Not a good day.

Today I have been sick to my stomach all day. Nothing anyone can do for me. I just have spent the day resting.  I also plan to go to bed earlier than usual.  There is nothing to tell you about. So this will be an extremely short post. My best to all of you.

Oops, I forgot to tell you that I got a package in the mail from Oak Harbor, WA. In it were home made cards, a letter, and photo's. They all brought smiles to my face. It arrived on a great day, perfect timing to cheer me up.

Great Day

Today has been really good. There is an organization here known has Stavros. They pay for sick people to have Personal Care Assistance (PCA). There intake lady came out today and approved me for services, they are funded through my insurance so now we must what for that to go through but in cases like mine it is not usually a problem. I get to hire the PCA myself but they determine how many hours a week of care that I need. That is what the insurance company will pay for. It should not take long for this to go through, but it is going to be a very big help.  Sadly I now need that much help.

I have a very dear friend who is helping me walk through all of the money stuff to know just what I have for a pension, 401K or any other benefits to help pay for a funeral if I am denied for science research for any reason.  At the very last if I become too skinny then they will not accept my body. But at this time we do not believe that will be a problem. I am going to contact the company I want to go through and double check on the status of my paperwork. This dear friend is doing a lot of the leg work for me and taken a great burden off my shoulders. You don’t find friends like this every day. Not only can I trust her with all this she really knows what she is doing and how to do it. I would be so lost if I had to do to any of this on my own. I would have no clue who to call or what questions to ask.  This is just one more reason her friendship is such a blessing to me.

Today I received a beautiful arrangement of flowers with three helium balloons. They read: Thinking of you; You are so special and We love you.  Thank you to Becky and family it is very touching.  Becky claims that I reached out to her when she was in great need and that I was able to really help her. I don’t recall the talk we had, but I am very glad that I was there to help such a delightful young lady has she is. I just pray that Mike knows just what a treasure he got when she agreed to marry him.  They have been blessed with four wonderful children. 

Although I am now getting very tired, it is a good tired because good things have happened all day long. I pray that each of you will be able to note in your journals just how great your day has been.

The pleasure of quiet days

Hi Folks,

Sorry about not posting anything yesterday. I had a great day it was nice and peaceful. If only more days were peaceful for all of us. Today my special recliner was delivered, the only thing this does not have is heat and message. It is much larger than my Dad’s old one, Mom teases and says that I don’t have a chair, I have a throne!

I don’t know if I have told all of you or not so I will tell you all now. There are times when my left hand gets so swollen that it hurts to try to type.  So I am going to ask all of you to be patient with me about typing my posts.

Today has also been a quiet day, even though we have had a few deliveries and are expecting one more. Because it has been so nice and quiet there is nothing to tell you about. I hope you and your families are enjoying this time with your kids, while school is out. Sadly we don’t have enough snow here for the kids to go out sledding. All we have at my house is a bunch of slush, good for nothing.  For those of you who enjoy winter sports I hope we get more. For me, I would be happy with about 4 inches of snow just enough to give us a good coating then get it shoveled and enjoy the scene.  Then just let it stay like that until March or April then it can melt away for spring.

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Hi Friends & Family;

I am sorry that I did not put up a post last night. Yesterday was such a crazy day that in the early evening when I normally write my post I was just too tired to try and write it. So now I will tell you about yesterday and hope you will understand why I was so tired.

A couple from Church came over they had heard the forecast that we were supposed to have several snow storms over the course of the rest of this week and they wanted to make sure that we had EVERYTHING we need to get through the storms. The storm that was supposed to hit last night turned out to only give us a dusting of snow. A homemade storm window for our screen porch windows had been blown down, so he not only put it back in place in made sure none of the rest will come out. They also did other little things like that to make sure we are ready for any storms that could come this week.

Then my lawyer stopped by I needed a couple of documents taken care of so that a dear friend of mine can help me get my 401K and pension money for my funeral if I am not accepted for donation to the science world. I could be denied if I am too thin at the time of my death so we have to be ready either way. This takes a great burden off of my shoulders and I trust this person totally.

Then I needed a visit from my VNA nurse, I was having a great deal of pain around my feeding tube and I was sure that it could be fixed. I mentioned the problem to my cancer doctor’s nurse and she told me that the VNA nurse could fix it and that I did not need to come in and see a doctor to fix this. So Cookie came and did that, then she went out to her car and phoned the other nurse to confirm some things about my care.  She also called her office about formally switching me from palliative care to hospice care. I guess then she called and ordered some medical supplies. After all of that she came back into the house. I signed the papers to make the change to hospice. Then she told us that she had ordered a wheelchair, a hospital bed table and a special recliner that is electric. It will let me lay totally flat, or it will lift the seat to help me get out of the chair if or when I need that help.  

Then my kid brother and family came over to visit while I was laying down and they ended up helping us by making things ready for the delivery of the equipment that we expected. I did get up before they left and I had a delightful visit with them. It turned out that they can’t deliver the recliner until the 26^th of December, but that is okay because we are already for it when it gets here.

The wheelchair and bed table have been delivered and a separate delivery of my pain medication was made to make sure that I don’t run out of it over the holiday week.

Today has been a MUCH quieter day and I have been able to move at my own pace and have NO feeling of being rushed for anything.  I have decided that this post is going to do for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So to all of you who celebrate Christmas have a very Merry Christmas and be sure to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. To the rest of you Happy Holiday’s however you choose to celebrate at this time of year. I wish all of you the best.  It is now time for me to take a much needed nap. Please be happy with me that I am having a great day, by kid brother stopped by with brunch which was great and then my oldest son and his two kids stopped by for a short but wonderful visit. I am thrilled that my kid brother and family gave a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in my name has my Christmas gift. What a wonderful thing to do, and a great charity to select.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday’s to all

Love,

Suzie

Oh how I will miss Church on Sunday's

Hi Folks,

I went to Church today and I got to hear four of my granddaughters sing in a special choir. All of the young ladies (12-18) did a wonderful job they sounded great. The entire Church meeting was great, however, the pain that came was far from good. During the meeting my tube to the oxygen tank came off, it did not take long for me to find the tube end and get it reconnected very quickly. I needed help walking to the car after Church and I don’t believe I can ever attend Church again.

I contacted my nurse via text on the way home about adjusting the pain pump and she was able to come right over and adjust it. I also had to increase my oxygen at home from 2 ltrs to 2 ½ ltrs per hour. Right after Cookie left I took a nap and I am still very tired. Cookie is going to get me a hospital bed right away and she is trying to get one with a special mattress.

There seems to be a problem with my feeding tube the bloating seems to be causing the tubing to be too tight where it enters my body, so I am going to see if it can’t be loosened. Actually I would like to learn how to do it myself because it seems to need to be adjusted every day!

I am sorry that today’s news is not good, but I expect that this is the way it is going to be from now on. I have not seen any notes telling about happy memories you have with me, or goofy things we did together. Even if you can’t write them down please think about them and hold on to them.