In the Front Yard I have Built a Snowman

Christmas is gone. How sad. We had snow again this weekend- a pretty big storm that dropped 7 inches of wet and heavy white stuff. It was perfect for snowman building! It is just beautiful and still coating all the trees and wires! I took pictures . Some were at night-it was so pretty, but didn't translate into photos standing on the porch!
Mushy came down with her little snow blower and cleaned the walks and driveway. It was a heck of a lot faster than shoveling. Then Phrog showed up and roof raked. So, we are good to go until it starts to melt later this week when it hits 40 degrees. First we have to get through the cold snap- It is supposed to get down to 7 degrees tomorrow night! Brrrr!!!
I am leaving the tree up until the weekend for Lar- then it has to come down. It is drier than a popcorn fart. Even looking at it causes needles to fall of at an alarming rate. I'll leave alot of the other stuff up for a while 'cuz Lar loves it so much. And let's face it...it's a lot of work to put it all away, so why not procrastinate a bit??
Got a call the other day that Betty Schaetzel- who was one of Mom's best friends and always a good friend to the whole family- passed away. It is weird that I had not talked to her for months and then called her the other day to wish them a happy holiday. She said that they were going to try to come down for New Year's. Mom's friends are dwindling down.
Some day I will tell Betty stories. There are a lot of them- some involving mice (which she was deathly afraid of and you should never, ever let kids know your weaknesses if you are that scared). OK-I'll tell one quick Betty story. Katie snuck a white mouse home once. Finally, Mom found out and said- OK, just make sure that you take care of it. Well, the cats could get the poor thing no matter what we put him in- they would knock it over and chase him around. So we put him in a cage in the bathroom and kept the door shut tight so the cats couldn't get in. Enter Betty and Ruben (her hubby ) who were down in the basement antique shop one afternoon (Mom had a really nice antique shop in the basement and barn for 25 years). I am sure that there was beer or cocktails involved-it was the 1960s after all and everything involved having cocktails. Betty came upstairs to use the bathroom. In the bathroom was an antique bird cage. Betty goes in and you can hear her in there "Well, what did Mary Ann let those kids get now? I can't believe she would let them get a bird". She stuck her nose closer to the cage to check it out, just about the same time the white mouse stuck his nose out of the shredded paper on the bottom of the cage. All of a sudden therre was a blood curdling scream and Betty went running by waving her arms and screaming! The poor woman did not stop until she ran the full 3 blocks home.
Betty and Shirley and Mom were quite the 3 some and went to auctions and antiquing all the time. What stories they would tell!
Anyhow, the funeral is 3 hours away on Wednesday, so I won't be able to take Larry to it. I sent flowers and will send a card.
It is New Year's Eve. The last day of 2007. We are just making pizza and watching Fred and Ginger all night. Larry still has the c-diff and will start a 3rd course of antibiotics this evening. I had called the Dr. this am to tell her that it was not gone yet, so she had us do another poop sample and wanted to start a new antibiotic. She said to just go to Walmart and pick it up. So, I get Larry home from dialysis and head over to the Falls. The parking lot was a zoo at Walmart, but, the drive through was not open, so I finally found a parking spot and hoofed into the store to join the line at the pharmacy, where everyone is coughing and sneezing and snarffling. OK, my turn finally. "Oh, the med has to be pre approved by your insurance. We sent the form to your MD and you should be able to get that in 4 or 5 days." Okkkkkkk.....this is for an infection and she wanted to have him start now. "oh! well- you can pay cash" and how much would that be? She walks away to the computer behind the wall and comes back a few seconds later "Six hundred and thirty four dollars." WHAT???? Are you crazy?????That's not happening. "Well, I suggest you call your MD and find out what she suggests."
So, I call the doc's office and leave the message to get a call back. Heide the nurse calls after I get home and tells me that the doc just called the insurance co. and they OKed a one time over ride, so, now, I can go back and pick up the prescription.
Well, when I got Larry up from his nap, I loaded him in the car and we went over there again. I checked the drive through and Hallalujah! It was open! They only had 12 pills ($212 worth) no cost- and I have to go back on Wednesday to pick up the rest- hopefully, also at no co-pay.
We did get cheescake nuggets at Arby's on the way home- so it was worth it!

Fa-la-la-la-la,Christmas Cheer

Well, it has been a long week and I am glad it is over.
I love Christmas and look forward to it all year, but this year, with all the stuff going on with Larry, I was one emotional wreck by Christmas Eve.
He went to the Doctor for a follow-up on Friday and everything seemed pretty good. It was his last dose of the antibiotic- everything seemed OK.
On Saturday, he started to get the diarrhea again and Sunday, when he had dialysis, he wound up having to go on a bedpan in the middle of his session. He was totally wiped out afterward and progressively worse as the day went on. He could hardly stand up much less walk and had to keep going to the bathroom. I would have taken him to the emergency room, but he would have been very, very, very depressed to spend Christmas in the hospital.
I finally pulled his lift chair into his bedroom so that he could at least sit up in a chair and then I drove through the blowing snow to get Gatorade because I figured he was dehydrated again. I also made the executive decision to give him another dose of the antibiotic (I had extras because he was in the hospital and didn't use the full course that I had at home).
So, he woke up at 3:00 am and pooped all over because he just couldn't get to the john in time. OK- I can deal with it. I get him up at 8:30 and he is walking a little better, but still not quite right. He goes to the john and then we go to have breakfast- which he barely touches. I in the meantime have calls out to the Doctors office to get a new script for the Flagil and she calls back-YUP! we'll do another 10 day course. Good- that is taken care of. Coumidin clinic called and we got that all straightened out.
Well Lar, you want to go lay down? Yes! So he stands up and poop gushes out everywhere- down both legs- into his shoes- into his prostesis- even into the liner IN his prostesis. It is everywhere. We get to the bathroom and get his clothes stripped off and his leg stripped off and washed up- shoes changed out so I could clean the pooped ones- I have disinfectant spray and paper towels and am running around trying to clean up. We get him washed up and back to bed and it takes me an hour to get everything cleaned up. Now I am weeping- Not because I am angry at Larry- or even angry at all. I am just weeping because it seems like my whole life for the last year- especially at holidays (Is what it seems like to me)revolves around cleaning up poop. And I was just feeling a little bit sorry for myself and cried all morning. At home, I cried- As I drove to the grocery to get the salad stuff (I was going to go at 8:00 am but had to wait for the Dr. call back)and could find no parking and had to circle the parking lot for 15 minutes, I cried. When Phrog called to see if I needed him to do anything- I cried. Brother David called to check on if I needed anything- I cried. I was pretty much a basket case all day, but finally stopped weeping around 2:00 when Travis and Jake got there (Katie's Sons) and went out to help them shovel the sidewalks.
When I got Larry up from his nap, he was feeling much better and we had no more real poop emergencies for the rest of the day. Everyone showed up and we had a lovely time. It was a very nice Christmas.
Then, on Christmas day, Larry and I decided to go for a drive because it was fairly warm (30 degrees) and sunny. We went to Katie's and I dropped off nuts and candy that were left over from the night before and had baked a monkey bread for the boys (That stuff is really Yummy!) She wanted us to stay and join the group -everyone goes to her house on Christmas Day and plays games. It is just too hard to get Larry in when it is as snowy as it is now, so we declined and left to continue our leisurely drive. When we got into West Bend, John called and said we should come back to Slinger and he would take us on a tour of the new Fire Station. WOW! They did a great job on the fire station, let me tell you! And, they got a fire call while we were getting ready to leave, so we got to watch the guys race in and get gear on and jump in the trucks and GO!
All in all a very nice day! We both enjoyed it- and so did Elvis because he got to come along in the car.
Today, Larry had dialysis and I had a talk with the girls and told him how bad he was on Sunday, so they aren't going to take him to his dry weight for the next couple of sessions. Hopefully, the Flagil will have a chance to get this C-Diff out of his system and we won't have to deal with it and dialysis can go back to doing what they feel is best . Until then- Nope! He has to keep some fluid on so he doesn't dehydrate.
We are going to go drive and look at lights with Travis and Jake this evening, so, I guess better get Lar up and fed.
Merry Christmas!

Hot Damn! We're building ice dams!

And that is not a GOOD thing- ice dams are bad! I had to call Phrog last week and have him come over and chip on the ice over the back porch because it was starting to leak into the house around a couple of windows. NOT GOOD!
He worked out there for 6 hours- raking snow, throwing salt up and hitting the ice with his hammer. Don't do this at home folks- he is a professional. Well, sort of. And it worked and the ice has been melting, melting! What a world! What a world- oh- sorry, started to channel the wicked witch. Anyhow, the weather has been warmer with rain and fog, so almost all of the ice is gone. Just in time for another storm tonight.
Mushy and Jim took Larry out to look at Christmas lights last night. He had a good time, although they couldn't see much through the fog. He loves to go see Christmas lights and wanted me to take him tonight, but, it is just as foggy and rainy to boot. Maybe we can go drive around on Christmas day night.
I also went out last night and man oh man! You could hardly see anything. Cars headlights coming at you were not visible until you were almost on top of them. And then ,when we were on this back country road, all of a sudden this teenage boy came running at the car waving his arms- have you ever had anyone appear like that, out of the fog in front of your car???? It scared the heck out of me and Louise! Aiiiiiiiiii!!!!! Turns out he was chasing his little dog around on the road, but he is just darn lucky that we were going slow enough to stop without killing him!
Larry has dialysis tomorrow so he doesn't have to go in on Christmas Eve. That is nice, to have Christmas off, but, I am going to have a heck of a time keeping the days straight for the rest of the week. You wind up being off a day for everything. I'll make notes and put them on the fridge to try to keep track of what day is what!
And speaking of Christmas, I have to make my Tirimasu torte tomorrow. I made 3 batches of carmel corn today. It makes a great little something to give to people. Everyone is coming here. I have the house pretty well cleaned and am just finishing up the last of the wash before Christmas. I even did all of out blankets with the sheets this week, so everything is clean and fresh!
I also have to find an ugly Christmas sweater for myself to wear. We always have a gimmick -hats, socks, vests- one year we made everyone cat-in the hat hats- and one year we made Grinch teeshirts for everyone. You get the drift. I will try to find some photos of Christmas pasts. It is always fun. And we always would go out caroling. Caroling ended when Kurt died- we tried that first year, but, it just wasn't the same. He always led the charge and decided what we were singing. He had a great voice and loved to harmonize. I wanted to start caroling again, but, I really doubt that the rest of the crew wants to do it. We'll see.

Hi-ho! Hi-ho! Back to the Hospital We Go!

Wednesday morning, Larry was feeling OK- still had loose stools, but, not feeling too bad. So, we go to dialysis. I tell them what new antibiotic he is on and for what. I leave and return at 10:00 as I usually do and Larry is jusy getting off the machine. The poor guy is shivering, he is so cold! And then when they weigh him, Oops! he is 84.7 k- a little under his dry weight. Oh well. He can have a little extra fluid today.
Right..... So, we go home and he can barely keep his protein drink down. Solid food is a no go, he is shivering like he has palsy. We finally get him under his electric blanket and it takes 2 hours to get even fairly warm.
Larry, you have to get up and try to eat and drink something. You are feeling so terrible because you are dehydrated.
"Noooo! I can't eat...I don't even want to try. So, it goes like this all day. He is nauseous and flemmy and cold. No making him feel better. And he is moaning and groaning and generally miserable, but at the same time-DRIVING ME NUTS! Phrog stopped by and even visiting with him did nothing to boost Larry's mood. I kept saying- "Do you want me to take you to the emergency room?" "NO". O.K....
We go to bed at 9:30. And Larry is still just miserable. At 12:30 am on Thursday (or Wednesday nite if you prefer) Larry paged me. Down I go and he had not made it to the bathroom with the diarrhea. We get cleaned up, clean up everything else, tuck him back into bed.
Now, I am awake and tossing and turning. I don't know why I couldn't get back to sleep, I just know that it is very frustrating when you are so tired and just laying there staring at the clock.
Well, at 3:00 am on Thursday morning, my intercom goes off again. So, I fly out of bed, run down the steps and there is Larry, laying on the floor next to his bed. Now, he must have woken up enough to turn on the bedside light, because that was on, but he said he passed out as he was sitting up and just slid off the bed (you know, when you only have one leg to stand on, you got nothing on that side to break your slide)He cut his shoulder and his foot on something, so there was blood and I knew that there was no way on God's green earth that I was getting him off of that floor by myself, especially since we didn't know why he fell or if he was hurt.
911
"Hello- I have an 81 year old male on the floor, bleeding from 2 areas that I can see. He says that he just must have fainted when he tried to sit up."
Ambulance is on the way. Great!
I have to mention here, that we live about 1 mile from the fire station and have several rescue squad people in our neighborhood, including Nikki, who lives across the street with her husband and 2 kids and her father next door. So, I was very glad to hear- "Hey Sarah! What's up with Larry?" coming through the door. I have to say that I am always impressed by the Germantown Rescue Squad people! They are always so great! Which really helps when you are in a stressful situation like that.
They get him off of the floor and onto the stretcher and haul him away, while I change from my jammies to clothes, take the dog out and get in the van to follow. I got to see the baker guy making bread at the bakery in the Falls. Not something you normally see because who in their right mind is driving around at 4:00am???
In the emergency room they do all the tests and xrays and a cat-scan of his head (To make sure he didn't have a stroke) Looks like he's pretty dehydrated. Well, that is a Duh- but, OK- now what? Well, he gets admitted and put in isolation (for the C-diff) and given fluids. And on Friday, no fluids get taken off at dialysis, just clean his blood and all weekend he got to rest up in the hospital while they try to get rid of the C-Diff and keep him hydrated. So, he wasn't too happy to be stuck in the hospital all weekend, but, at least they are letting him out tomorrow after dialysis. And that's the way the ball bounces.
I myself personally, also got some rest. I went to bed at 9:00 pm for the last few nights. Tonight I am going to get Chinese take-out for dinner and watch something other that a football game! Last chance I'll get for that for awhile, so I plan to enjoy it!
And did I mention that we had another 6 inches of snow last night? Yeah baby! I have no idea where the heck I am going to go with any more snow. I had to shovel around the ramp before I could shovel the ramp. Oh well, it could be worse! We could have gotten that ice storm that they got south of here! That would NOT have been fun, so I am grateful. And I really don't mind the snow. I just wish a little would melt before piling more on.
2 years ago, I made these ice luminarias- Martha Stewart had them in her magazine. They were beautiful in Martha's magazine. So, I got my 5 gallon buckets and my smaller buckets and over 2 weeks time made 15 ice luminarias-Very time consuming to make, but well worth the effort. They were beautiful! They will look so spiffy lining the front porch, all aglow on Christmas Eve.
As Christmas approached, the weather got warmer and warmer. By 2 days before Christmas, I had only 2 half luminarias left. I was very sad. I guess maybe I could have made those dang things again and that would have guaranteed a warm up!
Time to call my order in.

Ho-Ho-Ho! C-Diff for Christmas

Well, we got the results back from the stool sample we had to take in and Larry has C-diff. Caused by all of the antibiotics that he has been on in the last 10 days for the "unknown"infection- which turned out to be -a cold.
The poor guy was pooping like a goose for the last 4 days! I would think that at the hospital, they would automatically give these elderly people who they load down with antibiotics the c-diff poop test, because apparently, it is quite common. And not entirely easy to get rid of once it really takes hold. Well, I am just intending that we caught it early and this course of antibiotics (Which really is counter-intuitive to me to give someone an antibiotic for an ailment caused by an antibiotic) will take care of it and Lar will feel better!
We had yet more snow yesterday. It is beautiful outside- all white and pretty. But, I wish some would melt because I don't know where to go with the stuff along the ramp and porch! I am going to have to shovel the stuff that I shoveled-not fun : ( I also had to get the roof rake going and try to clear snow from the eaves. We have major icicles going on and I don't want the ice to damn up under the shingles. That is bad!!! We don't like that! We really try to keep the ice from building up whenever we can! The good news is, it is sunny right now, so maybe some will melt. From the roof- from the walks- from the driveway- from the car.
I hope Larry is feeling a little better! I think they took too much fluid off of him at dialysis today, so he was very nauseous and cold when I got him home. We will have to talk to them on Friday when he goes in.

And then off to the Hospital

Well........ we wound up at the emergency room and at the hospital for 3 days. Larry went to the Dr. on Wednesday and she looked at him and said-"To the hospital you go!" You really can't take chances when an elderly person has as many medical issues as Larry does. They were worried that it was pneumonia, or some other type of infection. So they ran tests and drew blood and took xrays- 6 1/2 hours worth in the emergency room. And then they admitted him FINALLY at 8:15 Pm and pretty much did nothing except keep an eye on him. On Thurs, the hospitalist,Dr. Choitani finally came in at 5:00 pm (I had been waiting since 9:00am, but you just never know when they will show up, so you just have to wait). He said that he thought that Larry just had a viral infection- a cold- and that was it. But they were having the pulmonologist check him out also, just to make sure. The pulmanologist agreed- Viral- probably a cold. OK.
So Friday, they do dialysis at the hospital and when he gets back to the room at 1:00, I ask the nurse if he is being discharged.
"Well, No, he isn't" she says.
Why on earth not? says I.
"Well, we didn't get any orders."
Well......do we think that perhaps we could contact the Doctor and check?
So, she calls Dr. C. and he says that he will be down in 15 minutes. When he gets there, he agrees- we are not treating anything here, he is feeling OK, eating OK, walking OK, so off we can go...eventually.
As anyone who has ever been in the hospital knows, gets discharged is not always quick and/or easy. But finally at 4:15, we got out.
Last night he was just happy to be home, but today, he is feeling not so hot. Lots of phlem again, which makes him nauseous, so he puked up his breakfast and didn't want to eat lunch, but I made him eat a little soup and some crackers. He also has diarrhea, so was running to the john all night and all am. That is probably from all of the antibiotics that they had been giving him before they figured out that antibiotics wouldn't help what he has. So, we are getting lots of moans and groans and I feel like banging my head on the wall. He was doing so much better at the hospital.
I did put up the tree, so that should cheer him up a little bit.
And we are getting more snow! Oy-vey! I am already tired from the shoveling! This will be the 4th storm in a week! Oh-well!
Maybe I can build a snowman!

More Snow and to the Doctor We Go!

Well, We got 6 more inches of snow last night. Very pretty, fluffy snow....that I had to get up at 5:00am to shovel.
Larry has had a cold for the last few days and is really feeling bad today. He is coughing and sniffly, nose running, fever. I took him to the Dr. yesterday and she started him on an antibiotic because of his lung having fluid in it, she does not want it to turn to pneumonia. I have to agree- we don't want pneumonia. The antibiotics were $74.00 and that was just the co-pay part that I had to pay! Good thing it isn't something he is going to need a refill on.
We are heading back to the Dr. in an hour so she can recheck that lung and make sure that it is not filling up. At least it is sunny!!!

It's a HEAVY snow!!!

Man oh man! This is some HEAVY snow!!!! Biz never got out last night. She must have gotten out early this morning though because she has not called yet. I got up and started shoveling and I have to tell you..... wet, heavy snow is not fun to shovel! Very pretty, but a bugger to lift off the walkways! I am also kind of effectively stranded for the time being because the snow is so heavy and deep at the ends of the driveways that it is impossible to drive through. So, I am waiting for the guy to plow out the grade school so I can get the van out. He just started to plow a little while ago so- it will be about 3:00pm before I can get through. Phrog was going to call Jeff (who plows the driveways for us) and see if he was coming today. He does it as a favor to Phrog , that started when Mom was alive. He would come and plow and shovel...I swear that he would have come in and done the dishes if I had needed help with that too! He is just a very nice young man and every year, when it snows, he comes and plows both driveways and does such a neat and tidy job, that it is amazing! And quick! I never take it for granted that he will show up, but he always does.
It does not appear that I am making it to Slinger for the baby shower for my nephew, Matt's girlfriend. Shucks! I will just have to drop off the gifts from Biz and myself later this week.
Larry is in heaven watching football today. I guess that I will start listing stuff on ebay.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!!

It has been awhile since I have been on the Blog. Last time I wrote, Jimmy was just getting home from rehab and Tuesday night, he passed away. 6 weeks. It is a blessing that he went so quick because he was in a whole lot of pain most of the time. The hospice people never seemed to really get a handle on how fast he was worsening and definitely did not control his pain anywhere NEAR sufficiently until the very end. Monday afternoon they finally put him on a morphine drip where he could give himself morphine as often as every 15 minutes. FINALLY!!! He was not in writhing agony.
Evie took to her bed and would hardly get up or eat or drink while Jim was in such excruciating pain out in the living room. The poor lady! She did not know what to do to help her husband. So, she decided that maybe she could could beat him to heaven and just stopped eating or getting up.
I have no idea what the heck was going on with the hospice, but- I wouldn't pick that group-HORIZON- to care for a dog, much less a person. They had 24 hour care and while the CNAs were all nice, they really had no clue what to do to help Jim. And it isn't really their fault, it is the fault of the training that they are given-or to be precise-NOT GIVEN! The girl who was on duty when Jim passed was terrified of being in the room with a dead person (Do you think she chose the wrong vocation perhaps?) and had no idea what to do when he passed away. Jim's grand daughter was there and made the calls that needed to be made. And she is not a health care professional- she is a real estate agent! Yet, she seemed to be able to handle the details that should have been handled by the aide.
I just know that when we had Horizon for Mom, they did a good job, but all they had to do was make sure that we had the meds and stuff and I did not even need anyone to come out and help us. We had been caring for her for so long, that I certainly could handle helping her stay comfortable while she was getting ready to make her transition. We even painted the living room and dining room after we brought her home. She had been bugging me to paint the living room chartreuse (Yeah, I know and that's why I wouldn't do it before) because she really was into flashy color schemes. (I can tell you stories about colors rooms have been in my life time!) So, we asked if the painting would affect anything adversely, told the nurse what we were doing and painted the living room chartreuse and red and the dining room red and royal blue. Mom always loved a project, so I am sure that even though she was on the bed, she was in her glory, that she finally got the living room painted the way she had wanted!
I really like it-Mushy hates it and gets all bucky about it, but, hey, she doesn't live here.
Anyhow, Jim is gone and they are going to move Evie up to Manitowoc so that she is closer to the 2 daughters. We all thought that she was going to will herself to die right after Jim, but apparently, she is perking up and getting dressed, eating, etc. So, perhaps with Jim at peace, she has regained a little bit of a will to live. She is a sweetheart and I am glad that she is doing a little better. I just want her to be as happy as she can be while she is still here on this earth.
We had Thanksgiving at Katie's house. It was quiet and uneventful. Biz flew in on the 11:30 pm flight on the Wednesday and then had to stay up late on Thursday nite to try to auto out of the rest of her trip so that she could stay up for the week on a FMLA. It worked and she got to stay through until today. We put up Christmas decorations, bought the tree, got an electric "fire" insert for the fireplace so it looks like we have a fire going, but without the real logs and flames (Which I love but Phrog says Ix nay on the logs-ay. No fire for you! Because he is worried that the chimney is not working correctly or something. I don't know- I just know that he blows a gasket every time I mention "Fire in the fireplace".) She took Larry to dialysis so I could sleep in and sat with him when I went to see a movie and went out for dinner and several other little things that I normally can't just do without planning how long I will be gone and how will Larry get food, etc. So, it was really, really nice. I feel so much better-almost as if I went on a little vacation. BUT....This is the let it snow part.....Biz is down at the airport and thinks that her flight is probably getting out ,even though we are having the first storm of the year. With snow and wind and rain and sleet. It is pretty ucky out. But she says they are plowing the runways and they are going!
I walked down to see the Germantown Christmas parade with my friend Sharon before. Also very snowy and wet there! Winter in Wisconsin! And, we get to shovel yet! Happy day!