Eventful Halloween

It was a pretty eventful Halloween. The day started with Jim and his swallow test. Megan gave him the test and he passed. Yeah. (Megan is the woman in the middle photo on the layout.) That meant that he got lunch and dinner. Neither one of them thrilled him very much. He drank all of the milk, water and fruit juice. He picked at the meat, mashed potatoes and veggies.

After lunch I took him down to the Halloween party in the cafeteria. They were having a party for the staff and visitors. They even had a pumpkin decorating contest. My sister and I were the judges. After this I took Jim outside for a little fresh air. He has not been outside since May except to get in and out of an ambulance. He liked being outside except for the heat. Said it was pretty humid. On my second visit of the day I took in Misty with her halloween scarf.

So we are still taking some small steps but at least we are going up and not down. Hope everyone had a great day.

Happy Halloween

Not much is really new today. The swallow test is scheduled for 8:00 tomorrow morning. If he passes he will get breakfast. I am crossing my fingers. This pumpkin has been in Jim's room for the last couple of weeks. It has a light bulb in it so it glows. I have also put some candy out for the nurses.

Jim is still off the vent and feeling comfortable and he is trying to stay off the pain meds. They make him groggy and grumpy.

Halloween party at the hospital tomorrow. They have a pumpkin decorating contest going on. Guess what, they've asked me to be the judge. I'll have photos tomorrow.

Boo to all. Happy Halloween.

Busy Monday

Today was really busy. First it was my digital scrapbooking class. The lessons come in every Monday morning. I did not get to this until 11:00 at night but I am really pleased with how it came out. I am really learning how to do this. I have tried to do it on my own for about 6 months to no avail but with these lessons I am finding it really easy to do. Jack I hope you like this page of you.

At the hospital today I was lucky enough to be there for all of the important doctor/tech meetings.

1. Wound care nurse report: The wound on the butt is showing fresh tissue. About a third of the wound is growing fresh tissue. She says this is a great indication that we are going in the right direction. The chest wound is also going forward. She does caution me that she does not know what is happening underneath because she can not see this but the machine is drawing out the secretions and that is good. The stomach wound is almost healed. It now has a very small dressing.

2. Resporatory: Lungs are showing great impovement. Jim was off the vent the entire night. Chest x-ray shows practically no fluids.

3. Speech therapy: (eating) If Jim continues off the vent she will schedule the swallow test for 8:00 Wed morning. She wants to wait until Wednesday so that Jim will have the most opportunity for success. She does not want to start him eating and then backtrack. I trust her judgement.

4. Dr. Hume: Jim is amazing is what he said. He continues to improve and he is very stable. Since Jim is so close to eating he is holding off on the topical anti depressants because this process is so expensive. He said another 2 days will be ok. Dr. Hume is opptomistic and hopes that the progress continues. All procedures will continues and he will be watching him closely.

So it looks like Jim is improving. Keep the prayers coming because we are not out of the woods yet. Jim was a little fiesty today. He's hungry, which is a good sign, but Megan and Dr. Hume talked to him about this so he said he would be patient. He told Megan he wanted a pizza on Wednesday.

We lost power for three hours today. I came home from the grocery store and wouldn't you know it no power. I put the stuff away and went back to the hospital. They have air conditioning. Jim's room is always cool.

Misty Shares with Jim

The funniest thing happened at the hospital today with Jim. (Well it wasn't funny at the time but it is now.) Misty and I went to visit Jim. We had been there about an hour and so I took Misty out for a potty break. When we came back in Jim asked if she was a good girl and I told him yes. I got the treats out of the closet and asked him if he wanted to give her one. He said no so I gave it to her. A few minutes later he asked me to give him one. Thinking nothing about it I gave him one. You know what he did. He popped it in his mouth. He's never done this. I freaked out because he has not passed the swallow test and he could apsiciate on this. I called the nurses by running out in the hall. They came running and we tried to get it out but it was gone. He ate it. They suctioned him and swabbed his mouth . . . nothing. Julie asked him how it tasted. He said bad. so she told him that she would tell Megan tomorrow. He may have passed the swallow test.

Football Sunday is always good for JIm. He loves watching the games and it keeps him busy. WE watched the Miami game. I really thought they might win. Jim and I are both still in the loser's pool. I took SF and Jim took the Jets. We were the only ones that picked these teams. We have never lasted this long in the pool. I guess that is because there have not been very many upsets this year.

I am continuing to paint the guestroom/scraproom. I am more than halfway now.

Nancy, Caroline and Cathy, Jim is so excited that you may come to visit. He said, I've got to get better because my sisters are coming. That's the spirit I like to see.

It's still raining in Florida

Nothing makes Jim smile more than looking at photos of our grandchildren. He really liked this photo. To Teresa: Jim says, "he needs a haircut." Where have you heard this before.

Jim was very content today. He was off the vent and talking and smiling. However he was sleeping a lot. He seems to have switched his days and nights. WE are not sure why but he has. It may be that we have not seen the sun in 3 days and for Florida that is really unusal. It just keeps raining. This makes the room darker and that is why he thinks it is night. He is progressing with little tiny baby steps. The pulmanists are going to talk to the lung doctors on Monday about keeping him off the vent at night. This is the next big step.

Nancy, Bob, and Caroline, Jim loved the card. It was so funny. Keep them coming.

I did not blog yesterday and it was because the day got away from me. But I'll share my big clumsy act with you today. As you know I am painting the guest room/Scrap room. Well yesterday I was on the ladder with the paint tray in front of me on the ladder. I moved, the tray moved and suddently it was on the floor upside down. What a mess. All clean now but I hope I never do that again.

Resolving Issues today

Yes Bob Chocolate is misspelled but I can not figure out how to fix it. I have emailed by online digital scrapbook instructor to figure out how to fix the word. I got this photo today and have already sent it over to Walgreens. I'll pick it up in the morning and take it to Jim. He'll love it.

I have listed several issues here on the blog that I have been having with Healthsouth. I think today we resolved several of these. One was the antidepressant drug. Jim is not able to take a pill and these drugs do not come in liquid form. So the doctor ordered this two weeks ago and he still has not been able to take them. Today I met with Linda Johnson the case manager. She was able to get with the doctor and have the doctor submit a topical prescription to the pharmacy. The pharmacy then called a lab to have the topical cream made. This will be delived to Healthsouth tomorrow and he will get it. Basically what happens is they crush the pills and put it in a cream and then rub this on Jim's arm and it is absobed into the body. They start with a low level to make sure it does not irrate his skin. He needs this because there are times he is really depressed as any of us would be.

My second issue was with the call button. I have tried to get a workable nurse call button for Jim. This has been an ongoing issue. They have a very sensitive one but it is being used by another patient. This is not acceptable. He needs to have a way to call the nurse. He may be off the ventelator all night tomorrow and this is for his safety. Well I got through to them finally. They have ordered another one and it will be there tomorrow. I told them this was a safety issue and if something was not done I was going to call the state agency that regulates the facility. After three months this got them hopping.

I also got them working on the broken window blinds.

My new issue may be with Blue Cross Blue Shield. They are making noises about JIm's need to be in this facility. Linda told me not to worry but she was just giving me a heads up.

Well you are probably wondering how Jim is. He's doing just fine. He was off the vent for 12 hours today. He was awake and he wanted pizza and coffee. I know he is feeling better when he wants food. He was not seeing things today so that is good. He had his wound care and there was a small improvement. He watched an entire day of Law and Order: CI. on USA channel.

Still on the Mountain

Well today was a repeat of yesterday. Jim was alert and talking. He was off the vent the entire day. They were going to put him back on tonight to make sure he gets the rest he needs but tomorrow they may start a try at the 24 hours. It's a little scary but he looks really good. We did have some rough moments today. He wanted out of bed. Now this is a man that has not been out of been (except when they lift him out) in 5 months. He actually was able to get himself sitting straight up but then his neck would not cooperate and it hurt him.

He told nurse Mary last night that he felt like he had woken up from the dead. He has lost the past month. Everything from his last stay at Sarasota Memorial is basically a blur. Before that he remembers. So we will work with what we have.

Today we watched two movies and he was awake the whole time. This is a first for quite a while. Normally he doses off and on. I'll take it.

Looking forward to tomorrow . . . what Jim will I have.

Climbing the Mountain

I am reminded these days of a line from a song, "Climbing the mountain and then down a small revine..." Well that is exactly what my days are like. This weekend Jim looked awful and was doing awful. He was having a really rough time and he couldn't even get off the full vent status. Today I walked into his room and he was sitting up, he was off the vent and he was smiling and fully alert and he said to me, Hi Honey, how are you! I looked at the nurse and said what's up. She just looked at me and said, He's doing great. They took approximately 2 gallons of water out of him in the last 15 hours. This made such a tremedous change I couldn't believe it. Jim asked me how long he had been out. The last week was a total blur to him.

He was able to talk to Jack and Josh today and he got a real kick out of that. I wish I had had my camera with me because he was all smiles. He read the newspaper and checked out the sports page. Wow I never know what is going to happen with him. It creates real highs and lows for me. But I like the highs so much better.

Remember I told you I was taking a digital Adobe Elements class online. Today I learned out to change a photo to sepia and the colorize a portion of the photo. I am so proud.

Went to bingo tonight and no I did not win again. My sister did though.

Everyone wish son Bob Happy Birthday. I forgot and I am so sorry. Bob I hope it was a good one and that the chocolate cake was great. Jim did not forget. He told Jack to wish Bob a happy birthday. It is amazing that he knew it was Bob's birthday.

Monday Blues

No that does not mean that I'm down. It means I have started painting my scraproom blue. That's right I have to have something to paint so I am now working on the scraproom. Some of you may think this is a guest room but . . .

I am taking a 4 week digital scrapbooking class online. Here is my layout for week 2. I was not able to get the florish working but the rest of it does not look too bad. This is done in Photoshop Elements and I'm enjoying the class.

Jim was a little more alert today. I think that was because they had him on the full vent at 40% overnight. They backed this up to pressure support this afternoon and he seemed to be doing fine. The cultures have not come back yet but his fever is back to normal. Dr. Hume said we have to expect these adjustments. We watched TV most of the afternoon. My mom came to visit and he gave her a big smile when she got there.

Thank you Jackie for making dinner tonight. Thanks for the uplift and the surprise dinner.

Sunday Update

I spent the afternoon with Jim. We watched the Bucaneers on TV. As we all know from Friday Jim and I had different thoughts on this game. Sadly for me they lost but it just means Jim is still in the Loser Pool. So am I but I picked Minnesota to lose and we were able to watch this game also.

Jim slept on and off today. He has a fever of 101.7. The sent out some blood tests and they all came back normal. They did a urine culture but that is not back. They have also cultured the bedsore. They believe this may now be infected. It has a bad odor and this is one indication. He did not want any pain meds today and no anexiety medication. He also did not want to try to go off the vent. He was comfortable and looked really relaxed and comfortable. This is what I want for him. There is no need for him to be in pain if he doesn't need to. He is able to decide what medications he wants and which he doesn't.

I saw a little fear in his eyes today. I don't want to see this so I keep my terror to myself and put on a cheerful face.

He just held my hand today and we shared some quiet time together. Right now this is important to us. Being together and loving each other. I'm content knowing that Nurse Gwen is taking care of him tonight. She is really good.

Reality Check

In the past several weeks Jim has made great strides in getting better. I was waiting for the other foot to drop and today we took some backward steps. Remember I told you that he was off the vent for 10 hours yesterday. Well this really knocked him out today. He could not get off the vent. They tried several times but he could not go more than 15 or 20 minutes. He was short of breath and his rate was over 30. They like it between 20 and 24. He was also in a lot of pain. He asked for morphine and acupril. None of this bodes well for him.

Nurse Donna told me today that he is really tired. He has worked hard to fight this battle and he is not winning. The bedsore on his butt is worse. She does not know how this is ever going to get better. He needs a flap but that is surgical and he just can not handle that. Plus he has the neck situation and he is not ready for surgery for that either. I want and believe sometimes that he is getting better but he is really sick. Today when I looked at him and could not get him to respond to me very much it just made my heart break. I just want to get in bed with him and just hold him and tell him how much I love him. I know he knows but he is so alone and has just me ( plus my sister and mom) I want I want him to know that I am there with him every step of this horrible jouney.

The MIRSA continues in his chest. There is no telling where that is. He is still on the wound vac for this. All that can be done is being done.

My reality check today is that Jim may never come home. I spent a lot of my day today crying and trying to figure out how to face today and then tomorrow. Beyond that I can not look more than a day at a time.

Jim Had another good day.

Jim had another really good day. He was off the vent for 10 hours. This is the best he has done since his relapse. We are going to go for 12 hours tomorrow. He was really tired at the end of the 10 hours. They are pushing him harder on getting off the vent and they are making him work at this. This is good for him. It is too easy to just leave him on the vent. They need him to work at it and he is really being a trouper about it. Midafternoon today he was really tired and so was I so I just crawled into the other bed with my head at the bottom of the bed. I could watch him from this vantage point but in actuality I fell asleep too. The nurses left us alone and I had a hour and a half nap. I couldn't believe it.

The wound changes were a little hard on him today and he needed some pain meds for that. He doesn't ask often for drugs so when he does ask you know that he really needs them. He was in good spirits and is working to come off the vent. What this means for him is that he will be able to eat and drink and he really needs the nutrients this will provide.

I am taking a digital scrapbooking class for the next four weeks so tonight I tried doing one of the homework pages. This is the page I did. I can't seem to get rid of the red lines but I am working on it. Have a great weekend. Go Notre Dame. Go Bucs. Go Bears.

Misty Gets A Haircut

Misty went to the dog groomers yesterday and got her first big girl Westie haircut. She does not even look like the same dog. She gave them a little trouble with the bath but she did fine during the haircut. She was so glad to see me when I went to pick her up. Jim just loved her with her new haircut. They had a great time playing. He was hiding treats from her and so they had a great time. She sits on his bed and is really good with him. The nurses all guss over her so she loves going to the hospital.

Jim is looking pretty good. (You can see that in this picture) Today he was off the vent most of the day. We are working up to the magic 24 hours. Not there yet but we are getting there. Dr. Hume was in and said that Jim is very Stable! He has down had any downword turn. There is healing going on. The peg site is almost healed. The chest wound has some healing so it seems like the wound vac is working. The bedsore is still a problem but they are working on it.

I do have some reservations about his brain. He picked Tampa Bay to lose this week. I tried to talk him out of it but there wasn't any changing his mind.

Rutgers beat the University of South Florida tonight in a very close game. But Bull's fans everywhere are not giving up. We will come back next week.

Swallow Test Tomorrow

You should have seen Jim smiling today. I had the pictures printed that Bob sent last night and I had the family photo blown up to 8 x 10 and framed it for his room. He loves it. I showed him all of the other photos and you could really see the joy in is face. I also took him in a lighted pumpkin to brighted his room. We have to be festive and upbeat to get him over this.

Jim is going to have another swallow test tomorrow. He looked great today. He was alert and talking and interested in everything around him. They have decided that he may be able to eat even though he might have to have some vent support at night. He gets a little anxious at night without the vent. It has become his security blanket. So tomorrow they are going to try and see if they can get him to eat. This will make him stronger. I'll snap a photo tomorrow so you can see how good he looks. His chest wound is getting smaller as parts of it heal. They are going to culture it on Friday and see where it is going.

We had a meeting today about his care and the issues we have been having with the CNA staff. I believe we have resolved these problems and things will get better. It is hard to keep good CNA's because they are so in demand here and it is just who pays the most that gets the good ones.

No bingos for any of us tonight but we did have fun. Misty is going to get her first haircut tomorrow. I hope it goes well.

It's Fall Somewhere

Last week we had a cold fron that came through. The temperature dropped to 85 degrees. Come on guys this is not fall weather. Fall weather requires you to wear a jacket. I'm still wearing flip flops and shorts. I can even still go to the pool. I received this picture today and fall has arrived in Chicago. This is one of the things I miss most. Cool weather (not cold mind you) and the changing of the leaves. Oh yes I really miss the three boys in this picture and of course their parents. The boys are getting so big and I miss them so much.

Jim had a very restless night last night. He didn't sleep much which meant he slept most of the day. I was trying to wake him up today and gave him a kiss and he bit my lip. Needless to say he was a little fiesty today. After his dressing changes today the CNA's were changing his sheets and they were really rough with him. They are new and I guess they need some more training. They actually knocked his trach out 3 times and began to bleed. I was furious and went and got the charge nurse. He's kinda of a wimp so I will have to deal with this more tomorrow with the nurse manager. There is no excuse for this type of care.

Respirtory came in and they were furious. They cleaned out his trach and gave him an extra treatment to make sure everything was OK. He was off the vent several times during the day. The stomach wound is almost healed and so is the back.

I went to our homeowners meeting tonight but not much went on.

Working on getting off the vent

Today Jim had another good day. He was off the vent for quite awhile.When he's off the vent he can talk and that is so much better than trying to figure out what he is trying to say. We had two TV's going again and he loves doing that. We watched most of the Buc's game together. Yeah they won. Jim continues to have wound issues but they are working on them. If we can get him off the vent then he can eat. He really needs the nutrients that food provides. The liquid food can only do so much.

On another football note. Go USF. The University of South Florida is having a great year and for us alums it is fantastic. Everyone has always thought that USF is this small school in Florida. But . . . I believe it is now the largest school in Florida and they now can play football. They play at the Bucaneer stadium and they are drawing huge crouds. They might even be ranked nationally.

I had quite a weekend. I took a stamping class on Saturday and this is the layout I made. I'm still catching up on Lucas. This class was taught by Nicki and what a fantastic teacher she it. On Friday night I went to a crop and was working on this great book on Jim and I. I'll share more of it when I get it done. It is really great to go to these crops and just unwind. I really need this time away from the hospital and all of my worries.

Tonight I had dinner with two great old friends from college. They have recently retired and moved to Florida. It was great catching up and laughing about old times. We also talked about our other close friends and we all hope to see them sometime in the future. Tonight made me realize that it is really true that the friends you make in college are your friends forever. We scatter after college, have careers and have families but it is always wonderful to see each other again.

Dr. Liggett Gives Good Report

Dr. Liggett was in today. Her and Dr. Hume are partners and they have both been taking care of Jim. Jim calls her the pretty doctor. She always gives him a kiss on the cheek for that. I asked her to give us a real update on how things are going. She said, the key here is that Jim has not gotten any worse. She said that an infection can run rampant in your system if not checked by antibiotics. He has now been on antiobiotics for 4 weeks and there is no indication of any spreading of the infection. She feels that Jim is actually beating the infection. She said it may take awhile but it really looks good. She said 4 weeks ago she would not have given him hardly a chance but now she is very hopeful that he will beat this.

She also said that the action taken by nurse Mary the other day has really helped also. Mary changed Jim's catheter. He is now peeing like a racehorse as Jim is know to say. You can tell the difference in his face and hands. Dr. L. said there must have been a sediment blockage and that is why he was retaining fluids. Between the new tube and the lasix the fluids are now manageable. Dr. L is also going to prescribe some antidepressants for Jim since he has now having a bout of depression. Dr. L said this is perfectly normal for anyone going through what Jim is. She is also going to have a phycologist come see Jim and this may help him some. I really like Dr. Liggett because she really talks to both Jim and I.

Jim watched the Notre Dame game and another loss for the Irish. He had Nascar on tonight.

I actually cooked dinner tonight for my sister, my mom and our friend Barbara. We toasted my new kitchen and dinning room. Afterward we played cards. As you can see in the picture, Misty was helping me. Thank you Barbara for the wonderful violet bathroom rug and violets.

Thank you niece Cathy for the card and to all the Canul children. Jim really appreciates all of you.

Quick Note

It's after midnight and I just got home from a 9 hour scrapbook crop. I was with Jim for several hours today and he slept the entire time. He had a rough night with coughing most of the night. This pretty much wore him out. He was on minimal oxygen and were trying to wein him. They gave him Atavan at 11:30 last night so he was out for most of the day. I checked with the nurse about 7:00 and he was then awake and watching TV. He was more himself. They had done the dressing changes and he was just chilling. Doctor says everything is stable with very little change today. More tomrrow.

Quiet Day for Us

Jim and I had a quiet day today. He slept on and off and I read the paper and worked some puzzles. Jim's pulminary doctor was in and said that Jim's lungs are improving. He continues to need support but they are working on getting him off the vent. He had greatly improved in the past several weeks. He was off the vent for almost 6 hours today. He did not ask for any pain medicine today but did ask for Adavan to relieve the anexiety of being off the vent. He wanted to take a nap so he would be awake to watch Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty.

Had a little scare tonight. Misty's leash snapped tonight on our walk. She say a rabbit and darted after it and snap when the leash. Now we had two pieces. I called to her but she was after the rabbit. We were very close to mom's so I went there and called to her and said do you want to visit grandma and she came running. Mad that scared me because it was really dark and I could not see her.

Played cards this afternoon and won. Yeah me. Thank you Bob, Nancy and Carline. Jim loved your card. Also Bob and Debbie he loved your card yesterday.

Jim Was Calling Me Today

Today Jim really missed me. I went in to see him about 11:00 and they took him off the vent. We had a really good visit and then he decided he needed to sleep. I told him I'd be back around 6:00. Well at 6:05 he had the nurse call the house for him. Of course I wasn't there because I was on my way to the hospital. He missed me - how great is that. So many times he's sleeping and does not much care if I'm there or not. He was off the vent again and we had a nice time together. He wanted me to message his hands. They have been hurting him. About 8:00 he decided it was again time to sleep. That's OK because he had had a great day. Pain meds only once. Off the vent about 6 hours. Wound vac change and two dressing changes. All of this can tire a guy out.

I went to the scrapbook store for my weekly scrap and dash. (One hour work on a predetermined layout for $5. A little chit chat and goofing off. Fun way to spend an hour. Here is the layout I did. I'm trying to catch up. Poor Lucas needs more pages for his alblum.

My only mishap for the day was the telephone wire. In remodeling the kitchen I had taken down the 15 year old phone jack. Yesterday I bought a new one so I cut the phone cord and tried to install the new one. Woops. It does not work. Consequently my TV phone cord is stretched across the living room and plugged into the sun room phone jack. Oh well I'll think about this tomorrow.

Jim says to say thanks to Demaris and Chuck for the card. It was really funny.

Mom won, Jackie Won, Patty . . . No Bingo

Once again I did not get to yell Bingo. Close but no cigars. Jackie and Mom both won tonight. My only consolation was that Jackie had to split her's six ways. One time if they called B5 Jackie and I would have both won. Oh well there is always next week.

Bowled this morning and had to set an average. It was definitely a good day to set an average. 92, 100 and 110. Great way to start. I am bowling in a morning ladies league. Thought it was time to get out and do some exercise.

No ups or downs for Jim today. Typical fight for water and my saying no and him getting mad at me. So what's new. He was off the ventilator while I was there. They are not ready to have him off without someone in the room. Physical therapy came and he did really good. He can raise his arms above his head, he can rub his head and do all of the arm exercises. I was amazed at his progress. They are really working hard with him. Everyone wants him to succeed and they are amazing with him.

I got some smiles out of him today when I talked about our three grandchildren. I told him that Lucas was starting to walk. He was amazed by this as he still thinks of him as a little baby. I told him that Josh was saying bad words and that mommy was going to put hot chili peppers in his mouth. I think he is copying daddy when he watches baseball and football since none of our teams are doing well. He got a real laugh at this because he does the same thing. Josh will have to learn the grandpa shrug. I also told him that Jack was sick over the weekend but was better today once school started again. Jack you are supposed to be well on the weekend and sick during the week.

Love to all. Thanks Bob and Debbie, Ron and Phyliss, Betsy and Muriel for the cards. You really lifted Jim's spirits.

Nurse Don Reports Improvement

I don't know where this came from but I am thankful. Nurse Don (one of the best they have) said the Jim's chest wound shows some improvement. The bottom portion is healing nicely and closing up. The top portion where the infection was concentrated is showing pinker tissue and less pus and drainage. He says that is good. I want Jim back and playing cards. Way to go Jim.

I guess today was a day of realities for Jim. Over the past couple of days Jim has refused to have his dressings changed at the prescribed time. He is to have these done 3 times a day. He has gotten stubborn, do you know this man. YOu think!. Well Roxanne, the wound care nurse who I truly love, had a chat with him. She went in and threw open the shapes and said why are you in the dark. Have you given up. Are you going to throw away all the work I've done. Well, according to R. this really got his attention. She explained that this new treatment plan is really working. The bedsores are looking really good and it is because of this plan. She said to him. Are you with me in this. Do you want to get better. Do you still want to fight. I have to get you off your back and on to your side. Are we going to do this. Roxanne is a short stock outspoken women. She is just what he needs. She tells it like it is and goes to work. She showed him pictures of each of his wounds and compared them to old photos. She told me that sometimes she forgets that some patients are really intelligent and just need to know what is up and that she has to take the time to really talk to them. She also said there is nothing wrong with Jim's brain. Well . . .

When I got there Jim said to me, " I have decided to do everything they ask me to do. I want to live and I want to fight." I just cried. He was on his side and doing everything they wanted him to do. He was off the vent and doing quite well. He said to me Life Is Good. Like Dr. Hume said, It is up to Jim as to how this goes. Well Jim has decided. He's fighting.

Today he wanted me to just hold his hand and massage them. They were hurting him a bit. They were swollen and the doctor's have told him to get them up in the air. He had me holding them in the air and they felt better.

Some days are just better than others and Roxanne jump started this one by working with Jim.

Thank you Jackie for dinner tonight. It was great. I'm bringing the pizza tomorrow to bingo.

Doctor Report - Jim Stable

Jim and I met with Dr. Hume today to get an update on his condition. He said, for his part, everything but the infection, Jim is Stable! But he does understand that the infection has not gotten any worse. Jim is about the same as last week. No upward or downward trend, just the same. However, they are making progress with his breathing. The doctor says Jim continues to improve and that it is his hope that Jim will soon be off the ventilator completely. Today he was off hte vent for several hours but went back on after his dressing changes. These are very taxing and he needed the extra oxygen support. However today he did not need any extra pain medication. I guess he was interested in the football games and that kept his mind busy. The three times daily dressing changes can be kinda of hard on him. He continues to get 4 antiobiotics. The strongest that they have.

Since Jim has 2 TV's in his room he takes full advantage of this. He has Nascar on one TV and the football game on the other one. Tonight he was watching regular TV and had the Bears on the other TV.

See my new buffet quilt. Mom made this for me to put on my buffet. It looks great and matches my new kitchen and dining room. Today I painted the accent wall between the kitchen and the dining room. I have the tape up for the rest of the hallway and hope to get it painted tomorrow and then this project will be done. Yeah!!!!!!. Now I wonder what I'll do next since this has kept me busy for the last two months. It would have made Jim crazy with the paint stuff everywhere. I told him this today and he just laughed.

I want Water!

All Jim can think of these days is water. He wants water. This is driving everyone crazy.

He can not have water until he passes another swallow test. Plus he has to be on the speaking valve for 48 hours before they will give him the test. Today they put him on the speaking valve so we are starting. He had a little trouble to begin with. He was actually having a little panic attack. He has to work harder with this valve. They gave him something to help with this and it did. He knows that he has to stay off the vent for 48 hours so he is trying his best. He also had some pain today so he got two shots for pain. With all that is going on it is amazing that he has not asked for more pain medication.

When he gets the pain medication it really relaxes him and he generally goes to sleep. When I left tonight he was watching the Cubs game but I know he was going to doze off. I just took a minute to call the hospital and they said they had to put Jim back on the vent. He was really working hard on the breathing and his saturation was down to 70. Heather said he's now sleeping and breathing much better. We'll try it again tomorrow. No fever so that is good.

I went to my sisters tonight for dinner. I took Misty with me and she had a good time. We cooked a pork loin on the grill with some potatoe and onions in a foil pack. It was really good. We played cards afterward and Mom, Barbara and Jackie skunked me. I hate it when I lose. It was fun to get out but it's 12:30 now and I'm going to bed.

It's Friday, Yeah!!

Well it is still very hot and humid here in Florida. Everyone tells me it is fall but I have yet to see any evidence of it. No leaves have turned, the flowers are still blooming and it is still really hot. So I ask, when do I get to turn off my air conditioning and enjoy the wonderful fall?

Jim is adjusting to his new bed. It has a rotation mode on it and the bed will all of sudden start to move. It startles you when this happens. You can just watch him roll to the other side. It's like some amusement ride and then it will start pulsating and it sounds like the bed is beating him in the back. Which it really is but that noise. He is getting a kick out of it.

It seems to be helping though because he has now been on cpap for two days. Tomorrow they want to try out the speaking value. I hope we can do this because it is really hard to communicate with Jim and he gets so frustrated with me when I don't understand what he is saying. He was having some stomach pain today. The nurse said he had a lot of gas so that may have been the cause. She was changing his butt dressing and he was tooting away. He thought that was pretty funny. Men will be boys and they love to fart.

Tonight he was able to watch the Yankees. He is not happy that they are behind in the series. His pulminary tech, Jessie (a woman) is a diehard baseball fan so she has been spending a lot of time with Jim tonight.

As for me I did some cleaning in my craft room today. It had really gotten away from me. I spent time with Jim morning and evening. He slept the morning away but was awake the entire 2nd time I was there.

I have a quiet weekend planned. I miss Jim and our time together at home. It just isn't the same without him here. You know it has now been almost five months. It seems like forever. Here we have this new home and we are supposed to be spending time together here and exploring Florida. He's not supposed to be in the hospital, he's supposed to be here. I pray everyday that soon he'll be home with me.

The Kitchen is Done!!!!!!

The old kitchen and the ugly apples.

The new kitchen.

For those of you that have been to my house you may remember the apples. Weren't they awful . . . but they are gone forever. I can not believe it actually took me two months to finish this project. The old owners did a really awful job when they painted the kitchen. From what I gather it was originally painted brown, then yellow. But, the owner that put on the yellow did a horrible job. There were bubbles and paint drips and globs of paint everywhere. I had to sand every single door and that included both sides. They painted over all of the hardware so I pitched all of it and started over. It was ok because it really needed updating. It is now an apricot orange with white doors. It looks really stunning. Some day I'll get a black counter but for right now that is only in my dreams. I am going to add asparigus accents to finish it off.

Jim rested most of the day today. He was on Cpap the whole day which is really good because they couldn't get him on it yesterday. The new bed is breaking up the congestion and he did not sound so raspy today. But all of this did wear him out. He did wake up for me late afternoon and we decided on our Loser Pool pics. He continues with his wound care and antiobiotics. As you could tell from yesterday's photo he is alert and fully aware of what is going on. Today he even got mad at me because I would not give him water. Once again I had to explain that he has to be on his speaking valve for 48 hours before that happens. They hope to start this tomorrow.

I was starting to get worried about running out of medicare days but luckily that is not going to be a problem. I found out today that Jim's Blue Cross Blue Shield supplement gives him 365 days of 100 percent coverage. So we are good on this.

Today I also went to the caregiver/spouse's support group. This was really helpful to be able to talk over my problems with people that are in the same situation. The facilitator was a psycologist and he was really great. I got a lot out of this and actually look forward to the next session in two weeks.

We've Been Married 9 Years Today

Jim and I were married 9 years ago today. Today is our anniversary and even though he is in the hospital we had a party. I brought in balloons, cards, and cake for everyone. I wanted to make the day special for Jim. Unknown to me my sister and Jim had cooked up a surprise for me. When I went into his room there was a dozen red roses and a card from Jim. My mother brought over a white rose and cards from her. Mom and Jackie met us at the hospital and Pastor Bohl came in and did a small wedding ceremony and prayers. It was really special to have this special time together. Jackie also arranged for a card from Jim on my front door this morning. What a special day it was for Jim and I today.

The head nurse Joann was also celebrating her anniversary. Guess what . . . 9 years for her too. Small world. The staff and visitors all enjoyed the cake. Plus you want to know how stupid I am. I brought in a candle to make the room smell really nice and it did. But, about 2 hours later a nurse came in a freaked. She blew it out and said this is too dangerous we have oxygen in here. Oh my God, I never even thought about that. Plus there must have been 4 or 5 nurses in while the candle was lit. None of us even thought about it.

Well the wonderful sand bed is now gone. The have brought in a new bed for Jim. It is a pulsating bed. They changed it this afternoon. Jim is having breathing issues and Dr. Morgan felt it was the bed because he could really not sit up so fluids were building up in his lungs so she ordered the new bed. It actually does a pulsing on his back. 8 minutes four times an hour. This is supposed to losen up the fluids. The bed also goes to a sitting position exactly like a chair. I asked about the bed sore issue and they said the lung issue takes precident. Jim continues with his four antiobiotics and dressing changes three times a day. He asked for pain meds late afternoon and this let him take a much needed nap.

Thank you Mom and Jackie for helping make this such a special day.

No Bingo's Again

No bingo's again for me. Mom won the first game and then there was nothing else for us. The kitchen is completely painted. Tomorrow I have someone coming in to hang the doors and then it will be done. Pictures tomorrow.

Jim got two pints of blood today. This put some color into his cheeks and he was feeling pretty good. He was not on his speaking value today but they plan to put it on tomorrow. Wounds are about the same and his neck continues to give him problems.

Not much else happened today. More tomorrow. I have surprises planned to Jim tomorrow. It's our anniversary.

Patty