Sandi Wednesday Night

Two more days of tests and surgery to get tissue samples have put her through quite a lot. She is doing as well as can be expected and appreciates very much the prayers and support from one and all.


I am exhausted. I will write more when I can string more than a couple of words together.


Kevin

Sandi Monday Evening

Today has been the worst day of our lives....we got the worst possible news today on Sandi. More tests are planned the next few days to confirm the details.


Thank you to those who have contributed to the fund so that we will have a roof over our heads for another month. We really do appreciate it and are very grateful for the help.


Thank you.

Sandi Sunday Evening

Back home from the hospital where Sandi is amazingly positive despite everything here at home with our lack of rent money and other issues and her own situation.

Her BP is fine, her oxygen rate is fine and everything seems fine on the surface when you look at her or talk to her. She is making "wristers" like crazy and the nurses are quite taken with them. Looking at her and listening to her, everything seems fine as she stays positive and waits.

It also seems that her lung never fully re-inflated even though that was what we had been told on multiple occasions. Today she was told that it only "partially inflated" after the collapse last weekend. I had a nurse go back and check the records and apparently that was the notation everyday in the record since Monday. I'm not sure how either one of us so misunderstood that situation. I really don't think both Sandi and I misunderstood on multiple days how inflated her lung was.


The bone scan she underwent yesterday indicates a major problem that seems to confirm the diagnosis they came up with last Tuesday. We have to wait for one of the specialists to review that sometime tomorrow and then come talk to her about it. The final confirmation will be the tissues samples as they should be back tomorrow.

If it is what they think it is, it is a devastating situation both in terms of what it is and how far advanced it is. Hopefully they are very wrong on both counts. I know and understand what happens when she has a heart attack or a stroke. Been down that road before and dealt with both on more than one occasion. This thing is an insidious evil that may have been lurking and growing in her, hidden from view for years, until it now when it has spread widely and made its presence known. In all likelihood, if they are right, not a damn thing can be done at this point.

We are going to be homeless at the end of the week as we don't have anywhere near enough to pay the rent, barring a miracle, so I don't know what the hell we are going to do on any of this. Our lives were NOT supposed to go this way.

All I do know is that I can't fix any of it and I am mad as hell.


Kevin

Sandi Sunday Morning

She is the same this morning as she was last night. They have taken yet another x-ray to check the status of her lung. She now is waiting for the doctors to make their rounds and check on her. She also wants to get out and come home, not just because of the fact that she is sick of the place, it is time to start planning for what to do when we don't make the rent in a few days.


I have been firmly informed that I am to stay home today until she knows something one way or another. She heard about my wind assisted fall into a pillar and resulting wipe out in the parking garage yesterday and is very upset I again got banged up coming to see her. She wants me there but at the same time she doesn't want me falling there. Or anywhere for that matter.


So, the waiting continues.......


Kevin

Sandi Saturday Night

This was day nine of Sandi’s current hospital stay and probably her best day yet.  Overnight, based on the x-ray, the lung did not fill with any more fluid. So, based on that and the fact that she can now cough like somebody should be able to, they made the decision to leave well enough alone and not drain it.

They got one of the tests done that had been planned for last Wednesday that wasn’t done. So she was very relieved to have that done and over with at last.

As we again face the strong possibility of being homeless we shall see what tomorrow brings……..

Kevin

Small Business Saturday and Us

In between turkey, sports and family, you may have heard a little bit the last few days about today being Small Business Saturday. Instead of fighting the crowds and the traffic at a big box store, shop folks who really truly need your business such as us.

Sandi is in the hospital and has her crochet with her as she has been making the “wristers” one after another the past week. Sandi has some stuff at http://www.ioffer.com/users/sanditipple and  has holiday as well as everyday items like quilts, baby blankets, stuffed animals, etc. I am taking her the laptop everyday so that she can check her e-mail, do orders, etc so don’t let her being in the hospital stop you from ordering if you see something you like.

Karl is still home on undeserved and unpaid suspension from Kroger 581 here in Plano (see the blog post from November 16) which has allowed him to spend some time at the Hospital the last few days. 

Quite some time ago, under his online moniker of THUNDERCATSNYY Karl set up two online stores. One is at Amazon where he has had decent success moving video games, movies, my old books¸ and other items. His Amazon store is at: http://www.amazon.com/shops/thundercatsnyy and changes almost daily because he adds things to replace stuff he has sold. He also set up a deal on iOffer to help move some of his Mom’s stuff and other items such as comic books he can’t sell/list at Amazon via http://www.ioffer.com/users/thundercatsnyy

Obviously anything Sandi or Karl can sell is a huge help to our bottom line of trying to keep a roof over our heads, the phone and internet on, meds, and what food stamps won’t cover like paper towels and toilet paper. Under Texas rules the only assistance we can receive is food stamps. The only way we are surviving is through the sales Karl and Sandi make and the generous donations of folks.

By the way, my good friend and occasional reviewer here, Barry Ergang has quite a few neat books over at his deal located at http://barryergangbooksforsale.yolasite.com/ He sells a few and adds a few a couple of times a week so even if you looked before and did not find anything that strikes your fancy, surf over and take a look.

He'll contribute 20% of the purchase price of the books to our fund, so please have a look at his lists.

It may be recognized only one day a year, but small businesses would love your support every day of the year. Instead of fooling with the big box stores, please shop folks who really truly need your business such as us. 

On behalf of all of us......thank you.

Kevin

Sandi Friday Evening

It was about this time last Friday after a very long day spent in ER that they drained two liters out of Sandi’s lung and then admitted her to the hospital. For the first time since all this began she finally had a normal sounding cough today. They are thrilled she is coughing as this is a sign that her right lung is once again functioning correctly despite the fact it filled a bit with fluid overnight. When she coughs today it sounds like a normal cough instead of what she had done this past week which was a weak little gasp thing. She is in some pain in her ribs and is using oxygen part of the time.

In the morning the current plan is for her to have the daily chest x-ray and then have the lung drained. They then will prep her and do one of the multi hour tests they would have done Wednesday if she had not been so dehydrated.

Hopefully the test will really happen this time as we need all the answers we can get as fast as possible.


Kevin

Friday Morning

Normally I would talk about how it is FFB and go over to Patti Abbott's wonderful blog at http://pattinase.blogspot.com/ for the list. Normally there would be a review here as well. Not this week as books are very far from my mind these days.

Just talked to Sandi and her lung filled significantly over night according to the lung doctor.  She already knew that based on how she felt this morning so his news was not suprising. He plans on draining her tomorrow morning and then having her do another test.

She is upset, depressed and frustrated. Today marks day eight of her hospital stay and it seems she is no closer to having answers and fixing things than she was last week. 

Kevin

Thanksgiving 2011

I am back home from the hospital where Sandi is doing a bit better today. They have taken the IVs out of her and they took the drainage tube out to see what will happen overnight. Some of the blood work came back clean which is a good sign though tissue samples won’t be done until early next week.

It also looks like some of the tests that were planned for this Saturday have to be pushed back into next week because of what she went through yesterday. That and the fact that those involved are pretty much gone for the holiday weekend. In the morning they will reassess her status and we will go from there as we are in for “a long haul.”

On behalf of all of us, we hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We thank you so much for your donations to help us stay here, your prayers, your thoughts of support and your notes of encouragement. I have tried to respond to each and every one and I hope I did- both here and elsewhere.

We wouldn’t still be here without you. On this Thanksgiving we just can’t tell you how thankful we are for each and every one of you and how much it means to all of us. Thank you does not begin to cover it. But we are thankful and we thank you.

Kevin