Goodbye to November

November is drawing to a close and we have begun to anticipate the celebration of Christ's birth. And, so far about the only decorations that we have out are the children's Fisher Price nativity that we got out on Saturday and then yesterday I got out our Precious Moments nativity. The rest of the decorations are just in boxes and/or scattered in one room or another awaiting a spot to be found for them. Today has been busy, but not busy with decorating. This morning Woody called the surgeon's office to make an appointment to have his staples removed tomorrow...one of his accomplishments of the day! He also took a short walk in the drizzle. It has been a drizzly, dreary day. Joseph and Isaac had their school time. After lunch Erin and I ran a couple of errands. And in between all that and before and after I have done various mundane everyday chores around the house. There just hasn't been time to delve into the decorations very much and at the moment I am too tired to even think about them...I know that when I settle into my chair that my eyes will close and they can't close for at least another hour as that is when I have to give Woody another blood thinner shot...giving those shots about does me in...as I have said many times before...I am NOT a nurse...but Woody seems to find ways to attempt to make me one...but it still isn't one of my callings! Woody seems to be getting stronger and "perhaps" hurting less...it is still a struggle for him when he gets up out of a chair, etc. We will see tomorrow how the doctor feels Woody is doing. Erin has just gone next door to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special with her cousins. December will be knocking on our door in just a few hours...where has this year gone?!?

Kept Some! Broke Some!

Today...for our family Thanksgiving gathering...we kept some traditions and broke some. We broke with the tradition that I cook everything for this dinner. Because there was just no way that I could do it "all" this year, Nathan and Kathy and Wade and Melany took up the slack and divided up the sides and made them. My only cooking duty was to cook the turkey (we had already bought one) and make the gravy. During lunch I told them that this might become a "new tradition!" We had a very nice family meal. We ate over at Nathan and Kathy's. It was such a pretty day that some of the children ate out on their screened-in-porch. Some of us ate in their kitchen and then three (Woody, Alex, and Isaac) ate over at our house in the family room on TV trays. We had lots of yummy food. After lunch, the kids headed off to play for a while, Kathy cleaned up her kitchen, Melany carved the rest of the turkey, I cleaned up our kitchen and got the turkey broth going for our traditional after Thanksgiving turkey soup. At a point we gathered all the grandchildren together and we got out the Fisher Price Nativity set...that's the top photo...note that the big fellows sort of sat back and just watched...guess they are outgrowing that tradition. But the littler ones still enjoyed setting it up and doing silly things with the animals...like putting the camels on top of the tents or putting a sheep on top of the manger where the angel belongs. Joseph enjoyed looking at the animals. Then a little later several went out to put up Nathan and Kathy's large outdoor nativity scene (bottom photo). All in all we had a great day. I will admit to being VERY tired. Woody seems to have done fairly well with all the activity going on around him. It has been a week now since his surgery...what a blur that week has been! Erin is staying with us to help me with our Christmas decorations...at the moment I don't see how I can get up enough energy to do it even with her help...but perhaps I will feel differently after a good night's sleep?!? I will end with a "Gobble Gobble" that is fast turning into the sounds of "'Tis the season!"

Beautiful Start to our Friday

Such a pretty sky this morning. The top picture is what we saw this morning from the front windows of the house and the second is what we saw out the back windows. Woody awakened me this morning when he came upstairs looking for one of his medications. Since I was awake I decided that I might as well get underway with my day! I spotted the moon out of the back window when I went out to put some clothes in the drier...or take some out...not sure at this point of the day! Later in the morning I did our weekly grocery shopping...on Black Friday no less! But I guess that Gray Thursday must have helped as none of the lines were too bad. I wasn't too sure about shopping at WalMart on this day, but sailed right through. They actually had just about all their check-out lanes opened...something that almost never happens in our WalMart. After WalMart I went to Kroger. Then headed home and put away the groceries with Abigail's help. At that point it was time for lunch. Mid afternoon I called the pharmacy to see if they had Woody's syringes. They did so I headed their way to get those. So I have had a busy day of running errands...about did me in! Woody did take a walk around the block today. I asked him how it was and he said, "Slow, I didn't know that I could walk so slowly around the block!" He said that the walk made him feel better and didn't hurt so much after his walk. He is still having quite a bit of pain. Late afternoon Isaac came over...he is so happy...he can now open the door and get in our house! (Katie, bar the door!!!) He came over to check to see if I was finished resting and I was so we did a little getting ready for Erin to come stay. He helped vacuum the guest room and I dusted and put away some of the sewing things that the girls and I had out. I did manage to "finally" give Woody his injection last night...it was not easy. It will be time shortly for his second injection...oh, boy. Hope I can do it again! I have to go get out the big roasting pan so I can get the turkey in the oven in the morning (my only cooking part of this Thanksgiving dinner). Hope I can hoist it into the oven on my own in the morning...that is usually Woody's job...but not this year with a "no lifting anything" edict riding over his head. Off to get the pan out. Tomorrow night I will be waddling in here to post news of our gobbling good day!

Thanksgiving Activities

We had lots of Thanksgiving activities going on today. I cut up, peeled and cooked two of the small pie pumpkins that I had bought for fall decorations when Cheryl was visiting. I used my new hand processor to puree the cooked pumpkin. That will give us some pumpkin to make a pumpkin pie or some pumpkin pudding some time in the near future. I don't have to use it for our family Thanksgiving on Saturday as Kathy is making the pumpkin pie/s this year. We both slept fairly well on our first night home from the hospital. Woody spent a good part of the morning working crossword puzzles. On into the afternoon he walked outside and sat and watched the club house building activity. We joined Nathan and Kathy and family for supper tonight. After supper Elijah juggled four balls for us...he's working towards five balls...pretty good for a six-year-old! Well, Woody just came upstairs to get his medicine...why didn't he let me take it down to him? I think that he is hurting some so guess I had better go see to my patient. He just told me that he guesses that I am going to have to give him this blood thinner shot in his stomach. Gulp!!!!!! I am not a nurse!!!!! I just wish that they had shown us how in the hospital. Happy Thanksgiving to all! We have so much to be thankful for this year!

Home Again, Home Again!

Well, Woody did get to come home from the hospital this evening. Hip Hip Hooray! He is ensconsed in his recliner and says that it feels pretty good sitting there. Melany came up late morning and I headed home for a while and rested, showered, and just had some down time. We weren't absolutely sure that he would go home this evening. Woody once again did a lot of resting...hopefully good for what ails him. Melany decided that she would stay till the doctor came in and then stayed till Woody was dismissed. She helped to get him ready to go home while I made a "flying" trip to our pharmacy to get there before they closed. I made it. Got the prescriptions filled and then went by and got Nathan so he could drive us home. He helped take things down to the car and brought the car over to the patient pick up spot. We got him in the car and off we went. Melany headed towards Murfreesboro and the rest of us headed to our house. Woody had a welcoming committee when he got here. They helped open doors and turn on lights. When Woody got seated in his recliner, he saw the "Welcome Home" sign that the neighbor grandchildren had made. It's good to be home. I'm hoping that we both manage to get a good night's rest tonight. There's no place like home! Woody is very glad to be home...no longer tethered to an IV pole! Maybe I'll get back to posting pictures tomorrow night! Hope that each of you has a blessed Thanksgiving Day with family and friends.

Progress

Woody seems to be heading in the direction of being able to go home. He has been a "fairly" good patient. I felt uncomfortable when I posted last night about his relationship with the night nurse. Well, I was right as I got a call a little after midnight to come and take care of him! So off I went in the middle of the night...a bit of a comedy about of errors as you can't go in normal door,but through the ER...then you're have to sign in and then go down totally different halls. I did get there eventually. But according to Woody not quickly enough. So a long night was spent in the hospital room. I was "entertained" with all sorts of tales about this one nurse. Woody says that he hasn't but it seems that he has either dozed or slept deeply for a good part of the day...at least he was resting. He finally "allowed" me to go home for about an hour so I could eat a bite this afternoon and gather things so I can spend the night tonight. So here I sit. A few minutes ago he told me that next time he wanted Melany tI bait with him as she would break the rules! I just wouldn't let him eat something till the doctor said that he could. When the doctor came in this evening he said that he would let him go to a regular diet. So I offered Woody a banana from my stash from home...but it still sits on the side table. I really don't think that he knows exactly what he wants. Today is the third day after surgery...surely "things" will get better!?! He did take a walk a few minutes ago. Now he is settled back in the bed with covers tucked up to his chin and I think I detect snoring...but I am sure that he isn't sleeping! The doctor's report was good this morning. He said that his white count was down and that his creatinine level was back in normal range. So definitely progress is happening. The doctor said that we are aiming for him to go home by Thanksgiving Day. Now if we can both have patience with each other while he convalesces! At times like these he isn't always the most patient...nor am I! I don't like writing the blog from the iPad...can't go back and fix errors that I spot without jumping through a lot of hoops. Google (blog) doesn't like Apple products...so it makes it frustrating...so I will publish while I'm ahead...sorry for a missed letter or two or...will update you on more progress toward going home in tomorrow night's blog. I have to add a P.S. Guess who is his nurse again tonight! Oh, no! At least I am already here or I would probably be called again. I will stay here and keep on things and help him through the night rather than have him deal with his favorite nurse!

Back and Forth Kind of Days

I'm going to skip a picture tonight. As the blog title indicates I have made a couple of trips to and from the hospital today. And, just got home from the last trip to the hospital...today. I think that Woody started experiencing the "third day after surgery on the second...but maybe it will be worse tomorrow?!? Hope not! Not that it was a terrible day...but compared to yesterday, it wasn't the best of days for him. Yesterday visitors couldn't believe that he was all that sick...if they had come today they might have realized that he is sick! He was sort of restless and couldn't get comfortable He isn't in a lot of pain unless he moves...and he is finding out how often he moves! It is quite hard for him to get up into a seated position as he has one arm that is rather weak and not all that mobile and his other arm has the IV in it...so it takes a lot of scooting and me "trying" to assist him to get up (I'm heading for the heating pad as soon as I blog!). The doctor says that he will be in the hospital for a couple more days as they have to pump IV antibiotics through him to overcome the infection from the ruptured appendix. By the time he is dismissed, I may know how to raise the head, feet, and middle on this hospital bed to Woody's liking (I never seem to get it positioned just right!). I'm being reminded of my Candy Striper days...boy that was a long time ago! He did take a good walk around the unit this afternoon...he went at a pretty brisk pace. When he got back, he was ready for a rest so I went home while he attempted to nap. The nurse reported to me that he had slept pretty good for part of the time that I was gone...so that is good. If the nurses don't bother him any more than they have this afternoon, they shouldn't intrude much on his sleep during the night. But I know that nights can be long in a hospital and he hates to call the nurses during the night. I told him that they need to hear that buzzer to keep awake...that he would be helping them...don't know that I convinced him to push the call button if he needs help or not!