Christmas

Christmas was fun.  I left St. Louis on Monday, stayed at the same hotel in Salina, Kansas, and got home Tuesday afternoon.  Mia was so glad to see me and I was so glad to see her.  And she was very excited to see the cats when we got home.

I didn't have any tremors except for some very mild ones when I had a few cups of coffee.

Here's this year's group photo.  Ed had left to be with his family in Poplar Bluff and Margaret & Cody and the kids were at Cody's parents' house, so we are missing a few people, but it's still a good picture.  Although, while looking at the picture, it strikes me that my brother sure does resemble Marshall, doesn't he?

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

December 22, 2012

I am on my way to St. Louis and after driving through a little bad weather in Kansas, I stopped in Salina and pulled up to a Holiday Inn Express to get a room.

The clerk asked me if I had ever been here before and I said, no, I didn't think so.  She put my name in her computer and not only was my name in there, but Marshall and I stayed in this hotel EXACTLY four years ago, on December 22, 2012, just 9 months after his diagnosis, on our way to Arkansas for Christmas.  Unbelievable.

Then the woman started remembering us and reminded me of some conversations she had with Marshall in the little dining area, about the prostate cancer, and the motorcycle he was getting, etc.

In a really weird way, that made me feel like Marshall is with me this Christmas.  Isn't that something?

I dropped Mia off at Camp BowWow early this morning and as she was jumping for joy to see her friends, I was in tears as I went back to the car.  But I'm sure glad she likes it there.

My knee was in good shape this morning so driving won't be any problems.

And no tremors today, but I plan to have some coffee on this trip so I expect there will be a few mild tremors over the next few days.  :)

What in the world is wrong with me?

I just fell down my stairs again.  And I don't know why.  Ever since the last time I fell, I've been going up and down the stairs one leg at a time.  I was alert, I knew the animals were downstairs and out of my way, I was very careful and all of a sudden I was on my butt and my knee was twisted again.  There is something wrong with me and I can't figure it out.

So the only thing I can think to do is start wearing shoes all the time.  Maybe being barefoot made me slip.  And today just for the heck of it I checked on the price of one of those automated chairs to go up and downstairs.  If I have to, I will get one of those.  And when spring rolls around maybe I should start thinking about moving to a ranch-style house. If I'm not in a nursing home by then............

So my right knee is messed up again (although I've had ice on it and it's feeling much better) and I'm getting ready to drive 900 miles to St. Louis on Thursday.  I guess if my leg won't handle the gas pedal and brake pedal, I just won't go.  I think I can figure that out tomorrow.

I am one constant sob story.  I have a very very dear friend in St. Louis -- went to grade school and high school with her -- and she is a therapist.  Marshall called her many times during his illness (sometimes in the wee hours of the night) and she always was able to calm him down.  So I called her tonight in tears and she was wonderful.  I really needed calming down.  I'm sure she never thought she would be the personal therapist for the Mullins family!!

I took Mia to Camp BowWow today for three hours to kind of get her prepared for dropping her off on Thursday.  She really likes it there.  Although I learned something today that I wasn't crazy about.  I asked the girl at the front desk how often the animals were checked on during the night and I would swear she told me no one is on the premises at night.  So from about 8PM until about 6AM the animals are in their "cabins" (kennels) and no one checks on them.  I will double check that again on Thursday but I'm not totally comfortable with that.  I'll have to accept it because it's too late to make any changes now but that just doesn't seem right.  I will report back to you when I get a definite answer.

And on a brighter note, no tremors today (but I sure miss my caffeine).  And I haven't had an Afib episode in months.  So I need to remember there are some positives.

That's it for today, or should I say that's ENOUGH for today.

Cold and Snowy

Mia and I got up at 6:30am, as usual, for her to go out. We got all ready and I opened the front door only to learn that last night's snow blew up against the storm door so that I couldn't open it. 

So we tried the garage and I could open the door but there was a foot of snow against the door and Mia couldn't even get in it without disappearing. So now what?  After 3 months of potty training I now have to undo it for a while and figure out how she can potty in the house. 

I can't shovel snow because of my pacemaker so today should be interesting. 

I managed to sweep off a small path off the patio (and my back didn't like that at all) and across the sidewalk and into the grass (see photo) and Mia walked out there but one of her paws froze to the sidewalk and she pulled it loose (ouch) and turned right around and went back to the house. The weather man says we got about 7 inches but Denver proper had a foot in a lot of areas. I know we need the moisture but I need to figure out how to handle Mia this winter.

Weather

Boy, I just took Mia out and when I opened the front door it almost blew off the hinges.  Bitter cold, windy and snowing.  Tomorrow should be interesting.  I hope it clears up before my long drive home for the holidays.

Mia is much better today, thank goodness.

I just spent the past two hours changing my passwords all over the place because of that big Yahoo hacking.  I hate this.  They tell you not to use the same password at several places but how in the world are you supposed to keep track of them?

No tremors today.  Haven't had an A-fib episode in months, probably because of the Pacemaker.

My ankle and knee are healing and I'm able to walk up and down the stairs normally now -- or almost normally anyway.

Mia

Mia and I have spent half of yesterday and most of today at the veterinarian.  She apears to have trouble breathing and she keeps coughing and gagging and she looks at me which such trust like I'm supposed to make it better.  Poor thing.  So yesterday they thought she had an upper respiratory infection so they gave me an antibiotic and a cough pill to give her.

But today she was worse, so I took her back twice today.  The took x-ays of her  trachea which shod a narrowing of he trachea.  They said there could be a blockage or it could be inflamed but it just didn't show up on the x-rays.

So they gave me steroids for her and they said if the steroids don't show improvement in the next two days she may need to see a doctor who will put a scope down her trachea to see if there is a blockage and, if so, remove it.  The vet thinks that perhaps Mia caught something during her adventures at Camp BowWow which is certainly possble.  And there's no real way around that.  It's like taking kids to preshool.  And since I will be boarding her there while I'm gone for Christmas we'll have to take our chancs.  As the vet said,at least Mia will have antibiotic in her system when she goes in.

So now we are home and she is still struggling to breathe.  I'll be staying close to her tonight.  These past two days have been very expensive days.

I had slight tremors in my left hand today but they were very slight.  The pacemaker feels like it is overworking but I hesitate to have it adjusted because the last time they adjusted it, I was miserable.

I realized today that I haven't received any forwarded mail ever since I put the change of address in about six weeks ago.  So I called the Westcliffe post office and they told me I had to talk to the Brighton post office. I really don't see how I'll get anywhere but I will pursue it.  I just hope I'm not missing any important mail.  Oh well, at least all of the advertising will stop.

Fun party

Tonight was the firm's Christmas party.  It was held at a jazz club in Denver and the theme was the roaring twenties.  I didn't dress in theme but for those of us who didn't dress up, the club provided a feather boa, beaded necklace and feather headband.  Here's me and my boss.  He was telling everybody that the clothes he was wearing were the clothes he wore back in 1928 when he had dinner with the Great Gatsby (ha):

It was definitely a fun party.

But I had quite a few tremors tonight.  Trying to be patient.

My knee and ankle are mending nicely.  I'll have to be careful driving back to St. Louis so that I stop and walk around often to keep the leg from swelling.

Now it's time to start getting ready for the Christmas trip.  I'm going to take Mia to Doggie Care every few days, even if it's only for several hours, just to keep her used to Camp BowWow and I won't feel so sad leaving her behind.

Stayed in today

Didn't even leave the house today.  Had a few weird tremors but kind of different than the others.  Patience is a virtue, right?  I'm sure nothing happens overnight.

Tomorrow night is our firm's Christmas Party.  I'm not used to all this night life.s

Black Tie Affair

No tremors today up until this evening...

I attended a black tie affair at the Denver Art Museum with my boss, his wife and other friends.  It's kind of nice to get super dressed up every now and then.  The event was honoring one of the Museum's largest supporters and donors so there was a lot of toasting and some great speeches.  Here's my boss giving his accolades:

And here's another great speaker -- the Governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper:

At dinner, though, I had a few tremors.  Disappointing.  But I was very hungry (hadn't eaten since a little before noon and they didn't serve dinner at the museum until around 8:00) so for now I'm attributing the tremors to hunger....

It was a cool evening.

Back to the doctor

This morning I didn't feel so good and the pacemaker was making me breathless and I had palpitations.  So I went straight to the cardiologist's office and he got the Medtronics guy down there and they changed back everything they did yesterday.  I feel so much better.

I took Mia to Doggie Day Care again for the day.  She loves it.  And I love watching her on the WebCam.  When I brought her home she slept for hours. How great is that?  I think I will be relatively comfortable leaving her in their care over Christmas.

Yesterday was my first lowered dose of Flecainide and again this morning and I didn't have a single tremor today.  I hope tomorrow brings the same results.

Cardiologist Visit

Today was my appointment with the cardiologist.

First I had to see the pacemaker guy from Medtronics. He determined that everything was working as it should and he made a few adjustments to the settings.  I asked him what I should do if these settings caused me problems and he said I wouldn't even notice the changes.  (Well, that proved to be wrong .. by the time I got home I was breathless and having palpitations so if things don't settle down by tomorrow I will be calling the doctor.  I'm not sure if adjustments to the pacemaker need time to "settle.")

Second, I saw the physician's assistant to get the blood pressure done and blood test for INR.

And then third, I saw the cardiologist.  I talked to him about lowering the dose on my Flecainide and he spent a little time checking me for tremors, etc., and then he said he thought maybe it was time to lower the dose anyway since I've been doing so well.  So he lowered the dose from 150mg twice a day to 100mg twice a day.  So we will see.

My ankle is doing much better and so is the knee.

After I got home I spent the rest of the day in bed.  It has gotten really cold and we are expecting snow.

2-story townhouse versus ranch style

When I bought this townhouse something told me I was making a big mistake getting something that involved stairs.  But I thought, hey, good exercise.

Well, this morning I was reminded of my misgivings.  I fell down the stairs.  I think the cats distracted me as they ran by me heading to their food bowls for breakfast.  Anyway, a trip to the emergency room showed that my knee was bent a little strongly and will be swollen for a while and my ankle is sprained and is very swollen.  I was sent home to put ice on my booboo's.

My main concern was the possibility of internal bleeding because of the blood thinner I'm on, but the ER doctor checked me out head to toe and says she does not detect any internal bleeding.  I need to keep an eye on it over the weekend.

I told the doctor that the first thought that came to my mind as I was sitting on the stairs was, "well, nothing appears to be broken so I must not have osteoporosis."  She laughed and agreed with me.

My tremors have died down quite a bit but they are still there.  And this morning's fall made me think of Parkinson's because one of the symptoms is dragging one's feet.  But I'm not going there yet.  I am encouraged by the fact that it appears that giving up caffeine has lessened the tremors dramatically.  I hope that on Monday the cardiologist will let me cut back on one of the medications I take to see if it can be having a hand in the tremors.  I would love to find out that I have been misdiagnosed.

Camp BowWow

Mia passed her interview at Camp BowWow and was accepted.  After the initial 15-minute interview (introducing her to other dogs one at a time), she had to stay there all day so they could watch her interacting with the other dogs.  And I was able to come home and watch her on the WebCam.  I was very pleased with what I saw.

When I picked her up at 4:00, she acted like she almost didn't want to leave, although she was glad to see me.  So I'm going to take her back there tomorrow for the day and again once a week until I leave so she can be really indoctrinated.  The kennel where she will spend the nights (which they call a "cabin") is pretty large and I can bring her bed and blankets and toys.  Very nice.  But being able to watch on the WebCam is very special.

When she got in the car she went to sleep immediately and when I got her home she jumped on the couch and went back to sleep.  It's nice to know that her energy level can be depleted!

For some reason one of those infernal rabbits has decided to relax on my patio and when I took Mia out a little bit ago she (Mia) almost took my arm off.  Pain.  I can't believe I lived here for 7 months and never saw a rabbit and now that I have Mia there are rabbits everywhere.