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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