5/12/05 9:00am
Good Day to Everyone,

It has been about a month since my last update, so I thought I better get on the stick and get something out to all of you wonderful folks.

All is good here in TX. It is starting to get the temperature increase going. We have already had some days in the high 80's. This kind of concerns Liz. Dad LOVES to sit out in the garage, but then he starts to sweat, so Liz thinks it's time to go in the house, but Dad wants to stay in the garage. Dad usually wins. Anna's house has some neighbors who are very active outside. There are a bunch of kids that play within his sights and they are playing all types of ball (in the street of course), riding bikes, riding skate boards etc and Dad just finds them fascinating. The neighbors next to them (which is one house closer to Anna's) have a few small kids (under the age of 5 I would guess) and their mom does alot of yard work with the kids outside. One day the mom dug a pretty good size hole (to plant a tree) and dad watched every move she made and it kept him busy all day long.

Liz takes Mom out to the garage too, but she doesn't stay as long as Dad. She gets tired quicker, but she does get fresh air. Liz also takes them for walks (one at a time) down the street a few blocks. Just a block away is what we call the "rich neighborhood." The houses start at about $250K and go up to $800K. They are all built around man made lakes. The lakes have fountains, little boats, docks, and lots of ducks. There is a rather large shaded dock that Liz takes them to so they can sit and watch the ducks.

The ducks come up to them and want food (but they don't feed them), so they are pretty entertaining. Now I have never seen this duck but Anna calls it the Jewish Tuxedo Duck. It looks like he is wearing a tux and has a big black spot on his white head right were a yamaka (SP?) would sit on a Jewish man. Liz has seen the duck and is very excited when she sees him now. If Dad is doing well, she can take both of them to see the ducks.

They are both doing rather well in the health arena. I take them to see their family doctor about once a month or every 6 weeks. One time she tried to have us come every 3 months, but that doesn't seem to work. It is like she has to lay hands on them monthly and they do well. So far (knock on wood), the last time any of them has been in the hospital was in Nov with Mom. So YEA!!!

We are having a bit of a time with getting their coumadin level adjusted properly. Mom keeps getting these big bruises and then she will seep a little blood around her g-tube. So we call the MD, and they hold the coumadin then it gets low, so we ramp it back up, then it gets to high, so we lower it. We have been having issues with this for about two months, then we were at the MD's last week and she asked if Mom was on aspirin too. I said yea, 81 mg/day.

She got this "the light bulb turned on look" and she said that's our problem. So we are to hold the aspirin for 2 weeks, then start it back up. I think I am going to try on Mom to give it every other day instead of daily. If I remember correctly, aspirin effects the platelets and it goes for 3 days. So if I do every other day, there should be enough for the anti-clotting, but not too much to make her bruise and ooze a bit a blood.

Other than the coumadin level, they look pretty good. The MD does blood work about every 3-4 months just to keep up with all their levels, so they are due up in June. Dad seems to be improving slowly. He is getting stronger and the hormone shots may finally be wearing off. He is still having the sweating, but it seems to be getting less often.

We changed the Home Heath service and this service is doing just wonderful. There is an older man that is the PT guy and he and Dad really connect. I think that is really helping Dad do the PT. He sometimes overworks Mom and then we have to wait a bit , but he is getting the hang of her endurance level. She just can't do it a often/long as Dad can.

Anna and I are doing fine. I have had a really bad cold that has lasted for about 2 weeks, so I haven't been spending much time at the house. I don't want to infect them. I am finally starting to feel better. YEA! It fells like I have had this cold forever. When I am sick like that, I just rush in to do what I need to do, and rush back out. It takes me about an hour to do "THE PILLS" so I usually do them in the bedroom with Mom. She likes to watch me do that. I think that she is making sure that I do the right. So when I was sick, I would do them in the living room and not spend any time in the bedroom.

Anna was gone for 2 very long weeks in April. She had to go to Malaysia for work. She got back a few days before I got sick so she was able to pick up my slack and run the errands for me and make sure they were doing well.

I guess that is about all for now. I better get back to work.

Love and hugs to all of you, from all of us here in Texas.
Mary