Thursday evening - heading home perhaps!

Dear Friends and Family,

Its about 6 pm here in our new shared room, 2122. We have adequate room and Nan is sleeping. She is much better today, has called me many times today on her cell and has orchestrated getting to go home by noon tomorrow. I am delighted but have one concern. She is lucid, has good strength and her PH is now 18 on a 20 scale when it was once 6. Her nutrition is much better and Peter the discharge nurse has arranged for a visiting nurse to meet us at 1 pm tomorrow or thereafter to teach us how to hang a bag of TPN and to care for Nan. I will be able to stay home with her over the weekend and visitors would be welcome, come share our back deck in the sun or shade and sip whatever you bring to drink, I'll have cold water! We have just one problem. Nan's stomach continues to cramp and cause severe pains and here in the hospital she is not being allowed to have accifex or anything for her stomach. They just point at the tpn bag and say, its in there. Well if it is, its not working on her pain. She has ended up taking 1/2 mg of dilotod to cope with the stomach pain. We thought perhaps it was the activa yogurt so tried jello tonight, no different, we thought perhaps it was the Boost so we tried the other stuff with no milk in it, same pains. She has to eat a little to take her Gleevec and it may be the Gleevec that is causing the pain since she eats so little food with it at the time.

So the plan is to drive home around noon tomorrow, see the home health person and start enjoying home again. Dana has assured us that she is coming on tuesday and her coming will help so much as she will be able to be with Nan all the time keeping her safe and provide someone to play Gin Rummy with. Nan says the difference between Dana and me is that Dana is capable of actually learning the game, wonder what she is really saying!!

Today I am 58 years old and overall I feel fine healthwise. Been sort of stressed out trying to balance hospital and appraisal work and have managed to do some of both this week. It is so good to see Nan alert, engaged in life and making decisions once again. I think she may have even gained a bit of weight, not sure about that. We have learned that due to the large amount of large bowel she has lost through various surgeries that she will be taking something to keep her PH in better balance in the future, like bicarbonate pills or something. She hates them but in spite of that we will need to do what we need to do to keep her strong, like it or not. Once in a while being stubborn is not the best attribute to have, usually it is good for getting well but once in awhile it gets in the way of recovery.

We have found out that we will be having two different visiting nurses, one for the incision wound care and eventual wound vac. The other for the TPN and PICC line maintenance. Interesting, we see so much waste in the medical system, its no wonder the costs have gone so high, we have been treated very well by the system and is has done wonders for Nan but we still see many things that logic would say could be done much more cheaply and faster resulting in better patient care. Old ways tend to die hard though.

This evening needs to find me writing appraisals, great plan, hope I get around to it. I've been to Dixon, Modesto, Discovery Bay, Byron and Concord this week to see properties. Unfortunately values are not so good and many people's hopes are not reached when we look hard at sales in their neighborhoods. Still we try to be fair and reflect the improvements people have made to their homes and tell the real story about the properties. Sometimes the real story should be left untold, we see real messes sometimes and its hard to break it to owners that their mess is not equal to the total remodel down the street.

We are thankful this evening for family, friends, cards, CDs that have been sent and for phone calls of comfort and strength. We do not know the future, no one does but I really have a hard time placing much thought into more than the next day, so many times I started to look ahead and its not worked out, now I just keep in the present. But the present is pretty good because Nan has come through it all and is in the present with us. She is far from giving up or giving in. She has plans, hopes and wants to get strong again, travel, drive, play with Keanna, visit the kids, cook, buy fish for her reef tank, get her doggies groomed... she has plans.

My hunger has now overcome my love of blogging, so I'll say good night now. Please pray that Nan's transition home will go smoothly and that the stomach pains can subside. Have a nice evening and thanks for everything, every good thought, every prayer, every card or CD, every donation, all have made a big difference and helped us get to this point in time.

love from

tim and nan
ps Have to share a touching moment from this morning, my cell rang and it was Keanna, Happy Birthday Papa, hope you are doing OK!, sweet words from Keanna. So today I talked to Nikki, Jason, STeve, Nate, Loree and got birthday greetings from all. Nice!!