An Update...

 On Friday the 8th , Ted seemed to be getting a cold...yes, on top of his pneumonia.  His eye was watering and his nose dripping. I used warm damp compresses on his eye and gave him tylenols, and used eye drops.  I asked if he needed to go to ER. He said no. (Always says no)  Saturday Angie picked up his meds at the CVS and she asked, " don't you think you need to go to ER? " Ted said no again. Pretty much the same thing on Sunday, only now he was not wanting to eat much.  So I tell him, you are going to ER or you are seeing the dr. tomorrow. So he says he will call the dr on Monday. 

   We call and they make a virtual appt for this morning.  But yesterday I saw some rash on Ted's forehead and some blisters, so I tell him I think he has shingles. I look some things up on line and then I know he has shingles. I tell him we need to call the bone marrow clinic. They returned our call and told Ted to get to ER. 

  I called my daughter Angie and she comes to take Ted to ER. Tells me to stay home I can't go as they will not let me in the hospital . I tell her, I have to put my coat on to help you get Ted in the car, he is a weak person right now. Sure enough, his legs about folded when he was getting in her car. 

   Later,  I call the hospital, they say Ted may go to Indianapolis , so an eye specialist can check his left eye as they think the shingles are in his eye.  I wait for calls. I call the hospital. They say Ted has been taken to Indy. I get no calls from either hospital. So this morning I call Ted. He is going thru tests and would call me back. No calls. You can't go to the hospital , you will not get any calls from the hospital staff, I am angry. Why? Just one staffer could give a short call.  So when they ask for a review, I plan on giving them one. I try to be kind and nice and understanding....but I am ready to snap. 

  All I know is Ted has shingles, I diagnosed that myself. One dr said he was low on sodium and was drinking too much water, after Ted told him he drank 3 -16 ounce bottles of water a day and a coffee. Now I say pneumonia needs lots of liquids, plus the steroids, he had for helping take care of pneumonia,  helped bring on the shingles. What do we do? 

 So today, Ted is in the Indy hospital, going thru tests and treatments. I do not know when he will be released. to come home , or how long he will be there. You would think for what it cost to go to the hospital a person would be entitled to a bit of information.  Sorry I just have to vent. 

  Please send up some prayers for Ted. Thank you so much. XO
 

Give Me Light....

 We have this dusk to dawn light  at the shop. It's been going on and off at the oddest times. I think t's sensor is going bad. This is one of the things that Ted has always taken care of, so now what.  It comes on at dusk, goes off and boy does it seem dark here then. It's off maybe 10 to 15 minutes than comes back on.  I will have to see if one of the son in laws can fix it for me. 

   You can't see the weather vane in this shot. It's a running horse pattern. When Ted and I got the vane we were at the Covered Bridge Festival in Park county.  Ted had a golfer pattern  picked out and ask me what I thought. I said, "No it just doesn't seem right. So he picks a fish. Then I had to say, "No, what one of these that I like..do you like?" LOL.  It was either a rooster or the horse. LOL.

 We have caught some bits of sun at sunset time. Not much more , but at least it isn't snowing.  I think we are to have some mostly sunny days this coming week. Hooray.

   Ted is not much better. We have an appointment in a week for him to see the lung doctors. I am thankful it's at the Hospital that diagnosed Ted's cancer two years ago. They have a pulmonary clinic there. Praying he gets some good reports. 

  Hope all of you are safe and well.  Wear your masks for your loved ones. XO
 

Looking Back .....

 It's been a long time since Ted has been able to make something in his woodworking shop.  This is a bread box he made  We still use it. 

He has made many trays. Each child and all my sisters have one. We used to make Christmas gifts for the families. 

He made these cutting boards. I am not sure anyone cuts on them. I have seen them used for holding candles and decor. 

Salt and pepper grinders in a little carrying  tray.  All the girls use these. 

Here are some of his decorative bowls and vases. A trinket dish. 

 He made these decorative birdhouses for me.  I keep them inside as decorations. 

We all love these paper towels holders. They sit upright and do not take up much room. 

Ted never liked to waste hardwoods. So he makes trivets with the scraps. 

Can not begin to tell you how many of these trinket dishes Ted has made and given away. 

One year he made everyone a Lazy Susan for their tables.  He got this idea when we visited Shipshewana, in northern Indiana. The Amish area. Salt and pepper go in the small rounds spots, sugar packets in the squares.  A candle in the center . 
   I pray one day in this new year, that Ted can get back to his shop to make anything. Even if it's is just fire starters. That is another thing he gives any family member with a fireplace. 

  Ted is having a tough time. No energy. Has to have the oxygen on.  I know that pneumonia is a hard thing to get over . He has a phone visit with his dr this coming week. I hope we can learn something about what to expect.  He is doing the breathing treatments faithfully.  Please pray for my Teddy. He is such a good person. 

  I am praying we all can have some peace and lots of good health this year. Take care of yourselves . Wishing you all well. XO

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Merry Christmas To All.....

 This is a little child like nativity scene.  I love this. I have had it a long time.  My daughter Liz gave it to me. 

  This is a sign I bought a few years back at the Horton's store in town.  I love this saying.   

  Ted is still on his oxygen. He seems a tiny bit better today.  I pray he will be off this oxygen soon. Say in a couple weeks.  His vitals have been in the right range. He still have a good appetite . Two of my daughters have dropped off groceries and gifts. It's still Christmas. 

  Wishing all of you well and much happiness. Begging you to be safe.  XO

Busy Day.....

 Woke up to this on Wednesday. Got busy sweeping the porch and shoveling the drive.  We had about 4 inches of snow. Thankfully nothing like the northeast has and is getting. I am praying for all of you. Have seen some scary news reports this morning.  

 Ted called from the hospital and they were ready to release him to come home. Gee, doesn't that stand to reason...snowy out, no plows had gone down our road, school was cancelled, so send Ted home.  Since school was cancelled I called my daughter and she said she would pick ted up and bring him home. I said he will need some clothes as he said his were not to be found. Angie gets in her son's closet and picks some clothes for Ted to wear home , so she doesn't have to make two trip out to the country. 

  Ted is released with a small oxygen tank , nebulizer, and breathing exercise things. I have never been around anyone on oxygen and had no idea how things work.  The drs. had ordered meds to put in the nebulizer, a steroid to start tomorrow, and another antibiotic for a week.  I called CVS to see if those orders were called in, yes they were ,but the nebulizer meds was not coded for medicare to pay for it.  The pharmacist, worked with me so that I paid for a week worth till possibly getting the drs to do their jobs of coding.  So called Angie again and she picked up the meds for us. 

  I got to thinking if they have not coded the meds right....is the company that was to bring Ted's oxygen equipment , really bringing that??? So I actually was on the phone for 4 hours to get that working right. Why do I have to do this when it is up to the professionals . I will tell you it makes me crazy. I call the third floor nurses station to see if they had it coded right....the nurse says if Ted runs out of oxygen bring him to ER....Really?? Sorry to be complaining but I just need to vent somewhat. 

  I did get in touch with the oxygen supply company and they found the order on the back side of the nebulizer order....which he said should not have been there. He told me to hang on and he found that the delivery driver was in the town north of here. So by 8:00 P.M. the young man had Ted all hooked up to the oxygen concentrator. He brought some tanks also, in case of power outage. He showed me how to use those. Hooray !!

 When all the craziness of the covid , Ted's pneumonia, and now winter is over....this is what I want to do, as soon as we have some peace. :)  Take care everyone . Be safe. XO

 
 

Life Can Be Crazy....

 I seem to always be writing about Ted's health.  That seems to be what our lives are about now.  Ted did his follow up with the Dr. on Thursday the 3rd. , after he spent Thanksgiving in the hospital , with pneumonia.  Went to get labs on Saturday., the 5th .Labs go to his heart dr and our primary dr. 

Ted just seemed to be getting worse each day. I asked if he would go to ER Monday evening. He says no let me rest, leave me alone.  He had no fever, blood pressures close to being too low a couple times. His breathing was ruff.  Tuesday, I asked him a couple more times to go to ER.  Tuesday evening, I decided to take his temperature...it was 97.7, which is about how he reads most times.  I actually dressed to take him to the hospital. I talked with him. I stayed up a while . I took his temperature about 40 minutes from the 97.7 reading and he was running a fever...it was 102.1 ...So I called 911, I did not think Ted could walk for me. 

 The EMT's put oxygen on him and took him to the hospital.  I could not believe this was happening. It was as if I were watching it, instead of being involved. I did remain calm..this is the first time I have ever called 911.  

  I had to call the hospital  3 times to finally get any news of what was happening. No one is allowed in the hospital that isn't on a gurney. The nurse said Ted has pneumonia and they did a covid test., and a CT scan. ..what the heck, is this the  groundhog's day movie?? For this is what happened at Thanksgiving.  One thing I did do was straighten Ted's medicine list for them. Every time Ted sees a dr, or goes to the hospital I had a new updated med list with him. I think they gave Ted the wrong meds when he was there at Thanksgiving....as the nurse was saying all his old meds while on the phone. I stopped her and begged her to write down what I was going to tell her. She did.  I am not sure any mix up of what Ted is on would make a huge difference...but hey why not do the right meds. 

  Ted has had a spit test(?) , urine test...do not know why.  But he got the results of the Covid test and it was negative. That's 3 tests he has had from Thanksgiving to now. Even though I can't  be in the hospital to visit him, I hope they keep him long enough to get on the path to getting over this pneumonia.  I am really tired. 

 Praying for all of you and us too. We really could use a break, how about all of you.? Please beautiful people stay safe ...let's hang in there and see if the vaccine is going to start us all on the right path to some stress free days of life. Our children deserve it.  XO
 

A Little Bit Of Christmas...

Or should I say a lot of Christmas???  This is a house in the tiny town north of us. I always love to see their decorations. They seem to collect lawn decor from the 50's to now. No blow up stuff.  I am thinking of giving them my Snowman. 

 They must have a storage barn some where, as they also have this kind of Halloween stuff too.  They sure light up their neighborhood. 

Then not far from there is this old car with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. It is trimmed out in lights and looks so cute. I wonder if the car runs, or if the owner pushes it into place. 

  I took Ted to the hospital to get his lab work. To have them send it to his heart dr.  Hopefully the dr will get right on that. He had changed up some of Ted's blood pressure meds.   Ted says he feels good....but he isn't doing much of anything but sleeping. I hope that helps him heal. 

 Hope all of you are getting ready for Christmas. It is so near. I do not know about sending cards, because I have not been to the stores.  I know I have a few and I can craft some...so it may come to that.  Take care , be safe.  XO