The Lucky Dog Blog

Tuesday Morning, May 31, 2011

I'm very late today for several reasons –  the main one being that the telephone and computer line were down. The phone company just got them fixed. Amazing how important being connected is these days.

Al is a bit better. It is slow going. He is beginning to take interest in our future and we talked about getting Lucky and Brutus home. (About time, I need a little help with the blog. Lucky has been a slacker.)

Am doing laundry of wet stuff. Found that borax really helps with the smelly stuff. Al is resting on the couch. He got up and ate breakfast and took his meds first.

Ben has been working since about 7:30 and I'm sure he is beginning to wonder where I am to help him. So many things to do here first –  pay some bills, make phone calls and generally tidy up.

Will try to keep up with the blog and e-mails now that we have service once again. We will likely be down for a few days as we need to leave here by the end of the 9^th  and won't be able to move into the house we rented in Hopkins, MN until July 1. This will be an adventure in flexibility for me and a greater one in exercising patience.

Marilyn

Memorial Day, 2011

We have a lot to remember on this day. The tragedies in Joplin and elsewhere, our family members who have gone before and so much more. We are thankful to be alive and recovering.

We all slept a little later this morning. We needed the extra rest.

Al is better today; he ate an English muffin and took his meds. He is now able to get up without help and uses the walker for safety to get about. He is still very weak and tired, but we are encouraged with his progress.

Ben has already gone down to the cabins to begin work. My job is to get the apartment better organized and do laundry. We sort of “fell” into here and there are piles of stuff all about. They need to be purged, organized and packed to take back to the cabins for further dispersal. Later today, I will go down and begin sorting throught the dry stuff –  triage –  things to keep, to give away and to burn or take to the dumpster. This isn't the easiest way to down-size, but it clearly is effective.

Not a lot of new news here, except to report some progress. I suppose that is a lot, in its own way. I hope to get the dogs back from the Animal Hospital very soon. They must be feeling very abandoned, but I couldn't care for them under the circumstances and am go glad that there was a good and safe place for them to be.

Thanks to all who have been so concerned and helpful. Enjoy the last day of the holiday weekend.

Marilyn

 

Out of the Hospital

Yesterday, after a time taking trip to Springfield (had a low tire that took a while to get fixed) I arrived at Cox South to find that Al was being dismissed. It was a surprise that I was ill prepared for, but we coped.We got back to the apartment we are staying in about 6:30 pm. Al was very weak and tired.

I went down to the cabins and Builder Bob helped me get a walker out of a storage shed. It was covered with mud and wet, but I got it back and Ben cleaned it up for me. Before we could get that done, Al fell in the bedroom and it took both of us to get him up. Thank goodness Al wasn't hurt. A miracle on a concrete floor. 

Eventually, we got Al settled for the night and we all fell into an exhausted sleep.  Things look better this morning. Al has been up, cleaned up and I am having my first cup of coffee.

Ben found that the pods had been wet more than a foot, so he worked all day in pulling wet stuff out of the pod at the guest house and will work on the second one today. I will go down and collect anything that can be salvaged and washed. Sadly, stuff that was never wet the first time like the dehumidfier (amazingly, it still works Ben said) and my faithful Sears sewing machine got wet this time. Those are only a couple of things I know about so far.

We have 10 days to make and carry out a plan for our future. While Al was so sick, I was like Scarlett O'Hara. My mind just stopped at the end of the day. I couldn't think about tomorrow. Now I have to think about the future. Lots of decisions, but now Al can participate.

Wishing everyone a good holiday weekend. We didn't get to decorate our family graves this year, but Zella Mae and I will do that as soon as we can.

Marilyn

Memorial Day Weekend

Another day in Paradise. Weather forecast is “significant” winds and scattered thunderstorms. I used to laugh at my family's obsession with the weather. Now, I find I am also possessed with a need to know ther forecast. During my childhood, I woke up each morning the the Washington Post March and C.C. Williford's weather forecase from KWTO (Keep Watching the Ozarks) in Springfield, MO.  Now I check the NOAA radar.

Ben and I are making lists of needed supplies –  more boxes, a scrub bucket, rubber gloves, etc. He has had a recent tetanus shot, thank goodness. Who knows what was in the water that poured throught the houses and, now, the pods.

I am going back to Springfield to be with Al this morning. The nursing staff changes at 7 am, so won't be able to get a report for about an hour and I will be on my way by then.

Ben can be reached here at 417–223–4455 (leave a message, if he isn't here at the time). Ben also fixed my cell phone (it needed a new battery), so I can be reached by it, even at the hospital (417–437–4972) Sometimes I can retrieve messages, sometimes not, so if I don't respond, please call again. I am using Al's computer this morning, but the laptop isn't set up for the blog. The only way I can communicate via it is to leave a comment.

Thanks to all who have been so concerned and caring. We really appreciate it.

Marilyn

Trying to get back to normal

Tonight I am back at the apartment on the creek. Today, I went to Cox Home Health supply to get my new C-Pap mask fitted, then I headed for Pineville. My cell phone died half way there so I stopped in Goodman to see if the man I bought it from could fix it so I could find out if Big Sugar Creek Road was open after flood #2. The cell phone store was closed (go figure). I next stopped at the Anderson Animal Hospital and asked them to call the Post Office (what the FEMA man said he planned to do) They couldn't tell me as the route was not scheduled to be completed until 12:30 (it was 11:30 and my appointment was for 12. I next asked them to call the Sheriff's office to see if they knew if the road was open. They “guessed” it was passable. I gambled that it was and took the shorter route to the cabin. Got there at 12, barely scraping (literally) through the crossing at Shady Grove. I met with the guy from FEMA (who was very nice) then I attended to some essential business matters, and headed to XNA airport to meet Ben's plane. Since my cellphone didn't work, we missed each other for about a half hour until I had him paged. Nothing is easy or simple these days.

We found that the storage pods had broken gaskets and leaked during flood #2, so they have to be emptied again and resorted. More losses to bear. The hits just keep on coming.

The good news is that Al is improving. He is off oxygen and that means his pneumonia is either cured or much improved. He is still very weak and not quite ready to come home, but should be soon.

I will go back to Springfield to be with Al tomorrow morning. Ben is staying here to sort and clean up. His family will join us when the boy's school is out on June 3. Thank goodness for our boys who have helped us so much during this mess.

Marilyn

MAY 20, 2011

Marilyn reporting:

Lucky and Brutus are at the Anderson Animal Hospital being cared for and boarded while Al is sick. I can't manage all of them at the same time. Al is resting on the couch. It is very difficult to persuade him to drink liquids as he is convinced that I am just full of hot air. I keep persisting because I know the alternative is hospitalization to rehydrate him to a safe leve.

It is a dark and stormy morning. The thunderstorm hasn't arrived yet, but the dark clouds have so it is necessary to have a light on in the apartment to see where I am going. We may get another 2 inches of rain in the next two days. Just what we need around here –  more water.

I am hoping to learn how to download photos soon. The blog looks pretty boring without a photo or two. Am looking forward to having Al show me how to do that. He is the techy guru around here and I miss working with him on the blog.

We will go to Bentonville to a lab and have blood work done to check on his rehydration. Will let you know how that goes. I said yesterday that I was going to get him to the Dr. come hell or high water. Oh, wait. We have already been there.

Marilyn

MAY 19, 2011 EXTRA EDITION

Just wanted to let everyone know that we went to Springfield today for Al to see our internist. He was checked over and when we got there had no fever (go figure), but was seriously dehydrated. My job is to encourage him to take a lot of fluids in the next few hours. I hope that goes well. Right now, he is sleeping. Exhausted from the trip and trekking around the clinic. I got a wheel chair for him and pushed him hither and thither when I realized how hard it was for him to get around (I knew because of the blue fog emissions from his mouth).

I have tried to report to nearby family and friends and decided that an extra edition of the blog might also help spread the word. We will go to a lab in Bentonville tomorrow for follow up blood work to be sure he is getting hydrated again. His blood pressure is also very low, so discontinuing the high blood pressure medicines until he feels better. They are probably contributing to his lethargy.

Hope to have good news tomorrow. We are safely home, the cats are fed and watered. I'm going to put my feet up and rest for a bit myself.

Marilyn

MAY 19, 2011

Yesterday was a pretty boring day. Al was a little better, but slept most of the day on the couch. That meant that Marilyn had to be quiet (Not her strong suit) and let him rest.  A few phone calls. The metal structure they are staying in does not permit cell phone reception, so it is difficult when people call on that “line” and leave messages. It sometimes takes Marilyn a while to realize that she had a call.  The land line is 223–4455 and it works fine.  Tomorrow, Marilyn is going to do more sorting and packing. That will get her out of the house, so the cell phone will be working then. Al doesn't want to talk on the phone as his hearing is impaired and he just doesn't feel like talking to anyone right now.

They are keeping me at the spa until Al feels better. Marilyn can only cope with one battle at a time and Brutus and I need a lot of care right now. I have twice daily insulin shots and Brutus has to have medication in his eye and an ear twice a day, not to mention a lot of walks to keep our bladders happy.

Yesterday, Marilyn rescued a lot of clothes that were muddy and wet. She got them washed and dried and now they can be kept or given away. Giving away is the preferred choice right now.

Al has a temperature of 100.3 this morning. Marilyn is going to do her level best to get him to a Dr.  Will let you know how that turns out later.

Lucky

 

May 18, 2011

We are slowly recovering from the shock of losing our home in the flood on April 25, 2011. It has been a very difficult 3 weeks to put it mildly. Al has been sick since last Saturday and if crankiness is any indication of getting better, he is ready for the Olympics of good health. His fever seems to be down this morning, which is a good thing. He put up this photo earlier this morning an announced that the blog was over (apparently he is riding into the sunset).

I disagreed and he said I could continue it on my own if I could figure it out (another indication of ire). 

 

                                            

On a brighter note, this is Ben's birthday. I don't remember it myself, but Marilyn said his birth was a day of great joy in her life and he continues to be a delight.

Lucky

EAST COAST GRANDKIDS

Marilyn got a Mother's Day card and enclosed where photos of Katie and Eric, our East Coast grandchildren. They are growing up very fast. Katie is rrunning track and Eric is into martial arts.

                  

I think Marilyn and Al will be visiting the Minnesota grandsons, so I may get photos of them to post soon.

Al isn't feeling well this morning, so this will be a short post.

Lucky