Blood tomorrow - walks today

Dear Friends and Family,

Nan is resting in his recliner and getting ready for bed soon. She has had a day with pain and accomplishment. She has experienced shooting pains in her lower back from time to time all day. Her feet and legs hurt a lot and require constant rubbing!! On her own volition we took two walks today which extended through the garage, out on the street and past our neighbors house and back. The second walk was with the wind at first which was fun and then coming back against the wind was not so much fun. But she did it and made it back in spite of having low hemoglobin of perhaps 8 or 8o.2. Tomorrow the plan is for her to get a transfusion and Blue Cross called today to say that our request for the procrit type shot has been approved and will start soon. This should help a lot toward building her blood in the future.

For breakfast today she had oatmeal and for dinner tonight she had cheese raviollis prepared by chef Timo. She snacked during the afternoon on nuts from her favorite jar of mixed nuts. She went through all our bills today and sorted them discovering in the process that many of them should have already been paid by now, of course there is little money for bills and payroll is tomorrow, oh Lord please prompt our clients to send payments.

This evening our lives were enhanced by a visit from Nikki and Keanna. Nikki always brings little things to make our lives better, tonight it was a Swifter to clean the floors, sometimes it is special cookies for me which are good for diabetics. She said she was coming so I started the hot water. She made pasta for Keanna. Keanna has decided she likes guava juice which we usually have on hand and she drank a glass tonight along with some apple juice. She discovered that the kittys food was out and the dogs had no water and urged me to help her feed and water the animals. She was fascinated by the cat box with its abilities to storage their waste in a bin. She watched in amazement as it worked and was quite impressed. I've got to admit, I'm impressed too. Thanks Pam for such a thoughtful gift. It has made our lives much better on a hourly basis. Speaking of nice gifts we daily thank Marilyn for her shopping spree, we eat oatmeal for breakfast, mac and cheese for dinner, use paper towels, even toilet paper, trash bags, storage bags. I hardly ever go near the grocery store anymore except for milk and bread. We have it all. I had a can of soup from her shopping spree which tastes totally homemade, so good and hearty. I often wonder how I will ever be able to make it up to all the people who have helped us over the past year. We have learned that a large gift which arrived at just the right moment several months ago came from David, Nan's brother. We had no idea, just knew it was a gift from God and we recently learned that it was from David. We are so thankful and Sharon has been so helpful over and over again with life changing assistance, I have no idea where we would be without the generosity from so many and especially from Texas. We have worked hard and lived well for years never expecting things to become this strained. nan has been so good about urging me to get out and go back to work this week and it has been an excellent week work wise due to her bravery and courage. We thank Sylvia for being here at just the right time and hope Joyce and Glen can come this weekend to visit. We know their lives are not easy with the many jobs they carry and the many people who depend on them for everything.

Nan has been urging me to build a small fire in the morning to take the chill off. We have enjoyed those fires and now appreciate the firewood we bought last spring, thanks Art for covering it before the rain. Today our little fire raise the temp. to 78 and the central AC came on. Well I turned it off for the season and just enjoyed being warm.

Tomorrow I will take nan to the Antioch hospital and then drive a couple hours down Freeway 5 to Los Banos to do an appraisal, then back to the Antioch hospital to pick her up after the blub as Keanna calls it is all in and completed. By Sabbath she should be feeling better we hope.

Our lives carry on as best we can. Nan is very weak, frequently experiences shooting pains, touches of nausea, draining bags but also enjoys her TV shows, Price is Right especially and Rachel Ray and the food channel. She enjoys nodding off to sleep for naps and likes the phone calls which come in from time to time. She often asks for my help and since I am in the next room working it is easy to slip in and help her out with things. She continues to give me advice on appraising and loves to see Steve and Keanna come for surprise visits when they can. Nan is doing the best she can with her present situation. Sooner or later urology will have to make a decision regarding dealing with the leaking areas. Some days are less, some more and as of yet God has not seen fit to heal the leaking in a dramatic way. If and when the leaking stops she can begin to heal more quickly and move toward more mobility and recovery. This is a long process which we are both trying to move through in a positive manner and with support for each other. You have played a major role in helping keep her spirits up and her attitude positive. Jans coming was extremely helpful to her and Sylvia's coming was a great boost.

Please know we appreciate everything you do for us and mostly we appreciate knowing about your prayers and promises of God claimed.

So we send our love, keep praying I plead.

tim and nan