Monday Morning

K called at 7:30 to say she'd be going into dialysis soon. The nausea is much reduced, thank goodness. We're hopeful the worst is over. Thanks to *everyone* who's sending good thoughts - they must be helping! :-)

Sunday Evening

We left K resting semi-comfortably in her half of the room, on the 4th floor of St Joseph hospital. Her roommate seems nice enough, but is a short-timer, heading out soon. Her nausea seems reduced, but still very much a factor. Will check on her in the morning around 9.

K Transferred to St Joseph

We left K in the capable hands of the EMS techs, as they wheeled her out of Littleton Hospital on a gurney, destined for St. Joseph hospital near downtown Denver. She's still very nauseas, still showing some signs of pneumonia, still on antibiotics. We stopped at the house to pick up her fully charged wound vac, and are heading out to St Jo, to make sure she's settling in ok.

Sunday Morning

K's still at Littleton hospital. She's still very nauseas. Had a low blood sugar this morning. The nurse says they'll probably transfer her to a Kaiser hospital today. Don't know where or when. We're heading in to visit now, just to let her know we're around, since she's mostly sleeping.

Saturday Morning

K's nurse says she's doing well. She had a low glucose this morning, which means they've potentially got the glucose under control, so she's off the insulin drip, and back to the usual sliding scale. Her BP was back to a more normal reading. They're still considering the possibility of heart issues being a factor, so they sent her down this morning for an echocardiogram, and later a stress test. She's supposed to get a dialysis treatment this afternoon. The nurse says K is still a little nauseas, and is worried about them transferring her out of ICU too soon. But according to the nurse, nausea isn't reason enough to keep her in ICU, so they'll probably transfer her to the telemetry floor later today.

K Improving

Glad to say, K felt much better, when we went back to see her this afternoon. They'd found signs of pneumonia. Hydration, antibiotics, insulin, all seem to be helping. She's been admitted to ICU, at least for the night. She'll get her Friday dialysis on Saturday morning in ICU. We really like Littleton hospital. She's got a beautiful view from her private room, and the medical staff have been great. Too bad it's only available for emergencies, since Kaiser doesn't have an agreement with them for non-emergency treatment. If she stabilizes, but still needs more time in hospital, they'll probably have to transfer her to St Joseph.

K in Littleton Hospital

Kristan's been intensely sick all last night and this morning. She had high blood pressure and low temperature this morning. Dad and Adele and I took her to Littleton Hospital ER around noon today, which is very conveniently close - about 5 minutes from the house. They're trying to figure out what's going on. Heart and lungs seem healthy. They suspect an infection somewhere, but haven't found it on the outside, so they'll be looking on the inside next, with X-Rays and an MRI.

Visitors

Dad and Adele arrived on the 7th. I'm taking some vacation while they're here. We're not quite as active as previous years. Maybe something about Dad just celebrating his 90th birthday...? :-) Nonetheless, we've been out for a nice 1 mile walk yesterday, and heading out for lunch and a short walk now. K was nauseas this morning, and feeling a little better now.

Wound Vac

In the seemingly never ending quest to get K's foot wounds to heal, she asked Kaiser about using a Wound Vac on her left foot, and they've set her up with one, about a week ago. It's a gadget that creates a low pressure area over the wound, directs drainage into an external canister, and physically pulls the tissues around the wound closer together, which should help the wound to heal.

LCROSS/NRO Launched!

We launched AV-020, an Atlas V carrying the NASA LCROSS/LRO payloads, this evening! This is an amazing mission, looking for water on the Moon in a smashing way! The LRO vehicle will be at the moon in about 4 days, and LCROSS will meet up with it in 5 days, and then again several months later, as the mission culminates in a very dynamic way. The ULA mission brochure is very informative. Also see more pics at SpaceFlightNow's AV-020 page. The NASA website has some good pics and a launch video on their home page, but you may have to search for them, after a few days go by.

Home again

Sigh. I got home from the graduation trip on Sunday evening, after an "interesting" (as in the curse, "May your life be interesting...") travel day. We had a nice quiet dinner and evening with our neighbors Ken and Freddie. Doesn't it figure, on Monday I was so nauseaus I had to stay home from work, just crashed in bed the whole day. No fever, just felt awful. I felt somewhat better Tuesday, so I'm back into the work routine...

Tyler Graduated!

Back to back graduations! Tyler graduated from Cal Poly on Saturday with an MSEE. We are all so proud of him. There were two ceremonies, one big one for the whole college at the stadium, and a much smaller one just for Electrical Engineering on the lawn by the Engineering West building. Both were delightful. Pictures are here.

D Graduated!

Dorothy graduated from high school on Thursday! Woo hoo! Our Miracle Girl! It was a most beautiful day, just a little breezy, and the ceremony went off really well. We were all just bursting with pride. Sumner's pictures are here... Tom's are here... Brighton's are here...

Generally better

K went in to see the Doc and nurse on Tuesday. It looks from the X-Ray that the infection didn't make it into the bone. These days, I don't trust those conclusions very much, but still it's good news. So, she has both feet on wound watch again, but at least we can hope that the left one is on the mend. She was free of nausea for several weeks, but it appears to be back again, although not quite so intense as it was earlier. We must've had a monster power surge earlier this week. Several circuit breakers tripped, outside and inside the house, but after resetting them, all seems well so far.

Mandy and I continue to get out on weekend and evening walks. Here's a pic of the field across from the light rail station, and an overhead showing where I shot it, just for fun. With the onset of Spring, it sprouted a carpet of lush green weeks. Mandy seems to really appreciate the freedom she gets, when I let her off leash here, although I do worry about coyotes, so I'm always scanning the area. We're still occasionally seeing the young foxes playing around their den in the evenings, as we drive by, on the way back from K's dialysis sessions.

Setback

K's left foot, which had been doing fine, and was off "wound status", developed a wound recently, and it's now turned quite serious. K saw the doc on Tuesday, and he did a lot of cutting to remove infected tissue, including scraping the bone. They're waiting for the results of the foot X-Ray, to determine if the infection has gotten into the bone, in which case I assume that additional and more serious surgery will be required. K's right foot wounds are continuing to look better, although they're still serious.

Happy Memorial Holiday!

Going through emails this morning. This link, forwarded from a long time friend, really caught me off guard. I'm still recovering from that tightness in my chest, and yes, I'm pretty sure it's not just a heart attack. Felt like I had to share it...

Walk

Walked to Panera Bread for lunch, with neighbors and their visiting family. Stopped at See's for a snack - Mmmm! Got rained on just a little, while walking back. Saw two gopher snakes, a young one sunbathing on a tiny ledge in a slate wall, who hid in a crevice when we approached, and a mostly grown one sunning in the middle of the concrete path by the creek, who slithered frantically into the creek.

Now the real storm has hit - thunder, lightning, downpour, flickering lights, the whole bit. Got soaked while rummaging around in the yard, looking for a missing downspout, but finally found it in a clever hiding place.

K's been doing better in general over the long term, although she's having a tough time today. She was going to meet us for lunch, but called it off due to intense nausea. We were hoping to get out for a movie this afternoon, maybe go see Transformers with our neighbors and their visitors, but it doesn't seem likely now.

Snake Hunter

What an awesome warm day! I walked Mandy along the Platte River, through the nature preserve. She stalked two snakes in the high grass, a quick squirmy little 3 foot Garter snake, and a bit larger and slower 5-6 foot gopher snake. She was doing the jump-hop thing that we see the foxes doing, when they're after a mouse or other small critter. She's a fearless wonder! I was especially proud, when she was really good about obeying my command to leave the snakes alone, after she'd had her moment of stalking fun.

K's feet continue to improve, but they're not healed. I'm amazed at how long it's taking. I would so love to see nice healthy skin where the open wounds have been for the past 18 months. Lately it's looking like a probability (more than a possibility!) that they will heal up, after all. Having the scooter, and getting her off her feet by having a helper here several times a week, both seem to be helping. Not to mention the nurse visits every day, to re-bandage the wounds. Whatever. It's working.

STSS Launched!

We successfully launched MV-341, a Delta II rocket carrying the STSS payload, this afternoon.

K had her worst low glucose in a long time, this morning - down to 35. It figures, it would happen the morning she had a medical appointment, but with Freddie's help, she pulled it together to make the appointment. Her feet are doing well enough, that they've got her down to just one appointment every two weeks. She saw the doc today, and he's very pleased with the progress of all the wounds. 

K and I had dinner at OSF with Freddie and Ken. On the way home, we stopped by the fox den that Ken and I discovered recently on one of our weekend walks. We spent a few minutes watching the 3 very young fox pups playing around their den, a few blocks from our house. They were having the time of their lives, pouncing around on each other. Two brown and one charcoal. Very fun to watch!

More White Stuff!

We went to bed last night, with a little rain spritzer going on outside, and woke up to a 2 inch thick wet layer of snow this morning. Most of it had melted off before I got home from work. Mandy and I went for a walk down Lee Gulch this afternoon, and it felt so comfortable that I was thinking about how Summer's just around the corner.

Day at the Zoo

Weird Spring weather! It rained on us at the Zoo this afternoon, after a half day of beautiful sunny weather. We had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the lions, hyenas, leopards, the new baby Giraffes, and the polar bears. K rented one of their scooters, and it sure was a zippy little thing! The harbor seal and sea lion show seemed like the event of the day, partially because waiting for it gave us the opportunity to have a nice hot lunch!

Sun Melts Snow!

It's sunny out there! What a beautiful day! Mandy went out on the deck to enjoy the sun. She seemed pretty happy, lying there with the sound of melting and dripping snow on all sides. In just a few hours, all the deck furniture was bone dry. Now, if it would only melt that 3-inch layer of heavy wet stuff out there on the driveway, I'd have it made...

Hey! It did! How cool is that? I *like* these Spring snows! The sun's been out all day, and the temperature got up into short sleeve comfort zone. Mandy and I took advantage of the nice afternoon, grabbed Ken, and went for a walk through the neighborhoods. 

Lots O'Snow!

We've been hunkered down in front of the fireplace and TV, as a Spring snowstorm moves through. The forecast is calling for an accumulation of 6-18 inches today and tomorrow. I heard one weathercaster say there's enough moisture in these clouds that if it were just a bit colder, we'd be getting around 4 feet like we did in the Spring of 2003. I'm happy to settle for a foot or so. This stuff is very wet, and quite a challenge to shovel. Mandy's not very excited about going out any farther than the side yard. I keep shoveling her a little spot on the lawn, but it keeps getting covered up. 

K's foot wounds have been continuing to heal over the past few weeks. It's a very slow process, but we're very encouraged to see them looking better each time they're uncovered. I'm a little concerned about how this snowstorm is interfering with the regular routine. The nurses have missed both morning and evening visits today. Hopefully someone will be back tomorrow morning. They'll have to come later than usual, since K was feeling awful today with stomach pain, and skipped today's dialysis, so we have to get her to a make up dialysis tomorrow morning at 5:30am. Not the most fun thing to do on a Saturday morning. 

Happy Easter!

We had a quiet Easter weekend. I took Friday off, courtesy of some overtime worked earlier in the week. The paramedics arrived at K's dialysis center the same time we did. It's always scary to wonder what's going on when that happens. Mandy and I went for a few walks. There were some scattered rain showers, nothing like the snow that was forecast. I came down with something on Saturday that gave me major nausea and a gurgly stomach. Luckily it came and went quickly, and it didn't slow me down for a great dinner with Ken and Freddie at the White Chocolate Grill this evening. We had ice cream cake for dessert. Quite the extravaganza, in our own quiet way.

WGS Launched!

We launched AV-016, an Atlas V carrying the WGS communications satellite, last night.

K's had a nasty cough since last week. She's wracked with convulsions when a bout of coughing hits, which has been happening every time she tries to talk. She skipped dialysis because she couldn't face being stuck in the chair for 4 hours while having those intense coughing fits. Her doc diagnosed her with pneumonia early this week, and she's been taking a daily antibiotic, which seems to be helping.

Walk on the Platte

I took Mandy for a walk in the snow, while K was in her special Saturday evening dialysis session. We started at Aspen Grove at the Starbucks, and got a hot chocolate "for the road", then wandered along the Platte River for aways. We ended up at the Apple store for a half hour, ogling the 24 inch iMac and 17 inch MacBook, and learning about the clever 3-finger touchpad swipe.

K's home nurses, who are coming morning and evening to change her bandages, all seem to be in agreement that her foot wounds are looking better than they were.

Snow!

We got a pretty decent dump of Spring snow today. They closed the plant at 1pm. Thinking I'd beat the traffic, I jumped in my car at 12:30 and headed down the hill. I got about 100 feet, then sat in my car for a hour, not moving an inch, as the entire plant (apparently) spilled out of the parking lots into the main road, and slowly made their way over the slippery roads, and out the gate. I should've just stayed and worked late! K's dialysis center called to say they were canceling all Friday sessions, because there's more snow forecast, and she should expect to come in on Saturday at 5pm.

Scooter Outing

We got K out on a scooter outing around Littleton on Sunday! Our intended goal was the Old Littleton Deli, but they were closed on Sunday. We didn't have to settle much, by having a Mediterranean lunch at Damascus Grill. Mandy lounged around in the sun, peering in the glass doors from her perch just outside the front door. The scooter put forth an awesome performance (especially considering that we didn't think to charge the batteries the night before), covering the 4.5 miles over hill and dale with no difficulty. K was enthusiastic about getting out and feeling the wind on her face. The pic is on the trail around the Littleton Natural History Museum.

Week of 3/13

I spent much of St Paddy's Day trying to get AV-016 launched, without success. We're supposed to try again late next week. In the meantime, we have a Delta II launch scheduled for Monday night / Tuesday morning.

Dad told me on Saturday, that he'd taken a spill on the tennis court, and suffered a badly torn up left arm. He was going to see the doc on Monday, but I haven't heard how that went.

We had Sunday breakfast at IHOP with our friends Ken and Freddie. The adjacent pet store was closing, so after breakfast, we loaded up on a bunch of things for Mandy, like food and a reflective leash for night walks. Then we went up to Bel Mar for some shopping at Whole Foods. Ken and I took Mandy for a walk around the Bel Mar Mall, and I ended up getting some long overdue replacement walking shoes and boots at DSW. K picked up some great corned beef, and has been making me tasty sandwiches for lunch all week!

Kepler Launched!

We successfully launched the Kepler planet-finder satellite on a Delta II rocket tonight! Its mission is to search a nearby region of our galaxy for Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zone surrounding stars like our Sun. The habitable zone is the region around a star where the temperature permits water to be liquid on a planet’s surface. Liquid water is considered essential for the existence of life.

K's had major stomach problems this week, worse than ever. Could be a virus, or maybe a reaction to all the antibiotics she's been taking for her foot wounds over the past few months. Regardless of the reason, she's been really miserable. The good news is that her foot wounds, which are still quite serious, are continuing to heal.