by Judy Handley | Sep 7, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 26: Easy Going Day
Date: Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 80 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
Today was just a laid-back day. We had first breakfast and second breakfast and sat on the deck talking and drinking coffee in-between. Just before 11 am, we all decided to get out of our pajamas and get dressed for the day so that we would be presentable for the visiting nurse. Today’s nurse was named Jessica and she had some good recommendations for Mark. She is hopeful that she can get approval for in-home physical therapy for Mark. She took the prescription we had for a cane and promised to get that processed. Before doing that she called Medicare and found out that Mark is not yet eligible for a wheel chair. In order for Medicare to pay for that, the doctor has to verify that the patient is not able to walk through the house. That is not the case, so I ordered a transport chair from Amazon. We are keeping the wheel chair that Heather picked up at the local Service Center, but without arm rests or foot rests it is just too hard to use. If the transport chair that I ordered works out, we’ll return the wheel chair. If the transport chair is too light-weight for long walks, I’ll order arm rests. I already ordered foot rests from Amazon but just won’t open them until I know if we are keeping that chair. In any case, by the weekend, we should have a cane and a transport chair.
This log is being completed a day late. Even though it was an easy day, Patsy and I talked way into the evening and I just couldn’t stay awake to get the log sent. Hopefully I’ll do better tomorrow night.
by Judy Handley | Sep 6, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 25: Happy Anniversary to Heather and Jed
Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Rain, Turning Sunny and Back Again; High in the upper-70’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
Happy Anniversary to Heather and Jed! They had a busy, busy day today, but hopefully they had time after the boys went to bed to sit together, have a glass of wine, and reflect on their thirteen years together. Cheers!
I started my day with trip to the chiropractor. It was a maintenance visit just to keep everything in line. This would be a most unfortunate time to have my back go out, so hopefully today’s visit will keep things in line. I stopped at Heather and Jed’s on the way home to pick up the pressure canner and when I got home, everyone was up, just barely, and all were hungry for breakfast. Patsy, Joe, and Mark had all slept in, so we had breakfast at noon. The morning had been overcast with some rain, but after we ate breakfast the sun came out. It wasn’t windy on the deck and felt wonderful, so we decided to drive down to the beach and just sit soak in that glorious sun. Unfortunately, it was much windier on the beach, but it was a warm wind and we really enjoyed just sitting there.
When we came back we had a very light lunch on the deck, again just enjoying the wonderful weather. Patsy and Joe have never visited Cape Cod before, so while Mark napped, the three of us drove down to Woods Hole. Unfortunately, the overcast conditions returned, but that didn’t keep Patsy and Joe from enjoying the sights.
When we returned home, I had to launch into canning the chicken mineral broth that was made yesterday. I used almost half of the broth to make a green bean and turkey soup for dinner, but still got seven pints of broth to can. Somewhere during my cooking frenzy, Heather and Ollie made a surprise visit to bring Mark a wheelchair. We talked over the weekend about getting one for him so he can be taken on longer walks but I still had done nothing about it. This morning Heather called Falmouth Service Center to see if they had a wheelchair or transport chair that we could borrow. They had only two and explained that as soon as they come in, they go out again. But they saved one of the two for Heather until she could pick it up in the afternoon. It was so thoughtful of her to do this for her dad. She and Ollie made the delivery and Ollie was so cute trying to show Mark how to use the chair.
This was the first day of school for all the boys and Ollie was so excited that he had four recesses today—two inside while it was raining and two outside in the sunshine. While we were out on the deck dealing with the wheelchair, Heather spotted an osprey perching on a boat. He was first perched on the tip of fishing rod on one of the large fishing trawlers and then he decided to go to the top of the mast of one of the small sailboats moored just off the docks.
Ollie and I got some photos of the osprey before he and momma had to head home. But not before we thanked Heather again for going to pick up the wheelchair for her dad. We will keep searching for a transport chair that is lighter weight, but at least we have something we can use right now if needed. Thank you, Heather.
The time with Patsy and Joe is flying by so quickly. I’d love to show them more of the Cape, but Mark really needs to be sitting with his feet up most of the day due to the edema. The visiting nurse comes tomorrow to see Mark, he has his second infusion of Keytruda on Thursday, Justin, Jo, and kids arrive on Friday, and Patsy and Joe leave on Saturday. Joe would love to take the ferry across to Martha’s Vineyard, but I’m not sure when and how we can work that into the schedule. In fact, we haven’t seen Island Queen run since Saturday due to the high winds. The car ferries from Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard are running, so maybe that is a possibility. Whether or not we get to do any exploring, we will enjoy our time together.
by Judy Handley | Sep 5, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 24: Stormy Labor Day
Date: Monday, September 5, 2016
Weather: Overcast and Very Windy with Periods of Rain; High in the low-70’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
Hermine provided us with a stormy Labor Day, but conditions were never too bad. There was enough wind to blow our grill (on casters) across the deck, but otherwise things were pretty benign. Candi, Char, and Lynn came over early this morning on their way out of town to say their farewells.
We had a wonderful visit with them and thank them so much for coming to visit with us. After proper farewells, we sat in the apartment and watched the wind blow. The wind was probably a steady 20-25 mph with blustery gusts. When my sister Patsy and I went out to do a wind check, we decided to move deck tables and chairs inside. Our new tall chairs were going to make it a bit crowded inside, so I laid them down on their backs in the far corner of the deck that is most protected. When we went back inside, I helped Joe track an Amazon order he thought he made weeks ago and had never been delivered. He found out last week that he actually has two Amazon accounts and we talked to Amazon about getting rid of the old account. All of this required getting into his G-mail on my computer and evidently he had changed his password and didn’t write down the change—a problem we all seem to have continually. We had to change the password again, and in the end, we were successful with a little technical advice from Heather and Jed. In the middle of fixing Joe’s problem I headed over to the Goldstones to get the chicken broth Heather had made after our Sunday night dinner. I wanted to add veggies to it to make chicken mineral broth and her stove was tied up with canning marinara sauce. I took my computer with me to make sure I was doing things correctly. Nice to have tech support in the family!
During the afternoon the wind picked up and the rain started. But as the evening progressed, the wind and rain subsided. It looks like the storm is headed back to the west before dissipating late Wednesday or Thursday. So it looks like maybe the worst of this tropical storm has moved on just leaving us with overcast, windy weather for the next or so. Tomorrow is the first day of school for the Goldpebbles and I know their teachers would be very happy if there is no rain and the kids can have outside recess. As a first grade teacher of many years, I know indoor recess on the first day of school is just no fun for anyone.
After having a good day yesterday, Mark did not have a good day today. In fact, he said he felt worse than he has for a very long time. Another new pain medication arrives tomorrow. Maybe that will be the magic pill. Or maybe he was just exhausted after a big day and will be back on an even keel tomorrow regardless of the new pain med.
by Judy Handley | Sep 4, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 23: Great Family Day
Date: Sunday, September 4, 2016
Weather: Sunny with High Temp in the upper-70’s F, Very Windy
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
Today was a great family day. Nieces Lynn and Candi, and Candi’s husband Char, arrived around 9:30 am.
They live north of Boston and came down to spend the day. They are staying at the Admiralty Inn tonight and will come over in the morning before heading home. Hopefully the holiday traffic and weather will not be too bad. Hermine is headed our way and will bring sustained winds in the 20’s tomorrow with possible gusts up to 50. And of course, there will be rain. So the trip back to Boston could be tough, but we certainly enjoyed our time together today. We didn’t do anything fancy. We just spent time together. I made granola as that was a national emergency. I cannot recall ever running out granola, but we ate the last a couple of days ago and Mark was really missing it. That is what he eats for his first breakfast at 7:30 am. We had a nice lunch together and then Candi and Char went on a walk with Mark and he actually took them all the way through the next door boat yard. He hasn’t been able to do that since Ed and Lynne were here last week and he really enjoyed the little jaunt.
Then while Mark and Joe took a power nap, the rest of us drove down to the beach. It was quite windy, so Patsy, Lynn, and I headed home while Candi and Char stayed and walked home.
By the time we got home, it was past time for me to take off to Heather and Jed’s to check on the status of the marinara sauce and help get dinner together. The marinara sauce still needed to cook down some more, so we put off canning until tomorrow. Sounds like a perfect day for an indoor activity like canning. Patsy, Joe, Mark, and I will stay right here and watch the storm from the comfort of our living room.
by Judy Handley | Sep 3, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 22: Patsy and Joe Arrive—Hurray, Hurray
Date: Saturday, September 3, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny with High Temp in the upper-70’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
We are so happy that my sister and brother-in-law, Patsy and Joe, arrived today. We are looking forward to a wonderful week of visiting together. They flew into Logan in Boston and I drove up to meet them. Thankfully their daughter Janet had arranged for them to wheelchair assistance from the gate to the baggage claim. I thought that was the case, but wasn’t sure. So when I arrived at the airport, I first drove through Terminal A to check things out. I stopped to ask a state policemen where I should park. I explained that I was picking up arrivals with wheel chair assistance but made it clear that they were not wheel chair bound, just challenged with long airport walks. He started to tell me that I should park in Central Parking, walk a long way back to the terminal, meet them to see if they should need assistance, and then go back to Central Parking and drive to pick them up. Half way through that scenario, he looked at me and told me to just go park beside a vehicle in a special parking area next to Terminal A. I was elated and thanked him profusely. But even parking so close to the baggage claim area, it was still like running a marathon to go to the Southwest ticket counter to get permission to go to the gate to meet them. And then I am sure I walked at least half a mile to the gate. I didn’t quite get there when I saw Patsy and Joe in wheel chairs being pushed by Southwest employees. We hugged joyously and then continued the half mile walk back to baggage claim. But I must give both Southwest and the state police and big thumbs up for being so helpful. And our good luck continued as we had absolutely no traffic on the way home. Mark was waiting for us with a smile, but he had a bit of a rough day with more pain than usual. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for him.
by Judy Handley | Sep 2, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 21: Celebrating the End of Summer Vacation
Date: Friday, September 2, 2016
Weather: Clear with Temps in the mid-70’s F—Beautiful Day
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
Today was a day of celebration in honor of the end of summer vacation for the Goldpebbles. School starts on Tuesday. First thing this morning, Ollie and Jonah really wanted to go to the Falmouth Sports Exchange to buy soccer cleats. All three boys are looking forward to the beginning of the fall soccer season. Sam already has a pair of cleats that fit, so the other two just had to have what ‘big’ brother has. So we did that and then we headed to the beach. We decided to go to the beach closest to home as the boys knew the Keefe’s from next door would be there. When we arrived, the Keefe’s were already there, and you would have thought these kids hadn’t seen each other for weeks. Actually, they practically live together, but they were so excited to spend the day at the beach together. Jed arrived at 1 o’clock so I could leave and take Mark to his appointment at the oncology center. And Jed was there for another three hours. I think everyone had a great day. And I must say the weather was just absolutely perfect. It looks like after a summer with almost no rain, we are going to have rain for the next few days. But we got our beautiful weather for the last hurrah. And we ended the day with a sushi dinner together. Perfect!
The meeting with the pain management specialist was very informative. We’ll have to wait to see if any of her suggestions work for Mark, but she was knowledgeable and thorough. Actually she is a pain management specialist for patients at the Falmouth Hospital as well as the cancer patients at the Hematology Center, so for sure she has had lots of experience. But every person is different, and she cautioned that we need to move carefully and slowly in making changes. So we have no brand new pain management program, but we do have a plan for increasing some current medications and adding some new ones. So we’ll just have to wait to see how the changes affect Mark’s situation. In the meantime, Heather and Jed recommend that we get a wheel chair for Mark so we can take him on those walks he loves so much. He is just not strong enough to walk down to the beach right now, but with a wheel chair I could “wheel” him around so that we can enjoy the September weather together. Sounds like a good plan.
