The current version is usually posted at http://wlweather.net/LETTERS
Been a busy first week of August: teeth cleaned on Monday, I had to go back for a filling on Wednesday, the house was cleaned on Tuesday, I went to Kroger on Tuesday and Thursday, Dave had an eye exam today (Fine, come back in six months), and so forth.
We pretty much lost July. Dave was at Parkview Warsaw from the fourth through the ninth, then we went back for a couple of hours on the tenth.
Various follow-ups the following week. On the twenty-first, Steve drove us to Fort Wayne for one of the appointments we missed while Dave was in the hospital. While the doctor was prescribing compression stockings (the "army" socks I bought at Zales are impossible to put without help; I should look for a package of the tubular elastic bandage the doctor put on him) Dave got an urgent phone call: culture had shown that the antibiotic he was on wasn't doing any good, so we had to stop by Parkview Warsaw Emergency for an infusion. The bug in the culture had also been growing in Dave, so they kept him until Thursday, and we went back on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for more infusions. I had fun telling people that we had appointments at the emergency room!
The rest of July was busy, but not with medical stuff. Except for a follow-up with Belstirling.
He's still home, and he's been eating even though he can't taste it. (The trick is to choose foods that aren't supposed to have any flavor.) For supper tonight, I have a big juicy tomato to put on a hamburger, which he can almost taste.
Ice cream always goes down, and I try to keep a couple of bananas available.
I've got a flank steak thawing in the fridge for tomorrow's supper.
He's home, and his clothes are in the washer, together with my other floral T-shirt. Two T-shirts and one pair of jeans aren't enough when you drive the car every day. Particularly when it's hot. I've ironed them only once; it's been mostly rinse the sweat out, hang dry and put back on.
We go out again this afternoon to see his cardiologist, then get to rest until the ninth.
Those who waited to read until I'd edited the Banner didn't get much extra coherence.
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Just got an appointment for physiotherapy tomorrow. But *they* come *here*.
Nope, it was a nurse who will schedule the physiotherapy, and change catheters once a month. She photographed the prescription and let me keep it.
Just finished putting away yesterday's wash. I ran two loads: Hot with bleach because I was wearing a sweat rag I hadn't thrown out in case of just such an emergency, and the cleaning rags were also running a bit low. (Brenda uses *lots* of cleaning rags.)
I ran the second load because both short-sleeved slopping-around shirts needed washing (I wore a ragged old shell that I'd saved for underwear), and I was wearing thick wool socks.
I've lost track of the number of times I opened this document yesterday, only to be interrupted before I'd typed a single word. Once it was a phone message saying that a doctor Dave had an appointment with was on medical leave and we'd have to re-schedule with a doctor in Fort Wayne. After we made an appointment for Tuesday, and called Steve to ask him to get us there, I said "may I have quiet hysterics?". I felt like loud hysterics, but instead I went outside to hang up the rags without telling Dave that I wouldn't be able to answer the phone.
So the phone rang, and he didn't realize that I wasn't going to answer until the caller had hung up. When the physiotherapists didn't show up at eleven, I was sure it had been them checking to make sure we were home, but it turned out that instead of appointments with Kelly and the physios, it was an appointment with Kelly about the physios.
I have a *lot* of sweat rags. I made two trips bringing them in off the line.
I put the valance over the sink back up this morning. I looks a *lot* better.
I needed a taller stool than we'd used to bring it down. Brenda noticed that it was filthy, so I ran it through with my underwear. Somewhat to my surprise, it flattened out when it dried, and doesn't need ironing.
Yesterday morning my weight hit a new low: I'd lost four pounds. This morning, it was back to normal. I'd better watch my habit of eating a handful of nuts every time I walk through the kitchen.
The futon is still covered with stuff we dumped out of bags when we got home from rehab, and my go bag is in disarray.
There are lots of boats anchored out by the creek, and I usually see a speedboat or two bouncing past. The boats of the two nearest piers are docked, but Brent has a party tent up.
[no entries for a couple of days because Dave passed out when he stood up to come to supper, and went back to Parkview by ambulance. I took some notes by pencil, and will transcribe them at the bottom of this file.]
The car was in the shade when I got up from my nap. I've finally learned how to park it.
When Dave tried to get out of his lift chair to come to supper Friday evening, he collapsed and was carried off by ambulance. They sent a Winona Lake policeman because he could get there soonest, the ambulance arrived soon after and the crew came in through the garage, which is how I'd let the policeman in while babbling at Dispatch, then later another team came in through the front door; I've no idea who they were. [10 July 2025: yesterday Dave said they were firemen, called for lift assist.]
Brent saw the commotion and came over to speak to Dave before they carried him off. I was headless-chickening in the house at the time.
It was well into morning before things settled down, so a nurse made up a bed for me — a bench in the room unfolds — and I've been sleeping at the hospital ever since.
On the way home this morning, I stopped by the church to pick up a bulletin and let them know I wasn't dead — I had missed four Sundays in a row while Dave was in rehab. The hospital physios want to send him back; we keep saying that we've already arranged for physios to come to the house — if Dave can stay out of the hospital long enough to keep an appointment with them.
I'm planning to leave early, and break my rule against shopping on Sunday. I washed Dave's yellow jacket (and threw in the rest of his clothes; didn't think to throw in my other T-shirt) and used the next-to-the-last Tide pod.
The results of a urine sample taken at Grace just came in. The trouble with culturing a sample to see which bug-poison to use is that while it's growing in the culture medium, it's also growing in the patient.
Slept in my own bed last night — and so did Dave. Grace said he wasn't sick enough to go back into rehab, and he did perk up a lot while dressing to come home. Very tired.
I stopped at Aldi on the way home on Tuesday, because I was almost out of food bars and I hadn't found any at Martin's when I bought protein shakes on Saturday. Got a call from Dave while Brenda was helping me unload groceries, and left her to put them away. She did a good job of putting them where I could find them.
At the conference on Tuesday, they decided to send Dave home on Wednesday, and we spent all day yesterday waiting for paperwork. Well, all afternoon; they didn't start the paperwork until after his last antibiotic infusion about noon, but I didn't leave the hospital until he was checked out. Steve drove us home because I hadn't had my nap. I did lie on the bench a lot, and felt alert, but I was making a lot of mistakes.
After driving us home, Steve went to Zales to pick up the antibiotic Parkview prescribed,13 and Eliquis ordered earlier, and cancel the antibiotic Grace ordered. I forgot to give him my debit card (and said "that's why you're driving").
I gave Dave one White Castle for supper, and he ate all of it, most of a single-serve mandarin-orange cup, one carrot stick, and a protein shake.
It's after nine and he's still asleep. I check now and again to be sure he's breathing.
I'm ready for church half an hour early! Rather than try to catch up on what was going on when I couldn't write, I'll report trivia.
I'm not sure when I noticed the dead squirrel on the lawn, but yesterday I noticed that it was gone — and there wasn't any mark in the grass where it was, so it can't have been there as long as I thought. No marks of having been killed by a dog (any other predator would have eaten it), and a squirrel can't be killed in a fall; they spread themselves out and parachute down. I thought it had been there too long for a scavenger — the day before, crows had passed by without picking at it — but I must have been mistaken. Or a human buried it.
Dave got a tetanus shot for the scrapes on his head; I don't recall getting one for the dirty laceration on my leg. Was I up-to-date? In better shape? Too freaked out to notice?
My black T-shirt stank after only one day of wear. My flowered T-shirt looked all right when I wore it without ironing it.
Still haven't ironed my better summer dress.
Eliquis is like antibiotics, in that you don't stop it when cured, but must finish the bottle.
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Catching up on Facebook (mostly by the "delete unread" method), I see that the library has posted a picture of Jeanie and me, me more prominent.
I must start wearing photogenic shirts.
I almost forgot that I have an attaché case for premeditated appointments. After transferring what I need into the attaché case, I put the big bag into the car, and later added a change of underpants to it.
I've nearly finished the second bag of "soft mints", and just today realized that they are *soft* mints; I don't have to put the whole huge thing into my mouth, but can bite off a piece.
I bought a bunch of kale and a cup of cornmeal at the fairgrounds market, then went to Kroger for milk and sour cream and a one-pound chub of hamburger. I took the sidewalk home because Park is still very, very rough, and forgot to stop at the ice-rink market for a wrap because the sidewalk doesn't pass it. I was so late that Bomy was probably sold out anyway — the market closed a quarter of an hour after I got home.
I'm caught up on the newspaper.
Speaking of newspaper, I need to re-line the insulated pannier on my bike; I threw out a lot of damp newspaper when I was unpacking.
Monday, the previous post: my calendar says that we went to Dr. Belsterling, standing in for Dr. Darr, for a follow-up to the emergency-room visit the previous Thursday.
Tuesday, Brenda cleaned the house, and Kathy and Dave came for a visit. They are in town for a week. Wednesday, a long-standing appointment with Dave's cardiologist's N.P. We stopped at Sweet Corn Charley on the way back because Dave had a yen for watermelon. The melons came in only one size: huge. (Well huge for two people who can share a TV dinner and have leftovers.) I also bought six ears of corn, a quart of cherries, and a peach.
Thursday, there is nothing written on the calendar, and neither Dave nor I can remember.
Friday, the visiting nurse came, and Kathy straightened out Dave's life insurance.
Some time or the other, I washed a load of dish towels and cleaning rags, and forgot the dishrag in the wire basket.
Tomorrow I go to church and get to stay for the preaching. Monday, Steve will take us to Fort Wayne to get Dave's burnt-looking leg seen to.
I have remembered: On Thursday, I rode to Zales to straighten out Dave's furosemide prescription and pick up a fifteen-day supply, and on the way out, I stopped at Freedom Express to pick up Altoids. On the way back, I stopped at Kroger for eggs and some other things we were out of.
Friday was complicated by signs of infection that Dave woke up with. In the afternoon, we went to the Byer Building to give a urine sample, and it turned out that the heart doctor had also called in an order, so he left some blood too. He said he got a very good phlebotomist who got blood on the first try. Then we went to Zales for an antibiotic that Darr hopes will hold it off until the culture shows which antibiotic he needs.
Home at 3:40.
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10:50 One of the first things I did was to wash my clothes. I'd intend to wash when we got back from Fort Wayne on Monday, but we didn't get back. So today, despite having made an even dozen yellow briefs, plus a beta pair, and about half a dozen survivors from other batches, I have (apart from the pair in my go bag) only one clean pair of briefs. (And how briefs can be a pair is beyond me.)
Bedtime. To be continued, but we have two appointments in the morning.
Something ate the faded flower off the rose bush. I think it was during the night, but I don't remember looking at it yesterday.
I appear to have forgotten to save what I wrote yesterday.
On Monday, Steve drove us to Fort Wayne to see a burn specialist about Dave's scaly legs. She prescribed compression socks; I bought a pair yesterday, and washed the temps she put on.
While we were there, Dave got an urgent call from Dr. Darr's office: the cultures were in, and the bug was one that doesn't respond to oral antibiotics, so we had to stop at the emergency room for an infusion on the way home.
I think that I had the wit to grab my pajamas when Steve took me home so that he could get his truck back. But I never thought about socks when I was at home, and wore the same pair day and night Monday through Thursday.
The emergency room was super busy, and we never did get a room; they set up the infusion in the hall, which allowed me to notice two people being wheeled toward the ambulance door, presumably on their way to Fort Wayne. I noticed another gurney in the hallway after a while; the patient appeared to be taking a nap.
The bug had been growing in Dave for three days, so they took us upstairs and kept us until Thursday.
Nobody who gives outpatient infusions is open on weekends, so we got appointments at the emergency room for eleven on Friday, Saturday, and today, and it's nervously close to time to leave.
to be continued
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4:54 — I counted six pontoon boats at the mouth of the creek, and there might be another hidden by the willow tree.
Busy morning. Yesterday, while Dave was sitting on the porch, a neighbor came over and offered to cut up the limb that fell off the mulberry and pile it up by the road, and this morning he did it, and piled up the good firewood separately. I printed out a FREE sign and nailed it to the firewood. [Dave later saw someone pick it up.]
While Noah, the neighbor, was still here, Kathy came to help Dave with an insurance dividend, which I sat in on but didn't quite understand. She and Dave are going home on Friday.
No sooner had she left than Steve came to bring us some zucchini bread and make an appointment for an electrician to repair the light in the kitchen. Doing without that has been annoying.
My theory is that the connection has been loose all these years and it finally got one molecule too much corrosion, which would explain why it blinked off occasionally for a day or so before it failed. (At first, I blamed the power company and wondered why our UPSs didn't squawk.)
Steve had worked on the light a few times before deciding it was work for an electrician. Steve also said he would take me to my eye shot on Friday.
The computer ate my remarks about Dave's compression socks, so I've been saving often and once exited the program and re-started it to be sure it wouldn't unsave when erroring off.
3:55 PM 7/28/2025 Dave is still anosmic, but yesterday he told me that my Banana Boat lipstick smells of banana, and it's so faint that I had never noticed. I'm on my way to buy bananas.
Another busy day. The electrician came, and Tuesday is the day Brenda cleans the house.
Brenda hadn't finished when the newly-repaired light resumed blinking. Steve came back, and after consulting with the electrician, installed a light that he'd bought before discovering that the wires weren't right.
I harvested the garlic, and pulled some weeds in the garden.
I'd hoped to wash cleaning rags and dry them in the sun tomorrow, but it's going to rain. I might get a start on reclaiming the garden.
And I'd better get a start on organizing the Banner — I'm almost out of July.
Dave is consulting with Kathy and her family about buying a new phone.
When I woke up from my nap and it hadn't started to rain yet, I reflected that if I'd washed the rags, I could have brought them in. But it's so humid that they might not have dried.
Kathy and Dave came about eleven to talk about a phone. My Dave has decided to keep his old one, after deleting a lot of garbage.
I wish I knew how to delete garbage icons from my phone — it's hard to find my contact list when I have to page past so many useless apps. "Store", to me, is something I sometimes activate by an unintended twitch and must hastily back out of, hoping that no harm has been done. I'm curious as to what it's meant for, but not curious enough to activate it.
My phone has gigabytes of space and I use kilobytes; pity I can't plug a keyboard into it.
Kathy came back to bring us three huge peaches. I broke one in half and we ate it right then; Dave said he could taste it.
He couldn't taste the fried chicken in the Hungry Man dinner we had for supper. But the "brownie" and ice cream went over well.
Miranda, our case manager, called and said that she'd come tomorrow — having missed a few times in a row because Dave was in the hospital.
We ate the last bit of the watermelon after Dave took his eight-o'clock pills.
I wanted to incorporate the pictures I took of the rose, but updating GIMP used up all of my thinkum. I'll edit the file some time after posting it.
We're still home, knock wood, but things still taste odd. Fruit is sour. (The frozen strawberries weren't an illusion — they had been bred solely for enormous size.)
After Miranda left, I suited up and rode to Our Father's Pantry to dump some garlic. They appeared to be glad to get it.
Notes: [comments in square brackets]
2 July Octopus Decapod [a gadget was referred to as an octopus, but I counted ten wires in the bundle]
4 July ER toilet has lock [those in patient rooms don't. At first glance I thought it also lacked the pull-for-help cord, but it was a different color from those upstairs.]
Thursday 10 July 2025
16:02 ER again
16:23 - did not restock food [There weren't enough granola bars in my go bag. I've been overstocking ever since.]
17:39 unironed shirt doesn't look all that bad
6:00 blood draw [I must have switched from my phone to the clock on the wall.]
6:20 Eliquis like antibiotics: finish the course [I believe this was right after the X-ray guy told us the blood clots in his lungs were gone, and I asked whether that meant he could stop Eliquis.]
Mon 21 July 2025 18:09
Emergency room again.
Burn center went well, don't come back [but wear
compression stockings], but got call from Darr
saying stop here on way home.
18:20 might be an outpatient
18:31 Will I someday transcribe these notes?
20:01 IV antibiotic is started
20:04 we are going to go upstairs
20:20 prepared to go upstairs
21:20 we went
10:30 stuff from appointment bag back in
awk-scrickle bag.
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23:26 Bulldog p.27
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24:06 change catheter.
Tuesday 22 July 2025
11:42
Hokay, time to do something that needs
doing. I brought a sock c[with a line over
it] holes. But it needs re-knitting, which
I can't do with darning tools.
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11:59 p.31
Bulldog: I seem to recall Lessa washing her
hair in the pool and mats floating away.
p. 33 Herdbeasts include milch cows.
p. 36 the story didn't seem all that familiar.
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Wednesday 23 July 2025
On Saturday I had time for a partial market tour,
dropped an Analog or Hitchcock [at a Little
Library], and picked up Wellman & Wellman's
_Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds_.
Being too stupid to darn socks, I finished it this
morning. Excellent fanfic.
I wish I could keep Dave home long enough to rig
up a keyboard I can use when I'm sleeping at the
hospital. [The book has] more co-incidence
than the current fashion.
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11:55
Analog March/April 2025
"Murder on the Eris Express"
Why is Talc plural?
Monks do that? [Is speaking of oneself in
the plural something monks do?]
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Thur 24 July 2025 11:00
Three 11:00 appointments in emergency room!
[About to check out in need of three more
infusions of antibiotics.]
Saturday 2 August 2025
ER
catheter change [needed a flush, doctor on call
decided not to fool around]
4:10 out
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