Ups and downs

Dear Friends and Family Members,

Nan is finally resting now, has a new dressing, new nephrostomy dressings, all her meds taken and I'll bet she is asleep. Her day started slowly as I was out doing field reviews so she just kept warm in bed and rested up. A phone call alerted me that Art and Connie were in the area and they were kind enough to drop by with some cheer. That got Nan up and she spent some time with them. Art was so kind as to move some wood to the wood holder on the back deck NEXT to the rear door for much shorter wood runs in the morning when it is soooo cold. He also did a doggies cleanup on the deck and probably other things that I have not noticed yet. Thank you Art and Connie for coming by. Sorry I missed you.

Nan had some more squash, lemons, crackers, gummy bears, toast and kept warm under her blanket, late this afternoon we had a scare, suddenly her temp started to rise, up to 101.5 and I did a slow panic. If we go to ER they will admit her, then we will miss all the appointments at UCSF which we are so looking forward to. She took good old tylenol, we did the cool cloth, she turned off her heated cover and I turned off her little heater and slowly the temp came down to normal, thank you Lord for that. During this temp spike Nikki and Keanna came to visit and that was just wonderful. I decided that work could wait so played with Keanna, she put on a puppet show for me, checked for loose change for her piggy bank, played with her dolls. Nikki showed us the photos from this afternoon's session in Pleasanton. They are just plain beautiful. Can't wait until we can share them with you. She is one very special little girl for sure. I shot one of her in my chair which I will share with this blog.

Mid evening Nan decided to venture into the office and to her desk. She was there for a long time paying bills and sorting through paperwork. I was amazed and impressed that she could find enough energy and will power to take care of such important things. finally she said she had spent enough and we headed up to bed. We are both very much looking forward to the appointment with the oncologist at UCSF. We have great hopes that she will be the gatekeeper for Nan's care and keep an eye on everything, not just part of the total picture.

Tomorrow morning Terri our nurse comes to care for Nan and to take blood work. While she is here she will take a look at the PICC line and attempt to solve its problems. I meanwhile will be driving over two hours to my first appointment in Madera, then up to Coursegold for 4 more appointments and then end the day at Olivehurst. At that point I get to point the buggy home. Yes it will be a long day and I have researched, mapped, considered and planned for the day. I just hope I have enough sunlight to handle all the inspections. I'm sure going to need God's help tomorrow to keep me awake, alert and on schedule. We are hoping Mary can come be with Nan for part of the afternoon. Mary was kind enough to bring some wonderful soup which I had tonight and some vegetables also. My brother in law who lives in Texas sent me a new breathing mask for the machine I use every night for sleep apnea. I can't wait to give it a try.

I got a big kick out of Wes's comments about last night's blog. He's an amazing guy, wish you all could meet him.

We anticipate having a very full week and we sure need your prayers for Nan's health. How we wish the leaking could be treated and stopped. How we wish Nan would not lose her cookies at times for no known reason. yes and we wish the pain in her nephrostomy tube insertion site would diminish as well.

She has announced that she is going to get her hair washed tomorrow somewhere so that will be her big adventure. I am so proud of this tremendous lady and it is an honor every night to come home to her. She is one of the great ones as you all know and she would never admit.

Thanks to all of you for your many contributions to making our lives work out. So glad Jason is back from LA safely and that Jo is doing well with creating a new little baby.

love to all

tim and nan