I've been tagged.

Tag I'm it.
OK, so I was tagged by Charlene who was tagged by Kim who was tagged by Aimee, who was tagged by Paula, who was tagged by Celeste, who was tagged by Tina, who was tagged by Angie and that's all I know. So I have to share 7 things, some random, some weird about myself then pick some buddies to tag then leave a message on their blog then they get to share. So here I go:

1. I lived 5 blocks from the Leavenworth Federal Prison while I was growing up.

2. I was a certified Life Guard, Swimming instructor and trainer for new life guards for the American Red Cross. I saved one person who hit her head on the bottom and was not breathing when I brought her up.

3. I loved college. In fact I went to 7 colleges and universities before I graduated. I wanted to stay in school forever. I was also an ADPi.

4. I can't stand milk and am freaked out if it even touches me.

5. I love to play bridge or any card or board game.

6. I was a girl scout all the way through high school.

7. I was an avid water skier when I was growing up. The worst moment when I was young was when my mother sold our water ski boat. The doctor had told my mom it had to go because of my father's heart condition. We spent all the time we could on water ski's.

I'm not sure who has been tagged but I think I'll tag Millie, Linda, and Dana.

Not A Soapbox But a Concern

I hate being on my soapbox but what can I do. Once again they have disposed of Jim's stool without sending it out for testing. On Feb 28 the doctor ordered a three day stool test. He wanted to see if there was any blood in the stool. Ok fine. The first specimen was taken that day and not one since. I questioned this over the weekend and was told they forgot and disposed. Monday I talked to the nurse manager and he put a great big note in the chart. Guess what you can probably go to nursing school but that does not mean you can read. The stool specimens were once again thrown out. What am I going to do stand over them and get them to do their job.

Next, I went in on Saturday and Jim was sunk into his bed without his pillow. I asked about this and they said it was like that when I came in. I then said that the bed did not seem to be fully inflated. Don said he would check. Sunday, Ron said he would check. Monday Martha said she would check. Today Patty checked and his bed was deflated behind his back and that was why he was sunk down. Called the nursing supervisor in and explained the situation and he gave me that blank stare look. Ok I'll call the bed people. I asked him why the nurses did not check this out. Another blank stare. Hopefully they can do this tonight or we may have to wait until morning.

In other news, Jim was off the vent this morning. He's having a little trouble talking but he just needs to work at this. Everything else ok. Had dialysis today. They say he is doing great.

Loved this photo and wanted to do another layout for Jack's book. Already done one for Luke's bed. Thank you to Gina, Nancy, Bob and Caroline for the cards. I even got a smile out of him. I took down all the valentine cards down and working on spring cards.

Off the Vent

Jim was off the vent for several hours yesterday. He was in no distress and looked really comfortable. They put him back on because I was leaving and it was shift change and they would be distracted. Today they are taking him off at 9:00 and are going to watch him closely to see if he can stay off all day. There are several medications Jim can not take when he is on the vent but Dr. L has ordered them topically to get him back on them. They should be in today.

This is my red cardinal. She is still in love with the car and that is driving me crazy. No she has found the window to my scrap studio. I have put that reflective window covering on this window to protect from the sun. But what this means is that my red cardinal can now see herself and flys into this window. She is going to hurt herself.

I'm up early because Misty has gone to the beauty shop. She is getting washed and cut plus having her toenails clipped. I'll take a photo later and show you her look. Off to wash the floors while she is not here.

A Little Warm Here in Sarasota

It's a little warm here in Sarasota today. It hit 80 degrees and frankly that is a little warm for this time of year. The sun was shinning and all you wanted to do was be outside. I told the doctor today that I just wanted to throw open the windows (they don't open at all) and let Jim feel the wonderful sunshine and fresh air. She said: let's see how the week goes and maybe next weekend we can get him outside.

These are the 4 layouts I did Saturday at the crop. The first two I copied from Nikki who is an amazing designer at K2. I knew I had the perfect photos to copy her layout. The second two layouts are mine with a variation on Nikki's design. I had to use all of the left over paper because I didn't use it all on the first two layouts and why waste the paper when I still had photos.

Jim is doing fine but a little sleepy still. He finally was awake for my second visit today. He was a little worn out so we just watched TV. Had a conversation with Dr. L and she let me know what her schedule would be basically and how I could reach her. She wants to have a consultation with a digestive doctor to see what we can do about feeding Jim. There is a procedure they can do at HS and that may work. It's another form of feeding tube. The nurses screwed up the stool test this weekend. He was supposed to have a 3 day stool test and basically they took it Thursday and just plain forgot Friday and Saturday. This means we will have to start over. It makes me so mad when basic stuff is forgotten. I'll have another talk with Tim in the morning.

I spent most of the day at the hospital today and then just having some down time which was sorely needed. I even fixed myself a steak on the grill for dinner. Off to read my book. I hope everyone has a great week. Jim and I are planning on a good week ourselves.

Busy day and quiet for Jim

I went to see Jim at 9:00 this morning. I should have know he would be sleeping. Neither of us are morning people. I had decided to go to K2's Saturday crop and catch up on things. That is why I was there so early. I just let him sleep. Tonight when I went back he was sleeping again. I don't know if he'll remember I was there but I held his hand and I know he felt my strength. He is healing and he heals better when he sleeps according to the doctors so I rarely wake him up if he is sleeping. Vital signs are all good so I'll rest comfortably tonight.

Rick and Heather's house is really coming together. Rick put the tile floors in last weekend. He did this instead of paying extra for the upgrade. Way to go Rick. Their walkthrough is next Sunday. I can't believe they built this house in two months.

I'm off to bed and I do not have to get up in the morning for the first time in two weeks. Don't call me I'll call you.

Today was really good

I wish I had had my camera with me today because Jim looked so great. He looked so normal I just couldn't believe it. The nurse said he had been doing great all day. The dialysis nurse said they had reduced Jim to 2 hours of dialysis instead of 4 and a half hours. His creatine clearence is 14. This is so great. He had been at 4 and then 8 and now 14. All of his other number are normal except for the protein level. He seems to have some protein leakage. The doctor said this is the part that is most troubling. Still having some problems with the vent but they are keeping on top of this. I will try to remember the camera tomorrow so you can see how good he looks.

Today is a new day also for us as far as Jim's doctor is concerned. Jim has been with Dr. H from the beginning and Dr. L for 4 days every 10. This is now changing. Dr. H has stepped down as medical director and will continue with 15 patients. Dr. L will take over 7 patients and they have hired 2 more doctors to cover the other patients. They talked to Jim and I about this several weeks ago and asked us what we wanted to do. Both doctors are great but Dr. H is not very communicative. We have chosen to go with Dr. L just because she talks to us. This is nothing against Dr. H but we have always felt that he did not talk to Jim and it was always hard to pin him down and get him to talk. Jim and I talked about this and I asked him what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to go with "the pretty doctor." That is always what he calls her. So starting today this is what we have done. We were given a choice because we had been there so long. We also told Dr. H that in no way did we consider his care inferior. He will continue to backup Dr. L.

These are a couple of layouts I did over the past several days. Been busy catching up after last week. It is amazing how much laundry I have. Plus Misty never leaves my side. I think she missed me last week.

Back to Bingo

I missed bingo last week because of the bridge tournament but made up for it today by playing and getting to yell BINGO. I won $30. What fun. Jackie was there but Mom wasn't. Don't know why but will find out tomorrow.

Jim was a little sluggish today. He had dialysis early today and it just wiped him out for the day. He was breathing kind of hard and was having trouble focusing. His vital signs were normal though.

My friend Jan loaned us here 4 DVD set of the Dog Wisperer. We watched several chapters and are reallying enjoying this. This is season 1. It airs every Friday night on the National Geographic channel. If you are bored with today's TV check it out. This guy is really good and even if you don't have a dog you would enjoy the program.

For those of you that have called me in the last 10 days I have not forgotten you but have been so busy I have just not gotten back to you. I will by the weekend. Love to all.

Some Time With Jim Today

I got to spend a lot of time with Jim today. I took Gina to the airport and then went to see Jim before bridge. It was good to see him during the day.

After bridge I went home and got Misty and we spent several hours with him. He was doing just fine. I talked with the wound care nurse and she said he is doing fantastic. The butt wound is now a third of the size that it used to be. The chest wound is healing nicely. In fact she was thinking of taking up a pool to guess the day it would close. I asked her if she knew what was going on down at the sternum. She said she doesn't know but she is hoping that it is healing. She said there was much less drainage and that is a good sign. I asked her if there was something she could insert to find out and she said she wished. I guess Jim's not a cake. He hasn't been off the vent because he is borderline on his oxygen levels. They told me that this week while I was there they would work on this.

I loved this photo of Jack and Manny. I just had to do a digital page of this photo. See you tomorrow on the web.

Tournament Is Over

Well I survived the tournament. It has been so long since I played 7 days of bridge. I forgot how grueling it is. 48 to 52 hands of bridge a day. My mind is now mush. I read an article once that said you make 300 decision during one set of bridge. I played 14 sets and I guess I made 4,200 decisions. Now you know why my brain is mush. Guess what, I agreed to play tomorrow afternoon in the ACBL National Senior Game. Can I make 300 more decisions? Well we will find out tomorrow if I have a brain left.

My friend Gina leaves in the morning. I will be sad to see her go. It has been such fun to have her here. I know Misty will miss her.

Jim was just great tonight. We watched the first part of the Academy Awards together. He laughed all the way through Jon Stewart's monalogue. I had to leave at 9 whenvisiting hours were over but he was content, wide awake and all his vital signs were normal.

This morning I called at 10:00 and guess what the nurse could not tell me anything about his vital signs. I guess if a nurse has a patient that these things aren't important. She was a little miffed when I could not understand why she did not know. She told me to call back. Now what is that about. Off to bed. I am really tired tonight.

Things Are Better

Well I gave the hospital hell yesterday. I went directly to the Director of the Hospital Danny. He listened to everything I had to say and he said he would make sure that Jim's care is better. I felt a lot better after talking to him. I felt like he listened and hope he means what he said.

When I went in last night things were much more ship shape. The nurses and techs were all very attentive so I know Danny did talk to the caregivers. Mary who tells me everything told me that yes he did talk to people.

Jim was fine tonight. No temp which is good. They also added another antibiotic. Mary said tonight that they all looked at the chest wound and the top wound is almost closed and they believe it is healed underneath. Yeah wouldn't that be fantastic. He was ready to lights out so I just stayed awhile. They have also ordered another 24 hour urine. Not sure why but Mary is going to find out why.

Misty has been such a trouper this week. I have really neglected her. Thank you Jackie for taking her out during the day for me. I did take her to the hospital last night and she like that however she unhooked the wound vac and they had to put that back together.

Bridge has been improving. We ended up 3rd yesterday. Got knocked out this morning but were respectibile in the Swiss. Tomorrow is the last day and we are playing in the Swiss Teams. Wish us luck.

I'm on my Soapbox Again

Ok right now I am furious. I went in to see Jim tonight at 7:00 after we were done with the bridge tournament for the day. First of all Jim has a very hard time calling for a nurse so they have a special handheld button that is easier for him to use. This device is on the floor. The second item is the regular nurse call button. This is on the floor. The back up is the ventilator alarm. This alarm goes off automatically if Jim is in trouble. This alarm had been disconnected. So there is no backup of any kind. He has absolutely no way to call for a nurse if he is in trouble. I have been over this with the Charge Nurse, the nursing supervisor and the nurse manager. They have all told me that this would never happen again. This is about the fifth time. How can they allow this to happen. Why do they want to put their patients in this type of risk. We have enough risks without this simple procedure being followed. I talked to the charge nurse tonight and said I want an officil complaint form submitted. I told her I would speak with the Director in the morning to make sure this happens.I am sorry but there is absolutely no excuse for this.

I thought I could go play a bridge tournament and he would be safe but I guess I am wrong. Tuesday they messed up the 24 hour urine test that now can not start until morning. They lost his ND blanket over the weekend. Plus his arms are completely bruised. We had them almost cleared up and tonight his arms are almost a complete bruise. I am so frustrated I can't stand it.

As for the bridge. We won today. The first match was a three way and we won both matches. We are in the second bracket of (7 brackes total). We then won the second match so tomorrow we are in the semi-finals. Yeah us because we had a bad week up until today. We went out for a wonderful dinner at the Crap Shack. I had lobster and blue crab salad. It was wonderful. We even saw a gator in the river below the window.

Jim received a lot of cards this week. Thanks to everyone. He has really enjoyed them. The letters are the best because he loves hearing from friends and family.

Another Day of Not Playing Well

Well we did not play very well again today. We played Mike Seaman and team and you know how good that team is. Not a very good draw for us. AT the half we were down over 60 IMPS so the four of us went and saw Jim then went and had lunch and went back for the second session. We started out with a tie and the rest of the matches were very close. Tomorrow we are going to mix it up and switch the team around start fresh in the morning.

Jim's doing fine today. He has no temp but they did run all the standard cultures. The nurses screwed up the 24 hour urine test so they have to start this over on Friday so no results will be back until next week. He was in a good mood and watch Idol when I left.

Don't you love these two pages with the two smiling grandpa's and Jack's fan club. Loved doing these pages because they made me feel so good.

Cardinal In Love with our Car

A cardinal has fallen in love with our car. Now you would think this is cute and fun to watch. Well it is to a point. The cardinal picks at the mirror because it is in love with itself and now I am afraid that it is going to break the window. This has been going on for over a week now. Any suggestions anyone. My sister says I should cover the mirrors but I keep forgeting.

This is a paper layout I did last week of the boys squeezing orange juice. I squeezed some this week and boy is it good.

The bridge tournament has really started bad for my team. We were knocked out of the first knockout today by Ken Wolpert and team. Actually we were crushed. Then we played the swiss and lost our first 3 matches but finally won the last match. Tomorrow we start a new knockout and hopefully things will go better. It was fun seeing so many old friends from around the country. For you northerners. Don't you love our weather.

Gina and I went to see Jim after the second session. He was not having a good day. He had spiked a temp of 101.3. The nurse told me she had checked him not a half hour ago and he was fine. Then the temp. He just wanted to sleep and was not much interested in anything we had to say. Of course we had lots of new gossip but he said tell me tomorrow. The neurologist was there while I was there and he said the dilatin seems to have stopped the seizures and that is good. He will continue to monitor Jim. Jim told the nurses today that he wanted to go play bridge and when they wouldn't let him he became a little troublesome and uncooperative. Well I can't blame him. More tomorrow.

Gina Arrived Today

My friend Gina arrived today and we have been talking non stop so it is great fun. We went to see Jim and he was so happy to see her. I could just see him perk up. Gina said to me (now she has not seen him since he has been sick) that he looked so much better than she expected. And it is true he looked great today. Plus he was in a really good mood.

New Today. They moved Jim to a private room. He is now in room 2005 which is directly across from the nurses station which is really good. They needed his room for two admissions today and neither of them matched Jim so now he has a private room. He seemed happy with the room change and like his new digs.

Jim was also off the vent today for two hours while I was gone. This is great. They are going to work with him all this week and see if they can get him off the vent.

I will not be seeing him much this week. I'll only be able to go in the evenings. We have to play tomorrow morning at 10:00 and then again at 2:30. This will pretty much be our schedule for the week. We'll get done about 6:15 and then we'll eat and go to see him.

Right now Misty is sleeping with Gina. I don't know what is going to happen when I go to bed. Hopefully she'll want to come in with me. This is another digital layout. This week will be Jack. Jack I may not get to it everyday but maybe you'll get two weeks that way.

Dayton 500 is On

Jim is quite happy today because the Daytona 500 is on and the pre-game show kept him really busy. If fact it was pretty good because they highlighted 50 years of the Daytona.

Jim was off the vent for over an hour today. Everyone was pleased with this. He even had me raise the head of the bed all the way up and he never does this. He wanted to have a good view of that race.

All of his vital signs are normal and he's feeling pretty good.

As for me I'm getting ready for company. My bridge partner Gina is coming tomorrow for a week of bridge. We are going to have a really great time at the Sarasota Regional. Now I have to go clean the house and do laundry.

Saturday Update

Not much to tell today. Jim had dialysis and that went just fine.

He slept most of the day. I guess he is resting up to watch the Daytona 500 tomorrow. As part of our retirement plans we had planned to go to this race this year. I guess we will have to wait until next year.

Here's another digital layout of Joshua.

Thanks everyone for all the valentine cards. Jim loved them. A couple were pretty racy and put a smile on his face and that is all I can ask for.

TGIF

Here's another digital layout of Joshua.

Dr. L. What do you say when people say how is Jim doing. I asked her because sometimes I do not know what to say to people from far away that have not seen him or those that have not seen him in a while. I always want to tell them the truth but I am not sure really how he is doing and I want to share this with family and friends.

Well this is what she had to say: There are five areas and we have a specialist for each area.

1. Infectous Disease. The infection in the chest is being treated with 4 antiabiotics. This is the area of most concern and these ab are keeping the infection in check.

2. Respitory. Lungs are healing and he is being weined from the vent.

3. Wounds. Dr. VW is very pleased with the progress the wounds are making. They are still large but they are healing.

4. Kidneys. His creatine and bun are now within normal range. We believe the kidneys are healing and that the next 24 hour urine test might mean we can cut down on the dialysis. His urine output is in the normal range.

5. Mental Health. She says that they always watch for depression and withdrawal. She said that she sees no sign of this right now. She finds him charming and well oriented. She said he difinetly knows what he likes and doesn't like. She also said that all tests (eeg and ct) are normal.

She told me we are making progress but we still have a ways to go and including the rehab.

So I guess this is what I say when someone says how's he doing. We have challenges and we are facing them.

I've Got The Scoop

I have finally gotten to chat with Dr. Hume. Here's what He had to say:

• Wounds are improving and have not taken any backward steps
• CT scan is normal
• EEG he has not seen any results but promised me he would find out.
• Episodes (the unresponsive events) He says that with all of what he's going through these types of things happen. He has no specific reason. They keep checking things.
• Eye infection is under control but they will continue the eye drops for another week.
• Kidneys are showing improvement and that is why they only put another temporary line in.
• Infections are still being treated by antiobiotics. The current growth in his blood may stem from the kidneys not processing the blood and the pick line.
• He is stable and improving and that is the best we can hope for according to the doctor. Dr. Hume said, "He is a mircale and has a tremendous will to live, so that is what we are going for."

So I guess this is where we are right now. Today with the help of my sister Jim gave me flowers and candy. He was so proud and happy to do something for me. It warmed my heart that he felt he was in control and was able to celebrate Valentine's Day with me. It is the very small things in life that are so important. His telling me he loved me with so much heart made my day and my week. I love you to Jim.

Happy Valentine's Day To All

All is well

Just a quick post because I have been running around all day with Jim getting back to Healthsouth. He is fine and resting comfortably. I'm the one stress and exhausted. He got two pints of blood today because his hemoglobin was low. This is no big deal as it has happened before. Dialysis went fine and his blood pressure is normal. More tomorrow.