Thursday, December 15, 2011

I'm Back. Again

Just wanted to let you all know I'm back. I was without a computer/the internet for a while. Then I got hooked up with Facebook. That was fun for a while, the ride ended over security/communication issues.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Memorial Day 2011

I hope your all having a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. Check out my Memorial Day message at A Republic, if you can keep it.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Some Of Those Changes

Earlier I mentioned some things had changed. One of the big changes was Sue's doctor now saying she does not have Alzheimer's Disease.That was quite a shock to all of us. The Doctor didn't really explain how or why he feels she does not have Alzheimer's or what could be causing her memory problems. Since she doesn't have Alzheimer's (according to the doctor) she was taken off her medication. We were very concerned about that at first. Now we see that she has good day's and not so good day's. That's really not much of a change, she had good and not so good day's when she was on her med.'s. Sue's adult Daughter and her two Grand Children she is raising are in the process of moving in with us. I am sure that is going to be filed under big change for all of us. Sue likes to have company so that should make her happy. It will make me feel better knowing Sue is not alone when I have to leave home for a few hours. I'm sure we'll be seeing another Doctor at some time in the future. She doesn't want to right now and I'm not going to push her into an argument.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

I'm Back, again

I'm back, again. Some things have changed around here while I was gone, others remain the same. I'll fill you in on all that later. Until then.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

We Are Not Dead

We just wanted to let you all know we are not dead. We do not currently have Internet access at home and we don't get to the library to often. We hope to be back on line soon.

Sue recently acquired a pair of Love Birds. Peter Pan, a green male and Tinker Bell, a yellow female. They were being neglected at their previous home. Sue is making sure they get the attention they need.


God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

This Hasn't Been A Real Good Week

This hasn't been a real good week for either of us. It has been wet and cold most of the week. That is rough on Sue because of her Osteoporosis and Arthritis, it causes my Arthritis to act up too. I've had some kind of eye infection/problem most of the week, so my computer time has been limited. At one time we thought it was a sty then we thought it could be Pink Eye. It is a lot better now. It should be, over the last few days it seems like I've dumped about a half gallon of eye drops on my face trying to get a drop in my eye. We still don't know what caused the problem. For most of the week Sue hasn't wanted to do much of anything but stay in bed and sleep. When I ask if she's OK she says she hurts. That could be her Osteoporosis and Arthritis. Or she could be sleeping more because she is depressed and telling me she hurts so I won't wake her. Maybe we'll get some answers at her doctors appointment Monday.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Monday, October 19, 2009

I'm Back

I got the computer back Friday. I had close to 800 e-mails to go through so I've been kind of busy. I have missed being able to visit your sites, I'll be stopping in soon.

I read an article that mentions a product called phosphatidylserine (PS for short) and was wondering if anyone had heard anything about it. I haven't been able to find the newsletter, Prescription for Healthy Living on line so the one article on PS is all I seen about it.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Thanks go to:
Personal Liberty Digest

Friday, October 2, 2009

The Computer Is In The Shop

Our computer went into the shop a couple of days ago. I'm at the library using a public computer right now. I wanted to let you know about this. I probably won't be posting as often until we get the computer back. I hope it's not much longer, I think I'm going into computer withdrawl.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Feeling Better Today

Sue seems to be feeling better today. She slept in which is probably good for her. When she got up she started making her daily phone calls. One old friend told her she was cleaning house and needed to take a break. She ask if she could come over to visit. That made Sue happy. I can hear them laughing and talking in the living room right now. This visit will mean a lot to her I'm sure since it was the old friends idea to stop in when there wasn't anything special going on.

She has a scheduled appointment for a check up tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure we'll find out more about the ear infection while we're there.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Took Sue To The Emergency Room

I'd planned on working three and a half hours today. Since Sue hasn't been feeling well for the last two or three days I figured I might get a phone call. It came at noon, Sue needed me to take her out to the emergency room. She still said it was the Crohn's Disease that was causing the problem. She had me convinced that yesterdays fall was because of a limp she has had every since she broke her leg years ago. She still claimed she had not hit her head when she fell and didn't know why there was swelling around her ear.

When we pulled up to the ER doors a nurse came out to get Sue and take her in while I found a parking spot. By the time I got to the registration desk Sue had started letting the hospital staff know that she'd better not be shown the disrespect she was shown the last time she was there. Not many people like this hospital but its the only one within a forty mile radius. After we made it into the exam room they drew blood and gave her a shot of morphine. After all of her test results came back the doctor said it was not Crohn's Disease that was making her sick, and the swelling around her ear was not caused by hitting her head. Sue has an ear infection. I brought her home. Except for when she was eating shes been asleep every since we got home. They gave her a prescription's for Lortab, Ciprofloxacin and Ciprodex (ear drops).

It has started to rain since I started this post. The sound of rain helps Sue sleep. This could be a blessing.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

What A Day

I guess I should have known this was going to be a rough day when Sue woke me at 1:30 AM to ask me if I could hear our dogs barking. Yes I did. I looked out back in the garage and dog run area. There was a strange pickup parked in our drive. I went out to check things out and found the dogs were looking toward our outside basement stairs. There was a twenty some year old woman at the bottom of the stairs. She said she was looking for someone I'd never heard of and took off on foot. I called the police to report a prowler and an apparently abandoned pickup. The officer never found the woman but he did find a meth/crack pipe in the pickup. He had it towed in. I got back to bed around 3:AM and had to get up to officially start my day at 6:30.

Sue got up at around 8:15 AM and went in the rest room. Shes been limping the last few days and says its because of arthritis in a leg she broke years ago, she also has Osteoporosis. She fell on her way out of the restroom. She said she'd be OK. Every since she has complained about not feeling well. She said she needs Morphine and antibiotics. There seems to be some swelling around one ear but it is not discolored. She said no, she did not hit her head when she fell and no(!) she does not want to go out to the ER. "They never do anything anyway and then they send you a bill". I won't argue with her that's the way most folks feel about the only hospital in our area. She wants to wait and see if she can make it until she goes in for a regular check up Monday.

A Saint Joseph Police Department Captain called me this afternoon. He said they think the woman I found at the bottom of my basement stairs is the ex wife of the owner of the pickup that was abandoned in my driveway. They think she was driving when they tried to stop the pickup for speeding earlier.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Am I Getting Worse?

A while back an article in our local paper told about a new insert magazine "Kin" that will soon be a part of their Sunday addition. The magazine will have articles about family issues and activities. The publisher ask for suggestions. I told them that Sue and her Mother both have Alzheimer's and that she had lost her Grandmother and a Great Aunt to the disease. We believe her Great Grandmother also had Alzheimer's but that was never diagnosed. Today I got a response from the papers health reporter. She said that she wants to do an article on Alzheimer's in November, Alzheimer's Awareness Month. That still has to be approved by her editor.

When I shared the above with Sue she was happy to hear that someone with the paper planned on doing an article on Alzheimer's. Then she ask, "Am I getting worse?". She said she thought she was doing OK but she thought others might see something else. I did not lie, I told her I see her have good days and bad and that so far the good out number the bad. That seemed to ease her mind. This has got to be a rough time for her. She sees what it has done to her Mother so far. She watched it take her Great Aunt. We were her Grandmothers care givers for five years. Now shes told she has this devastating disease. I'm not so sure I could handle it if I were in her place.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

World Alzheimer's Day, 2009

Also posted at A Republic, if you can keep it.

Please don't forget tomorrow September 21, 2009 is World Alzheimer's Day. I'm thinking that would be the perfect time to contact your elected officials to urge them to support S.1492 and H.R. 3286, the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2009. If passed this legislation will help provide researchers with the funds they need to find new and better treatments and possibly a cure for Alzheimer's Disease.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Thanks go to:
Alzheimer's Disease International

The Weekend Is Going Well

This weekend is off to a great start. I took Friday off to take care of some things that needed to be done. I hated the idea of missing work but it was necessary. The plan for Saturday was to go over to Sues Mothers house to get an oak dinning room table and chairs she wants us to have. That plan got changed when Sue decided that table will be going into our kitchen. Other things need to be moved before that's going to happen. A friend is coming over to help me take a kitchen table and our freezer to the basement tomorrow.

Sue and a couple of friends are planning another friends October birthday celebration. So she spent a good deal of time on the phone with old friends Saturday. That is great. For a while it seemed old friends were leaving her out of things. She felt she was being abandoned because of the Alzheimer's diagnoses. Shes been hearing from them more this past week or so. I'd been trying to figure out how to let them know they were hurting her without causing a problem and they started coming around and calling again without me saying a word. Possibly saved me from being the bad guy.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Obituaries And Memories

I found a familiar last name in yesterdays obituaries but the first name of the deceased didn't ring a bell. I did find a familiar first name in the list of survivors. I told Sue that I could remember one of the survivors names but I couldn't put a face with it or remember where I knew the name from for sure. She told me we went to high school with him. Neither of us ran around with him, he was just a face in the halls or class rooms (We attended Saint Joseph, Missouri's largest high school). She had a smile on her face when she told me her Alzheimer's lets her remember people we knew, places we went and things we did years ago that I may have forgotten and I can remember the people we talked to yesterday that she has forgotten. When you talk with Sue it is clear that she knows what she is facing a good deal of the time. That smile means a lot to me. It tells me the lady I've loved for years is still here and ready to face the next challenge.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Truck Insurance

When Sues birthday rolled around last April she decided she didn't want to renew her drivers license. She says shes afraid to drive. I've heard some say it was hard to get a loved one to quit driving so I should be happy. I didn't know she was told to turn in her old expired license. I guess a letter was sent to us, I didn't see it. Sue may have got it and put it up for safe keeping. The insurance company has dropped me over this, this letter I saw. So the truck (pickup) is parked until I can get this straightened out. I guess it could be worse. I could have been in an accident or pulled over before I found out I'm uninsured.

Lesson learned. Watch the mail closer.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Teen Stricken With Alzheimer's

Some of you may have read this Washington Times article. Now it seems Alzheimer's has no age limits. It seems to me that in eighteen years Ashton has already faced more hardships than anyone should have to face in a lifetime. Ashton and her Mother will be in my thoughts and prayers.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Thanks go to:
The Washington Times

Sunday, September 13, 2009

A Little Concerned

When the day first started I was a little concerned about how today was going to go. Sue was looking at some magazines and catalogs that came in yesterdays mail. I mentioned it being about time to take her medicine. She snapped, "I can only do one thing at a time". A few minutes latter I mentioned it again and she thanked me for reminding her.

Later I mentioned a video clip I'd seen. The name Jack Webb didn't mean a thing to her. I seem to remember her saying she liked the TV show Dragnet as a child.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Having A Real Good Day

Sue slept the whole night through despite the fact that she went to bed before dark. She started off with more energy than normal. She helped with some of the household chores then said she had to make her daily phone calls. She talks with her Mother and one of her Cousins every morning. Today she added a couple of old friends to her morning calls.

She was very happy to hear a friend is letting us use a TV until we decide what we want and can afford. A couple of our friends and I were talking about how I'd get rid of the old one since trash haulers won't take them. Sue suggested I leave it in the back of my pickup parked out back, she figures someone will go by and steal it. That's the old Sue.

I have noticed today that she hasn't seemed to have trouble remembering things, no confusion. She is really happy. I know there will be good days and bad, for now I'd have to rate this one great.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

Friday, September 11, 2009

TV Shot Craps, Sues Bored

At about 6:15 PM our TV shot craps. Sue called her Mother right after it happened. When she hung up she said her Mother is about as bored as she is. She didn't want to get on the computer. She doesn't want to go watch the old TV in the basement. "There's just nothing much to do". She laid down at 6:40. I hope shes able to go back to sleep after I get her up to take her medicine at 10:PM.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.