And the winning question is...

"What's your favorite baseball team?"

Woody said that if he couldn't remember the answer to that question, then he was definitely confused!

Today has been much better for Woody, if you compare it to yesterday! Our nephew, Jason, from St. Louis is here visiting. He is staying next door with Nathan and family. The day was so spring-like that Woody and Jason went on a walk this morning. They walked for about 45 min. Woody said that it felt good while they were walking, but in retrospect he is wondering if maybe he should have taken a shorter walk. After his walk, he slept again for a good part of the day. He says that he is getting his days and nights mixed up since the Zometa infusion. After sleeping most of yesterday, he had trouble sleeping last night. That may be the direction he is heading tonight!

Melany and her family came to Tullahoma to visit with Jason. They spent most of their time over at Nathan's, but did come over for a short visit with us late in the afternoon. We're trying to keep visits with Woody fairly quiet and not too long--but he did wake up enough to visit with them.

So we have had a bit of a family reunion today, but we let the younger generations mainly take part in it. It was good to see everyone together and not have any responsibility!

Precursor of what's to come?

The side effects of the Zometa started in the night for Woody and have lasted a good part of the day. He has had aches, chills, trembles, and sweats--not a good day to say the least. He did manage to sleep away some of the day. Late this afternoon he started to feel a bit better, but hasn't felt like doing much except stay in his recliner all wrapped up in fleece throws. He hasn't had much of an appetite for most of the day, but was ready to eat when supper time came around.

I asked him if he wanted to take a fleece throw with him. He asked me where he was going to take it. I said to the hospital next week. He said that he was having second thoughts about the hospital! And I can understand why--I have a feeling that the last few hours have been mild in comparison to what he will experience next week.

First Zometa infusion

Woody had his first Zometa infusion this morning. We got up early and headed out into the cold for Murfreesboro. Woody drove for the first time since his surgery. He said that the infusion wasn't bad. It took about 30 minutes. They told him that he wouldn't realize that he had had the treatment till tomorrow. Tomorrow he is going to ache like he has the flu. What this treatment does is take calcium from the blood and then puts that calcium into his bones. This will make his bones ache--thus the achy flu-like feeling.

He will be having these infusions about once a month and he found out that in the future he should be able to have this done in Tullahoma which will save us a 90 mile round trip.

After we got home, we had lunch and then we both napped a bit this afternoon.

Suggestions needed!

One of the reasons that I am supposed to accompany Woody during these treatments is because they need to know if he is in his right mind--and a nurse is not necessarily the best person to do that. Woody has decided that we need some questions that I can ask him to decide if he is confused or not during his treatments. He suggested something like they do when a ball player gets knocked out and they are trying to decide if he has a concussion or not--like "how many fingers am I holding up?" or "what year is it?" or "who is the President?"

We have come up with one question that I cannot ask him as neither of us can agree on the answer--and that is: What time did Woody ask me to marry him? He says one time and I say another. He says that I am wrong and I know that he is wrong! So that is definitely not a good question!

So...any suggestions?

Woody has used up all of his post-operative pain medication. Now during the day he is taking ibuprofen and at night will take the stronger pain medication that Dr. Sosman prescribed for him prior to his surgery. He has had a restful day staying in and trying to stay warm.

Tuesday update

Woody has had another quiet day--not much happening--it's good to have days like these--lately quiet days have been far and few between. He did walk to the library this morning. He spent the rest of the day resting. He took a good nap this afternoon. It looks like those prayers for him to get some good sleep are working!

Some really cold days and nights are predicted for the next couple of days so Woody's exercise may be confined to inside the house--walking up and down the stairs or to the refrigerator! For my AZ family and friends and others who are in warm climates--it is 14 degrees here at the moment and not supposed to get out of the 20's tomorrow. I am already dreading having to get out in the extreme cold early Thursday morning when we have to be in Murfreesboro by 9am for his first Zometa infusion. I know...I shouldn't be thinking past today...but...brrrrrrrrrr!

Monday, Monday!

It has been a status quo day for Woody. He was going to go for a walk, but it was just a might too cold--especially with the breeze. He spent a lot of time resting which should be good for what ails him!

Therapy frustrations

Woody is rather frustrated with his efforts when he attempts to do his new physical therapy exercises. We were shown at Vanderbilt what exercises he is to do, but we just aren't sure that he is doing them correctly. And he knows that he needs to be doing them correctly or they won't be doing him any good--and could do harm.

He is also frustrated in the fact that he has lost so much of what he had regained from going to physical therapy after his bicycle accident. He is working very hard to get the use of his hand back to what he had prior to having the external fixture removed from his arm and hand. He also had been able to straighten and bend his elbow almost all the way and he has lost some of that movement--a bit discouraging to have worked so hard to gain movement of his hand and arm to lose it again so quickly.

We just feel like he needs the expertise of a trained physical therapist to guide him in doing the exercises correctly. He went two to three times a week from October to the end of December and they taught him exactly how to do the exercises. This time we were shown twice--and shown different exercises at each of those times. We just don't want his shoulder to freeze up again! We thought that they were going to set up outside physical therapy, but we haven't heard anything and we are wondering if that will wait till after his treatments--since they are only a week and a half away. Perhaps time to email Dr. Holt again!

Woody has been in more pain today as he is trying to go from two pain pills down to one. He did take about an hour walk on this beautiful day. He didn't go to church or teach his Sunday School class this morning as he is trying to stay healthy and not pick up any bugs prior to starting his treatments on February 11th. He is resting now and looking forward to watching the Super Bowl.