November, 2003
~"Life can only be understood backwards;
but it must be lived forwards."
~~ Soren Kierkegaardbut it must be lived forwards."
November 10, 2003 ~ Life's Offerings ~~ Life around here has been like a whirlwind this past week. Spinning orbits of activities have bounced around uncontrollably. Maybe so, but on the other hand much of those activities have slipped off into a dark secret hideaway of the gray matter. One little item cannot slip off anywhere into oblivion no matter how hard Charlie wishes it would. As the Yorkie temperament returns to normal the more he is determined to defy those that dare cross him at insulin shot time. Wendy has shared her tips for giving him shots since he has made no attempts to cross her. BingoKid followed her tips and was successful giving Charlie an injection yesterday morning. Soon I shall try and see if it works for me this morning.
Cotton called the middle of last week with a suggestion to help me with Charlie. She had never thought of a birthday present for me but came up with one which should arrive today. I told her she didn't need to get me anything since she has already given Malachi. She got something anyway. It is a pet grooming table along with an extra lead for holding the head a safe distance away where grooming. For me it will be the third arm I need for holding Charlie at shot time. It is possible to use two leads if needed. Sorry Charlie, you have to have the insulin to stay happy and active as you are right now.
Master Oreo made his trip to the vet's office last Monday for his routine teeth cleaning. He has been coughing way too much and also had an eye matting up. He was checked week before last in case he needed some antibiotics to clear up some of the dental infection causing the eye drainage and throat problems. He got a refillable bottle of pills which I can use anytime all the coughing and stuff begin in the future. Seems that along with Oreo I inherited his tooth problems when he arrived with such badly encrusted teeth. He had more teeth extracted, but they didn't say how many this time. He can't have many left for eating and protecting himself.
And Malachi? He is attempting to bring indoors all the fallen leaves. His hair is six inches long and more. Fine flyaway hair is the world's worse for clinging onto the leaves and small twigs. No matter how many leaves are swept up from the floor, mysteriously more appear to take their place. Yesterday was Malachi's first time to finally get up the nerve to go outside through the doggy door. He has come in through it but was refusing to go out the same way. Saturday he mustered up enough nerve to stick his head through the vinyl and paw at the covering over the door leading to excitement outdoors. I might add that he and his tiny poodle friend also found their way into the freshly plowed garden while there was rain keeping puddles of red muddy water waiting for them to run back and forth through. Boy! That was one wet puppy with the bottom two-thirds red muddy that came dripping back in the house.
There has been another sig swap going on with our PSP Group at the Place. I decided to try taking part in it since I felt I was missing so much fun by skipping the last swap. We had to use the same image for all we made, but use a different font for each one made. That has turned out to be a double challenge for me. Each thing I did had to be checked, checked again and then rechecked to make sure the spelling was correct. Even at that I've had to go back and redo three of the name because I didn't see where I had misspelled a name. It has taken all week, but they are all done on my part and posted for everyone to come by and snag their sigtag.
Two hours were spent Saturday afternoon with Mother at the nursing center. She got to hold Malachi for the first time in nearly a month which she enjoyed immensely. Her pain level is over the top from whatever is acting up inside her frail body. She has never been one to complain about pain and health problems that bother her. She has always rather ignored them with hopes they disappear. Not so, now. She moves and she reacts to the pain along with complaints that it takes her breath away and she feels as if she is going to suffocate before she can take the next breath. Life is very difficult for her. Being in bed is worse than sitting up and I noticed that the head of her bed has been elevated to aid in helping her breathe better in bed.
I got the long awaited phone call Thursday morning from the neurologist announcing they had a cancellation and could I be there after lunch to see the doctor. I showered and got ready for the trip down 321 amid the array of speeding cars. Thank goodness there was a light rain and the road crews were not working on the road improvements making all the traffic merge into the right lane. At times cars and trucks have been backed up five miles or more during the times they are working on the improvements. I chugged along with the traffic and made good time to the office building.
My doctor had no time for small talk. He was all business from the moment I reached the hallway leaving the waiting room. Like a methodical machine robot he watched as I walked down the hallway to his office. Twice he asked if he could get the wheelchair for me to use. Twice I told him I could do fine without the wheelchair. Once I settled into a chair he asked how I was doing and then began updating the medicine changes made since my visit there the first of September. As he wrote down the information I watched the tropical fish swimming around in the huge aquarium filling the wall facing me. A very large white fish dominated the scene while the tiniest of white fish swam around under the large one. No they were not the same kind of fish; Other fish of differing colors swam around in the background, but the starkness of the white overpowered them.
Corrections to my medicine finished, then came the bombshell. "I'm not really concerned about how you are doing now, but very concerned about how you will be doing further along in the future." The first doctor I had seen had discussed his visit with me in a talk with him and the two of them determined that in fact I was still having TIA's. I would continued having TIA's, or small strokes, until the underlying condition causing them was found and corrected. His concern is finding that condition and correcting it before I have a major and massive stroke down the road. He stated that all the conditions I have collectively indicate that I suffer from sleep apnea. Of course, I never get a full night's sleep and haven't since I can't remember when. A booklet he gave me noted that there are 82 types of sleep disorders that have been identify which can lead up to severe problems if left untreated. Seems I have one of them.
A second trip was made back to the office later Thursday evening. There is a Sleep Clinic in one end of the suite of offices occupied by the neurological doctors located on the whole 6th floor of the building. I had to be there at 8 PM and take part in having my sleep monitored during the night. Surprisingly, it took about two and a half hours to discuss, watch a video about the condition, and have all the wires glued all about in preparation for the test to begin. I shall not learn about the results until January because over 800 pages of data are collected by all those electrodes leading from me to various machines. It takes a while to get all the data together and figure out what it all means collectively. I do know that only a short time after hooking me up and not getting the oxygen thingy on my pointer finger to function right (it kept glowing red. So I know it was working), they brought in a canister of oxygen and hooked me up to it. During the night the canister was exchanged for another one. Five times during the night, the therapist was beside my bed and I talked with her. I have to wonder if that is normal or if she came in because of the readings she was seeing. At any rate, I was back home by 7 am. Three thrilled puppies greeted me at the door demanding some special one on three attention.
Friday was the day to pick up Buddy Boy from school and bring him home with me for the night. Allan took the weekend to have a little time for himself which he hasn't done in eons. Saturday morning, Wes was to pick him up and keep him until Sunday. As the day developed I took Buddy Boy down to Wes. He had begged every few minutes since arising at 7am about when he would get to play with BusyKid. Finally the two of them got to play together and they were happy.
Saturday night? Allie and I had our evening out at the Civic Center. This night it was Ricky Skaggs and the Kentucky Thunder. A group of four that looked like mere youngsters came out as the Kentucky Medicine Man Show and gave a superb concert of Bluegrass Music. Their part of the show was more hoe-down dancing and fun. When Ricky came on stage at 8 o'clock, the music was Bluegrass, but sounded so very different. Without any breaks in the program the music continued until 10:30. Certainly an evening of toe tapping music!
This week is starting out to be a repeat of last week. I must get a check for the house payment to the office before lunch for Tbird. I pick up NascarKid from school and take him to Morganton to get his braces checked and worked on. He has to return to school for wrestling practice. I should call one of my doctors about my feet and legs that have been swelling for seven days straight....
November 17, 2003 ~ Willful Offspring ~~ Perverse, obstinate, headstrong, refractory, obstreperous - and less we forget - deliberate, intentional. intended. arbitrary. Capricious and at the same time a tad whimsical to say the least. Now who in the world would fit such a definition? You would not have to look very far through the family to locate the one guilty of the title.
Offspring : spin-offs, derivations, offshoots, progeny, children, descendants In this case it specifically refers directly to my only granddaughter. During the five days and four nights spent with her grandmother she kept busy repeatedly using one or two examples throughout any given moment throughout the day.
Mom and Dad were off to Charleston, South Carolina for a workshop. I agreed to take care of Giggles for them. I had opted not to take her to Daycare because of the distance from here to there. That would have been sixty miles or so a day driving her to and from Daycare. The boys spent two nights with the wrestling coach since they needed a way to school Thursday and Friday. I drove to the Middle School Friday afternoon to pick them up so they could stay with me until Mom and Dad returned. My grandsons were no problem since they pretty much followed the rules of the house. Oh, and then there was Spencer to care for. He did much better than was expected since he didn't bark all night while outdoors.
Little Miss Giggles was quite another matter. There is that period of a child's life referred to as The Terrible Twos when rules are meant to be bended to the child's wants and desires. Giggles has made up a new category of The Horrendous Fours where she is going to be the one in charge: end of discussion! Perhaps there is truth in the old adage that redheads have a fiery temperament. As her hair glistens with redder tints, her disposition seems to change along with the hair's richer color. As reports from her parents unfolded on their return late Sunday night, Giggles apparently was somewhat better for me than she has been at home.
Tuesday afternoon I took her to the dentist in Newton to have her teeth cleaned. Mom didn't have time before work to fix her hair and Giggles wasn't about to allow me to do anything about how it looked. Her hair has not been cut hardly any throughout the years since her birth so it is way down below her waist. Her bangs are growing out and when they are brought forward her hair reaches down to her chin. On this day she was determined she liked "having her hair in her eyes and that's the way she wanted them." We arrived at the dentist office early and sat out in the hall with some other parents and children waiting until the door was opened. With others around us, I managed to use my fingers to arrange her hair a bit and make one long plait in the back. She managed to leave it along until I was making appointments for having two teeth filled and then she wanted the plait undone. However she did wait until we were in the car before she took it down and swished her hair free once again.
That was mild compared to Thursday. She had another appointment in Morganton. Thank goodness Allan was here at that time. He was a lifesaver for me. Giggles refused to put her clothes on or have her hair combed so we could leave. Since she would not agree to having her hair combed and would not work on it herself, Allan held her while I worked on the tangled hair to make it presentable. Allan had a real struggle with Giggles, but he managed to get her dressed and I helped put her socks and shoes on. She promptly took of her top and shoes with the declaration that they didn't fit. Allan had to dress her again and carried her on out to the car and buckled her in place. Before I was out of the driveway, she was once again topless and minus socks and shoes. Mind you, this happened to be one of the coldest days so far this year. She went to sleep before we were out of Lenoir.
Once we arrived at our destination in Morganton, I was able to park at the front door. I locked the car and stepped inside the door long enough to report that Miss Giggles was half dressed and asleep on the back seat of my car. Miss Abby came out to the car to see Giggles and sat in the car with us for a short time as Giggles woke up, but refused to put on her shirt and go inside to get a cookie. However, she was dressed again before we were out of Morganton once we headed back home. Later in the afternoon I wanted to take her and Malachi to visit with Mother for a short time. Just as we were ready to leave, off came Giggle's shoes once again. I turned away from her and walked into the computer room to check e-mail. No way was I going to have a round with her again. I would just have to visit Mother another time. Of course as time passed, Giggles was indignant that I didn't take her to see Maw-maw (and that I hadn't made any effort to put her shoes on for her. ) Sorry, but I'm not about to play her little games with her when there is a choice.
There were other incidents throughout the four days. Saturday she didn't want to dress at all, she rather wear her gown all day. She finally got dressed when she heard that Buddy Boy was on his way down to my house. Sunday was a repeat performance. Our plans were to have breakfast from BoJ's since DynoKid loves their biscuits. We were going to take Mother a ham biscuit and let her hold Malachi for a while. Those plans never had a chance to materialize, as Giggles refused to don her shoes. She had decided that although her shoes were new and she was the one to pick them out, she no longer liked them and would not wear them. In fact, she went home barefoot and Mom carried her out to the car. I learned today that she wore her flip-flops to daycare instead of wearing shoes.
At some point in time, Miss Giggles is going to have to accept the fact that there are times that she has to yield to circumstances and follow the rules.
November 27, 2003 ~ Things To Be Thankful For ~~ Here it is another year and another Thanksgiving Day. The dogs joined me and we watched the 77th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television. Can you believe that before the first sentence was finished Allan came to take me down to Wes and Wendy's for the rest of the day! I was expecting him later, but the grandsons wanted time to play together before the crowd gathered for the big dinner feast. That has also given me time to take some pictures of the new rabbit and ferret. Yes, now they have two rabbits and two ferrets to keep each other company and Bingo the dog.
This month has brought two answers to prayers to the family. Finally, after five and a half years the adoption has been finalized with Buddy Boy. He came into the family as a foster baby sporting a cast from his waist down due to a broken leg and weighing a very underweight boy at eleven pounds. Today he is nearing his sixth birthday and is a very happy, robust and inquisitive lad. It's unbelievable how he relaxed and beamed with excitement when he was told that he was now officially a part of the family. Happy doesn't begin to describe him. It's as if he had been holding a part of himself inside for fear he might have to give us up and suddenly he felt free to be himself. Now he bubbles over with glee and talks unceasingly from dawn to dusk. Now he really feels secure.
A call came from the neurologist's office last week. The results were back from the sleep test taken earlier this month and they wanted me to come back for another night to try a BiCPAP machine to see if it was compatible with me. The tests taken early proved that I do have sleep apnea and that during the night I stopped breathing due to that condition. Because of the limitations of my lungs breathing in and out I need more help than just the CPAP machine. I went down Monday evening for that test and all went extremely well. I did sleep longer and better, but never got to the dream stage. I had no stomach problems that night and no coughing fits. I felt so much better with breathing through the tube I told my therapist I wouldn't mind having it all day, too. I think my day was more productive once I returned home. I needed that little extra push to get me through the day as it turned out.
I left the other side of Hickory around seven Tuesday morning heading home. The dogs all had a grooming appointment at 8:15 over in the country and Charlie had to take his insulin and eat breakfast before leaving home. Well, Sir Charlie decided he wasn't needing a shot that morning and was most irate with moi for giving it to him in spite of his protest. I ended up having to hold his head under my arm to keep him from trying to nip at me. He doesn't bite me, but certainly can gave a painful nip when protesting too strongly. When it came time to leave, Oreo and Malachi readily had their leashes attached and were rearing to go. Master Charlie was a whole different scene. He was curled up in the fleece lined basket and in no mood to be touched. Seems he was still pouting about getting the shot he didn't want. I took the others out to the car and came back to get him. He was not going to end up the victor. Taking one of my sweatshirt type jackets, I wrapped up his head, picked him up and proceeded out to the car. His attention turned to trying to sniff his way out of the maze of folds around his head and ended up with his head stuck in one of the sleeves.
We were late arriving at the groomer's, but it was going to be a long day for her since her helper was out sick. She had all the canines to wash, dry and groom by herself for the day. She came out and carried my three inside one at a time for me as I assured her that I had nothing planned and didn't have to pick them up at any particular time. As I drove back through the country roads a deer crossed the road in front of my car. It was a good sized buck with a sizable rack atop his head. Any hunter would have had a prized catch if he had bagged this one. I was happy to see that he made it safely up the bank and into the woods again. If he had been chased or spooked by a hunter, he had escaped for another day of freedom - I hope.
The drugstore was next on the agenda since some of the medicines were running low. There should have been some refills ready and waiting for me, but there was only one and it was not one on the list needed. I had to wait for an hour before they would be ready for me. Why have automatic refills when they are not refilled when the day approaches? The pharmacist that was with the store for a number of years left and although some of the new ones are older than she was, they aren't efficient about keeping up with the refills. Oh well, Nothing to do but go to Wally World and spend money I hadn't planned to spend money there, but let's face it, I can't go in there and no buy something. I also had some groceries to pick up and some of them were frozen. It's luck that I had the insulated zippered bag in the back of the car for the frozen foods since I had to backtrack to the drugstore.
Being a bit tired when I got back home, I only took the frozen foods and refrigerated items in with me. Allan came along no long after me and carried in the rest of the loot purchased. He also hung around the house and waited until the call came that the dogs were ready to come home. He and Buddy Boy went with me to pick them up and bring them back home.
Back to today, now we await the rest of our family and friends to come and dine with us. Fifteen will be filling the two tables for the adults while the three smaller ones will have a smaller table over to the side. Chairs are gathered and placed around the tables. The armona of hot food drifts through the house and candles are lit adding to the special feeling of having family and friends together sharing the bounty of food and fellowship. The cars arrive one by one and more foods join that which Wendy has prepared. Space is sparse as the buffet displays sumpusous dishes to delight each of us. Desserts look heavenly. How does one choose with out overindulging? But first we take time to ask God to bless the food and thank Him for the bounty he has allowed for each of us.
November 29, 2003 ~ Christmas Comes Early ~~ This is one Saturday that finds me in bed for more of the day than out. It appears another TIA has struck. At least I hope it is a TIA, because they don't leave any residual affects like strokes. I went to bed with a really bothersome headache. For the longest time sleep would not come. Finally I drifted off and troublesome dreams kept me searching for all sorts of things. When I awoke at morning's light, I could only lie there unmoving for the longest time. Pain permimated the right side more severe than usual. As I forced myself to move, a tingling sensation migrated back and forth from top to bottom. Getting out of bed was slow and walking was difficult. I had to keep my balance by holding on to objects as I began to motivate myself.
Needless to record that I returned to bed after letting the dogs outside for a short time. Getting them back inside quickly was no problem since this was the coldest morning we've had. The temperature had dipped down into the twenties. No way would the canines stay out for any long strolls. After all, all three of them have hair and there is no furry undercoat to provide insulation from the cold.
About halfway through the morning the doorbell rang. Who in the world would that be! A huge Lowe's Hardware Delivery Truck was sitting in the driveway. The driver was standing at the front door. I had to think that he had the wrong house and needed directions. I was wrong. He read my name off the ticket and I acknowledged that yes, I'm that person. He went on to say he had my new dryer and where did I want it. Whoa! I had to do some very fast deducting through what I had heard lately.
Not long ago, Wendy was questioning me about dryers and the type I liked best. Did I like top loading or front loading? Did I like the pulldown door or the door that opened from the side? For several months I've complained that the dryer was not drying as it should and too many times the timer had to be reset for more drying before the clothes and stuff were dried as they should be. Of course neither of my boys took time to look at my dryer to see what it may need in order to fix it.
The night before, Wes called to tell me that he would be over the next afternoon to look at my dryer and see about fixing it for me. Humm, looks like I'm getting an early Chrsitmas present and it came before Wes got here. I direct the two men to drive around to the other drive and back down the drive leading to the back door. While they are moving and unloading, I call down to Wes and Wendy to let that know what is going on here.
Later on after lunch, the family came by to see the new dryer and how I liked it. Wes explained, "Well, I told you I was going to fix it and I did. My way of fixing it was to buy you a new dryer. Merry Christmas early."
He got to thinking that I might go out and get another dryer if I got aggrevated enough with the old one I was using. In order to not take a chance of my ruining their present to me they decided to go ahead and give it to me early. That way I could go ahead and be using it.
That is fine with me. It is a present that will get plenty of use and one that was long overdue. My old dryer had a lint trap that curved down from the top to catch the lint. Long ago, Mother bent it when she attempted to push it down the slot when it was turned the wrong way. The filter had never fit all the way down in the slot since that time. Now I have one that fits in the lower part of the door opening. It is so much easier to use than the old one. I'm very happy with my first Christmas present of the year 2003.
