WHEN YOUR HUT'S ON FIRE!!!!

03:47PM -- I got this in an email from a friend and realized how much truth there is to it. So, I decided to share it here with each of you. God is at work no matter what life throws at us.

WHEN YOUR HUT'S ON FIRE!!!!
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements and to store his few possessions.

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?'

Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him!

'How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his rescuers.

'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied.

The Moral of This Story: It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

It's Stopped Raining, but Still Cloudy...

10:33AM -- Larry is still sleeping, although I'm going in to wake him as soon as I post this to the blog. Not much in the way of news here. He slept most of the night. Thank God! I think he turned the TV off around midnight or 1-ish. I'll take him to dialysis around 12:15PM today and then I have an appointment to put new tires all the way around on the van at 2:30PM. I'll write more as soon as I get the chance. I'll be sure to post on whether or not he needed the transfusion today. I'll change his pain patch (Fentanyl 100 mcg/h) this morning as well.

He didn't eat a lot for dinner last night. He had the Zuppa Toscana (sausage soup) with 2 garlic breadsticks. A salad came with it, but he didn't eat it. He's not a bread person -- or at least he hasn't been in the past -- but he ate both of them. More later...

11:10AM -- Dialysis called. Larry's CBC (hemaglobin) was up from Saturday at 10.1 to 10.3, so he doesn't need the transfusion. That's good news. So, he's not going to dialysis today. He'll go this Saturday. (Sorry Lyn...lol) He needed a nausea med as soon as I woke him. (I can tell by the way he moves his mouth and face, whether or not he needs one now.) Haven't changed his patch yet, but I'm waiting for him to eat breakfast which consists of a bowl of Cheerios with Splenda and 2% milk; coffee; and Sunny D.

Haven't gotten the tickets and parking permit for the concert next weekend. Maybe today. Be back later...

01:46PM -- Still haven't gotten the tickets yet. Larry only ate about half of his cereal and drank almost all the Sunny D and a few sips of his coffee. Not much. But, he just got up and is on his computer. Still has a little pain, but I just changed his pain patch. He also took a dose of his Dilaudid around 11-ish and that's kicked in, so he should be okay for a while. I know...I know...Famous last words.

Not sure what happened...

11:11AM -- Yesterday, Larry felt lousy all day until last night (after another dose of Dilaudid, a nausea med, and possibly a 1 hour nap), he felt somewhat better. Well, somewhere around midnight, he wants to get up and go play Mah-Jong on his computer. Okay...no biggie. However, by 1:00AM, he was still playing. I have someone coming in today to repair the buttons on the water/ice dispenser on the frig, and I told him I needed to go to bed. He said he would have the boys help him to the bedroom when they get in (around 2:30AM). I made sure he didn't need anything, and I went to bed. Well...at 6:35AM, he isn't in bed. I flew out of bed thinking the worse, of course, and found him STILL playing Mah-Jong! I went back to bed once I knew he was okay, but couldn't sleep. Ended up getting up around 7:45AM. He didn't go to bed until almost 9:30 this morning. I gave him his morning meds and did all of his eyedrops. He's now sleeping. Strange...just strange.

Guess I'll see how the day goes. I had to reschedule getting the car inspected this morning to Friday morning, because I really need to get the ice dispenser fixed. Larry loves his crushed ice. More later...

By the way....IT'S FINALLY RAINING HERE!!! YAY!

02:12PM -- Larry is awake and nauseated, so he took a nausea pill. He hasn't asked for pain med...yet.

Geezum...the temp is dropping...down to 58º now.

11:07PM -- Larry has taken several short naps this afternoon/evening. He's sitting on the bed watching television and munching on a few oatmeal raisin cookies with a small glass of milk. He's doing okay and hasn't asked for pain or nausea meds recently. I'm getting ready to go to bed myself. It's still raining and we have had flash flood warnings most of the day. We so needed this rain. The temperature is holding at 60º. Larry stays cold, so I've had to turn on the heat and shut all the windows. Heard from Lynell today...she is planning to come visit with us this weekend. Tomorrow is dialysis day, and he may need a transfusion if his hemaglobin has continued to drop. They said if it was down in the 9 range they would give him blood. He also has new hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 12:30PM to 4:45PM. He generally only goes 2 days a week now, skipping Saturdays...especially if there is family coming in. Okay...I'm out of here. Will try to update here tomorrow!

Cloudy, Sprinkles and a forecast of RAIN!!! YAY!

Tuesday, 05:15PM -- Larry still isn't feeling up to par. Actually, he told his nephrology doctor that he feels "lousy". He's been nauseated and in pain all day. He's taken 2 (1 each) of his nausea pills, and has had his second dose of Dilaudid today. He did go to dialysis, but wanted to come home almost as soon as he got there. I talked him into staying at least 2-3 hours since he was already there. (He stayed 3.) However, I did have to come home and take him a dose of his Dilaudid back in to him. He's very weak, and I had my neighbor raise the height of his ramp so it would be easier on him getting in and out of the van. His hemaglobin is at 10.1 and they have cross-matched him for a transfusion on Thursday if it has dropped into the 9-range. He weighed in at 92 kilos and his ending weight was 89.8 kilos (just under his target weight of 90 kilos.) I picked him up around 4PM today and he came home and went straight to bed. He's cold, so I've shut the windows. (It's currently 70º here, so not hot by any means. Nice break!!!) I'll try to type more in a bit.

FYI: Should you like to leave a message here for us, please click on the word "comments" below and type away!

It's not great, but it's quiet here...

Sunday, 01:46PM -- The last few days have been somewhat calm. Larry didn't go to dialysis on Thursday, but did go for 3 hours on Saturday. He weighed in at 91.7 kilos and left weighing at 90.1 kilos. His target is still 90 kilos. While he normally dialyzes 4 hours, he cut it short. He wasn't feeling great.

Life Happens...Just like that other thing...

11:30AM -- I awakened Larry this morning at 10:15 because I thought he was going to dialysis. And, he was going up until about 10 minutes ago. He's decided not to so I've called to let them know he will see them on Saturday. He was nauseated again this morning and only had an Ensure and a half cup of coffee for breakfast. He seems to be doing better than yesterday, but he hasn't gotten out of bed yet. I've noticed that it takes a bit more effort on my part to pull him up into a sitting position, and it takes more effort on his part to get from the bed to his wheelchair and vice versa. But, he seems to be still holding his own. He hasn't asked for Dilaudid (pain med) but once or twice in the few days. He hasn't been eating a lot, but I always feel better about that when he drinks an Ensure. The temps here today are not bad (75º currently) and it's partially overcast. The high is suppose to be somewhere around 85º today. Not bad. The nurse that discharged Larry from the hospital on Sunday just called to check on him. That's a nice touch. Well, more later...

WOW!!!

04:33PM -- Just WOW! Larry just got a call from the social worker at dialysis and she has gotten two tickets PLUS the parking ticket to the Brooks & Dunn/ZZ Top concert on Sept. 7th for us...at no cost to us! Amazing! No idea how she did it...but she did! Thank you, Georgia! You have no idea how much this means to Larry...and me for making this happen for him.

By the way, Larry is up at his computer now. Still dealing with heartburn, but at least he's up and out of bed.

Not so good day...

01:35PM -- Larry slept in again this morning, not getting up until about 10:30 or 11-ish. He woke up with nausea, a little pain, and heartburn. I gave him a dissolving nausea pill, which I will need to get refilled as soon as I can touch base with his hospice nurse. He wanted a 2-egg sandwich, a chocolate Ensure, and a cup of coffee for breakfast. He ate the sandwich, drank half the Ensure and maybe took two sips of his coffee. After he took his regular pills plus the pill for his heartburn, he laid back down and is now sleeping.

The social worker at dialysis - Georgia - is working on getting us the tickets plus parking for the concert in Charlottesville with Brooks-n-Dunn and ZZ Top. She said that there is a fund that may possibly pay for all of it for us. That would be nice. No guarantees though. So, between her and my aunt, maybe...just maybe he'll get there...Lord providing, of course.

The hospice clergy called and wants to drop by, but neither of us are up to it today.

I've been watering my yard today with the sprinkler. It's so dry here and the grass is just dry and brown. Most of the sprinkler is aimed at my plants and flowers though. They didn't do as well this year either and I've lost a few.

I received a letter from the State of Virginia today informing me that because of budget funds not being what they have in past years, they can not award the Caregiver Grants this year. :::sigh::: Oh well...it is a grant and I have gotten them over the past three years. It's always been such a nice boon to our income, giving me extra dollars to buy something special for us, to take a mini-vacation, or to pay on bills. Maybe I'll get one next year since that will be for this year anyway. (Kinda like filing taxes.)

Well, it's 1:45PM and he just woke up due to an attack of diarrhea. Taking care of that. He said he was sleeping so well, too. I'll try to do another post later.

Sending God's Blessings To You...

12:43PM -- The first thing I want to say to all of Larry's and Sue's children, is in the title of this post...."God bless each of you". I told Larry last night that this has got to be one of the most difficult times in your lives. My heart goes out to each of you. We have your mom in our prayers and of course your grandmother. Hang in there. If any of you want to talk, we are here for you.

Larry is doing okay. He ate well yesterday. We were both still ragged out from the overnight stay at the hospital Saturday. He's still sleeping. I changed his pain patch early this morning (7:30-ish).

I'll write more later.

Larry is home

06:16pm -- Hello everyone. Larry came home today around 1:00pm-ish. He got 2 units of blood as far as I know. His hemoglobin count was 10.6 (should be a minimum of 12), much better than the 8.6 yesterday. Not terrific, but better. He's eating a large salad as I type this. Once I got him settled, we both took a much needed nap. Last evening was harrowing to say the least...even for Larry. The hemorrhaging seems to have stopped for now, but both of us are nervous. But -- living in the moment -- we are both happy to be back home. All seems "normal" again.

Being admitted to hospital for the night...

08:52PM -- Larry has agreed to go to the hospital for an overnight admission to get a blood transfusion. More as I know.

Oh My!

05:56PM -- Once again I have not posted here. I apologize. Larry is still dealing with a lot of pain and weakness. They did another Hemoglobin check and it is down to 8.6 from 9.0. (He's losing blood somewhere internally for this to be taking place.) Because it is Saturday, no transfusion was ordered. They sent another blood sample to the hospital for double checking and won't have those results back until probably Monday. This would give dialysis a heads up on getting blood to the unit for Larry when he goes in on Tuesday.

I got him home from dialysis today and he had a slight - nothing like before but attention-getting nonetheless - hemorrhage. He's already taken a 4ml dose of his Dilaudid.

Found out last night that Larry's first ex -- Sue -- had a heart attack 2 weeks ago. Kevin told us she was suppose to come home today from the hospital...with 5 stents!!! Sue...we send you our best wishes for a quick recovery! You're in our prayers.

Happy birthday wishes to my baby brother, Garry!

I'll try to post again later with an update.

07:57PM -- Larry is still hemorrhaging; more than he was earlier. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned since his hemoglobin count is already low. He is still experiencing pain (lower stomach), and having chills. He doesn't want to go to the hospital. We discussed this again last night because I wanted to make sure he had not changed his mind about his previous wishes. I'll post again later this evening and let you know how he is doing.

If You Wait Long Enough....

09:43AM -- The past several days have been - for the most part - good days for Larry. He hasn't taken a lot of Dilaudid although he's been weak. Especially his legs.

This morning is not a good day. He's not going to dialysis today and says he'll go Saturday. He's taken 4ml of Dilaudid and a Percocet (10/325) to alleviate the pain in his back and lower stomach. And, I've changed his Fentanyl patch. He's wrapped up in a blanket like it's freezing, and the A/C is off. (It's been off for several days because the temps are pleasant.) He hasn't eaten breakfast yet, but that's because he's dealing with the pain.

Yesterday he complained with pain at one of the lumps which is located midway of his back. After discussion with his Hospice nurse - Missy - the concensus is that most likely that lump is putting pressure on his spine which, inturn, may be causing the weakness in his legs. She is interested in knowing what his hemoglobin count is - and quite frankly so am I - simply because he is so pale. I'll call dialysis later and find out what his count is from this past Tuesday's blood workup. (Larry did go to dialysis this past Tuesday.)

I haven't heard from SC, so I'm guessing Larry's mom is doing better. I know she is at Lyn's home and being well cared for by Mike. Alyce told Larry a few days ago that Mike is doing a wonderful job of taking care of her while Lyn is at work. More later....

10:21AM -- Well, it's taken me over a week - or at least it seems like it - to finally get those pictures of our granddaughters resized so I could post them here. Abby had a birthday recently, so Rob sent us pics. And while I'm thinking of it -- even though it's a day early -- Happy Anniversary, Doc & Sue!!! Okay, below are the pictures! Enjoy!

(Lily, Rob, Abby)

(Lily, Grandma Sue, Abby)

(Lily and Abby)
01:18PM -- Just got off the phone with Lauren, (charge nurse at dialysis) and she told me Larry's hemoglobin had dropped from 9.8 last Thursday to 9.0 this past Tuesday. They had scheduled another check for today -- had he gone in -- but will do the check on Saturday when he goes in to dialyze. If it has continued to drop and is at 8.5 or lower, they will contact the doctor. (This generally translates to a blood transfusion of approximately 2 pints.) Larry has been playing Mah-Jong for the past hour or so. He opted for a chocolate Ensure; cup of coffee and ice water for breakfast/brunch, but says he wants a large salad for dinner.

Don't forget! You can click on the pictures to view the full sized image!

01:42PM -- DUH! I always think of mine and Larry's anniversary as the day we first met face-to-face. Of course, our wedding anniversary is special, but having met online and then meeting face-to-face, well, that day is of significance to me/us. (Geez, did some of you not know we met online? [hehe]) Anyway, I totally forgot to mention it here! So, on August 7, 1999, Larry and I celebrated 9 "third time's the charm" years together!

Nice here today!

01:36PM -- It's a fantastic day here today, temperature wise! It's 78º outside and a constant breeze blowing. Larry slept in until after 12:00 today, but he didn't fall asleep until almost 4:00am. Which meant I didn't fall asleep until then either. Tried to sleep, but couldn't. I was up before 8:30 this morning. Four cups of coffee jump started my day, though. Larry is doing okay. He has some pain in his lower back, so he took 3ml of the Dilaudid.

COMING SOON! Some pics of Larry's son's - Rob - daughters (Abby & Lily):

Well...Larry wants to go...

02:16PM -- Larry heard on TV that ZZ Top and Brooks & Dunn will be in our area soon, and he really wants to go. I checked it out online and the concert is on Sunday, September 7th at 7:00PM in Charlottesville. Only an hour or so away. Perfect time, date, and place. At $65.00 a pop, (nosebleed seating is $49.50) and if the Lord is willing, we will go! Larry's eyesight isn't great, so the nosebleeds are out of the question. They do have select handicapped seating areas and I've already checked it out online and printed a lot of the info off. This doesn't include the advance parking reservation/pass for the handicapped area in the parking garage. Doesn't matter! Whatever it takes...he will go! At least he has something to look forward to now that he really wants to do. It's a month away, but he sooo wants to go.

Other than that...Larry seems to be doing okay as long as he takes his pain meds. He did go to dialysis yesterday.

Thanks for the pictures of the girls, Rob!!! They are so adorable! I'll post a few here as soon as I can reduce the sizes...minor stuff.

TGIF....Eh?

09:49AM -- Larry is still sleeping. He will need his pain patch changed when he awakens. He did okay at dialysis yesterday. Although we both overslept and he got there an hour late. He only weighed in at 92.7 kilos and he hadn't dialyzed since last Saturday. He did well. Dialyzed for 3 hours. Says he isn't sure if he will go on Saturday. His ending B/P was 152/64 and his ending weight was 90.7. Will be taking his ending target weight down to 90 kilos from its current 91 kilos. That's a 2.2 pound difference. Found another lump on his right side in the location of his liver yesterday morning...just a little smaller than my fist. This is now a total of 7 that I can see or feel. He stated last night that he must have done something to make God mad at him, because he was having neuropathy pains on top of the cancer pain. He said you'd think with all the pain meds he was on that he wouldn't have the neuropathy pains. They appeared to have eased up and not bothered him for more than a couple of hours. Oh well...until he wakes up the house is fairly quiet...with the exception of Odie Jr. (Rudy).

Got Some Pain...

12:28PM -- Larry didn't wake up until about noon. Had to give him Dilaudid and change his pain patch. His hospice nurse is due here this afternoon, so I'm sure questions will be raised about heavier drugs. We heard good news from SC...his mom is doing better and may come home on Friday. They did the heart cath and there was very little damage to her heart and she has little to no blockage in any of her arteries. Not much to add to this at the moment. I'll be back later.

Two Days In A Row!

10:14AM -- Pretty good, eh? Okay, straight to the business. Larry has an increased amount of pain and has already taken 3ml of the Dilaudid. He's eating a decent breakfast this morning, IF he eats it...plus, a chocolate Ensure. He's got dialysis today, so this isn't going to be an indepth post. We haven't heard anything about his mom, so - as my mom would say - no news is most likely good news. More later...

01:29PM -- Larry - as I said earlier - is experiencing much more pain. He had to take another 3ml of the Dilaudid by 11:36 this morning. My heart just aches for him. He decided against going to dialysis today, saying he would go on Thursday. This doesn't worry me too much as he did go this past Saturday...and, provided he goes on Thursday. He asked me to call his hospice nurse and ask if he can take a percocet on top of the Dilaudid and to let her know the pain patch just isn't accomplishing much relief at all now. (I just put a new one on him yesterday morning, and he still had to take 3 doses of Dilaudid throughout the day.) This isn't bad as far as the med is concerned because he can take 4ml of Dilaudid every 2 hours. He hasn't requested anymore since 11:37AM. Still haven't heard from anyone in SC about his mom, so we will call later.

The Norm...

11:24AM -- Well, things have been pretty much the norm for the last day or two. The usual pain and nausea. The pain was a little more pronounced yesterday, or frequent I should say as he required a total of three ½ doses of the Dilaudid. However, the meds are working well so far. We both managed to go to sleep at a decent hour last night. Well, he did, anyway. I got in bed around 2AM, which over the course of the last 3 days is decent for me.

He's having an Ensure for breakfast...nothing else. Anyway, things are okay so far. More later....

02:19pm -- Larry ended up increasing his Dilaudid dose this morning from 2ml to 3ml. Got a call from SC that Alyce - Larry's mother - is in the hospital. Seems she suffered a mild heart attack a couple of days ago. I spoke with her for a few minutes last night and she was complaining with her leg being numb and very cold. Ended up calling EMS and she is in the best heart hospital in Columbia. Plans are to do a heart cath at some point today.

Nothing Much Happening...Thank God!

02:51PM -- Larry and I have got to get our time clocks back in-sync with the rest of the country. Although he took a nap, and fell asleep early last night, he woke up when I came to bed at 5:00AM...AGAIN..., he did sit up and watch TV for a while. Then he went back to sleep. He'd gotten hot and broken out into a sweat. He was having some major pain in his left side and back, so I changed his pain patch and gave him a half dose of the Dilaudid. For once he didn't object to me turning the A/C up in the bedroom. However, we both overslept this morning. I got him to dialysis by 12:15 today (about ½ hour later than usual). He was weak this morning, but felt okay. I'll pick him up at his regular time this afternoon. His weigh-in weight (92.7 kilos) was much lower than usual considering he didn't dialyze Thursday. His ending weight is suppose to be 91 kilos, but I imagine it will be somewhere around 88 or 89 kilos today. Todd, one of Larry's "regular" techs at dialysis, stopped me and asked how things were going and then told me if there is anything he can do to just let him know. Todd is such a sweety and takes such great care of Larry when he's there. It's nice not to have to worry about his care when he is at dialysis.

I can hardly wait for him to get home. He got the picture and letter from granddaughter Sarah today!!! That will make him smile. He told me he really does like the picture I took of him and Sarah (to the left) when they all came to visit a few weeks ago.

It's A Good Day.....So Far...

02:24PM -- Larry nor I managed to go to sleep last night until 5:00 this morning. He was watching movies on TV and I've been reading my Scarpetta novels by Patricia Cornwell and not wanting to put the books down. The Scarpetta series is more of a mystery/suspense genre. ACK!!! Not a romance?!! Nope -- not romance. Everyone knows I'm big on romance/erotica novels...write, published in, and read them. But, Larry bought me 2 of her novels a couple of years ago from Amazon, and I've been hooked on the series ever since. I'm already on the 3rd one this week and should begin the 4th one at some point today. At any point, we slept in. Although, I was up at 7:00; 8:30; and, 10:30 this morning.

Anyway, Larry's doing well today like the title of this post says...so far. He's at his computer and talking to his mom at the moment. Just so you know, the plan is to go to dialysis tomorrow (Saturday). So, all is good here at the moment.

P.S. -- THIS WAS A GOOD DAY!