Time to....

to get off my backside and go do something. I need to do some work in the house while my Dad naps, so off, I go. First some spring water and baby carrots. I found the most delicious baby carrots and apple slices in the organic veggie section. Not that much more than the regular stuff and sooooo much more flavorful. My dogs like them better too =)

life lately

I am a year older, a good bit grayer and a lot more tired.

My Dad is still cruising along, praise God! He had a bit of a crisis a couple of weeks ago with extremely low blood pressure, the kind where I would be calling the rapid response team and getting the code cart near the room. 72/34 is not consistent with life for too long without some intervention. Sometimes it is a disability to know more than the average daughter. Hospice nurses started continuous care which means that there was a nurse for 12 hours and a hired sitter for the night 12 hour shift. I was not ready for the expected outcome, despite his faith and mine, it is really difficult to remain strong when faced with the possibility that I was losing him, watching him slip away. I love my Dad. he is a good and just man, like Joseph was. He and I have had our frustrations with each other, but I dearly love him. He is so generous and thoughtful, patient, kind, soft -spoken, slow to anger...it sounds like Corinthians, doesn't it? Well, yes, but he is stubborn. I do get aggravated with him sometimes, I'll admit it, but that is me--I am impatient, judgmental, critical, etc., so it is my short fuse that usually is the culprit when we disagree. I am as stubborn as he is, too, so that battle of wills sometimes gets in the way. I am his 56 year old daughter who happens to be a nurse trying to tell him what to do. Sometimes it just works out better if I get one of his hospice nurses to tell him the same thing-he listens when Jennifer or Theresa tell him ;-) My daughter can usually tell him too and he listens to her better than to me. She says no, but I see him light up when she is here. :-)

Anyway, the "crisis" lasted 5 days. He was confused, very weak, unable to stand to safely transfer to the commode or wheelchair without a lot of assist. He fell a few days before this started, fractured two facial bones and had a huge black eye for a few days. I brought him into the ED since he hit his head and had a laceration, the doc closed the lac with dermabond , checked his labs, and did a CT of his head. I was concerned that he might have had an infarct or bleed, but no sign of either, just atrophy (age related) and the fractures. His hemoglobin was 7, pretty darn low, so his anemia has probably had a lot to do with the weakness and shortness of breath. Low hemoglobin=low oxygen for the essential areas of his body. His concentrator is on the max 8-10 litres/minute.

He had a lot of visitors, including two wonderful priests, a lot of prayers were said, Joe brought his guitar, some good friends from the Center came on Saturday afternoon for praise and worship and Fr. Lance celebrated a Communion service for him. Prayers were said by good friends on my rescue email list, dog group friends, neighbors, family, dog forum friends, the Center community and as far away as California, Boston and London. I really thought that this was his farewell, the nurses pointed out all of the physical signs indicating that he was working on leaving here. He and I even talked briefly about funeral wishes, that was extremely hard, but I felt that he might need to get it off his mind as he worked through this.

I am extremely happy to give praise to Jesus because all those prayers were heard and he is back to reading his paper and watching TV, eating his favorite breakfast of grits and coffee, then a Boost, and sleeping in the wheelchair in the kitchen while the TV blares a "cowboy movie" His hearing was not healed...

I am so glad that he has returned to those things which he enjoyed before, just wish I could work it so he could work with wood again. He wants to go to help my daughter install a doggie door in the back door of my house as her Doberman does not fit through the Boston Terrier size door in place now. That will help him, I am sure.

He has started sitting on the front porch in the evening when it is a little cooler and enjoys getting outside. The neighbors came over to visit with us the other evening and I know he enjoyed seeing them both. I think we have resurrected a tradition of stoop sitting from long ago. New Orleanians spent most summer evening sitting on the stoop, or porch, to catch a breeze and to visit with the neighbors. It is a good tradition to bring back if the neighborhood is safe, it is a shame that some areas are too dangerous to enjoy your own front porch.

Okay, time to stop, I am on the soapbox and must get down before I get carried away.

I will try to write more often, it is great therapy, and it is free!!!

God bless each of you and your families

Karen

What happened to all the middle aged casual clothes?

My friend and I went to a couple of stores that historically have womens' casual pants, with comfortable elastic waists that can expand when we visit the buffet ;-)
We were planning to get some of the deep discount clearance items-can't argue with 70% off. I was able to get some things for my daughter, but nothing for us. The dryer has shrunk all of our clothes and we both have to pick up some things that fit, We went to the next large discount place, the superstore...surely there had to be a good selection and a lot of things on clearance, right???
Nope, the only clothing in our size was full price, dressy blouses and slacks and a few tiered skirts with glittery something across the front of a black tiered skirt. The majority of the clothes were geared toward young girls, and some rather immodest girls, skirts 6-8 inches in length and thong underwear in preteen sizes EWWWWWW!
We still were in need of clothes, but I did get a couple of 6 packs of Boost so not a total loss =)

shopping can be a drag...

My Dad claims to be suffering with cabin fever, so I asked him if he wanted to go pick out some comfortable slacks, or I could bring some home and let him try them on. He was anxious to "get out of the house".
We took the short drive to the closest mall, parked outside the door that led to the men's departments. I found 4 pairs of khakis, my poor Dad was worn out after trying them on. He has been sleeping in the recliner since we got home. It takes a lot of energy to go anywhere, thank goodness he rests well in his recliner.
But, we experienced shopping success - J. C. Penney has men's slacks on sale ;-)

My daughter is here!!

I am so happy to see my daughter who lives in Texas. She came in for an all too brief visit and it is wonderful having her home. Can't wait till she is back home for good.

We went to lunch at Quarter View ~ seafood gumbo and oyster po-boys, with sweet tea of course...best food evah!! My Dad enjoyed getting out a little, I think, but it tires him out.

We sat and looked at recent photos, now she is sleeping on the sofa with my littlest Boston, Libby. My Dad fell asleep in his recliner watching King Kong, so i am sitting on the front porch, waiting for the rain.

Hooray...the a/c man is on his way

just got the call...
off to meet him and get some cool air circulating and get all my pups home again =)

Waiting on the air conditioner man

this is Turbeaux!





this is Joey!



Here I sit, hoping that my central a/c will be working this evening. 2 of my pups are still at the vets, boarding, as they can not tolerate heat. One is spending sleepover time with his friend Joey, I hear that each of them are teaching the other all sorts of neat stuff. Turbeaux has instructed Joey on the technique of BT "bitey face". Now Joey knows how to play like this, let's hope that he uses this only when playing with others who speak bitey face, but they both are enjoying this camp time, according to the head of 'Camp Joey's House'.

Joey has introduced Turbeaux to the fun of barking at everyone who walks near the front yard. lotsa fun!!

I have a good friend, Joey's "mama" who helps out any time help is needed. We have traded the role of caregiver a few times now, she even rescued me when I called her a few months ago with "I've fallen and I can't get up" Thanks Maddie!

I think I have figured out how to stay here and take care of my dad. I will let my daughter live in my house instead of looking for an apartment that allows large dogs. My house is definitely dog-friendly =) This will enable me to stay here. She also will take care of aat least one of my pups, which is a great relief for me. It is very difficult to have four dogs at my dad's house. I could make some improvements and it would then be safe for all pups, he has a short chainlink fence and the house has open space under the house. if I put a 6' wood fence and locking tall gates and closed in the crawl spaces under his raised house, it would then be safe to let them out freely to potty/play in the yard. I will table this till later, no decision needs to be made now.