What's New

My sister Gayle came; she saw; she conquered. Thank you, sister, for coming. I know it is not easy.

It was nice to have a week to gather the bits and pieces of my mind. I worked with students when they were available amidst the end-of-the-year craziness. We celebrated Meg's birthday with a wonderful day at the beach. Dave and I met with the realtor at the lake house. A couple of Nate's football buddies came over to the lake house and hauled furniture to the curb for us in advance of the neighborhood garage sale. We all attended Ev's sports banquet. Nate and I stopped by Goodwill and found a wool suit, dress shirt, two ties, and dress shoes, all for $52. Dave and I had a date night. I visited with friends at the Wednesday night dinner. I went to church with my family.

Dave took Gayle to the airport Tuesday morning. Nurse Christy came for an uneventful visit. Cassandra came and while helping Mom into the shower, noticed a pocket of swelling in Mom's thigh. On closer inspection, she had pockets of edema all down through her calf. The doctor said this means Mom's lymph system is shutting down. It is not the type of edema that can be treated. When I called Christy to tell her about the clumps of swelling, I also told her that Mom's catheter was still leaking into her diaper and it was still "stinging." The doctor recommended removing the catheter, with the thinking that Mom's muscle tone would be so low that she would not retain urine this time around. So far it is working well. We have constant diaper changing anyway, so wet diapers are not a problem. And no more "stinging" for Mom is a big plus. She has been sleeping a lot since Tuesday, and I wonder if the catheter pain had been keeping her up.

In my spare time this week, I am trying to reorganize here and make room for, well, everything. Realtor Herman said we need to get everything out of the lake house and spiffy the place up. We are hoping to list at the end of this month. My sister-in-law Cathy is coming next week to tend to Mom, so my plan is to make spaces this week, then move things next week. And hopefully have time left over for spiffying.