A Hint of Fall

Yesterday, when I was walking around to the back of the house to water my herbs, I spotted this leaf on the ground...it is from the Poplar Tulip tree (TN state tree) that is on that side of our house. Now when you look up into that tree you don't see any others like this, but seeing this one and its beautiful colors made me realize that it won't be long till all the leaves on this tree will be a beautiful yellow. I also noticed yesterday when I was walking through the yard that the leaves have started to fall...not pretty yet, but some are definitely falling. Just a miniscule start to the massive amounts that we will have on the ground between now and next Spring! Our phone seems to have rung almost non stop today...most of the numbers are not recognizable by me and thus don't get answered. But we have had several calls of interest and import. One of our nurses from Fresenius Kidney Care called to suggest a change in the settings on the dialysis cycler machine to help make the alarms lessen in number. I made the change that he walked me through...now hoping that it will help. It is so strange Woody goes from one night having no alarms to the next having 8, 9, or 10. We will see tonight if this setting change helps. A little later Woody's other PD nurse called telling us that he had set up with the surgeon a date and time to have the hemodialysis catheter removed...that will happen Friday. Woody will be glad to have that removed as it is a bit bothersome to him. Our other communication with Fresenius, I initiated...called and asked them to call me back...so another call. THis call was to change the number of boxes of solution that will be delivered next week to us. I realized that somehow in the moving back to peratoneal dialysis the person I placed my orders with were not allowing to have any bags of solution in reserve...in case one is defective...or I drop one (have to throw the bag away if it touches the floor!) or if there is some reason (like the recent floods) that would keep a delivery from happening. They espceially like to have extra on hand in the winter. I just realized that we had never had so few boxe of solution on hand since we began home dialysis. When they bring the order next week, I think that I have figured that we will only have two boxes (two days) left. Another reason that we need extra is that presently we use two bags of two different strengths, but there could be a reason that we would need to use two bags of same strength...and what we have on hand doesn't give us wiggle room to change the strength of solution. So the phone call from the place I order from hopefully accomplished having several more boxes in reserve. We also got a call in regards to labs run on Woody's thyroid. His thyroid function remains normal and Keytruda isn't causing autoimmune disease of the thyroid. That information was good timing as Woody is to get his next Keytruda infusion tomorrow. Along with these important calls, the phone must have rung close to ten other times...just had another unidentified number call just a few minutes ago. Must not be important as when answering machine picks up, they hang up and don't leave a message. But they are annoying! I have done a little sewing. I did my monthly run to WalMart to get over-the-counter meds and a couple of other things, among them probably the most important were medical gloves that I have to wear setting up and connecting Woody to his dialysis...this is the first time that we ran out...again it is due to being off home dialysis for three months...but still using the gloves when I changed the dressing on his dialysis catheter. After getting home I realized that I didn't get enough to get me through till the next delivery...just wasn't thinking when I picked up the box. I go through 10 gloves per treatment...so 100 glovs in 10 days. I have to pick up a prescription for Woody so guess I will get another box when I go to the pharmacy. I told myself to get a small box since the delivery was next week...but in my mind, at that moment, didn't multiply the number of days between now and then...8 days...80 gloves and the small box only had 50...rolling my eyes at myself!!! I knew that but was just trying to find things and get in and out as quickly as possible...and that fact didn't register at the time...but did the moment I got home! Oh, well...it's not like I can't go get more...it is just that I am trying to limit my trips to stores. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!