15 Ways I Am Very Much at Home After My Move

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There are a few prayer requests sprinkled in this list of 15, but I am glad I moved here. I almost feel like I am on vacation, as for 30 years I have gone back to visit Huntsville at least once a year. 

1. Apartment management

My apartment dishwasher overflowed. Dog Ziggy and I walked to up tell the apartment office. By the time we had walked home, the issue was solved. 

2. New friends

Yesterday I got invited after the worship service to go to lunch. I met a few new people, but knew many of the seniors at the table. 

3. Old friends

I am enjoying daily contact with Word With Friends on my iPhone. Most of us chat. Pray for Pharis and Kenny and their medical conditions. Pharis had a stroke. Kenny will be having a liver transplant at some point. 

4. Slow weight loss

My weight has been slowly coming off since 2012. For two years during the end of my husband's life, I didn't go to Weight Watchers, because I needed to have time with him and to work part-time. During that time I gained 10 pounds back. Now in total I have lost over 40 pounds. 

5. Toastmasters

I have rejoined Mason Dixon Toastmasters after a 30-year absence. My first husband and I were members of this club when we lived in Huntsville. Yes, I buried two husbands in Florida in the last 30 years.

6. Family

The whole reason I moved back to Huntsville was to live my family who have been there for me over these 30 years. I had the privilege of taking care of two of my niece's children for several days recently, while both of their parents were out of town. 

7. New doctor

My brother told his doctor who doesn't take new patients that I was moving into town. This doctor made an exception and I now have new Medicare insurance for Alabama and will see that doctor later in the month. My new plan here includes dental cleaning twice a year and vision. 

8. Closeness of places I drive to and the gas savings

I live closer to Weight Watchers, Toastmasters and the church I attend than I did in Florida. I also live close to these stores, although I can mainly window shop now and am SO OVER buying stuff except groceries: major mall, GNC, Bed Bath and Beyond, Ross, Dress Barn, movie theatre, Barnes and Noble, Marshals, Hobby Lobby, Kirkland's, Panera Bread, Michaels, Stein Mart, T J MAX, Firestone, Applebees, Talbots, Cracker Barrel, and Hancock Fabrics. I do not live close to Sam's and second hand stores, but maybe that is a good thing. 

9. Downsizing

I am pleased that I have storage for stuff and continue to find things to give away. I have borrowed a family shredder and need to work slowly on paper shredding. I have too many clothes and it is fun to decide what I am taking in to fit me better and what I am donating to the Salvation Army. 

10. Lawn being mowed back home

My late husband's Plant City daughter posted the above picture on Facebook. I am very concerned about all the rain in Florida. The sale of the house will soon be completed. I got chewed out by Plant City neighbors there several weeks ago about the height of my lawn. Pharis had a stroke and he couldn't mow it; pray for his medical condition. Pharis' landlord and Pharis did come out, however, and mowed the lawn recently. But yesterday there was 8 inches of rain in Plant City and although they wanted to come out to mow the lawn, they couldn't. Pray that the sale of the house (which is still in the process going through) in the midst of all that rain.  

11. Two churches

I do miss my Florida church where I am keeping membership. Going to mail a gift card there today for a baby shower there. My Florida church is connected with a seminary where I am getting my counseling dissertation on caregiving. I enjoy hearing my outstanding Florida pastor by podcast. 

I am however getting acquainted in the church I am attending here, including teaching Vacation Bible School which helped me meet people of more ages than just the seniors. 

12. Substitute teaching

School is scheduled to start tomorrow here--August 4th. They haven't gotten the form for my fingerprinting yet, so don't know when I will actually start substituting. 

13. New bank

I selected a new "personal banker" at Redstone Federal Credit Union and she has been very helpful. I am starting to bank on line again. There was some delay getting my Florida teacher's retirement, but that has been solved as of July 31. 

14. New vet

Ziggy and I like the new vet. He went for his yearly shots while I went to Weight Watchers on Saturday, August 1st. He was under the weather the rest of Saturday and on Sunday his vet called to check on him and explained that the shot for the rabies could have caused that. She said to give it another day and sure enough Ziggy is back to his old self, going on a long walk this morning. 

15. My faith

I am very grateful for my Christian faith and daily time in God's Word. Of course a Christian is not always politically correct in today's society, but my faith does sustain this widow. 

Downsizing to a U-Haul

Roberto at Lakeland's U-Haul

Roberto thought I was a spry senior citizen and not an old fogie because I used an iPhone and had a blog. Little did he know. The U-Haul office was not busy and so I showed him just how spry this senior citizen is--I rapped for him while I reserved a U-Haul.

Now Roberto promised that I would receive a confirmation earlier in the week--found out later it was supposed to be on Wednesday.

Lots on my plate--downsizing and moving to live by family. Months before I cling to Romans 12:12:

• Hope
• Patience and endurance with downsizing
• Constant prayer

Two weeks before I realize I have to focus on one day at a time (and not everything I had to do) and Matthew 6:34 from New Living Translation helps:

So don’t worry about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today’s trouble is enough for today.

The house is sold and not longer do I have to maintain it to show. The boxes multiply as I use many days to substitute teach and free time at home to pack.

June 1, my last day substituting, is very special at Tomlin Middle and of course I rap at the end of every class and tell the students who didn't know all about my YouTube legacy of raps. See HERE.

Tuesday through Friday at least four hours per day my friends Sally and Jake come over and help me pack.  Sally would call Jake over to help her seal each box and he would bring those heavy boxes to the proper place. Sally packs breakables with newspapers into my recycled boxes. Sectioned liquor boxes from Walmart and The Winery in Plant City are so helpful with those breakable items. Gradually clothes get packed into large tubs for "seasonal clothes". Summer clothes go in huge boxes to make wrinkles I will deal with at the other end of the move. My winter coats, two mirrors and other items are already in Huntsville at my brother's house.

Friday Panic.  Friday is the day before the volunteers are coming to pack the van. I call Kerry from my church and tell her of my panic and also health news on Kenny. She puts out an email prayer request for the church. She also mentions the virtues of a 24 foot U-Haul instead of a 20 foot one I am supposed to get. I asked "Surrey" on my iPhone to call U-Haul on Florida Avenue in Lakeland, thinking I would get Roberto. I have not received a confirmation call! Where in Plant City do I pick up the U-Haul?

Instead I get Greg at another U-Haul at another Florida Avenue U-Haul location. Greg who sees my reservation on line, is able to switch my reservation to a 24 foot U-Haul. It wouldn't be delivered to Plant City as Roberto had promised, but I could get it that very night for the same price instead of the Saturday morning 20 foot U-Haul. I call Kerry with the good news and she enlists her husband Dave to go with me to get the van at 6:30 pm. Their son, Sam, always my buddy, comes along for the ride. Dave skillfully puts the van by my garage.  I am so glad he figures out where to put that van. I wasn't sure if it should be by the front door or not.

Back to earlier on Friday.  After those important phone calls Friday morning, I go to Bank of America to see Lisa, "my personal banker" I wrote about HERE. I had arranged my 10 am appointment on line and we close my checking account. (Huntsville doesn't have a Bank of America.) Then I go to my dentist for a gum treatment to save me from false teeth. The hygienist reminds me about water picks and flossing--two items I had neglected during the last two hectic caregiving years. On my way home I stop at Staples to turn in printer and copier cartridges to recycle. I happen to see seven small plastic containers on sale for $7 and I purchase them to replace my wicker baskets in the bathroom. See HERE. Those containers are efficient for first aid, etc., and can easily go into a box ready for my new bathroom and take less space than my baskets take were I to pack them.

Sure enough, when I start to pack up the bathroom, I find that water pick and plan to use it in Huntsville. Friday afternoon Sally picks up Jake at the senior center. Then Sally helps me sort through my fabric,  while Jake helps box things up again. I can donate maybe 40% of the fabric for the quilting group at Sally's church where I also went to Grief & Share.  See HERE.

Saturday morning. Kenny gets out of the hospital Friday night and Saturday morning he stops by to see his friends from church. He is too weak to help. He has lost blood and will undergo tests to discover why next week. See HERE. Newly installed Deacons JP and Kevin pray very special prayers for him. Pray for Kenny, folks. 

From 10:30 to 3:00 pm four strong men (Jason, Dave, JP, Kevin), resourceful Amanda, and six energetic youth packed the van. They start with the upright freezer, take a utility room door off, and move it with  a rented U-Haul appliance dolly; this freezer will fit in my eat-in-kitchen in my Huntsville apartment. Next comes my antique couch, reupholstered in the late '70s with the leg that keeps coming off when you move it. In the van they put pillows between four machines on the seats of that couch: small TV, microwave, printer, and copier. Boxes of books are interspersed among numbered furniture items. Those numbers will help placement of furniture at the other end. China and other items marked FRAGILE were put on top of boxes and furniture. All boxes have the name of the room where they should land in the new apartment.

Dog Ziggy. Yes, that is dog Ziggy on my lap in the picture above. You wonder what the canine has been thinking, but he has been staying by my side. Saturday night and Sunday night we get to sleep together in that single bed I got to sleep by the hospital bed. Pharis will get that bed and other items left behind.

Tomorrow morning (Monday) I will pick up my Huntsville brother in Orlando and bring him to that van. We will take Monday and Tuesday to drive to Huntsville with Ziggy and I following in my car. Ziggy has already seen his bed and cage in the back seat of the car. The third seat area and trunk area has miscellaneous items.

Follow trip to Huntsville on my 

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by clicking on the above link at the right. 

Moving, Part Four

I took this picture in June of 3013 so I could write about Shingles. I knew I wanted to write about Shingles, but I didn't know I would do it from personal experience.  Oh I did have a prescription to get my shingles vaccine, but didn't want to spend the money and my husband was going downhill and that was my priority. So this is the first thing that has come back to haunt me. You see I have had Shingles recently with its physical pain and with the realization this might have been avoided. 

The next thing that has come back to haunt me is plumbing. I have well water and  have not maintained the water softener and consequently have rust in the water.  I should have been on top of this in the past. Actually the plumber was called almost a year ago about the rust problem and he didn't show. See HERE.  I didn't keep on the problem, perhaps because I was attending to my husband. 

When the sink clogged up and the wash machine over flowed, I did get a new plumber. He solved that and was to bring someone else in to give an estimate for helping with the rust. Before that could happen, however, Sally gave me another plumber who has put in a new water softener and saving me maybe $700.

How can I substitute  teach all January and have plumbers come to the house? My retired brother from Huntsville recognized the problem and came to Plant City. Together we strategized on what would be needed for the house to sell. 

We went through all my books and had three stacks:

1. Books I need to keep.
2. Books for my Huntsville nephew to sell on Amazon.
3. Books for a yard sale or eventually to donate. 

My brother was honest about what should not be moved. My realtor also is honest about the house. Less furniture will mean an easier move and will allow us to have the rug cleaned. The rooms will look larger. Pharis and my brother both cleaned out the workshop and the garage. When I went through the series on this blog, The House That Cleans Itself, the workshop and the garage were the last two areas that I didn't get to because of my caregiving duties.



The garage is now the designated spot for garage sales. One was held last Saturday and later in February more yard sales will happen.

Saturday, January 24,  we (my brother and I) had another yard sale for my stuff and only signs at the end of the street publicized the event. Even so I made $335.50. Large items included that corner cabinet I featured December 25 on this blog HERE. That corner cabinet would be problematic to move. A large chest was also sold. More yard sales will follow at the end of February. and someone is coming tonight to look at the piano tonight.

The workshop is now the designated place for boxes to be moved and boxes to be packed and put in the workshop. Where have I gotten these boxes? From the cafeteria at the high school where I have been substituting.

The house will be sold "as is" and has yet to be put on the market. The carpet will be cleaned on February 6th rather than taken up.

So much has been done and I have my marching orders. I have this table of stuff to go through before the carpet cleaner comes on February 6th.

Where the pool table used to be

I am so grateful for my brother from Huntsville, Alabama, who was able to come for a week when I just had thrown my hands up in despair at getting ready to move. Logically this retired rocket scientist took me through rooms and we made decisions. He met with the plumbers, and the carpet cleaners. I am so grateful for Pharis who has been fixing things around here so the house will be ready to sell and who is even coming today while my brother is driving back to Huntsville, Alabama.

Senior Health: Take Time for Checkups

While you are a caregiver, you hardly have time for yourself. It is important to get those checkups, however. Now that my husband has passed away, I had some time for three appointments recently .

Dental appointment.  After my husband died, I had time for the tooth I lost. I received a new crown on one of my teeth on Monday. Hadn't been to the dentist since 2012. That crown is expensive, but I needed one and charged it. I like it. Feels good. Now I need to schedule a cleaning and maybe gum treatment --not sure what they will advise.

Doctor appointment. My doctor was pleased on Monday, but I didn't get my way about discontinuing the antidepressant. I am to keep taking Paxil for one month, and then alternate days for October, and then take Paxil every third day in November. I had read that you should not get off of Paxil suddenly. She noted that I have had two counseling appointments (one with Hospice and one with the Alzheimer's Association) and was pleased that I am going to a grief group at a local church. My HDL, or good cholesterol, was lower than she wanted whereas last time it was normal. I can help my HDL cholesterol through exercise. She was pleased that I had gone back to Weight Watchers and started losing again. Fortunately I had not gained back all of the weight I lost in 2012, but really I had other priorities including eating ice cream with my husband--one of the last things he would eat in bed. Now I do not want ice cream--would be a grief issue for me to have some.

Eyes.  I hadn't been to the eye doctor in quite a while. I went today and found out nothing shattering. My cataract is a little worse and my vision a little worse. I can get new reading glasses and use the other frames and it is covered under my insurance.

In the spring I did have a mammogram and had someone stay with my husband. At some point I need to see my audiologist (hearing) doctor again to have my hearing aids adjusted. However, because of my husband's condition I missed an appointment with the endocrinologist who had been checking my thyroid a year ago and I need to reschedule that. Oh! I need to get a shot so I don't get Shingles!

The family caregiver can pass away 

before their care receiver.  

I have heard as many as 60% do. 

Don't put off those checkups.

The Hallucinations of an Alzheimer's Patient

DH: I am living among idiots.

Me: Am I an idiot?

DH: No.

Me: Who are the idiots?

DH: Oh, they pop up. 

Me: Sweetheart, you have two disabilities now. You have Alzheimer's and you have trouble walking. 

The walking is getting better, but the hallucinations--those idiots--are popping up. 

I am trying to not be one of those idiots. I am trying to act calm like The 36-Hour Caregiver suggests.


DH: You are acting screwy.

Me: What am I doing? 


Hubby has no specifics on those idiots and what I am doing. 

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind 

don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.  Dr. Seuss

BUT HE DOES MATTER, Dr. Seuss! Meanwhile, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be myself at home. I am so fortunate that I can get away. 

So, are the above hallucinations, delusions or delirium?

According to The 36-Hour Day, hallucinations are hearing, seeing, feeling and smelling things that aren’t there. Drugs can cause hallucinations and so can dementia. I wonder if the new pain pill causes it. The caregiver just has to act calmly about a hallucination. 

“Delusions are untrue ideas unshakably held by one person.” (p. 161 of The 36-Hour Day) The delusion that my husband and Jake have is that they flew in an airplane together and went on a canoe ride together. These delusions make them happy I guess--male bonding. Sally and I do not argue with our husbands about their delusions. 

Delirium, on the other hand, is dangerous and needs immediate medical treatment I read in that book. 

One important distinguishing feature between dementia and delirium is that delirium usually begins suddenly while dementia develops gradually over months or years. Other symptoms of delirium may include misinterpretation of reality, false ideas, or hallucinations; incoherent speech; sleepiness in the daytime or wakefulness at night; and increased or decreased physical (motor) activity. Symptoms of delirium tend to vary through the day. (p. 289 of The 36-Hour Day)

Bob DeMarco reported HERE what Dr. Malaz Boustani said: 

Having delirium prolongs the length of a hospital stay, increases the risk of post-hospitalization transfer to a nursing home, doubles the risk of death, and may lead to permanent brain damage. 

Delirium can accompany a UTI infection, so it is so important to get treatment for the UTI immediately as we have done.  I bought extra UTI strips from Walgreens so I can check. 

Meanwhile, just stay calm about the hallucinations and delusions, unless it is delirium! 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Added Nov. 11. I found from THIS NEWSLETTER written by Marie Boltz that these are common causes of delirium:

- Reaction to Medication(s)- Fecal impaction- Urinary retention-Infection (urine, lungs, skin)-Hypoxia (not enough oxygen getting to tissues as in congestive heart failure)- Dehydration-Low blood sugar/high blood sugar-Pain-Immobility or hearing and vision loss.

Joe and Brandon enjoyed my raps

My husband has gotten constipated recently (“fecal impaction”) above and so I went to GNC and got their Ulta 50 Probiotic Complex for my husband so he won’t get the dreaded delirium. Brandon and Joe enjoyed my raps as it was a slow day for them today, Veterans’ Day. 

Hey, guys, check out my raps on YouTube and click on the label "Carol's raps" at the right of this blog. 

The Aided Visit to the Doctor

It is officially fall now and I am taking a day off of work (my long-term substitute job with Educable Mentally Handicapped students) so that we can go to my husband's doctor. His poor walking recently has been probably due to arthritis.  So far Extra Strength Tylenol every six hours has worked fairly well until the rains came in the last several days. Kenny has arthritis and confirmed that his arthritis all over his body got worse with the rains.

Yesterday hubby only used the wheel chair to get around. We tried to use the walker to go to dinner last night, but he said that his knee was too painful.

This morning as usual I was asked many questions and as if hubby didn't comprehend/remember, the questions were repeated. I am used to this, but it seems to be increasing.

"Why are I going to the doctor?"

"So we can see about medicine for the pain in your leg."

"Pain in my leg?" hubby asks as he sits at the side of our bed getting ready. It's as if he doesn't comprehend the handicap he has had recently. I let him finish getting ready and leave the bedroom. Dog Ziggy greets Kenny who is here for the guys' morning routine.

Cheerfully hubby walks out to the den with his walker to assume his spot and greets Kenny for his usual weekday morning pill routine with Kenny. He jokes with Kenny, but respects and admires him as I do. Kenny is such a gift to me so I do not have to nag hubby to take pills, shave and shower. So I can still work, Kenny is there for us.

"I have more pills than you do," pronounces Kenny and successfully Kenny gets my husband to take his medicine.

An over-the-counter change in medicine in addition to Extra Strength Tylenol was recommended by a CVS pharmacist: Whole Body Joint Support by Finest Nutrition. The joint support tablets contain Rosemary, Turmeric (already taking that), Ginger, Holy Basil, Green Tea (gets that with Lipton), Hu Zhang, Chinese Goldthread, Barberry, Oregano, Chinese skullcap, Pine Bark Extract and Boswellia Serrata. It is the biggest pill my husband takes twice a day and a subject on conversation for the men.

Kenny gave hubby his biweekly shave before the three of us went off to the doctor this morning. Kenny physically lifted the wheel chair into our SUV in case we would need it. It turned out we only needed the walker.

I had put an Exelon Patch on my husband before he got dressed. One of the questions for the doctor is can we up UP the dosage of Exelon from 4.6 MG to 9.5 MG.  I have been trying that higher dosage, a gift from someone in the Alzheimer's Association Support Group because his wife no longer benefits from 9.5 MG Exelon. Today the doctor agreed to the higher dosage and said the joint support might not hurt. He asked about the coconut oil.

"Yes," I said. "He has taken that coconut oil for four years."

I have been reading up on arthritis and used to pride myself that my husband and I did not have this horrible condition--but now ARTHRITIS is here; it came in as innocently as my cold or allergies have come today.

At the doctor's office the pain meds are changed. Hubby will get 9.5 MG as an official prescription and the pain medicine is being changed to Tramadol HCL 50 MG three times a day which he will take at 4 AM, noon and 8 PM. He also got his flu shot and the doctor signed for a handicapped permit for our car.

The three of us then went to lunch at Olde Towne Pizzeria and Pasta Co. We each had a small salad and an individual pizza. The men both ordered a Caesar salad and a BBQ chicken pizza. I had a strawberry salad and a spinach pizza.  Then the three of us headed off for errands in Lakeland, but not before getting gas at Shells under $3.00 with my Winn Dixie card.

In the car while I drive the two men are so funny together. I am often in my own world, worried about the next stage of Alzheimer's, the next lesson plans, and what I have to do at home, but this was a very pleasant  day and I let myself enjoy their humor.

Questions remain on how mobile my husband will be with this new Tramadol medicine. If it helps him walk more, that will help his arthritis be not so painful and exercise walking will help the dementia. Stay tuned.

Back to lesson plans for tomorrow so I can go to bed early. Giving hubby that Tramadol now also.

Handicapped Husband Adjustments

Hubby and Walker

Saturday afternoon I had a date with my handicapped husband. Alzheimer's is not new to us, but physical handicaps are. It is hard for him to walk even though Extra Strength Tylenol helps the arthritis. I let hubby off at the movie theater with the walker and then I went to park the car.

When I got to the theater, he was inside sitting down waiting for me to buy the tickets to "The Butler". We both enjoyed that movie, but hubby insisted that he had seen it before--strange to me, but I didn't comment. Memory and dementia are strange bedfellows and produce different realities.

At the end of the movie he needed to use the theater bathroom--to pee. I panicked. I could not go in the men's restroom with him. At home he was using the urinal container we took home from the hospital.  I remember hearing a waitress say how a husband was allowed to go to the lady's room with his care receiver wife when the staff blocked off that ladies room at that restaurant. I didn't want to cause a scene. Our issue was not remembering what to do at this stage of the disease, but physically being able to use the facility with an arthritic knee. Somehow it worked out and hubby came out with his walker as if nothing was the matter. Then we walked across the street and hubby sat down on the bench pictured above while I did an errand.

My errand. I have been substituting for many days in a special education class and had promised students they each would have their own books to mark up and read. Although these students are in middle school, the reading level is much lower and I had to get what would interest each and I was able to satisfy most of them with their own book from Mrs. Johnson. Still there were three more books that I had to secure.  I went to Books-a-Million while hubby waited.  Bingo!  Within a few minutes I had a Goosebumps book, Dog Finds Lost Dolphins! and More True Stories of Amazing Animal Heroes, and Extreme Biology: From Superbugs to Clones. . . Get to the Edge of Science for those reluctant readers I am teaching this month--books to motivate them to read that they also can write in. Not only that, but I got a valuable phone number (1-800-353-7034) for those magazines that I wrote about earlier and hadn't been able to get rid of even after writing to the publisher. So far our outing as a couple was working.

Back at the bench, hubby and I went inside nearby Grillsmith Restaurant. These days I am holding the door open for hubby. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner inside the restaurant (me salmon and hubby beef) while he spotted a dog at the outside seating where leashed pets are allowed. We met that dog when we went outside after our meal.

Hubby again waited at the bench while I went to get the car. It is a little hard for him to climb up to our Expedition, but so far it is working. Then I stored the walker in the backseat of our car. (So glad I do not have to lift the wheel chair because it is very heavy.) Meanwhile volunteer caregiver Kenny is going to pick up an application for a handicapped tag for us that I can bring to my husband's doctor (the doctor that almost put him in a nursing home). We are both much happier with hubby at home instead of in a nursing home.

There are practical issues for a home bathroom when someone is handicapped. It was just hard for my husband to get the the bathroom in time when he needed to. We have had some near misses and misses in the bathroom with the result that someone had to clean up the floor and wash the rug.  I thought of a solution. It is so much easier to wash a rug that would cover the area, than to have to reach to both sides at the back of the toilet to clean up where that rug wasn't down. I cut up one rug to add to the commode rug with my Viking (quilting) sewing machine. I used hem facing to sew both sides to connect it.

Custom Toilet Rug

It is hard for hubby to sit down and get up from regular toilets even with the walker.  I purchased a Moen Home Care Locking Elevated Toilet Seat With Support Handles that I happened to spot at Lowes when I went looking for shower grab bars. This elevated seat can be removed when we have company.

Pictured at Lowes

With Total Coverage Rug 

It is crowded between two walls, but it works with the custom rug I sewed.

I also purchased the Moen Home Care grab bars for our shower to be installed by Plant City First Baptists "Second Saturday" volunteers that I found out about at our monthly Alzheimer's Association meeting.


Kenny has been so helpful. He knows just what to say for hubby's showers to help him get in the shower and even shaves him now since he can't stand. It was Kenny's brother-in-law who came over to install that Moen Home Care seat.

Let me bring you your walker, I say.

I don't need it, he says.

Let's bring it just in case is my reply. Most every time we need it because of that awful arthritis.

There's a lot of adjustment with dementia. Add another handicap that the care receiver forgets he has and more adjustments need to happen. I love my hubby, who would make all these adjustments for me if the situation were reversed.

A Week in the Wheel Chair

Sunday, September 1

Wheel chair to master bath routine
accompanied by Ziggy

A week ago hubby has a relapse of not being able to walk. We make some progress by Sunday morning. Hubby can use the walker instead of the wheel chair to come to his "Archie Bunker" spot. No longer does he have to be lifted as he can get up, and take a few steps to get in the wheel chair or use the walker. Basically this has been a week in the wheel chair, however, with sweat pants, the urinal and bathroom adventures for Kenny and myself. I wheel him to the door of the master bathroom and he can get out of the wheel chair and on and off the toilet seat. Dog Ziggy often joins for the ride.


Sally and Jake come over before their church with breakfast biscuits from Burger King. Hubby hardly eats any of this and Jake eats half of his.

That morning we sing "Happy Anniversary" to Sally and Jake. Jake couldn't believe it was his 40th anniversary. I had planned a surprise anniversary party for them, but that party totally fell apart. What a bummer! I told Sally about it and she was pleased at all the effort I had gone to. She is always doing things like this for others and it was her turn to be fussed over for her 40 years with Jake.

"I guess 40 good years is not bad," Sally says to me. We both know that the next years will be very hard. We are going into a new normal. Our anniversary in April hadn't been spectacular as I wrote on this blog. When they have Alzheimer's, every day seems the same to these guys--anniversary or not.

Jake and hubby decide that we four need to go to Stone Mountain again. We all have been there, but not the four of us together. Sally and I say under our breath, In your dreams, guys. Sally and Jake go on to their church.

Our church meets in the afternoon and hubby thinks he will go, but that also turned out to be in his dreams. He is back to forgetting he has knee problems and forgetting he uses the wheel chair or the walker.

I text Kenny that I am going to church without hubby so that maybe he can check on him. The afternoon sermon by our Associate Pastor is awesome. The essence of his sermon is that we will not enter into God's rest before we pass through certain troubles, and we better not complain like the Israelites did! This is our sanctification after faith in Christ by grace alone justifies us believers. This follows my Sunday Daily Audio Bible from Job 42:2, 6, 12.

Then Job answered the LORD and said: "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Your can be withheld from You. . . . Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." The complaining stopped and then we read Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. 

This is my life, folks, and I am blessed each day and cannot complain like Job first did and the Israelites did.

On the way home from church Kenny calls my cell from the hospital where he has been admitted. He has another septic infection. Kenny has planned a sub for himself--his lovely mother Margaret. I tell hubby when I get home that Kenny is back in the hospital and he is motivated to walk better so we can visit Kenny. Oh I can walk, hubby says. He forgets that he hasn't been walking since last Tuesday and has needed the walker or the wheel chair. Even so, every day he does get better.

Sunday night I put a 7.54 pound pork shoulder blade roast (cost $15 at Winn Dixie) in the the crock pot to cook overnight. 

BBQ Pulled Pork and Soup

Monday, Labor Day

Ask me what my Labor Day was like. The short answer is: We had BBQ and I invited guests. In your dreams. 

Labor Day morning before hubby gets up I pull the pork to make the Southern "pulled pork". The fat is so easy to separate.  I pour an 18 oz. jar of Bull's-Eye BBQ Sauce over the shredded pork and stir. With all the fat I could get out of the liquid in the crock pot I started a soup with two diced tomato cans, older vegetables from the refrigerator including that half onion that had been my downfall when I cut my finger. The soup and the BBQ pork all turned out well. 

Note to self: From now on no movies and eating out. Cook what hubby eats at home. Perhaps this is the new normal. Will he be able to walk and go out? 

That morning hubby tries no knee brace, but is wheeled out to his spot in the den with dog Ziggy in his lap riding along through the long hall. On Labor Day Kenny's mother and our goat farmer neighbor Mary are invited for lunch but both cancel. I made Southern Banana Pudding to accompany the pulled pork I made in the crock pot and planned to cook more vegetables had they come.

There are several attempts by my husband to walk. Oh I can walk he pronounces. In your dreams, I think.

I have to go to Staples in Brandon to pick up a set-aside-for-me toner for my home copy machine that will come in handy for my 4 AM lesson plans for the day. Hubby decides he will go with me. Then he realizes again that he can't walk well and it would even be difficult to get into our SUV. However I do manage to get the Staples Labor Day sale on the toner. As usual I call home along the way to check on hubby.

At dinner time on Labor Day hubby wanted to go out to dinner. In his dreams, I thought, but said "sure" if he could get up and shave. He couldn't, so he settled for dinner at home.

Today-- Tuesday, September 3

I take a day off from my long-term sub job for errands. School can keep and there is a sub for the sub. My errands:

1. Back to the endocrinologist for the official word that my thyroid does not have cancer, but will just need monitoring every four months to see if it grows. Furthermore my carotid artery is clear. I loved the informal comment from this doctor:

Endocrinologist in Brandon

You don't need to take expensive pills forever just because some doctor was taken to lunch by a rep! 

This is so true! I had thought that about the pill Aggrenox which I had been taking twice a day for TIAs for ten years but finally challenged because they are so expensive and I really do not believe I have or have ever had mini-strokes. I just need to remember to keep hydrated with water and not coffee. Today's great blood pressure (121/67) and the clear carotid artery confirm my belief. The doctor pointed out that I would need a neurologist to officially confirm no Aggrenox. (I do not want another doctor appointment, folks.)

2. I meet Pharis at Home Depot to purchase supplies he needs for our roof repair. I also purchase a battery and a belt for the riding lawn mower we gave him in exchange for helping us. I get the 12 months interest-free Home Depot rate through September 4th for all the purchases. (Why I need to do this today.)

3. I go to have my finger prints taken again because I flunked the test after I cut my finger. I get there and find out I was supposed to have an appointment since I had checked to see with my employers (I teach occasional classes for DUI offenders) if I needed one. The finger print place gives me the phone number and I book that appointment for Saturday. Saturday for finger prints will work in my busy schedule.

Pray that Kenny gets out of the hospital soon. As I mentioned responsible Kenny had arranged for his delightful mother Margaret to be there for my husband. She comes over today and cheerfully encourages hubby's morning pills (I hadn't been able to get them down hubby this morning). When I get home from my errands, hubby has been eating the lunch she prepared. It is wonderful to have such neighbors.

Shortly after Margaret left, I take over again, wheeling hubby to the bathroom with dog Ziggy on his lap. Back to lesson plans for the special education substitute assignment. You can bet that hubby will want to go out tonight in his dreams. I am making dinner for us.