It's 4AM.........

Do you know where your Mother is???  Wendy's Mother is in her room watching TV and working on the computer.  I say working because most of the time she.....Ok  ME....most of the time I am playing a game.  I have 3 or 4 I play on a regular basis.

My Mother is no doubt up in her kitchen in Hood River Oregon having a cup of coffee and reading the paper.  Not real sure but I know for many years that's what she was doing.

My daughter Wendy, Mother to Mallory, Michael, Tyler and Jeffrey is fast asleep in her warm little bed.  I know this because I can hear her when she gets up if I am awake.  The kids are all doing fine.  The boys are really busy with school and Scouts.  Both of them are Scouts this year.  Wendy is still a den leader and works hard giving them all kinds of cool things to do to earn their belt loops.

My daughter Laura, Mother to Eli, Nadeyah and Myrandah is hopefully fast asleep also.  Her oldest is home right now after getting into some trouble but my guess is she will be gone in a day or two.  In June she will be 18 but Laura will, no doubt, have many more sleepless nights ahead of her.

I have been feeling pretty good these past few weeks other than being tired and having really sore muscles. Dialysis is ok.  At least it is doing it's job.  I have no cough thank god and am breathing ok for now.  I have a problem with really dry skin.  Wendy got me a new to the market product called Gold Bond Diabetics' dry skin relief.  If you have dry skin you should give this stuff a try....diabetic or not.  It has a strange feel to it when you put it on but within a minute or two it's soaked in and doing it's job and you can't feel it.  I hate lotions and creams that feel heavy and greasy. 

The weather here has been anything good.  It was snowing last week then over the weekend it got up in the 70's and we saw Mr Sol.  Then last night we are back to snow.  Spring is still trying to get here but she is having a hell of a hard time.  We may just skip into summer the way things are going.  I have a couple of photos for you to check out.  It's May for crying out loud and we have a foot of snow.

Gotta Love Kids

Wendy sneaked out today and went to the gym for an hour so I had Mallory with me.  We were watching Finding Nemo.  We love Nemo.  The part came up where Bruce chases Marlin and Dory into the torpedo tube and I am saying to the TV "don't you hurt them Bruce"  Mallory then, in her loud Mom voice, says "You leave them alone you Big Bitch!!!!!".  I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud but I managed to say thru snickers that she shouldn't say "that word" and she should call him a bully or a meanie.  Kids!!!  Ya wanna know what you sound like to them.....just listen to them play or watch TV.

I am doing OK these days health wise.  The pneumonia is gone and so is the cough finally.  Dialysis is going OK too.  My fistula is working well and I haven't had much trouble with infiltration lately.  My blood work is coming back into all the normal ranges finally and that also makes me feel better.  I am now trying to get more strength back so I can get out and do a few more things.  I am not a big shopping person but a trip to Walmart once in a while is fun.  And of course going out to dinner is always nice.  Pete's Pizza has a great Fish Fry all you can eat on Friday nights!! 

We thought we were done with the cold and that Spring was finally on the way but it turns out the liar of a groundhog needs to rethink his prediction.....it's the middle of April for crying out loud and we have snow falling as i type.  What's with that??  We had dire predictions of 10-12 inches but we didn't get that much.  Still it covered everything in a few inches of white stuff.  Thank god Mike didn't have to go plow the driveway this time.  Please pray to the Spring Goddesses to bring forth the flowers and leaves.  I am sick of white!!!

Not much else to report this time.  Everyone is fine here.  The kids are not sick and that keeps the rest of us healthy.  Wendy is still losing weight and is up to 50 pounds off.  She joined the gym last week and gets over there every time she can.  Not only is she losing weight but she has lost a lot of inches!!  She is looking awesome and we are all so proud of her!!  

My love to all of you!!  Be Safe and Stay Happy!!!

The Rest of the Week and Beyond

I was in the hospital for a total of 7 days.  During that time I had much antibiotics pumped into me and I had dialysis take pounds and pounds of nasty stuff and I came out on the other end feeling like a bar rag after a long night.  I am now doing better though.  The pneumonia is gone and the cold left over part is slowly receding.  I still cough but the seal bark is now better and I don't sound like I am losing a lung anymore.  LOL  My cough was horrid for a few days there.

Since I got home I had my 65th birthday.  I got a wonderful gift from my dearest friend Karin of a Samsung Galaxy Table.  I love it to death and I have so much fun with it.  Thank you Dear Friend.  From my family I got a brand new recliner!!  It is dark brown so it won't show the dirt so bad and it is as comfy as a cloud.  I love sitting in it.  If you know me at all you know I sleep in it also since i can't lay down to sleep with my lungs the way they are so I got a new bed too!  Kathy got me the newest Josh Groban CD.  It's wonderful and I just adore that mans voice!!!  My darling daughter fixed my favorite dinner for me which was Corned Beef and Cabbage.  My whole family goes yuck at the thought but they all ate some and we agreed it was awesome!!  Then we had singing nd my cake.....or should I say cakes.  Wendy made all of us individual mini bundt cakes.  They were so cute and SOOOO YUMMY!!!!!  Take a look and see for yourself!!

There were no candles but Mike explained that it was a no burn date and he couldn't get a burning permit so.......LOL.  Thank you all for all of the wonderful wishes for a Happy day!  It was that and more!

My Week So Far

Saturday

I haven't been feeling great for a while now but  I got sicker on Saturday. Wendy was sick alll last week so we figured I got this from her.  For dinner Wendy made a wonderful Manicotti.  It was delicious but I was only able to eat 4 bites.  Bedtime

 I was really tired so I went to sleep.

Sunday 

I knew when I woke up that I was sick....I mean REALLY sick  At about noon  I asked Wendy to take me to the hospital.  She started to get the van but I decided I couldn't get to the van so she calle the anbulance.  They got there in a few minutes and got me loaded up.  Then off we went on the 5 minute ride to the hospital.  I got into an exam room and when the doctor came in apparently I passed out and stopped breathing.

The next thing I know Wendy is kissing my forehead as they are loading me in the helicopter to airlift me to Regions Hospital in St Paul.  I also found that I couldn't move at all.  Nor could I talk.  I had been put on the ventelator.  Back to nothing again then I woke again around 10. At that point I just fell back to sleep and let the vent do the rest.  

Monday

Today us a better day.  I can communicate by writing so they told me what happened and what they are going to do.  I get the vent out if I can breath on my own.  So I am working on that.  Several hours have passed now.  The vent is out and a really nasty bone marrow IV is gone.  I feel horrid and all I am going to do is sleep.  Sleep???  that's a laugh.  I am in a giant teaching hospital in the ICU.  They never leave you alone ever.  hehehe  when the doctor comes in he has a gaggle of other doctors with him discussing your case like on House. 

Family Remembrance

Yesterday was my youngest brother Larry's birthday.  I don't know why but since I moved here to Wisconsin we have drifted apart.  I haven't talked with him for several years   But I decided that no matter who I had to call or what I had to do, I was going to wish him Happy Birthday.

After a couple of calls to other family members my oldest brother gave me the phone number.  Thanks Randy!!  I talked to him for a while too and caught up on all the news from him.  Looks like I am going to be a great aunt any minute.  Good luck to Sammy and Rich!  Hope Ella arrives with a minimum amount of effort.  You are in my prayers!

The weather here has taken a turn for the cold again.  Right now it's -11 if you can believe that.  Oh it 1015AM.  Man talk about waiting for spring.  And we had more snow too.  Now everything is just a sheet of ice.

Not only was yesterday my brother's birthday but it was also my Aunt Ruth's birthday.  We lost her recently.  I really miss her.  When I was very small my parents had to leave me with my grandmother and my aunt because my mom was pregnant with my brother and she was sick the last few months.  When they finally came to get me I screamed and hid from my mom.  She said I crawled under the table to get away from her and screamed I wanted my mommy.  My aunt was like a mother to me all my life.  I love her.

I have to get dressed now and ready to go to dialysis.  Larry I was so happy to talk to you!!!  We have to keep in touch!!  Love you lots!!

Bye for now!

Redneck Dog Sled

I just had to share this little snippet with you all.

This is what my Grandchildren do on a cold Saturday afternoon in Wisconsin to amuse themselves.
Enjoy!!!

Frozen Week

I just looked at the weather forecast for next week. The High for Monday is supposed to be -3.  Yes that is Minus 3.  Yes that's the high for the day.  It is expected to go down to -12 over night.  You want to talk about cold???  Well go ahead and whine.  But just remember that it has to Warm up around here just to snow.....which BTW is expected on Thursday.  Yes we are praying for snow. Something has to happen to warm it up around here.  LOL 

I have had bronchitis for about a month now.  I have been off and on antibiotics and so far have managed to stay out of the hospital and at home without my usual wintering in Hospital World.  This is the first winter I have been home for in three years.  Yeah Me and Yeah Dr Jenny for keeping me well.

Everyone here is fine.  The kids aren't sick.  The kids have all stayed healthy in spite of the flu going around school.  The boys are both doing well in school.  Tyler reads like a champ. His math skills are getting better too.  He is learning multiplication and division   Mikey is starting to read also.  He is doing adding and subtracting too and getting good at number and letter recognition and writing.  Mallory isn't in school this year because we didn't qualify for Head Start.  But Wen does a good job of teaching her what she will need to know when she goes into Pre K in September.  We are all working on getting Mallory potty trained but some days it is a total bust.  Other days she doesn't have any accidents.  Wendy got a potty training video that she and Mall will be watching. I asked if there was a book with the vid but there isn't.  I thought if there was Wen could beat the kid with the book.  She didn't see my humor.  Oh well.  hahaha

The boys are both in Cub Scouts this year.  It keeps Mike and Wendy busy too.  They had Polar Camp today.  They all had fun.  Tonight they are all going to see Monster Jam.  Should be great fun for all of them.  Nothing better than watching giant trucks smashing into cars and flipping over and all that good stuff!

Ok time to go but I leave you with this thought.....I recently have been watching a very cool show on TV called Criminal Minds.  At the beginning and the end of each show they do a quote from different people.  I love this part of the show.  I have heard some very profound quotes but this one I find exceptional:

In youth we learn,
In age we understand.
     Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach