What a satisfying day. I slept until after six. Got a lot of "business" done on the computer, (bills and all) and a couple of emails. My desk actually has a top again anyway.

I went to the bank this morning to FINALLY get my stash money transferred and to get a bit of cash as I was almost broke, then went to the Care Center to visit the man. Oh My Gosh. He Was Not In His Room! All was OK. He was down in therapy. We did not expect therapy on Saturday but because he missed a day of OT, they had to make it up to meet Medicare guidelines. So I found him. I did my therapy while he was doing his. This works well as I am usually too tired if I wait for night.

I came home at about 11 and did some cleaning and more computer work. Then at 1:30 I went over to Jan, a neighbor's home, for that Tastefully Simple Party. That was really fun. We got to taste lots of dips and sauces and breads and cakes and spreads. Naturally, I bought some. There were just five of us including the demonstrator so it was very intimate and we could really ask questions and discuss.

Next I went to Mass with a quick stop at the Center to give Dick a kiss. Fr. Van Beeck gives a good sermon and does a nice service always. I stopped after Mass to ask my friend Ceil about Marlene's, Warren who had back surgery. (Please pray for a quick recovery.) Ceil had not heard anything. I saw Kate and a few other people who are all praying hard for Dick. It was good that I could update them with good news, such as the stitches being out. Kate is worried about Ron. Keep praying for him.

I got home and called Dick to find that Richard, Brenda, Bobbie and Bill were all there with him, the lucky guy. Richard and Brenda came here to put the spinach,noodle, egg casserole in the over. When it was warm, we went back to the center and commandeered the "Nook" for our dinner. The casserole was unbelievably perfect and Bobbie had baked a spectacular chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. So we are well fed and had such a nice visit. We left Dick a very tired guy. I hope, with all the activity that he gets a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow I will be able to breakfast and visit with Richard and Brenda, then spend quiet time with Dick during the day.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Handle every stressful situation like a dog.

Piss on it and walk away.

Mary

Today was a beautiful fall day. Chelsea and I took a walk but tomorrow will be the day that we really set up our Fall and Winter Schedule. I will take her out at about 6 to just relieve herself, then at about 7 or 7:30 we will take a nice long walk. It is just not a good thing to be walking when it is dark.

I stayed home until about 9:30 waiting for the Culligan Man. He got here at shortly after 9. They were supposed to come yesterday but missed my "windows"

I got to the Care Center in time to watch Dick do some of his therapy but had to leave before he stood up again. I made a mac and cheese casserole for our lunch today. The center had its famous - liver and onions one day followed by cod the next day - As the noon dinner offered is always the day's menu or the previous day's entree you KNOW that Dick would have ended up with a sandwich. The casserole was REALLY good. He ate a nice serving. I had enough to take some to Mother and leave a bit for a meal or maybe two for me.

During this day, I also found 4" Ace bandages for Dick's wraps, picked up Chelsea's meds, exchanged a shirt for Dick, dropped off the old printer at the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center,and got the casserole and some Vitamins to Mom. So there was not any sitting around.

I ate my leftovers from lunch yesterday with Dick and the "guys" in the dining room tonight. Then came home for the evening.

I am feeding Boots until next Thursday. Poor guy will be lonely. I have usually tried to spend a bit of time with him but I am way too tired these days. Well he will at least see me and get fed, watered and his litter box cleaned twice a day.

This morning when I was walking Chelsea, Jan, our neighbor one building down stopped to ask how everything was going. I updated her on Dick. She has had knee surgery so they have been kind of kindred patients for a while. She is doing much better but had not heard about his amputation. She is giving a Tastefully Simple Party tomorrow at 1:30 and asked if I would like to come for a break. Sounds good to me. I need breaks like that that just take a bit of time and involve other people and things. These parties are fun anyway.

So that was my day. Dick and Brenda will be here late tomorrow afternoon. That will be nice. We will all have supper with Dick over there. I am going to try to get a table or two in the NOOK which is a little more intimate than the board room or whatever they call it that we used before.

I am looking forward to a pleasant though cool weekend. It is not supposed to be rainy for a few days. Sunshine would be nice.

Love

Mary

I spent a good chunk of the day waiting for the Culligan Man. They called yesterday and said they were coming today. I called early this morning to tell them that they had to come between 9 and noon or after 3PM. They did not show. I guess I will call them and schedule for a day that is not so busy.

Chelsea let me sleep until almost 6 this morning. I could have used more.

I had my last physical therapy session with Becky today. She has me on a program that I can do at home. We are figuring that I will do half each day so it is not too overwhelming and I need to strengthen my knees and shoulder and arm.

I did some cooking this morning as long as I was home. It seemed like a good time to make Mac and Cheese. Last night the Plymouth Care Center served Liver and Onions, the alternate was Salisbury steak so Dick was OK. However, I'll bet tomorrow will be cod with an alternate of the liver and onions which Dick will never eat so I decided that we will have dinner, at noon, together of the Mac and Cheese.

I went out for lunch with my friend Nancy and then we went over to Rhine to shoot some of our league pistol targets. We got a bit behind this time. That was fun. We went to Antoinette's for lunch. I got a Chicken Wrap which was HUGE. Needless to say I have half of it left. It was also delicious. I was not totally happy with my targets BUT they were not too bad. I seem to be a bit shaky.

I stopped off to check up on Dick on my way home to wait some more for the Culligan Man. He was in the middle of PT so I watched that. Then Bobbie came for a visit. I was glad because he had been alone all morning and I had to leave. He must be getting pretty sick of me anyway.

At 5PM I packed up my supper and went back to join Dick and his table mates in the dining room. That was nice. I really enjoy Ralph and Ed. The new guy is also assigned to that table. He is really being a problem. He wouldn't eat tonight and had left before we got there. Later, he seemed to be wheeling himself up and down the halls and almost came in our room, but he stopped and stared at me, then retreated.

Jim and Michelle stopped in this evening too. They are going on an anniversary trip starting tomorrow morning. They are going up to Door County to work on a fundraiser walk as medics and then on to Niagra Falls. I will be feeding Bootsie while they are gone.

I am sure glad to be home and hope to be IN be at 9PM. I am really tired, despite a short nap this afternoon.

Hope all is well with you.
Take care of yourselves.

Hello. This morning was much better than yesterday. Chelsea woke up at about 5:30 but I put her out of the bedroom until 6 and she behaved. We did not do much walking because it was misting out there and I had no desire to be getting wet.

This was a Doctor Day. I got all ready and over to the Care Center by 8:45AM to be sure that Dick was all ready for Tim from Custom Care Transport to pick him up at 9AM. Tim is always on time and such a caring guy. We got to the Sheboygan Clinic at about 9:30. The first appointment with Dr. Moreno was at 10AM and he was right on time.

That appointment went well. The wounds are looking good. He is concerned that increased pressure on the foot as he does more standing could cause more breakdown. Therefore we need to concentrate on healing and on reducing pressure on those callouses. He suggests that Dick use the "sandal" that he modified to reduce this pressure when Dick does his therapy. Then we need to keep it clean and dressed and pray.

Next we went down to the first floor to see Dr. Fehrman. He is also pleased. The stump is healing very well. Dr. Fehrman removed the stitches. Only two bled a bit, not a bad thing as it shows that there is circulation to the area. Dick and I are always amazed that some of the doctors and other medical professionals sometimes get really excited about this bleeding stuff.

So, it was a successful trip to both doctors who both asked to see him in two weeks. Another good sign. If things are not good, they want to see you much sooner than two weeks.

Did I tell you that Dolores and Ken came by the Care Center yesterday to visit Dick. He was so pleased. He gets very tired but loves seeing people. I think it is good for him. He must get pretty sick of me.

After we got back, I zipped home for lunch, to take care of Chelsea and to shop. While I was grocery shopping, I saw Kate Herman, my friend. We have not connected for some days because she has not felt well but she also is worried about her best friend, her husband Ron. After we finished shopping, we went to the Exchange Bank to have a cup of coffee and catch up. The way things have been going, it may be two more weeks before we get together. Keep praying for her and her Ron. When our guys are better, we are going somewhere for the biggest Hot Fudge Sundae in the world to celebrate.

I ended up going back and forth a couple of times this afternoon, what with
Chelsea and all. When I left the Center to get my supper (Dick and I decided to have supper together in the solarium again. We need one on one time out of the room.) the ward was in a turmoil. One of Dick's table mates, who is such a sweet flirt, was crying quietly but crying because another table mate, the new one, who can't seem to get settled in was up and walking around with his alarm going. I stopped and tried to calm my friend but was not too successful. The nurse, Mary, said that the whole place had just kind of fallen apart. I can see that this can happen if there is a disruption. It must be distressing to the sensitive souls.

When I got back, things were MUCH better and my sweet friend gave me a big smile so I patted his arm and told him how happy that made me.

Dick and I had our supper, I sat with him and we watched Fred Astaire for a while and then I came home at 7PM.

So here we are.

I read a great quote today that I would like to share with you.

A Philip J. Bailey said, "All who breathe mean something more to the true eye than their shapes show, for all were made in love and made to be beloved."

Isn't that beautiful.

Love

Mary

Chelsea tried to wake me up at 3:30AM. I was not happy. I gave her some lettuce and shut her out of the bedroom. THEN, at about 5AM, I could hear her pacing and fussing in the hallway so I got up again, took her out to relieve her little self, fed her and went BACK TO BED. Finally at about 6AM, I gave up. She must be terribly confused and lonely. At about 6:30 the phone rang. It was my sweetheart. They couldn't find any shorts for him to put on. I was sure there were some (and there were) but took another pair and let Chelsea come too so she could see that he is OK and perhaps not feel so neglected.

After breakfast, I went back over to the center, after stopping at Fleet to see if I could find more shorts. No luck but I did find another shirt for him.

He spent about 1 1/2 hours in therapy today, including standing up twice again. This time he managed 20 seconds the first time and it was obviously much easier for him to get on that leg than yesterday.

I had a haircut this afternoon. Then fixed tuna sandwiches and bowls of apple salad for supper for both of us. He was not thrilled with the choices at the center tonight. Could have survived, but I like to bring him food too.

When we got back to his room, he slept until it was almost time for me to come home.

Tomorrow will REALLY be busy. He has two doctor appointments in the morning then will have therapy in the afternoon. Ha! He thought he was tired tonight. I just hope that all this activity will help him to sleep better.

Here is a wonderful little piece of advice from a little booklet called Busy Woman - finding time in your hectic life. by Marilyn Gustin

"Sing

Don't sing for anyone else, except maybe for God. Sing for yourself. Sing for the delight in it. Hum your way from parking place to work. Hum on your coffee break or even as you work. Let yourself enjoy this expression of your soul."

Mary

Today was one of the good days. I took Chelsea for her real walk after the sun came up. We are trying to change our pattern a bit because I do not like to walk in the dark.

I made a loaf of bread in the bread machine and an apple salad, then headed out for the morning. I stopped to say good morning to Dick, then on to Bible Study. There were six of us there this morning and we had a wonderful discussion that went into the upcoming election even. We don't try to express our choices, but as the Gospel is the one where Jesus told the people to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's it was a natural segway. One has to be aware that most of the rumors that arrive on the Internet or through gossip are nothing but gossip and/or rumors and are not fact. The first reading from Isaiah is the only place in the Old Testament where a Gentile was anointed. This was a big thing to the Jewish people but certainly gave us a big wedge.

I got back to the Care Center in time to have lunch with Dick. I had asked them to reserve a meal for me. We had ribs, baked potato, broccoli and cheesecake in the sun room. I thought we needed a date. We could have eaten in his room but he needs to be out of there.

GUESS WHAT!!!!!! When I got back, I ran into Lori, the PT, and she told me that Dick STOOD UP. I was so excited and told everybody I saw. Then he had more PT after lunch and he did it again. He stood for 10 seconds this time, a big deal. We are on our way.

I came home for dinner. Had to do a few things around here anyway. Chelsea needs some attention too. She is getting whiney and I am sure it is because she is old and lonely.


I did go back after supper for an hour but Dick was a real sleepyhead. He should be tired after all the work he did today.

Take care and keep praying. We are working hard.

Love

Mary

The Packers won and all is well with the world.

At least it puts a good spin on things.

I slept until 6AM this morning. Chelsea tried earlier, but I shut her out. I took her out for a quick walk then as it was still dark. Then I showered and had breakfast before she and I did a longer walk when the sun was out. It was still a bit chilly then, but warmed up to 80 degrees today.

I went over to the Care Center at about 9AM. Dick had a better night but was sleepy most of the day. We both took a little nap this morning. Then Jacki changed the bandage on his wound. They put him back in bed. They hooked him up to the breathing treatment and they changed the wrappings on the stump.

This was all before noon. I left shortly before noon to walk Chelsea, eat lunch and do a few things around her, notably wash. Dick needs more ace bandages there as they rewrap every day.

I went back about 2:30 so that we could watch the game together. Jim and Michelle came over too and watched with us until about 4:30. That was almost the half and they and I left. They had to fix supper and get ready for work tomorrow. I had to take care of Chelsea and pick up my soup and sandwich to be eating with Dick. We went down to the dining room for supper. We did not stay long. It was a bit distressing today. A new resident joined Dick's table. He was very confused. He kept telling them that there was a mistake. He was supposed to be at a restaurant with his wife and not here. He tried to get up and walk out at one point. He was not violent, just determined. It rather upset Dick, so we went back to the room quickly. I saw him later and he seemed calmed down some.

Anyway, we were pleased to watch the Packers beat Seattle. I didn't do too well on my other picks for the football league, but I will keep on plugging along.

Altogether, it was a really good day. Dick felt better and therefore, so did I.

It is 8PM now and Chelsea is really pushing me to get ready for bed. We never go until 9, but she knows that when she gets me in there, I don't leave.

Until tomorrow.

Mary