Day 2 down. Although it was long, it was easier than yesterday. All "talking" appointments. The most invasive thing was blood pressure and listening to the heart. We saw lots of friends on the nursing staff, housekeepers and other staff members. Stephanie told us she had been hearing "Haven sightings" all day!

Dr. Hosenpud was very pleased at how Bill was doing and told him to increase his exercise. He did admit that he was very concerned about his survival after the transplant, but of course he wouldn't have admitted that last year unless there was no hope at all.

The nurses introduced him to a patient waiting for transplant as the miracle man. The patient said she knew there was something special about him when she saw his smile!

The only glitch in the day was the news that he has developed some osteoporosis in his right hip. But, he's going to be started on Fosomax to help that. This is basically a side effect of one of his anti-rejection meds. It could also be because of age, so with those two factors it's understandable.

The heart cath is tomorrow and he will only have to lay flat for 2 hours instead of the 8 Memphis does. Since Bill is allergic to the cath dye I have to premedicate him with some Prednisone, Benadryl and Zantac. I have everything except for the Zantac so will need to go pick some up. Stephanie also said we could actually head home tomorrow if we wanted. But, since we have the room for tomorrow night and will have to be up extremely early tomorrow, we're going to wait until Thursday as originally planned. And, if for some reason we need to be here after we've headed for home, we'll turn around and head back.

The weather was gorgeous today, pleasant temps and sunny for the most part. A little wind kicked up this afternoon that had a little chill to it, but still a good day.

After we pick up the Zantac and something to eat, we'll be in for the night, unless we can see Abner and Faith. We're still playing that by ear. With me not feeling well yesterday and Faith not feeling well Sunday, we still haven't managed to get together.

Another update after the heart cath tomorrow.

Day 1 down, 2 to go. We're pretty tired, me from being awake most of the night sick and Bill being awake most of the night because of me being sick. I think it was just a case of too much food in the last couple of days. We're eating more than we usually do and it caught up with me.

We did get a nice surprise yesterday. We went to Barnes and Noble and ran into the surgeon who went to Miami and harvested the donor heart! Bill of course didn't remember her, but she remembered him and couldn't believe how good he looks.

The lab was backed up this morning by over an hour which made us late to the next appointment. But, they understood and got him right in. We came home and I slept for about and hour and then we tried to figure out his stool/urine collection instructions. Finally got that done and it was time to go back for his bone scan. That test was a piece of cake, only took 10 minutes instead of 20, so we visited with the girls in rehab and then ran by the nursing home to see the gang there.

We got gas on the way back and stopped at the store for some soup and are in for the night. I'm just waiting for it to get dark and for Bill to take the last of his meds. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight.

Tomorrow is another full day, but these appointments are all in the same section and they are just "talking" appointments, nutrition, social worker, Stephanie and dr. We only saw John and Cindi for a couple of minutes while we were passing in the hall since I wasn't feeling well. And my friend Faith is ill. Maybe we can see her tomorrow.

All for tonight. Pray for restful sleep for both of us.

Yesterday was an easy day compared to today! Although it was a longer ride, the rain stopped. Today was a shorter day but it rained hard the entire trip. And, right where the beaches exit branches out from I-95 there was a 4 car pile-up. The info board also had it in the wrong lane so that area was a mess. We sat in traffic for more than 20 minutes.

We got to the hotel before our room was ready so we had a late lunch at our favorite restaurant and then hit the grocery store for a few supplies. We are now checked in and are going to watch the Kentucky Derby and not leave the room until we get hungry tomorrow afternoon. We've got soup for tonight and donuts for breakfast tomorrow. (Don't tell Mayo!)

Since tomorrow is a down day, I won't post anything else until Monday when the fun starts! Have a good week-end!

First day of travel down and I'm beat. We had heavy rain from the house until around Tupelo Mississippi. Wasn't too bad after that but we were both white-knuckled through Memphis at times. That traffic is always crazy and to throw in all of the trucks made it quite the morning. It started to rain again just as we were pulling into our hotel and now it's just a miserable night. We've been to eat and are tucked in for the night. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and Florida has had heavy rain all day today, so tomorrow looks like it will be another stressful day.

Other than the weather we had no problems. Bill is kicked back on the bed with his puzzle book and Wheel of Fortune on. I'm going to finish this and take a nice hot shower to work the kinks out of my back. It's probably going to be an early night so we can get an early start in the morning.

The suitcases are packed, the car is full of gas, oil has been changed...I think we're about ready to head back to Mayo for Bill's first yearly checkup! It doesn't seem like it's been a year already! We're only going as far as Ozark Alabama tomorrow, about a 7 hour drive. Then another 7 hours on Saturday. We'll have Sunday to catch our breath and maybe visit with some friends before all the appointments begin Monday.

I talked to Stephanie our coordinator today and after I told her that Bill was out walking, she checked with the drs. and they decided to cancel his treadmill test. She said as long as he is exercising they don't want to take the chance of injury since he can still be unsteady some. So, that frees up a lot of Monday. Now instead of appointments at 8, 8:10, 9, 9:05, 11 and 2 we are free from 9:05 until 2. Now we can have a good breakfast and/or lunch and maybe do some more visiting.

The weather is not supposed to be good tomorrow, lots of rain expected on the route. But, at least it's a familiar route so that will help. As long as we can get through Memphis, Birmingham and Montgomery without it raining too hard, the rest will be a piece of cake.

I'll update daily now until we get the results of the tests and the travel is over. That way family can see what's up. Of course if anything major happens, there will be phone calls and texts. Until tomorrow evening...good night!

Rain, rain, rain. It's been raining most of the time since Thursday night. Really started in yesterday afternoon with heavy thundershowers. No storms, but thunder and lightning. It did make for some good sleeping, but it makes us want to be lazy.

Our new furniture was delivered Tuesday afternoon and I really like it. I was beginning to think we were going to have to send it back because me legs and behind kept going to sleep. But, I think my body just wasn't used to furniture with support!

We've made it to another grandchild's ballgame. McKenna lost her first game, but she and Kayden both won their games Thursday night. McKenna even scored by sliding in to home!

Our hotel reservations are made for our trip to Florida. Leaving here Friday morning. We'll arrive Saturday and then have Sunday free. We're going to try to visit with our friends Abner and Faith on Sunday, and I found out that our friends John and Cindi WILL be there at the same time so we'll try to see them too.

Bill has had a good week. He's gotten so that he just wants to sit and work his puzzle book. He's only been on the treadmill once in the last 2-3 weeks, and that's because I told him he will fail the treadmill test next week at Mayo and they won't like that. I can't force him to do it and I don't know what else to tell him to make him want to do it. If the rain ever stops, and the weather get warm and stay warm we're going to start walking in the park, or the cemetary in the mornings while it's still pleasant.

The pollen count has been very high here lately and we are both sneezing. My allergy meds aren't doing much good and I had to break out the inhaler yesterday afternoon. Other than sneezing, Bill hasn't been affected too much.

That's all for this week. It's been a boring and uneventful week! Oh yeah, next Friday, May 3 is Bill's "re-birthday". Doesn't seem like it's been a year and yet it's sometimes easy to forget that he's had the transplant. Of course then when we deal with all of the meds it wakes us up to it again!

Another week has come and gone. It was a relatively quiet week, although productive for us.

Ball season started for the grandkids with Kayden starting first. The weather was nice and warm and dry. His team lost and he was upset by some missed plays, but he didn't do any worse than the other little boys. He also played last night but we didn't make it to that one.

The nice weather left us by Thursday and we had rain and a 30 degree temperature drop. We went from open windows and wearing shorts and tank tops to turning the heat back on and wearing sweats again. It was still cold and windy by game time last night which is why we didn't go.

McKenna has a game Monday and Thursday nights this week and Kayden plays Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Then, on the 29th Kiyann starts T-ball games! We don't know Brianna's schedule yet as they have to see when the high school games will end first. We already know that there are some nights when McKenna, Kayden and Kiyann all play on the same night at the same time. At least Bri's games will always start at 8 and McKenna's will always start at 6. But Kayden and Kiyann have so many teams in their leagues they have two different start times. If we make 1 game for each of them we will be doing good!

While Bill and Ron went out together the first part of the week, I vacuumed and damp mopped the hardwoods and today we were very productive. Bill has been working in the laundry/computer room. He did quite a bit in there again today while I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom. We then worked in the living room to get ready for the new furniture to be delivered Tuesday. We rearranged a little and cleaned out the drawers in the coffee table that we're giving to Ryan. He and his dad are hopefully coming to get the old furniture Monday night, otherwise we will just slide it into the dining room. The area the new furniture is to go in has to be ready for placement when it's delivered.

That's about it for us this week. Just settling into normal daily routines and life. We are getting ready to head back to Florida in a couple of weeks. I'm not really looking forward to it but it has to be done. Hope everyone has a good week!