What Did You Do Today?

[gja1000]

The doctor came in right before they took him down - she always cheers him up. So he's gone and now I'm freezing in the waiting room. it shouldn't take too long.

[Janet]

Glad I was able to help keep you company with Draw Something. Praying everything goes great for Gary.

Woke up this morning with more storms. Lots of thunder and lightning and heavey rain. I wanted so badly to stay in bed...I love being in bed during morning storms, but duty called and I had to go out in it to pick up my lovely children...lol. ONLY 13 SCHOOLS DAYS LEFT!!!!!! I am counting down the days.

After the route I had to do my normal Monday morning routine and head to town. Did my banking, paid insurance and then went to Wal Mart. Got a few groceries and came home...still raining. It finally quit right before noon and then it got hot and muggy...yuk.

[Blueyes]

Gayle, I'm anxious to hear about Gary. What tests are they doing today? Heart cath? It's so unfair that only the patients get the good drugs, lol!

[gja1000]

Gary is finished with his first heart test. The findings werent too bad, they could have been a lot worse. His heart is not relaxing between beats like it should. This is probably from having to take him off some of his heart meds during the winter due to his asthma. Heart meds are really bad about making asthma worse.

So they are going to try him on some new heart meds to see if they help. They may try to start him back on a lower dose of one of the meds they stopped in the winter, but they will wait to see how the new med does. It won't bother the asthma, but they aren't surebit will help his heart.

They are going to do a chemical stress test tomorrow, no treadmill, but they give him a drug to simulate exercise. I have to go to school for a couple of hours tomorrow, and his doctor told him she would take care of him. Awwww, wasn't that sweet.

[DianaB]

Gayle, I'm waiting to hear how Gary's doing. I hope everything's going alright.

Glen's taken Daya and Elijah fishing the last couple of days......setting lines in the river. They caught a few Sunday morning so we had some friends over last night and fried fish.....Yummm.......!!!

It's been rainy here too so today I haven't felt like doing anything. I finally got the dishes done from last night!!

Saturday was Jaci's 20th birthday!! It's so hard to believe that she's 20 already!! She has always had the sweetest personality and has been such a joy to have. I hear so many compliments from customers from where she works!!

Dean got a little bicycle with training wheels over the weekend! He's so cute riding it around.......but starts screaming as soon as he's stuck. I've been making him get off and figure out for himself how to get it unstuck!! He's got a little temper in him!! I'll be glad when the bike goes outside FOR GOOD!!!

[gja1000]

Diana, you and I must have posted at the same time, see the post above yours. Garybis doing OK, getting cranky, ready to get out of bed, he has 5 more minutes of bed rest. They won't let him up a minute early!

[gja1000]

He just got up, he's so happy!

[DianaB]

I'm glad to hear that he's up and around. I was worried that you hadn't posted. I'm sure that his medicine is a tricky thing to get just right but it sounds like he has a great doctor!!! Too bad there aren't more like her!!

[judy]

Gary's doctor sounds wonderful, Gayle! Now to find the right meds....which they will! My prayers are with you both. My mom had an amazing doctor like that. I can understand how reassuring that can be.

Today is Annie's 4th birthday! She will always be my little baby though. Right now she is sitting on my lap so that Sophie leaves her alone. It is her birthday, after all! Later, she will have a special dinner. I did sing "Happy Birthday" to her, but I doubt that she had any clue what that was about.

Poor little Sophie curled up and is taking a nap. Nobody wants to play with her today. She is such an active little puppy!!! She is really cute, but she growls. Two of my daughter's Chins do that. I'm not crazy about it! I'm used to sweet little yorkies. I growl back at her.

I have been busy in the house. Summer is near, and I will be at the pool and with my friends, so I am getting things done before. I listed a lot of stuff on Ebay yesterday. So far, I sold one dress. I also packed up a big bag to take to the thrift shop. My pants and dresses are cleaned out. Next, I have to do shoes and tops. The drawers can wait. I realized that if I do a little bit at a time, it works better for me.

Jessie has not been feeling well for a while now. I wrote a long post about it last week, but it got deleted, and I didn't want to rewrite it. Her neck hurts, she has a weird rash, and just does not feel good. She also has a blockage in the carotid artery, which they told her not to worry about last year, unless it got worse. Her doctor sent her for another test. Her bp is very high also.

She has slowed down a bit, but not enough. She doesn't want to rest. She wants to take care of her 3 children. I really don't blame her, but at some point, she has to realize that if she gets really sick, she will be useless to the kids. Steve helps, but she doesn't want to turn it all over to him. The kids certainly don't want him to take care of them either! He has become a depressed, negative, cranky person. He needs a shrink badly, and probably some anti-depressants!

When she called me last week to tell me all about her health, I got so stressed out! We just finished with Brandon, and then this came up. Her life is just chaos central!!! I HATE drama! I called my friend Gail, who was sympathetic, but then reminded me that she has spent the last 3 or 4 years tending to her brother, who died of cancer, then his wife died, so now, she watches out for her mentally retarded niece. Allison lives in a group home and is in and out of the hospital for various things. Gail's sister went through breast cancer a couple of years ago, stayed with Gail,and has never gone back to here own house! Then, there is her mom, who is 96, and has dementia and CHD. She is finally in a home, and Gail tells me stories about her mom's antics which have us laughing till tears run down our faces! She is still a worry though for Gail.

So, I realized that nobody's life is calm or easy, and stopped feeling so sorry for myself! I am worried about Jessie, but she is going to all of the doctors she needs to see. This is unlike her, so I am relieved about that.

[gja1000]

Judy, you are right, just when we think things are too terrible, something else happens to us or someone else. We just have to keep plugging along.

Gary had his stress test and his doc has been in twice but still doesn't have the results. Soon hopefully. He looks better today! Oh the psychiatrist came in to see him (standard protocol) and Gary is definitely not depressed. He has been on a low dose anti-depressant for several years (also standard protocol for heart failure), and the psychiatrist said to continue that.

So we are just waiting on the results of the stress test which will tell us what comes next. His doc said it would take about a week to tell if the new med was working and after that she may try a second new med. we shall see, but as I mentioned before, he already looks better.

[gja1000]

His stress test was normal. I am very grateful as this means they won't have to do the heart cath tomorrow. It also means that his coronary arteries are functioning well and that he has not had a heart attack.

He's a little upset though because they still do not know for sure what is wrong. They think it is that the heart is not relaxing enough between beats and that it is beating too fast, and they think that the new medicine will help, but they won't be sure until the med has a chance to work. He is impatient and wants answers NOW! Lol!

He should get to come home tomorrow or Thurs. YAY!

[judy]

It sounds good, Gayle! Praying that this medication works, and you two can get back to your day to day life!

[DianaB]

I would think that if the heart was beating too fast that would make him tired. (With my MVP my heart beats irregularly once in a great while and it makes it hard to breathe and do much. Thank goodness it doesn't last long or happen often!) I hope the meds help Gary feel much better without a lot of trips to the doctor.

Judy, I'm so sorry to hear that Jessie's not feeling well. I know that that is a real concern for you. She really needs to take care of herself.......her kids are old enought to help her out and not be a big burden on her. Do they realize how sick she is? Or how much she hides it? They should all know what's going on with their Mom.....including Steve!!

Happy birthday to Little Annie!!! Wow.....4 years old!!! I hope she has a very special day!!

Last night Glen and I took Karley, Kiley, Elijah, a friend, and Glen's diving buddy, Logan, to another town for the kids to complete their diving training. While they were doing that I ran to Wal-mart and got a few things then I came back and swam. By the time I got there the kids were finished up with their training and since the water was cool they were getting out but I got in and swam anyway (had to keep moving or it was COLD). Glen and Logan were trying out some different scuba masks (Glen's about to drive me CRAZY with trying to find just the RIGHT mask!!!). Anyway, I was introduced to one of the instructors and he was determined to get me started in diving too. Before long I had a mask on and was breathing out of Glen's tank and was shoved under the water! It was pretty cool!! I may just have to give this scuba diving thing a try!!! The instructor invited us to come to Joplin and do some swimming with the tanks sometime! I may have to do just that!!

I got my new outdoor cushions in yesterday! They are soooo pretty!! They were a little more green than the picture showed but I still love them!! They look so nice on the swing!! Now I'm going to have to paint the swing though!!

[judy]

Wow Diana! Diving! You are a brave woman! How is it down under the water for a long time? It's nice that you and Glen might share a fun adventure!

Jessie tries to keep her illness from the kids. Mackenzie panics because she remembers when her Mom was really sick, in and out of the hospital, and so on. The younger kids are aware, but I don't know if they get it. Mackenzie is a big help to Jessie, and Kass loves to help. Brandon, not so much. Steve helps a lot, I have to say. He doesn't work so what else does he have to do?

[DianaB]

It's good to know that everyone is aware that Jessie is sick. I hope she's not hiding how badly she feels at times from them......that's when she needs their help.

I wasn't under the water for long. First I got talked into putting on the mask and going under for a short time.....then I was convinced that I needed to add the air. I didn't put on the tanks I just used Glen's air. I have always floated well in the water......even before I was heavy so Glen and the instructor had to hold me under the water!!! I stayed under for awhile and just breathed. It was so weird to breathe under the water!!!