Sylvia, John, Karen make Nan's day

Dear Friends and Family,
How can we ever thank Sylvia for her dedicated help today? She arrived promptly and was a great help all day to Nan, got her on a regular Zophram schedule, gave her Adavan to help her rest, got her to sip some ice water, rubbed her back and helped Nan pass the long day. Sylvia being here also helped in that I was able to drive to Richmond, Oakland and then back to Byron to see properties and keep the cash flowing going. Thank you Sylvia. Sylvia also discovered that Nan is running a fever and we just checked when I put her to bed and the fever was 99.8. This is alarming since it is the first temperature above normal since she left the hospital 10 days ago. So we will keep a close eye on the temperature.
John and Karen Cress came to visit this evening. They are dear friends from the years when they pastored the Tracy SDA church and ever since. They are both extremely involved in active pastoring and building people in the Lord. They had been in the bay area for professional meetings and found time to visit Nan. Unfortunately while they were here Nan was hit with a very hard bout of nausea and lost a lot of fluids. She was totally wiped out and after I gave a bit of Adavan she fell asleep. John and Karen have been prayer warriors many many times for Nan's special needs over the years. They have visited us every time they can when they can get away from their heavy responsibilities in Denver. We love to see them and I am lifted by their genuine love for Nan and concern over her present condition. Karen prayed for Nan before they left. It was hard and a bit tearful to see them leave as they are such good friends and its hard to let them go.
So once again today friends we have made over the years once again offer comfort, encouragement, memories and prayers. Our lives are very rich in quality friends. Personally I am so glad that Art is back from his trip to Greece. He and Connie had a very good time and saw lots of beautiful places and things. Yet in this day and age it is always good to have them back safely.
Today my little bug officially lost its AC cooling. Since the car is black that makes for a specially warm ride. Our local attorney referred me to a specialist in Social Security cases so I drove to Concord to meet with him and to turn over our file. He took the case and after reviewing things a decent settlement for back months and a helpful amount is likely to come each month once we can get it started. He works for a part of the settlement so no money had to be paid today, a really good thing! Since I was across the street from the VW dealer I asked at the service window what a new compressor would cost for the car, total comes to about $1,100. Wow, here we go again. I'll check other places to see if I can find someone who can do it for less. The little car has been so faithful and now has 142,000 miles on it so its easy to understand how the AC could need work. The fix engine light has been on for months and that probably needs attention too.
Today I was able to pay my E&O insurance, pay the back due on AMEX, pay the honda payment, promise a payment to CitiCard, now I watch the mailbox to see if money continues to come in, nothing today! Yikes. One thing about getting Nan unto disability is that medicare can also kick in and start helping cover some medical expenses I hope. I feel sorry for the Blue Cross system with the high costs Nan's care has racked up. Well not too sorry really, that is why we pay $1,100 a month in premiums for their care.
I had another round with the travel insurance company. They are demanding credit card proof for how we paid for the cruise. Well it was paid for a very long time ago and I have not been able to locate the old statements. CitiCard is shipping me old statements but it could take another 10 days. I tried to reason with the lady at Travel Guard. I said, you know we paid for the cruise because we are on the cruise ship and the trip was interrupted, she said I know but it is our policy that this proof must be in the file, I said but logic says we did pay or they would not have let us on the ship and we are not getting any of the money we paid for the cruise back. She could not budge and her supervisor didn't either so the whole $12,000 plus is stuck in limbo until I can prove that we paid for the cruise. I was nice but I did not feel nice right then. Perhaps God can help with this little matter, I have not asked for His help yet.
Our current dilemma is the same as yesterday, at what point do we take nan to the hospital? Terry, nurse, thinks we are doing everything for her here that they can do there and she is right but in the hospital Nan would have daily blood work and specialists mulling over her nausea and at least trying things to solve it plus if we are really back into fevers then she will have to be there in the hospital since we are poorly equipped to solve them here at home.
The hospital bed is coming tomorrow. Our part for the month was a reasonable $41.00, a bill I could handle for a change. They will deliver and tomorrow I am staying in to work except for a quick inspection up the street here in Discovery Bay. New place for $1,600,000. Should be nice I suppose.
Tonight I am grateful for a safe day personally, for the loving care of Sylvia and the good judgement calls she made in Nan's care. We appreciated John and Karen's visit very much and pray that they will have a safe flight back home. I was touched by getting to talk to my brother and then Art several times today. I am thankful that Nan slept from 9:30 last night until 7:30 this morning without waking. When Nan sleeps she is not throwing up.
Please join me in praying for a solution to nan's nausea. If we could see that solved then nan would be doing pretty well, oh and yes include the fever issues as well.
Thank you for your concern, your love and a special thank you to Jan for her wonderful care of Nan while she was here.

love

tim and nan