Doing OK

Dear Friends and Family,

We are doing OK. Sure not great but sure better than in the past. nan is resting now having just had her dressing changed on her decreasing incision wound, taken her Bactrim Suspense antibiotic which she says tastes like the hair of the dog, isn't that a drinking term? Where did she learn that, was there a secret life sometime along the way? She had to be alone for several hours today, from 11 am until 5:30 pm. During that time she experienced a wardrobe malfunction, actually a bag let go. Loree was working in the office and was absolutely wonderful with her help as Nan had to recover, install a new bag, change her dressing, change her gown, disconnect and reconnect TPN line. Well the two of them did it all.

I planned to take my VW to a repair shop I trust, harry's auto in Pleasanton, a very good guy and totally honest. My friend Art's son in law is the owner. But when I called Enterprise for a rental all they had were SUVs for $64 plus tax per day. They said call later so I trusted the bug to Oakland for a noon appointment, then a second Oakland appointment, then back to Pleasanton to a 3 million dollar 6 acre property, then I called enterprise again and still nothing but SUVs. Considering that I am driving about 150 miles tomorrow past Modesto and down to Madera I quickly determined that to drive a big rig like that would eat up my profit so I decided to take the car to Harry's another day and came back to Brentwood and back over a gravel road for a couple miles, well on that road the car died but in two minutes it started again and that was my only let down all day. yes I do tend to stay in the slow lane on the freeway so I can get off if I need to and I do tend to notice whether there is room on the shoulder for me to get off. My family and especially Dana is urging me to yell at the Modesto VW repair place that DID NOT REPAIR THE PROBLEM but I really don't want to spend any more money there when the problem is so hit and miss that they might never solve it. So tomorrow I am driving the bug to Madera and Ceres and then home, the next day to Burlingame, Fremont and who knows where else.

My personal assistant Nate is away for a couple weeks on medical leave so I'm learning how to do it all again myself, not enough hours and God is blessing with lots of orders again right now, FHAs coming out of the woodwork.

Nan had a big breakfast this morning, we got up and had hot drinks together, then she had English Muffin with peanut butter and a peach with grape juice I think, during the day she had Triscuits and tonight she had another peach with ice cream. She is loaded up with a new TPN bag for the next 24 hours and a delivery guy brought 7 bags tonight which we have to keep in the frig. One of her PICC lines has plugged so our wonderful nurse will come tomorrow and try to use a special solution to unstick it. The other nurse is going to come when she can to try to make the nephrostomy connection more comfortable, right now it is burning most of the time, not a fun sensation.

nan was able to find a special deal on tickets from Harlingen so we get to have Sharon visit arriving on the 13th and having to go back on the 19th of Sept. We can't wait. We love having company, Dana says she is finally rested up from going home so tired from all the painting and cleaning she did out here, our floors shine where she moped and cleaned. Our kitchen shines from Barbie and our fence stands again thanks to Gerry. We look forward to seeing Sharon again. We have the best friends and family. Speaking of family I was thinking about our children while I drove today. Our kids, Nikki and Jason, STeve and Jo are so special to us. They call in all the time to find out how Mom is doing, they come by when they can, they bring the most wonderful gifts, flowers, food. I really appreciate the maturity and generosity of out wonderful children and of course our favorite happy moments are when Keanna comes through the door, what a great and energetic child. Of course we think she is brilliant and stunningly special.

We can see the gradual improvement taking place in Nan. She is stronger, has much less stomach upset and pains, overall less nausea, still battles a lot of back pain. She was on the computer today writing emails and searching for things, she loves to get emails from people and today Irene was kind enough to call and she and nan caught up on important things like Irene's kitchen remodel, church work and Nan's progress. We heard from our friend Pam Whitted three times today and are glad that she is back from Walla Walla and is feeling better.

Lets just keep praying a blended prayer of thanks and appreciation along with requesting healing and recovery.

Thanks so much for your love,

tim and nan