I'm Bike Riding

Well we finally did it. I shouldn't say we as I did not do very much. My sister did 90% of the work. But the bike is finally put together and I have taken it for a test spin. Misty loves it as you can see. Yes I am officially an old lady riding a three wheel bicycle and loving every minute of it.

Jim was doing pretty well today. Everythings the same. One good piece of news is that yesterday his hands had swollen up and I had to take his ring off to protect his finger. Today when I sent in his hands were not swollen at all and I said have you had dialysis yet today and he said no. He had actually peed away the fluid on his own. His bag was a third full. The dialysis nurse told me at 6:00 when she came in and I had told her this she said that was a very good sign. I love good signs.

Played cards tonight with my sister, mom and friend. Thanks Jackie for making dinner. YOu know I love it and appreciate it. We got several inches of rain tonight that was desperately needed and it's still raining. Thank god it's not snow. Have a great weekend.

Maintaining the Status Quo

Not much different today. Jim was off the vent for two hours today while I was there. Yeah. Moving in the right direction. He was in a good mood and we were able to talk about the bridge hands I played today. He even told me I bid a couple of hands wrong. Jan you were right on that 4 club bid and the one you doubled spades showing spades.

It was great to be able to talk with Jim and to see the real interest he had in what I had done today. It just goes to show that his brain is still working and sharp. If we could just get his body to cooperate.

The doctor did tell me that Jim's electrolytes are all in the normal range. She said this is good news to show that the toxin levels are balancing out. I don't really understand this part but I believe her when she says this is good news.

Some good news for once

I finally got a report on how Jim has been doing over the last 10 days. First Russanne is very pleased with how Jim's wounds are doing. She was gone for 2 weeks so she had not seen them during that time. The butt sore is one third smaller and not very deep. Yeah. It is healing. The wound vac is doing a great job on the chest wound. I don't want to be to technical but here it is. There were two separate wounds in the chest with the center healed over but there was a tunnel under the skin connecting the two. The tunnel is now healed and there is no connection. The top wound used to pulse from the lungs. This not happening now. The bottom wound was tunneling downward and curving. This is no longer true. The tunnel has healed. The have called Dr. Van Winkle for a consult tomorrow and the word is that surgery may be unnecessary. Cross your fingers. The is the first time I have gotten any goods news about his wounds.

As for the kidneys. This is a wait and see game. He is peeing a little bit. We just have to work through this process.

Jim was in a really good mood today. Especially after the doctor gave us this report. He was smiling and joking with the nurses. They took him off the vent for about an hour. We'll try it again tomorrow. This is also a slow process. He told me to go play bridge at the tournament and not to worry about him because he was going to be just fine.

I did play in the Sectional here tonight. There were 6 brackets and of course we were in the top bracket. But guess what. We won. We play again tomorrow morning. I also had group therapy today. These sessions are very good for me and give me perspective on how to handle the day to day events of my life.

Oh my god. Happy Birthday Rick. I totally forgot to call you. I will call you tomorrow. I love you and hope your day is great. Hope you got the package from Home Depot. Love that you are getting the shower in your new house.

Jim is Plugging Along

I just love this picture of Cathy and Joshua. I have been trying to catch up on some photos that I love. Cathy just because I scrapped this picture doesn't mean you can take Joshua home.

Jim is doing just fine. He is anxious to try being off the vent. We are back to playing charades and he gets so frustrated with me when I do not get what he is trying to tell me. We're hoping by Friday to try him off the vent. This morning we watched TV and just hung out. They had done his dressing changes and given him a bath so he was all comfortable and relaxed.

He had some loose stools today so they put in a tube so as not to contaminate the bedsore on his behind. The nurses tell me that it is improving and we don't want to set this back. Jim was OK with it in fact he gave them the permission. Last night they also had to readjust the pick line as it had moved. Bun 55, Creatin 3.7. Still haven't talked to a doctor since last week but the nurses let me know what the reports say.

Tonight when I was in Jim was sleeping. I didn't wake him because when I kissed him hello he just shook his head. This is an indication that he wants to sleep. I sat there with him for awhile and read a book.

It is crowded in Jim's room

There is no room to move in Jim's room now that he has a roommate. Jim has so much equipment you can barely move and put the messy nurses on top of that and it is a mess. I spent some time cleaning up after them and it is a little better now.

Tom Haley came to see Jim today and that was a really nice surprise. Jim smiled when he saw him and raised his arm to shake his hand. Tom you are lucky because I have not seen him do that since the last time you were here.

No contact again today with the doctors. It is tough tracking them down. They come in really early and as most of you know I don't get up early so my window is rather small. Dr. L. will be in in the next couple of days and she is really accessible so I'll talk to her. Her hours are more like mine.

Jim's doing a little better so that is good. His kidney numbers are still a little high but not as high as they were. He had dialysis today but he was also peeing before the dialysis and that is a good sign.

I won a bingo tonight and that is always fun. I won $20. Not a lot of money but it is the thrill of victory. This is one of Jack's Halloween photos as Harry Potter. Grandma made the scarf and he really loved it. My mother made the robe for him. He looks just like Harry.

Jim is feeling good

Yesterday and today I saw a real difference in Jim. I guess when they take 30 pounds of fluids out of you you stop sloshing around. His hands are so thin. His ring barely stays on. He's alert, smiling and interested in what is going on. I have not talked to any of the doctors because I keep missing them but hope to connect tomorrow with them. I have left messages. Basically all of his vital signs are normal. Chest wound still has the wound vac and his butt is showing some improvement. He is going to have another week of dialysis. His numbers are still not what the doctors want to see.

A new development today was that Jim got a roommate. I don't know how long this is going to last but we will see. It is now really crowded in his room. I don't know where they are going to put the dialysis machine tomorrow.

Worked on the bicycle today but we are still not there. I did a bunch of little things that I have been neglecting but it feels good to get some of this done. I also started a calendar back in NOvember and I finally finished the January pages. I even hung it up. More when I know more.

Jim lost 10 pounds today

That's right, Jim lost 10 pounds today. The goal was to take 4600 ml from Jim during Dialysis and that is exactly what they did. Thi equates to 10 pounds. I keep telling them to hook me up. His numbers bun 33/creatin 2.7. We do not know why the creatin is going up but they are watching this. This kinda of tuckered Jim out but it did not keep him from watching the Green Bay game. Wow was it snowing. Well we will see what the numbers are tomorrow and the plan for next week.

Congratulations Rick (my nephew and his wife) and Heather on your new house. How exciting this is for both of you. I know it doesn't look like much now but imagine what it is going to look like on March 17th when you move in.

Well Jackie worked on my bicycle today. Boy was that a job. Neither of us expected it to be so much work. Not as much for me as for Jackie. We are not quite done but I'll have pictures by Monday. All I want to know where is the quality control. Don't you think they could have sent all of the washers and bolts. Jackie I owe you more than breakfast. I love you.

4th Day of Dialysis

Jim had dialysis again today. They took 2600 ml out of him or about 2 and a half liters of fluid. That relates to about 5 pounds.They now weigh Jim before every dialysis treatment. They have to keep an record of all of his fluids. His BUN today was 50 (up a little) and creatin is still 2. They say it is normal for the BUN to go up when there has been a non-dialysis day. Kidney doctor in and reviewed everything. I did not talk to him but he put orders in for todays dialysis.

He was awake this morning but wiped out tonight. I left him to watch TV tonight.

I actually did three of these layouts so each of my little boys will have one in their book. Being able to create these layouts keeps me busy and my mine occupied. It is kind of a therapy for me. Hope everyone enjoys them. There will probably not be a blog tomorrow night because I am going to a crop from 3 until midnight. My sister wants me up early Saturday morning to go to breakfast. This is a bribe because she is going to put my bicyle together for me. Can't wait to see those pictures.

Slowly Moving Along

Today Jim was awake a lot longer. I was there this morning for about 3 hours and we watched TV the whole time. He never fell asleep. I feel like this is progress. He was on CPAP for the ventilator. His BUN was 23 and his Creatin was 2.0. The Bun is in normal range but the Creatin is not. They say sometimes it takes longer for the Creatin to go down. Cultures came back on the chest wound and it is still infection with a 26 letter word that I will not try to repeat here. The chest would is closing up amazingly. We do not know what is going on underneath but we are hoping that it is coming along also. We took 3 huge steps backward in the last week and a few baby steps forward.

Went to Scrap and Dash tonight. These are the two layouts that we did tonight. Bob I fixed the glare.

Day 3 of Dialysis

For all of us that want to lose weight. Jim lost 14 pounds n 3 days. That is how much water they have taken out of him in 3 days of dialysis. I told the nurse today to hook me up. Take that water.

On Sunday Jim's BUN was 138. 20-30 is normal. His Creatin was 2.0. With a 138 this should have been 4. Normal being 1.0. But the numbers were totally out of ratio and this really concerned the doctors and that's the reason for the dialysis. Today Jim's BUN is 44 and Creatin is still 2.0. This is a normal ratio but both numbers are still high. These numbers were done this morning before the dialysis. We hope to see these numbers normal tomorrow.

No culture results are in yet. These take time to grow. Jim is alert. Much more so that the previous days. This morning better than late evening. After the dialysis he is wiped out. The plan is to do dialysis Thursday and Saturday and then reevaluate his situation. Here's hoping.

Went to Bingo tonight but no bingo's for the three of us. Did this layout a couple of days ago for my calendar. Need to fix a couple of things with layouts from the previous days and will do this tomorrow. For now I'm going to bed.

No Snow Here

Here's my layout for the day. This is a digital scrapbooking page and was done totally on the computer. Love these photos.

I saw Jim this morning and he was doing fine. He had a fresh shave and looked so comfortable. He was smiling and flirting with the nurses because they were flirting with him.

I'm going back in a little while and I hope some of the test results are back. More later.

Dialysis Day 2

Jim did well on dialysis again today. Once again he slept through most of this. Kathy, the dialysis nurse, is a huge football fan so Jim and Kathy are watching the game and Jim is mostly sleeping.

He was alert and pain free today. Bob sent me about a 100 photos of Christmas, Snow and first haircut for Lucas. I put these on a memory card and took them in to show Jim. Jackie had given us a large digital frame. Jim watched the entire slide show. He was smiling and happy to see the boys. I put the frame where he could see it and let it run all day so that if he woke up he would see these smiling faces. I know it brightened his day.

I actually went and played bridge today. Have not played since November. I played with my friend Jan and it was really fun. We were second. Not bad for not playing in a while. It was good to get out and forget my troubles for awhile.

I do not know where Jim is going and no one else knows either. The pulminary doctor decided not to do the broch today. He said Jim really didn't need it as he was able to cough up what needed to come out. He said this was good. I'm just keeping his spirits up and keeping him comfortable. He was cold today so I put on his Notre Dame blanket. One doctor said, "Maybe next year." Jim laughed.

These are the layouts I did tonight. Sorry about the glare on you face Bob. Jackie thank you for dinner. Love you.

Jim is doing fine so far

Jim is doing fine after his ordeal today. They took him to Sarasota Memorial Hospital around noon today. They needed to put the dialysis cathere in by a radiologist. He got back to Health south around 5:00. The dialysis started at 5:30 and lasted 3 hours. Before he left for SMH I explained the entire procedure to him. I want him to know what they are doing and why. I asked him if he understood and he said yes. I said do you want to do this. He said yes. I want him to make decisions about his care if he can.

I sat with him for awhile to make sure he was comfortable during the dialysis and he seemed to have no pain and was watching the football game. Luckily he missed the Tampa game. I left when he drifted off to sleep. I checked with the nurse around 10:00 and he was still sleeping and in stable condition. The dialysis nurse said his vitals remained strong throughout the procedure.

The plan is for him to have dialysis for the next two days for 3 and a half hours each day. Then the doctors will review his blood tests and will decided where we go from here. It's a plan at least and I am more comfortable when we have a plan and are doing something.

The two layouts here are from scrap and dash this week. I'm trying to do the layout a day. Sometimes I skip a day and do two the next. It keeps me busy and my mine occupied. Today I got about a 100 photos from Bob and Teresa from the holidays. So now I am really behind. I made a disk and am going to put them in the digital photo frame my sister got us for Christmas and will take them in for Jim to look at tomorrow. The frame is 8 x 11.5 so they will be big for him to see. He'll love it. Good night for now.

Jim to start Dialysis

The kidney doctor just called me and he wants to start Jim on Dialysis. His protein levels are going up and this is not good. He also said (well he said a lot) but this is the crux: there seems to be too many toxins in his blood. They need to clean this out. It's Sunday and he has to call a radiology team in to do this so it will happen some time this afternoon. He has to go to Doctors or Sarasota hospital to have the line put in and then he'll go back to Healthsouth and the dialysis will start. I'll let everyone know where we go from here. I'm off to the hospital now.

I have finally picked my word for the year. It is strength. The most basic meaning is: strength
1. The quality or state of being strong; ability to do or to bear; capacity for exertion or endurance, whether physical, intellectual, or moral; force; vigor; power; as, strength of body or of the arm; strength of mind, of memory, or of judgment. "All his [Samson's] strength in his hairs were." (Chaucer) "Thou must outlive Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty." (Milton)

My inspiration for a word for the year comes from Ali Edwards. You can read about it on her blog: http://itsallaboutme.typepad.com/

I know I'm rambling but that's my state right now. So for today, let me find the strength to get through today.

Jim is hanging in there

Jim has such a will to live despite his poor body. He continues to fight to stay with us. We are still waiting to see what the Kidney doctor wants to try. Tonight he was peaceful and he responded to me. Jim I love you and it is all up to you now. Not much else to say but that we are continuing to be together.

I will be at the hospital in and out tomorrow if anyone wants to call my cell and say a few words to him. Cell 941-350-1377. I'm doing more frequent visits but for a shorter time so as not to tire him.

Mistakes continue

Today Jim was a little more alert and responding to me. Vitals are back to normal mid-range and that is good. But the mistakes continue. The pulminary group wanted to do a brochectomy yesterday and as I said yesterday they did not look on page 2 of Jim's chart and see the cell phone number. I was down eating lunch.

The doctor scheduled this for today and I signed all of the consent papers yesterday. I went in to see him before the procedure so I would not be in the way. His nurse came in and said he was going to have the B procedure and I told her that I knew that and would be leaving once he came. She then gave him his meds. They were smashed into powder so he could take them and then he was given water to flush them down.

The doctor walked in during this and could not believe the nurse was giving him the meds. He said to the nurse what are you doing. Did you not know we were going to do this procedure. She said yes but she wanted to get the meds out of they way. The doctor said don't you understand NPO before this procedure. She said she did not realize this. The doctor had to cancel the procedure again. It will now be Monday.

I went outside and just screamed. There was no one out there so it was no problem. I had a cig and calmed down. I went to the head nurse and said to please remove this nurse from Jim's care as I felt she did not know what she was doing.

I went back into the room and she was there hanging an antiabiotic. She apologized and said she did not know. I said you should have know because you are a nurse in critical care. She then started to argue with me. I didn't say a thing and went and got the head nurse and said get her out of there. I do not need her arguing with me. This was a stupid mistake and completely uncalled for.

I left for a while and then came back and watched some of the Ball State football game with him. He is drowsy but will open his eyes when you say his name. I'm home now but will go back in a little while and watch some of the playoff game with him.

Right now: Not as scared as last night but very nervous. His situation is very unstable and we just keep praying. The pulminary doctor said he is a little more stable that yesterday but he will see on Monday how the procedure goes.

Evening Update

As you could probably tell from my earlier post things are not good with Jim. I spent the day with Jim and just holding his hand and telling him that I was there. Here is the update:

Gen Doctor: Ordered a battery of tests and cultures. We will see if they show anything. Ordered a chest xray. Right now they really not know what is going on. Consults we called in and we will watch him carefully. Ordered two pints of blood because of Low hemocrit and low hemoglobin.

Vent Tech: blood oxygen test showed lower oxygen levels requiring the vent to be put back on.

Pulminary Doctor: Doing a brochetomy in the morning. This could be just a bump in the road or something more serious. We just have to watch him carefully to see what happens. He said Jim does ths periodically so Jim will tell us where we are going.

Renal/Kidney doctor: High creatine and high protein. Both show kidney problems. He said when the oxygen levels are low the blood produces more protein and that is bad for the kidneys. He is hoped the blood will resolve this problem. He ordered a sonagram of the kidneys. No results yet.

When I first went in this morning Jim was unresponsive to me. He would barely open his eyes. Late today he would open his eyes more and respond to me. His color was good so that is one good sign.

Father Mike came to see Jim midday and Jim opened his eyes for him. The priest talked to him and it seemed that JIm was listening to him. Father Mike prayed with him and when he said the Lords Prayer Jim mouthed the words.

Not the best of days. Lots of tears. Thank you Jackie for being there for me and just listening and then making me eat tonight I love you.

Big time prayers are needed tonight. Jim is in serious need of help. If I put everything I heard today together the prognosis is not very good. Jim and I are both comfortable with our love and he knows that if he feels it is time that it is OK for him to leave. This was the hardest thing I have ever done to tell him that it was OK. I told him I would always love him and I wanted him by my side but that I understood that his poor body has been through so much and that if he needed to go please to go with peace. He smiled at me and told me he loved me. Now we just wait and see.

Quick Update

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on Jim. This morning Jim is not doing very well. His vitals are normal but in the low area. His hemoglobin is 8.5 so they have decided to give him 2 units of blood to see if they can get this up. He was non responsive this morning so they called the doctor and have ordered a lot of tests. His breathing was labored so they have put him back on the vent to help him breath so he does not have to work so hard. They asked me to wait until about 12:00 to see him because they are doing all these tests. I'll let you know once I have seen him.

Dificult Day for Jim

Today was a difficult day for Jim. He told me when I came at lunch time that he was going to die and it was coming fast. I asked who told him this and he said God. My stomach lurched to my throat and it was all I could do to keep it together. I got him talking about it and said that Dr. Liggitt was there and why don't we talk to her. So in she came and she talked to Jim and told him that all of his vital signs were great, his lab work was all normal and that he looked good. He just looked at her and was not convinced.

She told me that she felt that his anexity level seemed to be a bit high but that sometimes patients feel doom when it is really doom. She did not think this was the case. She decided to give him some xantac to see if that would calm him down. I sat with him for a while and he drifted off to sleep. The pulminary tech raised his oxygen level from 3 to 5 to give him some extra comfort.

I was back in about 3:30 and checked on him and he seemed calmer. Today was my group therapy so I went to that and then back to his room. He did not want to eat dinner. He had some Dan Active and a glass of milk and that was it. It was calm and we talked about things and he seemed much better but it really took a lot out of him and he just wanted to sleep.

He asked me if he could talk to a priest and I made the arrangements for a priest to see him tomorrow and give him communion. I hope this will give him an extra level of peace. He got a letter today from a special friend and that seemed to please him. She has entered the seminary and that seemed to please him.

I am going to try to meet the one layout a day for 365 day challenge. This is my first page of the year and is for the challenge at my local scrapbook store. Misty got a haircut and bath today so I hope to get a good picture of her tomorrow. I took her to see Jim today and that did make him smile to see her so clean and stylish.

Sleepy Day for Jim

Today was one of those days that Jim just wants to sleep. I went to see him around lunch time. I always try to be there at meal time (except breakfast, way to early) so I can feed him. The last thing he wanted today was food. He was really sleepy. We got a glass of milk into him and that was all he was having. I tried to get him to wake up but he was not having it. Sometimes he just needs to sleep. They tell me that his body requires a lot of sleep and that the most healing he gets is while he is sleeping. So honey you just sleep all you want.

I checked back later and the nurse told me he was still sleeping so I did not go in at dinner time. Mom had been there around 4:00 and he didn't wake up for her either so I'm just letting him sleep. At around 8:30 I called and had them put the Fiesta Bowl on. We're not sure if he watched any of it. I'll see tomorrow.

I know I am not going to get a lot of sympathy here from my northern friends but we have a freeze warning in effect for tonight. I mean it is really cold here. Tonight when I walked Misty I had my heavy robe on and my heavy coat on over it. Let's just say it was a very short walk.

Thanks Mom for dinner tonight. The soup was really good and warmed me up inside. Love You.