My leukemia's back.

You can tell I was not reared in a medical household. I read SOB, and maybe it was my early childhood memories emerging from the box, but shortness of breath wasn't my first thought.
 
You're getting there, Rachel! It's all about the baby steps sometimes, and huge leaps over mud puddles other times. Frustrating but it has to help when your labs come back better!

Thanks for the ideas, my friends. This, too, shall pass. I really don't need any help with meals and the house. This place is so easy to clean, as my sister trailer-liver-inner can attest. Get up, turn around and make the bed. Pick up dirty clothes from bedroom and drop in basket in bathroom on my way to the kitchen. Down the hall, grab the vacuum, run it over the floors real quick. Give Kendra the Swiffer duster when she gets here and I do the high stuff, she does the low. Feed her breakfast and when she's done wipe off her hands....she puts her napkin in the trash and her bowl, cup and spoon in the dishwasher while I stick my coffee cup in. Done and done.

Dinner - or supper - is funny around here. We'll be ready to eat around 2 or 2:30. Never eat dinner later than that unless we are going out with friends or something, or we're on vacation and have to eat at the times acceptable for where we are and who we're with. I learned a couple of years ago that I feel much better if we eat our main meal around mid-day. Then if we are a little hungry come evening, we have a bowl of cereal or some toast. No more tummy issues keeping me up all night, and strangely enough weight started coming off and staying off, too. So now it's a habit that I don't want to break. Shoot, I have dinner dishes done and the mess cleaned up when most people are getting ready to start cooking! Love that, because I have more energy to do it mid-day than in the evening. Lots of time I prep stuff at night, put it in the fridge before I go to bed, then just cook it up while Kendra's at the table with her Play-Doh or finger paints and such.

I have the coolest pan in the universe! I put it up on the counter, set it to "stove-top" and brown whatever it is. Then I can switch it slow-cook or oven and finish whatever it is I'm making. I can make spaghetti so easy and fast that it's crazy. Put in the ground beef and onions. Set the pan to stove-top and brown, then drain. Add spaghetti sauce, uncooked spaghetti, and water. Set it to Oven and cook for 30 minutes. Done. So we have timing down pretty well around here.
 
Morning....31 here but the sun is out!!!!....Kacy is coming home today for dinner..yay!!...between pain and breathing problems haven't been sleeping well at all. My lungs are getting so tight and full of sticky mucus...I'm going to have to push the VA about adding an allergist I don't want to put up with another winter like last.
I hope things are improving for Rachel...being she hasn't mentioned permanent lung damage I got to hope they can come up with a solution...I pray they do...
...unfortunately to see an allergist I will have to drive all the way to Milwaukee...6 hour drive..
....I have to drive a100 miles to iron mountain Monday morning to the VA for a meeting so they can determine if I can go from 90 percent disability to 100..
...it's a big deal for me...My MRIs and kidney function test etc have all gotten much worse over the past several years...the only reason I was stuck at 90 was I continued to work...just got too hard there toward the end....Phil

P.S. thanks for letting me ramble some days...
Heavenly Father, we lift Phil up to you. I pray that you will provide him quickly with the appointment to see an allergist. I pray that you will touch his lungs and provide relief and healing. I also pray that the medical personel involved in his care will meet his needs with knowledge and compassion. Give him the strength to make the long trips required for his care, and if there is an other option available that won't require as much driving effort and fatigue, I pray that you will make that evident. Thank you for Phil's presence and support in our little group here.

<plop> Thanks for the lasagna - I needed that. Wasn't on much last night. By the time Kendra left for the day I was about over the whole day. Don't mind doing the physical therapy.....don't mind doing any of the stuff we do for and with Kendra.....but some days the back just isn't into it.

Had a long talk with the kids yesterday evening. I ain't getting any younger and Kendra isn't getting any smaller. We discussed the possibility of them finding alternative day care for her. In an area as rural as we are finding people qualified to do the catheterizations, deal with the seizures, and doing the therapies isn't easy - folks like that don't grow on trees. We're going to discuss it with Children's Resource Center and see if they have any ideas. But then last night when I was laying in bed staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep that just doesn't seem to come, I started bawling. The thought of not having her here everyday, of wondering if the person they might find will be able to do things as well as I do (bragging, but truth), will be willing to put a dishtowel on her head and play boo-monster....so many little things, well it was tough to think about. When Kendra learns something new it's a huge deal here. I know when I can push her a little farther and when it's time to back off and/or redirect. I know what she responds to even though she can't verbalize it. Even her therapists comment all the time on the progress she's made being with me and Grampa. And then it hit me. As tired as I get, and as sore I sometimes get, I'm jealous! I don't want to share her with anyone else. I've put myself into an untenable situation - too old and creaky to do the things that need doing and too selfish to see her make progress with someone else. <sigh> So maybe I'll just keep plugging here as long as I can, and as long as I'm not putting her at risk with my own limitations.

Ah, don't pay any attention to me. Just a little pity party and the lasagna should help. And Jenny just pulled up with Kendra so I'd better scoot and get her settled in. I think I just need a Kendra hug!
Father, I lift Blooie up to you, and thank you for all she has been able to accomplish in the lives of her family. I thank you for her generous heart, her ability to look at any situation and be able to problem solve a solution. I pray that she will see the benefit of having help to meet Kendra's physical needs. This will give Blooie MORE quality time to spend with Kendra, not less. I pray that it might be possible for Kendra to receive in home care instead of going out for day care, and I pray that Blooie can continue to be an integral part of that. I pray that you will bless Blooie, and give her strength.

Exactly my thoughts! This would be the perfect opportunity for a young woman in your area who is interested in going into healthcare/childhood development/special needs kiddos, etc. Someone just out of high school, who can drive themselves, loves kids and is young and strong enough for the physical part. You can teach the cathing to an appropriate person. A helper can sure help with PT also. And, she could be doing things like cooking/prepping dinner, doing laundry, things like that while you're spending time with Kendra.

I think I may have just talked myself into getting a helper
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.


Dr appt yesterday. All the labs weren't back yet, but the CBC continues to look good. My platelets have leveled off in the 70s. That's very live-able, they'd just like to see them above 100. But 50 is the cut off for spontaneous bleeding, so they say I can survive a car accident, etc at this level. Comforting, right?

They're waiting for the liver tests, etc before changing any meds. I really want to start tapering off the prednisone. I'm getting those chipmunk cheeks and I hate that. Plus, someone broke in and ate way too many of the cookies I baked the other day.....
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. But, between that and the increase in the anti-rejection meds, my breathing is doing better. Way less coughing, less mucous. Still SOB with exertion and I can't do a lot of the things I want, but I can manage most of what I need. And get boys to do the rest
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. The specialists are down next week, so we'll see what they say. Oh, and still no appointment in sight with the local pulmonologist......I'm just letting that go for now. I'm getting treated and it's helping, so don't stress over that appointment. I believe I may need to see one down the road, but that will come.


Went to the Grange yesterday and came home with 5 EE and 5 Barred Rock chicks
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. Honey gently reminded me that's about $200 in chickens recently.....okay. And did I mention I'm still buying eggs?
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So, going to make NFCs sausage, then into Blooie's stuffing, then cook a turkey in bacon tonight. Should be fine eating!
Father, I lift Rachel up to you. I thank You and praise You for the healing you've brought into her life since the beginning of this thread. I thank you for the gift of faith that you have blessed her with. It is evident in her, and a source of wonder for those who have not yet experienced that faith. I pray that her walk would be a continued inspiration, that may even prompt others to say, Lord, help my unbelief. I pray that you will continue to lay your healing hand on her. That you would open up that pulmonologist appointment quickly, so she can get that skilled knowledge applied to her needs. I thank you that she is responding well to the Prednisone. I pray that you will bless her with continued healing, that you would strengthen her immune system and body so that she can continue to decrease the medications that are giving her difficulty.

And, all God's people said: AMEN!!!

You can tell I was not reared in a medical household. I read SOB, and maybe it was my early childhood memories emerging from the box, but shortness of breath wasn't my first thought.
How easily we forget how those medical terms can be misinterpreted! When I am SOB, it turns me into a SOB!!! Or perhaps more correctly stated, it turns me into a DOB, which in medical terms refers to my age!
 
As I just said on the BYC Café thread...man, I step away to do some stuff and bam! You all are about 30 conversations ahead of me. I think you all need to start meeting me here at 4am. Or maybe I just need to learn to sleep until 5 or 6 like normal people.

Phil, Blooie, Rachel, Eggsy...I can't say beautiful prayers like LG (such beautiful prayers!) but you're in my thoughts and I hope only the best for all of you. As Sour says, this is our safe place, we're all here for each other. And I thank God for that every day. And for your friendship.

Too much serious stuff...time for me to share a funny (that's me, the comic relief!)



(That's especially for you-know-who. And yes, I did steal it off another post.)
 
Hi everyone - just wanted you to know that I'm thinking about you all from New Mexico and send up a huge AMEN with LG's beautiful prayers

Phil I hope you feel better and your VA appointment goes well and I hope you feel better soon.

Blooie - I second or third the opinion that you look into a helper to do some heavy lifting/brace holding/etc. that Kendra needs as you continue to be her #1 cheerleader and supporter! (You won't be sharing, you'd be delegating! LOL). Kendra's going to keep growing and thriving and she'll need you running around doing your special stuff instead of being out with a back strain!

And Rachel - glad your labs are stable and we can hope for more improvement in the future! Congrats on the new chicks and have a lot of fun with them.

Now I'll go back to lurking for a while!
 

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