Wonderful friends to the rescue!!

Dear Friends and Family,

What a day!

We went to bed last night early and Nan slept about 3 hours before waking up vomiting, then a couple hours and then about an hour the next time. She rested in between the bouts with nausea. Finally we headed downstairs where she has spent the entire day on the cough, I worked in the office which is right beside the family room so I could hear her if she needed help. Over and over again she was sick, dozens of times during the day and a few minutes of restless sleep in between. She tried sips of ice water, ice chips, gatoraide and it all came back up in greater volume. Finally we called to see what Dr. was on call this weekend and got her regular Dr. Melnyk. Both she and I talked with him and he said sort of what we had been thinking, that we were doing everything for her at home that they would do in the hospital so we settled in. He prescribed Adavan, called it to Longs in Brentwood. We needed to pick up the sea sick patches from Longs anyway so I drove in. Sandy was on duty, she has taken great care of us over the years and reminded us we also had fenergan patches to pick up. When I got home I read the drug descriptions for each of the drugs trying to stop any problems. I was struck by the first and second side affect of the fenergan patches, nausea and vomiting. I started to think about when nan became more and more sick and how that related to when we got the patches and started them. About that time Steve Ahn and Syliva called to say they were bringing our laundry by. When they arrived I discussed the possibility of nan reacting to the patches, could that be causing the nausea? It was generally felt that the only way to tell for sure was to take away the patch and see if she improved. Of course that meant that she would be losing the pain control benefit that the patches provide. She decided to give it a try so the patch came off. A little earlier I had called Pam to see if she could come to sit with Nan because I had a business meeting with an associate at 7 and nan needed a friend. So while STeve and Sylvia were still here Pam and Shawn Want arrived bearing peppermint candy. Pam went to work on Nan immediatelly rubbing her head and temples like only Pam can do and had Nan lick the peppermint stick. Well I'm not sure why but since the patch came off and the peppermint went in Nan has not had an episode of vomiting and it has been hours now. She melted a Adavan under her tongue when I first came home from the pharmacy and a side effect of that drug is getting sleepy. Nan fell asleep and has been dozing through dogs barking, people leaving and now I have both her IV fluid and her TPN ready when she wakes. I am so glad that she is sleeping that I'm in no rush to wake her. She asked Pam to wait until she woke up but Pam and Shawn finally had to head home with Nan still sleeping. I am so relieved that Nan is resting.

I have no idea at this point if the vomiting is going to taper off or not but the signs are pretty good that something has helped. By morning we will know for sure. I have prayed many times today that God would continue in the good healing work He started in Boston, Nan was as sick as I have ever seen other than after surgery. Our children are so kind, Nikki and Keanna came by for awhile which Nan appreciated very much, Jason called from LA and Jo from MBA, Sharon called from Texas and David, her brother, also called.

I was facing an extremely important work day with about 10 reports to complete. Well at this point I have finished 4, am well into the 5th and have entered into an arrangement with Jean, a licensed appraiser who is willing to write report and help me like Nate used to. She came at 7 to get software and to hammer out the details of data transmission. I am really glad to have her help. She just retired from 31 years with the phone company and is ready for something new.

My brother Jerry called today. He had just gotten to his Sacramento place after driving a train down from Dunsmuir all night. It is always great to talk to him. Art called to say he can come sit with Nan tomorrow and work in the yard, that is such a relief because I need to be gone for a few hours during the middle of the day to see a property. Barb and Gerry called to let us know they can come to help on wednesday and stay through friday, that was wonderful news. So you can see why I started the blog, wonderful friends to the rescue. It has been a day of people helping with assurances of more help to come this week. It is hard to describe to friends what it means to have them come to visit. At this point in time it is far more than social. There are times when my ability to cope with the many challenges and keep them in proper priority is challenged and I just feel stress pressure in my chest, not heart pains, just stress pressure. When friends come Nan and I both have someone to talk to, someone to help nan with little things she might want to do, like Pam rubbing her temples, Nan absolutely loves that and it helps her relax and feel human again after all the suffering. Friends and family help carry the reality load even if just for a few minutes, what a difference their contact, words and help make for hours afterwards.

We missed Luela coming on Sabbath but we totally understand that her life suddenly got very busy and complicated this week and when we get to see her we'll enjoy her then. Our visit with Bob and Carrol struck just the right note and everything worked out fine other than Nan starting to get sick around 4 pm.

So I thank my Heavenly Father for friends and family, for their tangible help, kind words, and willingness to drive miles out of their way to help us. We just can't wait until we are on our feet and can start helping others, we have sure been shown the ways of kindness over the last 4 months.

I'm not sure what to do right now, I need to get the TPN and hydration going into Nan but I hate to wake her. If she does not wake by 11 pm then I'm going to hook her up anyway. I want fluids going into her body to help her.

Thank you one and all for your help today and for your prayers for our sweet Nan. She has been through a lot today and her friends lifted her through.

We send our love and appreciation. Tomorrow we start the challenging task of finding someone to look over the washer, to see if it is worth saving or not. Linen is starting to stack up, funny how one takes something like a washing machine for granted until it grinds and groans.

Sincerely,

tim and nan