ruthpill

Nancy, I am so glad that you are doing well. It is hard to know how far to go. and It is hard to recognize an illness that creeps up on you slowly. I am glad that you are finally getting better and Dan is cooperating with you. Ruth

Debbie. Tell Bruce that I am so proud of him. I love to hear that aqua therapy is really working. Wm hates it but does continue to go at least 4 or 5 times a week. It keeps him going and I love the water. He will walk a little while I swim. But we do his workout. I have not been doing any PT. William does not like working with them. It is easier to just push the water workouts.

I need to check in. I have been lax. We have been doing well. William is still doing his therapy in the water. He does 5 days of the week with our caretaker and I do Saturdays. The three dogs are such a joy. They really pick up William's spirits. If he is confused the dogs seems to calm him down and he gets less confused. HE starts to think of the dogs rather than his problems. I am still working and I enjoy it. It is nice to have the freedom to leave home and go to work. We have settled into a routine. The only thing that I insist on is water therapy. Wm can do what ever else he wants. We did go out to see the movie "The War Room". Wm understood and enjoyed that movie. Our most recent fad is having popcorn. But, I am still insisting that wm try to eat an apple a day. Wm has really lot a lot of weight. Just a diet change that he made himself. He blood pressure meds have really been cut down. A TV program on sugar...made him decide that sugar is not his friend. But, that is good. I do end up taking wm out to eat a lot. This is a fun outing and Wm enjoys eating and seeing the world outside our house. Wm is sleeping in bed. I need to go and wake him up. Otherwise he will be up at midnight 1AM or 2AM. That is hard on me since I get up at 4AM to get to work at 6AM. Miss you all. Ruth

Fred, How wonderful. So many puppies. That is a lot. What are you going to do with all of them. Maybe keep one. two dogs is nice. I love our 3 dogs. But, they are a handful. They keep me walking and busy. Take care of your little pups. Ruth

Happy Birthday Gary. you do such a good job a caregiving. No wonder Gary is in such wonderful Shape. I am so happy that you have a great caregiver and are getting some ME time.

Nancy, I am so glad that you finally got care. I can only imagine the price that you paid. You actually paid a huge price in taking care of Dan. I fortunately have a caregiver to help me and I do have a job to escape to. Please take care of yourself. You have a ways to go to get completely healed. I know how hard it is to visit the nursing home. I pray that you are able to reconcile what has happened. Please take care of yourself. I cannot emphasize that enough. You did more than most. You don't give yourself enough credit. I am glad to hear that your house sold so quickly.

Fred, I am sorry to hear the set back. But, yes age does have a lot to do with loss of mobility and energy. I do hope that you will be able to increase your stamina and get back some more mobility. You have done amazing recovery, Ruth

This was the first vacation that I have taken in 6 years. Since William had his stroke. I took off Monday morning and came back Wed niight. It was short and it was exciting. My advice is do not travel Spriirt airlines. They were 2 hours late and mine should have been at 6AM. I was at our international airport for 5 1/2 hours. I had to check in on line. Well. little did I know. I had a purse and a backpack. So I checked one carry on and Then I chose my seat. Well I really did not have to do either one of those. That cost me. You can leave those blank and get a sear assinged. My purse would have fit into the back pack. This is one of the barebones airlines. These extra costs made it the same as the regular airlines. I did have a very busy itinerary in LA. Very little sleep. I made rounds with my son at the hospital every morning at 5AM since I was up. THEN OUT to breakfast and meeting friends and seeing the sights. We even wen on a 5 mile hike on the beach, It was a good thing that I am in shape and then dinner with friends every evening. They all wondered why I was only staying for 3 days. Fortunately the caretaker did a great job. She misplaced his phone so that He would not phone me continuously. It was fun. But with the 5-1.2 wait at the airport. I was glad that William did not go. That would have been painful. It was fun. I came home and continued by vacation by taking William to the theater to see SanAndreas and Tomorrowland..He was very happy that I made it home. Ruth

Nancy, Take your time and get well. You are in my prayers . I am so glad to hear that you are doing well. Ruth

Sue, You are an angel. William loved the visits that he got in the hospital. The were so important. It is nice that we have volunteers that are so thoughtful. Take care of yourself. I do miss chat.

I have had Thurs. Friday. Sat and sun and Monday off from work. My caretaker took some time off and I took off from my job to take over her shift. Thurs. we went to the pool and did our therapy. We had breakfast afterwards. I ordered wm huevos rancheros. He loved it. Then I had to do some shopping and went to the accountant. Wm enjoyed talking to his old friend and then I took the dogs to the dog park and wm finally go home. He had a good day. Friday we got up and went to the pool and got our therapy done early. We went out to breakfast and then wm went home md had a rest . We met a friend for dinner early at 3 pm. I walked the dogs Sat we got up and made it to the pool and did our exercise early. Made it out to breakfast william came home and went to bed to recuperate. I took the dogs to the dog park. One of mine refused to leave. I finally left her there. I had fried and tried and she ran away from me. So I went home and checked on william and went for a swim. I told william that he had to come with me so that I could pick Suzie q up at the dog park. She was waiting there at the gate ready to go his time. She was so bad . She was the only one at the park because it had rained. I hope that she does not do that again. Today is Sunday. William got up early and needed to go to the restroom. He had sweated so much that I suggested a shower and then I could change the sheets and he would feel better. He did not argue with me and consented to a shower. It started to be really wet and windy outside. Got William to the recliner and he fed the dogs a snack and had his meds. He then wanted to go back to bed. No church today since it is wet he watched one of the Sunday preachers. I have walked the dogs twice and I gave them a bath last night. Today should be quite. I am cooking a pot of beans and some rice. Of course the laundry and house to clean. Good news I am finally going to leave the house for three days. The caretaker will stay with william while I go to la to visit my son. Just a short trip because I did not want to leave william too long. I leave Monday am and return we'd night. Let's see how it goes

Nancy, I was so worried . I am so glad that you were able to check in. I am glad that somebody was able to help you get on the road to recovery. Now, take your time and get better. It took along time to get to where you were. Be patient and you will recover. Dan is doing ok and you will get everything taken care of in time. Always. Ruth

Sarah, You manage so well. We cannot chill out. Our circumstances make us hyperviligent. We think ahead and consider all types of plans. Salesmen try to do that . You tried and it didn't work . Sorry you had to go thru so much. Delivery people are usually late. I need to buy a couch. But I don't want to spend time shopping for one or waiting for the delivery person to deliver. Ruth

nancy, I am so glad that you found the medicine to help you thru that. I was so worried about you. Always take care of yourself. It is hard. I have to tell william constantly. I need to take care of myself. Or who be around to take care of you. Time does go too quickly when your life is filled with care taking. It is one day at a time. You stop to think and years have passed. You are amazing. Take care of yourself. I pray for you constantly. Ruth

My time is gone. No time for anything. My crazy job wants us to work an extra 20 hours a week. That is really crimping my lifestyle. Mycaretaker is doing the pool workout with William. That gives me time to do my own workout after work. So my day starts at 3am. I am up and walk the dogs. I get ready for work and get there a little after 4 am. This is part of the Ot. I am scheduled for 6:30am. I do Medicare prescription insurance prior authorization. I stay until 3pm. I get home and go to the pool for me them walk the dogs and get dinner and visit with william and hit the bed by 8pm. I stress to william that he needs to continue his swimming pool exercises. He usually does this daily. I do miss the network. I miss the daily check in, but the dogs are like having three little babies. They are really good for William. I can hear him visiting with the dogs all the time. The time they take is worth it. My psoriasis really flared up in November. I got a cold or allergies that took two months to get uver. So I took myself off my Enbrel. I had a shingles shot during that time. But my skin...it is really bad. But hopefully in a couple of months it will be better. I look like I have leprosy. Luckily we have a pretty mild winter in Houston. But William still hates cold weather. I got crazy and started crotcheting and knitting hats and scarves, My dogs really wanted to bother me because they wanted to play. I am still enjoying my job (minus the over time) and the dogs are fun. I am trying to teach the dogs to sit and shake hands. My neighbor is teaching me how to do this. No trips. Actually I have started back to short ones. William said that he wanted to go with the church group on a short bus trip to an port two hours away. It went well. Out next one will be to a live theater production, I just noticed that circque de solil will be here in February. I need to get tickets because it will be very close and they have good handicap access. They haven't been here for the last two years. Houston is large and sometimes they are here but not right in our back yard area. I only go if they are at this location. I do miss you all. I love reading your blogs

Julie, I am praying for you both. I know how trying these times can be Ruth

Debbie. I know that Bruce is loving your retirement more than yourself. I am with Julie. Stay off of ladders. My son does not think that I should stand on chairs. We are older even if we do not feel or act it. Ruth

Sue. You are adapting. We women are resilent. We go with changes. Kicking and screaming. ....but we go. Enjoy your time and visit. You need to make it to the states or we all need to meet in Hawaii. What a reunion that would be. Ruth

Fred, I am rooting for you. Keep pushing those people until you get the help that you need. Ruth

Nancy, I hear your sighs Yes, we all have those same longings. I have those same thoughts myself. BUt, I have learned that you can never foresee the future. I never in my wildest dreams ..could ever have imagined my life now as a caretaker. But, it is what I need to do. My life is full. too full. caring for William and hiring a caregiver and working and taking care of our three dogs. But, I have learned to roll with the punches. What every life dishes out. I am ready to tackle. I have learned to enjoy the little things. I love to love at the antics of the dogs. They just enjoy little things. I enjoy our workouts in the pool. Luckily Wm has continued on this part of our recovery. I have no idea how far he he will get. I pray for you. RUth and I sigh with you.

Debbie, I AM Envious. I need to do that big time. Good for you both. Ruth

Fred, I am so sorry to hear this bad news. Chin up and this will pass soon. I know not soon enough. I will pray for you. Ruth

I have been doing water therapy for over five years with my husband, William. It is the only thing that he is able to do consistently. I personally take him into the pool five days do the week. We have access to a therapeutic pools at the YMCA. Wm has progressed since we started. I must agree that the cold after you get out of the therapeutic pool is hard. But you can do so much in the water and it is easy. The water is so relaxing. It relaxes the muscles and the soul. Wm is so rejuvenated after the pool. Truthfully he does not want to do it always. But we go all the time. We walk back and forth. At the beginning we had to walk in the deeper water. More bouncy and it was easier ...as you progress you walk in shallower water. We push and pull the arms out for two hundred reps. This has really helped with the range of motion of his weak arm. He stands on one leg and lifts the other one up . And taps the wall 40 times. Next the other leg. He does belly to the wall and bottom out . 40 reps. This moves the truck. We have worked up to 40 reps of each exercise. Next stand in deep water and put weight on right leg and swing the opposite leg forward and backward. 40 times. Opposite leg next. Next stand on the right leg and swing the left leg to the wall and out. 40 reps. Opposite leg next. These are our wall exercises. We usually walk again. Our workout lasts 30min. I pull wm around the pool on his back and he kicks his legs out and in and kicks them also. Of course the shower is a workout also. Standing and sitting. But he always feels so good after he is done. Usually time to sleep on e we get home.