Jack is improved.............

Avery nonresponsive patient.........became amusing, joking, hungry and thirsty on Wednesday. Medicine and prayers are a teriffic combination. He is not out of the woods and this is the third day which often means a rough day.......he was doing ok at three this morning but a bit confused and disoriented. The nurse said this was not unusual......and certainly not for Jack in an occasional situation (actually a lot of the time......drs say a lot of it is meds).

Jack is very ill........

Jack was taken to the hospital yesterday........very ill. I had no idea it was as serious because the same symptoms had occured before and he had spent about 3 hours in emergency and came back to the nursing facility.

The emergency doctor told me he is "septic" don't know if that is the way it is spelled but he has an infection all over his body and in his blood. He told me I had the right to know he might not pull through this.

Several specialists were called in, his primary care doctor,etc in total four and they all said the same thing.........I called his daughter and she should be here today. My daughter is on alert if I need her but I have a strong faith just as Jack does and I feel he will pull through this illness.

We ask for your prayers and we know all of your are with us as we stand against this invasion of his body.

I knew this day would come..............

I have always known that someday I would go see Jack and he would not have any idea who I was. Today was really the first when I knew for sure that he did not know me and my presence angered and confused him. After breakfast which was not enjoyed by him or me......much of it spilled, eaten inappropiately, or just refused, I knew I had better spend the rest of the day doing something else. Till he is over this UTI and is much better...........I seemed to set him off.

He was really upset when I didn't let him put salt in the sugar container! Hee Hee.......what a morning that was!

Thankfully they didn't put syrup on his french toast but brought a container........or sticky hands would have been the order of the day. When you use french toast as part of a sandwich..........it can get messy.

Jack has always been so affectionate and this morning he didn't really want to kiss that strange woman! Well, maybe that was good! Except I was that strange woman. I have to laugh to keep from crying..........work, sleep, reading, I have tried to keep my mind busy.

Well, there is always tomorrow!

PLEASE FALL COME QUICKLY!

The hot nights and even hotter days have been around just long enough for me to look forward to fall. Fall or Autumn has never been one of my favorite seasons. Everything always seemed so drab and dead. But years ago we went to the East coast to see the colors and I really enjoyed that trip. What I have failed to notice that here in Oklahoma we have a vivid range of colors of our own. After the extreme heat and hungry grasshoppers my fall flowers have already tucked their heads and refuse to even look like they might burst forth in color........rats!

Well there is always next year!

The Notebook............

Well, I just finished Nicholas Sparks's The Notebook..............please do yourself a favor, and read it if you feel strong enough. It is a beautiful love story that is rare indeed but it is the story of what diseae and age does to the body and relationships. I thought it would be a short read but could not read very long at a time especially at the end. I actually feel better having read the book. I feel I am better equipted to say Good-by when the time comes.

There are times when one reflects on life and the road never traveled that lays ahead. Younger family members should read this book as a manual in dealing with aging and the aging relatives. Although fiction one feels that this book is probably more based on true facts that textbooks on a medical shelf.

Those of you who haven't thought about it.............it is time to write a notebook yourself on your youth. I was telling my daughter something about where I had lived as a child and she commented that she didn't know that.........and I realized somethings will become dust and gone if not recorded for our families to enjoy on a stormy evening in front of a real wood burning fire............not a fake fire in a fake fireplace.

Planted some new iris plants today........different colors.........filling in the enply places in the flowerbed and hoping for some bright colors. Mentioned I was going to an Iris Sale and my daughter discovered a whole new part of my life.

It is hard for my to imagine the generation who does not know how to hang clothes on clothesline. We have elected to keep the traditional and antique..hee hee clothesline in our backyard......things do smell wonderful after hanging on the line. And when the dryer dies there is always an option.

Jack is having some bad days.....I go but leave the nursing to the professionals. I am learning when I am actually better now at letting someone else take care of Jack. I am the visitor, the comfortor, the loving spouse, and they are the caregivers. (But I am the one watching and reminding and asking for.........still caregiving! lol)

loneliness

The nights are long........the days sometimes are even longer. I spend a lot of time at the nursing facility where Jack now lives, but it still doesn't fill the empty void at our home.

The responsibilities of the house and the community felines just doesn't fill the hours well enough. I need a hobby that totally comsumes my attention..........

I have painted but have no interest there anymore.

I took some linedancing classes but my feet have had so many fractures since I have been in Oklahoma that they just would not hold up to the "beat"!

I read a lot but even that sometimes reaches a limit.

Any suggestions?