All good things must come to an end. After so many weeks of feeling good, Bill is back in the hospital with pneumonia. He started feeling poorly early in the week, but then the next day would be feeling better and having some energy. Wednesday he really started coughing and had shortness of breath. Thursday was better and he was able to get up and ready for the dr. on Friday without too much trouble. He didn't want to use his wheelchair, but by the time we got to the dr., he had very little stamina left.

His labs showed that his white count was 22.9. That's 22,900 which is double what it should be. Connie didn't even listen to him, so just said we needed to head south, which means Memphis for the hospital. So, ran home, picked up a few things, and got to the hospital about 1 in the afternoon. 

More lab work, chest x-ray, chest CT scan, urinalysis, consult with Mayo and a local transplant cardiologist and 8 hours in the emergency room later, he finally was moved to a room about 9 last night. The hospitalist in the ER wanted him put into transplant ICU, which is a closed unit but there was a patient in step-down who was going downhill so that patient got the room. It took an hour and a half to find him a room. They finally decided that since he was stable as far as vitals went, he could go to transplant step-down, which is where he had been before. He's across the hall from his last room. The good part of that is that I can be with him all the time if need be. The closed units have very strict visiting hours. I would imagine it's because they don't have the separate ventilation system that Mayo has. Their ICU is open which is so nice.

Anyway, we got him settled in and went over all the meds with his nurse. They had given, or were giving, high powered IV antibiotics when I left about 9:45. I stopped on my way out for a diet coke and I looked at the snack machine, but nothing looked or sounded good. By the time I got home, and once I was out of Memphis I talked to my sister all the way home, I was too tired to eat. So, the 3 peppermints I had at the hospital, and the individual serving of ice cream I had when I got home was dinner. They were going to bring Bill a turkey sandwich and some pretzels after they got all the assessments done. He wasn't real happy that he's labeled a fall risk and they only gave him a 4 or 7 foot length of oxygen tubing. Plus all of the IVs and monitor wires, and he's pretty much stuck in bed. I'm taking his pjs to him today. He can at least wear the pants under his gown.

The cat really misses him. After she talked to me and had a late dinner, she laid in his spot on the love seat with her paw on his hat. I'll see if I can figure out how to download the picture to the computer to show you. If it's here I did it, if not...sorry about that.

We don't know how long he'll be in. His white count had gone up even further after we got there. The hospitalist thought through the week-end. I think most of the week. Of course this is about the worst week for this. I see the gastro doctor about my throat Thursday. The good part of that is that I will probably already be in Memphis. I also have to get my military ID renewed. They have a new system where the sponsor doesn't have to accompany you, as long as you filled out the paperwork online. That serves as his electronic signature. So I did that and they went to the Armory in Dyersburg, TN only to find that they were having annual training and the office was closed. Explains why I just kept getting voice mail! So, I may take the long way to the hospital Monday or Tuesday and head there early in the morning and they go on down to Memphis. I need to check their working hours to see just how early I can go.

So, there you have it. It was an extremely long day yesterday and an incredibly short night. Another bright spot through it all...no hives! So, the klonopin was working and keeping my anxiety level down. Let's hope it works as well today. I'll probably update this more until he's home, so just keep checking back. Good thoughts and prayers will definitely be appreciated!

There won't be a picture because I have to download an app on both my phone and computer. I don't want to use Google+ so until I figure out another way, it will have to wait. Sorry about that!

Good Morning!

My days of sleeping in have come to an end. We picked the cat up Wednesday afternoon and she's back into routine of getting me up at 5. It does take a little adjustment, and a couple of cups of coffee before I feel alive, but I'll get used to it.

It hasn't been a real good week. I think the Father's Day shindig tired Bill out more than he let on. He has spent most of the week coughing and not feeling well. He's also run a very low grade fever that does respond to Tylenol. Yesterday he didn't get out of bed until noon and I cancelled his therapy session. I called the Dr. and she called him in some more Prednisone. I think that Dr. Patel had a pretty good plan, he needs the Prednisone for about 3 months, and maybe some more of the doxycycline. Emily thought yesterday she also might benefit from a B12 shot. I know I do feel better taking the B12 pill. I moved up from 1000 mcg to 2500 mcg and can tell a difference. He goes to the Dr. Friday so we'll see what she says then.

I got my referral for the gastro dr. I can't pronounce his name, but it says he's a native of Delaware so hopefully he'll speak clear English. I find I do have a hard time with Indian/Pakistani accents, especially when I want/need to hear something and I'm listening intently. I don't know if any procedure will be done that day, I'll find out when they call as I'm sure they will. If they are going to do anything invasive, Ryan is going to go with me to drive home. Bill has said he's not going so that I don't have to worry about oxygen, although if he wants to go, we'll prepare for that and I'll give Ryan a crash course on changing out tanks/batteries if necessary.

That's about it, a quiet week after all the partying over the week-end. It doesn't seem like June is almost over already! Have a good week-end. I'll let you know what the Dr. says next week!

I know I said that I would update this either Sunday night or Monday morning, but, things happen and that wasn't one of them.

Bill was very surprised with all of his guests! His youngest daughter and her daughter arrived Friday night and met us at Perkins for dinner. Bill still didn't really suspect anything until Em, Bryan, and McKenna showed up about 30 minutes later with his oldest son. They had picked him up at the bus station since it was closer to their house. Then he knew there was something going on!

His other daughter and her family, a grandson and his new wife, and his youngest son with his crew all arrived on Saturday. Bryan cooked enough food for an army, or so we thought. But, when you have a houseful of 24 to feed, you have to cook a lot! Only one son didn't come and his reason was really no reason, but it is what it is. 

Saturday everyone left to go back to the hotel and swim and then went out to eat together, so I think they all enjoyed each other. Bill and I were really tired and I could have gone to bed before it was even dark! We made it until about 9 and then called it a night.

Sunday Rodger and Diana had to leave in the morning, but the rest all came and had some lunch. John's bunch left soon after that and we took Harris back to the bus that evening. There was more swimming and Aimee made a birthday cake for her husband who hadn't been able to come due to being in the field. Since she had to use my kitchen we just ordered pizza and we went to bed rather early that night too. 

The girls both left yesterday, Aimee around 8 and Mary-Rose about 10. We heard from all of them when they were all safely home.

Kitty has been at the vet since Saturday morning. She had some bloody diarrhea Friday morning and I took her in. She got a shot and some medicine, but when we gave her the medicine she immediately threw up and started drooling really bad. The vet said that the fecal sample he took didn't show any parasites, just blood and mucus. But he said if she started vomiting to bring her back. I took her back Saturday morning and he was going to just have me bring her daily for shots, but decided to keep her. She's doing better, eating and drinking more and gets to come home tomorrow afternoon. I still don't know what made her sick, I'm just glad she's better. 

Because she's been gone I've slept in the last 3 mornings, it was almost 7 this morning before I got up! But, I also lose my quiet time, but the extra sleep is so nice!

I don't know if anyone will remember the incident I had a couple of years ago with my throat when we were in Florida with not being able to eat. That has started happening more and more and today, after coughing out a lot of phlegm while I was trying to have lunch for 2 hours, I broke down and went to the dr. about it. She said it's probably what I thought it was, my esophagus is constricting and needs stretched. She said it will probably need to be done every couple of years. So, just waiting for the referral to the gastro dr. to have the endoscopy done. It's at the same place that does Bill's colonoscopy and right next door to my cardiologist, so I know where it is. 

Bill has done well in therapy and has been riding the stationary bike while she is here. She comes once more on Friday and then will only come once a week for 3 weeks. Bill has gotten stronger from doing the exercises. 

He doesn't feel well today and is running a low grade fever. I think it's a combination of being tired from the week-end and not being on steroids any more. He sees Connie next week and she's going to put him on Prednisone again for a while. We'll see how he is tomorrow.

We've got to go to Dyersburg to get my military ID renewed and he has to be with me. It has to be done before July 10 so has to be soon. I let it expire once and that was a pain to deal with.

Well, I've got to go get some more Tylenol, we've used it all! Will probably give a short update this week-end. I hope all the fathers had a good day!

This has been a rather quiet week after our trip to Illinois. There was no drama at Gene's service and the church was full. Mostly it was family, he had a big family, and some childhood friends. Everyone behaved themselves which we hoped would happen. Now that it's over and everyone is back home, it could be gloves off for some. There have been accusations of theft already, and the accuser's wife could be the thief, but, I'm staying in my own house and not getting involved.

My long to-do list got way-laid Friday when home health showed up to evaluate Bill for physical therapy. First there was our friend Ricky, the nurse, who had to go back over all his meds and everything from before. Then came Kevin the therapist. He was pleased at Bill's strength in his hands and arms, so they are working more on conditioning and stamina. He's had two sessions now with Tammy. He hasn't felt well since we've been home, air quality has been bad, so he didn't do his exercises in between days. Hopefully I can get him to do them this week-end.

Bill has reverted back to waiting on me to do everything for him. I know he's tired from the trip and we've had a code orange air quality alert all week so he has just stayed in. But, he's again not moving off the couch unless it's to use the bathroom, he's not reading, he's just back to watching really stupid shows on TV that I can't stand. But, then he wants me to sit with him and not do anything that needs to be done! He'll tell me I'm working too hard.

My repeat eye appointment was yesterday and they did 3 different tests. They mapped my eyes, check peripheral vision and then did another test with me hooked to electrodes to see how my optic nerve transmitted info to my brain. The hemorages (sp) he saw are gone. I told him that it was all his fault I had to see the cardiologist and have the new meds, but he was just glad he caught it.

My pressures have been in the normal range, even through all the stress of the week-end. I did notice some swelling in my leg but I think that was more due to driving and then having my legs dangle too long. By morning it was back to normal so I'm just keeping an eye on it. The dr. had said that swelling was a side-effect of the new med and since it's a high dose to watch it. I need to call and see if she wants me to cut it in half or just continue monitoring.

The surprise Father's Day party is going to happen. I've heard from all the kids except Joe. I still don't know when/if John is coming. He says he is but he doesn't know when or how many yet so he's on his own as far as hotel goes. They will start arriving Thursday night, others on Friday, some on Saturday (will probably miss the party) and then they start leaving on Sunday, with 1 staying until Monday or Tuesday (I can't remember which). This will be a hard one for Emily and Ryan so it may be good that they are going to be here.

I woke up in a rather bad mood this morning, so I'm going to read my stress-relief book (that doesn't seem to be helping too much so far) and see if I can work myself out of it. Maybe it's just anticipating this week-end and all the things still to be done. But, I can already tell that it's not going to take much to really set me off today.

So, that's where we are. Don't look for a post next week until late Sunday night or Monday morning and I'll let you know how things have gone. Wish me luck on getting through the week-end. It's been 25 years since they've all been together with their dad and who knows what will happen...or how Bill will hold up!

It's early Friday morning and I have a to-do list that gets longer by the minute! We're travelling tomorrow, which is why I'm updating this morning.

This week has not been a good one. But, there has been good mixed in with the bad. Bill had his check-up with his regular dr. and he got a very good report. His white count is still high and she now believes that is due to the steroids. He comes off of them this week so there should be some improvement when he gets labs done next week.

He's been more active still, walking through the house more and doing more for himself. He's not getting as winded as he was moving around and the dr. said he's moving air quite well now. He was also able to stand without my help, and we did not use the wheelchair. So, some improvement. He's still doing a lot of coughing, but our weather has been unsettled for a few days so that could have something to do with it. We getting a little thunder storm right now, after several moved through the night.

My blood pressure has been staying steady in the normal range for the most part. I've been surprised that since it has been a stressful week that it hasn't been off the charts, but it hasn't. (For some reason this morning, my eyes are closing while I'm typing this. I know I didn't get enough sleep last night between the storms and the gunshots but I should be able to function better by now with the infusion of coffee!)

On Monday my ex-husband was killed in a freak mowing accident. Emily has been devastated as she freely admits that she's a daddy's girls, but she has stepped up to the task of planning everything that goes with dealing with death. Ryan still hasn't actually let his feelings out and that will probably happen this week-end. We've all been in shock of course. Brianna and Kayden, as the oldest grandchildren have both taken it hard, especially hard. Bri told me that just a couple of weeks ago he had asked her if she wanted his stamp and coin collections. I think her answer was just "sure". He even assured her that he wasn't planning on dying any time soon, so she feels some guilt over that. But I told her to take them and proudly display them and if anyone asked about them just tell them they were her grandpa's and he wanted her to have them. Kayden just regrets that they weren't able to spend a lot of time together since Ryan and Mistie's divorce and it's mostly due to Ryan not taking his visitation week-ends with them. But, I told Kayden that he was so proud of him because he was his first grandson and that he was busing with pride when he was born, and to keep that in his heart.

He didn't want a funeral and he has been cremated. There's going to be a celebration of life, that was supposed to be a gathering to laugh and tell stories and memories, but it's now turning more into the type of service he didn't want. But, it's not my place to say anything. I did write his obituary since that had been my job at the newspaper many years ago, but that's about it. The service is going to be in his hometown in Illinois, and Bill has decided that we need to go. He's had a hard time with it, as they were friends. It's a 5-6 hour drive which isn't too bad, not has hard as a drive to Florida would have been when he was so sick a couple of months ago.

So, we're leaving in the morning, the service is Sunday afternoon, and we'll come home Monday. Most of the family is leaving today. This will be a first from Brianna as she and McKenna are going to go by themselves in her car. Of course they will be travelling with Bryan and Emily, but first major road trip for her to drive. And since it is a dreary, wet, rainy day, please pray for travelling grace for them and the rest of the family. We're bringing Kayden and Kiyann with us, at least until the first pit stop where we'll meet up with Ryan and Amanda and then Kayden is going to ride the rest of the way with them. Kiyann says she's staying with grandma, which is fine, too. We're all staying in the same hotel so it doesn't matter where the luggage ends up, I mean which car! So, also pray for travelling grace for us, and peace and comfort for all the family on Sunday. He had 3 brothers and 2 sisters and there had been some bad blood, and I'm hoping that differences can be set aside for at least a few hours.

Another thundershower is moving through and I'd better move on to the next item on my list. Hopefully next week's update will be better!