by Judy Handley | Aug 30, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 18: The Bookcase Project
Date: Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Weather: Cooling Down, High Temp 78 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
The bookcase project was the focus of the day. The new toilet did not get installed because the maintenance person here did not show up this morning. He called and said he had to wait for the delivery of a washer and dryer for another apartment. Later he called and wanted to reschedule for late afternoon or in the morning. Mark took the call and wet the time for tomorrow morning. We’ll wait and see if that really happens. Mark also has a visiting nurse appointment in the morning. They will call around 9 am and set the time. And as soon as we have that meeting, I will be off to see the Goldpebbles. Heather called tonight saying they were on their way. She and Jed both have to work tomorrow, but Heather can wait and go in late morning giving me the time to meet with the visiting nurse. I’m really hoping the nurse will have some suggestions for us as Mark continues to struggle with pain and nausea. The pain is constant so we have to make some change in the pain medication regimen.
I started my morning by going to a routine appointment with my chiropractor and then I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to water the garden and do a few things in preparation of their return. When I got home, Mark was very weak, but he wanted to help with the installation of the new bookshelves in the guest bedroom. We had a full size bookshelf already in place and yesterday added two narrow bookshelves—one for the corner and one on the other side. So I needed to find a way to connect the shelves. I talked to Mark about this asked him if he thought I could buy narrow hinges to do the job. He thought it would work, so I went back out to get the hinges. When I returned, I provided the strength to get the bookshelves in just the right position and Mark drilled the holes and screwed in the hinges. It worked perfectly and then I spent the rest of the afternoon putting all of the books from the full-size bookshelf back on the shelves. Last night I had to take all of those books off the shelf so that we could maneuver to connect the new additions. So those books went back on the shelves and I was able to add all of my photo albums and all of the notebooks from Windbird on the new shelves.
This is something I have really wanted to get done and I am very happy with the results. This is the last of any planned projects, so now we can just relax and enjoy our upcoming visits with family. I have three days of Camp Oma before Patsy and Joe, my sister and brother-in-law, arrive on Saturday. Can’t wait to see them.
by Judy Handley | Aug 29, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 17: A First for Me
Date: Monday, August 29, 2016
Weather: Sunny and Hot, High Temp 89 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
Today was a work day around this apartment and one of the things I did was assemble two IKEA bookcases all by myself. That was a first for me. I have watched Mark put together many IKEA pieces for Heather and Jed, most of those when Sam was barely old enough to hold a screwdriver and help. But watching and doing are two very different things. I also had to haul the boxes from the car to the apartment by myself which was no easy feat, but Mark is just not able to lift anything heavy. But he is great coach, giving me tips on the best way to do these things. And believe me, I need a coach. When I was putting the first bookcase together, Mark had to stop me numerous times because my interpretation of the directions was not correct. I know it is harder for him to sit and watch me do these things than it is for me to do them. He has always been the builder and the Mr. Fix-it in this family and I know he would love nothing more than to be able to just do the things himself. But hopefully he doesn’t underrate the need of a good coach.
Another accomplishment today was getting the huge, heavy box with the new toilet in it from the car to the apartment. We were going to wait until Heather and Jed get home to help carry it in, but Mark called the maintenance guy here this morning and he said he would be able to install the toilet tomorrow. So I started figuring out how I could move the box. Actually getting the box out of the car, onto the hand cart, and pulled to the deck was fairly easy. But then I had to open the box and take out the water tank before attempting to carry the box up the four steps to the deck. Removing that one piece made the box light enough for me to handle. So that was another success.
Another job was to take out all the apartment window screens and wash them and the window sills. That’s a job I know how to do but wish I didn’t! I started the job the first day we were in the apartment, but after that day, I’ve never had the time to finish. So today was the day. The Goldstones will return home tomorrow night, or maybe Wednesday morning, but in either case, tomorrow will be my last chance to finish up some of these little work jobs around here before my sister and brother-in-law arrive on Saturday and then Justin and Jo, Ziggy and Coco arrive the following Friday. The next two weeks will be totally dedicated to just having fun with family, so I’ll finish getting ready tomorrow and then have three days of Camp Oma before my sister arrives. I sure hope the Goldpebbles come home from Maine wanting to go to the beach. I have missed the boys and our beach days.
Today was another struggle for Mark. We tried adjusting his pain meds so he was taking less, but that experiment did not work. So he back on the schedule prescribed by his new primary care and we are just going to have to deal with the resulting weakness and unsteadiness on his feet. That alternative is extreme pain, so that’s not an option. The edema in his legs and feet is much better today. Riding in the car yesterday was a disaster because his feet were not elevated. So hopefully now that he is back on the prescribed pain med schedule and can sit in his comfy recliner, he’ll get back on an even keel. When I am not here, he is restricting his walking to the deck, but thankfully it is big enough that doing a few rounds in between resting in the recliner seems to be just the right amount of exercise for now. He didn’t feel like going for a longer walk today, but hopefully we will get back to that soon.
A note to my sister if she is reading this. The hot weather we have had is about to end for a few days. By the time my sister arrives on Saturday the daytime temps will be back down into the 70’s and it will dip into the 50’s at night. That’s perfect Cape weather but it is going to feel downright cold after being hot for so long. Anyway, the message for Patsy and Joe is to pack accordingly.
by Judy Handley | Aug 28, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 16: Shopping Day—Bad Idea
Date: Sunday, August 28, 2016
Weather: Another Perfect Summer Day, High Temp 80+ degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
When Mark got up for his first breakfast of the day, he announced that he was feeling good and would like to go on the shopping spree we have talking about for a couple of weeks. The short story is that we did and it was a really bad idea. We bought the things we needed, but the trip was just too much for Mark. He ended up with increased pain, terrible edema in his feet and legs, and worse nausea than he has had to date. But the one thing he really wanted was a new toilet for the master bathroom and he got that.
Living on the Cape is wonderful, but shopping possibilities here are really limited. Falmouth has a downtown with a great hardware store, a decent but expensive shoe store, a nice children’s book store, and the rest of the stores are just for tourists. Then we have a ‘mall’ with a grocery store, Michael’s, and a Walmart that never has anything you need. With summer traffic, you can drive to Hyannis in about 45 minutes and get most things you need, or you can drive off the Cape toward Boston for about 60 minutes to a Home Depot, a Costco, and an IKEA all in one spot. We wanted more bookshelves from IKEA, the new toilet from Home Depot, and some stock supplies that I am out of from Costco. Mark’s goal was the new toilet because he swears that he is going to fall using the current one. It is a low profile toilet which means it is a few inches shorter than a normal toilet. I have fought this idea because the one that we have is gray which matches the bathtub and the tile. But now we will have a nice, big, bright white one. Not beautiful, but I certainly don’t want Mark to fall. The thing is so heavy that I could barely get it into the car, so it will stay right there until Heather and Jed get home mid-week and help me carry it in. We left Home Depot and headed to IKEA for the bookshelves. But Mark was really unsteady on his feet, so we headed straight to the in-house restaurant to get him something to eat. He then sat in one of the comfy chairs in a display area and waited for me to do the shopping. There were more people in IKEA today than I have ever seen there before. I had to wait in a line for over 20 minutes just to get a cart and I have never had to wait before. But we now have more bookshelves. Mark stayed in the car while I shopped at Costco. One of the things I wanted to buy there was a Vitamix for making smoothies for Mark. I got that and a few other staples and headed home as fast as I could. Mark has been asleep ever since we got home except when I woke him up for dinner. So I think we’ll turn in early and hope that he can recuperate overnight. But there will be no more major shopping trips for Mark. Going for short walks to keep the circulation going, sipping yummy smoothies made in the new Vitamix, getting lymphatic leg massages, and sitting at zero gravity in his recliner are the things this ‘doctor’ orders.
by Judy Handley | Aug 27, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 15: Happy 50th Anniversary to Terry and Olivia
Date: Saturday, August 27, 2016
Weather: Sunny, High Temp 84 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
The activity level stepped up a bit today. We didn’t do much, but it was not a do-nothing day. While Mark slept in, I went over to Heather and Jed’s to water the garden. While the sprinkler was doing its job, I worked on my computer. Since we were not able to fly to Myrtle Beach this week to meet with Windbird’s new owners, I offered to write down directions for the boat systems. Easier said than done. But I got a good start this morning and will continue tomorrow morning. Windbird’s new owners had a bit of a rough week on Windbird with a lightning strike that took out most of the electronics and then a failed attempt at a first sail because the engine was acting up. These are not things that you want to happen when you arrive at your boat for the first time as the new owners. But Sam and Dawn are young and enthusiastic, so hopefully they are not too disappointed. I got a huge laugh out of Sam’s description of being at Windbird’s wheel this week. He said she turns like a Mack truck. And indeed she does. He has always chartered Beneteaus, and a thankfully a Tayana (Windbird) is no Beneteau. But to their credit, Beneteaus do turn on a dime. But after chartering a Beneteau in the Whitsunday Islands in Australia in the mid-1990’s, I promised to never step foot on one again. Unlike the low Great Barrier Reef islands, the Whitsundays are volcanic islands and some have quite steep cliffs. The down draft from those cliffs actually put us on our side in the Beneteau and that was the end of my love of Beneteaus. But back to the activities of the day, after I had let the sprinkler water the garden for an hour, I headed back home.
Mark is continuing to struggle with nausea and energy level. The very worst thing is that he is unsteady on his feet which makes walking difficult. When I got home from Heather and Jed’s, we did walk out to the mailbox and back, but that was as far as he could go today. We were invited to the 50th anniversary party for our friends Terry and Olivia White, but Mark was just too weak to go. I made sure he was comfortable and then I left for a couple of hours to attend the party. It was a wonderful celebration and the food was fantastic. They had Indian food in honor of Olivia’s homeland and Texas fare in honor of Terry’s homeland and the place where they met and lived a great deal of lives. Olivia was wearing the beautiful sari she wore on her wedding day and Terry was in the black jacket he wore.
And their best man and maid of honor were there and the maid of honor was in the same thing she wore on their wedding day. Unbelievable. The place was filled with friends that they have had for over 50 years and the stories they told were quite entertaining. Happy Anniversary to Olivia and Terry!
As has been the case over the past few days, Mark felt better during the evening hours than he had all day. Tomorrow we are going to go back to the pain medication regimen we were on before the unsteadiness on his feet started and see if that helps. If the pain in his abdomen is too severe, we’ll have to come back to the present plan, but we think the change backwards is worth a shot. If the unsteadiness goes away, at least we will know that is caused by the increase in pain meds. Then we’ll just need to figure out if there is another way to deal with the pain.
by Judy Handley | Aug 26, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 14: Repeat of Do-Nothing Day
Date: Friday, August 26, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny, Afternoon Showers, Hot and Humid
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
Today was a repeat of yesterday—basically another do-nothing day. I guess since I have been providing child-care for the Goldpebbles this summer and they are now on vacation, I am on vacation as well . . . and enjoying the lazy days with Mark. We met with a nurse from the Visiting Nurses Association this morning and got Mark signed up for a first round of palliative care. This means a nurse will come once a week just to check on Mark to see how he is doing. But it is really up to us through research and trial and error to find ways to help him through this tough time. He has a lot of pain in the abdominal area and the pain meds are only half-way doing the job. What I think we are finding that is the more he eats, the better he feels. His worst time is in the morning after going without food all night. His best time is in the evening after eating a big dinner. So we are going to work on upping the amount of protein he is getting early in the day and see if that helps. Cooking the right foods for him to eat is almost a full-time job, so I guess I had better quit saying that I do nothing. I shop and cook, shop for more food and cook some more. And we take walks. We have definitely found that the edema in Mark’s legs and feet is helped by walking, but walking is hard as he has very little energy. But we will keep working to figure out the best routine and best diet for now.
