Nice Visit But Very Different

We had a nice visit with Melany today, but it was very different to wear masks the whole time except when we were eating lunch. Woody stayed pretty isolated from us. He chose to eat at his TV tray and Melany and I ate in the dining room. We all thought that was for the best. Melany is a teacher so is exposed to all kinds of germs. Melany is not just a teacher in a classroom...she is an art teacher and she sees many classrooms of students in a day/week. So she ends being exposed to a lot more than a teacher who just has her one classroom of children. Melany brought a cute needlepoint Christmas stocking front that I will be completing into a stocking with a back and lining...so Santa can put some presents in it! Woody has watched a lot of football today. Now he is watching the World Series. He enjoys watching sports on the weekends during his dialysis treatments. Melany thought that his color was better than it was the last time she saw him...that's good. He is almost to the last part of the third cycle of today's treatment. He has just a couple of minutes left of the dwell time and next is the drain time. Then "all" he has left is one fill, one dwell, and one drain time left. Woody says that by the fourth cycle of a treatment it starts to get old! I know even to me that the first cycles seem to go more quickly than the last. I guess towards the end we are both ready for them to be over and ready to get him disconnected! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

A Didn't-Do-Much Day

Almost any time during the day that I look out at the birdhouses in the garden there are blue birds vying for one or another house. So the blue birds are quite active at the moment. Woody and I didn't get up and going as early as we sometimes do. He waited to go upstairs to print off his crossword puzzles till it was almost time to start h is dialysis. We started his dialysis treatment today just a little earlier than we have been. The reason is that they were predicting storms coming through sometime 9:30pm or after. We figured that it would be good to have his treatment all finished before the storm blows through...less chance of the electricity going out. If the electricity goes out during a treatment all is not lost as the information is saved in the machine and will start up again once we push a button after the electricity comes back on. I think that there is an 8 hour window. One day I did mistakenly unplug the machine when I was moving it, but no problem...the machine tells you that there has been an interruption and to push a certain button to get it back going again. Woody has read, done his crossword puzzles, and watched a bit of TV. This evening he has chosen to flop on the couch rather than the recliner. I think that he has dozed a bit this evening. This afternoon I decided that it was time to do a little baking with my sourdough starter. I made sourdough corn muffins. I came upstairs to blog leaving a mess of green beans that I had started trimming. I'm planning to make Pennsylvania Dutch Style Green Beans tomorrow. Melany is coming tomorrow to bring me a Christmas stocking she has needlepointed for me to finish. I thought that the corn muffins and green beans would go good with the Company Tuna Casserole. I have been lazy today...trying to figure out what I am going to tackle next in the school room now that I have gone through LOTS of correspondence from the late 60's. A job well done...one storage tub empty! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Really Voted Today

Well, we dropped out ballots in the mailbox at the Post Office on our way to Woody's doctor appointment...so I guess it is officially done...to the point that we have anything to do with it! We had to wait in the car a bit longer than usual today and also didn't get our usual parking spot. From what we could ascertain...the doctor got there late so all the appointments were backed up a bit. We were still home in an hour and a half after we left the house...so not all that bad. The doctor had arrived when we got there so at least things had started moving. As far as we could tell we got a good report. The main thing that they are concentrating on now is Woody's anemia. So I guess we will work on that. We talked to the nutritionist and the social worker today, too. I think that Woody's progress in comparison to how sick he was the last time we saw the doctor made them pleased. Looks like we will keep on keeping on...really the only thing to do! This afternoon I made one of our old stand-by favorites, Company Tuna Bake. It takes a while as I have to make homemade cream of mushroom soup instead of using canned as called for in the original recipe. It was good to have this for a change. It is a casserole that I can pack in quite a bit of protein without having to add any additives. Woody easily made the total protein that he is supposed to get in a day. I am getting to the end of all this correspondence that I have been going through. I haven't had much of a chance to do much with it today. I am going to go unload the dishwasher and then reload it with the cooking dishes that didn't fit in and then going to come upstairs whle I wait for Woody's treatment to finish. Last night he had the shortest treatment since the start..."just 8-1/2 hours. I think that the least time that it can take is 8 hours so at least we are leaning in that direction rather than lots of extra hours beyond the 8! He is feeling fairly well. Today's trip out didn't tire him as much as some have before. He did get another anemia shot...between that and last week's transfusion maybe he will feel even better. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! Fall is really beginning to show its true colors! Oh, and, last night was the 53rd anniversary of the night Woody and I met at an all girls' college...now there's a story for another blog!

We Voted!

Our absentee ballots came in the mail this afteroon so we immediately voted and plan to take them to mail them at the Post Office tomorrow when we go out for Woody's appointment with Dr. O at the Fresenius Care Center in the morning. It has been a fairly quiet day around here. I got Woody connected for his dialysis treatment a little after 1pm and then I went upstairs to call Donna for our weekly "library" phone meeting. We got caught up on each other's doings. About as soon as I hung up from talking to Donna, Cheryl, my favorite sister (and, only sister) called and we talked for a while. So I had a phone conversation afternoon. I have worked on a notebook with information about protein...grams of protein in certain foods. I gathered the recipes that I had adapted so they would be higher in protein and got them written down in the notebook with their protein equilivants. I also gathered up the little slips of paper that I have been keeping track of his daily protein intake. He is supposed to have more than 70 grams of protein a day but not more than 85. Sometimes it is easy to hit in the middle of this goal and other days it isn't...at least we are trying. I don't know if we will see the dietician tomorrow or not, but figured that she would want to know how we are handling things. I am packing things like pancakes with high protein items...like Greek yogurt, some of the protein supplement that they have given us, eggs, and flaxseed meal and sometimes fruit like a banana. Today the Greek yogurt was banana flavor. Woody says that the pancakes are good. I figure under syrup that some of the ingredients are hidden! He also had a strawberry shake today...that is made with one of the individual renal high protein drinks (like Ensure) and then disguised it with lots of fresh strawberries and strawberry ice cream. Again, he said that it tasted pretty good...especially since I found a straw for him to drink it with...perhaps made it seem more like a real shake?!? Later in the afternoon I got back to going through correspondence and other things from my/our past. I've enjoyed going down memory lane...and it is getting rid of some things in the office/schoolroom (which is no longer a schoolroom). What I am going through now is going to free up a storage tub...so I can put something else in it. I am getting close to finished with this one task. I am attempting to find a place to put the school equipment so it is away and out of sight so I can use the long table for other things. We put that table in the office (used to be Melany's bedroom) when Nathan started going to Motlow so he would have a designated study space since his desk held his computer. After he finished with Motlow...maybe we left it while he was at TN Tech...not sure. But at a point I took it over to work on scrapbooks. Now I'm not sure what we will use it for, but I am sure that we will put it to good use. It is one of the long tables like churches use in their fellowship/banquet halls. I'm planning to get rid of or store the stuffed animals on the twin bed that is in there. I think that I will make some new decorative pillows to place up against the wall so it will once again look more like a day bed. Anyway, working away...s l o w l y...on getting things changed in there. This going through corespondence is rather time consuming...but fun at the same time...nothing going on around here so I may as well do just what I feel like doing! It will be good to see Woody's doctor tomorrow and hear how he thinks Woody is doing with his dialysis. There's one thing I know, Woody is very much better than he was a little over a month ago when we last saw him. Last time we had to depend on Nathan to get us there and now we will go under our own steam. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Remembered Tonight!

I guess I have been too wrapped up in the past and that is the reason that I totally forgot till late last night to write the blog! I continue to go through things that I have saved from the past...thoroughly enjoying them and then discarding lots of memories. I have a couple of small boxes that I am allowing myself to save a few memories as I go along...little reminders of days gone by. Today I slept in a lot later than I usually do. Woody had French toast to warm up along with sausage patties that I cooked yesterday and froze most, but left some with his French toast in the fridge...so I didn't need to get up for his breakfast. Yesterday I made up two pounds of ground pork into breakfast sausage patties...flash froze them and then bagged them up so we can get them out when needed for his breakfast. All cooking has taken on a new dimension...I am having to figure out how much protein is in each recipe and then have to divide the total protein in the whole recipe into how much protein there is in per serving. It is nice that he can eat a lot more variety these days, but it is also a pain and makes preparation a bit more of a pain than it used to be! I am planning to make a tuna casserole that we both really like and it had been off his diet for the last 2-1/2 years. I didn't really feel like making it and doing all the math today so I just opened the cans of tuna, drained them and flaked them into a refrigerator container and put the container in the refrigerator to make the casserole tomorrow. This way I could recycle the tuna cans and not have them hang around till next week...trash and recycle gets picked up in the morning. After that I got all the recycle gathered up and out to the curb...which included flattening cardboard boxes. And then all the wastebaskets in the house emptied into the kitchen trash and also got the bag of dialysis trash and got those out to the garbage can and pulled the garbage can to the curb. Before I got all that done, I did got everything set up to get Woody connected for his treatment. We were pretty much on schedule to connect him really close to 1pm...but got a phone call from the Fresenius delivery man and he said that he could deliver our order today rather than in the morning. I was game...so he was there very shortly. Today he "only" had to load his heavy-duty dolley up three times...small delivery...compared to the first one. Today it was mostly dialysis solution and three boxes of cassettes and one package of gauze squares! And, we are set for another month! The delivery set us back a bit in time so Woody's dialysis didn't get started till 1:30pm which was fine. I'm glad that I don't have to be up and ready for an early delivery in the morning. And, we were really getting low on gauze pads...just three left after today's set up. Woody is presently he's getting towards the end of his third cycle...so just one to go. So he should be finished by 10:30 or so. Today he called to check on some of the folk in his Deacon Family. So for him, he has also had a busy day! He of course has done crossword puzzles, read, and is now watching the World Series game. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Oops!!!!

Oops! I almost forgot to blog tonight. I got busy working on all my "going through things" and forgot about the time. Woody is in the final cycle of his dialysis for tonight. We started his dialysis even earlier yesterday and today because he said that he didn't have anything better to do! He will be finished sometime between 10 and 11pm. I got the phone call from the Fresenius supply deliver person this afternoon saying that they would be here with his supplies between 8 and noon on Wednesday. I moved over the boxes from the last shipment this evening...so the far walls are now clear of boxes and ready for the new delivery. I also called the supply order phone number this morning as I wanted to make sure that the order contained enough cassettes. It did...so we should be good for another month. I'm going down to check on Woody and finish up cleaning the kitchen. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Happy 17th Birthday, Abigail!

I stole tonight's photo from Kathy's Facebook page so I would have a picture from Abigail's birthday and also an up-to-date photo of Joy. We have fared well due to birthdays: pecan pie and brownie bites from Joy's and then a little while ago Abigail stopped by with one of her specialities: Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake. Yummy! Good cooks abound in their household. Woody even got in on this treat as we shared a very large slice! Today has been a busy day for me...grocery shopping day with a stop at the Credit Union. Then home to get all of the purchases away. I could only get the cold items put away before it was time to set up Woody's daily dialysis treatment. We need to set it up about an hour before we start his treatment so the solution has a chance to heat up. There is a heater on the top of the cycler machine that heats the solution to body temperature. The heating takes about 20 minutes. While it heated, I put the rest away. He is now into his second cycle of the four for this treatment. He has been watching football games, news, and reading during his treatment so far. I sat down for few minutes to eat a late lunch and then got back up to make our supper...chili...it has felt like chili weather today. Now when I make recipes I am counting protein in the ingredients and then have to divide the total amount by the number of servings to come up with how much protein per serving. What next!?! I'm tired today! But have to go finish up cleaning up the kitchen after I post this. I am going to add two photos of Abigail at the end of the blog tonight. One shows her finishing up her quilt (note the thickness of her braid! The tie at the top of her braid is from her mask.) and the other of her with her finished quilt. She did a great job and we both really love the colors of the fabrics in this collection. On a sad note I will add that our daughter's sister-in-law's father did pass away this morning from complications due to Covid. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!