Archives for 2019

Started the day by going up to the clinic in Port St. Lucie, spent more than an hour there trying to figure out how to help Hubby with his weakness. His blood pressure has been so low this week, and he’s been so weak, we finally had to call his new cardiologist and get him to drop the latest medication he put him on, so hopefully that will help. He got his injections, and our nurse confirmed she fixed his Ipad so it should work properly next time, then afterward we went to Panera because Hubby wanted a bowl of nice and salty onion soup, which we figured might help with his BP. Unfortunately, Panera had discontinued it, though apparently was bringing it back in January, but that didn’t help us now! We ended up getting broccoli and cheese, which was pretty salty, too, and he felt a bit better afterward. He sat in the truck while I went into Walmart to shop, a habit he’s gotten into lately since he’s gotten so weak, and soon we were on our way home. I originally had planned to go to Ranch Feed for some hay, but it was raining off and on all day, so I didn’t bother, which turned out to be a good decision as we hit a really big gully-washer of a storm just before we got home, which would have ruined it. Bad enough some of our groceries got soaked, but I put most of the ones that could be damaged by rain inside the truck anyway. Had to sit in the truck for a while till the rain let up and I was able to get Hubby into the trailer, but that was it for the day other than my usual chores.

Well, since we have to dialyze today, we weren’t able to go to our usual Boxing Day Party with old friends down in Lake Worth, so once again, we kept it a quiet day. His dialysis session once again went extremely well, with no access problems at all, thank goodness, so I’m looking forward to less frustrating sessions in the future. Still haven’t got the Ipad working, but hopefully that will happen soon, as doing these reports by hand are very tedious and time consuming, not allowing me to do much of anything while he’s on the machine. He’s been so weak lately that he’s requiring a lot more care from me, and I have to admit, it’s a bit tiring, so I’m not looking too hard for other jobs to do at the moment. I’m sure my energy will return soon and I’ll go back to being my workaholic self, but for the moment, I’m just happy to relax as much as I can whenever I can. We’ve had so much rain that we’re in a giant puddle all around us, which isn’t making things any easier, as Lola keeps tracking mud tracks in every half an hour. My mop is on standby, for sure! Hubby’s labs came back, and he’s very low on hemoglobin, so we’ve arranged to go up to the clinic tomorrow for an injection, so today, we’re just hanging out.

Set the alarm to get up early after a rainy night where Hubby had some trouble sleeping again. Can’t wait for him to get his sleep cycle back on track! Drove up to Port St. Lucie for his kidney clinic, then stopped for lunch at a great little diner called the Lighthouse Diner in Jupiter because he had a craving for liver & onions, then down to meet his new cardiologist, who seemed to be a very competent young man that will work well for us. A number of quick stops at the gas station, the liquor store (for a spot of brandy, being Christmas and all!), Walmart for a new prescription and finally Publix, to pick up a few things for Christmas dinner, arriving back at the house just as the sun was setting. Managed to get the horses fed before dusk was over, then settled down for the evening, looking forward to a couple of days without gray skies and rain, which is pretty much all we’ve seen since got here. But at least the temperatures have been warmer, thank goodness! Precisely why we come to south Florida in the winter!

With lots of rain in the forecast, and with Hubby feeling particularly low again today, we decided to once again relax today, hoping to recharge our batteries for the holiday week ahead. Had some trouble with his dialysis access again, getting quite frustrated at how much damage they did during his last declot, trying to recover his arterial with a sharp needle, and can’t seem to find his original venous buttonhole at all, though it seems like it’s there, but when I try to access it, I get no flash, darn it. Took nearly half an hour, but finally got a good enough flow to dialyze him, and it was relatively uneventful after that. That was enough excitement for one day, the rest of the day was dedicated Christmas movies and relaxing as much as possible.

As promised, we took most of the day off today. The biggest chore was helping Hubby with a long overdue shower, which we both appreciated when we finished, and spent the rest of the rainy day watching mostly Christmas movies and relaxing for a change.

Slept later than usual (must be the warmer weather), took care of the horses, then started to tackle the job of getting the alternator off. I managed to get it mostly done until I had to remove the serpentine belt, then I enlisted Jeff to help me long enough to remove that. He had an online coupon for Advance Auto, so I ordered the new alternator online and got 20% off, yay! He drove me downtown to get it, but before I was able to put it on, I had to get Hubby on his dialysis session. I had trouble with his access again. After a discussion with one of his nurses, we decided to try to recover his original buttonholes, but I had to use a sharp to find his arterial, it just wasn’t flashing like it should, and I couldn’t even find his old venous buttonhole, so I started a new one which I hope will work out. It took quite a bit of finagling, but I finally managed to get him going, and after that, it was an uneventful session, thank goodness. I was able to finish putting the alternator in (again, the only help I needed was for Jeff to help me get the serpentine belt back on), I got the trailer hooked up with electricity and water and got the awning out, so it’s more like home. I’d like to get the screen room and carpet out, but can’t until we move this pile of cement blocks, which Jeff said he wanted to move anyway, so that’s another chore on our ever-growing list. It’s been cloudy and rainy ever since we got here, I sure hope the weather clears up, I’m looking forward to sitting by the pool some fine afternoon! Meanwhile, we’re trying to get caught up on as much rest as we can, Hubby has been so weak since getting out of the hospital, and I’m still tired from all of the nonstop activity of the past couple of weeks. Didn’t get much today, but maybe tomorrow!

Got up just before 7:00 and started my final packing, and were pulling out of the Goethe State Forest at about 8:45, well ahead of schedule. We stopped once to pick up fuel and breakfast just before getting on I-95, and I noticed my battery light was on and my computer read-out was telling me my battery wasn’t charging. Amazing, it seems like almost every time we head to my brother’s, the last leg of the journey has some mechanical challenge. So we turned off all the electrics and kept an eye on the gauge, but it hardly moved during the rest of the nearly 2-hour journey. Then we got to my brother’s at the respectable time of about 2:00, I had no trouble whatsoever getting down his narrow drive (I’ve had a little more practice on driving this rig since last year!), but then we had some problems in the yard. There’s been a ton of rain here during the last few weeks, and living on the edge of the Everglades, his property half returned to swamp. We had a hard time turning around, and an even harder time trying to back up onto the little bit of high ground where we parked last year, and ended up getting stuck trying to maneuver between a light switch and a light pole that stand directly in the middle of where we were and where we wanted to be. We worked till nearly dark trying to move the trailer into a position that would work, but it was hopeless. We ended up deciding to just stay where we were until we could get someone with a 4-wheel drive (though I’m not sure even that will help!), or call a tow truck or just wait until we have enough dry weather to let us move. The only trouble with the spot, really, is that there’s a pile of cement blocks just outside the door, so I suggested that at some point we move them, which Jeff said he’s been wanting to do anyway, so that’s another chore on my list. Meanwhile, our original plan had been to drive into the parts store and get a new alternator, but after screwing around for 3 hours, my batteries were now dead, so that wasn’t possible. We decided we’d tackle it all in the morning. I ran the generator for a while, then we settled down for the evening, glad to be in warmer weather, at least, albeit raining off and on throughout the evening.

Spent the day getting ready to head out tomorrow, and got in another dialysis session. I had a little trouble getting him hooked up, the arterial needle just couldn’t find a decent flash, so it was a very slow day! Managed to get everything put away, got hooked up, and are ready to go first thing tomorrow!