As seemed to be our luck lately, our plans to return to Wisconsin for the holidays did not go without one final hiccup. On Monday we went about our business of last-minute shopping and errands to get ready for the trip. Rick printed boarding passes, we packed luggage, and we made sure the garbage hit the curb that morning. When we returned from shopping that afternoon, we noticed that Gladys felt "sticky" like the old doll was having a hot flash. Oh, oh. Rick checked the thermostat, and the humidity in the house was close to 70%. He fiddled with the temperature, waiting for the air handler to send in some cool air. The key word is "waiting" because the fan never started and the system never delivered air movement of any kind. Great! If the system which was new only 2 1/2 years ago was going to break, why could this not have happened three days before this?
We called in a service man who, thankfully, promptly came. He and Rick worked with the system, noting that shutting it down and rebooting it did not have positive results. Error codes kept coming up, and although the system had power to the motor, the motor itself would not start. He said that we needed a new motor for the air exchanger. The good news is that the motor would be under warranty; the bad news was that the service calls and labor to replace it would cost us money.
That night we slept under a ceiling fan as the humidity slowly rose in the house. Steve had agreed to meet another service man the next day so that we would not have to rebook our flight and incur hundreds of more dollars to fly home at a later date. We are eternally in his debt and will gladly reciprocate if his property needs our watchful eye and help when they go back to Wisconsin in the spring or any time in the future.
To make a long story short, when the second service man came in, he reset the codes, and Steve reported that the system was working fine. He checked the house today also, and all systems are still running... for now. Since we saw the system fail three times in a row, Rick called the service center and talked to the owner. We agreed that something still may not be right with the system, so before Steve and Chris leave for the holidays, they will shut the system down. Gladys may get a little hot under the collar, but at least we know that nothing will freeze while we are away. We cannot ask any more of Steve and Chris. They have been wonderful. We will deal with any air handler problems when we return to Florida.
The next day, we have arrived safely in Wisconsin, and sadly the weather is living up to the "frozen tundra" moniker. Our journey home started early on Tuesday, December 10, when we heard our neighbor leave for work at a little before 5:30. We knew the airport Shuttle service would be around to pick us up by 7:10, so we arose early to have time to prepare for the trip. Showers, breakfast, medications, and final packing saw us ready by 6:30 a.m.
Miraculously, the Shuttle arrived a little early, and in the end we were thankful that it did. One woman was already on board. We received an automated call that the Shuttle would arrive in five minutes, so we locked Gladys, took our luggage, and waited at the end of our driveway. Our first indication that this trip would not be worry-free occurred when we saw the Shuttle driver slow down about four houses from us, looking for an address, when two people with luggage by their sides were clearly visible through the driver's windshield. Sheesh! Did he need a billboard, even? He crept up the street, helped us load our luggage, and we were off... at less than the speed limit. He was more concerned with looking at his company message monitor than he was in looking at the road through the windshield.
Our Shuttle ride took us away from the airport to pick up one more couple. They lived in a huge apartment complex with multiple look-alike buildings with tiny address plates. We wasted over 10 minutes just trying to find the right building. By this time, we were very frustrated because long stop lights, heavy morning traffic, and going less than the speed limit meant that we had been aboard the Shuttle for almost an hour. Added to those frustrations was the fact that the people had not walked to the entrance of the complex where we easily could have picked them up and been on our way. In fact, they had not even hauled their luggage outside as the Shuttle service requests. The drive had to go in, drag their luggage out, and get them boarded. How inconsiderate of them! By this time, the other woman and we were starting to get time urgency.
As we started to drive into Tampa, the driver kept getting more and more messages on his company monitor. Soon he was paying much more attention to those messages that promised extra fares for him than he was in watching the road. At one point, he had to slam on the breaks to avoid rear-ending the car in front of us. Thank God we did not get in an accident because we had little time to spare. The first woman on the Shuttle asked if he could go to Frontier Airlines first because she was now down to an hour before her flight to Denver, and she still had to print a boarding pass. As we approached Frontier's gate, I saw Southwest's gate two doors down the line.
"We'll get out here, too," I said, "since Southwest is just down the walk a bit." I figured that we could walk to Southwest far more quickly than the driver could make another stop and reopen the back to get our luggage. We were never so happy to get out of a Shuttle in all of our lives.
Once at the airport we were amazed to have our boarding passes quickly scanned and highlighted that we had pre-boarding approval. When we got to the check-in lines, we were directed to one line while others behind us were direct to another. While they had to remove shoes, unload electronics, and do all of the usual TSA checks, we were told to keep our shoes on, to simply put our luggage through the scanner, and to walk through a small scanner ourselves. OK. No beeps sounded, no one did a full body scan of me, no one checked my insulin Pod or questioned that I had 12 Pods with batteries in them in my luggage. We picked up our luggage and were on our way. While this was hassle-free for us, I really did not feel comfortable with the "security" measures to insure my safety. I was innocent, but were others who got the same pre-boarding approval?
After a slight altercation with a man who could not read boarding signs, we were aboard the plane. Thankfully, the plane was only half full, so I took a middle seat, Rick took the aisle seat, and no one was sitting next to me coughing or sneezing or trying to infect the whole plane. Thank God. The flight was smooth, I was tired and actually fell asleep for about 20 minutes, and we landed almost on time in Milwaukee. We left 80 degree weather only to arrive to 5 degrees above zero with a wind chill factor of -12. Hmmm. Why did we come to Wisconsin for the holidays?
Snow was on the ground and blowing a bit, so we had some concerns as to which highway we should use to drive north. We chose I-43 since it is less congested and a shorter drive, but it does have the potential to ice and have drifts since it runs along Lake Michigan. We encountered strong winds and a few flurries, but a couple of hours later we were once again in Green Bay.
I tolerated the flight well; however, by the time we got home, we were both exhausted. Rick had the added burden of driving north, but I was refreshed enough from my plane nap that we decided to take the rental back to the airport. Yesterday was the first time since mid-summer that I actually drove a car. I found that I can now drive without pain, so as long as I am not overtired, I can once again get from point A to point B by driving myself. I still would not want to drive for hours at a time, but I felt good about getting some of my independence back.
I have no qualms about the flight back to Florida in January. I know I will not have problems as long as my medications do not give me new side effects. We now just need some down time, away from all people, to try to relax and decompress after what has been an emotionally and physically painful late summer, fall, and early winter. While we did run into a couple of problems with the house in Green Bay, Rick was able to get them reconciled today, so we are hoping for a peaceful couple of weeks. I pray that will happen.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Sunday, December 8, 2013
December in Dunedin
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| A glowing boat in the distance participates in the Holiday Boat Parade. |
Yesterday we ventured out to Lowe's and bought a little garden wagon to help with the yard work. We have determined that the patio I unearthed in the back yard a few years ago really is in pretty rough shape. Now is the time to take it out in the chunks that it has broken into and haul it to the dump. First, however, we have to get rid of the cement patio set. In its day, the set contained three benches around the table. One of the benches was in pieces when we bought Gladys, and the second bench is missing an intact pedestal, so we are down to a single bench. The table top and benches are not in the greatest
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| Cracked and uneven blocks make for a not- so-inviting patio in the back yard. Anyone want a concrete table and bench for free? |
This morning we took time out to remeasure the yard for the fence, taking into account where the posts would have to be positioned to accommodate the eight-foot panel sections. Rick calculated how many posts, panels, and gate kits we would need. Then we tried to estimate how much gravel, cement, cement tubes, and other building supplies would be necessary to complete the job. His original estimates were pretty accurate. We would like to come back in January, spend that month prepping the site and painting the south side of the house, and then putting up the south side fence. That will give both us and our neighbors some privacy back after two years of adjoining back yards.
Part of the site preparation involves removing the shrubs that were planted way too close to the house probably back in the 1960s. Yesterday we cut down an unruly schefflera arboricola that thought it was a tree. As you can see by the
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| A monstrous stump will need cutting and perhaps yanking out with the truck to make room for the new fence and gate. |
Our calculations show that the hibiscus next to the house under the guest room window also will have to be either removed or relocated so that our gate mechanism will work. I will try to transplant that, but if it is too much of a pain, I will just purchase new. The one under the window is not the healthiest that I have seen, and Chris told me that the one she tried to transplant did not survive. I will not deal with that until January.
While we were watching the parade last evening, an elderly couple was chatting with us. The woman mentioned that Dunedin was holding a local Art Guild art show today in the downtown area. After lunch Rick and I ventured downtown for a look. Keep in mind that the temperatures are once again above average in the low 80s and that a delightful breeze is blowing through cloudless skies. The art ranged from "you really have the guts to call yourself an artist?" to some watercolors that were very good. However, while they were reasonably priced, most of the pieces were quite small and nothing that we wanted to purchase. We know that some spectacular art shows are scheduled for the spring, so our quest for reasonable but original art will have to wait until later.
Tomorrow will be dedicated for the most part to getting the house in order for when we are gone and packing a few things for the flight back to Wisconsin. I really am not looking forward to ice, snow, and cold temperatures (wind chill in Green Bay was -1 this afternoon and snow was falling!), but at least the familiarity of the weather pattern will put me more into a Christmas spirit. I'll be happy to be back with family and to meet with a select few friends, yet somehow I think returning to sunshine and warmer weather after the holidays will not be too hard to bear in January.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Blinds, Beaches, and Boats
The weather forecaster tonight said that Tampa reached a new high temperature of 84 degrees today -- a full 10 degrees above the average 74 normal temp. We watched the weather in Green Bay climb from 3 degrees this morning up to a balmy 10 above by noon. I literally shiver to think of what the wind chill factor was today! For all that this area does NOT put me in a Christmas spirit (palm trees strung with lights and poinsettias blooming in front yard gardens is still strange...), I assure you that the weather in the 80's is not hard to take. I ache much less and we actually can walk around outside.
We ventured out this morning with the intension of dropping paperwork off at my new rheumatologist's office, only to get there to find the door tightly locked. Duh! That's right. At that point I remembered that the office is only open Monday through Thursday. At least I had a chance to learn how to get there; from the outside, at least, it seems to be a nice place. I will finally meet the doctor in January when we return to Florida.
From there, we ventured to Lowe's, and after two trips, we ordered blinds for the rest of the house. We took advantage of both a sale and a Lowe's coupon to get 30% off of Bali 2" faux wood blinds for the kitchen, guest bedroom, main bathroom, and Florida room. As the picture of our bedroom windows shows, they are nothing fancy, but they do have the beach theme that we want throughout the house. With the sales and coupon, we actually can complete every window in the house for less than Budget Blinds wanted to sell us two shades for the front doors! We'll have lots of blinds to hang once we return in January.
When we were watching the news at lunch time today, I had to smile. The TV is full of Christmas events including entertainment in the Tampa arena. How that entertainment reflects that this area is full of octogenarians! The big draws: an evening with Yanni (be still my beating heart...) and a one-night-only performance by Barry Manilow (oh, puh-leeze!) Maybe that's why I love Florida; I feel SO young in comparison.
We went to Sand Key Beach this afternoon since the weather was so nice. We had to get in a short beach walk before we returned to ice and snow, and we certainly wanted to avoid the beach crowds this weekend. Although it was windy, the people swimming and sunbathing in bikinis were not uncomfortable. Remember, though, that the temps are unusually warm. Had they been at the normal mid-70's, I think that swimmers would have to be very brave, and sunbathers may have been wearing a bit more. Since I am ultra-sensitive to the sun, we did not stay too long, and I made sure I wore a hat (even though I HATE hats!) Being on the beach in December was fun, though.
Dinner this evening was provided by Eli's, the best BBQ smokehouse in Dunedin. Our beef brisket sandwiches were melt-in-our-mouths good. We bought them mid-afternoon because Eli's many times runs out of meat before closing time, but they were delicious reheated in the microwave. And no, Bonnie, I did not buy a little sweet potato pie although they were available. I did, however, think of you when I saw them.
After dinner we drove down to the Marina. They are setting up for a Marina tradition that takes place tomorrow. Each holiday season, boaters at the Marina decorate their boats and have a holiday lighted-boat parade out into St. Joseph sound, under the Dunedin Causeway, and back to the Marina. Then the crowds that are gathered watch as the official Dunedin Christmas tree is illuminated in the city park. We will avoid the park and crowds tomorrow, but we do intend to see the whole aquatic parade. Our hairdresser, Vicki, told us to park on the Causeway to watch the boats from there. She said we can even stay in the car if we want to avoid all people. We'll go early for a good parking space and see how crowded it gets.
Tonight we took a preview walk around the Marina since very few people were out. The attached pictures show just some of the efforts that boat owners were taking to be a part of the parade. OK, so they are trying. People do not seem to decorate their homes here with as many lights as we do in the North, but they do have their own unique way of celebrating the holidays.
We ventured out this morning with the intension of dropping paperwork off at my new rheumatologist's office, only to get there to find the door tightly locked. Duh! That's right. At that point I remembered that the office is only open Monday through Thursday. At least I had a chance to learn how to get there; from the outside, at least, it seems to be a nice place. I will finally meet the doctor in January when we return to Florida.
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| Clean, simple blinds add to our "beach" motif. |
When we were watching the news at lunch time today, I had to smile. The TV is full of Christmas events including entertainment in the Tampa arena. How that entertainment reflects that this area is full of octogenarians! The big draws: an evening with Yanni (be still my beating heart...) and a one-night-only performance by Barry Manilow (oh, puh-leeze!) Maybe that's why I love Florida; I feel SO young in comparison.
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| Shorts and shades to go along with the sand on Sand Key Beach. |
Dinner this evening was provided by Eli's, the best BBQ smokehouse in Dunedin. Our beef brisket sandwiches were melt-in-our-mouths good. We bought them mid-afternoon because Eli's many times runs out of meat before closing time, but they were delicious reheated in the microwave. And no, Bonnie, I did not buy a little sweet potato pie although they were available. I did, however, think of you when I saw them.
After dinner we drove down to the Marina. They are setting up for a Marina tradition that takes place tomorrow. Each holiday season, boaters at the Marina decorate their boats and have a holiday lighted-boat parade out into St. Joseph sound, under the Dunedin Causeway, and back to the Marina. Then the crowds that are gathered watch as the official Dunedin Christmas tree is illuminated in the city park. We will avoid the park and crowds tomorrow, but we do intend to see the whole aquatic parade. Our hairdresser, Vicki, told us to park on the Causeway to watch the boats from there. She said we can even stay in the car if we want to avoid all people. We'll go early for a good parking space and see how crowded it gets.
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| Simple but elegant wreath and lights. |
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| This guy turned his boat into a floating, fairy-tale castle. He has been working on this one for days. |
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| Another view of the floating castle. |
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| Even an open float-boat is decked out for the holidays. |
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Productive Day
Today was a productive day, both from a personal, healthcare viewpoint and from a moving forward with our remodeling perspective.
The day started at Morton Plant Hospital where we took 10 minutes to arrange to have records sent to my doctor at Mayo. She actually called me last evening and helped me adjust my medication schedule. We were surprised when she said that all of my symptoms -- chills, shaking, headache, and fever -- could have been a reaction to one of the medications I am on rather than having any bacterial or viral cause. Sadly, I will slowly go back on the same medication and be back at the same dose that gave me problems just as we get to Christmas week. I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital, and I really do not want to have a repeat performance at Christmas time! We'll see...
After that, we made a trip to the millwork shop and ordered all of our interior doors. They will come in just as we get back in January, so we will have plenty to do inside the house if the weather prevents us from painting the exterior of the house in January. Painting outside in January. Hmmm. Do you know how strange that sounds to someone who grew up in Wisconsin? I understand that our northern home was covered in three inches of snow just this morning while we were riding around in air conditioning because the temperature topped 80 degrees today. The United States really does cover all climates and temperature ranges.
From the millwork shop we went to my regular doctor here in town who referred me to an area rheumatologist. I also talked to the rheumatologist's office in Wisconsin to coordinate appointments with her for late spring. Having two homes is wonderful, but coordinating healthcare in two states takes a great deal of time and energy.
After lunch and a little rest, we drove to Lowe's to see about blinds on the front doors. As mentioned earlier, there was no way that we could afford $1000 for blinds. Funny thing. We talked to a designer that we have worked with in the past, found the exact same solar shade material that the other guy tried to sell us for $800, and ended up ordering those shades with the same roller and chain drive for less than $240. Will Gladys have the best on the market? No, but she will have something equally as beautiful and functional for far less the cost. She may not have the fanciest dress on the block, but the old girl will look pretty darn good with what we hang on her front doors.Those blinds, too, will be delivered in January.
By the time we got back home, I was pretty tired. As always, I tried to avoid close contact with people while still functioning to get my life and our remodeling business completed.
We took many positive steps today to get our lives back on track, and those accomplishments have given us both a sense of power and productiveness. We'll be glad to continue that progress in January as we start to work on putting all of the pieces into place.
The day started at Morton Plant Hospital where we took 10 minutes to arrange to have records sent to my doctor at Mayo. She actually called me last evening and helped me adjust my medication schedule. We were surprised when she said that all of my symptoms -- chills, shaking, headache, and fever -- could have been a reaction to one of the medications I am on rather than having any bacterial or viral cause. Sadly, I will slowly go back on the same medication and be back at the same dose that gave me problems just as we get to Christmas week. I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital, and I really do not want to have a repeat performance at Christmas time! We'll see...
After that, we made a trip to the millwork shop and ordered all of our interior doors. They will come in just as we get back in January, so we will have plenty to do inside the house if the weather prevents us from painting the exterior of the house in January. Painting outside in January. Hmmm. Do you know how strange that sounds to someone who grew up in Wisconsin? I understand that our northern home was covered in three inches of snow just this morning while we were riding around in air conditioning because the temperature topped 80 degrees today. The United States really does cover all climates and temperature ranges.
From the millwork shop we went to my regular doctor here in town who referred me to an area rheumatologist. I also talked to the rheumatologist's office in Wisconsin to coordinate appointments with her for late spring. Having two homes is wonderful, but coordinating healthcare in two states takes a great deal of time and energy.
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| Soon the front doors will have solar shades for privacy in the | evening and shade during the summer. |
By the time we got back home, I was pretty tired. As always, I tried to avoid close contact with people while still functioning to get my life and our remodeling business completed.
We took many positive steps today to get our lives back on track, and those accomplishments have given us both a sense of power and productiveness. We'll be glad to continue that progress in January as we start to work on putting all of the pieces into place.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Roadblock, Recovery, and Remodeling
November was a terrible month. As mentioned before, while we originally should have been in Florida for Halloween with the intension of using the gorgeous weather in November to paint Gladys, we instead spent the first 15 days of November at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. After the successful trip down here, we were ready to relax and do a few, small remodeling jobs before we returned to Wisconsin for the holidays.
As you read in the last blog, Thanksgiving Day started well with an invigorating walk and a relaxing day. However, by early afternoon, my body started to betray me once again. I got a terrible chill and started to shake like a person with essential tremors. By the time I was writing the previous blog, my hands were shaking so badly that I had to retype many words since my fingers double-tapped letters. Thanksgiving dinner was in the oven, the rolls were cooked, and the cranberries were ready to go.
By dinnertime, I was freezing and I could not control the shaking. I ate a quick meal (Rick only ate half of his), and then he insisted on taking me to the hospital. While we have a small hospital in Dunedin, we chose to go to Morton Plant Hospital just up the street a bit in Clearwater. That was an excellent decision. By the time we got to the hospital, the chills were worse, the shaking was slightly settled, but I had a fever of 100.2 degrees. While that may not sound high, for me it is. My normal body temperature is 96.4 degrees, so I was heating up quite nicely. Isn't it strange that a person can feel cold with a fever?
Upon hearing my recent medical history, the ER doctors went into full "this could be sepsis" mode. Blood tests, vitals, and two IVs (one in each arm!) later, I was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of an "unknown infection." Since my immune system is now compromised, I was given a private room on the post-surgical floor.
I stayed in the hospital from Thanksgiving until December 1. Thus, you can see that the last part of November was not any better than the first! During that time, I had 19 tubes of blood drawn, two nasal swabs to rule out various types of flu, and so many bags of IV antibiotics that I lost count after 10.
The doctors let me continue to take the Prednisone I am on, so my muscle aches did not come back. However, they took me off the Imuran that suppresses my immune system to give me something internally to fight the still-unknown infection. They sent me home with a strong oral antibiotic once my blood counts returned to normal, but now I have to coordinate with Mayo to see at what dose I should resume my Imuran on Thursday. The fun never ends...
Rick and I were both surprised that after only a couple of weeks on the Imuran, my immune system is so compromised. We know that Imuran takes about three months to be fully effective, so I thought I had a little more "grace time" before hiding away from everyone and everything. Boy, did I get that wrong!
I now know that I have to avoid all crowds which is a good excuse for me NOT to go to the mall to do any Christmas shopping. That's OK. Either I can order online along with billions of other Americans or I can send Rick out to shop. Giving money at Christmas also works. Sadly, church is out for a while and I only go out when necessary, so I will have to be content to stay close to home with just a few outside visits.
This roadblock to my recovery is behind us, and I have learned a few valuable lessons. The doctor told me to avoid crowds and anyone who is even THINKING of being sick. However, I should "live life" by doing what I can and by choosing who to be around. I will be with family and friends this holiday season... as long as no one is actively ill. Stephanie is coming home for Christmas, and I cannot wait to see her. I will go to the Court House on December 23 to witness the official, legal adoption of my grandson, and I will celebrate with family afterwards. I will accept my friend's invitation to her house, and I will meet with other friends as planned. I just have to protect myself to the best of my ability and pray that everyone stays healthy... including me! DM is something I have to learn to live with, so the learning curve begins.
After we got home, we resumed our somewhat normal routine. Basically, I do what I can and then watch Rick work. He has been a saint. Not only does he take care of me, he also takes care of the groceries, errands to the store, driving to doctor's offices, and almost everything else. I know how hard that can be, yet he never complains. We are both tired by the end of the day, so we are willing to accept that what we accomplished that day has to be good enough.
One of the great jobs completed happened on Sunday after we returned from the hospital. As mentioned earlier, we can put construction and yard debris out to the curb for pick-up each Monday. With that in mind, Rick tackled taking down the rest of the north side fence. I watched. The yard certainly looks different without the half-falling-down rotten wooden fence. We cannot wait to get the new fence up, but that will have to wait until we return in January.
The good news is that on Monday Rick was able to clean up the fence line and get most of the bags of leaves, sticks, vines, and small trees out to the curb before the city came around. Almost everything is gone!
We are sure that the city will now be watching our house. In Dunedin, you cannot legally put up a fence unless you take out a permit. The city will do drive-bys to make sure that we have the correct permits before we start construction. Let them waste their gasoline because we are not about to take out the permit until after the new year. For one fee, we then will have a year to put up a new fence. The fence will probably take us a month or two to complete (one to two posts and panels a day), but that is OK, too. Actually, we cannot put up a fence until we get the south and north sides of the house painted since the posts will go right next to the house. That's the problem with remodeling: everything has to be done in the right sequence, and everything is dependent upon something else.
Another question is what to do with the fence. We have to go around the tree on our yard, so Rick has been making "test" post holes to see how far we have to go out and where the roots of the tree (like everywhere!) will interfere with the posts. Right now, our yard looks like a 200 pound gofer has been trying to take up residence.
Of course, since I am trying to avoid people, I was in contact with too many yesterday. Rick ran to the store, and not more was he gone than the doorbell rang. Standing on my doorstep were two Jehovah's Witnesses asking me about my belief in prayer. I told them the truth, avoided getting within 10 feet of them, and told them to pray for me. Hey. It can't hurt, right?
We had two men from Budget Blinds come in to give us a bid on putting blinds on the front doors. While we love the light we get through the doors, privacy is still a bit of an issue at night, and in the summer when we are not here, we would like something to block the intense sun. Our cooling bill last summer was up about $10.00 a month since we put the doors in. The men measured, showed us samples, and came up with an estimate that shocked us both. We were figuring about $500 for the two doors, and their final bid came in at $1000. A grand for two blinds? Are they kidding? Not in this lifetime. Rick and I will look further. Lowe's and Home Depot, here we come!
After little contact with the neighbors so far, we ran into our neighbor man from the north. Since we just took down the fence, we ended up having a long conversation with him, too. I tried to stand back to not get exposed to anything. So much for limited contact with others!
Today, after coordinating records and doctors' appointments in two states, we both went for badly-needed haircuts. I was a little concerned because my hairdresser, Vicki, sniffled all the while she was cutting my hair. However, I also know she smokes heavily, so I am hoping the runny nose was smoke-induced rather than viral. Thank God I am still on an antibiotic. Vicki removed enough hair from the two of us to stuff a small pillow; I must admit that we both look and feel better.
After the haircuts, Rick finalized plans for ordering our doors. He is hesitant to order them in case something would prevent us from coming down in January, but I am determined that we will come. Keep praying, folks! He will order the interior doors either later today or tomorrow. Then this winter/ spring we can paint them and install them before we go home in the late spring.
Our plans are still ambitious despite the roadblocks we faced with my recovery. We'll get as much done as possible and go forward from there. I had a good, productive day yesterday doing small jobs around the house, so I know that I am going to get better. I just need to try to have the patience to let myself get there.
As you read in the last blog, Thanksgiving Day started well with an invigorating walk and a relaxing day. However, by early afternoon, my body started to betray me once again. I got a terrible chill and started to shake like a person with essential tremors. By the time I was writing the previous blog, my hands were shaking so badly that I had to retype many words since my fingers double-tapped letters. Thanksgiving dinner was in the oven, the rolls were cooked, and the cranberries were ready to go.
By dinnertime, I was freezing and I could not control the shaking. I ate a quick meal (Rick only ate half of his), and then he insisted on taking me to the hospital. While we have a small hospital in Dunedin, we chose to go to Morton Plant Hospital just up the street a bit in Clearwater. That was an excellent decision. By the time we got to the hospital, the chills were worse, the shaking was slightly settled, but I had a fever of 100.2 degrees. While that may not sound high, for me it is. My normal body temperature is 96.4 degrees, so I was heating up quite nicely. Isn't it strange that a person can feel cold with a fever?
Upon hearing my recent medical history, the ER doctors went into full "this could be sepsis" mode. Blood tests, vitals, and two IVs (one in each arm!) later, I was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of an "unknown infection." Since my immune system is now compromised, I was given a private room on the post-surgical floor.
I stayed in the hospital from Thanksgiving until December 1. Thus, you can see that the last part of November was not any better than the first! During that time, I had 19 tubes of blood drawn, two nasal swabs to rule out various types of flu, and so many bags of IV antibiotics that I lost count after 10.
The doctors let me continue to take the Prednisone I am on, so my muscle aches did not come back. However, they took me off the Imuran that suppresses my immune system to give me something internally to fight the still-unknown infection. They sent me home with a strong oral antibiotic once my blood counts returned to normal, but now I have to coordinate with Mayo to see at what dose I should resume my Imuran on Thursday. The fun never ends...
Rick and I were both surprised that after only a couple of weeks on the Imuran, my immune system is so compromised. We know that Imuran takes about three months to be fully effective, so I thought I had a little more "grace time" before hiding away from everyone and everything. Boy, did I get that wrong!
I now know that I have to avoid all crowds which is a good excuse for me NOT to go to the mall to do any Christmas shopping. That's OK. Either I can order online along with billions of other Americans or I can send Rick out to shop. Giving money at Christmas also works. Sadly, church is out for a while and I only go out when necessary, so I will have to be content to stay close to home with just a few outside visits.
This roadblock to my recovery is behind us, and I have learned a few valuable lessons. The doctor told me to avoid crowds and anyone who is even THINKING of being sick. However, I should "live life" by doing what I can and by choosing who to be around. I will be with family and friends this holiday season... as long as no one is actively ill. Stephanie is coming home for Christmas, and I cannot wait to see her. I will go to the Court House on December 23 to witness the official, legal adoption of my grandson, and I will celebrate with family afterwards. I will accept my friend's invitation to her house, and I will meet with other friends as planned. I just have to protect myself to the best of my ability and pray that everyone stays healthy... including me! DM is something I have to learn to live with, so the learning curve begins.
After we got home, we resumed our somewhat normal routine. Basically, I do what I can and then watch Rick work. He has been a saint. Not only does he take care of me, he also takes care of the groceries, errands to the store, driving to doctor's offices, and almost everything else. I know how hard that can be, yet he never complains. We are both tired by the end of the day, so we are willing to accept that what we accomplished that day has to be good enough.
One of the great jobs completed happened on Sunday after we returned from the hospital. As mentioned earlier, we can put construction and yard debris out to the curb for pick-up each Monday. With that in mind, Rick tackled taking down the rest of the north side fence. I watched. The yard certainly looks different without the half-falling-down rotten wooden fence. We cannot wait to get the new fence up, but that will have to wait until we return in January.
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| The rest of the north side fence is gone. A chain-link fence still surrounds the neighbor's property, but it offers neither household much privacy. |
The good news is that on Monday Rick was able to clean up the fence line and get most of the bags of leaves, sticks, vines, and small trees out to the curb before the city came around. Almost everything is gone!
We are sure that the city will now be watching our house. In Dunedin, you cannot legally put up a fence unless you take out a permit. The city will do drive-bys to make sure that we have the correct permits before we start construction. Let them waste their gasoline because we are not about to take out the permit until after the new year. For one fee, we then will have a year to put up a new fence. The fence will probably take us a month or two to complete (one to two posts and panels a day), but that is OK, too. Actually, we cannot put up a fence until we get the south and north sides of the house painted since the posts will go right next to the house. That's the problem with remodeling: everything has to be done in the right sequence, and everything is dependent upon something else.
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| The holes around the tree are "Rick holes," not rat or gofer holes. This tree will be a challenge. |
Of course, since I am trying to avoid people, I was in contact with too many yesterday. Rick ran to the store, and not more was he gone than the doorbell rang. Standing on my doorstep were two Jehovah's Witnesses asking me about my belief in prayer. I told them the truth, avoided getting within 10 feet of them, and told them to pray for me. Hey. It can't hurt, right?
We had two men from Budget Blinds come in to give us a bid on putting blinds on the front doors. While we love the light we get through the doors, privacy is still a bit of an issue at night, and in the summer when we are not here, we would like something to block the intense sun. Our cooling bill last summer was up about $10.00 a month since we put the doors in. The men measured, showed us samples, and came up with an estimate that shocked us both. We were figuring about $500 for the two doors, and their final bid came in at $1000. A grand for two blinds? Are they kidding? Not in this lifetime. Rick and I will look further. Lowe's and Home Depot, here we come!
After little contact with the neighbors so far, we ran into our neighbor man from the north. Since we just took down the fence, we ended up having a long conversation with him, too. I tried to stand back to not get exposed to anything. So much for limited contact with others!
Today, after coordinating records and doctors' appointments in two states, we both went for badly-needed haircuts. I was a little concerned because my hairdresser, Vicki, sniffled all the while she was cutting my hair. However, I also know she smokes heavily, so I am hoping the runny nose was smoke-induced rather than viral. Thank God I am still on an antibiotic. Vicki removed enough hair from the two of us to stuff a small pillow; I must admit that we both look and feel better.
After the haircuts, Rick finalized plans for ordering our doors. He is hesitant to order them in case something would prevent us from coming down in January, but I am determined that we will come. Keep praying, folks! He will order the interior doors either later today or tomorrow. Then this winter/ spring we can paint them and install them before we go home in the late spring.
Our plans are still ambitious despite the roadblocks we faced with my recovery. We'll get as much done as possible and go forward from there. I had a good, productive day yesterday doing small jobs around the house, so I know that I am going to get better. I just need to try to have the patience to let myself get there.
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