My leukemia's back.

[N F C]

After several weeks of going with 5 egg layers, one other girl has decided to quit loafing and get back to work. Whoo hoo, 6 eggs yesterday! Now about those other 3...

 

[sourland]

Patience, NFL.

 

[N F C]

Patience, NFL.

I'm afraid patience has never been one of my biggest virtues sour.

I'd work on that, but I don't have the time for it

 

[ronott1]

Saw the Dr today and got the okay to taper the prednisone down to 15. I think I'll alternate 20 with 15 for a few days before going down to 15. And be a little more aware of possibly decompensating.

I lost my temporary filling tonight. I'm thinking to just have the tooth extracted. I'd decided years ago I didn't want to continue to pour money into my mouth. I'll talk to the dentist on Monday. It's going to take some serious drugs or sedation to extract this puppy. I was so apprehensive just having them work on it, I had the shakes and had to sit in the van about half an hour before I could drive home. I hate that, I never used to have anxiety about going to the dentist. Having leukemia seems to have broken me for dealing with potentially painful medical procedures.

On the happy note, I'm getting more little blue/green eggs! I had a total of 4 girls reaching point of lay, I got 3 eggs today from them. They're so cute, and look so pretty next to my large Marans eggs. I have them sitting in one of those open faced egg flats on the counter. Every time I walk by, a boy has re-arraigned them in a different color pattern

. It's like they're writing secret code to each other or something, I just love it.

If the tooth is in real tight, go to an oral surgeon.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Blooie in glad you let then have it a little. I've always cringed at how much of your life you spend helping others without it seeming anyone was giving back. Your a true Angel there's a satin pillow for you to rest your head on in
Heaven.

Rachel

....protein protein protein....and fiber.....leave the breads and sugars alone. And if your gonna eat potatoes or bread...make sure you put a little butter on them to slow the digestion down a little....

Okay I'm worried haven't heard from Suzie in a while....I'm gonna try and pm her.....

 

[Blooie]

Oh gosh, I don't want anyone to misunderstand here.....we are a family, and we do a lot for each other. All of us do. Jenny and Kenny keep Evan overnight every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night, and on Mondays when Tam gets off work at 7 she goes straight to Jenny's, picks up Evan and Katie, and takes them to school. Doctor's appointments someone is right there to drive or just sit in the waiting room. Kenny is right at hand if Ken needs some extra muscle. Meals are shared - if I've made something I know they love, I make a little extra and bring it over, and vice versa. If we leave town, we didn't have to worry about Miss Molly (when she was still alive) and we never worry about the chickens, the flowers being watered, or whatever. Someone short $10.00? Whoever has some shares, and they never worry about being paid back. Big loans, like when we bought the stove for Kenny and Jenny are paid back every month until the total is paid off. If we need any of them, all we have to do is ask. Who am I kidding? Most times I don't even have to ask. I can do Kendra's cath, drop her off at Tammy's if I have weekday appointments, and not think twice about it. Weekends are tougher because Tam needs to sleep on Mondays after putting in that kind of time.

Kendra is hard. As much as we adore her, you have to know what you're doing to take care of her. Catheters, enemas, meds, therapy....it's a lot. When Kendra was born, she was rushed to Children's Hospital and Jenny was kept there in University Hospital. I'd run between the two, taking videos and photos of Kendra to let Jenny see how well she was doing. Jenny was discharged the day before Kendra. When Kendra was discharged from the hospital in Denver, 5 days after the back surgery she had when she was just a few hours old, Jenny ended up going back in and spent 4 days in ICU and then a couple more days in a regular room. It was just me and Kendra in the Ronald McDonald House, and I was scared to death. Jenny had already stopped breathing in the ambulance 3 times. I remember just sitting in the rocking chair, holding this sleeping baby in my arms, crying. I kept thinking, "What if Jenny dies? What do I do?" over and over again. I had promised Kenny I'd take care of them. I'd stroke Kendra's furry little head and whisper, "It's just you and me against the world right now, baby girl." I know all of that is where my unusually strong bond with Kendra comes from. So I don't want anyone getting the idea that the kids use me in any way. They can't do to me what I don't allow to be done. Kendra, Katie and Evan are as much a part of my life as breathing, and just as essential.

Most of the time the stuff Ken and I do is either scheduled well in advance and they have plenty of time to make arrangements, or we simply take whichever one (or all) of the little ones with us. It's just that every once in awhile a situation like this comes up. There are no other professional day care providers who can do the stuff Kendra needs on a daily basis - they aren't qualified either by the state day care licensing or by DFS. I am. I took the classes. I've been cathing Kendra since she was a few days old, even in the NICU under the nurses' supervision until I was confident. Kendra trusts me completely. So do her parents, her therapists, and her medical teams. Her physical therapy sessions are here simply because of scheduling. We video new stuff we are working on so that Kenny and Jenny can duplicate the process at home. So when Ken and I have unexpected, unplanned stuff like the death of his sister, it tosses a huge monkey wrench into everything. They panic, give me that "What are we supposed to do?" routine, and I panic. In the process I end up feeling torn between what I need to do for everyone's benefit. That's my own doing. I'm in no way proud of the tantrum I threw the other night, but I just blew up. If I heard, "But we need to......" one more time I was going to punch somebody, I was that frustrated.

So please don't think badly of the kids. They have pretty full plates and raising two disabled daughters is a challenge for anyone. They can't do it alone, it takes all of us. Had the services fallen over a weekend, we would have left on Friday after Jen picked up Kendra and been back Sunday night, with no disruption in the normal routine. I guess we're like chickens - we don't do change well around here!

 

[lazy gardener]

We're still here. Robbie decided to have the visitation on Monday and the services on Tuesday. So I put my foot down with the kids, told them that I love them and I adore the grandkids, but I had something I had to do and I was going to do it. Period. THEY created the kids....they can figure out what to do when I can't be there 24/7. As I said in another thread - I cut the umbilical cord and grew a backbone all at the same time.

I was literally sitting at the table crying because I was being torn so many ways. Then I bucked up, decided that I was NOT going to put the kids and grands ahead of the support Ken needed right now, and the devil take the consequences. I was not very popular last night, let me tell you! But Jenny dropped Kendra off this morning as usual, and was just fine.....told me not to worry, they had things figured out and would be just fine, and oh, did I want Katie to gather eggs while we are gone? So obviously either the wounds have healed, or they decided it wasn't smart to further antagonize the one person they need the most. It means that Kendra will miss her 10:00 cath because Tam has no idea how to do it and just doesn't want to learn, but that's happened when we travel with Kendra too so once in a rare while with a late cath won't cause any permanent damage. Tam says she most certainly can get off work at 7 and stay awake and coherant until Kenny gets there at 11:00 (they agreed to let him go early under the circumstances), so when they got backed into a corner they came up with a plan.

So we are leaving at around 9:00 am on Sunday. Now if the weather will just cooperate......

Blooie, girl!!!! I'm so very proud of you! You have chosen correctly, my little grasshopper! Now, it's time for Tam to step up to the plate and learn how to cath. This is what we do for family, right? Even the things that seem to be too difficult, or outside of our comfort zone... if needed, it can be done! You do well, and take your place beside Ken, where you belong. Those kids can, and should meet the needs of their own kids! (Who am I to talk????) You know my story, yes??? That one is a work in progress, and I can actually anticipate things working out in a few months! Any how, I agree with Rachel. Our society has the whole family thing backwards.. In marriage, spousal relationship comes first, then kids. Because if the marital bond is not strong, it's the kids that suffer most of all. When husband and wife are strongly united, the kids will be more secure.

 

[N F C]

@Blooie I think that's great the way your family sticks together. Sure, the initial reaction might sometimes be ack!, but in the end you guys always work things out. (And going ack! is normal whenever a routine is interrupted.

)

 

[Blooie]

Yep, LG, you're almost as bad as I am! Teehee. Ken has always come first and the kids know that well. I feel like I spend every summer packing and traveling with him, and we enjoy that time together. Thing is, those trips are planned months in advance. This time it also didn't help that Robbie just could not pick a date and stick to it, so we were all in limbo. Everything was ready to go and kids were covered for any time that week, until he postponed it to this time frame.
But it is what it is, and he was just trying to make sure family from back east could make it.

 

[donrae]

No discernable pattern right now. I added this morning's take and Honey used most of the Marans eggs for breakfast--Honey Omlettes are my favorite. They were the first thing he fixed for me when he was courting me.


Blooie, sometimes a meltdown is just what's needed. Yep, you look back and are probably embarrassed, but the air is cleared, and no damage was done. Your family sure seems strong enough to handle a little thing like that. You and Ken done good with all those kids!

I think Honey and I are going fishing today. So maybe trout for dinner?