan bread bites that night and the next morning there was only crust left, and that was gone later in the day. I've been feeding it here and there and she's getting better at not running away, but we are not going to try to tame her. She can stay an outside cat that just gets fed and watered. She's had something wrong with her tail, whether she was in a fight, or it was diseased, but it has steadily falling off. Thursday night more had come off and I could see that the end was raw, but last night it was black, whether it was covered with fleas or dirt I couldn't tell. 

The cat was really the highlight of the week. Bill did do some walking this week, more than he had been doing. I'm starting to get a little concerned about his memory. He's always had trouble with word recall since the stroke, but now he's forgetting what things are. He asked what carrots were on the veggie tray the other night and I told him to take his pills and he picked up an inhaler and asked if that was what I meant. I'm going to say something to Stephanie when we go to Mayo. Before the transplant he was on Aricept and Namenda, even though the Dr. said that he didn't have any signs of Alzheimers or dementia. They were finding that using them enhanced the regular memory of older patients. Dr. Yip took him off of those after testing with Mayo psych also showed no signs, so I don't know if he will want him back on them. They may also interact with his transplant meds, so I don't know.

Harvest is going right along, but with that comes the dreaded field burning. This is the only place I've seen where the fields are burnt off after harvest. Not only does it affect people with breathing problems, but it affects driving by obscuring visibility. There was a fatality last year just shortly after we had driven through the same area. Farmers say they can't afford the extra fuel or wages it would take to plow the stubble under. There have been attempts to get the practice outlawed but nothing yet. They are supposed to have a tank of water at the site and be on-site themselves, but that usually doesn't happen. They are also not supposed to burn when the wind speed is above a certain mph, but that usually doesn't happen either. So, we're trying to stay in when we see smoke in the area.

We've checked in with our friends in Jacksonville and they have all made it through the storm. I saw this morning that Bill's beloved pier has been damaged and I think the hotel we have stayed in on the beach was flooded. Our family members are all located on the gulf side of the state and they were not affected except by a little rain.

It's gotten cooler today, was in the 40s last night. I've got a crockpot full of ham and corn chowder going. It's a new recipe and looked and sounded really good. I've also got laundry going. And now I have to work on getting my printer re-installed. The windows 10 update this week knocked it out and even though the system can find it, it won't install it. So, that's on my agenda today. Or maybe not. I don't need the cowl pattern I was trying to print that bad...or do I?!? See you next week!

It's cotton-picking time! Last week-end when we went to Hardy with my sister, we saw several fields that were already defoliated and ready for picking. Yesterday we drove up to see Ryan and some of those fields were picked and others that still had foliage on them were now ready for picking. I could smell the defoliant even in the car and it wasn't long before I could feel my throat closing up. So, I won't spend much time outdoors for a couple of weeks.

We had such a good visit with my sister. She's heading to Niagra Falls tomorrow with her sister-in-law. She said they've never traveled this far together before and may be home Tuesday! I don't think that will happen, though, and they will have a good time.

We haven't done much this week. Bill did use his treadmill a couple of times. He's really going to have to get back into it before we go to his check-up, although I think they will be able to tell that he has deteriorated some. I don't think he has ever fully recovered from when he had pneumonia. He's not complaining as much about using oxygen 24/7, so we'll see what happens when we travel.

Our weather has been lovely, only in the 70s for most of the week. It's supposed to get a little warmer this coming week, but the 90s are gone!

That's really about it. Today is laundry and maybe getting a few groceries. But, I do have some things in the freezer that I can get creative with so who knows, groceries may wait! 

Happy October!