Maple Or Vanilla

Well, it has not been a very good day for Patsy. She has been doing better on pain for the last couple of days. She took some Norco at 4:00 am and that was the last pain meds until just a few minute ago. She says her back is really hurting so I gave her some pills. We did have a bad night last night so we both slept in a little bit. I made her some breakfast and she got up about noon. We watched a movie and then I took her for a milkshake and a little drive.

Her legs are just not working. It looks like my job is about to get a bit more interesting. I might have to re-evaluate the bus floor plan to better be able to help her. This doesn't mean we are giving up but the baby steps that Pat was seeing are on hold. She still laughs at me when I really screw up. For instance, Pat has always made homemade syrup and we were out. I went to walmart to get some maple but some how when I got home, that little bottle of maple turned into vanilla. So I went back to the store and OOOPPPPPSSSS, I did the same thing. The 3rd time is a charm and I now have maple to make some syrup. Only problem is that I also have 2 bottles of vanilla. Iasked Pat what we would use vanilla in and she laughed and said I could use it in baking. I said "like when you make a pizza???? I think that was the wrong answer.

Davalee told me the other day to get a cook book!! She is just mad at me because I out bid her on a cookbook that we auctioned at a family reunion a few years back. It is her way to rub it in a bit. She can be real cranky sometimes. hehe

Ok I am in enough trouble now so I will see you tomorrow night,

"CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE"

Well, let's see now. If I say it was a good day then how do I explain this next item. I was working on the bus and Marty stopped over for a minute. Somehow Pat slip by me and decided to go to the bathroom at Thereasa's house. I did not see her leave and thought she was still in bed. When Marty got ready to leave, he opened the door and there was Mother laying on the ground. She looked up at him and said "can you help me please". I asked her what happened and she said the 1 1/2 inch curb got the best of her. This is the place where I say #^%$$^^&&&^%^*&%*%. She is so independent that sometimes I want to just pull my hair out. That is why I keep it short.

She really had a good day other then that. I gave her some pain pills at 5:00 A.M. and let her sleep until about 10:00. I got her up and cooked her a big breakfast. I am trying to keep some good food in her especially when she takes a bunch of pain meds. We went on a short drive and she took a few Excedrin to prevent a headache that was starting to form. After a little dinner, we watched a movie and she went to bed for the night. Still no major pain meds and that is good. we will see how the night goes. Her legs are still her biggest problem next to her pain.

So again, I want to see her live every minute the best she can. To those that love Patsy like I do, you should know that I will take care of her. See ya in the funny pages, RAZ

A mixed day!!!

A mixed day to say the least. But let me start with some good news for Patsy and I. We learned today that they have approved her for her SSI and SSD. That means that we will now be able to have enough money coming in to pay the bills. The amount coming in is not a lot but it means that I can stay home and take care of Patsy and that will help a lot.

Over the last month, several people and family members have sent us some money and Pat received some today at dinner. That will carry us over until the SSI comes in . Please know how much you have helped us and especially me. It has not been the easiest thing for me to change my life around to become Patsy's care giver but it was a whole bunch easier not having to worry about how to pay the bills. The financial support will always be remembered. Please forward the info to everyone and tell them that we should be ok now and that further financial assistance will not be needed. I will have Carey send an email out as well.

Jeneane and Kelly invited us to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse in Boise. It is Patsy's favorite place to eat and we want to thank them for the treat. To make things better, all of her brothers and sisters were there and Rick and Rhonda (I sure hope I spelled that right). Paula even showed up for a bit. Patsy had a great time and it made for a wonderful day. She shed a tear on the way home. She was really touched.

So, as you might have guessed, she was really tired when I got her home and she went to bed early with a pretty hefty pain pill.

Remember the mixed day I mentioned. Well here is the bad news. Patsy has noticed that her vision is slipping a bit. As you know, that is a symptom of the CJD disease. We will see what Carol has to say when we go see her on Wed. We will remain hopeful for the best.

Thanks again for the love and support. RAZ

Is Patsy getting ready for the Indy 500????

We started out the day with a trip to town. I thought it might be good to get her out for a while and she only needed one pain pill so I thought she might have a good day. Her balance and legs were not doing very good so I made her try the battery wheel chair cart. Holy Crap!!!!! That ain't happening again. After knocking a display rack out of the way and getting some clothes stuck on the basket, I had to take over the controls in the tighter places. She hates it when I try to be a backseat driver. She finally got the hang of it as we were heading to the car, right up to the time she hit the all stop button.. It Stopped.

So how is she doing???? Well, I don't think she is getting any worse but I have not seen much improvement yet. Her legs just won't stay under her. The biggest problem that she seems to have is the amount of pain in her back and her head. If she can keep that down, then she can get by with just a couple of excedrin. She does pretty good then. But the Norco she takes to kill the pain have a tendency to make her more tired and along with that comes the weaker legs. We have another appointment with Carol next week and I am hopeful that she will address those issues.

Patsy's brothers and sisters have invited us to dinner tomorrow so she went to bed early to get some rest. All of the family has been so supportive and we really appreciate them so much.

Ok, enough for now Thanks for being here. See ya RAZ

Watching Patsy sleep

So, have you ever just sat by your spouse and just watch them while they sleep. I did that today. You see, Pat started off the day with some really bad back pain and some head pain. I gave her some pain meds and she spent most of the day resting and sleeping. I moved her to the couch so I could keep an eye on her while I did some house cleaning and bill paying. Or at least bill looking!!! As you all know, I have been by Pat side and not able to make a living. Some really good people and family have help and I don't know what we would have done without them.

Anyway back to Patsy. I was watching her sleep today and thinking of a lot of good times we have had together. But just then she started snoring and that kicked me back to reality. She can snore!!!

Anyway, she had a good day of rest and tonight we were invited to some recitals and she really wanted to go. The first one was with Scott and Denise's kids. They are really getting really good.

Then we left to go here Erin play the piano for a few friends. She is a young high school student who is very very good. She played a lot of music that Pat once played. It was fun.

So, we are home, we had a little dinner, Patsy is feeling pretty good so far. Her legs are still really weak and she has a really hard time walking.

But, as I have told you before. Any day that we have together is a good day.

Now it is your turn. I see quite a few people following Pat's progress. Take a minute and post a comment and I will pass it on to Pat. Let's keep her smiling. RAZ

She's back!!!!

Well, maybe that is a little premature. But, it was a good day. But let me back up a bit.

Last night Patsy was in a bit of pain so she took some pain meds at 10:00 and went to bed. At 3:30 this morning I got her up to go to the bathroom and then things got really crazy. As she walked by the end of the bed after doing her business, she reached for her bathrobe. When I asked her what she was doing, she said she was putting her bathrobe on so that she could go pee. That is when I knew it was going to get wild. I told her that she had just gone pee and she said no she hadn't. I managed to get her back to bed and then spent the next hour listening to some of the most bizarre stories I have heard. Ask me sometime to tell you about the fuzzy bucket with a hole in it. HEHE

Ok, so I woke her at 8:30 so that we could keep another appointment with Carol. We got there and Carol did some work on Pat. They laughed and talked and Pat even shared a story or two. (yak, yak, yak) it was really good to she Pat come away with a lot of optimism instead of what the Doctors have been telling her.

In case you want to know, Carol says that Pat is definitely going to get better and that the doctors are just wrong this time. She doesn't know how long it will take but she says that she will continue to improve.

We came home and Pat has been up every since. We have been talking and laughing and I have to tell you, It was wonderful!!! She had a slight headache but a few aspirin took care of that for now. She just told me that she was hungry and walked to the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal. I could not believe it. She didn't even use her cane.

I think this was a very good day and I would say that Pat took 3 baby steps today. It ain't over 'till its over. Thanks again for all your prayers and help. See you tomorrow night, RAZ

Is it good or is it bad???

Most of the time I just don't know and tonight is one of those nights for me.

After a pretty good night for Pat, a early pain pill and a little breakfast, it was off to see the Doctor and Carol. That's right, both in the same day. So today was Katy's last day with us so she decided she would run mom around today and I could stay here and get some work done on the RV.

The appointment with the Doctor did not go well. I understand that Patsy may only have a short time with us if the Doctors are right but just once I would like to have him say something besides go home and get ready. The diagnosis is not confirmed because the only way to do that is to have a brain biopsy and we are not going to do that because of the danger. It is nice to have someone to go to get pain meds but his attitude is that she should not even worry about taken blood pressure pills because that may be a better way to go then the disease that she may or may not have. Pretty discouraging.

So, the next stop was a trip to Carrol. it was almost worth the money just to have the positive attitude that Carrol has. Carrol says that the treatment that we have been giving Pat to get rid of the parasites has worked, she says she is not going to leave us just yet, and now we start rebuilding. She worked on Pat today and wants to see her tomorrow. (I can't tell you how much the money some have sent has helped)

Patsy has been up all day which is very good. However, most of the day she was laughing and giggling even at things that were not funny. Kind of like she was drunk. (yes I have seen pat drunk but a long time ago) Her legs are very week and she fell again while getting ready for bed.

So, is it good or is it bad??? Depends on who you choose to believe and I surely don't have the answer. But everyday that she is with us is a good day. The doc did give another prescription for pain. i picked that up tonight, $106.00. I hope her disability money kicks in soon.

Probably sound like I am a little down tonight and I guess I am. Tomorrow I will be better, I promise. Goodnight, RAZ

P.S. Thanks Katy for coming down and letting mom and me get to know that baby a little bit. It was a good thing for mom and I know it cost you a lot of money to make the trip but we are sure glad you was able to come down.