Nan gently moves from sleepy to alert

Dear Friends and Family,

10:30 pm here and Nan is busy writing checks. After a very slow and painful start to this day and hours of rest and slumber she gradually woke around 5:30 this afternoon and kept on waking up more and more. Medical decisions today include: Dr. Kerlan at UCSF cutting her antibiotic from 2,000 mg per day to 1,000 mg. The higher dosage appeared to be causing severe vomiting which has left her chest sore from the heaving. Dr. Morgan at Dana Farber urged us to check the creatine level to make sure kidneys were working correctly. Nan is pretty sure she got an incorrect dosage of something while at the hospital for transfusion which has left her with heavy feet, feet that are hard to move about and a feeling in her head that something was just not quite right. Gradually she has reclaimed full sanity today but it took a lot of rest to get there. Terri came this morning and changed the dressing for the PICC line, took blood, took vitals. At that point Nan's face was slightly puffy and she did not feel well at all. Terri even asked her if she wanted to go to the hospital. After Terri left we changed Nan's incision dressing and found very little leakage, about that same time her colostomy bag failed so that required a quick change which Nan has become very good at. Later we took off the left nephrostomy dressing and placed a warm damp cloth over the infection spot. Nan was able to settle into her recliner in a way I have not seen her do before and with her trusty electric cover and pillows she slept for hours waking only when Starr darted away to chase the cat or bark at fishermen on the lake. Late this afternoon she decided to go back up to sleep in the bed and we got her settled in where she slept more. It seemed that today she needed rest, to sleep off the effects of the meds or whatever. This evening while I was at the store buying Claritin D she called and wanted me to bring home some special french bread, I found it and toasted several slices in the oven. She enjoyed a slice and also part of a package of strawberry and cottage cheese, a new product. She had iced tea and some crackers but has to be very careful not to overdue right now.

I worked in today and was very glad I was here. I was able to give her support when she needed it and to keep the house quiet and calm for her rest. We used some new lotion we found at Costco to calm her dry skin. This evening I think she would tell you she feels pretty good.

Tomorrow I go to Stockton for a 10 am appraisal and then back here to work and then to Byron at 4 for a local one for a change. Steve has really hit the ground running this week and is seeing properties all over, Tracy, Alameda, Pleasanton, Richmond and even Discovery Bay. He is always like the energizer bunny, he goes and he goes and he goes. I can't begin to keep up but of course he is a couple years younger too.

We are starting to hear from people who can join us on sunday for the celebration for Nan's 55th. Barb and Gerry are coming Sat. evening to help set up and can stay until monday morning which is great great news. Pam is hard at work on plans and is getting excited about it all.

I always know Nan is feeling better when I hear her on her cell talking up a storm. Its great exercise for her and is a great boost to her morale. Plus she keeps up on everybody and everything that way.

Finally this evening Christmas marched into storage from our front yard. We were the only ones with wreaths and trees still standing and before long the HOA would have fined us so thanks to Tom and John's shelves I had a place to put things. Now for the rest of the garage, it needs a couple hours and so far I have not had a couple hours to give it so it is a mess. Gerry will not be happy when he sees it, yikes.

Our friends Art and Connie are with friends up in a cabin at Donnor where it is 14 degrees. They are coming home tomorrow after a nice time with the cold and beauty of the place. Someone gave Art some wood to burn and he is going to bring it to us, timing is great since we are down to just a few days left of wood on hand. Our PG&E bill was only $60 some dollars this time, amazing what a wood fire can do.

Well its off to bed now, no more 2 am nights, to hard on the old man.

Please continue to pray that Nan will be able to stay on a healthy track and keep feeling well.

Carrol, our friend from Lodi got great cancer numbers today and will be able to avoid further chemo pills for the next 60 days. This is wonderful news and we join them in thanking God for this progress.

love
tim and nan

photos are of Nan as she is writing checks, too bad they are not for new outfits or airline tickets! the other photo is of the flowers that Jo and Jason brought when she came to visit. Their flower displays seem to last forever and you can see these flowers still look great. Thanks Behind the flowers you can see the boxes of candy canes that thoughtful people have brought to Nan since we mentioned that they help the nausea, Pam was right.