Friday evening and Keanna is here for a sleep over

Dear Family and Friends,

How I wish we could spend time with each of you. Keanna arrived at about 5:40 this evening for the first sleep over since Boston I think. She no longer uses the crib, sleeps in a big person bed and had a hard time settling in tonight. The 8 pm bedtime outlined by Nikki turned into 9:30 plus but I'm pretty sure she is very tired. I just went in and she was awake, sort of warm and asked me if I was checking on her, I told her yes and she seemed reassured. She was a very busy girl this evening and kept Nan entertained. Nan had a pretty good night after the fever went away and slept till about 10:30 this morning. She finally woke up and was ready to come down. We helped her get comfortable in her recliner, she had hot tea and watched some TV. Her left nephrostomy tube continues to leak so we called the IR people in concord and they agreed to supply a new bag. I drove over and picked two bags up, then back to Pittsburg to do a review of a quadruplex appraisal, then home. Loree was kind enough to come by and help her make a trip to the bathroom since I took so long away. LeAnn came and fed the fish and brought a beautiful iris flower from our side yard. I was startled to see it this morning growing away in a tub that I thought was totally dead. What a beautiful reminder of the Creators artistry. LeAnn cut one and brought it in so Nan could enjoy it, what a nice gesture. No one could find more caring neighbors than Ken and LeAnn.

Nan stayed up in her recliner until about 4 pm when we moved her back upstairs. She can walk but several times came close to falling today, so much fluid / weight on very weak limbs. She settled in and napped until about 7 this evening. Then she came down to enjoy Keanna, actually Keanna helped me wake her. Although I changed the nephrostomy line to a new one we are still having the same leaking problem. I noticed when I unscrewed the former line that a tiny wire was extending out of the opening on the value control and was in the threads of the leg bag tube. I was afraid to change and not have the wire there knowing that the little wire is all that keeps the tube locked into her kidney yet I have never seen the wire there, it usually is somewhere else, not in the threads, I think that is why we are having the leaking but I'm afraid to move the wire out of the threads in case they have it there on purpose. So we will leak a little longer until I can reach an IR person and clear it up. Otherwise we will track down an IR person on monday and have him or her repair the leaking. Fortunately it is not leaking from the place where the tube goes through her back, that would be a different story and much more difficult to repair.

Loree reports that we got three checks in the mail today, depending on what they were paying for that certainly helps us pay yet another bill or payroll check. We are truely living day to day and now question every purchase, I mean I was lecturing the dogs tonight to cut back on how much they eat since there is no extra money to buy dog food and besides it might kill them, I don't think they cared for the argument.

Nan has had hot mint tea this morning, a yogurt for lunch and a piece of toast this evening along with apple slices Keanna shared with her and some applesause that Keanna shared with her. She has much less pain this evening than last evening, no fevers and is doing better. After laying in a hospital bed for 3 weeks I think she is doing amazingly well. I am so proud of her, her attitude, her humor, her faith, her love for family and friends.

Art told me I might be able to cash in a small IRA from a local bank without penalty for medical reasons and we are looking into that. While I hate to do such a thing yet there are bills that have to be paid.

I am so thankful this evening for friends and family who stay involved in our lives even though we have little to offer right now than our great need. This has been a tough week, not the worst ever but certainly not one filled with happy moments and carefree living yet it is good to have the Sabbath hours surrounding us now. In the morning I will take Keanna to Sabbath School and then when we get back Jason and Jo will be here visiting mom. So we look forward to a wonderful day tomorrow and I hope Mom feels up to enjoying it fully.

Thank you to those who write emails or respond to the blog. Your comments often keep us going, they remind us of more important things than our immediate needs, they are very helpful.

So we send our heartfelt love tonight and our gratitude.

love

Tim and Nan