The season works...
Dear Friends and Family,
This evening as we relax, Dana, Nan and me with the help of Moo moo, George, Starr and Lady and enjoy the warmth of the family room, a nice hot drink or in Nan's case a Gatorade we have many blessings.
Highlights include: a totally enjoyable Christmas morning with Nikki, Steve and Keanna, a second Christmas afternoon with Jason and Jo, wonderful food on every counter and table as Dana works her magic, photographs and paintings hung all over the house thanks to the combined efforts of Jo, Jason and Dana, finally Nan gets to see the fruits of her careful purchases on cruise ships in the past and photos of family that have been languishing stacked in the spare bedroom. The team had a good eye and matched pictures to rooms and checked with Nan to make sure we all were doing it right. Meanwhile Nan has had a fairly quiet day but one with a change. When Julie, the wound care nurse, came this morning at around 10 she removed the device which Nan has had to wear for the last couple months and in its place dressed the incision wound with highly dense gauze and bandages. We will change it about 2 times a day or more if needed and see what happens with the leaking. The incision wound was irritated today, more so than ever before by the fluid that has been leaking out the last couple weeks. It is much worse in odor and color than before. I don't begin to understand what is happening or where this liquid is coming from. I do know that the interventional radiologist plan to replace the balloons in the ureters with a more permanent glue on the 5th of January. We genuinely hope and pray that the leaking subsides after than procedure but there are no assurances.
Nan walked to the street today and was surprisingly strong and agile. It was so cold outside that the walk had to be a short one but still she did it. Her right nephrostomy causes extreme pain at times. We discovered when we removed the bandage over the nephrostomy that this time they did not install the butterfly locking device to hold the tube in place where it enters her body, there is nothing holding it in place except gauze and tape. The reason appears to be that the addition of the balloon tail and its little plastic end device do not fit into the butterfly lock device so they did not use it. No wonder when the tube gets yanked for some reason the pain is terrible and immediate. It is simply amazing what Nan has to put up with on a continual basis and yet there are no complaints, just gutsy acceptance and a make the best of it approach to daily living. Friends this is no normal or average lady, nan is totally amazing and it is a privilege to watch her in action.
This afternoon we heard from Nikki who told us that they are staying another day and coming home tomorrow. We hear that they are having some pretty bad wind down that way and we place them in God's hands as they travel back. They have Melaboo, the new Lab puppy with them. She is a good traveler and a fine puppy. We will be glad when they are back home safely but are so glad they got to do this trip to be with family.
This morning I once again ask God to help with the tax deposits that we did not pay during our time in Boston. Todays mail had enough money to pay at least part of them before the end of the year and I consider that a real blessing. The mail also let us know that our health insurance is going up again, this time to $1,073 come February, wow and we thought the current $881 was bad. Its expensive to grow older.
Our thanks go to each of you for your prayers and support this year. We would not have survived without your help and you know who you are. All the way from Dr. Bertagnolli, Amy and her team in ICU, Roxanna and Marilyn who were our support team and our wonderful kids who flew back to be with us in the middle of the crisis. For food from Marilyn which we still eat every day, foot lotion which we used again this evening from marilyn, garage cleaning by Barb and Gerry, house cleaning and sorting by many including Mary, Sylvia, Emily, LeAnn, house sitting and a whole lot more by Loree, appraisal heroics by Steve, in home care by Dana and Sharon, the list goes on and on, Bob church treasurer for his help with the recovery fund, George and Yvonne for overseeing the donations................. yes we are blessed over and over again. This has been a year to remember for Nan and me and for our family.
We thank you and we thank God for doing great things for Nan and we seek His hand in healing her totally and putting her back on her feet.
With love
tim and nan and dana
This evening as we relax, Dana, Nan and me with the help of Moo moo, George, Starr and Lady and enjoy the warmth of the family room, a nice hot drink or in Nan's case a Gatorade we have many blessings.
Highlights include: a totally enjoyable Christmas morning with Nikki, Steve and Keanna, a second Christmas afternoon with Jason and Jo, wonderful food on every counter and table as Dana works her magic, photographs and paintings hung all over the house thanks to the combined efforts of Jo, Jason and Dana, finally Nan gets to see the fruits of her careful purchases on cruise ships in the past and photos of family that have been languishing stacked in the spare bedroom. The team had a good eye and matched pictures to rooms and checked with Nan to make sure we all were doing it right. Meanwhile Nan has had a fairly quiet day but one with a change. When Julie, the wound care nurse, came this morning at around 10 she removed the device which Nan has had to wear for the last couple months and in its place dressed the incision wound with highly dense gauze and bandages. We will change it about 2 times a day or more if needed and see what happens with the leaking. The incision wound was irritated today, more so than ever before by the fluid that has been leaking out the last couple weeks. It is much worse in odor and color than before. I don't begin to understand what is happening or where this liquid is coming from. I do know that the interventional radiologist plan to replace the balloons in the ureters with a more permanent glue on the 5th of January. We genuinely hope and pray that the leaking subsides after than procedure but there are no assurances.
Nan walked to the street today and was surprisingly strong and agile. It was so cold outside that the walk had to be a short one but still she did it. Her right nephrostomy causes extreme pain at times. We discovered when we removed the bandage over the nephrostomy that this time they did not install the butterfly locking device to hold the tube in place where it enters her body, there is nothing holding it in place except gauze and tape. The reason appears to be that the addition of the balloon tail and its little plastic end device do not fit into the butterfly lock device so they did not use it. No wonder when the tube gets yanked for some reason the pain is terrible and immediate. It is simply amazing what Nan has to put up with on a continual basis and yet there are no complaints, just gutsy acceptance and a make the best of it approach to daily living. Friends this is no normal or average lady, nan is totally amazing and it is a privilege to watch her in action.
This afternoon we heard from Nikki who told us that they are staying another day and coming home tomorrow. We hear that they are having some pretty bad wind down that way and we place them in God's hands as they travel back. They have Melaboo, the new Lab puppy with them. She is a good traveler and a fine puppy. We will be glad when they are back home safely but are so glad they got to do this trip to be with family.
This morning I once again ask God to help with the tax deposits that we did not pay during our time in Boston. Todays mail had enough money to pay at least part of them before the end of the year and I consider that a real blessing. The mail also let us know that our health insurance is going up again, this time to $1,073 come February, wow and we thought the current $881 was bad. Its expensive to grow older.
Our thanks go to each of you for your prayers and support this year. We would not have survived without your help and you know who you are. All the way from Dr. Bertagnolli, Amy and her team in ICU, Roxanna and Marilyn who were our support team and our wonderful kids who flew back to be with us in the middle of the crisis. For food from Marilyn which we still eat every day, foot lotion which we used again this evening from marilyn, garage cleaning by Barb and Gerry, house cleaning and sorting by many including Mary, Sylvia, Emily, LeAnn, house sitting and a whole lot more by Loree, appraisal heroics by Steve, in home care by Dana and Sharon, the list goes on and on, Bob church treasurer for his help with the recovery fund, George and Yvonne for overseeing the donations................. yes we are blessed over and over again. This has been a year to remember for Nan and me and for our family.
We thank you and we thank God for doing great things for Nan and we seek His hand in healing her totally and putting her back on her feet.
With love
tim and nan and dana
posted by Tim Mustard @ 10:13 PM
1 Comments:
At 11:23 PM,
Anonymous said…
Tim,
Thanks again for writing, I love the daily updates. You are so blessed and I am sure that these blessings will continued. It is easy for the casual reader to see the impact your caring and love can make on the giver and the reciever. All are blessed even the bystanders!
These things are made possible for us by your love and patience and Nan's GRIT. A word not applied to very many but a word that comes to me every time I read of things she has endured, even Texan's are impressed.
Love and daily prayers,
Wes
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