My sweet Miriam, Friday. It was raining and we went for a walk.
Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
11 years ago
Saturday, May 28, 2011
first camp trip
We are going to be out of internet range for a few days.
There might be phone, but don't bet on it!
We are going to Harney county Oregon. We will meet our old friends Ron and Rozella. Ron, you will remember, is AD and about the same stage as Miriam.
Back Tuesday or Wednesday, most likely!
I need a place to rest my body and think a bit.
There might be phone, but don't bet on it!
We are going to Harney county Oregon. We will meet our old friends Ron and Rozella. Ron, you will remember, is AD and about the same stage as Miriam.
Back Tuesday or Wednesday, most likely!
I need a place to rest my body and think a bit.
Friday, May 27, 2011
vehicles I have owned
On a marriage forum someone asked about the cars people drive.
As best as I can recall here is our list:
1939 Mercury Sedan (bought without a engine, bought one at wrecking yard for $50)
1945 Harley Davidson 71
1948 Chrysler New Yorker 4 door, when we got married
1947 Plymouth club coupe
1948 Ford 4 door
1951 Lincoln 4 door
1946 Ford Panel
1963 Volkswagen bug
1965 Datsun Station Wagon
1968 Datsun Station Wagon
1953 Chrysler Windsor 4 door
1963 Mercury Comet 4 door
1965 Volkswagen Bug
1971 VW Bus
1974 Pinto
1960 VW bug converted to pickup
1986 Chevrolet LUV pickup
1986 Ford Courier pickup
1961 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery
1970? Mitsubishi station wagon (inherited from my Mother)
1984 Chevrolet Cavalier 4 door
1978 Dodge D50 pickup
1992 Chevy 1500 Work Truck pickup
1992 Chevrolet Cavalier coupe (still have that one)
2003 Dodge 1500 pickup (current “best” rig).
I am sure there is another rig or two in there somewhere. Some I bought thinking they would work out and they did not, so I sold them quickly.
That is a lot of good/bad iron!
As best as I can recall here is our list:
1939 Mercury Sedan (bought without a engine, bought one at wrecking yard for $50)
1945 Harley Davidson 71
1948 Chrysler New Yorker 4 door, when we got married
1947 Plymouth club coupe
1948 Ford 4 door
1951 Lincoln 4 door
1946 Ford Panel
1963 Volkswagen bug
1965 Datsun Station Wagon
1968 Datsun Station Wagon
1953 Chrysler Windsor 4 door
1963 Mercury Comet 4 door
1965 Volkswagen Bug
1971 VW Bus
1974 Pinto
1960 VW bug converted to pickup
1986 Chevrolet LUV pickup
1986 Ford Courier pickup
1961 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery
1970? Mitsubishi station wagon (inherited from my Mother)
1984 Chevrolet Cavalier 4 door
1978 Dodge D50 pickup
1992 Chevy 1500 Work Truck pickup
1992 Chevrolet Cavalier coupe (still have that one)
2003 Dodge 1500 pickup (current “best” rig).
I am sure there is another rig or two in there somewhere. Some I bought thinking they would work out and they did not, so I sold them quickly.
That is a lot of good/bad iron!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
cholesterol update
I got the report, and looked at the one from a couple of years ago.
Her Cholesterol is up about 12 points from then but still is 237. They would like it to be under 200. Her Triglyicerides are at 160 and they would like it under 150, while her LDL is 60, which is very good, they like it over 39.
As much as anything, the difference in her life is that she does not have Leo the Italian Greyhound to walk, so today we went for a 10 minute walk.
We will do more. I'll watch her diet a bit closer, but that is pretty good as it is.
Her Cholesterol is up about 12 points from then but still is 237. They would like it to be under 200. Her Triglyicerides are at 160 and they would like it under 150, while her LDL is 60, which is very good, they like it over 39.
As much as anything, the difference in her life is that she does not have Leo the Italian Greyhound to walk, so today we went for a 10 minute walk.
We will do more. I'll watch her diet a bit closer, but that is pretty good as it is.
cholesterol
Cholesterol, hmm.
Yesterday the clinic called to say that my tests had come back and everything was good. An hour or two later they called again and wanted to talk to Miriam.
"I am her guardian, you need to speak to me." There was silence for a bit and then the information was given.
Miriam's Cholesterol is high, there are three they measure and all were wrong. Should the doctor prescribe medication.
I asked if I could get a printout of both of our reports and they assured me that was not a problem. So I will go in this mornin to get the reports and to talk to the Doctor's Nurse.
The numbers are high, but not sky high. 250 when they like it under 200 and so on.
I consulted with family and decided to not use meds on it at this point.
Will I be sorry later? There is no way I can know that.
Yesterday the clinic called to say that my tests had come back and everything was good. An hour or two later they called again and wanted to talk to Miriam.
"I am her guardian, you need to speak to me." There was silence for a bit and then the information was given.
Miriam's Cholesterol is high, there are three they measure and all were wrong. Should the doctor prescribe medication.
I asked if I could get a printout of both of our reports and they assured me that was not a problem. So I will go in this mornin to get the reports and to talk to the Doctor's Nurse.
The numbers are high, but not sky high. 250 when they like it under 200 and so on.
I consulted with family and decided to not use meds on it at this point.
Will I be sorry later? There is no way I can know that.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
happy
Today is my birthday.
I tell Miriam that we are too old, way too old, to die young. Miriam reminds me that my grandpa lived to 98, but I tell her not to hope that for me.
Grandpa spent his last years not to aware of the world. He was the last around. Mom was gone, my step dad was gone and grandpa was in a nursing home.
Uncle Chet (now gone too) went in to see Grandpa. "Mr. Wilson, Arline just had a baby."
Arline is the name of my oldest daughter, who had the aforementioned baby, and that was also my mother's name. Grandpa was thinking about his daughter not his great granddaughter.
"No she didn't" he said, with authority, "she's dead."
Some one said of AD people that they never loose their intelligence. It may be true.
It was a good day. Facebook kept reminding me of well wishers. I got the lawn mowed! This evening my sister, whose birthday was a few weeks ago, came down with a cake and we had a mini-party!
I tell Miriam that we are too old, way too old, to die young. Miriam reminds me that my grandpa lived to 98, but I tell her not to hope that for me.
Grandpa spent his last years not to aware of the world. He was the last around. Mom was gone, my step dad was gone and grandpa was in a nursing home.
Uncle Chet (now gone too) went in to see Grandpa. "Mr. Wilson, Arline just had a baby."
Arline is the name of my oldest daughter, who had the aforementioned baby, and that was also my mother's name. Grandpa was thinking about his daughter not his great granddaughter.
"No she didn't" he said, with authority, "she's dead."
Some one said of AD people that they never loose their intelligence. It may be true.
It was a good day. Facebook kept reminding me of well wishers. I got the lawn mowed! This evening my sister, whose birthday was a few weeks ago, came down with a cake and we had a mini-party!
Monday, May 23, 2011
fast moving
Things are moving really fast.
Last week we visited the Health department in Washington. Today the first follow up call was made. That commits us.
Then a friend send me an email: “I have an idea.” His idea, I found, was that he loan me his motor home. He is not going to use it (it gets about 4 mpg). He offered to take it to daughters house. There is a good place for it.
It was a wonderful gesture. I am humbled.
I told him I would take him up on his offer. We will work out the details. Unfortunately he has his 2nd cancer surgery this week, so we are not sure when all of this will happen.
Right now I am grieving, bit time, and even if it is OK to grieve it hurts just the same. It would be easier if Miriam could admit and come to terms with the disease but she hasn’t. Desperately I wish we could plan this together.
There is no question but we will be a LOT more comfortable in the Newell this winter as compared to the half as large Coachmen. The Newell has a queen bed and seating for 5 or 6. Shucks it even has a Convection Microwave oven and a new water heater!
And so the world turns.
Last week we visited the Health department in Washington. Today the first follow up call was made. That commits us.
Then a friend send me an email: “I have an idea.” His idea, I found, was that he loan me his motor home. He is not going to use it (it gets about 4 mpg). He offered to take it to daughters house. There is a good place for it.
It was a wonderful gesture. I am humbled.
I told him I would take him up on his offer. We will work out the details. Unfortunately he has his 2nd cancer surgery this week, so we are not sure when all of this will happen.
Right now I am grieving, bit time, and even if it is OK to grieve it hurts just the same. It would be easier if Miriam could admit and come to terms with the disease but she hasn’t. Desperately I wish we could plan this together.
There is no question but we will be a LOT more comfortable in the Newell this winter as compared to the half as large Coachmen. The Newell has a queen bed and seating for 5 or 6. Shucks it even has a Convection Microwave oven and a new water heater!
And so the world turns.
The Gov said NO
Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana has decided not to run for President.
The reasons he gives are what is interesting to me! Like me, he has a wife and 4 daughters. Unlike me, he once divorced his wife, and then later he remarried her, and that played into his decision, the talking heads tell us.
But this is what he actually said: “Our family constitution gives a veto power to the women’s caucus, and there is no override provision.”
He was outvoted! Sounds like something something from my life (and I am not complaining!)
The reasons he gives are what is interesting to me! Like me, he has a wife and 4 daughters. Unlike me, he once divorced his wife, and then later he remarried her, and that played into his decision, the talking heads tell us.
But this is what he actually said: “Our family constitution gives a veto power to the women’s caucus, and there is no override provision.”
He was outvoted! Sounds like something something from my life (and I am not complaining!)
Sunday, May 22, 2011
moving
Moving to a new location is somewhat hellatious on a good day.
I remember when we “moved” to Texas. We had a small car and a small trailer and we took what we thought we could not live without and headed out, almost like Abraham: “not knowing where we were going.”
We knew on the map where we were going, but had no idea what the place actually looked like, what the people were like or how we could live on a graduate student stipend.
Now we face another move, only this time the move is seriously opposed by one of us. That makes the whole thing a bit trickier. If you have to do something this upsetting, I guess it is good to have an AD patient to move, maybe.
We will not sell our house in Idaho. Now is not the time to sell a super “regular” place and ours is not quite super and not remotely “regular.”
But there is something so awful about this damned disease. There is so little certainty to so much of it. True, she cannot remember as she did and true she cannot function on the level she did even 6 months ago, but there are moments when I think (or wish to think) that all is well.
That is the job of family, at least our family, to say, clear and forcefully: “Dad, all is not well.” “Start the process.”
The process is complex, at least.
Maybe it will even out at some point, but for now the complexities are banging in my head. The reasons are logical and they are imperative, but they are being drowned by complexities, mostly in my own mind.
I remember when we “moved” to Texas. We had a small car and a small trailer and we took what we thought we could not live without and headed out, almost like Abraham: “not knowing where we were going.”
We knew on the map where we were going, but had no idea what the place actually looked like, what the people were like or how we could live on a graduate student stipend.
Now we face another move, only this time the move is seriously opposed by one of us. That makes the whole thing a bit trickier. If you have to do something this upsetting, I guess it is good to have an AD patient to move, maybe.
We will not sell our house in Idaho. Now is not the time to sell a super “regular” place and ours is not quite super and not remotely “regular.”
But there is something so awful about this damned disease. There is so little certainty to so much of it. True, she cannot remember as she did and true she cannot function on the level she did even 6 months ago, but there are moments when I think (or wish to think) that all is well.
That is the job of family, at least our family, to say, clear and forcefully: “Dad, all is not well.” “Start the process.”
The process is complex, at least.
Maybe it will even out at some point, but for now the complexities are banging in my head. The reasons are logical and they are imperative, but they are being drowned by complexities, mostly in my own mind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
