Time flies when you're having fun...or so they say.

Where has the time gone since the fifth? I can tell you that it has not been an uneventful twelve days. We have prepared for company from California; we have enjoyed our company from California and yesterday we said "Hasta la vista!" to our friends from California. These folks come out every other summer just prior to the big Renaissance Conference in July. The conference is in the east (usually Orlando) every other year and the "Inlet Rats" gather here for four or five of days before the conference and then all drive down to the meeting together. This summer it was so great for Papa to really be able to enjoy the company. They were all so solicitous of him (and of me, oddly enough) and each spent time talking to him, even 12 year old Curtis. We were even able to get Kenny out to go over to "Cedar Hill Landing" for supper one night and over to Jessie's for the kids to get together. (Savannah and Corrie Parkhouse met in Orlando two years ago and became fast friends and email buddies.)

I think it was good for Papa but also tiring. Last night, the first night without company was not a very good night (not sure there is any correlation whatsoever.) He has begun to have some low back pain which radiates around the hip area to the front of his thighs and settles in that muscle just above the knee. As a result we have decreased the dosage and increased the frequency of his methadone to see if that helps. He woke up 5 or 6 times last night; at 3:15 I caught him climbing out of the bed on the side where there is no bedrail. He was beating on the wall to get my attention since he had no bell on that side of the bed and no wheelchair in sight. He wanted me to make sure I got the knife out of the bed. When I said, "The what???" He looked at me and said, "There's no knife, is there? I guess I dreamed it. Oh well, I'll go pee while you're here!" I had to laugh, but I still fussed at him for climbing out of the bed and taking a chance on falling instead of calling me. He just shrugged and got in the wheelchair that I finally pushed into the room. After getting in the wheelchair, he just looked at me. I said, "What?" He said, "Aw Ginny, I love you. I'm waiting for you to smile." What am I to do? Just love him, I guess. Finally at 6:00, he asked me what I was doing; I told him I was trying to get some sleep. He said, "well, if you are not going to get up, I guess I'll go back to bed too." (As if he ever gets up at 6 AM.) I did manage another hour of sleep before he decided he might as well get up at 7:30. Needless to say, after doing six loads of laundry yesterday and getting up 6 times last night, I have been a zombie today. I think he and I are both looking forward to bed tonight.

We are changing nurses again. Our delightful Colleen has been transferred to admissions by Hospice so Ginger Lawrimore is our new nurse. One thing is for sure, everyone at Mercy Hospice is very professional, very loving and extremely helpful to all of us. Yesterday afternoon Loren, the chaplain, came over for a visit. He and Papa just hit it off so well. He was in Iraq as a chaplain and Papa loves to talk about his WWII experiences. He sent to Conway for a set of DVD's by the History Channel, America at War. It starts with the Revolutionary War and goes to the Iraq War. Loren is coming back next week or the week after and watch the first one with him. Kenny is really looking forward to his next visit. Loren is so wonderful with him. He has managed to get Kenny to open up and talk about Hyrtha's death and his own perhaps approaching more quickly than we might wish. He has a great talent for focusing both on the here and now and on what's ahead and how Kenny feels about it and what trepidations he may have. It is so comforting for us to have someone else also talking to him about spiritual matters.

It is hard to believe that summer is almost half over. I just got my tomato plants transplanted in my new "upside down patio garden". I was somewhat chagrinned to read that I could expect tomatoes about 60 days after transplanting them. Well, we'll have tomatoes in late August and September. However, the other day I rejoiced to discover I have 7 or 8 tomatoes forming now! I am so excited. I feel so accomplished finally being able to frow tomatoes, peppers, mint, rosemary, parsley and sweet basil and not have to leave the house. I have the planter on the landing on the other side of the "elevator" where I can easily reach it and water and fertilize it without having to go down the stairs. Wow! Such energy. I am sure you are all greatly impressed. Anyway, Kenny and I are anxioussly awaiting some home grown tomatoes and peppers.

Thanks to all of you for being such faithful readers. I will try to do better in the coming days. Sweet dreams.

What is cotton candy?

Needless to say, the last couple of days have been interesting and challenging. Saturday Morning about 3:00 (AM) Kenny rang the bell and when I asked him what he needed, he asked me. "What is Cotton Candy?" "It's spun sugar," I replied, "why?"
He was just wondering. When I asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom, he said no, but he did have some numbness in his legs and couldn't move them. So, I rubbed them and moved them aroung a bit. Cotton Candy! What will we think of next?

The Fourth of July Picnic and World Famous Boat Parade was a great success. We had wonderful food to go along with our hot dogs and brats. Larry cooked them on the new grill that he put together...lots of work, but great results. It has a radiant section and also an extra small burner, and it looks great. We had about 25 friends over and it was just super to see everyone. We even had a precious, beautiful three-month-old young lady who stole the show. Miss Ava is an angel and everyone wanted to hold her.

All Hell broke loose last night. Kenny started his latest jaunt by deciding to do a lot of maneuvering in the bathroom after I warned him for the past four months that the more mooving around he did without holding on to a handrail or the wheelchair, the greater the chance of falling and hurtin himself. When he fell, Larry was out side I was waiting just outside the door. Needless to say, he was halfway in the shower and I had no help in getting him up. I was livid. Not only did he hurt his back but so did I. I let him know just what a stupid act I thought it was. Needless to say, that got his back up and things went downhill from there. When he went to bed at 9:30 (hallelujah, I thought!) he complained about his back hurting. I confess that I displayed little sympathy. I gave him extra Methadone at 8 PM and then at midnight, I planned to give him his sleeping meds along with more Methadone. Well, He rang me at 10:30 to go to the toilet, 1:00 AM to go to the toilet, 2:30 AM. 3:30 AM and 5:00 AM wanting to know when he could get some more pain meds. Well I gave him small doses (1cc) at 2:30 and at 5:00. At 5:30 he managed to crawl out of the other side of the bed, make it out the door and grap the wheelchair to walk himself to the bathroom. Well, I just completely lost it. Needless to say, today neither he nor I were fit company. He even said he was going to the VA hospital. They's be happy to have him. I proceeded to tell him to make very sure that's what he wanted to do, because they sure as hell wouldn't let him wear "pullup" briefs, but would put him in diapers and they certainly were not going to take him to the toilet every 30 minutes. Furthermore, I doubted they would offer him the meals that he gets here at the Biddle Hilton. Later on we both calmed down and came to a kind of truce. Then poor Larry is caught in the middle. He has a hard time understanding why Kenny is so ungrateful. I then had to tell him that this was my fight, not his. That I was mad with Kenny; he wasn't and to stay out of it. I then told him that Papa frequently espresses to me his gratitude, so just be quiet. Poor guy. He just could not win. I will be interested to see how we do tonight. I just seem to be unable to cope with long interrupted nights lately, but I do not know the answer unless it is to go back to the way it was when he came home from the hospital. He did not leave the bed to go to the bathroom...but that was an unholy battle also. I guess we are doomed to fight the Great Peein' Battle over and over and over again!

Little white lies....

Well, there is a tentative truce here at our house. Papa and I squared off last evening over him going to bed at 8:00 PM. I told him he had to wait til at least 9:00. He was furious; I was adamant. I relented at 8:45 and he pouted and evidently decided to pay me back. I woke up at 6:00 AM to find him pushing the wheelchair into the bathroom. He said he was not going to wake me up. As usual, he missed the point completely. The earlier he retires, the earlier he begins awake and then he's up and down till I am completely awake, then he goies back to sleep. I asked him this morning if he wanted me to help him back in the bed or did he want to do it himself. He said, "I got out of it by myself!" Then he allowed as how he might as well let me help him since he was worn out. I asked him what would happen if he fell when no one was with him. Was he willing to take a chance on breaking a limb or his hip? No answer.

Yesterday morning Larry and I woke up to find his bathroom light on. When Larry asked Kenny about it, he said he didn't want to wake me up so he managed to climb over or around the bedrail, grab hold of the wheelchair and push it to the bathroom. When I asked him about doing that, the story changed. He rang the bell five times and I did not come. (Now bear in mind that I can hear him breathe over the baby monitor and the bell nearly knocks me out of the bed. Hmmmm.) Colleen, his nurse, suggested that we not give him his sleeping pills until midnight when he has his last dose (or first dose) of Methadone. It has been working better, but he still fusses. My latest ploy is to have supper about 7 PM. It interrupts "Spin the Bottle" and Jeopardy but he will at least stay up a little longer. He still has the mind set that he needs to sleep 10 to 12 hours at night, but his body is rebeling, and we are caught in the middle.

Larry and I are really learning to use psychology to deal with him at times. It is a much more peaceful solution than losing our patience. We keep reminding ourselves that he is 90 years old and has been completely independent since he was 15. That is a difficult pattern to break. Let me tell you, he surrenders only when there is no other choice. I am sure that is one reason he has lived so long.

Today was a good day in toto. Rose, our wonderful one-day-a-week housekeeper, came over here today and probably will continue to do so. Papa adores Rose and she loves him so he was thrilled. We actually had time to leave and go to a funeral. A sad reason, but Larry and I got to go out together. We came home to a happy Kenny and a clean house. I manage the clean clothes and linens but the clean house has thus far eluded me. I guess it is clean enough to be be sanitary and dirty enough to be comfortable.

I will probably not blog again before the Fourth so here's hoping that all of you will comtemplate liberty this Fourth of July and pray God that we continue to be a free people and a light to the rest of the world. Blessings to all.