Things have been pretty much routine. Dialysis three times a week, wound care at least one a month, usually two times. The wound is finally healing, when it is healed, then therapy can start.
January 5th they finally took out the second stint that they were not able to get out the first week of November. Yes it took that long to reschedule.
There have been some issue with the Foley tube plugging up, so I guess he is still making kidney stones or some real close cousins. I demanded that they get orders to flush it when needed, or daily. It took 9 hours for them to get an order this last time. Six of those hours Dwight spent with stomach pain because his bladder was full and over full. The nurses couldn't do anything about it without Doctor written orders. Finally they came, orders to flush as needed, up to three times. Then what..?
Dwight is very glad that he is missing most of the weather. He is wheeled out under a canopy and unloaded under a canopy. He snuggles into his Steeler fleece and wears a grey cap with a Buckeye O on it, his toes are toasty in his red fleece slippers. He is well dressed and sporting his teams! He does get a few 'remarks' from those who do not appreciate the great team from Pittsburgh.
We are thankful that there have been no major problems of late. They need to replace the dialysis port tomorrow.
It is hard to believe that it was a year ago that I noticed something was wrong in addition to new back ache Dwight had. If only one of the Doctors we contacted (and saw) about this had taken it seriously....
....my compter wouldn't let me post yesterday. And we have a new problem. Dwight's port for dialysis wouldn't work yesterday. Nor would the spot in his arm, so he had no dialysis. Today, Wednesday, they are replacing the ports. No dialysis till Thursday. Dwight was alittle down, just weary of it all.
He still is a good kisser!! Love that guy.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Christmas
When the children were children and we lived in Leetonia our Family had very specific traditions that we followed without fail every Christmas season. Although traditions, and following them, are not the reason for the season, they do glue it all together and add to the anticipation of the season.
But life brings changes. We managed to maintain our traditions with slight adjustments as first we started pastoring 45 minutes from home. With the Church responsibilities only a few adjustments where needed. We barely noticed. The children started graduating from high school, a few more adjustments. We moved to Warren, a few more. Nothing major, the large ceramic tree--a gift from new friends when we moved to Leetonia--still came out the day after Thanksgiving. Cookie making began full force, lots of good eating, parties and gifting from our baking fun.
St Lucia day was never missed. December 13th was a very special, busy day at the Shirey's.
But then more changes, Dwight in a wheelchair. The year that happened our traditions fell by the wayside. The next Christmas, 2003, we were back in Leetonia with a For Sale sign in our front yard. We were able to regain some of our traditions, altho alot of things were packed in boxes awaiting our move to a yet unpurchased home in Columbus.
But Christmas 2004 found us nicely settled in a cute Cape Cod home and traditions all in place. And our number of grandchildren grew from one when we moved here to 5 by our second anniversary in our new home.
We have had wonderful Christmas times with our laughing, loving family. And our traditions continued intact with slight adjustments.
Till this year. My dear husband began showing signs of something being off kilter about the same time Esther Faith entered Children's Hospital for a 21 day stay. Dwight's problem was not properly diagnosed and he hasn't been home since Easter.
Traditions almost completely fell apart. None of us celebrated St Lucia day. I didn't bake a single cookie. Because now 2 of the grandchildren live here my daughter gently encouraged me to decorate. Once I got going I regained some Christmas spirit. I even made new window valances and fleece throws to coordinate so the living room is festive.
But Christmas Eve, our traditional gift opening time was very different. Dwight is still in a nursing home. All week he had been very down, so down he wasn't sure he wanted to see anyone. But we prayed and prevailed. I took in one gift for each person to open from Papa and Mimi. We laughed, smiled,hugged and loved, pretending this was normal. Dwight read the Christmas story with his usual dramatic flair from his new Kindle. We had family prayer and opened our gifts. Excitement filled the room as all grandkids and children loved their gifts. Our son missed all the fun, work kept him late and he didn't get to Columbus until we were eating at Karin and Tim's. We did make him open his gift from Mom and Dad there---a Michigan blanket, he loved the blanket and all the ribbing he got from his OSU loving family.
Tradition--changed, family love--the same.
But life brings changes. We managed to maintain our traditions with slight adjustments as first we started pastoring 45 minutes from home. With the Church responsibilities only a few adjustments where needed. We barely noticed. The children started graduating from high school, a few more adjustments. We moved to Warren, a few more. Nothing major, the large ceramic tree--a gift from new friends when we moved to Leetonia--still came out the day after Thanksgiving. Cookie making began full force, lots of good eating, parties and gifting from our baking fun.
St Lucia day was never missed. December 13th was a very special, busy day at the Shirey's.
But then more changes, Dwight in a wheelchair. The year that happened our traditions fell by the wayside. The next Christmas, 2003, we were back in Leetonia with a For Sale sign in our front yard. We were able to regain some of our traditions, altho alot of things were packed in boxes awaiting our move to a yet unpurchased home in Columbus.
But Christmas 2004 found us nicely settled in a cute Cape Cod home and traditions all in place. And our number of grandchildren grew from one when we moved here to 5 by our second anniversary in our new home.
We have had wonderful Christmas times with our laughing, loving family. And our traditions continued intact with slight adjustments.
Till this year. My dear husband began showing signs of something being off kilter about the same time Esther Faith entered Children's Hospital for a 21 day stay. Dwight's problem was not properly diagnosed and he hasn't been home since Easter.
Traditions almost completely fell apart. None of us celebrated St Lucia day. I didn't bake a single cookie. Because now 2 of the grandchildren live here my daughter gently encouraged me to decorate. Once I got going I regained some Christmas spirit. I even made new window valances and fleece throws to coordinate so the living room is festive.
But Christmas Eve, our traditional gift opening time was very different. Dwight is still in a nursing home. All week he had been very down, so down he wasn't sure he wanted to see anyone. But we prayed and prevailed. I took in one gift for each person to open from Papa and Mimi. We laughed, smiled,hugged and loved, pretending this was normal. Dwight read the Christmas story with his usual dramatic flair from his new Kindle. We had family prayer and opened our gifts. Excitement filled the room as all grandkids and children loved their gifts. Our son missed all the fun, work kept him late and he didn't get to Columbus until we were eating at Karin and Tim's. We did make him open his gift from Mom and Dad there---a Michigan blanket, he loved the blanket and all the ribbing he got from his OSU loving family.
Tradition--changed, family love--the same.
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