It's a pretty but warm and muggy Saturday morning. It was already 70 at 5 when I went out to feed the cats. Some storms are supposed to develop this morning and then again this afternoon, but we are supposed to be on the "slight" side. But I don't think they were counting on it being this warm, this early.

We've had a good week and an interesting day in Memphis on Tuesday. Bill had his appointment with Dr. Burbeck, the pulmonologist. Her office is across the drive from the hospital (actually connected by an underground tunnel) so we planned on stopping to see the nurses after the appointment.

I decided against valet parking and that was the wrong decision. Of course there was no outside parking available so went to the Outpatient Parking garage. They don't have many handicap spaces and, much to my dismay, 3 of them were taken up by construction equipment! There were also work truck blocking the drop-off area. But, I drove around and around and finally found a spot on the 3rd level. So, got Bill's oxygen switched over to one of his big tanks, attached it to his chair and off we went to the elevators....which were out of order! That's what the work trucks were for. So, called security for the shuttle. Got Bill transferred into the van and made the mistake of telling the driver that we wanted to go to the concourse level. Actually we wanted level 1. But, no big deal, there are elevators, or a ramp so just a little extra pushing.

Instead of arriving really early as usual, we were right on time because of the elevator mess. And, I don't know why I bothered to do the paperwork online with the online check-in because I had to fill it all out again. And, even though it shows his insurance cards on file, they didn't have them so had to get them out again. Only a little inconvenience, but still.

Anyway, got back to a room and went over the meds and vitals and then he was swooped off for a Pulmonary Function Test. They do one of these at every visit. This time he pushed his wheelchair since the O2 was attached to it. They wanted to see how he walked with and without O2. When they checked his level before starting out he was at 95 which is fantastic for him. When he came back to the room they were pushing him so walking without it must not have gone really well. But, they said that his numbers were really good compared to last time. Of course the last time was when he was immediately admitted to the hospital.

There was quite a wait for Dr. Burbeck but she said that she had a new patient before us and they take longer. But, as long as his O2 held out we were good. She gave him a thumbs up and said that he looked and sounded good. She only heard a little squeak. She made no med changes and said she would see him in 6 months, but she was only a phone call away if we needed her.

After that we went across to the hospital and upstairs to see the staff at Restorative Care. The nurses were amazed! They all remembered him and just couldn't believe how he looked. We talked about a certain doctor some and that he wouldn't be treating him anymore and I filled them in on how he did in rehab. The speech therapist came over and was so glad that he had signed the waiver to eat and was not having any problems.

Then it was off to ICU to see those nurses. When we got to the doors I had Bill get out of his chair and push it in. The 2 nurses at the desk couldn't believe it was him. They came running around the desk to check him out. The rest of the staff was in a lunch meeting and Kellye went and got them all. They too were amazed at how he looked. We didn't see some of our favorites or any of the PCAs. But, that's a chance you take. We also stopped off in step-down and saw Brian they grabbed a quick lunch in the cafeteria. Of course all of the moving through the hospital was foreign to Bill and he couldn't believe that I had walked those halls for as long as I did.

Took the shuttle back to the car and headed home. It was a long day, left home at 8 and got home a little after 3. But, it was a nice day and not a lot of traffic.

Haven't done much else the rest of the week. The weather  got to me finally, stuffy and a 2 day headache. It finally rained Thursday some and that fixed it. The sinus medicine I took actually made me feel worse so I stopped that.

My foot started bothering me more (maybe from all the walking Tuesday) and I went by the dr. yesterday. She said if I needed to I could get a steroid shot, or some Prednisone, but they were closed. I took one of Bill's prednisone pills yesterday afternoone with more Ibuprofen and it finally settled down. So, I'll try again on Monday. So far this morning it's not too bad.

We got my car tagged yesterday and I couldn't find the letter we needed from the VA showing that he is exempt from paying personal/real estate taxes, so went to the courthouse to get a copy, but they weren't open yet. So back home to look again. Usually I put that straight into the lock box after we take the original to the courthouse, but I had every year except the current year. Then I got the idea to check the VA online and low and behold I could print it off! So back to the DMV and we got right in, no one else there. So, that's taken care of for another year.

I noticed yesterday that Bill was not getting as winded as he had been when he was walking in the house, and he wasn't coughing like he had been. So, maybe the break in the weather worked for him too. I've been trying to get him on his treadmill, for even 5-10 minutes, but it's a hard sell. But, I'll keep working on him.

That's about it. The rest of the week was just normal, every day stuff. We don't have any plans for the week-end, but then we never make plans anymore much. And we don't have any more appointments on the horizon until November except for my eye appointment in September. So, maybe we'll venture out some just to get Bill out and moving. He's been wanting to take a walk around the block. Maybe I can get him to do that. I'll pull the oxygen cart for him so that he can use his walker. He usually doesn't use it, but the sidewalk is not even so, just to be sure...

OK, all for this week. I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day last Sunday and have a good week coming up. See you next week!