Rough day - seeking relief

Dear Freinds, Family and Fellow Gisters,

This is a sad evening here in our family room. Nan is once again very ill. She is vomiting nearly comstantly this evening. She had made it from yesterday morning all through the day and the night before becoming ill today again. This afternoon she developed a headache so severe that it seemed to trigger the vomiting and since then it has been nearly constant. It is so frustrating to me personally to see Nan in such distress without being able to solve her problems. It is rare when she is so sick that she can't sleep yet that was the case late this afternoon. I was in the office and she called me on the intercom system, "come get me" was all she said. I wasn't sure if we were on our way to ER or what. She meant she needed help as she had thrown up, her little basin was full and she wanted to come down to her chair so thats what we did, came down. She settled into her chair but was too hot, too cold, and then started to throw up over and over. We tried a popsickle but that came back up along with the water and her toe nails I think.

Nikki called this morning and mom was doing pretty well and resting in bed so I went over and we took Keanna to Sabbath School in Tracy, Keanna was so cute today in her pretty dress and her hair was lovely. She enjoyed SS and seeing her friends and Nikki and I had a moment to bring our many church friends up to date on Nan's transfusion and general condition. Then we headed home stopping in a punkin patch for photos and to select one for Nikkis front porch. Keanna and Nikki agreed on a small but attractive one. Then I came home to find Nan doing pretty well. The wound care nurse came and replaced the wound sponge and installed a new dressing lock for Nan's nephrostomy. The tube had come completely lose and was slipping in and out of Nan's back without any restraint. When we discovered it we threw on a tagoderm to hold things in place until the nurse could come. After the nurse left our friends Bob and Carol arrived from Lodi. They did not come empty handed and brought a sugar free Marie Calendar apple pie and they even brought their own ice cream. It was very good and we all enjoyed a piece. Bob sure knows his way around the kitchen and left things clean and in good shape. We enjoyed our time with Bob and Carol so much and know that as of monday Carol faces another round of chemo, 28 days have passed already. They shared their photos of their Tahoe trip on the steam wheeler which takes a beautiful trip out onto the Lake and into Emerald Bay and back. We are so glad they got to take the Tahoe trip and spend a few days there in perfect weather. Last year we did the same thing and loved it on the lake.

Finally since I have started doing this blog Nan has fallen asleep on the couch. I was praying for God to help her, I dread the night, I just hope she can rest comfortably tonight. Not knowing what to do to help her I decided to start the hydration bag of saline and her next TPN a little early so right now both the TPN and the hydration bag are going in and she is resting quietly under two blankets and on about 5 pillows. She has a dog show on and the noise of the TV helps her sleep. One thing of note today was the canister on her wound vac lasted 27 hours and had only about 150 ml of fluid instead of 300 yesterday in that time period. On monday they will take a sample of the fluid to see what is going on with the wound. I think there are things going on inside that we do not understand, something does not want any food or water in her stomach tonight. During the day she has had a full bottle of water and another one during the night. This afternoon her temp was only 96 or 97 per the nurse.

Another interesting wrinkle in our current life situation is that our clothes washer has taken a dive, won't turn the agitator around now, will pump water in and out but makes a nasty sound. My first temptation is to dive in and tear it apart and attempt a fix. However I have about 9 appraisals to write and complete and it makes more sense for me to do what I do and let a service person do what they do. If the costs of repair are too high then we will consider buying a new one. This one is a Kenmore and has lots of years on it and its been faithful over the years but what a time for it to fail!! I've given some thought to the idea that God only allows what we can handle and that pressure builds deeper faith, so far I have my doubts but I do thank God every morning for another day for both of us, that we get to see Keanna, Nikki and Steve, that we get to celebrate Jason's birthday with he and Jo, that we have many blessings in spite of the extreme challenges we face.

After sundown tonight I waded into the stack of bills writing some checks as I could. Some money came in the mail today for which we are thankful. This coming week will be interesting since Loree is vacationing with her family on a houseboat on Lake Shasta so I'll be doing a bunch of call forwarding to my cell and trying to use my time as wisely as I can. I can only pray that Nan's health will improve to the point that I can be away part of the day since I have many appraisal orders to complete all over northern California. It will be an interesting week. Should any of you want to visit with Nan on any day please fee free to call and let us know. When Sylvia came on thursday Nan had a much better day than she would of otherwise. People do make a big difference for sure.

Providing Nan feels better tomorrow I will work very hard at my desk writing appraisals and try to catch up a bit. Our clients are patient but they can only wait so long for the finished appraisal or it hurts the homeowners loan.

I am finding myself nodding off as I write, I think I forgot to eat dinner tonight but the apple pie and ice cream was sure good this afternoon. I've got the dishes washed, the living room less cluttered, the medical supplies sorted and will park the bug back in the garage for the night. Now if Nan can just feel better, oh how I enjoy the minutes when she feels good. Someone mentioned today that from reading the blog they can follow our ups and downs. Well that is certainly true to life. Yesterday as we drove home from Concord and the hospital Nan felt good, had some burrito, enjoyed the evening with Pam and slept well last night. Now this evening things have turned rough again. I can only pray that Nan will be able to sleep well tonight.

Bob and Carrol brought us up to date on their friend who has been recovering from lung surgery for the past 3 weeks and finally he is doing better. He is still in the hospital but making some progress. Roger, our friend in N. Carolina who is recovering from a heart attack, is back on the roof cleaning gutters much to Carol's dismay. We continue to hope and pray for full recovery for Nan too.

We once again would like to express our gratitude to each of you for your prayers, for your emails, your expressions of support and for keeping Nan in your mind.

We send our love,

tim and nan