Keep on keeping on

 Far Guy had his infusion and shortly after that his doctor's appointment.  His lungs still sound junky, he is suppose to keep on keeping on with what he has been doing since he came out of the hospital.  Two appointments in one day tired him out.  The Doctor said " Influenza A is really hitting people hard this year ...even young healthy people are taking a long time to recover.  It may take weeks or maybe even a month or two to get back to normal."

This was a puzzle Jen and I worked on back in February sometime.  Lots of pastel colors and it was a nothing is exactly the same from the picture on the puzzle box. However they did include a special envelope with the correct picture that we never looked at...nice of them. 

Far Side

Impatient patient

Far Guy is getting a tad impatient with himself.   He is taking his meds, eating well, drinking fluids and resting.  Things are just not moving fast enough for him.

I have to remind him that he is elderly now...that went over like a lead balloon. 

He has two appointments today...one for his Infusion and then a Doctors appointment for the follow up after his hospitalization. I hope they both go well. 

  

My climbing roses before they froze out after a brutal Minnesota winter. 

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Progress is slow

 Far Guy is much better than he was.  However I have witnessed respiratory distress many times with him, he can be fine one minute and struggling the next.  He says he is weak as a newborn kitten.   I remind him that he is stronger than he was a few days ago.  

I am finally getting some rest, I do not listen to his breathing constantly...I am not waking up every time he coughs or takes a deep breath.

So there is progress just a tad slow.

Flowers last summer.

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Napping

 Far Guy spends a fair amount of time napping, he was sleep deprived in the hospital.  I join him every other nap or so.   I am hoping that he turns the corner soon....and gets on the upward swing. 

I am making a few cards...watercolor...quiet things to do while Far Guy is napping.  Of course I do have just a few crochet projects. 

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Flowers last summer

Home again

 Far Guy is home and yes he had his weekly infusion right after he was released from the hospital.  It is good to have him home.  He needs time to recover, it has been two weeks of sickness for him and he will not feel better in a day or three...possibly weeks. 

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He's Home

 I picked up Far Guy at the hospital yesterday when they finally released him mid afternoon.  He is weak and will have to slowly build his stamina up again.  It all takes time.  Recovering from Influenza A and Pneumonia doesn't happen overnight.  I think they may have released him a bit early...but Jen and I have four eyes on him.   He is very discouraged...patience is not one of his endearing qualities. 

One day at a time.  If that doesn't work try an hour or if you have to minute by minute.

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Friday

 Far Guy gets to come home Friday...at least that is what his Dr is hoping for.  

I have been resting and sleeping mostly...I did some laundry yesterday and washed the sheets. 

Jen made chicken and homemade noodles and took some over to Maddie and her family,  I had some also they are delicious and there are left overs that we can feed Far Guy too.  Nothing better than chicken and homemade noodles when you are sick. 

Little Elvis is my constant companion.  I think I might be on my way to recovery...knock on wood. ( I have enough pills to take)

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The Flu marches on

 Now I have the freaking Influenza A.  A message to my Doctor and I am now on Tamiflu.  I am resting mostly sleeping, Little Elvis keeps me company.  I saw a Dr on Monday afternoon for a UTI...he had to run a culture...48 hours later yes it is a UTI.  ( I told him it was...but you have to jump through the hoops. )

When it rains it pours. 

Far Guy is a bit better today, I text him as his voice gives out when talking.  Jen visits him.  He won't bust out of there until Friday or Saturday most likely.  They keep trying to give him that nebulizer that made him so ill....I sent in the script label and his regular med to be verified by the pharmacists there. 

Apparently the flu is on a rampage in this area, Granddaughter Maddie came down with it this morning. 

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Influenza A

 Far Guy got sick on Monday evening, he started to cough, he had a miserable night.  In the early morning after his breathing treatments, I sent a text to Jen and Andy that we needed to go to the ER.  They were both home because school was cancelled on account of the blizzard.  Andy had to move some snow so we could get the car as close to the house as possible.  It was snowing and the wind was blowing.  We made it to the hospital just fine, there were huge snow drifts outside the emergency entrance...I got out and waded through the drifts dodging a bobcat removing snow to get a wheel chair, one of the ambulance bays was open and a Paramedic hollered "what do you need" I hollered back " a wheelchair" and made a pushing motion...he said drive in the bay....so we did and got Far Guy inside. 

Far Guy has Influenza A and possible pneumonia...his blood work is all off.  The are doing blood cultures.  Anyway he got steroids, tamiflu and doxicycline and some IV antibiotics, and some nebulizer treatments.  They gave him a different neb than he is used to that made his lungs spasm.  It was touch and go there for a bit until we got a respiratory therapist to get him back on the right track again. Far Guy said" They are trying to kill me, just dump me out in the snowbank." 

He finally got a hospital room 7 plus hours after we arrived.  I visited him until 9PM last night and he was doing much better. 

One day at a time, he will be in the hospital a few days.

He had his Flu shot back in October, the Doctor said with lungs as bad as his any virus can tip him over the edge and require a hospital stay.

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Crochet and Flu Report

 I finished the section that is called Baubles.  I would call them ornaments.   It was part 7 of 9. 

Now I am working on part 8...called Dala Horse.  It has 31 rows...I debated if I wanted horses in my blanket and decided to just go with the flow and stick to the designers pattern.  I will slog through the pattern row by row.  

Andy got the stomach flu over the weekend.  He is feeling better after a couple of days and is back to work.  Far Guy and I have escaped it so far.  Knock on wood or what ever  good luck charm may work. 

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Oh Deer

 Elvis was barking in the back yard, sometimes he does that if the neighbors black lab Nova is outside.  Then I saw three deer run through the area between the fences...Sadie must have heard them or translated the barking. She joined Elvis in the back yard to give them the what for.

I was not fast enough to get a photo of the three deer that stood in the neighbors yard that is not fenced.  They seemed unaffected by the dogs barking. 

We have been checking out some short You Tube clips...Sadie gets excited about deer and chickens ( she did eat a chicken once at the farm Sarah and Chris own)...ducks and birds do not entertain her and she is not real excited about squirrels. 

 I got a photo of Sadie standing watch! 

Jen is still under the weather.  She is on a liquid diet.  So far no one else in the household is ill. 

Knock on wood. 

I am certain the groundhog will be scared back in his hole by his shadow and we will have more than six weeks of Winter. 

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Going around

 The flu is going around.  We hope we escape.  We have had our flu shots but who really knows for sure what strain will pop up next.  Our Great Grands both had the flu, Jen helped take care of them and she was very ill yesterday.   She spent most of the day in the Emergency Room with horrible stomach pain, chills and vomiting. 

I found myself a decent Doctor for my Primary Care Physician, he ordered a tick panel to see if I have one of the other tick diseases besides Lymes.  In this town there are small clinics all over...you have to be right on top of all the locations or you will find yourself in the wrong clinic.  Yesterday we went to a teaching clinic on the UND campus.  

I still have residual Lymes with fatigue and joint pain that flares from time to time.   It is the pits. BUT things could always be worse. 

Far Side

Monday March 07, 2011

Far Guy is better today, he is upright and ate some breakfast.  His fever is gone.  He slept all night long and most of yesterday.  Chance was very worried about him.  I was worried too.   As most of you know, Far Guy has Trigeminal Neuralgia and has pain everyday.   When he is ill and has a temperature the Trigeminal Neuralgia is always worse.  Thankfully he was able to keep his medication down, it was touch and go there for awhile..I think the worst has passed.  Thank you everyone for your kind comments!

He gets a flu shot to avoid the flu..apparently it is NOT working.

“The lonely blue hockey ball”

It snowed off and on all day yesterday.   Chance and I went out and played ball many times.   Far Guy usually goes in and out all day long..playing ball, and hockey and chase me. They go for walks together and do guy stuff. They fill the bird feeders and sweep the walk.  They do exciting“stuff” out in the workshop/greenhouse. I play ball and then I do boring “stuff” like watching the birds..and taking photographs.

This is a Common Redpoll, the ones with the rose breasts are males.  The plainer ones are either females or juveniles.   A group of Redpolls is called a “gallup” I didn’t know that..I learn something new everyday!

Redpolls love Niger thistle seed..we have two feeders that we try to keep full of thistle seed and many of the birds end up on the ground eating below the feeders.

Someone asked if Chance chases the birds..no he watches them..and they watch him..they will fly if he runs through the bird feeding area.  Yesterday he chased a big fat grey squirrel out of the feeder area and up a tree.  Somehow I think the birds know that Chance is their friend:)

Okay..Some Of My Readers Have Spoken!

Thank you readers for the comments. I did not get any negative feedback, so I guess I will continue to blog, as long as my readers comment occasionally! If my "funnies" make you laugh out loud, and you get to live seven minutes longer, I feel kind of obligated! One reader said I was like "chocolate for her mind" ..we used to live next door to each other. I did have one astonishing request for a long term commitment "Ten years" was her suggestion. I am sure she is just momentarily deranged by the lack of sunlight in Sweden. I do thank you all for the encouragement!

This flu really sucks, I have no appetite..for me this is really strange. What is even stranger..one time when I surfaced from my fever induced delirium I could smell pizza from Pizza Hut. I swear it was the aroma of a thin crust, pepperoni with extra cheese with just a hint of the warm cardboard box. I decided it was just a revenge delirium, I wanted Far Guy to be as miserable as me. He is allergic to some ingredient (more than likely meat tenderizer)that Pizza Hut uses, it gives him the Hershey squirts for days. I have come to my senses..for now..he brings me jello, chicken soup and popsicles.

Far Guy is taking a daily dose of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to boost his immune system. I do not know how he swallows it, and keeps it down, but he does. It just might be working too..as he is not sick yet! This idea comes from a fellow blogger and friend Buffalo Gal! Thanks B Gal!

I hate all the over the counter cold and flu medications that just mask your symptoms and bust up your normal bodies rhythms, which makes you sicker longer. Did I get a Flu shot..NO..It seems I have been the most miserable those years. The last time I got a Flu shot, I got the Flu so bad I told Far Guy to just drop me off at the Funeral Home..just in the driveway so they could roll me in when they came to work the next morning. It seemed practical to me at the time, it would have saved a body pick up fee.

I am feeling better, today I am going to venture outdoors and take some photos, throw the Frisbee for Chance and document the snow before the next snowstorm comes on in tonight. The snow fall record for the month of December will be broken with the snow they predict for tonight:)

Flowers For Me

I decided to give myself flowers today, something non snowing looking. I know that Far Guy would have brought me some himself, but he knows me well..flowers indoors make my eyes run and water and they make me sneeze. I photographed these beautiful Red Hollyhocks in my Mother and Fathers garden last summer. It is not a perfect photo, but it will do..cause I got the flu..I just woke up from a 16 hour nap of sorts. I got a really bad cold and body aches..it is a belated Christmas gift I anticipate every year, sometimes it shows up before Christmas sometimes after..it is a STRESS related gift I give myself every year. My body is upright at the moment, with no fever!

There is another reason I get flowers today. It is my one year blogging anniversary! I made it! I know for all my blogspot readers that I have only been here since September, but there is a link to my archives if you scroll down to the very bottom of this page.

I wrote this last night before my long nap:

I am curled up on the couch scribbling this with pencil, times have not changed much. I still love my pencil and I find it a comfort to form words with. Pretty Strange HUH? A year ago I made a New Years Resolution to begin this blog and keep up with it. Mission Accomplished! I missed only three days this past year, the day niece Meg got married, I blogged twice the day after, and two days when daughter Jen was in the hospital with her almost famous Kidney Stones. I am still not the kind of writer I want to be, but I am more comfortable after a year of writing almost everyday. I still do not have a primary focus, I bounce around a lot, maybe that is the very unorganized me trying to take over the organized me. One of my goals was to leave some small part of me behind for my Grandchildren. Now they have some stories.

I like writing about people I have known, and about animals I have met, and memories from my childhood. I will continue to write my truthful point of view. Now a question for my readers..are you up for another year? Or have you heard enough? :)