Sore throat

Ugh. I've had a sore throat all night. I think a cold is coming on. Nuts.

Long walk

Ken and I took our longest walk in quite awhile, down to Blueberry's for breakfast, through downtown Littleton to the South Platte River, along the river to Lee Gulch and home. Feels good. We chatted on the way back, with several neighbors who were out putting up their lights. Then Ken and I helped each other put up our lights. We celebrated our accomplishments with dinner at Romano's, then Mandy and I cuddled up on the couch and watched another sappy holiday movie (A Princess for Christmas) on Hallmark channel. A generally fine day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Ken and I brought Mandy over to Life Care after our morning walk. We planned to take K home for a few hours, stopping at Whole Foods to pickup a late lunch off the steam tables. Unfortunately, we were too late for that. We missed the Whole Foods connection by minutes. Instead, we stopped at Sprouts Farmers Market. They were out of turkey. But K wanted to have some shopping fun. So we left her there in a powered shopping cart, while we went over and waited in a long line to get our take out dinner at Boston Market. Delicious! Sorry to say, I don't think K had much fun after that. She slept through most of her visit at home, woke up long enough to eat a little of her dinner, then lost it all just before it was time to drive back to Life Care.

Lung infection

Quiet cool overcast morning. K has been nauseous and vomiting for the past week. They decided her problem is different from the gastrointestinal virus that's running around the Life Care facility. A recent chest X-ray led to a diagnosis of a lung infection. They've started her on antibiotics every other day for that.

I'm better too

Oh, and hey, about my right foot -- I'm definitely on the mend -- just in time for the snow forecast for this weekend! Now that the toe surgery is healing the way it should, I'm back to dealing with the slow recovery from the various sensations associated with the broken ankle healing. Mostly it's just that tight feeling you get when you have swelling, but then I look, and it's not really all that swollen. I remember the PA said it would likely be a year, before I will realize it doesn't bother me any more.

Kristan's Choice

I don't remember posting a K status update in awhile. Her neck is continuing to recover. I neglected to post that she's even out of the soft support collar now. She's been able to decide for herself about going home for the past several weeks, but holding onto her stay at the SNF because of the good therapies (occupational, physical, speech) she's getting. But she's thinking more seriously about making the arrangements to come home, maybe before Thanksgiving.

New phones. Ugh.

Oboy. I thought I knew what I was signing up for, but I was wrong. I worried (I do that a lot) that I might be wrong, but I couldn't bring myself to wait any longer. The second the Apple guy ran my credit card for our new phones, he casually mentioned that it had just deactivated both our old phones' cell connections. So now I'm frantically trying to get the new phones usable, and restored from recent backups, so I can run her new one over to her at Life Care Center of Aurora, late, late, late tonight. Dang. I was hoping for a much more leisurely approach to this. I was going to take the laptop and the unopened phone box over to Life Care, backup her old phone, then open the new box, activate the phone, and restore from the laptop to it. Best laid plans... thwarted again.

Update- I realized at 3am, that I wasn't going to get over there last night. I actually got two hours of sleep before getting up for work. So she'll be without cell service and all her other handy iPhone apps for today. Heavy sigh.

Happy Halloween!

I picked K up from dialysis in Aurora, and brought her home for a few hours, so she could be here for the trick-or-treaters. We grabbed dinner from the Sub Shop across the parking lot from the Aurora DaVita dialysis center. Ken and Freddie came over to share the experience. Ken had helped me setup our Halloween decorations last weekend, so we had everything up -- Norbert the eight foot dragon was out front, with some witch/skeletons hanging from the outside lights, and the grim reaper was waiting just inside the door, with a ghost and a huge black spider for company, and some Halloween themed hangings draped around. After all that, we had a pretty quiet night, with maybe just a half dozen groups of kids this time. Mandy didn't even speak up very much. She was very happy to be surrounded by "her pack". I'm guessing maybe only half the kids showed up this time. I took pics of all but one pair of kids with the trusty old digital camera, but I ran out of energy, before I found the time to download them to the computer. [ Finally got the pics online! Let me know if you have any difficult seeing them. ] Around 8:30, Ken helped Freddie take K back to Life Care. They stopped back at DaVita, to pick up a bag she had packed for the home visit, but then forgot. I stayed home, in case any of the usual late-visiting teens showed up.

Nice sunset

We have a nice sunset developing, it appears, from the reflection we can see from K's room at Life Care. See Facebook for the pic.

DaVita on Sable

Visiting K for the first time here. As she described with overflowing praise, it is a nice clean futuristic looking place! Pic on Facebook. — at Davita Dialysis Center Aurora Sable.

Tired

Mandy and I spent the night with K last night. I kept waking up and reminding her it would be a good idea to get to bed before sunrise. After all the interruptions, we didn't get a very good night's sleep, but there was no hurry getting up, so it worked out ok, except I've been tired all day. I took Mandy for a long walk through the surrounding neighborhoods and a nearby park, and enjoyed all the fall colors. We got back just in time to watch the last half of her OT session. Her OT is really working hard, to help her get control of some of the biggest issues, like letting go of one thing, and moving on to something else.

Walking around Life Care

We're out on a brisk morning walk, after spending the night with K. Nice Fall colors everywhere. We're stopped by a creek that's filled with cattails, very pretty, in a Fall-ish kind of way. And Mandy has her Jack-O-Lantern coat on. She's been the talk of the town, as we walk through Life Care on our way in and out. Pic on Facebook. — with Mandy Hushing at Life Care Center of Aurora.

Chilly morning

It's our coldest morning yet, at 25°F. Mandy's waiting out in the car, all bundled up in her bed in the back seat. I hope it warms up a bit, before we start our walk! — at Le Peep Restaurant.

Quesadillas!

Oh, this could be bad... I just reminded myself, that I don't have to starve, when I'm home alone. I remember this (cooking alone stuff) now! I just finished making my best quesadilla ever, fried in olive oil, until the toasty brown highlights came out, and loaded with fresh roasted peppers from the farmers market, with fresh cut strawberries for accent. Then again, I lost an hour, prepping, cooking, and cleaning up. Pic on Facebook.

Breakfast at OPH and a walk

The OPH Cinnamon Almond French toast sounds wonderful right now. We're splitting that, and a side of scrambled eggs and bacon. Then it's off to walk around deKoevend Park nearby. Pics on Facebook. - At The Original Pancake House

Snowy drive

There was a pretty layer of snow everywhere this morning. The drive home from Life Care last night was quite a challenge. Lots of huge wet snowflakes were coming down, which made it nearly impossible to see the road, and the headlights were covered within a few minutes, with a thick frosting of slush, diffusing the light everywhere except on the road. I meant to leave earlier, with snow in the forecast, and me driving K's car today, but was having too much fun watching Cowboys and Aliens with her, on her new iPad. I was glad to finally be home safe and warm, enjoying a hot mug of tea.

We were using the HBO2GO app to watch the movie. I've heard there are other choices for watching TV (Hulu+ and network sponsored apps) and movies (Netflix), but haven't explored them yet.

This was the first time, in my almost 18 years in Colorado, that the headlights have gotten coated in a half inch thick layer of slush. Go figure. Just one of those freak things. We've had a lot of those, this year... And NOW I finally appreciate, why the Swedish put those little bitty wipers on their headlights. It's not just for comic relief...

Pretty in pink

Such a gorgeous rosy mountain sunrise this morning, trimmed with subtle Autumn colors... Pic on Facebook.

Happy big Birthday!

K had her big decade birthday today (Sunday). I've been feeling overwhelmed with everything for months, if not the entire year, but this felt like a good opportunity to summon the energy and courage, and commit to doing something extra nice for her. So I spent some time at the local Apple store, and finally settled on getting her the New iPad. She chose a nice bright lime green Smart Case, that should be pretty easy to find. I think it's the first time in years, that I've seen her giggle at how much fun she's having with her new toy.

Then, what to do for a birthday dinner? We struggled with logistics, the last time I took her anywhere, and I was still pretty shell-shocked from that. But again, this felt like the time to step up, and do something regardless. She'd been talking about wanting to try the Texas Roadhouse restaurant, just down the street from Life Care Aurora. The food was delicious! We invited just enough people to fill up a booth, and that worked out just fine. We brought our own dessert, a Blackout cake from the Cheesecake Factory, that was amazing. Nobody could eat more than half a slice, which was later easily explained by the nutritional info on the side of the box -- 1200 calories per slice. Omigod.

Toe finally healing

It's starting to feel reasonable to say that my toe is finally really healing from that surgery back in August. And even then, I immediately find myself hoping I'm not jinxing it by saying that. God, this has been a long year.

Home Helpers

I rushed over to Life Care for a meeting just after lunch, and no one was there :-( but at least there was a nice view from K's room. The trees are turning to Fall colors everywhere, and the patio outside her room was no exception. One Maple tree was half green and red, kind of Christmassy, and another was full-on bright red, really pretty.

It turned out that K was enroute back from an appointment at IPOP, the prosthetic company, on Humboldt Street in downtown Denver, and the other person walked in moments after I got there. K arrived a few minutes later.

We had a pleasant meeting with Rick, the CEO of Home Helpers, a company that provides caregivers. K's OT at Life Care recommended them. They sound like they can also do the job that we had LivHome trying to do, and of course they're eager to get our business, so they can show us what a good job they can do. We may give LivHome another try first.

Soft collar

K saw Dr Prall today. He's the neurosurgeon who fused her C1-C2 vertebrae. This was her first follow up appointment since the surgery on August 13. He was unable to see her at Kindred, the Long Term Acute Care facility, but Life Care transported her to Prall's office with no problem. He told her the neck looks good, and it's time to move on from the hard plastic neck collar she's been wearing, to a soft one. Finally! I picked one up at Walgreens this afternoon, on the way here.

Fall Pics on RunKeeper

I've been recording the tracks from my walks at RunKeeper.com, using their iPhone app. I recently discovered that the app will let me take pictures along the walk, and it will GPS-reference each picture to the spot where I took it. To get an idea of how that works, follow this link to our walk Friday morning along the river. I snapped a bunch of pretty "Fall colors" pictures that I hope you'll enjoy.Click on the little picture icons along the walking route. Once you're into one of the pictures, you can use the right arrow cursor key to quickly move to the next picture.

Lots O'Visitors

K had an impromptu party at Life Care last night. Mandy and I brought her some helpings of chicken Tikka Masala, pot roast, and Caesar salad from the Whole Foods steam tables. Then Karen and the kids showed up with an Anthony's white pizza. Then Amy came, and spent some time experimenting with the loaner Mobility power chair. K has been saying that two visitors is often too much, so this was quite a challenge for her, but I think she handled it well.

Flu Shot

Our company had our health fair today. While waiting for my Flu shot, I got on Facebook and shared a nice pic of the subtle pink sunrise hues that were illuminating our neighborhood this morning.

Snow!

The NOAA says it's snowing out there! I haven't looked yet. I overslept, so now I'm soaking my foot (the morning part of the "two soaks per day" prescription), instead of leaving for work. I'm trying to be good, and follow the doc's orders, but it's so NOT what I want to be doing right now.

Yet another surgery

I'm hoping the follow up toe surgery yesterday will finally allow some healing to occur. I'm so tired of the pain and hassle.

I had emailed a picture of my toe to my podiatrist on Friday, and told him I was starting the backup antibiotics they ordered for me two weeks ago, back when I complained it wasn't looking right. It didn't seem to be getting worse at the time, so I held off on the antibiotics, but Friday I realized it was swelling, red, and painful, and decided to start them. On Monday, the doc's office said to come on down, and he'll probably take something out, meaning there's probably a contaminant in there. Sure enough, on Tuesday I went to visit, he went in, and found a piece of toenail inside the toe, wreaking havoc. He said, with that removed, my toe ought to heal up a whole lot better. I am *SO* hoping he is right about that.

Outing to Rosie's

Freddie and Ken and me and Mandy met up with Kristan today for an afternoon visit. Then we kidnapped her (legally) and took her over to Rosie's Diner nearby for dinner. Not much of an outing, but better than staying in the Life Care facility all the time. K was alert and interactive, which I really enjoyed. Amy took a side trip to Innomax to get more bed info, then met us at Rosie's for a slice of pie. Then after we got back to her room, they started chatting about bedroom furniture, but I got sleepy and had to head home.

I am *NOT* looking forward to having the presidential debate here on Wednesday evening. They're closing I-25, *THE* major North-South interstate highway through Denver, from 5-10pm, in the name of security. Unbelievable. Seems likely that traffic is going to be miserable around here that evening, so I'll probably just skip going to see K after work that day.

The challenge of choices

Stopped by the Apple Store last night, before going to see K. They're sold out of new phones, of course, for the foreseeable future. When I asked about getting a MacBook for K, they steered me toward the iPad. Seems like a reasonable alternative, since it's smaller and lighter, and especially considering the new apps available that allow access to Flash-enabled websites. I got through the first of the choices ok, then ran screaming, when faced with the choice of carrier and data plan. Aaaiiieee! My experiences with Verizon, T-Mobile, and now AT&T have been less than stellar. I can only imagine Sprint has their own troubles. What to do...

Lousy night

K reported that she'd had a lousy Thursday night. She seemed somewhat recovered, when Mandy and I visited her this evening.

Field Trip and Status

I'm not sure whether to categorize K's first field trip out with me (to Innomax), as a partial success, or a flat-out disaster. The goal was to let her try out the power lift bed, that Amy and I found on Saturday, and then to look at some of their headboard designs, to see if we could agree on one for home.

Her PT started and ended late. Then she spent a lot of time getting her boot on the left foot, and trying to get the prosthetic on the right leg. She thinks her right leg is too swollen, for the fitting to get to that final "click" that indicates it's safely attached. So we took the facility's wheelchair

We finally left her room at 4pm. With the store closing at 5pm, there wasn't much time. We got her, the wheelchair, and Mandy into the car, and to the store OK, but she was so tired from lack of sleep, that she was pretty useless once we got there. She kept asking questions, then falling asleep when the salesman would try to answer her. She didn't want to leave when the store closed, so three of the employees stayed around, as I tried to whisk her around to the various headboard displays, as she continued to ask questions and fall asleep during the answers. I finally convinced her we had to leave at 6pm, but she wasn't happy about it.

Getting her back into the car was problematic, as she had a hard time waking up to transfer herself from the wheelchair to the car, but we finally got it done.

Then we ran into awful (standstill) traffic on both I-70 and I-25 -- on Sunday afternoon, would would've expected that? -- so it took almost an hour to get back to Life Care.

She was really knocked out, after all that time riding (sleeping) quietly in the car, so it was another big challenge, transferring her from car to wheelchair, to the room, into bed, and undressed for the night. Her CNA had saved her 5pm dinner for her, so she perked up a little, and wanted to stay up to check that out. By that time, I needed to leave for home, so I asked her CNA to stay with her until she laid down.

Within an hour of arriving home, K called to say she had fallen off her bed, and hit her head hard on the floor. She had trouble understanding me, with us talking on two cell phones, and called back from the room phone, but still had trouble understanding me, and hung up. I called her back at both phones, and got no answer, nor from the nurse's station. After a few more minutes, the nurse called with a summary of the event. She had fallen asleep sitting up, and went over onto the floor, but she had no new pain, and all her fingers and lower appendages were working as expected. They called the doctor, who ordered an X-Ray, but she appeared to be fine.