Bill got a good report. From his heart standpoint he's good. His blood pressure was good but it dropped on standing. So Stephanie just said to stand for a minute before trying to walk. She said that his echo from Memphis looked good also. We didn't get to see Dr. Hosenpud so we saw his assistant Ginny. We hadn't seen her for a couple of years. She said that as far as she was concerned he could start using his treadmill again, but only for 10 minutes at a time. I will probably go out with him the first few times just to keep an eye on him. Other than that they were pleased. They did want to make sure we were seeing a lung dr. for the COPD and we are. They didn't have the results of the lab work so I don't know if they will make any med changes or not. If they do Stephanie will call tomorrow. So, that's it as far as his check-up went. For those of you who are only interested in that, you can stop reading now. Otherwise keep going!
Tuesday our furnace went out. It's about 10 years old so should have had a lot of life left in it yet. I called Emily and she called a guy from their church and he came that night. A motor was frozen from corrosion and he was able to get it working. He didn't know how long it would last, and of course last week was the coldest weather we were to have for the year. He was able to get the part ordered and in on Wednesday but got hung up on another job and didn't get it fixed until Thursday. He said there is one more little part that could cause a problem and if it did he would come out and swap it out for no charge.
We were really watching the weather for the snow that was falling in Alabama. There was a lot of snow on the ground starting just north of Birmingham and ending just before Montgomery...just the route we were travelling. But, the roads were good, wet in some areas but clear. Traffic was pretty light and we didn't have any problems.
We did well with the new oxygen concentrator. He used it in the car, and when we stopped for breaks or lunch, he just used a small tank. It worked really well. So, from that aspect, it's been a good investment.
Last night we decided we wanted a light supper so decided to go to Bob Evans across the street for soup and a sandwich. But, it has closed down! So, we decided to go to Denny's instead and it was closed! It's open today so maybe they were closed for an employee Christmas party. Anyway, after driving around looking for a homestyle restaurant we ended up a TGI Friday's. It took 15 minutes for our waiter to come and take our drink order and another 10 minutes before he came back with only Bill's coffee to take our order. I had to go out to the car to get a small oxygen tank for Bill as his batteries were getting low and I hadn't brought the back-up batteries because I didn't expect us to be gone more than 2 hours. We left the hotel a little before 6 and we finally got our food about 7:45, but they brought the wrong soup and didn't bring any silverware. I did finally get my drink. We finally got some utensils and I had finished my salad and was helping Bill eat his chicken when we were told that they were out of broccoli cheese soup! We told him to forget it, I had gotten enough to eat anyway. Because it took so long Bill's meds were late and we were both pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the room.
Bill did have a rough morning. He has hurt his right arm and shoulder somehow. We think it is just muscular and Ginny did say that his muscles feel tight, but he was having a hard time with his concentrator and breathing. So, we decided to use a wheelchair at Mayo. A lovely woman offered to help us maneuver everything to the lab as she was going there too. I was figuring out how to change things around while he was getting his blood drawn and there was a nice man across from us that figured an easier way and off we went. We just parked where his next appointments were and we knew we had a 2 hour wait, but I could plug in his concentrator. I got us some lunch and we just stayed there until it was time to check-in. Stephanie was really booked today and she was actually coming out and getting her patients herself instead of having an aide do it. But, Bill walked in to the clinic area and then he attempted to walk out when we were done. We had to stop several times and I finally switched him to a small tank. It was hurting his arm to pull the other one. He is having a hard time walking. It could be that he's still recovering from the pneumonia, but it could also be that his lungs are deteriorating more. He's sees Dr. Burbeck in February and we'll see what she says.
I'm planning on leaving super early to get out of rush hour traffic. Tomorrow is the hard drive (longest) but it won't be too bad, I hope. I don't know if I will update this or not Saturday. I don't anticipate anything happening except for travelling for 2 days and then doing laundry and getting the cat home from Brianna's. But, check in just to see.
So there you have it. We have found that there are still good people in the world that offer to help others who need it. And, while it goes against my independent nature, I accepted the help. Now if the car would just load itself in the morning!
No comments:
Post a Comment