3.30.11 Meningitis Update

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

There has been so much improvement. The power of prayer has been strongly evidenced. Thanks to everyone who has read this and to those of you who have responded.


My boss' son, he is in his 30's, has continued to improve in most ways and prayers are still needed. His vision in his only good eye is extremely poor now. He is also having some short term memory deficit. Sometimes he remembers things when he is reminded, though.


He will be discharged home with a central line. In most cases, people would be sent to rehab in that case, but he is uninsured. His wife will be taught how to care for that equipment. Here is the Wikipedia page on central lines.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_venous
_catheter

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Update to Prayer Request

Friday, March 25, 2011

Today we received a phone call at work from my boss. Their son is awake and he recognizes them. He is too weak to lift his arms, so they are bringing in physical therapy to work with him. His mom's words were, "I am ecstatic!"

May the healing continue.

Thanks for all your prayers!

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Urgent Prayer Request

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

My boss' son, Kesh, has bacterial meningitis and is in critical condition. He has been hospitalized since Monday. He had a splitting headache that day, and started having seizures. That was when he was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He now has a facial abscess, near his one good eye, and they are deciding if he is strong enough for surgery.

His life was spared once before after a serious auto accident. That time, his parents got the call to come to the hospital because he was not expected to survive. His family would appreciate another miracle right now.

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Lives Go On & End & Go On

Friday, February 18, 2011

My mom is in hospital again, having been admitted last Wednesday. She will not be returning to her apartment. Home will be a new place, rehab to begin with, then likely and adult foster home or convalescent center. It seems that she will be with us for a few more months. She certainly believes this; not having named an estimate aloud, simply saying this "won't be for long".

I have not been here much since she got so ill, soon after Labor Day. My weight has gone up and down a few pounds, certainly. But I have not outgrown my clothes. The only belt I have outgrown seems to have lost a section. I do still have two pair of pants, my smallest, that I will not try. A month ago, I could have worn them, but not now. Do you have similar clothes, your smallest clothes, for which five pounds extra means they do not fit? These two pair are such pants.

In fact, at the doctor's office today I weighed 174.5 or 174.6. I was fully dressed, but without jacket, and I had not taken my diuretic herbal formula for the day.

But this stress is eating me up. I went to immediate care for this upper respiratory infection, really only because I have asthma and my only back-up medicines are long expired. My blood pressure was quite high, and they sent me directly after their appointment to emergency. I have been dealing with easily elevated blood pressure since I was 12 years old, but it has never approached the level of hypertensive crisis I experienced today. Some medicine given me at the hospital made it safe enough to stop by my mom's hospital and surprise her with a hello.

Then I picked up new medicine - make that old medicine again - on the way home. I am still quite tired from the medicine they gave me at the hospital, so I will retire soon.

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Friday 1.14.2011

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Certain Things for Which I am Grateful - or - Some Things that Are Working


1. I have healthy snack bars in my truck again. Healthy serving sizes, healthy balance of nutrients - they are Cliff's kids bars. I love chocolate, but that honey graham flavor looked irresistible. They are delicious!

2. I have delicious sprouted grain bread. Just before Christmas, I splurged and got Dave's Killer Bread at the warehouse store. Now I am back to the sprouted grain variety.

3. I am living jalapeno-cheese-bagel free. I have bought bread snacks, rolls and ciabatta, a few times. But I am staying away from those other things. I think about all my Spark friends when I shop, especially when I visit the store that has those. Even when I buy some other too-white grain snack, there is value in avoiding that too-sure trigger food.

4. $85 of my last pay check went to savings. Actually, I got to that amount in two transfers. The first transfer I made right off. After I tweaked my budget, I electronically transferred some more greenbacks.

5. I paid a month ahead on my electric. Now I am two months ahead, compared to my average bill. I really like having a buffer if the temperature drops and I crank the heat up for a while. That gives me warm, cozy feeling in my belly.

6. My phone bill is a few dollars ahead. I can round up on my bill, no matter how I make the payment. So, I started paying the next dollar figure up from my usual bill. This month I paid five dollars over that. I am considering paying next month's phone bill before this month ends.

7. I am over half way through Ben Franklin's autobiography. I downloaded the free electronic reader application for my phone and his biography is among the free books that are available. I keep thinking, this is one of the men who founded this country. His efforts are why I am here today, enjoying incredible freedoms. My mind is sobered and my belly is warmed again by that thought.

8. I have Monday's holiday, to remember Martin Luther King, Jr, off from work. It is just two weeks into this year and I have another paid holiday. Life is sweeter for all of us because he lived, and because he counted his message more important than his own life.



What is Not Working

1. I am not sleeping enough. I have really felt it this week. I start to think I feel blue. Well, it is mid-January, so a little blue is understandable. But mostly, my energy simply crashed.

2. Right now, it is about 0030. I could easily have been asleep before 2200, if I were at home alone. I do not think I would have been able to stay awake for much of Coast to Coast, as appealing as that sounds. But I will not go there. I just wanted to go to bed early and do some reading before I fell asleep.

3. This year, two doctors have told me the amount and nature of the care-giving I am doing is not good for me. Related to this, one of them said I was on the verge of really being in trouble health-wise.

4. I finally got myself over to the department of aging to see if my mum would qualify for any care assistance while she continues to live in her senior independent living apartment. Basically, if she paid $1000 to $2000 in legal fees, she would qualify to have a caregiver at a lower cost than if she hires a caregiver privately. That much money might cover 500 to 1000 hours of care. So I do not think that is a go.


Thank You to All My Spark Friends!

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