Fun and Mystery...

We've been having fun here in CT despite the fact that I was inquiring about funeral arrangements and wills last week. I went to RI to the beach with my Aunt and Uncle and Cousin and had a BLAST. Just what the doctor ordered! We spent all day on Saturday on the beach and swam in the cold Atlantic Ocean. I praise God for salt water. LOVE that stuff. Lots of healing potential in it! I got to reconnect with my only 1st cousin and was so fortunate to be able to spend time with her. Audrey and Lew loved it as well. Lew was even following his namesake (Uncle Lew) around - he never does that! Here are some of the lighter things we've been doing:

Auntie Cindy was so smart and got a "slippy slide," as Audrey calls it. Both children LOVE it. I have to send her more photos (remind me of that).

Audrey has successfully learned to climb the trees all by herself. Love the fact that she's in her khaki's, but, she got her babies up in the tree by herself and was having a grand old time. My father and I were just sitting outside in the front just watching her. It was great for us both. That was before he went into the hospital.

Audrey, Christopher and Carlton were pretending to be old. I told them to look as old as they could. Carlton was the "old son," according to him.

Lastly, this was me pre-race over a week ago. I don't have one of me post race (well I do, but I look like heck, so why in the world would I show that one??).

My mother and father have even been having a few laughs while he's in the hospital. Apparently a few days ago my Dad had a roommate that wasn't altogether there. He seemed nice enough and kept referring to great investments. My parents surmised that he had probably been a very intelligent stock broker or something back in the day, but unfortunately, he was struggling. After a bit of time, my father had to use the restroom. They have him on a high dosage of Lasics (a diuretic that I don't know how to spell). It is supposed to get rid of the excess fluid like that fluid around his feet and legs. It has been working, as I stated in my last post. However, the medication makes people have to use the restroom with some frequency. Because my father is hooked up with a bunch of tubes, he can't always use the actual bathroom in his room all of the time. I believe each person on the heart floor is in the same boat. The hospital, therefore, provides urinals for the individuals.

My mother and father searched high and low for his urinal but couldn't find it. It had been there prior to his physical therapy, but they were no longer able to locate it. Nurses don't just take the urinals and not give them back, but that's what my Mom and Dad thought maybe happened, so they asked the nurse for another one. The nurses were even perplexed over this missing urinal.

A while later, after my father acquired a new urinal, my mother stood up to let the nurses in to perform some sort of test. She glanced over because she thought Dad's roommate was talking to her, but then she realized he was talking to himself. But she didn't look away before she noticed that the guy had two urinals. One in his hand doing who knows what with it, and the other by his bedside. My mother cracked the case of the missing urinal. My mother told my father, "I know where your urinal went," as she pointed to his roommate and Dad said, "Well, I guess I don't want it back."

Funny Goings On

Well, the fluid is almost gone from my Dad's legs, which is great. So great. When he gets out of the hospital (I have no idea when) he will be transferred to a pulmonary rehabilitation center. I checked it out on the Internet and it seems like a really nice place. I think they said he'd have to be there two weeks. We never thought he'd go for it, but they convinced him! The doctors seem to think that it would really help so he doesn't have this chronic pneumonia that weakens his heart every time he gets it. The only thing we have to pray for right now is for some reason, his blood sugar level has been well over 300 (150-ish is good for him), like I think my mom said it was 387 today. The only thing we can think of is whatever is in the IVs that he'd being given has some sort of glucose component because otherwise, his blood sugar levels have been just fine at home. At this pulmonary rehabilitation place, they can ween him off his prednezone - "the grumpy pill" as Audrey puts it. Hopefully he could be off that for good!! Oh that would be so great!

So yesterday, my father had his tooth brush and tooth paste out on his tray. He asked me to put them in his drawer, and I said of course I'd do that. I put them away, and then he said, pointing to the basin he spits in, "You can just dump that out and rinse it out." I said, "Ummm, I love you, Dad, but if I do that, I'll throw up. You're forgetting who you're talking to." He just laughed and agreed that he did forget who he was talking to.

Later in the evening yesterday, the nurses came in to clean him up a bit and to help him brush his teeth. He told the nurses, "That's ok, my wife can do it." They didn't really know what to think because, that's what they get paid for, so they questioned him. He said, "Oh, no, it's ok, my wife will clean me off and brush my teeth." Hahaha! When Nomer got there, she had to do it! I told her to tell him next time that she goes on vacation when he goes in the hospital. She said, "Yeah, I'm going to remind him I'm a RETIRED nurse."

Lastly, last night my mother and him were talking about these braces he has on. They're not braces, exactly but they wrap around his legs and zap him with electricity or something to keep his legs circulating because he can't get up and around to walk as much in the hospital. They also have helped immensely with the reduction of fluid in his legs. Well, my Dad feels there is something wrong with these wraps/braces. The cord doesn't seem to be long enough for him. It kind of hurts him because it lays on top of his legs, but he would prefer it wrap around and go under his legs to then hook into the outlet or whatever it is hooked up into. So he says to my mom, "I want you to get Wendell Jr. down here and have him fix these things. They're bugging me. I want them to wrap around and not lay on top because the way they are laying is a little painful. So get Wendell down here so he can fix it." My mother looked at him to see if he was sane or not and when she figured out he was completely serious she said, "Wendell can't do anything electrical in the hospital!" Dad said, "Yes, Wendell can do anything! I want you to get him down here and just put an extension cord or something in." My mom, still dumbfounded said, "First of all, I'm not bringing Wendell in here without a wheelchair," as my brother doesn't exactly like hospitals too much. Then she says, "Secondly, Wendell canNOT just come in here and work on stuff!" I guess my brother can be proud that my Dad thinks he can fix anything! My mother and I were joking around about it and she said, "Yeah, Wendell, which extension cord would you like, the long orange one?! Gosh, what will he think of next?!" Those kind of funny things are what I remember about my Dad the most. I hope he continues along that path as he just hasn't been himself since I got here, but these last few days have looked promising. I don't care about the physical stuff, I just want to be able to talk to him like I always used to do. I haven't felt that way yet, but these little quips give me great hope. My brother can do anything. That should give my sister something to be jealous about! :) I wrote that for you, Cindy!

Where Dad's At

Well, Dad is in the hospital yet again. He went in this morning after a sleepless night of coughing. His pneumonia has returned. I'll know more later as his heart doctor hasn't visited the hospital yet. My mother asked me this morning if I could help get him to the doctor's as she called the doctor to have my dad seen, and I said I could. A few minutes later as I was just about to fix the carseat situation, she came out of the room and said that he needed an ambulance because she didn't think we could get him to the car and then into the office because he was so weak. My Dad had been doing well. He had been walking and doing his exercises and eating, but the last few nights he hasn't slept because he has been coughing. Yesterday he was very weak. The day before he was also weak but we went for a drive to get strawberries and rhubarb. We went to three or four different farms to get rhubarb and then got lost. It was a classic outing for the two of us. I did manage to find three measely stalks of rhubarb to make my Mom a strawberry rhubarb pie. That's her favorite. I'm waiting on a call from her to go pick her up at the hospital, as the recently admitted my Dad. Hmmm...4:30 already, I should probably go and call her seeing how the children are all up. They've given my Dad several breathing treatments but apparently his oxygen level was very low when he was admitted. That's the latest. I'll write more when I know more.

My To Do List

So my To Do List:

• Trim Bushes:

rhodadendum

lilac

butterfly bush

iris (cut back dead flowers)

peonies (cut back dead flowers)

Take 4 inches off the top of the 4 enormous bushes surrounding our house. That will inevitably look like a birthday cake because I can't reach the middle, so my brother has to help me with that. Who am I kidding, I can't even reach the top of one of them!!

Pull off new growth under Rose of Sharon (to make it more like a tree than a bush)

The Maple tree in the front yard because it hangs down too low. I already tried this, and it's going to be cut again because I just can't reach high enough. Yeah, yeah, I could get a ladder. Whatever, have you seen my list?

Whatever bush is done blossoming gets hacked.

• Plant Flowers

24 petunias

2 Fuschias

2 Verbenas

6 Dusty Millers

Replant 5 double impatients (moving them to a different location)

6 Cucumbers

Replant entire bed of Hens and Chickens. Those things are like a knotted mess. I have to dig them all out and then replant them every 8 inches and throw the rest away (I'm selling them at the Tag Sale).

• Miscellaneous

Pound stakes into the railroad ties

Clean out under the falling deck

Help Beep build something that will keep the deck from falling...still not sure what that is. My Dad and him just started talking shop and went way over my head with calculations and joyces (isn't that a chic's name?) and concrete and cement (which one is the mixture and which one is the dry bag?) and guns that shoot nails into concrete (didn't know such a thing existed).

Clean out gutters (ALWAYS my job. I used to have to climb the roof and hang over the side, face down to do that. Thank the Lord for vertigo as an excuse to avoid that!).

Oh yeah, the little thing called a TAG SALE - the whole reason (not the WHOLE reason, but the guise under which I am here).

Water the flowers EVERY day (yes, I forgot today).

Locate buried valve for watering system (Todd and I buried it under mulch thinking, who needs that?)

Add mulch where needed

Anyway, I'll be adding to my list, but it's good to have one because I don't want to have to ask every time I'm done with something. Now you know how Dad feels when he comes to my house or my sister's house. We used to have lists a mile long for him to do! He always accomplished them, so that's my goal too. Ticking off as many things - if not all the things I can. So here are some pictures of me trying to accomplish my tasks. As I was trying to hit the rod with the sledge hammer my Dad yelled out the window, "C'mon, HIT it!" I told him to shut up. :)

Lew is giving me the "Stupid American" look here because I was under the delapadated deck that is hanging on by a thread. I was cleaning out the old wood that we kept under there to keep dry for the fire place in case of an emergency. I have NEVER in my life seen so many different kinds of spiders. I've also NEVER in my life stayed that close to them. I've also NEVER in my life had so many crawling and falling on me. It was literally Hell. I told my mom to take pictures and show them to my Dad and say to him, "This is Erica proving her love for you by being under there with the spiders. I should have had my shirt my friend, Ellen gave me that says, "The only thing to fear is fear itself (and spiders)." So true! I kept screaming and then saying, "It's nothing, just a spider," because I didn't want to scare anyone. Meanwhile I was scared out of my WITS!!!! It was awful. My Dad just laughed!

You ask if Lew spends most of his time in a high chair...yeah, he does. This kid is going to weigh twice as much when we get back. He ate more than me at lunch today!! My Dad and Beep used to be in business together. It was a concrete business called Miller Brothers (Beep's brother was also in it). When it disbanded, my Dad has his business called, "Wendell's Concrete Service." I found some old hats the other day and we were wearing them when we had to mix concrete today using the cement in the bags and the water (learned something new - which is concrete and which is cement). This is the Littlest Worker for Wendell's Concrete Service:

Setting up the Concrete to go under the porch - see how it's falling?? It's not the angle of the camera, the porch is really tipped down towards the house.

Mixing cement.

Beep had the hard job: he had to shovel the cement and toss it towards the back of under the porch into the trench we dug and put boards around.

More some other time! Many blessings to you all!!

Trim Bushes

Audrey Helping

Here's the insulin shot one, so look or don't look depending....

OK TO LOOK AGAIN!! So my Dad has this super cool machine that takes his vitals and evaluation questions (do you have any pain...rate your cough...have you taken your pills...etc) and sends them over the phone line to the and blood pressure sleeve.

This is the vital screen...

This is Nurse Audrey helping Grammy with pushing the numbers. She LOVES it. My sister asked her if she wanted to be a nurse when she grew up one time and she said, "I AM a nurse." Forget the training - who needs that anyway?

Since you've been gone......good song.

Well, we've managed to make ourselves quite at home here in CT. There has been lots to do, and I've had a blast being able to do it and to help out my family. It's funny because my Dad is worried about my Mom, and my Mom is worried about my Dad, so I get directions from each of them sometimes secretly on how to help the other. In this picture, my grandfather (Beep) and I are fixing the railroad ties. We had to drive long rebar things into 2-3 ties. Some didn't go in so easy, so I had to use a sledge hammer. Beep's advice to me, "It will go in every time you hit it." The opperative words were "hit it." Beep used to set me up with a block of wood, a hammer and some nails he had started. He taught me how to hammer something. I had to hammer in the nails, pull them out straight, and hammer them in again. It kept me busy for hours, which amuses Todd.



This is Lew throwing a temper tantrum. I'm not sure what he was mad at, but he was angry. He has stopped flinging his head forward because he's hit his head too many times on concrete, and because he has dunked his face into the bath water and come up not amused.











This is Lew eating his toe while we watched Toy Story. Audrey was snuggled up next to Grammy who had made delicious popcorn.















This is Audrey using the blankets I found in the attic and her suitcase on the floor as a makeshift bed for rest time.

Next time I'll show you some of how we "helped." I say it in quotes because I'm just not sure some things have been all that helpful. Like I trimmed the butterfly bush and did exactly what my Dad said to do, but I think I butchered it. It looks kind of foolish. Audrey helps each morning with Dad's vitals. She also holds up his sleeve so my Mom can give my Dad his insulin shot. I figured I'd warn you, so those of you who are squeemish will know it will be the first picture, so scroll down on the next post until you get to the next picture. Thank you for your prayers! Dad is doing well. He walked the fastest he's walked since I've been here this morning. Ok it's 10:30, I should call Toddy to see how his softball game went!

NEW SPIN - SITLL JAMES 1:27 RELATED

James 1:27 has two points to it: to care for 1)ORPHANS and 2)WIDOWS in "their time of need." Well, that's what I'm going to do this summer. My mother is not a widow yet, so that's wonderful, but it is clear that my father is being ushered into the presence of his Savior, however quickly or slowly God wants. It could be a while, it could be tomorrow. We just don't know. For this reason, my wonderful husband suggested I go help out my family this summer. I will be in CT and hopefully connecting with you through this blog. When we picked the James 1:27 theme, we really only did it for the orphan aspect, but now it has taken a new turn. While it is a sad turn, God has been gracious and has given me a hope and a peace I didn't know was possible when your father - who by the way, took me in when I was 18 months old - is dying. Ironically, I always used to pray when I was little that God wouldn't take my parents until I was 30 because I figured that it was so far away that I could handle it when I was 30. I seriously remember praying that and trying to think of the oldest thing I could think of that would still be logical (to a 7 year old). Well, I'm 30 now and wished I had prayed for something a little older :) Anyway, God is good, even in this valley. I've posted several songs that have spoken to me over the past few days, I hope they minister to you as well...They follow this post...If, however, you cannot find them, scroll down and on the left hand side will be a list of posts in June. Click on any one of them, and that particular song will come up and then you can play it by clicking on the picture. There's probably abotu 4 or 5 songs.