Weeks end finally - Nan is doing OK

Dear Friends, Family and GISTers,

It is finally Friday evening, the sun is setting over the lake and Nan is relaxing in her recliner, the very one she so looked forward to for weeks while in Boston. Starr has even been a pretty good dog today. While I have been gone most of the day, from 10:45 this morning until 6 pm this evening Nan has been alternating between resting and sitting up. Overall she feels pretty OK this evening but feels like she has something lodged in her throat and has felt that way all day. This evening she enjoyed some of that wonderful pasta dish Mary brought over and had a bag of various little treats along with a glass of ice which she put water over. She says she has had lots to drink today including a couple hot drinks this morning, Mocha, Gatoraide, Spring water etc. We changed her dressing when we first woke up this morning at 6 am and pretty soon we will prepare a new TPN bag for the next 24 hours.

My day included taking the rental car back and getting my repaired VW out. The bill was only $148 and I then proceeded to drive it over the Altamont Pass, to Burlingame which is about an hour distant, then around that neighborhood to shoot photos of comparable properties, then up 101 to be in traffic for about an hour getting to and going across the bay bridge, then to a tiny house in Oakland by where the A's play for a third and final reinspection to see if they had removed the security bars from the windows, this time they were gone, YES! Then grab 680 to 13 to 24 and the next stop was Moraga. This appraisal was just a driveby, meaning we slow up in front, take some notes about what we see, shoot front and street scene and then shoot the comps and leave the neighborhood, done! Then I caught 24 again, took off through Walnut Creek and using a narrow back road arrived home safely. The car never even hinted of stopping today so I think they have fixed it. Funny the VW dealer in Modesto had no idea of what was wrong and this Tracy dealership had a VW bulletin about the problem and fixed in immediatelly for a lot less money than the other place. I may just send the Modesto dealership a letter laying out my case why they blew it and caused me a lot of grief in the process plus wasted valuable money, precious money and large amounts of it. Enough, I got home safely and enjoyed having my own car back with its XM radio and wonderful classical music on 110. No commercials, just great music, today there was some Stravinsky that was incredible and filled the car with strange sounds and vibes.

We really need to grab those blessings God sends when we can, a car that runs, work to do, pleasant people to visit with at the home, beautiful music and a wonderful woman to come home to. A woman who is getting gradually stronger and better. We still have lots of issues but they are on a different level than before I believe.

I would like say how much I enjoy talking to Jerry on the phone, he is a brother that means a lot to me and never seems to be too busy to listen to my gripping or problems. We are enjoying the beautiful roses that Irene made possible, had a wonderful dinner at Olive Garden and a beautiful ballon. Sure livens the place up.

Our two kitties, George and Moo Moo are settling in well. They keep Starr constantly worried but don't run from her at all, just hiss and hold their groung. Nikki and Steve let us use a huge cat scratcher with many levels, they love it and can always get away from Starr if they need to. George loves to hide and then reach out with his soft white paws and grap your leg as you walk by, cute little kitties who love to eat the dogs food. Barking kitties!!

We are both glad that its the weekend now so I won't be gone so much and we can do little things together like take short walks and sit and talk. Nan opens the mail and has started writing checks when we have money to write with. Loree is good about getting the checks that come as payment for appraisals into the bank quickly, in fact Loree is good about everything. She takes the phones, logs payment for appraisals in our OM system, sets up orders and helps with appointments. She also helps with Nan when something special is needed. After years of driving her Suburban she recently got a new Denali, it is beautiful in every possible way, nice car for the family.

I just ran out and mowed my front lawn, only takes 5 minutes but sure looks better, makes the place look like someone actually lives here. Thanks to Gerry our cars are clean and respectable right now, that is if I can keep the birds from dropping whiteout on them. We might screw up courage and try church tomorrow, its up to how strong Nan feels in the morning, I doubt it but we will see. We are looking forward to Sharon's upcoming visit. This weekend Dana and Jonathan have driven down to the valley to see Sharon. Scary thing is Dana was going to have Jonathan do most of the driving, he is a brand new driver and Nan was feeling some concern for their safety. Dana is there to relieve Sharon of one of her dogs, like Dana needs more animals, not! Poor Ronnie, did he know all of this before they married? Doubt it. Just kidding, Dana is a great caring lady who gets things done big time. She sure helped us a lot.

Well its time to do the TPN bag, take the white bag out of the frig, lay it on a paper towel, take the vitamins and pepcid out of the frig, get a needle, sanitize tops of vitamins and then poke needle in and draw out 5 ml of each bottle, discard bottles, connect pepcid to needle and insert into one way valve on TPN bag, then connect TPN bag to tubing and prime by pushing on the bag until the entire line is full of TPN and there is no air bubbles. Then unhood prior line from Nan's PICC line, saline flush to clear line, connect new line, replace batteries in pump, hook line up to pump, turn on pump, run through sequence of programming says yes when asked and then let her rip. Nothing to it, throw everything away that is leftovers, highly likely for infection if touched.

So I'd better go do it. Would be nice to see you this weekend but call first, Nan's social schedule fills quickly, not, just kidding. We sit here and look at each other and I try to figure out ways I can get her interested in eating and she trys to control nausea and pain.

Thank you for your continual prayers on Nan's behalf. We know God is not through with her yet, the future will be interesting!

love

tim and nan