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.

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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.