Henry remains in hospital

I know I promised some of you that I would update the blog with information as to how Henry is fairing. He remains in hospital and we are hopeful that he will be well enough to be home by the weekend.

The challenge for him, now that they have treated the pneumonia, is keeping his oxygen saturation levels up. He has trouble getting around and requires oxygen at all times and also the use of a Nebulizer at prescribed intervals. He is getting physical therapy to keep his muscle strength up and to loosen the mucous in his lungs. Because the kind of pneumonia he had was "aspiration pneumonia" he remains at risk of it reoccurring. Any excess fluid in the airways or food that gets trapped in the throat can put him at risk.

Christena is anxious to get him home. We have made the calls necessary to arrange for nursing care to come into the home when he comes back. She is looking forward to the help and to learn whatever tips and techniques they can offer which may make the adjustment easier for all of us.
Jennifer came back to Ontario to see Henry and spend some time with him in the hospital. While he is improving from his most recent health scare we are seeing significant changes to his memory and she was hoping to see him and have him know who she is. He has changes dramatically since Christmas even. As I am sure you can imagine, it is difficult to wrap your head around the idea that someone you love so much may not remember you one day. This is truly a horrible disease.

We appreciate the prayers, vibes, words of encouragement, etc. that many of you have sent. Thank you for keeping Henry in the light.

It has been a long week already

Whether you pray, hope, wish, vibe, or send energy, this is a week that my in-laws could use something positive from the universe. As I indicated in my last post, Henry has been unwell. This illness has made his Alzheimer symptoms more pronounced and the disease has advanced such that the doctors are not hopeful that he will recover his previous cognizance.

We took him to the hospital on Monday afternoon. He was not able to get up and move around on his own and his breathing had become somewhat more laboured. On Sunday, the 14th I called Tele-health (a 24-hour warm-line staffed by registered nurses for health-related concerns here in Ontario). The nurse indicated that she felt it was the flu and since he had had the flu shot he would likely be feeling better in 72 hours. He was feeling much better within the prescribed time frame and we were hopeful that the worst was behind us.

Christena took Henry out with her to do some running around last Thursday so he could get a change of scenery and perhaps a new wind and he came home from that feeling unwell with fever and chills. The fever was always low-grade but his bodily functions (incl. getting up him self or feeding himself) became impossible to coordinate. By Sunday we knew it was not just the flu anymore and decided to take him to hospital on Monday.

The doctors have told us he has pneumonia and needs to be in hospital until the weekend likely. The added challenge is that he hates being in hospital and really doesn't like IV's (who does?) so he takes them out and indicates that he is getting ready to leave. I think the nurses are having a time with him. He keeps them on their toes at least.

In any case, that's our news at the moment. How are you and yours? Are you well? The winter is often a time for ailments and I hope you are managing to avoid any major illnesses.
Take care

I think we may be healthy . . . finally!!

Well, it's winter out there. Still. I think they have more snow and winter-like conditions in Oklahoma though. There are perhaps two inches, maybe three, of snow on our front lawn. They boys wish there was more but the driveway-shoveller in me is glad it is where it is.

The worst of the flu season seems to be past all of us. Doug managed to get some (suspected) food poisoning in there too. The boys were much more ill than I was and Henry was the worst off. Christena came upstairs last Sunday (the 14th) at 5 a.m. to have me go down and take Henry's temperature. He had come down with the flu. Understandably she was upset because he had had the flu shot and she misunderstood and thought that meant it would protect him from all types of influenza. She was extremely worried. He had a low-grade fever and was not able to articulate well. The worst part though is that this illness seems to have ramped up to symptoms of his Alzheimer's. This week he is able to do considerably less than even 10 days ago and it has been a real struggle for us all.

As you can imagine, with this progression we see more dedication required from Christena and we are worried about her burning out. She says she is fine but she also agreed to allow me to call and make arrangements for in-home care a few hours a week while she attends bible study and/or choir practice. She needs to do some things for herself to feed her own soul in order to have the strength to care for Henry.

The week ended well for Fergus. He began his snowboarding lessons and spent his first afternoon ever at the snowboard hill. He says he isn't sore so I guess he is in better shape than I am. I figure that if it were me out there one fall on the hill, let alone doing it while trying to manoeuver a board strapped to both of my feet would pretty much put me in the hospital. Ahhhh, the young! They have such a great "bounce" factor!

Quinn was still having some lingering aches and ailments so despite his desire for us to snowtube, I thought it would be better if we remained indoors and warm. (No, really, it was so he would get better . . . not at all because I didn't want to get cold.) We played some Monopoly and drank hot chocolate. Next week though . . . I am committed. (And the forecast is for something like temperatures in the -12 or -15 -- without windchill -- range. GREAT!)

The boys (Doug included) are all settled in to bed for the night. I should get back to the writing I am supposed to be doing. It's due by February 01st and I have to get some extra eyes on it before then. Have a great night. Sweet dreams.

Winter??? Is that you???

Well, I thought I should make sure to take a picture of the boys in the snow in case it is all the winter we get! (The new car is in the background.) Tell me again, in a convincing manner, how global warming is all a big farce being put together by crazy liberals just trying to win votes?! Al Gore must have some pretty good, and unbelievable connections to Mother Nature herself to be able to conjure up this kind of weather the same winter that his movie (An Inconvenient Truth) was released. He is a shoo-in for president now!! (Or maybe, just maybe, he was actually speaking the truth??)

We have had freezing rain on top of the inch of snow we received overnight. The rain has been falling all day and I can hardly wait to go out to this birth tonight. I'm glad Doug insisted on putting snow tires on the car. (Until this weather I had been thinking perhaps they were unnecessary.)

Looks as though Fergus will be attending his snowboarding lessons this week, finally. With some luck the snow-tubing hills will be open for Quinn and I as well. I am looking forward to having some time outdoors with them.

We are off out to Fergus' basketball lessons for the evening and then I will go off to the hospital. Have a great evening. Stay safe and warm wherever you are!

When a 4-door closes a 2-door opens

One of the fears Doug has had in the past, given the nature of the work that I do, is that our poor, old VW Jetta would die in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night as I am trying to get to a womyn in labour. As a result he has made an effort to keep it serviced and that we made sure to get all of the odd knocks, bumps, and thuds inspected right away. This dedication to the car (and to me) is what has kept it on the road and running beautifully for all of the 4 years we have had this vehicle.

It has truly been a family sedan. Not that we always travel as a family in it but rather that my mother was the first owner of the car and then she gave it to my sister. When Rhonda got mom's Passat we inherited Jetta and it has been with us ever since. The sad end of our family's connection to our beloved car has just taken place.

Doug's worst fear happened, sort of. It wasn't me that had the car when it died; he had it. As Doug was coming home from the office of his client in Thornhill the car began to work differently. The clutch was not engaging properly. He was able to pop it into place and got off the highway. Once off the highway the clutch died completely and he made his way to the side of the road before calling the tow truck.

An assessment of the situation and some serious discussion later and we came to the conclusion that if it was going to cost us an average of $3500.00 per year or more to keep the old car on the road -- and that's without the cost of regular serving or buying CAA (AAA to those of you in the US) -- to cover these break-downs on the side of the road. If only we could budget for that kind of spending. If only there was more value for money spent.

If we were spending that kind of money for an old car, what would that kind of money get us for a newer car? A VW Rabbit! We are supposed to pick up our new, 2-door, shadow blue, 5-speed, tinted window, 2007 VW Rabbit later today.

Great! Another bill to pay. Oh well, at least we can budget for this expense.

Our biggest worry now is what it will look like to see Doug or I get out of this car. It has tinted windows and looks pretty . . . well . . . YOUNG! I know we aren't ancient but we aren't 21 either. It will be funny to see the faces of the young people watching us drive around in our last ditch effort to relive our youth.

Week one is finished

Good evening!

There might be less snow here in Southern Ontario than any winter in recent history but that doesn’t seem to have affected the boys’ ability to get a cold. Both are congested and full of something that doesn’t sound good. Fergus, who hasn’t had a croup-like cough for a couple of years, woke during the night and required some time spent in the steam-filled bathroom. I have found cold to work better but given the fact that it wasn’t even freezing last night, I opted for steam instead.

I am back into the swing of things at the hospital having just finished my first full weekend of the New Year; seems odd that the holidays are so far behind us already. Fergus was back in his school program last week and starting tomorrow all of the other extra curricular activities of the week resume. Fergus is signed up to play basketball one evening a week while Quinn will go back to playing soccer on Thursday afternoons. Both boys are supposed to spend time at the local ski hill starting this coming Friday but we will need some snow before that can happen. Fergus has 8 snowboarding lessons arranged while Quinn and I have set ourselves up to do some snow tubing at the same time.

This week and all that it has in store for us will rely completely on whether or not my client has her baby (due Tuesday) and whether or not my boys are feeling any better. URGH! This is certainly the time of year for illness to hit.

Hope you and yours are well and without winter disease.

It is 2007!!

I mentioned in a previous post that we were taking a different approach to the holidays this year. We had decided to celebrate a different element every evening on the nights between Yule/Solstice and Christmas. We lit different candles in different colours on different days. The boys took turns lighting and extinguishing the candles each evening. Attached is an image of the boys (with their "rockin" new haircuts) helping me with this ritual. Our tree is in the background as is the computer I use to write these notes to you. (If you look closely you will see that I have a strange smudge near the corner of my computer. Quinn tried to see what would happen when candles and computers meet. Thankfully it was a brief encounter and that the computer still works.

Now below (hopefully, as I am still trying to figure out how to add images to this blog) is a picture of my handsome hubby in his kilt, after having been partying in the true Scottish fashion for a couple of hours already. This is the kilt he had made and subsequently wore to our wedding 12+ years ago. Isn't he cute??? He wore a turtleneck this time but was more traditionally dressed when we spoke our vows. He is next scheduled to wear this heavy wool skirt when his sister shares her commitment of love with an amazing man next April. I guess last night was Doug's dry-run (to see if he could still get it on). Kudos to him. I couldn't get my wedding dress on again if I tried. Why do I even have it still? Perhaps it needs to find a new home.

The boys had a late night, as expected, with Quinn crashing before we even left the party. Our resident party animal (at 8 years of age) was ready and raring to go even when we were home. Daddy and mommy needed rest though so he, reluctantly, went off to bed. When I went back in to check on him some 5 minutes later he was crashed. They are already talking about next year though. I just want to get through the rest of today. We had a GREAT time last night though and, like the boys, look forward to the theme for next year's event.

What did you do for the new year? Any resolutions? I resolve not to be such a pack-rat this year. I might even let myself give away the boys baby clothes. (I don't know for sure though.)