"Paved?"

Pictures of the Paving

Unremarkable Day

Around noon I went outside and took a few pictures of the “paving” job the city did on our road yesterday. It is very easy to tell that they took no pride in their work and I think they were just doing it to shut up Channel 22 News. Now if the road had been properly paved it would have taken days. They would have widened the road, put in both city water and sewer and most likely sidewalks on at least one side of the road. None of those things were done, and all of it would have cost Mom money has the home owner. I am sure you have all heard the saying “you get what you pay for.” I will leave it to you to check out the pictures and decide just what kind of a job they did. 

It is supposed to rain on Tuesday, I think it will be very interesting to see what the rain does to the road. Then we will have to see what happens the first time it snows enough to justify being plowed.

I actually put on 2 ½ lbs. this last week. That is okay with all of us. I don’t want to put on much more. Katie and I had a very good talk about just how much I should weight. She wants me to be just a few pounds heavier than someone my age and height and who is healthy.  If I was to catch the flu and lose weight from what a healthy person should weigh it could make me much sicker. Not a good idea, understanding her thinking helps me to agree with her logic and work with her for my good. Tonight I am going to up my feed by another 5 ml. per hour. In the morning it will be very interesting to see if I feel as good as I have for the last four days.

I have found that I am writing a lot more letters than I ever did, but I think this is a good thing. 

My best to all of you.

Paving on the lower half of the road

Road Work at 6:30 AM

Yes, that is how my morning started. I heard the rear warning beeps of a dump truck backing down our end of the road. When it got just at the end of our lower driveway it dumped its load. It looked like rich black dirt. Latter I learned that it was ground up asphalt. I was also told that when it cooled it would be just like regular asphalt. Before they were done they dumped 4 truckloads along the lower half of our road and had a small bull dozer type machine smooth it out over the road.  I went to the front door and talked with the ladies that live next door. (A mother & daughter team own the house) they called one of the TV stations and complained about the condition of the road and because of that our road has some sort of paving on it now. I have no idea how long this will last or how good it is. I have not been outside to check it out yet. If I can tomorrow I will go out and take some photo’s to post. I am sure some of my family will want to see this change. By the way they did NOT widen the road at all.

After this excitement I went back to bed for a couple of hours. But I have felt good all day and I have been able to eat table food. Still in small amounts so this is very good. In the morning Katie will be here to do her weekly assessment of my health but I am confident that she will be very happy with how I am doing.  I know I feel very good about how things are going. I don’t really want to gain any weight but I would love to have my weight hit a plato for a while.

I am still eating about 5 to 6 little meals a day and sometimes a midnight snack. My nurse knows this and is very happy about it.

Gaining hope by having Night Feedings

Night Feedings

Last night I increased how much formula I received per hour by just 5 ml.  During the night I felt like having a snack, so I fixed myself a half of a peanut butter sandwich and ate that while the feeding was still running. When I got up this morning I felt very good. Last night I also tested the battery function of the pump and it works just like it should. It came with a backpack so I can travel and still have my feedings where ever I go.  This is nice to know, even though at the moment I am not planning to go anywhere

I am also eating small meals throughout the day. When my nurse called this afternoon and heard all of this she was very happy. We are getting my digestive system working the way it should. Great news!! None of us have to worry about me starving to death! I must admit I was beginning to think about that possibility. Not a pleasant thought at all. 

My best friend came over for a couple of hours today. It was great to see her but I was saddened to hear of her problems.  There is no way that I know of that I can help her. But I do hope that giving her someone to talk too helped a little. I know in my life it has done me good just to talk, when I knew the other person could not solve my problem. It is that type of good that I hope I was able to give to her today.

Although it saddened me to hear about her problem it actually helped me a little because for a while it got my mind off of my own problems.  I think that it is good for me to continue to think of others. I am very glad she is willing to talk to me like that. When she first learned of my illness she would not do it. She didn’t want to burden me. While that is a very kind thought, I do need to think of things and people other than myself or I will go crazier than I already am. (Okay, brothers of mine, no wise cracks!)

Love to all

Day two of being a "Vampire" ha ha ha

Last Night’s Success 

Due to having a successful night last night I am going to up the amount of formula by only 50 ml. Tomorrow we will see how well that sits in my stomach and we may stay at that level for a few days.  My nurse and I talked on the phone today and had a really nice talk about just how much I should up it and for how long. I appreciate the fact that I have the final say in this process. After all it is my body and I know just how I feel, not anyone else.

Jim sent us a link to a recipe for a favorite Filipino dish that he says is easy to fix and tastes great. I was able to print it out so hopefully sometime in the next week or two mom will try making it.

We have been following Storm Isaac, we are both very glad to live here in New England away from tropical storms and Hurricanes. It will be very interesting to see just how much good all the preparation they have made in New Orleans since Katrina have done.  For the sake of the people I hope they will have great success dealing with this hurricane. I also hope that those who were told to leave did just that, and that they are already in better places to ride out this storm. I found it interesting that one leader said that even with all they did learn from Katrina, he expects to learn more from Isaac. The two storms are different and there are always new things to learn. I think he is right, let’s hope that the new things are smaller than what they had to learn seven years ago.

To all my friends and family if any of you or your circle of friends and family are in the path of Hurricane Isaac, I pray that they have taken the correct action for themselves. May we all come through this safely.

Night feedings (am I a vampire now?)

New Experience

Tonight I start my overnight at home feedings. While I sleep a special formula will be going through my G Tube and giving me the food that I need to live. When the nurse came over today to teach me how to run the pump we had one small problem. The doctors had not given us three key pieces of information.  How much am I to get over the course of the entire night? How many hours do they want it to take? What rate per hour?

Without the actual numbers Katie showed me how to set the pump, plus it came with a CD and an instruction booklet.  While Katie was here she tried to call the doctor’s office but they were closed for lunch.  About 2 hours later Katie called me with my actual numbers.  However, she said the doctor was not very helpful, the doctor gave her the goal amount she wants me to take, not the amount to start with. Katie and her coworkers talked and came up with a starting point set of numbers based on what I can already tolerate. If this first set of numbers works well tonight we will slowly adjust the numbers until I reach the goal the doctor wants me to get to without me getting sick each night.

I feel very good about this entire thing, especially knowing that if I need to I can just make a phone call. The Visiting Nurses have someone on call 24 hours a day. So I know that I have support whenever I need it. 

Sorry about not posting anything yesterday, but I was just too tired from going out on Saturday. It was a good time just very tiring on one as weak as I am. Maybe when I can get more food into my body and keep it down I won’t be so weak.