Happy Sunday!

We have arrived in Jacksonville! The trip down was uneventful, just long. But, other than stop and go in the construction zone in Birmingham, and heavier than expected on I-10, nothing out of the ordinary.

Our week was interesting. We started getting heavy rain Sunday afternoon. Church was cancelled for the evening because the forecast was dire and, as you all know by now, it was deadly that evening. We only had 1 tornado warning and that was at 2 am Sunday morning. The weather radio was going crazy until about 3 am. Luckily, our area didn't have any damage, we only had heavy rain and some wind. It also got cold again and we had to turn the heat back on. It was finally starting to warm up Friday and is supposed to be nice this week, in the low 80's. Figures since we aren't going to be there!

We went to Brianna's last home softball game for the high school season. But, it was so cold and windy we only stayed for the 1st game. She pitched the 2nd game and said she pitched better than she had all season. We're looking forward to the summer league season for both girls.

Friday was a scary evening for us. It was of course a busy day with laundry and packing things and getting ready to go. We had just finished dinner when Emily called and said she had wrecked Bryan's truck. She was nearly hysterical so we took off to where she was. She hit a pole in a parking lot. The sun was in her eyes and she didn't see it until it was too late. I don't remember a pole ever being in that location in the parking lot so it may have been something newly placed. I also can't understand why there would be a handicap parking space in the farthest spot from the store! But, that was what she hit. After Bryan arrived she asked us to get dinner for the kids, she we took an order from them. She also had her step-brother's 2 girls. The police said she could leave so we left Bryan to wait for the tow-truck (yes she hit the pole hard enough that it wasn't drivable) and we took her home, after a trip to get the food for the girls. She called her dad to tell her other step-brother to come and pick up the girls because she knew she wouldn't be able to handle them and didn't want Brianna to have to either. Her dad said he would come and get them and we arranged to meet him halfway. So, off we went with 2 of the girls to meet my ex (good thing we get along) to swap them. Of course they had no clothes to change into and we didn't know how long they would be there! Em said that her head was hurting and we could tell that she had hit the windshield, but she also said her jaw hurt and her arm was swelling in one place. So, after Bryan got the truck towed home, they took off for the ER. They didn't get home until after 1 am, but luckily, nothing was broken. She only had a slight concussion and they told her to take it easy for a few days. She's very sore now and probably will be for several more days. But, it could have been worse. So, we were up late. They were going to come by on their way home if it wasn't too late and pick up the thunderbird keys so that Bryan would have something to drive.

We didn't get a lot of sleep that night so we were both really tired last night. Bill had brought most of his lunch sandwich (chopped pork) with us, so we heated it in the microwave in the room, cut it in half and that and a cookie was dinner. We had stopped for a late lunch anyway and I didn't feel like getting back out. I was dozing by 7:30 and managed to tell Bill to take his meds a little after 8. He turned out the light then and we were out. Slept until 7 this morning and even though we didn't have to leave early this morning were on the road again by 8:30. Got in about 2:30 and we've already had dinner, at our favorite restaurant. But, we couldn't eat in because they had a first communion party. We told them we could come back but they wouldn't hear of it and asked if we could sit at the Vietnamese restaurant next door. So, that's what we did. We told them we would come back and visit before we left.

We were going to go to the beach tonight, but have decided to let it go until tomorrow. We're going to meet some friends for breakfast after his Mayo appointment. We also have to see our old landlady to pick up some lamps we are buying from her and hope to see some other friends.

Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of the transplant! It doesn't seem like it's been 2 years already, yet at times it seems like a lifetime ago.

I think that hits the highlights of the week, and probably has more information you want to know. And reading back over it, it seems pretty disjointed. But, chalk it up to being tired!

I will update this again on Tuesday evening, Weds. evening after the heart cath and then Thursday or Friday after we get the results of the cath since it will include a biopsy. If all goes well we're heading home Thursday and arriving Friday afternoon.

I've been seeing on social media that it's Star Wars day so I'll join in with everyone else with "May the 4th be with you"! Goodnight!

Early post this morning, and next weeks post will be late.

Bill has not had a good week, which in turn means I didn't have a good week. He started feeling bad during the night Weds. He was complaining about muscle cramps and when I woke up he said he had a headache and hurt from his toes to his hair. So, I dosed him with Tylenol. His appetite was also off, which for Bill, means he's sick! He started with a cough and some sinus drainage by mid-morning so gave him some cold meds he can take. He seemed to feel better by evening and ate a good dinner.

Thursday he seemed to be OK until late evening when he started complaining about chills. He said he had been cold (and since he stays cold I wasn't too concerned) and then he got hot and then freezing cold. He didn't have any fever and since his temp runs low I really have to guess and what is a fever. But I know what his temp usually runs so I can get a pretty good idea. He was shaking so hard when we went to bed he could hardly unbutton his shirt! As he got into bed he said it was hard to breathe so I really had to question him to see HOW it was hard. Because of the stroke, he has a hard time expressing himself at times. He also coughed some, so I think it was more congestion than fluid build-up. When he sent to sleep he slept peacefully all night. I, on the other hand, slept much lighter than my usual light sleep!

Yesterday was the worst day. He wasn't as chilled, but he did not want to get up. He still had no fever but just seemed very tired. He finally got up about 10:30 but didn't shave or even comb his hair much. And for those of you who know him, you know he always shaves! He didn't seem to be quite as chilled, and he still had no fever. In fact, his temp was a little lower than usual. But, the rest of his vitals were good, including O2 saturation. Later in the day he seemed to warm up some and ate a good dinner again. He wanted to go to bed early and when I did his vitals he did have a fever but his blood pressure was very low. The bp was probably due to not enough fluids. I was really having to make him drink.

We both slept until about 7, and I know he had been up a couple of times during the night. But, he's shaved and combed and looks a lot better. He also said he feels better.
So maybe the crisis is over.

I should have called Stephanie yesterday but, again, weighing the balance between that and dealing with his anger, it was better to not call. But, made lots of notes and I'll tell her about it when we see her. I did tell him if he was not better he was going to our dr. here and the dr. could call Mayo to see what they wanted to do. It's so hard to try to gauge things. All of his symptoms mimicked the cold/upper respiratory thing that's going around here. Ryan, Amanda and Emily have all had it and even though we try to stay away it doesn't always work. But, the symptoms were all signs of rejection, too. So, just had to go with my gut but it was really hard this time. If it wasn't so close to going to Mayo I would have called.

As I've said before, Mayo does a really good job training caregivers, but they don't take into consideration of having to live and deal with the patient 24/7. The patient also wants to take back some control of their life so it's a really delicate line to walk. Ms. A, I'm sure you've seen some of this with the mood swings that some of the meds can cause.

Onto better things. We had a good Easter. Gabriel did sing with me and was quite the little showman. I could tell he and mommy had done some practicing. But, everyone loved it and it was a hard act to follow! After church we went out to eat and then spent a quiet day at home.

The weather has been lovely but that's going to change. We had some storms Thursday afternoon into night but they weren't severe or last long. But, the forecast for the next few days is rather scary. Storms and tornadoes are possible from tomorrow evening through Tuesday so we'll really have to keep an eye open. One forecaster has told people to get helmets of every kind ready for adults and kids. This forecaster is usually pretty accurate.

We leave next Saturday for Mayo, and by this time we should be on the road. I'm hoping to leave pretty early. I'm not planning on updating this until we get to our hotel in Jacksonville on Sunday, which is why next week's will be late. But, of course, it's all subject to change.

I hope everyone's week was better than ours and I hope that next week is a better one for us! If you're in the path of this storm system, and from what I'm seeing at least 32 million people will be affected, stay safe and out of the weather.

It seems like this week went very fast, so fast that I thought yesterday was Saturday...ALL day! I had to keep telling myself that it was only Friday.

The weather finally is warm again, and I think it's going to stay warm. We had some rain and cooler weather the first of the week, but it's been in the 70s to 80 the past few days and is supposed to be nice for next week.

We had nothing exceptional happen at all. Gabriel, the little 2 year old from church, decided after some deliberation that he would sing with me tomorrow. Now if he just goes through with it! He is such an agreeable little guy.

We did do some shopping this week. We bought some groceries and "Easter Bunny" stuff yesterday and then went to visit Ryan and Amanda and took them out for lunch. I ate way too much and was miserable for the rest of the night. Today we made a trip to Lowe's. We have been inundated with wasps in the backyard and bumblebees in the front hedges. So we needed to get something to take care of those. We also needed to get some bug light bulbs. I looked out last night and the front door area was full of all kinds of flying critters. So, we've got to get that fixed in the next few days.

Tonight we went to see the Easter program at Emily's church. Brianna's youth group did a rhythm routine that depicted the crucifixion and was fantastic. The illustrated sermon was a take-off on Willie Wonka and McKenna was an oompa loompa dancer. They were really cute! The program was very well done. They had a performance last night, one tonight and there will be 2 services tomorrow. This church also hosted an egg hunt today and there were 1200-1500 kids there, 1700 including parents. They hid 35,000 eggs and had carnival rides and food. I know everyone will be relieved when the week-end is over.

That's been our week. I hope everyone has a blessed Easter. We're having a very quiet day, church in the morning and going out to eat, just the 2 of us. I asked Bill what he wanted to do and he said go out. So, any time I don't have to cook, I'm going to take advantage of it!

We've had another good week, and it seemed to be busy, although it really wasn't.

There was something in the church Sunday that really set my allergies off. It also bothered another lady just as badly. I thought it was all of the Easter lilies, but they are artificial. The cleaning lady said that she doesn't use anything scented, but there was something there. I was totally fine before church, fine within an hour after coming home until the evening service, and fine again within 30 minutes of coming home. I'm not really looking forward to a repeat tomorrow, but maybe there won't be anything.

We took my car to get the oil changed and ended up getting front and back brakes. The technician said that the front could wait awhile, but we decided to get them done since we have another trip coming up. So, instead of a free oil change and $20 tire rotation, it was that plus $500 for brakes. Oh well, as I've said before, it's only money! Since the dealer is about an hour and half  in Tennessee, we stopped in Dyersburg which is about 45 minutes from home and had lunch at Applebees and then came home through the country. It was a pretty long day since we left at 8:30 in the morning and got home between 2:30 and 3, but it was a nice day for a drive.

We did get some bad news this week. My boss's dad passed away. He had been fighting cancer for several years and then recent heart problems. But, Tommy was coping well. They weren't close, but it's still his dad. We were going to go to the visitation last evening, but we stopped by the office yesterday afternoon to visit the girls and he and Jalena were both there so we chatted with them.

The weather has been glorious the last couple of days, in the upper 70s and sunny. It's been windy and is again today, but I'll take it. Bill wants to grill out tonight so we're going to do some burgers and potato salad. It's just the 2 of us so don't need to make much. This is the 1st he's wanted to grill since we came home. He did grill once last year but didn't enjoy it at all.

I ran into a dear friend at Walmart that I hadn't seen in a very long time. We picked up exactly where we left off! We're going to try to get together for lunch. She works 3 days a week so I told her to call when it's easiest for her. We've also run into some clients this week. One of them wants us to adopt her since I'm only doing returns for family members. Another was a bookkeeping client. It's always good to see them. The girls at the office said that several of my clients had been in this past week and asked about me. It's good to be remembered, but I don't miss being there! We are going to fix Bill's spaghetti for them Tuesday to celebrate the end of tax season.

It doesn't seem like it should be Easter already! I've been asked to sing, not specifically for Easter, just to sing something. I think I'm going to see if the pastor's 2 year old son will sing with me. He loves singing Jesus Loves Me and he loves the microphone so I hope he'll do it.

That's about it for this week. It's time to get some potatoes on to boil and I need to fill the medicine containers for the week. Have a good week!

Happy April!

This has been a good week, compared to last week. I finally started feeling better Tuesday and have had more energy than I've had for awhile. I guess the cold worked everything out of me. I'm still a little congested, but my inhaler helps with that.

Bill has had a good week, been walking more and doing his "chores". We had the girls after school a couple of days when schedules didn't work out, but they're no problem now that they're older.

We ordered his new class ring this week. It should be here in about 8 weeks. I was impressed with the company and the representative I dealt with, and the order process was very streamlined.

We were lucky and didn't get any of the tornadic weather that was forecast. We got a little rain during the night, but everything severe went around us. We did have one good storm the day before the worst was to come. It rained so hard we couldn't see across the street!

It was also warm this week, in the 70s most of the time. It's cooler today and is to be cooler in the next few days but then back into the 70s by the end of the week.

I took Brianna to get her drivers permit Thursday. She was 3 questions from the end of the test when the I-pad shut down. That means that she missed too many questions. She was telling me some of the questions that were on it and the answer choices and I don't know that I could pass the test! She's going to take it again next week.

I told Bill last night as we needed to take a road trip and the first thing he said was "Now?". I've been feeling for a few days that I needed to do something different. So, today we went out for lunch and then hit the highway. We went into Missouri and then took a back road back into Arkansas and then home. We were only gone, from the restaurant, about 1 1/2 hours and about 100 miles, but it was enough. I just needed to drive somewhere, it didn't matter where! I get that from my mother so I know she will understand the feeling.

As we were out we noticed that the dogwoods have bloomed, the tulip trees are now a little past their prime and the Bradford pears have all blossomed. There was also a crop duster up this afternoon. I did see on tv this week that allergy season this year will be especially hard because of the winter we had. That's not exactly good news!

All for this week...time to start cooking dinner. Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

Another week has passed already! We both agreed last night that this week has gone by awfully fast.

I've been down with a cold all week. When we went to church last Sunday I thought it was warmer than it was so didn't wear a heavy coat. When we came out the wind had come up and it was downright cold! And, Monday morning woke up with a cold. I'm still not feeling well, but the medicine helps some.

Bill has had a good week. He's spent quite a bit of time on the treadmill. I think the warmer weather has helped. He's also taking some initiative again with his meds, taking them without me reminding him. Now, if he would just take them on schedule instead of too early, but, one step at a time.

Our family problems are resolving themselves. One was resolved as best it could be, the other was not, but it was not our final decision. I only hope and pray that, with time, things will turn around.

Our schools have been on spring break this last week, and we did miss the school buses. They will start again Monday and things will get back to normal. Even though we only have grandkids in school, it seems to throw things off when they are out.

I've been feeling the need to go somewhere for a few days, but the choices I've come up with haven't been appealing. I haven't said anything to Bill about it but I'm ready to get out.

We got a new itinerary from Mayo this week and noticed they had now scheduled an Opthomology appointment into our already full 1st day. Instead of starting at 7:30, we would now be starting at 6 am! But, I called Stephanie and told her he had just had his eyes checked and everything was fine so she cancelled it and put us back to our original schedule. Sometimes I think they just fill in the time slots and don't take into consideration that we have to eat at some point between all of the appointments. I'll have to remember to bring some crackers and granola bars!

I can't think of anything else for this time. Hopefully you all will have a good week ahead!

Spring is here, spring is here! Also my allergies. I've had all the usual allergy symptoms this week, and spring just arrived Thursday!

We've had a pretty good week. It started badly Saturday when Bill lost his college class ring. It has been too big since the transplant and we had just checked on getting it sized on Friday. We found we would have to send it back to the company and I printed out the form for it Friday evening. He noticed the ring wasn't on his finger Saturday afternoon. We had been to the grocery store and he had reached for a couple of things so we went back there and checked those shelves but no luck. We did leave our phone number but I doubt if we hear anything. I dug through trash bags and we've looked everywhere we can think of here in the house. I told Bill we would just get him another one, but found out that this company doesn't have a contract with his college anymore. So, we're having to find another one for him.

He did quite a bit of walking this week on the treadmill. It's easier for him to do it when it's not so cold getting to the apartment to do it. He also did his usual chores of vacuuming and making the bed.

We went to West Memphis to eat tonight with his daughter Aimee and her husband Lee and youngest daughter Danyelle. They had been to Georgia to see Aimee's mom in the hospital and were on their way back to Oklahoma. They had wanted us to meet them last Saturday for breakfast on their way through but we were supposed to be getting Kayden and Kiyann for the day at the time we would be meeting them. At the last minute their step-dad got the day off so they stayed home with them. But, we had a good visit with them this evening. We got home a little after 8:30. They were going on home but they weren't sure if they were driving straight through or not. It was still another 6-7 hours for them. But, Lee said if they got tired they would stop somewhere.

The kids here are on Spring Break this coming week. We'll probably oversleep since it seems like the school buses are what wake us up in the mornings! Ah, the retired life!

We're still dealing with some family problems, on both sides of the family now. We shall see in the next few days what will happen.

All for this week. Be blessed!