A Really Fun Sabbath...

Dear Friends and Family,

Nan is resting under her heated cover after a busy evening. She mostly rested this morning while I took Keanna to Sabbath School in Tracy. She continued to rest while I met up with Steve and Nikki for lunch at Olive Garden. Keanna was not feeling too good and I discovered she is afraid of the automatic toilets at Olive Garden. Nikki says she has to trick the automatic valve into waiting until Keanna is well away from the toilet so it does not surprise and frighten her. Got to admit I've been startled a few times myself by the automatic devices. We had a great lunch and then I headed home to Nan. She had come down and made squash for lunch, lost a bit of it but was feeling pretty well. She enjoyed a very cute little teddy bear send by Loren and Emily for her birthday. It makes a great set with another lighter brown teddy bear we already had, so very cute. Thank you Emily for your kindness. Late in the afternoon Nan went up for a nap and I puttered around putting away left over items from the party and was able to park my car in the garage with room to spare. For those of you that know me parking cars in the garage is a big deal and its so nice to have them both inside tonight. This is all true thanks to first Gerry Lammerding working so hard rearranging things weeks ago and then Tom and John building the wonderful shelves. Now things have a home and the garage is encouraging. we can easily access any box of appraisals, open the freezer without hitting the car, open the fiberglass storage units Steve got for me 2 years ago Christmas.

I also came across wonderful paper supplies that marilyn sent several weeks ago. Paper towels, kleenex boxes, toilet tissue. Thank you again Marilyn for your big boost in helping us get back on our feet.

When I came back in Nan called me on the intercom. I went up and we changed the bandage and decided to pick up a few things. So I helped her dress into a nice black outfit and we headed out. First PetCo for dog food and a cute little book called Pugs for Dummies, not that there are any dummies here but there sure is a pug. Then Nan wanted to go to Trader Joes so we got a few very nice quality things there and she discovered that she had a gift certificate in her purse from long ago. It helped buy the groceries. Then we headed to Target where she rode the electric cart and I struggled to keep up. We found some needed items and others that are just nice, like gummy worms, Nan loves them. Then as we were driving out she said, why not got to Mimi's Cafe for a bite. So we headed in, by then she was really tired and about worn out. She had some good hot tea, I had a hot chocolate that was wonderful and we ordered a garden burger to share, that was not so good so we came home. We got her into a nightgown and snug in her chair where she worked on some good lemons and took her meds for the night. We noted that there is a full moon and really enjoyed our time together very much.

Nan has an amazing resilence in facing life. For her to dress she has to deal with 4 bags, finding a place to store them or pin them and yet she does not complain or throw fit. She just works on them until they are placed and then heads out. She did quite a bit of walking today and some time in the wheel chair, she looked great in her black outfit with red hearts on it. This is no average person I have the privilege to live with, she sets an example of how to face adversity on a level most people would not believe yet somehow makes it all work.

We are experiencing a change again in the leakage. Over the past two days there is more fluid in the dressing when we change it, not as black as it used to be and at the same time there is almost no fluid in the illiostomy bag which a week ago was running black. We do not understand what is happening. What we do know is that her level of nausea is much much less, that she still loses her cookies sometimes but quickly recovers afterwards.

We had an unfortunate event this evening. Keep in mind that last monday we had a new PICC line installed since the last one had a leak on one of the two lines. Nan has flushed the red line several times today and it worked perfectly. This evening she asked me to push the flush since it was harder than usual. I did and suddenly we both felt it give way in her arm. So we once again have one bad line just 5 days later. That was not a high point of the day at all.

On monday I will be leaving early and getting home late. I have 4 appraisals in Coursegold, 1 in Madera and one in another little town. I will need every minute I can find to complete all the inspections while I am there and I believe it is several hours from home. That will be an interesting day. Then Tuesday we head to SF for Dr. appointment, spend the night and then Wednesday at 10 have the nephrostomies changed and dye injected to see what is going on. Perhaps they will learn more about the leaking at that time.

We are thankful to so many people and to our wonderful Creator this evening.

Please pray that we will be faithful to such a caring and wonderful God.

love

tim and nan