Barb and Gerry head home, great visit, much appreciated!

Good Evening,

Well its just Nan and me again holding down the fort. We said a reluctant good bye to Barb and Gerry about 7 as they headed home to welcome Mike and Sandy from Maui. Gerry and I spent the day on the road again today visiting a lovely home in Alamo and then picking up a much needed check in Richmond and then on to Oakland to see a perfectly maintained duplex property. They we asked the GPS to show us the way home and it did. We stayed so busy that we hardly found anything to eat during the day but a call home let us know Barbie was preparing dinner, what a feast we had! Having such nice meals has been a fun break for me who tends to prepare much less extensive meals and they tend to be eaten while I am standing doing something else in the kitchen.

Nan has had a quiet day and Barbie reports they both napped quite a bit. Right now if Nan is awake she is in pain so about every three hours she takes some Dilautid and falls asleep again, at least that way she has pain relief. We have been fairly faithful about giving the antibiotic every 6 hours. It is a very clever little device, looks like a plastic baby bottle with a small line connected. Inside the clear bottle is a small balloon which is filled with a 30 minute infusion of the medicine. We hook it up to one of the picc lines after flushing it with saline and 30 minutes later the small balloon has disappeared and the medicine has been given. Then we flush again and that's it until the next 6 hour time. It seems to be doing a good job on the infection. However Nan continues to have extensive lower back and gut pain. I think we should be increasing the level of the base oxycontin and then only use Dilautid for breakout pain but so far we have not discussed that with the doctor. I have been extremely busy trying to keep work going out the door, conditions finished for already completed appraisals, orders in and yes I keep beating the bush for money. I'm still short several thousand to really end the month on an even keel.

I've thought a lot about the dynamics of having friends come to stay and help. I think I get a real boost out of just not being alone with Nan, the fun of eating and talking with someone helps take my mind off the challenges we both face 24/7. I especially wanted to thank Marilyn Bitzer who sent a care package of plastic bags to hold different sizes of left overs and other things and other paper goods. She is amazing and always seems to know what we could use. Thank you so much.

I had a disturbing phone call from Art today as he shared how ill Connie became last evening. She is OK now but it took many medical tests to check things out. Connie, we love you and are praying that you will feel better. We beg you to take good care of yourself as you are precious to all of us who have gotten to meet you and you and Art are wonderful together.

I searched for a couple hours this morning for a sheet of paper that had the right IRS phone number to call to seek more time. Just as I finally gave up and got ready to leave I looked up and remembered I had stuck it to the wall so I would not lose it. So tomorrow morning its time to screw up courage and call our friends at the IRS.

My heart is so with nan day after day as she lives in this world of meds and pain, one or the other with no joy, no food, only water to drink, nothing to look forward to but reruns. Her life is pretty tough and one can only imagine how nice it is when there is someone sitting next to you to talk to, nap with and get help with bags, meds etc.

So for now I sign off. I've included a photo of Barb and Gerry with Nan this evening. It has been a wonderful two days and we deeply appreciate having them fit us into a very busy retired schedule.

We send our love and deep appreciation for each of you.

tim and nan