Medical Update on a Sunday.

Its 8: 16 pm

    Looking outside at a lovely evening,the young and old couples are out walking. Some have dogs,others are pushing carriages. If I wasn't so tired,I would saddle up and walk around the block a couple of times myself...
  Been a while since I posted a update....but I have been checking every day and I am stunned to see this blog has had 7,600 views so far. What is really cool is a lot of the old pages that got a mere a 5 or 6 views are now being looked at by the new readers. Until recently only my interview with Evon Cassier had garnered over a 100 views but I now see another 4-5 entries have also been been looked at over a 100 times and I thank you for that.

  We are still in this fight....trying to find a happy medium with Lori's meds,food and hydration.
Its not easy and sometimes the nerve endings get a little frayed...being two people with very little support leaves us bruised and tired. But you just have to swallow it down and keep going,keep trying different things to make life somewhat normal.
  The big problem this week was twofold,getting the right hydration and fighting off a painful urinary tract infection. Lori's heart rate has been elevated because she is throwing up so much,she is outpacing the gravity drip I.V. This means she isn't being hydrated quickly enough. We have been doing a bag of dextrose once a day plus the usual suspects like Boost,water and instant breakfasts. The UTI really made this so much worse because its so painful to urinate and when you get a I.V.,that is ALL you're going to be doing.
This led to several 3 am wake-ups to help with her being ill,cleaning up afterwards,changing clothes and getting her either ice water or juice. I have been getting less and less sleep...
 Dr. Johnston has decided to switch Lori to a potassium I.V. to help replace the fluids she is losing. I also had to run across the street for a lab kit to have a urine test done. After an hour of waiting,we were able to secure enough for the lab. The lab takes the urine and watches it for three days,seeing what kind of bacteria pops up. This normally takes up to 3 business days..but we were blessed in the fact a doctor took a look early and wrote Lori a scrip for an antibiotic.
  What makes all this a hurricane in a teacup is the fact I'm still working and I am getting stretched thin. As much I like to let Lori hydrate when I'm at work,I can't. Two of the medications she is taking causes drowsiness and you can't run a I.V. like that. You run the risk of having the I.V. finish and getting air in the bloodstream. You get what is commonly called "the bends" which is what happens to deep sea divers who surface too fast...so you can see why unsupervised hydration isn't a option.
 Trying to get a set routine is next to impossible but after talking with Lori about it,we decided to ask Marlene (Crash's mom) if she can learn how to help Lori get her I.V. drip going and sit with her when I have to work at night. She has agreed so this is a huge boost to us!
  I also got to chill with my buddy Big Al and had lunch with him. What was supposed to be a hour get away ended up being a 2.5 hour talk at the Big Bites Coney,a relatively new diner. We talked about our families and how people react to different problems.


The staff was very kind and we never felt any pressure to leave. Other then work,its the longest talk I have had with a human being other then Lori in so many months.
  The newest development is Lori is now sleeping downstairs because she too winded to climb. We think this will pass as soon as the new hydration plus a new anti-nausea medicine kicks in. She is already in a lot less pain because the antibiotic she is taking is working wonders. But needless to say,its doesn't feel good knowing she can't climb the stairs right now. I'm hoping her condition will improve this week.
  Tomorrow is Tax Day and this will be our first time that we have filed on deadline day. Took time to gather all the many receipts,driving journals and banking statements in order to give what we hope are all of our complete taxes. Last year we didn't get back very much and I'm suspecting we won't get that this year. But just glad that we are able to get this out of the way.
  Other projects are going okay....starting to downsize the closets now as well as throw/donate old magazines and clothes that we don't need,its a slow process but we finished one closet this week and am headed to the spare bedroom next week.
 Word is that the house of our old neighbors has sold for 179,000. They are a younger married couple who have a small mutt. Still no word on when they'll be moving in. Just hope they are decent friendly people. My feeling is they are going to be slightly bummed at all the work they'll have to be doing. But that is part of the joy of owning a house,right?

Animal activist and actress Elaine Hendrix has posted a new entry in her "Love and Compassion" video blog.
How about it? Has this series moved your heart? I find it refreshing that someone is using their voice/talent to raise awareness about animal abuse and unlike the animal terrorist group PETA,actually gives a shit about neglected pets and other animals.

   Saw a post yesterday that my old boss at the EDGE,Jimmy,wrote on his FB wall. Seems like his cat,Miles Davis,died in his sleep last night. By the way he wrote it,this came as a total surprise and he is pretty heartbroken about it. I mention this because I know we are getting closer to reaching a point of no return for Ginger. Still feeding her the "good stuff" and actually was more nervous hydrating her then I ever was with Lori! Go figure!

Well,that is all I got for now...thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a comment!