Trying to Catch up

Shortly after my last post Mom had a very bad time in which the home health care nurse called mom's doctor, which resulted in the doctor calling here and saying she wanted to see Mom the next day. We were no sooner in the room then Mom got very nauseated and started throwing up...Doc walked in said I'll be right back, walked out and a few minutes later came back in saying the ambulance was on its way. Mom spent about a week in the hospital during which time they changed her heart medicine. She has been getting better day by day since then. This past Tuesday she started Cardiac Rehab. She was afraid they were going to try pushing her beyond what she felt comfortable doing but they didn't. I think she's going to like it. Monday she had another appointment with her primary care physician in which she admitted that it might not be in her best interest to return to her former living arrangement for health reasons. It makes me happy that she's at least considering that possibility. He doesn't care enough for his own health to stop smoking so he certainly doesn't care for hers. That and the fact he's had 5 months to try and quit smoking and hasn't. Got the ok from my cardiologist in January to start exercising so the treadmill and I have been getting acquainted. An hour a day 6 days a week most of the time.Getting the exercising part down..now have to get the not eating so much and eating more of the good foods down. Some days I do really really good and other times...well you know. We got our pistol permits in January...finally..took them 8 months to process them but we think they may have had to contact Ken's ex first...LOL Oh the hoops you have to jump through. Still haven't purchased pistols but Ken wants to shoot some first so I guess I'll have to be patient for a little while longer. Looking forward to my Shaun and Jen's wedding in April. Glad they've finally found happiness. Sun is shining brightly today..wishing it wasn't so cold out but it'll come in time.

My New Rabbit Trail

So somehow or other I got directed to a documentary called, "No Impact Man". Wow... I've watched it twice and read his book by the same title. Lots to think about. Some of it I'm not sure I could do but there's quite a bit I could. My mind is almost a constant whirl thinking about it...what could I do better...how would this affect our finances...and then there's the fact that probably my family would rebel against any attempts I made to simplify our lives. Things are not all well on the Mommy front. She's been really weak since her December hospital stay and has fallen a few times..Yesterday she couldn't get her right knee to support her but today seems to be doing a little better. I need to get her exercising more. All she wants to do is sleep but I think its because all she does is sleep. I'll be glad when the weather gets nicer so I can at least get her out into the yard in a lawn chair or laying the the hammock in the shade. Her dosage of Amiodarone has been halved so hopefully that will help her a little...she has an appointment with her Primary Care Physician the 25th so I'll be able to ask whether she still needs to be taking water pills...then she has a double appointment for Pulmonary the 27th which is also her 76th birthday. A pulmonary function test in the morning and then I'm thinking we'll do lunch and then the actual appointment with the pulmonary doctor in the afternoon..Its going to be a very long day for her but she's gonna have to tough it out. Other then that...not much going on. Still loving the snow we've been getting.

Venting

I'm so sick of seeing people whining and crying about NYC not cleaning out their streets or their flights being delayed.. I wonder what's going to happen when a real crisis strikes. People are so used to the powers that be taking care of them that they can't do anything on their own anymore. Feed me, feed me, feed me. Grow up people and stop your dang whining..life could be alot worse. On a brighter note..I've gotten 3 seed catalogs already !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I'll be dreaming and drooling. Today is Ken's last day of work for 3 days !!! I can't wait until he gets home..We have to get the old treadmill out of the basement and a few more things moved around in anticipation of the new one arriving Wednesday.. I can't wait..Hubby and I both need to lose a few pounds and get in better shape. With gas prices headed up again I think I'll be riding my bike a lot more..or only making bi-weekly grocery runs. And probably combining Doctor visits with shopping visits. Can't wait until I can start hanging clothes out again and working in my grow beds.. Oh speaking of doctor's visits...Mom's appointment went really well yesterday. Doctor said her lungs sound a thousand times better but she has thrush from the triple whammy of antibiotics,prednisone and advair. So a mouth rinse for that and potassium to replace that taken out by the Lasix. She's still kind of weak but we'll be working on that now that she can breath again. So on to do something...

Addition to December at a glance

Almost forgot....the Wednesday before Christmas Nicole was coming home from work..stopped in front of the house to make a left turn into the driveway and some nincompoop passed her on the left. She was looking for oncoming traffic not behind and she started making the left and they collided. He said he saw her stopped but thought she was going to make a right..Only 2 problems...she had her left turn signal on, he passed on a solid yellow line and if she was turning right she would have been turning into a ditch. At least he admitted he was in the wrong. They ended up transporting her to the hospital..she was complaining of a head ache but once in the ambulance they discovered she'd whacked her knee pretty good...we had probably the shortest ER visit in history..she was out in less then an hour with a knee immobilizer on. She's doing good...she took the next day off work but has been back at it ever since.

December at a glance

Mom ended up in the hospital again in the middle of the month..she was coughing up blood..coumadin levels were to high. Came out of the hospital feeling worse then she went in. She was having trouble with her breathing. When we went back to her primary care physician she said Mom's lungs still sounded really "wet" so she gave her water pills..there was almost an immediate improvement in her breathing. She's still struggling but getting alittle better every day. We had a fantastic Christmas week end...Christmas Day Ken,Jen,Mom,Jim,Nicole and I opened presents and then we (minus Jim and Nicole) had Prime Rib and scalloped potatoes for lunch. In the mean time Shaun came in with the grandkids. I left and drove to Warsaw to get my sister and brought her back to the house. Sunday morning was church...Jim and Nicole came as well as Shaun, Jen, Taylor and the grandkids. Then back to the house for dinner...Ham, mashed potatoes / gravy, corn, green bean casserole, celery/creamcheese and olives,deviled eggs, a pickle and olive tray and biscuits. Then we opened presents. I keep telling everybody I need to find a hotel for sale in the area for holidays...LOL. Carie and my niece Tina's girls came over for a little while...it was great having every body here. Monday I took my sister home and Shaun and the kids left...it was so quiet. Apparently I was really tired because I fell asleep in the chair and Ken had to wake me up to tell me somebody was texting me...pretty bad coz my phone beeps SMS in morse code really load and the phone was inches away from my head..LOL.Today Mom has a doctor appointment and then this afternoon I've got to do laundry...Next week is Mom to the cardiologist on Monday, New treadmill delivery on Wednesday and I go to the cardiologist on Thursday...Never a dull minute around here but I'm telling you I'm enjoying the time I'm getting to spend with my Mommy. At 75 I'm not holding out any hope that she's going to be around forever..so we take it one day at a time and love on her every chance we get. And Ken is really glad he has someone to eat seafood with him...they've had crab legs and lobster tail so far...LOL. Well off to get ready to go...till later

There's no way I'll be able to catch up this time....

but I'll try. October saw Mom in the hospital again for a few days with pneumonia/broncitis and Atrial Fibrillations. Then the 29th of October I ended up in the hospital with chest pressure..it ended up being nothing. Or at least nothing they could pin down. The following Thursday I had an appointment with my new cardiologist..well my first cardiologist. He wanted me to have an angiogram because of the family history. I went for that the following Monday. It was an experience. Mom says she was awake through hers...I don't think I was. I remember bits and pieces of it..for example the doctor saying he was going to have to go in through the groin because he couldn't get the catheter in through my wrist. I think I woke up once and the nurse was pushing on my groin to get the bleeding to stop. oh and my nurse is dating Beck of Kimberly and Beck..not impressed. She was a bit of an old teen ager if you understand what I'm saying. So...angiogram showed 20% blockage in one artery. I'm happy about that. Monday night I started having pain in my upper lungs when I swallowed water or took deep breaths. Ended up going back to the Cath Lab Tuesday but they said my lungs sounded ok so take some tylenol. Wednesday or Thursday I called my cardioloigst office at 7:10..they're website said they opened at 7:00. The phone was answered by an answering service who said they'd have the doctor on call give me a ring back. Within 10 minutes he called. I explained to him what I was experiencing...pain in my lungs and pain in the upper arm that they couldn't cath. He told me to call the office at 8:00 when they started taking calls in the office and tell them to get me in. I hung up feeling good that they were taking it seriously. 10 minutes later the phone rang and it was the office asking me if I could be there at 8. Rush rush and we were there...on time. EKG,Echo cardiogram...back at 1:30 for a carotid artery scan. Echo showed a thin layer of fluid around the heart..but they don't know that it wasn't there already and superficial inflammation in a blood vessel in my arm. Got permission to take Ibuprofen. Mom was having a lot of A Fibs so her visiting nurse called her cardioloigst office and got her an appointment for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. That day we found out that her cardiologist died. He was hit by an airport shuttle about a month ago. She'd been seeing his assistant so we could keep the appointment. He told her he wanted to do a cardio-something or other..where they shock the heart and try to get it into a normal rhythm. That was scheduled for the next day. I'm thinking ...oh great...the day before Thanksgiving. So we were at RGH at 6:15..at 6:30 they called her back and got her ready. I was with her until they got ready to do the procedure then I went out to the waiting room..with in a half an hour the doctor came out and told me they'd tried twice and had failed to get it into rhythm . Great..now what? I'll try to give her a medicine..do you feel confident enough to make sure her blood pressure doesn't fall to low? Other wise I'll put her in the hospital for 5 days..ummmm NO way ..she's been looking to forward to this Thanksgiving with Shaun being home. We had a good Thanksgiving..Ken,Me, Mom,Jen 2, Nicole ,James,Shaun,Jen1 and Ken's dad. We ate early coz Shaun and Jen had to go to her families for supper and Nicole and James went to his brothers for supper. Today Shaun went and got the grandkids..so I have a house full again..and I love it. Next week is Raymour and Flanigan supposedly coming to fix the couch and getting Mom's blood work done on Monday. I have an echo cardiogram and cardiologist appointment on Tuesday..Wednesday is pay the bills day...other then that I don't know what's going on.The week after is 2 doctor appointments for Mom. Cardiologist and Primary Care Physician. And Ken has an appointment that week also. Busy Busy Busy....till next time

Mommy Update

Mom's doing so much better...Thursday we went to the cardiologist and he said to expect good days and bad days because that's just how recovery from heart surgery goes. So now that we know its normal it won't be quite as scary. Friday we went and got the Auntie and went to Aladdins for lunch. We were down stairs out on the deck which this time of year is wrapped in heavy plastic with gas heaters going. We could watch people walking by on the canal and watch the ducks swimming. It was a good time of family time. Eating, laughing and spending time together. Hubby was off most of last week as he's having problems with his back again so he went with us. Saturday was Jen's soccer game at church and Mom went to that also for the championship game. Our team came in second but hey they can't win every year.And besides its character building. Sunday was her down day..she didn't even get dressed..just sat around on the couch and made an awesome batch of homemade chicken tortillini soup. Yesterday we did a Wegmans run. Today its raining and its going to be hard getting her out of the house but I'm going to try. Now to figure out what to do......