Sunday morning - waiting for blood
Dear Family and Friends,
Just spoke to Nan, she had a good night, slept alot but is still waiting for the blood that was promised yesterday. She has a strange anti-body in her blood and it sometimes makes finding blood difficult. That is the case this time. She has not been able to have anything to eat or drink since midnight due to the upcoming test this morning to scope her digestive tract. She has had so little to eat since last Wednesday, however yesterday she was able to handle Jello, toasted cheese sandwich, watermelon and spaghetti with yummy cheese. So she actually got some calories finally yesterday. Our of all of this comes the good news that she does not have bowel blockage. Which should bode well for the future if we can locate the current problem and find a solution to it.
As I am writing Starr, Nan's pug, is sleeping and snoring in the background. They begged for and got a walk to our little park which is nearby. Starr and Lady love to do the park thing in the morning after which they come home and crash for awhile. They are good company when the house is so quiet.
Nan has a 92 gallon reef tank with salt water, favorite fish and corals, and plenty of other interesting creatures and plant life. We have been battling keeping it from getting too hot. We have a chiller, a small box that cools the water when it gets too warm. Yesterday morning before I drove in to see Nan found me taking the lid off the little device and vacuuming out a whole lot of dog hair from the vanes of the heat exchanger but even after I restarted it the tank remains too hot. This morning I made an interesting discovery, the internal heater for the tank which is supposed to come in when the tank water gets too cold appears to have malfunctioned and was trying to heat the tank while the chiller was trying to cool the tank. Those heaters are touchy and can easily slip up temperature wise and setting wise. Well for the immediate time I unplugged it, won't be needing any heat for several months and amazingly the temp in the tank began to drop.
Our son in law, Steve, is an expert on setting up and maintaining salt water tanks. He is just nearing the end of a long process where he is tearing down his 125 gallon tank, selling the beautiful corals and fish life and moving on to a new adventure. Steve can do anything he sets his mind to. He is full of energy, brilliant and capable of doing a great job over a wide spectrum of life, he is a great wake boarder, excellent landscaper, professional appraiser, knows fish tanks inside and out, is a very hard worker, a tender and caring father who actually cares for Keanna for days at a time when Nikki is traveling for her work. He is the most amazing man I have ever seen and Nan and I have the privilege of having him in our family. I do not mean to suggest that he is perfect, no one is, but he is a very caring and capable human being that we love with all our hearts. We feel very fortunate that he and Nikki found each other years ago and now live nearby.
Well I am doing some basic appraisal research this morning and then heading over to the hospital to be with Nan. We may find out some answers today regarding her upper GI, we certainly hope so.
Amazingly through all of this stuff of the last 3 months Nan remains optomistic, calm, faithful and just keeps looking great. Dr. George and Yvonne Miller, who visited yesterday, remarked on how good she looks. People are amazed at how beautiful she remains in spite of the many dangers and perils she has been through.
Our weather is wonderful right now, 60 degree nights, cool days and it reminds me of why we love CA so much.
Amy, if you happen to still be reading the blog, could you email me directly at mustards@jps.net. We are still considering documenting these last few years and especially the last couple months and Amy, you have information and insight that no one else has. We are thinking of a book which would include a chapter written by Dr. B if she would consider it and a chapter from the ICU if you, Amy, would consider it. We would like the book to be inspirational and give hope to others who may be facing tough odds with cancer.
Well its off to do some research, shower, eat and hit the road. Concord is about 45 minutes away from Discovery Bay where we reside on a sunday and about an hour or more on a workday, traffic everywhere. I have to watch myself here, when I drive like I am in Boston people tend to get offended, don't they know the horn was made to be honked and that red lights were made to be run occasionally.!! Need to be careful to control our risks.
Please continue to pray for Nan, that she can be home soon and really get her recover going while riding her recliner. Please pray that they can locate the cause of the vomiting.
Thanks for reading, for responding and for your continual love,
tim and nan
Just spoke to Nan, she had a good night, slept alot but is still waiting for the blood that was promised yesterday. She has a strange anti-body in her blood and it sometimes makes finding blood difficult. That is the case this time. She has not been able to have anything to eat or drink since midnight due to the upcoming test this morning to scope her digestive tract. She has had so little to eat since last Wednesday, however yesterday she was able to handle Jello, toasted cheese sandwich, watermelon and spaghetti with yummy cheese. So she actually got some calories finally yesterday. Our of all of this comes the good news that she does not have bowel blockage. Which should bode well for the future if we can locate the current problem and find a solution to it.
As I am writing Starr, Nan's pug, is sleeping and snoring in the background. They begged for and got a walk to our little park which is nearby. Starr and Lady love to do the park thing in the morning after which they come home and crash for awhile. They are good company when the house is so quiet.
Nan has a 92 gallon reef tank with salt water, favorite fish and corals, and plenty of other interesting creatures and plant life. We have been battling keeping it from getting too hot. We have a chiller, a small box that cools the water when it gets too warm. Yesterday morning before I drove in to see Nan found me taking the lid off the little device and vacuuming out a whole lot of dog hair from the vanes of the heat exchanger but even after I restarted it the tank remains too hot. This morning I made an interesting discovery, the internal heater for the tank which is supposed to come in when the tank water gets too cold appears to have malfunctioned and was trying to heat the tank while the chiller was trying to cool the tank. Those heaters are touchy and can easily slip up temperature wise and setting wise. Well for the immediate time I unplugged it, won't be needing any heat for several months and amazingly the temp in the tank began to drop.
Our son in law, Steve, is an expert on setting up and maintaining salt water tanks. He is just nearing the end of a long process where he is tearing down his 125 gallon tank, selling the beautiful corals and fish life and moving on to a new adventure. Steve can do anything he sets his mind to. He is full of energy, brilliant and capable of doing a great job over a wide spectrum of life, he is a great wake boarder, excellent landscaper, professional appraiser, knows fish tanks inside and out, is a very hard worker, a tender and caring father who actually cares for Keanna for days at a time when Nikki is traveling for her work. He is the most amazing man I have ever seen and Nan and I have the privilege of having him in our family. I do not mean to suggest that he is perfect, no one is, but he is a very caring and capable human being that we love with all our hearts. We feel very fortunate that he and Nikki found each other years ago and now live nearby.
Well I am doing some basic appraisal research this morning and then heading over to the hospital to be with Nan. We may find out some answers today regarding her upper GI, we certainly hope so.
Amazingly through all of this stuff of the last 3 months Nan remains optomistic, calm, faithful and just keeps looking great. Dr. George and Yvonne Miller, who visited yesterday, remarked on how good she looks. People are amazed at how beautiful she remains in spite of the many dangers and perils she has been through.
Our weather is wonderful right now, 60 degree nights, cool days and it reminds me of why we love CA so much.
Amy, if you happen to still be reading the blog, could you email me directly at mustards@jps.net. We are still considering documenting these last few years and especially the last couple months and Amy, you have information and insight that no one else has. We are thinking of a book which would include a chapter written by Dr. B if she would consider it and a chapter from the ICU if you, Amy, would consider it. We would like the book to be inspirational and give hope to others who may be facing tough odds with cancer.
Well its off to do some research, shower, eat and hit the road. Concord is about 45 minutes away from Discovery Bay where we reside on a sunday and about an hour or more on a workday, traffic everywhere. I have to watch myself here, when I drive like I am in Boston people tend to get offended, don't they know the horn was made to be honked and that red lights were made to be run occasionally.!! Need to be careful to control our risks.
Please continue to pray for Nan, that she can be home soon and really get her recover going while riding her recliner. Please pray that they can locate the cause of the vomiting.
Thanks for reading, for responding and for your continual love,
tim and nan
posted by Tim Mustard @ 7:34 AM
2 Comments:
At 10:12 AM,
Anonymous said…
This is more to those reading the comments than to Nan & Tim. We drove over to Concord not knowing in what condition we would find Nan. She looked great...a little 'tanned' from residual jaundice, but seemed to be doing well. Nikki & Keanna were there with Keanna charming everyone. She likes to hug which can melt any heart. Tim was very upbeat. He was very appreciative to everyone working with Nan. Patients and family often do not notice what the nurses and workers do for the patients so the 'thanks' uplifts everyone. Tim has had an education during this process. I can remember after the first surgery he said he didn't know what to do for Nan and I said just be there. Now he is very involved, answering questions the nurses ask, explaining to us the procedures and generally 'Mr. Info'. Nan had just been up walking and was resting on her special neck pillow. The window seat (as Tim called it) is about a single bed size with a small (in thickness) mattress on it so Tim can relax as he monitors the activity. The dietician came in to ask about Nan's likes & dislikes. She doesn't like fish but loves watermelon. Would like it every meal!! While we were there the nurse, physical therapist, and 2 people drawing blood to cross match were some of the activity. As we were leaving another patient was brought into the room. We had a good feeling that Nan was in good hands. Keep up your courage, Tim & Nan. We are praying that this problem will be solved and Nan can again be home.
Love, Yvonne & George
At 4:24 PM,
Anonymous said…
Nan does look great. Thinner than usual but looks really good. Oddly the hospitol bed makes her look smaller. But WOW she looks great after three months of solid hell and years of fighting. Keep going Nan. You make us all have hope.
Pam :)
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