Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Dodged that bullet!

It's amazing! Glenn didn't have to go in the hospital yesterday because his labs didn't get worse, and actually got slightly better. I wonder if all your prayers had anything to do with that, wink wink, ;-)  So we are feeling like we have a "free" week this week, since we planned to be in the hospital for a few days and now we aren't! Next week Glenn has 3 different appointments: with the VA to get started with them so he can get his Rx's paid for; at the nephrologist to figure out where to go from here with the dialysis accesses; with the oncologist in G'ville for whatever the next step is with them. He has to continue on the steroids for at least a couple more weeks. So he will have to deal with swelling some more, but the dose is lower than it was. Right now he is resting/sleeping in his chair. I'm sure the last couple weeks have him worn out, I know they have me worn out. This "free" week is such a welcome relief before we have another busy two weeks with appointments and moving again. (I don't remember if I told you that we moved into a 3 bedroom unit until a 2 bedroom is available in the middle of Feb.) But we are really pleased with our new neighborhood community. It's a small "55 and over" community, an old military base that they refurbished the military living quarters and made into this community. In a beautiful, peaceful setting. We never want to own a home again. It is so liberating to pay rent and let someone else take care of the yard, the repairs and upkeep, etc. We were told that we can treat it like our own home for whatever we want to do in it, like redoing, etc. It feels very homey.  And they plan activities for us, if we want to participate. Yes, bingo is one of them. We are officially old now. We will be able to meet everyone here when we get settled and have more times without appointments.
I need to go get ready now for us to go vote and go back to our favorite grocery store where we used to live.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Getting ready

It's Sunday night and we are about ready for our trip to G'ville tomorrow. Not that the trip is long, just that we are prepared for Glenn to be admitted to the hospital. We aren't sure what to expect as far as what will be done to him, but guessing it will be some kind of procedure(s) to get him ready to start dialysis. I think we are past the shock stage and now kind of resigned. Well, I don't think Glenn is yet, he is still thinking he might be able to stop the kidney function going down. But this week will help us see the reality of it all. We aren't expecting to have to stay in the hospital all week, but we don't know how long we will be there. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts sent out for us. I'll let you know more when we know more. To be continued.............

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

One week later how things change.

One week later we're in G'ville again for the first treatment in a long time for Glenn.
The Dr. came in a little while ago and told us that Glenn's chemistry was bad, the ones that tell the kidney function, and he needs to get started on dialysis. Booo! So we will start that process as soon as we can. The Dr. said to come back Monday prepared to be admitted.  He has been feeling pretty good, other than the continued swelling. He 's been very active and we actually moved this past weekend, although he felt "completely useless" because he couldn't really do anything to help other than to direct. We had lots of WONDERFUL help from strong men, young and old! We are temporarily settled because we are there temporarily until a 2 bedroom comes available which will be sometime in February. Then we can  get completely settled.
That's all for now. I am trying to process this new development of Glenn starting dialysis and need time to think it out, and talk with Glenn about it to help him with it ,too.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Good News!

Glenn had an appointment in G'ville today. To sum it all up, there is a shot that he has to get every two weeks that more than meets the "share of cost" for medicaide...  Sooooo he can resume all his medical care!!!! It was so cute how the Dr. had a little smirk on his face when he told us what the shot would cost, because he knows what we've been going through. Yahooooo!!! God had it all worked out. Well, of course, we knew that already, but it's nice to see the answer finally. We have to go back to G'ville tomorrow because he has a follow-up appointment with the pulmonologist and he also has to get a couple units of blood because his blood count is down. His kidney function, according to his labs, is "in the toilet",( pardon the pun!). I'm sure not having treatment for a couple months has something to do with that, even though his kidney function isn't expected to improve but keep getting worse. But at least now he can move forward with getting an access implanted to get ready for dialysis, since finances are not standing in the way. We will have a busy next four days because I have to work on packing the house for our move, spend the whole day in G'ville tomorrow, finish packing the kitchen Friday and take a load over to the new place. Then Saturday the rest of the stuff will be moved. We won't totally unpack because we are temporarily going to live a 3 bedroom unit until probably the middle of Feb. when the 2 bedroom unit will become available.
Well, I must go now and do some packing.....

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Just checking in with you all

My sister reminded me, tonight, that it's  been over a week since I've had an entry here. So, here I am. Really, there isn't any big news to report. Glenn did get an appointment with the VA for 3 weeks from now. He is also getting some positive feedback about some other VA benefits he's been trying to get. We haven't heard anything from the Dr. in G'ville yet. Glenn has an appointment there next week. We have to decide if we are going to keep it, (since we probably will have to pay for it), or cancel. I'm leaning towards keeping it so we will have the Dr.'s undivided attention and can pin him down to something specific as far as treatment, hopefully.
A request I had for God was that a 2 bedroom unit would come available by the time we move at the end of this month. (At this point, we are scheduled to move into a 3 bedroom until a 2 bedroom came available. It  fits our budget better than a 3 bedroom.) It wasn't really practically possible, since they only require a 30 day notice from residents who are moving, and they didn't have any notices. But...... Glenn got a call that they unfortunately had a resident pass away, so a 2 bedroom has come available. Now, I didn't ask God for someone to pass away in order for us to get a 2 bedroom and not have to move twice. I just asked not to have to move twice and to make a 2 bedroom available by the end of the month. God chose how to make that happen. Coincidence? Clearly not.
As far as Glenn's health this week, he feels ok. He has some things that come up that bother him, but not anything for us to be concerned about at this time. He's gone out early two mornings this week to do somethings he wanted to get accomplished. He still takes naps several times a day. He is swelling again some, but not as bad as it got before. I am allowed to give him an extra medication when he needs it for the swelling, which seems to work, so far.
So, you see, there isn't anything major to report.  As I said before, no news is good news. Thanks for checking on him and keeping up with his progress.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Progress? Maybe....

Glenn felt much better yesterday so we went ahead with our plan that we had the day before. We timed how long it takes to G'ville from where we will be moving to, and it takes at least 30 minutes less than where we currently live. I'm really not sure if we accomplished anything at the VA  clinic.. It's as "easy" to navigate as medicaide, maybe worse. They had us literally going in circles and we finally gave up. Hopefully Glenn will get an appointment at the VA clinic here in Jax soon and he can start getting his meds from there. The way things are set up with medicaide for him right now, we have to pay total price for his meds. That's just not possible.
Glenn called the oncology Dr. there in G'ville and FINALLY got him on the phone. He is going to work with us to get the treatment Glenn needs to have and get it covered by medicaide. We went over to that hospital and talked to the financial person there and she was extremely helpful. So we are hoping his treatment will get going again soon. Yeaaaa!!!!!
Last night after we got home I still had enough energy to make some pizzelles. I wanted to make them for the sweet ladies in my Mah Jongg group today. They have been so supportive with all the treatment, etc. I can't thank them enough for all they've done for us. They are the biggest reason I'll miss living here. There are many nice, fancy, flashy amenities here but they mean nothing compared to the wonderful, thoughtful people here. God has been so gracious to let us live here for the past two years at a point in our lives when we have needed to lean on people, and these people, along with our family at church, have been the exact prescription for our needs.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2Cor. 1: 3-4


Monday, January 2, 2012

If At First You Don't Succeed.........

This morning we got up "early" and set out to turn in some paperwork at our next place of residence then, to time how long it takes to get to G'ville from there and get some things done at the VA in G'ville. When we got to the first stop, no one was there at the office, so we called the VA to find out if they also were off today, and they are. So...... we turned around and came back home. We'll try again tomorrow to get all that done.
So this afternoon I got some more packing done, while Glenn slept most of the day. He had a not so good night and hasn't felt well today. We aren't sure what's going on. If it continues tomorrow we will call the nephrologist to find out if this might be kidney failure related. I'll let you know how tomorrow turns out.