Bed Time

I had been sitting in the recliner with the cat in my lap watching TV and got up to get ready for bed. This was the picture I saw on my pillows. Lucy and Charlie had been sleeping on the pillows and looked up just as I took their picture. They were trying to tell me they were ready for bed. What a pair!

They had a busy day playing outside and chasing squirrels along the fence and in the trees in our neighbors' yards. When Lucy sees a squirrel she sounds like she's dying. Her bark is shrill, both ears are flying back and her whole backside wags furiously. She sits in the sun and waits for the squirrels. She also sits like she is the princess of the backyard surveying her kingdom. Charlie sits with her sometimes when he's not off chasing butterflies or bugs. They do enjoy their backyard. They have worn paths around the fence and through the yard where they travel.

Tonight, they are tired and ready for bed. So, it's time for all of us to get ready for bed. Goodnight!

Daisies & Strawberries

Two of my favorite things - daisies of any kind and strawberries, especially strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream. (This strawberry shortcake has the canned whipped cream - it was easier to do! ) I prefer strawberry shortcake for my birthday cake and enjoyed some on Saturday as I celebrated being another year older. Daisies just make me happy and so I bought some for myself to celebrate. Funny how the years come more quickly as one gets older. I spent the day being lazy. I didn't have to get up early to take Tim to school so I enjoyed my coffee and just taking a slow morning. It was very nice!

We did have to make our usual Saturday trip to the grocery store. I don't mind shopping in the store, it's just unloading the car and putting the groceries away that is not my favorite activity. But the groceries did get put away!

Birthday dinner was at, of course, Red Lobster. That seems to be the place we always go for birthday celebrations. It was really good - crab, lobster and shrimp! What a way to celebrate another year older. Gosh, so much has happened this past year. I can only hope that this year will be a little calmer and less stressful. I'm not sure it's going to be either - hasn't started off that way! Guess I'll just have to live it and see what's in store!

He's Driving!

It's still dark in the morning when Tim is leaving for school. As of a week ago, Tim is driving!!! Woohoo! What freedom for him and for me! No more 7:30 am mornings taking him to work. He can leave when he's ready and doesn't have to wait for me. That will be better for both of us!

He is driving with the doctor's knowledge and approval. When we visited the Wound Clinic last week, we asked Dr. Sotman about driving. He paused and said I don't see why not. It uses an even pressure which is different from walking on the foot which he is not doing yet. So, they wrapped his foot with extra padding and put his foot in a sandle boot to give it more protection and a heavy cushion for the bottom of the foot for the driving. It allows him to try to do some walking on his heel. He is doing some of that and of course finding that his leg and foot is really weak. He's improving every day - so much so that we're going to the Wound Clinic every three weeks now. I'm the nurse in between visits changing the bandage and medicine on his foot in between. Guess I'm doing something right because the measurements continue to decrease. Way to go, Tim!

After Spring Break?

It's Monday and I just took Tim to the campus to start this week after Spring Break. The campus was busy with folks returning to the routine after a week off. Spring Break for us was pretty uneventful. Tim worked on his course work reading and creating power points for class lectures. I worked for both CBF and Broadway. Broadway is my new work - filling in a few hours as an administrative assistant! not sure that's my calling but maybe I can help out!

Friday, Tim and I took the day off and traveled to Dallas to each do different things. Tim spent the day with his friend, Ron. They talked and laughed and went to eat Asian food and even took in a movie. I visited with friends and met friends for lunch and picked up our completed taxes. That was really the reason for the trip to Dallas - to get the completed tax forms and find out whether we get money back or have to pay. Luckily, this year we're still getting some money back - actually enough to pay for the hot water heater we had to have a month ago! But it is money back and not money we have to come up with, yeah!

Saturday, we worked in the yard. The grass was needing to be cut. It was getting tall in the backyard and the dogs were beginning to get lost in some of it. Guess what? I was able to push the lawnmower and did the grass cutting myself! This is a miracle! What a new hip will do for you! But the picture you need to imagine is Tim with the weedeater. Yes, he was on his rolly walker going around the fence weedeating! Now, that's the miracle! We were both pooped after this workout but it was a good feeling to be able to do this all by ourselves and not have to ask for help from friends! We do thank all those who helped us with grass mowing last summer/fall but it looks like we're going to be able to handle this on our own this year!

Sunday was spent at church with Sunday School, worship, lunch at church, me in a meeting and Tim waiting for me. The rest of the day was spent resting and getting ready to return to work and the new normal for us right now!

The PICC line is gone!

March 10th was a long awaited day for us. Tim finally has his PICC line removed after 8 months. The Peripherally Inserted Central Catherter was put in while Tim was still in the hospital in July. He has been visiting the Infusion Clinic weekly for the past 8 months. The weekly visit to the Infusion Clinic was for a dressing change, blood work and to pick up his infusions. For the past several months, we would visit the Infusion Clinic twice a week to pick up the infusions. Tuesdays and Fridays always included a trip to the clinic. Thanks to Trish and Jane for taking such good care of Tim!

The Gilbert Cars!

This week has been pretty normal - well with the "new normal" of taking Tim back and forth to work, keeping up with the weekly clinic appointments and working myself on CBF contract work and job searching. All seems to be going pretty good! I'm even managing to get the clothes washed, groceries bought and even some meals cooked!

The last few weeks my new challenge has been the cars! so here's the story-

A couple of weeks ago, I had to get what I thought was a new registration sticker for Mary Beth's car. So I went to the courthouse, waited in line, gave my form to the person and she looked it up and said that the registration had already been paid and was not due. After telling her that I had just been in two weeks ago for my car, she said to me, "honey, I bet you have the wrong sticker on your car"! She went out with me to look and sure enough, I had the sticker that should have been on Mary Beth's car on my car and her's was expiring in a few days in Richmond, VA. Easy fix to that one - just pay the money to buy two replacement stickers - one for my car with my license # and one for Mary Beth's car with her license #. Seemed easy enough to do and now we both have the correct sticker for our cars.

Two weeks ago, I was going to get Tim's little red car inspected so it could be a back up car for a friend. The inspection ran out in Jan and I had just waited to get it inspected. I took Tim to work and returned home to take his car for inspection, sat in the car and turned the key and nothing! It was dead! I thought I had kept it started so that wouldn't happen. I do know how to jump a car but just choose not to do it except for times like this. So I got the jumper cables from the garage, pulled my car up as close as I could to Tim's for the jump (which meant I had to get into his car from the passenger side and crawl over to the driver's side to start it), put the jumper cables on and then get in Tim's car to turn the key. It started and all was good.

I crawled back across the front seat so I could undo the jumper cables and put them back and move my car. Got it all done. Put that little red car in reverse (standard car, don't you know) and off I went for the inspection.

I got to the station and told them what I wanted and that the car had been sitting for 6 months. They asked if I had had to jump it and I said yes and they said it couldn't be inspected that day. It would have to be driven 60-80 miles and let the computer reset before being inspected. Do What! I didn't have time for this - I needed the car inspected that day so all the other pieces would fit into place. So, me and that little red car headed south on I-35! I drove it 61 miles and came back to the station for the inspection. It passed and all is good. The car was ready for use if needed.

I learned that I could jump a car without mixing the positives and negatives and having sparks fly everywhere! I also learned that my new hip was good because I could climb back and forth across the front seat of Tim's car with the gear shift in the middle and do what needed to be done! Mission accomplished!

Well, last week was my car! I took it in for inspection and it passed without any hitches. I got the inspection, an oil change and new transmission fluid (since it was brown and is suppose to be changed around 50,000 miles and it has 90,000). Whew - this car thing has certainly been an experience. They are all ready now for somthing else to happen!

Long Time No Write!

I've looked at this blog for a while now thinking a fairy would just write and give an update on all that's been happening the past month. But no writing fairy has appeared and so much has happened that I'm going to attempt an update. So here goes ---

Tim is back teaching full time and loving it! That's good news! He's got 5 classes - teaching MWF and Sat. morning (teaching in the weekend college) which leaves TTH open for wound care clinic, infusion clinic and whatever else needs to be done. He's got office hours on those days but it does give him the flexibility to do what needs to be done. He's teaching intro to philosophy and world religions and working hard to stay ahead of the class. He's teaching with powerpoints these days which means he doesn't have to move around the classroom a whole lot and he can post the powerpoints on the web for students to have. So, picture this - I drop him off at the curb and off he goes on his rolley walker, book bag over his shoulder, brown bag lunch and red lunch sack with his 2pm infusion in hand - off for the day of teaching and encouraging students! quite a site I must admit.

I think you can gather from this that he's still not walking or driving, going to the wound clinic in HEB once a week and the infusion clinic once a week for dressing change and meds. The foot is making progress each week, the measurements are getting smaller each week, but still not healed completely. Just last week the wound clinic has changed his visits from weekly to every two weeks with me doing the in-between wound care. Now that's a little scary - but I'm doing it. I've learned lots about wound care in the last 7 months!

The new normal for us right now is me driving Tim to and from work daily and him teaching. He continues to visit Dr. Sotman at the wound clinic, Trish and Jane at the infusion clinic and keep his blood sugar levels steady. I think we've got that part under control for now!


As if all that wasn't enough for us to handle - my position with CBF has been eliminated as of Jan. 31, 2011. I'm now trying to figure out my own "new normal" with all this. CBF did offer me a contract which I have accepted. The contract is to continue to work on some of the projects I was working with as a full-time employee but for a less money and no benefits. I'm working to update my resume and look for other possibilities. I'm open to most anything right now! I'm really trying not to panic but that's a whole lot easier to say than to do. I found this quote by Seneca that I think sums it up for me, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." I'm working to make some new beginnings!