Only one life.............damn!

We all know we only have one life...but don't you wish you could start again sometimes? Well, we can't! I often wonder if we really would do things differently. We are all well intended, but what price are we prepared to pay to live from what we've learned, resist compromising our life's dreams, really tell the truth ALL the time and what would the trade-offs be...hmmmm!
I had wonderful plans when I was young and really did believe I would accomplish them. One problem, I really never made a concrete plan and obviously wasn't prepared for the sacrifices to get them or I'd at least have accomplished some of them.
At best, I've ended up average, but thought when I was younger, I'd be a force to reckon with and make a very permanent mark on this earth.
I am a really good person, but not remarkable.
Don't you wonder what are the traits in those persons who have made a significant difference in history, science, social change, the arts, etc. etc. What is it??

Long day....good news!

Well, we left home early this morning to go to Toronto for a six month follow up with my husband's liver surgeon..but he had to have two different CT Scans first, then bloodwork at Toronto General Hospital and then over to Princess Margaret Hospital to see his surgeon. This whole process takes time and we didn't get to see his doctor until after 4 pm. We then went up to my girlfriend and husband's home for dinner. They barbequed a turkey and it was really delicious. We spent until about 8.45PM there and then started home. The traffic was so brutal that when we got to Oshawa, my husband decided we'd take the back roads. We didn't get home until 10:30 PM.
The good news was his liver looks good. My husband had a liver resection two years ago this month. The cancer part of my husband's issues is doing OK at this point. He will have to have another colonoscopy this year but for now things are on the positive side. She wants to see him again in six months when once again he'll need another CT Scan. My husband has seven different doctor's now.
I'm tired and am heading to bed shortly...a lot to do this week!

Getting ready.........

for a family reunion for August 1,2 and 3rd. This will be the first family reunion ever for my Mom's side of the family. I'm so sad that Mom isn't here to participate. She would have loved the whole thing! Sadly, my Mom died a little over four years ago.
I spent most of today shopping for things we will need. There are about five or six of the local relatives that have basically planned most of the weekend. We all have food stuffs to make for the events planned but the rest of the planning is pretty much finished. We will have one last meeting tomorrow night to make sure everything is ready. We're having a 'Meet and Greet' on Friday night with family entertainment and some stories. One of my aunts has been working on a very large scale family tree which should be interesting. Some of the little relatives are going to do some performing. Should be fun! Saturday morning is group photo and the lunch time and early afternoon is for the kids at the zoo. In the evening, many of us will be going on a dinner cruise, go through our Liftock, and then a fireworks show. Sunday is games and fun day at a local park with a BBQ and some games, prizes and a soft ball game. It should be a lot of fun but busy, busy! I sure hope there's no rain for this weekend...omg, we have no plan B!
I'm doing a Family Reunion plate with my grandparent's wedding picture and will donate it as one of the door prizes for the Friday night.
It has rained almost non stop all day to day. We have had SO much rain this summer.
I went to see my girlfriend's mother today. I love spending time with her and she's always been a second mom to me. She's had some health issues lately but she is so spunky and independent. She's an amazing woman and I love to hear some of her stories. She was a prisoner of war during WW II but a lot of that is too painful for her. She talks a bit about it but only in the past few years. I admire her so, so much. She always wants to feed me and you never leave there without a little food care package.So cute!

Two outings in one week........yeah!

Today was a day to just putter around doing some things on my 'To Do' list. I cleaned out both my washer and dryer inside and out. I still need to take the hoses off and clean/ blow them out.
I took some more plate photos as I still wasn't happy with some of them...maybe tomorrow I'll substitute the new ones on my Etsy shop.
GREAT NEWS! I sold one of my photographs today from my Etsy shop....very cool! That gives me the encouragement to keep it up..not that I was about to give up but, it helps to know people like some of my work enough to spend their hard earned money on a piece or pieces.
My second outing of the week was with our neighbours. A while back my neighbour was quite ill so I cooked some meals and did some baking to help her husband and sons out a bit as she couldn't get out of bed. In appreciation, they had given us a gift certificate to a local restaurant...so, we invited them along to help us spend it...and we did. Have you ever noticed that people seem to talk a lot more and have some pretty great conversations over meals eaten out. There's something about not having to do any of the work that you can spend real time just enjoying each other's company.
My husband and I eat out so rarely that it really is a big treat.
If I were ever lucky enough to win a lottery, that's one change I'd make in my life. I'd try a new restaurant at least once a week. I LOVE to cook, but also love eating food made by really great chefs. I'd also spend some of that lottery money and go to one of those famous cooking schools either here or abroad...hmmm, France maybe???
Gosh, isn't it fun to dream!

A rare day out.....

Had a fun day! Did a few errands in town and then met up with some of my cousins. We always have fun together and a lot of giggles. We met at the theatre and saw the movie version of Mamma Mia.... not Oscar material, but enjoyable nonetheless. We then went to a neat little restaurant called Sunrise Cafe and had a nice dinner and more talk and giggles.
Fun afternoon and evening!

Day is almost gone....

and nothing much accomplished today. I'm always feeling a little bit guilty if I don't get through at least 3/4 of my daily 'To Do List.'

I had to get up really early for me (7 AM) as I had a doctor's appointment. That's never much fun as they have such a difficult time taking blood from me...this girl today was amazing. She got it first shot!

I then came home to get everything set up for my husband's meeting. I decided to also make these really tasty Mexican pinwheel sandwiches. They are made with all kinds of good stuff and then put on tortilla shells, rolled up, wrapped, refrigerated and then later cut up in slices....quite good if you like Mexican flavours. The guys must have liked them, as there weren't too many left.

I did a bit of catching up on emails and then just kind of sat in my craft area thinking of new plate designs and stuff I want to make for Christmas.

I made special heirloom Christmas stockings for my girls, their husbands, my grandson, and my husband last year. Now we have our new little grandaughter and I need to get started on her special stocking. I have purchased all that is required to make it, I just need to get moving with it. They are a tremendous amount of work, but I got such pleasure making them last year. Hopefully, it will be something they can keep long after I'm gone.

Tonight, no energy left. I'll explore my Etsy site and maybe partake in a few forums and then probably play some online poker(the free stuff)....just for fun. Although one has to think about it when they play, it doesn't expend much energy.

Success!

Tonight, I finally managed to get some photos of the red finches that have been frequenting our bird feeder...three days I've waited. Yeah! Then a big added bonus as the hummingbird showed up just afterward and I just kept snapping pictures. I took about 40 and there is about 6 that are just wonderful....then my camera battery went dead and I need to recharge it before I can download them. I'm SO excited. Silly isn't it to get that excited about pictures of birds...but I don't care. I'm ecstatic!!!
Spent most of my day in town doing errands. Of course, first on my list was to get my glasses fixed. Not to be...damaged too badly for a quick fix. I won't get them for about a week. Good thing I can use the cheap dollar store reading glasses to get by!
My husband is having his Woodturner's club executive here for a meeting tomorrow so we got food ready for that. I'm going to make pinwheel sandwiches and we put a couple of cheese trays together with kielbhasa and grapes. And guess what, some of those cookies I made and froze will be their sweet.
I have a doctor's appointment to get some help/answers to some 'issues' I'm having.
I'm about to sit down and relax and watch Canadian Idol. My oldest daughter might call and try to help me with some website issues but that will be it for me..early morning for me. Those who know and love me know I don't do mornings very well.
When I was out shopping today, I bought our little grandaughter a child's phone that's really cool...maybe she will leave Mommy's Blackberry alone...maybe not.
Are any of you out there in blog land checking out any of the Etsy shops I feature on my blog? There are some really amazing and wonderful things...and really talented artists...so fun!

More of the same...

Continued my cleaning mission today...another floor done but pooped out before I got to the last floor....tomorrow.
My day started by going to put on my glasses so I could actually read something and they snapped in two........damn! A trip tomorrow to the optometrist.
I then suggested to my husband we go for a drive and to one of our favourite ice cream shops in a village about 20 minutes away. They used to have a flavour called 'McIntosh Taffy' just like the slabs of taffy we used to buy when we were kids. My husband LOVED it! Sadly, when we got there we found out they no longer make it. He had the Rolo flavour instead and I got maple walnut....still awesome ice cream though.
Had left overs for dinner and then I went outside and took some photos. I've been trying to sit out there and wait for this really neat red Finch to come back so I can get a photo...no, not today.
I made some phone calls tonight and now I'm just taking it easy browsing different site on the web.
Oh yeah! Got to see my little grandaughter on the webcam today. Poor little 'sweetpea' had an ear infection all week...but better today finally. I get to see her in person in a few weeks....my daughter is bringing her to see her 'Grammie and Papa' on Labour Day weekend.
Talked to my oldest daughter tonight, but my 'little man' didn't feel like talking. He was too into his Backyardikins movie...priorities you know. LOL.

Yeah!!!...the end.

Finally, my husband is off the IV's and the Vancomycin, hopefully never to do it again! We celebrated tonight with a cocktail each when the treatment ended around 5 PM.
He can finally have a comfortable shower tonight....he has missed that..a lot.
I'm SO tired. I spent the entire day cleaning two levels of our house. I did walls, cupboards, closets, floors, etc. etc. When I do stuff like this I realize I really am getting older. I just had a really hot shower to try and help my muscles and back. After we had dinner, I could barely move. I still get down on my hands and knees to wash floors but I think that method will end soon.
I have two levels to clean tomorrow and then our house is finally back in shape inside. Once that's done, we can concentrate on the outside...it's so overgrown with weeds. What was I thinking when I added so many gardens to our property? I know. I was thinking we could make this property look SO amazing and we're getting there for sure. I never meant for it to get in such rough shape but we'll get there.. weed by weed.

Confused and bewildered...........

The more I think I'm learning about the web and blogging, the more I realize there is to learn...Gosh, I've now signed on to the "We Love Etsy" site and the Indiepublic site but don't have a clue what I'm doing other than hoping I get more exposure for my Etsy and iCraft store sites. I have people inviting me to be 'friends' and really have no idea what the benefit of that is..?? I want to attach 'badges' to my blog site and I've been trying to do that for the past two hours without any success....guess I'll have to ask my daughter....darn.. I like it better when I figure it out on my own and then show her I'm actually starting to get this stuff...NOT TODAY!...Can you tell I'm a little frustrated at the moment? Yep, I am. I see blogs with all kinds of stuff on them and wonder why?
Good news for my husband though... tomorrow is his last IV day.

Light at the end of the tunnel.......maybe true!

My husband went to the doctor today and we got some good news. He can come off the IV and the Vancomycin after the treatment on Saturday....halleleujah!!! We will most definitely have a drink and quiet celebration afterwards...This has been one long process! He had to have a new IV started today but the doctor did it in his office. He said that was a first for him.

I have spent a lot of time today listing some new items in my Etsy shop and I'm still at it. Go check them out! I am beginning to get tired and a bit punchy so may resume tomorrow at some point.

I'm helping my aunts make up hamburger patties for our upcoming family reunion and then straight home. Our oldest daughter is teaching a seminar at the moment and wants her Dad and myself to get on the video webcam during the seminar. Is that not a pretty cool compliment that we are considered for this seminar..neat. I'm not sure if this is question and answer...oops, forgot to ask that..guess I'll find out tomorrow.

A busy baking day.........

Well, today I spent most of it baking. My husband has to see his doctor tomorrow who is monitoring the MRSA and the vancomycin. So, my husband wanted to take something to the staff in each of the surgical areas he spent so much time to say thank you. Instead of spending a lot of money on boxes of chocolates or something like that, I suggested I bake some oatmeal and peanut butter cookies and take each area a big platter to share....so, that's what I did. He also wanted a small plate made up for the two janitors that are based in this area all the time. These two guys would spend time each day talking to my husband, telling him jokes and just generally bring a bright spot to his day.Since I was making them, I decided to make extra for my husband's woodturning meeting on Thursday and to make up a box to ship over to my nephew who's on duty in Afghanistan at the moment. I'll add it to his care package. I ended up making almost 600 cookies.
We had a company come today to clean out our septic system as it hadn't been done in three years. It's worth the money to maintain these septic systems. The guy was telling me today, that if you have a septic back up or tile bed problem the minimum to replace a septic system at the present time is around $8000.00. Whew! ...definitely don't want or need that kind of problem!
Our neighbour came again today and mowed our lawn for us. He and his wife are very special people.
My husband walked to the local clinic today to get some bloodwork done. The exercise will help but it absolutely beat him up for the rest of the day...he just napped on and off all day.
We had a surprise short visit from some friends who live in Collingwood. They decided to stop in and see us on their way back from a holiday down to Nova Scotia. Gosh, I'd love to take another trip down east. There are so many really beautiful areas there and the people are so wonderful, friendly and interesting.
Sure didn't get anything plate or Etsy related done today...oops!

Watch my Etsy Store......

This week I'll be adding a few new plates to my store and I'm just starting a new section for Christmas and will continue to add Christmas things as I make them....so watch! Maybe you'll see something you like or you think a friend or family member would like as a gift....Hmmm, maybe!!
I'm also going to try and list things on another store website that is based in Canada. It's called icraft.ca. I'll put an announcement on my blog when I get it up and running.
I'm feeling very ambitious this week but my husband also has a lot going on medically, so we'll see.
We got to see our daughter, son-in-law and our special little grandaughter yesterday on webcam. She's growing so fast and learning new things everyday. She looks so cute with her little glasses. She looks so much like our daughter did at that age! Gosh, sometimes I feel so bad that we all don't live closer. My daughter says she's coming up with the little one for Labour Day so I can hardly wait.
We saw our 'little man' last week on webcam and it's getting to be so much fun talking to him. He carries on some pretty neat conversations now. Again, I so wish we were all close enough that it was just a couple of hours drive to see each other.....not to be.
I think they've been a great motivation for my husband to keep up the fight.

A pretty good day....

Well, I started with my morning coffee, etc and sat outside and watched the birds for a while. Did the mundane stuff like changing bedding and getting laundry started. I then spent a couple of hours at the computer using Microsoft Digital Imaging to crop, enhance and resize some of the plate photos I took yesterday. There are still some I'm not happy with and I'll redo.

It was such a gorgeous day that both my husband and I spent some time in our yard just puttering at weed pulling ( omg!.. it is so overgrown right now ) I have a garden of Asiatic Lilies out back and they had all fallen over from the weight of the flowers...sooo, I cut them all and did two beautiful arrangements for our home. I still had enough left over so I wrapped them and my husband took some over to our neighbours who've been so wonderful through all of this.

Again, back at my computer and then my husband's vancomycin started and within ten minutes it had blown the IV site again. Although on vacation, we called our 'angel' and left a message telling her it had blown...so no treatment at the scheduled time. So I removed the IV and we waited to find out what we should do next.

In the meantime, I prepared one of my husband's favourite meals. We had lamb loin chops done on the BBQ, baked potato, and a broccoli salad I make and then homemade apple pie for dessert. I 've now started selling my apple pies as I've had people ask if I would sell them one or two...so we'll see how that goes.

At about 8:30 we decided if we didn't hear back from our 'angel', we'd have no choice but head to Emergency to get them to restart the IV. Just a few minutes later our 'angel' called and said she was home and if we felt like driving to her place she'd restart a new IV. We did and she did, although it took 3 tries this time. We got back home and my husband got the pump restarted. We will see how long this one lasts! If it can last until Wednesday, we go see the doctor that ordered all of this. We are hoping he will tell my husband he can quite for good by the coming weeked....cross our fingers!!

Where did my day go?

...mind you I slept in until 10 am!
I had a couple of cups of coffee and my morning cigarette and then sat outside and watched the birds at our bird feeders for a while. It was extremely humid here today. It had rained most of last night so everything looked so green...I love it after a rain! We have a really big blue jay that shows up periodically and I just love watching him. We have about five or six different types of finches that come to one of the feeders. I love to listen and watch them...
I then decided to spend a lot of my day retaking some of my plate photographs, taking new Christmas plate photos, and some photos of my Christmas lighted glass blocks. I kept retaking, deleting, retaking, deleting...are you getting the idea? Finally, I have a few I'm happy with and there are still others that need to be redone again. It will come. I think I need to use some of my creativity to make my photos stand out more....I'll get my thinking cap on and come up with a few original ideas.
My husband's IV is still running OK.(Keeping our fingers crossed!)
We spent part of the day paying bills and that is never fun unless you have lots of money and then you really don't need to worry. It's a struggle with us and this past year and a half has been especially difficult with all the added medical related expenses....mind you we should have been in better financial shape before he retired but we weren't for many reasons I choose not to get into......we will get by....that's been how we live...getting by! For two smart people, we sure have done a lot of dumb things and now we pay....
My husband spent the evening watching the Nascar race and I spent some time on the phone and then sorting out what pictures I want to load on to my Etsy site.
Tomorrow is laundry day and I hope to get my various sites up and running.
This coming week is really busy with bloodwork appointments, doctors appointments and then a meeting to host here as well for the executive of the Woodturner's Club my husband belongs to...busy, busy.
A special thank you to my oldest daughter for helping me add Google Search to my blog as well. I thought I had it figured out but after my daughter walking me through the steps I realized what I did wrong...I am trying to learn this stuff. At almost 61 years old, at least I'm trying!
If my Mom were still alive, today would have been my parents 62nd wedding anniversary...
Thinking of my Mom, I want to cut some of the daisies in our gardens this week and take some out to both my Mom and my sister's graves...daisies were both their favourites.

Well, we're back to managing an IV and Medication........

Well, the call came this afternoon from our 'angel' saying my husband's doctor was happy with the last bloodwork so wanted the IV started again except he only wants one dose per day run and by Monday he wants new bloodwork done before the dose is given on Monday. So we went to the Medical Centre and a new IV was started. At about 5 pm, the home care nurse came to our home and hooked the drug into the pump and we begin the program again. We hope this IV lasts a while, as our 'angel' has gone on vacation for 10 days.
I've spent some of today taking new photographs of some of my plates and then spent some of it starting the setup for another site I found to sell my 'art' on. This one is a Canadian site...
It will probably take me most of this weekend to get both shops set up the way I want. If I have any extra time to myself, I really want to start doing some more plates. I've had all kinds of ideas running around in my head....we'll see what the weekend brings.
With the scenario we are currently dealing with you don't make definite plans. One day at a time.

This was a rather uneventful day.....

Today began with taking my husband to the Med. Centre for more bloodwork and then we were asked to drive it into the lab in order to get a quicker reading and quicker results...ah, the joys of a small village and small medical practice. It worked though. My husband was told later today that the kidney creatinine test was improving slightly. He goes again tomorrow afternoon once again for bloodwork. Our 'angel' is going on a well earned vacation for the next week and a half so there were lots of arrangements to make. The doctor who originally ordered the Vancomycin will be taking over and monitoring everything while our 'angel' is away. We have an appointment with him the middle of next week. He is NOT a happy camper about all the screw ups.....and he isn't alone. This whole process has been so frustrating and we wonder what the long term effects will be on my husband. We still don't know if he's going to have to go back on the Vancomycin but he sure is in better spirits and feels better without the IV and the Vanco.
As for the rest of the day, I manage to clean the grids to the BBQ ( gosh, that's so messy), did a bit of laundry, got caught up on email, made some phone calls, made some appointments etc. etc.
We FINALLY used the BBQ tonight. I had taken out very small steaks and we put one potato on the bbq to cook and then I made this simple veggie thing that has goat cheese on it as well....my husband loves it! It is so, so difficult to meal plan and cook for him at the moment though. His portion of steak was about 4 inches long and no more than 2 inches wide and about 1/2 inch thick and he only ate 1/3 of it and about one quarter of the 1/2 baked potato and was complaining he was full. His appetite is not improving at all. He's eating a bit more variety but quantity is pitiful. If I didn't know better I'd swear he had his stomach stapled.... but that's my weird mind at work.
As for me, I had a really 'dumpy' day mentally and my mood wasn't the best...I'm tired, angry, fed up, and constantly ask myself if things will get any better. My rational mind says to stay positive but I'm just overwhelmed and upset at our situation on so many levels.

The 'saga' continues..........

My husband finally had an IV that was working beautifully and then yesterday afternoon we get a call from our 'angel' saying there was a screw up of where my husband's daily bloodwork reports had been going. After a lot of confusion, it was discovered that now he had too much Vancomycin in his system and it was causing his kidneys to shut down. The result of that was an immediate stop to the IV and drug and now has special daily bloodwork being done until Friday to see if they can get his body to turn around. What happens now is anyone's guess! It just gets more weird and more frustating each day....
I took him to the Medical Centre this morning for this new bloodwork and then drove two hours west of Toronto to visit with one of my best friends who is in the area visiting her niece and her new baby. I haven't seen her in over a year and miss her terribly at times. She is one of those friends I can be exactly who I am and we make each other laugh a lot...god knows I could use a few laughs at the moment...we had a great day!
Tomorrow its back to the clinic for more bloodwork for my husband and that may determine how the rest of the day goes.
There is so much to do and so much I 'd like to do but we take it one day at a time at the moment.
I finished my sister-in-laws projects and took them to her yesterday and she really, really liked them so I was pleased about that. I really want to get back to my plates and need to get started on some Christmas ones as well....do you believe it's time to start thinking about that sort of thing if you want to have enough inventory to sell for the holidays....
I'm very tired tonight and think this will be an early night for me. I'm usually such a nighthawk so this is unusual for me to even think about going to bed this early.......

A Special Angel.............

Well, our morning started by discovering that once again my husband's IV had gone bad. Through this process a very special nurse practioner in our village has come to the rescue each and every time his IV's have blown up. We were going to our local Medical Centre for her to install a new IV. Over the weekend however, we were suppose to head to the Emergency Dept. of our local hospital and that would mean waiting hours to be dealt with....and my husband could not deal with that at the moment. Our very special nurse practioner, our angel offered to help out over the weekend as well. That is above and beyond the call of duty. She isn't even getting paid for any of this and yet has taken it upon herself to help us out. Today, when the vein blew I called her at her home ( she had given me her number ) and she told me to pack up the supplies needed and if I'd drive my husband to her home, she would put in a new IV. We did and she did.
There is a lot of ugly stuff going on in the world right now, but there are still wonderful, moral, caring people who truly are willing to help without thought of reward....God bless those people.
We had lots of wonderful caring phone calls today checking about my husband and about me as well.
My husband and I started putting the BBQ back together today and will finish it tomorrow....yeah! I'll finally be able to barbeque again..a good thing.
Tonight, I worked on my sister-in-law's projects and will finish that tomorrow as well.
I did the laundry and did dinner and then have kind of chilled out for most of the evening.
All in all a pretty OK day.

A Pleasant Day..........

This was a good day. I got to sleep in and then got to work on our BBQ finishing the painting required.
The home care nurse came to add the new bag of medication for my husband and do all her follow up and will be back again tomorrow. My husband got to have a shower before he was reconnected. Yesterday, we also managed to give him a hair cut ( badly needed ) so he's beginning to feel a bit more human. He watched Wimbleton and then spent some time sitting outside as it was such a beautiful day.
We got to see our grandaughter on webcam and see how much she changes each time. I think she's so cute with her new glasses. She's nine months old tomorrow. Where does time go?
I spent most of the afternoon working on my sister-in-laws projects. I managed to get to the half way point and only have three more to do.
We then went into town and went to Home Depot and bought a new hummingbird feeder. The darn squirrel got up and bit holes into the one I had. This time I've bought glass. Hah!...try and bite that you little beggar!
After that, we met one of my cousins at the local park and band stand and found our seats for the Matt Dusk concert tonight. Once we had my husband settled, we went across the street to the Greek restaurant and bought some food to take back to our seats. My husband is still eating very little but he did enjoy the food and the change of scenery.
The concert was amazing and both of us really, really enjoyed it. We left just as the fireworks were starting as my husband was starting to get chilled....but a nice evening.
As I'm writing this, we're getting a little worried about his IV site. The medication has started it's evening session and we think the IV site might be blowing again......here we go again.
I'm trying to add a bit each day so he feels like on some levels his life really is beginning to be normal again. Maybe tomorrow I can take him for a drive and to his favourite ice cream shop for a treat....we'll see.

Home....but still a struggle

My husband has been home for three days now and although he is incredibly relieved to be home, he still is struggling. On a physical level he's had to have his IV redone twice already as the vancomycin blew up his IV sites and caused a lot of pain and swelling. It's apparently the nature of this drug to cause these kind of problems. Because of the cost of the oral version, we have no choice but to persist with this IV process. He needs another 16 more days to complete the whole cycle required. At the rate he's going to date, that means another 8 or 9 more IV's that have to be started.
The harder part of this is the pyschological....he is really, really struggling to maintain a positive attitude. He had a breakdown last night and said he wasn't sure he could keep this up. I'm sure part of this is the fact this has gone on for so long and he doesn't feel any better. The other part is the drug causes such havoc with the whole body's system that he feels totally beat up.
It helped keep him a bit more motivated today as he got to see both of our grandchildren on webcam...one this morning and one tonight. Seeing them reminds him he has to do his best to keep up the fight.
He has lost 28 lbs. as of now and still eats very little, but he does eat.
I started refurbishing our BBQ today. That was another thing my husband had taken completely apart to fix prior to this journey we now find ourselves on. Since I'd really like to do some barbequing before the summer ends, I have to work on doing what's necessary so I can cook outside.....

I'm also in the middle of completing a fairly large craft project for my sister-in-law. I'm doing 6 shadow boxes in memoriam to her Mom. I have a deadline to meet as she needs them by July 14th. She plans to give each of her sister and brother's each one at their family reunion.

I'm hoping my husband feels well enough to take him to our local park for the outdoor concert and fireworks tomorrow night...Matt Dusk is performing and we both really enjoy his singing. He's a bit like Michael Buble who we like as well. These park concerts are great. They are every Wednesday and Saturday for the entire summer and they are free. Aside from the entertainment, they have one of the best 'Chip trucks' and I'm addicted to home cut french fries. Yum!!! Also, for a small city, they have a really wonderful show of fireworks.

Good News....Bad News!

Well, the good news is our bathroom is now completely finished..........YEAH! My brother was kind enough to take time out of his day and helped me mount the mirror back on the wall and hang the closet doors. It ended up being a little more complicated and a lot more work than either of us thought it would be....gosh, I hate bifold doors.

The bad news is my husband's IV went wrong last night and we had to shut everything down after his treatment last night. While the vancomycin was running in, he kept complaining it was very painful and didn't get better. I phoned the Home Care nurse and was told to shut if off. She came early this morning and discovered it was no longer viable and attempted twice to start a new IV....no luck at all. I then called the nurse practitioner I go to in our village and she said she would do it if I brought in the doctor's order and the equipment provided by home care. She got the new IV in on the second try and then the Home care nurse came back and reattached the IV electronic pump. She called the doctor and he wanted to check it all out so we had to go to his office this afternoon. He told my husband that no pic line or porto cath could be used as he's on Coumadin. If they have to do that my husband would have to be readmitted to the hospital and none of us want that.... so we are going to keep this up as long as possible. He could go the oral version of vancomycin but it costs over $1400 per week and would not be covered by home care.
With our financial situation the way it is, this would bankrupt us in a very short period of time. He's doing much better tonight...
He needed a reward so one of our local fish and chip shops has a Wednesday night special for $5.00 per person so we took advantage of the special. He REALLY enjoyed it and it's the most I've seen him eat at one sitting in quite a while. Although no where close to what he used to eat, it's a positive step.
He's just so shocked at how weak he is and finds that very frustrating...he may be home, but he can't do a lot just yet...but he's home!

HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!

Well, finally my husband got the OK to come home. He's very weak and he didn't realize how weak until he got home and tried to just walk our yard and had to stop a couple of times.
He will be on Home Care Nursing for the next three weeks as he is now on an electronic pump for his IV that administers the Vancomycin. It's a rather complicated system and we hope nothing goes wrong, but for tonight we hope it all works well. It's always tough when you're on something new and it doesn't go the way it's suppose to run. He tells me it's hurting a bit at the moment so we'll keep an eye on it prior to going to bed. Both the home care nurse and the company that provides the electronic pump are on 24 hour call...thank goodness!
As I thought he needed both a treat and a bit of walking exercise, we just walked down to our little local restaurant ( about 200 yards or so ) and had a small pizza. My husband only ate one small piece. For those who know my husband, that's unheard of! He weighed about 245 lbs when he went into the hospital and tonight I weighed him and he was 217 lbs...so he's lost almost 30 lbs.....one heck of a diet!
He's home and we pray he keeps improving....it was very emotional for him to arrive home after 36 days. A VERY HAPPY CANADA DAY FOR US!