Week 19

Hello al1!  I'm going to try to push through as many of these missed weeks as possible.  This one here started out slow but was eventful towards the end.

Take a look at week 19's pictures: 

Day 129- Monday, 5/9/22

It's cold out and this kitty boy needs some warmth and love which I don't mind at all.  He's quite content here and purring up a storm.  He's one of the best things that helps me unwind and relax after work.

Day 130- Tuesday, 5/10/22

We're all so happy to finally have some decent rain.  Too bad it didn't happen until May but we'll take what we can get.  They also got snow in the mountains!

Day 131- Wednesday, 5/11/22

Orange chicken for dinner and an orange kitty watching mouse videos with Brandon.  These two are too cute! Interesting fact about that orange chicken--I had to go to Costco to get it and I haven't been to Costco in YEARS.  That has always been John's thing but Brandon was craving the particular orange chicken we can only get there so I made a run for him and thankfully he was most appreciative.

Day 132- Thursday, 5/12/22

I seem to have picked up a friend while munching on popcorn and watching Windy City Rehab.

Day 133- Friday, 5/13/22

Today I headed north into the fog to help Justin move home from Humboldt for the summer.  We had dinner together and he paid as a late Mother's Day gift which was super sweet of him.  I sure missed this guy and am happy to be taking him home with me tomorrow.

Day 134- Saturday, 5/14/22

After we got him all packed up we hit the Farmer's Market before heading out so he could show me his favorites treats.  Then of course while I'm out of town and mostly on the road, in a flurry of activity requiring many calls and decisions on my part, John was finally transferred from UCSF to a physical therapy center in Sacramento. Of all the weekends for this to happen it had to be this weekend but hey, at least now he's closer to home.  This is a BIG step in the right direction.

Day 135- Sunday, 5/15/22

All 3 boys and I got to visit John at his new place today.  It was great to all be together again plus we can now visit him outside in a nice lounge area while he sits in a wheelchair.  How nice it is to see him upright and out of bed in real clothes again.  He still looks super thin but was in good spirits so we had a really good visit.  When I got home we had more flowers waiting for us out front this time from an old co-worker of John's.  We are truly blessed.  Later, Justin and I shared some of the Farmer's Market bread with the other two boys.  It's an orange chocolate chip loaf and wow!--pretty amazing with such great flavor.

That's it!  Only a few more to go before I can be caught up again.

Week 18

Welcome back!  Here is another week and what a week it was as we celebrated our high-school senior and Mother's day--both of which were bitter sweet without John or Justin here to join us, but we may be getting them both back on the same day next week! 

Here are week 18's pictures:

Day 122- Monday, 5/2/22

We're kicking off the week with a nice Italian meal for dinner.  Brandon is a huge pasta fan so he's a happy boy.

Day 123- Tuesday, 5/3/22

I took this picture to share with John who's really missing his pup and thankfully she was in a cooperative mood.  He loved it.  It's so nice to be communicating with him again by phone which we have only recently been able to do.  It took him awhile to be able to use his hands well enough again to not only hold his phone but also text.  His upper body strength is improving quickly.

Day 124- Wednesday, 5/4/22

The senior scholar athletes got their Booster's scholarships and banners at the monthly Booster meeting tonight.  What an amazing group of kids and such a great thing this club does for them.

Day 125- Thursday, 5/5/22

I had a leak detection company come out with their fancy high-tech equipment to help me locate the source of the front yard leak we have and it turns out the people who put our new fence in drove a post right through one of our pool irrigation lines.  Now we know where and why so it's time to finally get this leak fixed.  In other news, I've been wanting to try this New Zealand wine that I've see in ads everywhere and finally saw it at a local store this afternoon so picked up a bottle to go with dinner.  It was super refreshing and good  so I'll be revisiting soon.

Day 126- Friday, 5/6/22

TGIF!  Found these beauties on my doorstep after work from the bay area team keeping an eye on John for me when I can't be there.  So sweet of them to think of me for Mother's Day.

Day 127- Saturday, 5/7/22

Today was the senior cap and gown pick up parade.  They also got a lawn sign from the school.  It was fun and thankfully early in the morning so I still had time to head to the city and see John with my friend Sharon.  His trach will be removed tomorrow and he's been doing PT trying to sit and stand but sadly has not had much of an apatite so his weight is down lower than they would like which means he has to continue tube feeding which is really frustrating for him.  The poor guy has lost 50 lbs since this all started and now weighs less than I do which is something I thought I'd never say.  Hopefully things will improve over the next week so he can still be transferred soon.  When I got home after seeing him I saw this big heart in the sky and know it just had to be a positive sign.

Day 128- Sunday, 5/8/22

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers out there.  Tyler and Brandon did a great job making me brunch this morning and buying me chocolates they knew their dad would have bought me.  I also had a visit from one of his employees--their team got me a bottle of wine, gift card, and some more chocolate.  All so sweet and we had a good cry together.  They miss him so much.

That's a wrap for this week!  See you soon as I continue to play catch up.

Week 17

Welcome back!  I've been great about continuing to taking pictures but keeping up with posting the blog has been difficult so it's time for me to play catch up again.  This week towards the end of March we looked forward to starting a new month.

Here's a look at week 17's pictures: 

Day 115- Monday, 4/25/22

Any day is a good day for ice-cream but it's truly a special treat on a Monday.  Mondays are hard and ending them with something sweet is the way to go!

Day 116, Tuesday, 4/26/22

Even Rusty is not a fan of the amount of insurance mail we get these days and many of them are for the same thing and all come with extra pages that are completely unnecessary.  Right now I'm hating going to the mailbox because there's nothing fun is in there anymore.

Day 117- Wednesday, 4/27/22

Wednesday at work I'm setting up mastitis testing plates and after work I swung by the place that has had our lawnmower for the past few months--she's back!   . . . And even better, one of our friends picked up the repair bill.

Day 118- Thursday, 4/28/22

I've been working with our pool service guy to get our pool ready for summer and it's starting to look inviting again even though it's still too cold to give it a try right now.

Day 119- Friday, 4/29/22

John usually does our wine club pick-ups but he hasn't been able to in months so I'm just now getting to at least one of them.  It was a beautiful day out and a beautiful drive to pick these wines up.  Also when I got back home we had dinner waiting for us from a friend.  We've never tried Shake Shack before but it was good!  We have the best friends supporting us.

Day 120- Saturday, 4/30/22

Time for our weekly trip into SF to see John this time with Brandon who hasn't seen him since he first came here.  Back then John and fully sedated and didn't even know we were there, but this time he was wide awake for Brandon and could talk to us so Brandon was happy to see the improvement.  What a beautiful day it was in the city.

Day 121- Sunday, 5/1/22

Welcome to May!  It's also National College Decision Day and Brandon has decided on Cal State Fullerton which is in Orange County near Disneyland.  In other news, John passed his swallow test after having his damaged vocal cord repaired this week so he can finally start eating solids again--this was his first meal.  He's making good progress now which is great to see and they are still planning to transfer him back to Sacramento maybe as early as next week.

That's it for now!  I'll try to get more back-logged weeks published soon.

Week 16

Welcome back!  I'm almost caught up on these posts.  Things are pretty boring around here with just Brandon, the pets and I. I'm missing the rest of my people. Thankfully Justin comes home for the summer soon and hopefully John will be transferred back to Sacramento soon.

Here are week 16's pictures:

Day 108- Monday, 4/18/22

She hates stopping to wait at the crosswalk.  Even at age 13 she's go-go-go!

Day 109- Tuesday, 4/19/22

It was a rainy start to the day but in the afternoon the sun came out through the rain clouds and it made for a nice fresh-air walk.

Day 110- Wednesday, 4/20/22

Wednesday at work I'm just doing what I do and being thankful I have my work to help keep my mind off things I can't control elsewhere. This afternoon I was told that the nephrology team didn't think John's kidneys would recover and that he would most likely be on dialysis the rest of his life.  Not the news I was hoping for and how did we get from heart failure to now kidney failure too?  Ugh!

Day 111- Thursday, 4/21/22

Much needed afternoon cuddles with a cat who has forgiven me for leaving him overnight last week, and evening tacos with a cool kid.  It's just him and me for dinner most days now when he's not working and then it's just me.

Day 112- Friday, 4/22/22

Happy Earth Day!  At least the ladybugs are enjoying my overgrown, weed-infested backyard.

Day 113- Saturday, 4/23/22

It was a gorgeous spring day in the city visiting John with Tyler in tow. He's made good progress in the past few days after they took him off a heart healing drug that was causing a super rare and sometimes fatal reaction.  Turns out this Stain-based drug was the root cause of all his rapid muscle deterioration, kidney problems and brain fog.  Thank goodness they found the cause of his kidney issues and now it looks like his kidneys are recovering!  What a rollercoaster of emotions over the past couple days. Time to get back on the track with making heart recovery progress and building up his muscle strength.  The best part of the visit today was hearing him whisper talk and carry on actual conversations with us.  He does have a damaged vocal cord that needs repair and is preventing him from having solid foods until it's fixed but they are hoping to get that done soon. 

Day 114- Sunday, 4/24/22

Sundays are really the only downtime days for me now and at least I have that and do try to enjoy it.  My Easter tulips lasted way longer than I expected but now that they are opening up it's time for them to go.  I'm surprised this bunch never really drooped like most do and I was able to enjoy them all week.

That's it!  Thanks for stopping by.

Week 15

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone had a good Easter.  Ours was quiet but still good to be with family.  April here feels more like February these days.  We are getting the rain and cold weather we were expecting back then now alternating with days in the 80's here and there. Mother nature can't make up her mind.

Here are week 15's pictures:

Day 101- Monday, 4/11/22

Yay for spring flowers.  I love this purple color.  Brandon decided to commit to Cal Sate Fullerton today and right after we got his housing application submitted. Crazy to think in a few months he'll be living in the Orange County LA area near Disneyland.

Day 102- Tuesday, 4/12/22

Dealing with medical leave and SDI applications has been no fun.  This morning I spent 3.5 hours waiting to talk to a live person in the SDI office.  What a broken system that is!  We're also still waiting for John's work leave to get approved.  The hospital lost the paper work they were supposed to submit so hopefully today while I'm in SF we can sort that out.  Because of the COVID exposure none of John's friends can visit during this week and I didn't want to leave him all week without seeing a familiar face so I took a couple days off from work to see him this afternoon and tomorrow.  Thank goodness the ferry rides are an enjoyable way to get to the city and super pleasant after spending the morning in a crowed state government office.

Day 103- Wednesday, 4/13/22

Second day visiting my guy.  I spent the night in the city with friends so I could see him 2 days in a row. He's no longer intubated which is great and was really alert and mouthing a few words yesterday.  Today he was very sleepy and out of it.  He's still really swollen with fluids and still on dialysis.  His lack of muscle movement is concerning so they are running a bunch of tests to check on that.  I was also able to get all the paperwork needed from the hospital so now hopefully we'll have his medical leave approved soon.  Back at home I was missed by the pets but Rusty was giving me the cold shoulder because he's mad I left him overnight.  He won't leave my presence but won't get close either.  Silly cat!  

Day 104- Thursday, 4/14/22

This rainy and cold day was a great day to make banana bread.  Brandon was happy to come home after school to a fresh loaf of goodness.

Day 105- Friday, 4/15/22

After work I did some Easter shopping and called around to find someone that can help me with this water leak.  We cannot find the source and it is never ending even with all our sprinklers and what not turned off.

Day 106- Saturday, 4/16/22

I'm back in SF for a usual Saturday visit on this beautiful warm spring day.  My friend Sharon who went to high school with John came with me.  He has been moved out of the ICU which is good news and he was pretty awake and responsive with some impressive/comical facial expressions and eye rolls in response to our conversations.  It was nice to see his sense of humor come through.  On the way home Sharon and I stopped at the new Cane's in Davis to pick up some food for dinner.  It was our first time trying it and it did not disappoint.  Now my boys want to try some.

Day 107- Sunday, 4/17/22

Happy Easter!  Brandon had to work later so he missed out on dinner but was at least able to spend the morning with me.  Tyler and Lupe came for a nice ham dinner and Tyler brought some of his special made mac and cheese to add to the meal.  We were of course missing John on this holiday and hoping maybe he can join us again sometime soon.

That's it!  I hope everyone had a good family day.