Mr. S Should Come Home Today

 

I should be bringing Mr. Sullivan home from the hospital today.  We had planned on him being home yesterday but had a minor setback with the pain meds.  He  had actually gotten dressed with the help of the occupational and  physical therapists ( what an ordeal when you  realize that you don’t have the mobility you are used to) and was  so disappointed that he had to stay another night. He is really tired of being in an institutional atmosphere and is glad to be coming back to a familiar environment.

Whew!  What an ordeal we have ahead of us. But it could have been much worse, given the massive infection in his leg, as well as trying to get everything else under control. We’re still working on all of that.  But we’ll have a home health care nurse coming several times a day to administer meds through the port he had installed in his chest, and I’ll be picking up a pharmacy load of  other oral meds.

Thank you for all the support and prayers being sent our way. It is amazing how a call for help can be answered by such a wonderful community of bloggers. It would really  be appreciated that you continue to keep us in your thoughts. 

Lots of hugs,

Sue

Quick Update on Mr. S

 

I’m at the hospital with Mr Sullivan right now and while he is snoozing, I thought I’d give you a quick recap of what has been happening with him.  On Thursday morning he had fluid drawn from his swollen knee and underwent painful  CT and an MRI scans. Once they were read, it was determined that he had to have surgery in his leg to remove the infection.  After a 90 minute surgery, the infection and a one of his quadricep (thigh)muscles was removed.  He came out of the surgery just fine, although he is enduring a lot of pain in his leg. Once the doctors are sure that all the infection is cleared up, he can start on his blood thinners again to help clear the blood clots in his calf.  He is still on insulin treatment to bring down his blood sugar level. 

I know that a  lot of positive thoughts and prayers from family,  friends, and the blogging community came our way for his procedure.  It is going to be a long haul on the road  to recovery. He will need to recover from the surgery, start diabetic  and blood clot treatment, adjust to an entirely different lifestyle, and deal with physical therapy.  But he has big plans to dance at our godchild/niece’s wedding this summer. I told her that he may just be swaying, instead!  If you could continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers, it would be very much appreciated. I’ll keep you posted when I can.

Thanks to all of you so very much!  

Sue

Request for Prayers

 

It has been some time since I last posted, but I’ve been occupied with  Mr. Sullivan and his injured knee, which turned out to be more complicated than it originally seemed. Last night he was admitted to the hospital with the diagnosis of diabetes and blood clots in his leg. This certainly came as a surprise, since the reason he initially went to the doctor was to find out why his knee had became sore and swollen after a workout a week and a half ago.   He was told by the family physician that he had tendonitis.  Over the next few days, his knee  and leg continued to swell, he couldn’t walk on his leg, and he was taking pain meds every three hours. After a trip to the ER on Saturday and an orthopedic visit yesterday, he was finally sent back to another ER for further testing because the ortho felt he could have some serious vascular or lymphatic issues. 

We spent a long nine hours in the ER  yesterday. Dealing with three different physicians who wanted to do different courses of treatment took its toll on Mr. S.  His blood pressure was  quite elevated, his blood sugar was extremely high, and he was in  a lot of pain from having his knee manipulated for the multiple tests that he had to have done.  He was finally given a regular bed at 9 P.M.  I came home shortly after that and tried to unwind. If I was  tired, I can only imagine the way he  felt. 

So I’m asking  for some prayers from you to help us  get through this diagnosis.  He’ll continue to be hospitalized while they get his blood sugar under control and then they will deal with the blood clots. He’s been given a blood thinner to help with that for now.

There is power in prayer, I think many of us know that, so I’d  really appreciate what you can do. Thanks so much. 

xo     Sue

Beauty On Monterey Bay

 

 

The clear, blue waters of Monterey Bay, CA most certainly attracted this flock of gulls down onto it. We were walking along this section of rocky coast and watching the water splash against the rocks when we spotted them diving down onto the water, most likely in search of their lunch. This is one of the prettiest spots we visited on our trip a couple of years ago. If I close my eyes and draw from my memory, I can almost hear those birds calling out to one another…..

 

 

 

                                                                                         click on picture to visit Dipity Road

I’m linked to Claudia’s  first ever, new meme, Friday Finding Beauty, which gives us the opportunity to share something that we feel is beautiful to us.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so we’ll probably see a variety of different photos for this new party at Dipity Road. Claudia is an accomplished photographer, and I’m sure you’ll find plenty of beauty on her site.

The Snow Has Begun…

 

 

 

 

 

What a perfect day for settling in with a hot cup of tea, the aroma of bean soup simmering in the slow cooker, three more Christmas trees to take down, and the multitude of bins and boxes that need to be filled with decorations.

Oh, and I un-buried the snow-blower!    *smile*

First Exercise of the Year or a Little Bit of Invigoration?

I woke up early this morning to an undisturbed, white covered world of an overnight snow. The air was still, the tree branches were covered with a light coating of snow and ice, and not even the squirrels in the backyard had awakened to forage for their buried treasure of  food. Even the street was still pristine- there were no tracks from cars carrying passengers on their way to work or from school buses coming to collect children who, no doubt, dreamed of it snowing enough to qualify for another day off.  As I looked out of the window to see the serenity of the new fallen snow, I pondered as to what the day would bring.

I am in the midst of taking down all of our holiday decorations and have a mountain of work ahead of me- I’ve been at it for two days and have barely made a dent. I wondered if I should put on my work-out clothes and head on down to the gym or if I should just traipse outside in my robe to get the paper and sit down to a warm cup of coffee and a piece of toast smothered in honey butter.  Guilt won out to some extent. I got dressed in my work-out tights and t-shirt, but put a sweater and a pair of jeans over them. I wiggled on my boots, donned a jacket, hat, and gloves, and made my way out into the garage.  I had decided to clear the driveway and sidewalk. 

But where was the snow blower? 

 

It was topped with a ladder and blocked in by other garage paraphernalia, so in order to use it, I would have to move one car out into the driveway just to relocate Christmas storage boxes into its place.  I would then have to  attempt starting the blower for the first time this season. This could possibly definitely wake everyone up with its loud, sputtering engine noise and I didn’t think that would have made me too popular with the neighbors at so early an hour, so without any further deliberation, I opted to preserve the quiet of the morning and use a good old fashioned  shovel that was handy and ready to go.

 

It didn’t take too long to clear the driveway. It hadn’t snowed more than a couple of inches, and when I really thought about it, using the snow blower might have been a bit of overkill! 

 

The early morning  air was crisp and invigorating, so I took my time shoveling.  By the time I  finished about 45 minutes later, I had greeted and waved to a few neighbors who, by this time, were  making their way to work and school.  I went inside, enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and a slice of homemade honey buttered toast, and I felt great.  As a certified fitness instructor, I  know that the time I spent shoveling really didn’t actually qualify as aerobic exercise, so I’m still going to have to make a trip to the gym sometime later today. At least it was an invigorating way to start the day, that’s for sure, and the fact that I got my heart pumping should count for something, wouldn’t you say?

As this is my first post of 2010, I’d like to wish all of you a year of good things to come and thank you for all the care and support you gave me in 2009.

Lots of Hugs,

 

I’m linking to Susan’s Outdoor Wednesday Party. Stop by to see what she’s hoping for!