I've been turned around all week and seriously confused on what day it was, several times. It's not the kind of "what day...oh yes, it's (insert day)" kind of turned around it was much more than that.

On Monday I took Barb, our neighbor, to the wound clinic to get the dressing changed on her foot. This is the one I change on Thursdays. They were having some work done on their house and I knew Joe wouldn't want to leave it unattended with workers there so I told him I would take her. It's just down the street at the hospital. A piece of stew meat had gotten stuck from my lunch, (I still can't get it through my head that beef, except for ground, is the main thing I can't eat still, even after the procedure to dialate my esophagus), so I did a lot of coughing and choking that up. But, in the early evening that morphed into vomiting and diarrhea. Yes, the stomach bug also hit, for sure this time. Usually I take meds to stop all of that but Emily had told me that I need to just let it go to get it out of my system. So I spent a miserable night on the couch. I was finally able to keep some sips of water down...until I took my meds, only the essential ones, and they all came back up. Except for the diarrhea, which lasted until yesterday, it was pretty miserable. I was finally able to eat on Wednesday, but nothing even sounded good.

Wednesday I took Bill to the dr. He didn't really want to go, but he also didn't put up much of a fight. He's got the upper respiratory infection going again, so more antibiotics and increased steroids. His chest x-ray looked as good as it ever does. His left lung was as clear as it ever is but there is a spot in his lower right one that could morph into something. I think it's probably where the pseudomonas has colonized. Even after the first dose of antibiotics, he seemed much better. His sinuses stopped dripping as much and his coughing stopped. I'm relieved that it was not pneumonia starting again, although I didn't think it was.

Wednesday was also the day that I was really turned around as to what day it was, and I thought it off and on all day. As a way of saying thank you for caring for Barb's foot, they were going to bring us Zaxby's for either lunch or dinner. I told her I didn't care which. But, I texted Joe early that morning and told them to hold off, I didn't think I was quite ready for that, so I had convinced myself that yes, it was Wednesday...until I saw a pick-up truck at the cancer center on the way to the dr. I knew Joe had his immunotherapy this week and he gets it on Tuesday. And this looked exactly like his truck, so there we go again, my brain went back to thinking it was Tuesday.  And then I wondered why I had told them to hold off on the food because I might be able to eat it on Wednesday. Then something would happen or be said and get me back on track again.

Bill is still improving although he is still getting so winded when he walks and tries to do anything. Using the bathroom seems to be the hardest on him. I don't know if it's because he's concentrating on what he has to do that he automatically starts breathing harder through his mouth, or what it is. It happens also when he's getting dressed. Maybe he's running the steps through his mind as he does them and he's concentrating so hard on that. But, he will use his rescue inhaler and then sit quietly until he calms down. I have to stay very calm with him too, so that he doesn't think that something is really happening that is bad. He just needs to be more active. His lungs are so weak that any movement is taxing to him. But trying to convince him to just walk back and forth into the dining room a few times would benefit him is like talking to a brick wall.

I kept thinking again, off and on, that yesterday was Thursday. And then I would realize it was Friday, until something else would happen or be said, and then it would start again. I don't know if it's because I pretty much lost Tuesday with being sick or what it was.

I've finally been able to eat and keep in solid foot. Turkey and mashed potatoes taste about the best so far. I've gotten a few of the little entrees of that to eat. Hopefully I'll be able to branch out more this week-end.

I go to the cardiologist Monday for a 6 month check. Yesterday I spent the morning doing paperwork for that to take and have more to do today. I got the impression at my last visit that she doesn't understand the incredible stress caregivers life with on a daily basis. So, I'm doing a daily schedule of just my day to take with me. I'm also writing down all of the strange symptoms I've been having, along with side effects of the meds I'm on that correspond to the symptoms to see what she thinks. Of course these symptoms can also be symptoms of different diseases or conditions. Now I'm not one to have the disease of the week and worry that because my skin is very dry and itchy that I have leprosy or something dreadful, but there are some conditions that could explain some things. As I was compiling all of this yesterday I had the thought that I either need a housekeeper or a secretary! With being sick this week, the kitchen looks like a bomb went off and if I don't get some laundry done, we'll be going to Memphis naked! I told this to Bill last night and then said maybe we'll just hire both and I can be a lady of leisure! He said, that we could do that and pay them from the millions we received each month in income!

 So, that's really been our crazy week. We've had fun watching Mouse. He's discovered a toy that we've had for more than a year and he's played with that all week. He has also started getting to the toybox and getting out the toy he wants. Maybe there's hope yet that they can stay picked up. I've been opening the kitchen door and the back door, they're connected by a hallway that has the furnace in it, and letting him "talk" to the outside cats. Floozy is his aunt and sometimes his brother Ducky is here and comes to the door. They put their paws under the door and touch each other and just chirp and purr. And the kittens will come up and check him out too.

All for now. I'll let you know next week how the cardiologist goes. Bill is going with me, which will show Dr. Morrow some of the stress, worrying that he will have enough O2 with us that maybe she will understand that just saying to reduce stress is easier said than done in the best cases and impossible in most cases. See you next week!