Rana

It's been a long time since I've seen my oldest daughter, Rana. And it's been even longer since she has been home. After more than three years away, she came back to us Thursday afternoon. Of course, it's only for a few days. It's not very often I get to spend time with my distant daughters. Today while I was at work she drove around and saw Sue (Brent's) and her kids. Tonight we went to see Don and Nadine and had a good visit there. Tomorrow will be a lazy morning (I hope), then off to Amy's for Cade's 6th birthday party. (Hard to believe my youngest grandchild is six!). Then Sunday afternoon Amy, Rana and I are going to "High Tea" at the Brown Palace in downtown Denver. That will be lots of fun, albeit expensive. On Monday I believe she is planning to do some more running around while I am at work, then she leaves on Tuesday for her 17-hour drive home. She's taking my dear old Avalon back with her. Time will fly and it will soon all be over. Then it will another memory we'll talk about from time to time the rest of our lives. I do hope the Avalon likes living in Michigan. I'm going to miss my old car. And, yes, I'm going to miss Rana.

Me and Mom

I know I will always cherish this picture. She's looking good, isn't she? She just got a fresh permanent and haircut. My hair, as always, is less than beautiful (it never looks good in North Dakota). But together we make a pretty good two-some.

It was hard to say good-bye this time. After all, she's always talking about her demise - as if it is going to happen any day now. But my birthday is three months away. And she said she would call me on my birthday. I hope it happens.

She gave me a couple pictures to post on the internet so everyone can enjoy them. Be looking for them over the next several days.

While Mom was getting her permanent today, Viv, Syl and I went to Felix's for lunch, then to the Liquid Bean for lattes. How much I enjoy those times with my sisters! We talked and talked and talked some more. And what a pleasant surprise it was to have Karen (Jim's) come on Monday. We, too, had a great lunch together, then went to Sylvia's for "tea" while Mom played Bingo, then had dinner (I mean supper) with Jerilynn. It was good to see her again. And Jerilynn was such a good hostess! I stayed with her, ate her food, and generally took advantage of her hospitality. Thanks, Jeri! You make it so convenient for me.

Hopefully, by this time tomorrow I will be back home. What a wonderful place home is. Wish I could be there more often. Only one more trip in October, though. I'm thankful for that.

An Update on Viola

I think we made some progress today! I went with her to her doctor appointment and came away with the results I wanted. Dr. Moraleda confirmed what I suspected - Mom was in congestive heart failure. He said she had two choices: (1) be admitted to the hospital; or (2) manage it from the Nursing Home. She immediately stated she was NOT going back into the hospital. When he started talking about upping the dose of her "water pill", I spoke with him about putting in a foley catheter so she wouldn't have to worry about getting to the bathroom in time. He immediately agreed and wrote the order. He also ordered IM Lasix (shots) and potassium. I decided I like Dr. Moraleda. He listens, he pays close attention to what she has to say, treats her with dignity, and recognizes what makes sense for her at this stage in her life. After we got her settled back into her room, it was a joy to see the change in her. It was like a big burden was taken off her shoulders. She was in a good mood and even went down to play bingo - after we showed her how we could cover the catheter so no one would see it.

You would not believe how swollen her legs and feet are! It is very frustrating that she had to get to this point before anything was done. She has had a wound on her ankle for months - unable to heal because her ankles kept getting bigger and bigger. I am really hoping it heals up now, as her swelling goes down.

I asked about the pacemaker and how we will know when it has quit working. The doctor said he thinks it is still going because her pulse is still regular. When it goes out, the pulse will become irregular and she make have times of feeling faint or even passing out. And at one point, her heart will just stop. I expect that after the fluid is removed she is going to have a spurt of feeling really good again....until the pacemaker stops. She is at peace with her demise - talks about it very matter-of-factly and wants to be sure everything is taken care of.

I'm optimistic that she will have a good quality of life for a few more weeks or months. And right now she is ahead in Rummy. She won two games and I won only one.

By the way, she LOVES her email. She has kept every one of them in a manila envelope and really looks forward each day to getting "my email". So keep them coming! Even if it is just a short "I've been thinking of you" type of email, it is worth your time to cheer her day. I also showed her a lot of pictures from Facebook and she really enjoyed that.

I leave tomorrow (Tuesday). It's going to be hard this time, as I'm not sure I'll ever see her again......

Every time....

It seems like every time I drive to North Dakota, the weather is horrible. I should know better than to expect good driving weather in the winter - but early October? Isn't this supposed to be the time for harvesting and the time for hunting? Actually, it is Wyoming that is the most miserable. There was lots of blowing snow today, very high winds, and many miles of snow-covered highway. The good news - my new Prius handled it beautifully. I only noticed the wind after I realized my left arm was getting sore from always pulling the wheel to the left to stay on the road. And when I got out for gas -- wow! I thought the wind was going to blow me away! I didn't make any hotel reservations because I wasn't sure how far I would go. I'm glad, because I made it all the way to Bismarck instead of the intended Dickinson. The first hotel I checked was full, but I got a nice "handicapped" room at the Holiday Inn Express. The other good news - Mother is feeling much better today. She has been carrying so much fluid on her body that her lungs were crackling, her legs were huge again, and she had an audible wheez. After much wheelin' and dealin' we finally got her convinced that she MUST take the water pill. And they increased the dose so it is starting to do it's job. She was at the brink of being hospitalized - maybe that's what convinced her. I hope she gets all dried out again so she can have a decent quality of life until her time comes. I'll update more on her condition after I see her.

The Major Prophets

If you've been following my blog you know that I have been reading through the Bible in 2009. I am doing this as if it is a book I have never read before; trying to rid myself of all prior teaching and all biases and with no purpose except to read it through. Tonight I finally finished Jeremiah! Isaiah and Jeremiah have been the most difficult for me to get through. I don't blame the books themselves, but with a new job and lots going on in my life, it's been hard to concentrate on these lengthy books that are filled with prophetic judgements. I don't pretend to understand if the prophecies are things that happened in the past or things that are yet to be. But through it all, I came away with a very clear message: God longs for a people who love and obey him, there are consequences when we don't, and He always tries to bring us back to Himself. Over and over it is the same story - disobedience, judgement, repentance, restoration. You'd think we would learn......

Toilet Paper

I know it's a little thing - but I sure have a problem with toilet paper. I try to pick out the very best toilet paper I can find and I buy it in bulk at Sam's or Costco. I immediately take it out of the big package and store the smaller packages (with no labels) in the different bathrooms and the storage room. By the time I start using the new toilet paper, I have forgotten what brand it was. And sometimes, like now, I really wish I knew what I bought. You see, I get really frustrated when I can't start a new roll real nice and easy. And what I am now using is anything but a nice and easy start. I end up wasting a good portion of the roll trying to get it to un-roll correctly. Grrrr. You may be wondering why I don't just use the "wasted" part. Well, this usually happens after the fact. And I'm sure not going to start stashing it away to use the next time. And then there is the triple-ply. I really like the triple-ply. It starts easy and you don't need much. But this, too, has a drawback. Those who are not used to such plush stuff unroll the usual length - and end up with a huge handful; this leads to plugged toilets and rolls becoming quickly empty. Well, maybe all this isn't so bad after all. When I'm dealing with huge issues, the little issue of toilet paper adds some normalcy to my life.

Oscar - Father of 10

If he were still alive, my dad would have turned 103 today. And he would not have wanted to do that! It was very important to him that no one would ever have to take care of him. And he wanted no fuss about his departure. "Just throw me in the manure pile", he said. But this is the man who had one of the biggest funerals in the area. People came from Benson County, from Towner County and from Ramsey County. And that's not counting all the relatives. Dad was respected throughout the three-county area. He was known as a smart man, a good farmer, a wise man, a man who would listen and a man who would help. Our bachelor neighbor, Little Joe, would stop by rather frequently to speak with dad about one thing or another. He always managed to be there at mealtime. And dad always invited him in to eat. Now Little Joe was really filthy, lived in filth, was a rotten farmer and talked all the time. But dad always had time for him. He even cut his hair for him. That's the kind of guy he was. If someone in the area needed something welded, they came to our place. Dad did the job for them. For no pay. It's what neighbors did. Dad spoke no English until he started school. And he only completed the sixth grade. But he was a wizard at math, knew how to fix everything, could build anything, and was able to raise a large family on a small farm without us ever realizing how tight the money was. I won a trip to Bismarck to accept an award for an essay I wrote. Dad very graciously gave me $20 for the trip. I think he just about had a heart attack when he found out I spent it on a wig! (That wig has been part of many Halloween costumes!) Dad has been gone since 1975. But I still miss him. Maybe if he had lived longer I would have eventually discovered some flaws. But he left us when he was nearly perfect in my eyes. He was my idol and my hero. And he still is. Happy birthday, Dad. I don't know if I ever said this when you were here, but "I love you!"