Well, Dick is back at Plymouth Care Center.

It was a long day, starting with a walk with Chelsea at 5:30AM in 32 degree temperatures.

I got to the hospital at 7AM, then found out that Dr. Fehrman was not coming in so I could have slept a bit later. But it was a good thing I was there. The nurses had given Dick an Ambien at 3AM and he was affected by it all day long. Sleeping, and getting confused. I can't figure it out as Ambien is listed as an allergy for him, but they did it.

Anyway, Dr. Phelan came in just before noon and said that everything is stablized enough that we could take him back to Plymouth. We managed to get him ready by 3 and Custom Care and Transport, who have moved him before came to take him back.

I left him being rebooked in and will be heading back to spend the night after taking Chelsea out one more time so she will be comfortable until morning. Then I will came back home at 5:30 or 6AM tomorrow to take care of her again and to shower and get ready for the day.

So I am going to sign off now.

Take care, thanks for all the prayers. We still need them but are on our next step of the journey.

Love

Mary

I got up at about 5:30 this morning to get to the hospital by 7AM so I wouldn't miss Dr. Fehrman. He never came.

However, I was there all morning. I was able to see Dick's therapy. He did pretty well, but of course, has a long way to go. He did sit up in his wheel chair for about three or four hours.

Dr. Phelan came in late morning. He says Dick is about ready to be released to rehab. Either tomorrow or Sunday. Probably tomorrow. He has now taken him off of all the intervenious treatments, either suspended them or changed to oral. He has taken him off of oxygen and removed the catheter. If all is well tomorrow, it is a go.

We have a recurring problem with the wound on his right foot now. Because everything is so tenuous, it is getting aggrivated when he does any weight bearing. Dr. Moreno came over today and debrided it and redressed it. He left instructions for the nurses and we will be following up closely. I will need to find out when we should see him again.

Bobbie came by in the afternoon and spent time with me and then with Dick when I drove home to walk and feed the Chelsea. She was leaving just as I came back at 5PM. I can't tell you how much I appreciate our kids. They are just plain GOOD!!

I ate supper with Dick and then stayed with him until 7 when I had to come home. I am so tired. Dick would have liked me to come back and stay the night with him, but I just can't do anymore today. I need to sleep.

So the news is mostly good. It will be so good to have him close again, and I can bring Chelsea to see him a couple of times a week. I promised him that I would spend the first night back at the Rehab center with him so if he got disoriented, I would be there to remind him of where he is.

It is really hard to realize that it is October already. Soon it will be Halloween. I will get my spider web wall hanging and my bones for the carved post on the front porch out soon. We don't seem to get trick or treaters but that is OK. We did our share at Hunters Glen. I had to get five or six packages of treats there. Now I get one and Dick and I end up eating it eventually. I remember my kids always liked Halloween. We always lived in neighborhoods that they could safely go, at least in groups.

Have a good Saturday.

Love

Mary

Subject: Important Stock Information

Best advice I can give.

Normally I avoid discussing any advice regarding buying or selling of stocks, but I felt this is important enough to share and warn you since this explosive situation might prove to be yet another ENRON. Please review any holdings you might have in the following stocks: American Can, Interstate Water, National Gas Company, Northern Tissue Company. Due to uncertain market conditions, I advise you to sit tight on your American Can, hold your Water, and let go of your Gas. You may be interested to know that Northern Tissue touched a new bottom today, and millions were wiped clean. It's a tough market out there. Be careful!

Another long day. You must get bored hearing that. I got up a bit after 5:30 and took Chelsea for a misty walk. It was cold too. Then I showered, got gas and headed for the hospital. I got there just after 7AM and missed Dr. Fehrman by five minutes. Darn. Dick said he really didn't have anything new. I will get there BEFORE 7 tomorrow.

Dick looked pretty good. He said he slept OK and he is eating a bit. The nurse who came on this morning suggested that we get one of those overhead grab bars for him. He wanted that from the beginning because he CAN do a bit of shifting around himself that way. We had to switch beds completely which was a major event. They had to line up both beds, transfer him with a board and three people and rearrange the whole room for both the lining up and the moving of the old bed out. But it is done. He was exhausted and immediately started dozing.

I headed home to check Chelsea at about 10 so I could get back in time to be there for the PT session at 12:45. Of course that was when Dr. Phelan came in so I missed him too. Dick said he did not have much to report either. I NEED to be there.

Therapy was very exciting. The first time he stood up, with help of course, was traumatic for him. He swayed and had to sit down right away, but then he managed to get up and onto the commode and then up and back to bed. So he is accomplishing a lot. As Ken said, he now has to stand and balance on one leg and this is new and not easy.

Bobbie came shortly after the therapy and Jeff and Kathy came by to see him too. So the afternoon was not so long. Jeff and Kathy brought me some fresh veggies. Num Num.

When going to the Clancy Brothers concerts, the crowds would always want encores and more than one if they could get away with it. Liam would finally say. "Have you no homes to go to?" and the crowd would roar "No." But I do have a home to go to and am so glad to be here. Right now it is a lonely home. But Chelsea and I are going to keep it warm and ready until our guy comes back.

Chelsea is whimpering at me to go to bed. Old and cranky doggies get very set in their ways.

Love

Mary

Well, last night's blog was not the end of the day. I got into bed at 9:00, just as planned. About 10 minutes later, the phone rang. It was Dick. He was still confused from the events of the day and had forgotten that I left. He wanted me to come back. So, I did. I got there just before 10 and was able to sleep on a sofa bed that is in his room. Of course, I got little sleep, as he did, because they are constantly checking on him and doing things. But at least I did get some sleep.

My only worry was Chelsea, our poor little lonely old doggy. I called Jim and Michelle and they took her out in the morning and fed and gave her medicine. Then I called our neighbor Dick to take her out at about 9AM just for good measure. I went home at 11:00 to check on her, clean up and change my clothes. I also did the grocery shopping and bought lottery tickets. Chelsea was sure glad to see me. She is a good little girl but I can tell that she is feeling neglected.

Today was MUCH better. Dr. Fehrman came in at about 7:30 and changed the dressing on his stump. It looks pretty good. The leg is no longer swollen and the wound does not look red or puffy or anything. So the circulation must be good there.

Then Dr. Phelan came in with good and bad news. The good news is that the ecko on his heart showed that the right side of the heart is fine and healthy. The bad news is that the left side does show some problems, however, they are related to the sleep apnea and are being dealt with so that is OK. The lungs ARE clearing but have a ways to go and he is getting respiratory treatments so we don't end up with pneumonia. The only other bad thing is that there is sign of kidney failure. Again, the good thing is that kidney function can return when caused by this kind of trauma and Dr. Phelan has adjusted his meds to try to accomplish this.

The bad news is that he will be in the hospital for probably four or five more days.

Physical Therapy came in today and he was almost able to pull himself to a standing position, using his upper body, the right leg and a walker. Almost. Whis is good as weak as he is and considering that his last physical therapy was on Friday.

Anyway, an altogether successful day, we think. I intend to sleep soon and I hope he has a good night too.

I can't believe that it is October already. We will aim at getting Dick home for Thanksgiving.

When Bret was in Kindergarten, he had a wonderful teacher called Miss Gamel. She was young, very pretty and blond. As a matter of fact one of the boys in her class, she had 16 boys to 4 girls, told his Dad that his teacher was a "big, beautiful blond." One day, Bret came home from school and told me that two of his classmates had gotten in a fight and Jimmy hit Johnny 21 times. It mentioned it to Miss Gamel because it sounded SO funny. She agreed and thought that she really might have noticed a fight that had 21 hits in it.

Love

Mary

Today was exhausting and scary. It started out OK, though rather early.

I set the alarm for 5:30 because I wanted to get to the hospital by 7 so I would not miss Dr. Fehrman. That worked. He just updated us on what would be happening in a perfect scenerio.

Shortly after he left, Jim and Michelle came in and they spent most of the day also.

Dick had a rather good night though he was experiencing pain. We were all told that the had to stay "ahead of the pain" and that he could push the morphine button every 8 to 10 minutes. He was SO sleepy and then the technician came in at 9:30 to start the ultrasound to check his heart. While that was going on, Jim, Michelle and I kept tabs on the time and pushed his button for him. Not a good thing to do we found out at about 11AM. He cannot overdose, BUT the morphine had built up in his system and he was out like a light. At 4:00 or so, he was still out, when the PT guy came to try to get him out of bed for the first time. Well, we tried to wake him and somehow or other, the phlem that had been building while he slept so long, breathing through his mouth got into a BAD place and he choked and could not get it out.

I was terrified and so was he. The nurses came with syphon tubes, oxygen masks and other stuff and finally after about a half an hour got him calmed down and most of the phlem out of him.

The rest of the night was quiet but he is very weak. They did and EKG and everything IS OK.

I am home now. I stopped at Mom's to drop off a prescription for her and update her. And now I just want to get ready for bed and go there. I want to be back at the hospital at 7 again, so I get the reports in person as this was such a bad day.

Just remember if you every have a loved one on a morphine pump. THEY are supposed to push the button themselves. We were told that the deep rest he got was worth the mistake, BUT it is not recommended. The three of us were horrified to realize that as Jim and Michelle said. " We drugged Daddy." One of the nurses said that she usually tells people but some of the other nurses were watching us do it and never said anything. We did feel better when a nurse that we know who came in to just say hi said that she did the same thing to her Dad.

Tomorrow will be better. I know. My poor sweetheart deserves nicer things.

Love

Mary

Well, this day is done, thank God. Dr. Fehrman said that all went as he expected.

I will start from the beginning. Chelsea and I got up a bit early this morning, just because I woke up and was ready to go. It was nice walking weather. We ran into two of our Tall Grass neighbors also on the road. Then, I did a few things around here and headed for the Care Center. Dick had a very poor night. The nurse had lots of trouble with his IV that started at 8PM and it did not finish til after 2:30AM so he got virtually no sleep. He dozed while I was there until about 10:30. Then we started getting him ready to go. Richard and Brenda got there at 11ish. I left to let Chelsea out one more time at about 11:30 so I could get to the hospital before his transport arrived with him. As soon as we knew what room he was in we called Bobbie who arrived right away.

He was taken down for the surgery 2:30 as scheduled. The surgical nurse is the daughter of the gentleman who shares the bathroom with Dick at the Care Center. Ed also had a leg amputated.

The surgery took about 1 1/2 hours with a similar time for recovery. Dr. Fehrman came down after surgery to give us his report. He seemed satisfied, so at this point we are too.

While they were getting him all hooked up and checked out, Jim and Michelle, who arrived just AFTER Dr. Fehrman's report, Richard and Brenda and myself went down to eat. Bobbie joined us for a bit before going home to fix dinner for Bill.

Then we stayed with Dick until 7:30. He is experiencing pain. Phantom pain too. He is on a morphine pump which should get that under control. I hope he can sleep but on the other hand he should push that pump every 10 minutes or so.

If this is a little rambling, that is the way my brain seems to be working tonight. A good night's sleep will help. I do have to be at the hospital at 7AM so I can see Dr. Fehrman with Dick in the morning.

The hospitoligist (Hospital Doctor) is Dr. Phelan who was Dick's doctor before he went into the hospital doctor specialty. We REALLY like him and he is a GREAT doctor. He remembers and likes Dick so is glad to be able to help him now. There are things that need to be regulated with his meds. This should help the shortness of breath and coughing that he has been experiencing.

That is all.

I am tired.

I will post again tomorrow. Please keep up the prayers.

Love

Mary

I got to sleep until 6:15 this morning. That is almost unheard of. It is kind of dark at that time, but not too bad. Chelsea seems to be getting a bit tired. She sits down more often. But once she sits, she speeds off again, so she is not TOO worn out.

I got to the Care Center at 9AM. Dick and I were both so tired that we BOTH took naps. I went tot he 10:45 Mass. Fr. Van Beeck had a good story. He asked everybody to pick up their envelope for the Super Raffle that will be held at St. John's in November. He said it will save mailing costs of 50 Cents per person which amounts to about $800 for the parish. But then he said that he understood that everybody would be in a hurry to either watch the Packers or the Brewers. He then proceeded to tell us about his sister, the sister, who is a nun stationed in Africa. At their Motherhouse, in the chapel, on Packer Game day, candles are lit for the Packers. Fr. Van Beeck said, "Just think what God is going through. In all the other football cities, there are nunneries with candles lit to Him, asking that He help their team win. He must be in a quandry." What to do, what to do.

Actually, I think God probably laughs at us.
When I got back, Jim and Michelle were there and we all watched the end of the game together. The Packers lost. At one point it looked like they would pull it off, then things fell apart. Icky.

The Brewers, however, did win and I believe have clinched a wild card spot.

I took care of Chelsea at about four and brought back the rest of my crab salad to have with Dick when he had his dinner. We just sat together until 7PM til I had to come home to get some rest.

Jeff called to just check in and tell me that he was there if I need him. I wonder if he knows how much that means. I asked him if he will come later, when we have the PT people come and evaluate the house and see what we can do to make it safe and easy for Dick.

Then Jacquie called. I had emailed Vikki and told her what was happening and she called Jacquie. I love those people. Isn't it wonderful that we can be friends still after all these years. I am so glad that Vikki found me again and that she and Bret are seeing each other once in a while. They need each other. Family is SO important.

Now I am closing down for the night. Tomorrow it will be over. Please pray that Dr. Fehrman's skills do the job that they should and for the success of the procedure. I am counting on you.

Love

Mary