Hello March, bring on the flowers

 Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing well. 

We made it through Christmas and now it's already March. The cars are covered in pollen, buds are coming out, Cori is ready to start planting new things. :-)

Our new little grand nephew is doing well, He got to come home in early February. I wrote about him in the last post. 

Cori's boyfriend brought Covid in, in late January. He seemed to have mostly cough, Cori caught it next, seemed to her like a head cold, she did have a little fever. She started having symptoms on a Friday, tested on Monday, came back Tuesday as positive. I started with upper back ache Tuesday night, but was hoping I was just paranoid. But Wednesday I had fever and headache and also around the jaw under the ear ached, I slept on the couch Tuesday night hoping to spare hubby and stayed in the flex room on the couch all day Wednesday and Wednesday night. Thursday morning my headache was gone but the ache on the side of my face was still there. I took a couple of tylenol then and it finally went away. Hubby came home late morning on Thursday feeling bad. He had it the worst, there were a couple of times I wanted to take him to the ER but he finally showed a tiny bit of improvement. It made me really tired and a little woozy if I tried to do too much at a time. He stayed in bed a lot. I kept our oxygen checked and temp. He needed quilt and blanket over him and even at night after he went back to work.  But we seem to be back to normal. I hate to think how he might have been without the vaccine. I had lingering crud on my larynx. I hope it doesn't visit again. Jarin was the last to get it, she stayed in her room so we thought she might avoid it, but no, it eventually got her too.

Me and Mama

Take care,

Sheila

November already…

Hello all, 

We made it through Halloween, our usual amount of kids came through. Sometimes one or two, sometimes 5 or 6. Gave out the first large bowl, then added some candy to it and almost emptied it all again. 

Now here we are in the middle of November, preparing for Thanksgiving. On one of my previous blogs I told of Hubby losing his brother Mike in January 2017. Well Mike’s son and his wife were expecting a baby in early February, but he came early. Little Luke was born on Mike’s birthday, November 7. He’s in NICU but he is doing great, if you pray, please send up some prayers for him. We are thrilled but I think it broke hubby’s heart a little that Mike isn’t here. Mike only had one son and now a grandson. 

They moved Hubby’s mom to assisted living back in January. She’d been suffering with some dementia and it wasn’t safe for her to live alone anymore. We couldn’t get her to move in with us or Hubby’s sister. 

We put my parents home up for sale in February and we closed on the sale of it in September. The end of an era, and life as we knew it, all of my life and also my daughters. Never to ‘go home’ again. Yes, we will go to my hometown again, but with a new normal. For now, I don’t want to see the house with somebody else’s vehicles on the carport. But it’s not really the house, it’s the people and memories surrounding the house. It was empty and lonesome there without Mom, even before all the things in it were gone. I had so many dreams where Mama came back and I was trying to figure out a way to explain where all her stuff was. :-) 

Now before long we will be decorating for Christmas. But I love the lights and sounds of Christmas. 

Hope all is well with you,

Take care, Sheila

Cats, cats and more cats...

Back last September/October (2020) while Jarin and I were still taking care of things in Opp, Cori 

was here trying to make friends with this stray who had a bad eye.

She finally caught him and after calling around locally to different vets to see if they would help at a reasonable price (no), she found a group called Operation Catnip in Gainesville, FL. She took him there and they checked it and did surgery to remove it, since it was too far gone to save. No charge for the surgery but we all donated to them. 

almost all healed from surgery

and now, all healthy and clean, though he has gotten a little rounder.

We mainly call him Kitty or kitty baby. Sometimes Jack (by Hubby) (for one eyed Jack).

He is the sweetest and calmest of all the cats.

By cats I mean, Cori already had Tokki, then Sam came to live with us when Mom passed and now kitty.

And then this, a stray I have been feeding since we moved here, I thought was male. Cori noticed she looked pregnant or had worms. But then she showed up not pregnant and Cori went on the hunt for the kittens. She found the kittens, (they were born on June 30) caught mom, then got the kittens and moved them into the screened in porch. When they were old enough we let them roam the porch. 

We brought the kittens in to get them socialized off and on during the day.

(That is the bottom of a stool)

Top right is Miso

the two black ones are Tobiko (Tobi) and Tako

The grey tabby was Doodle

Operation Catnip also spayed the mom and neutered all four kittens and gave them their shots. We also dewormed them. Cori found homes for Miso and Tobi first, then Tako and finally Doodle. I might would have kept him if we didn't have all the others. 

Mama kitty as we call her, still comes and goes to the porch every day, she has food, water and litter box on the porch and she sleeps there at night. Kitty and her are friends (or relatives), he treated the kittens like they were his own.

All who took a kitten donated to Operation Catnip, and we still do from time to time. 

 

This is Sam (on left) and Tokki (Toe-ki) in Cori's room

Tokki 

Sam

Mama kitty (she’s the smallest of them all)

Take care,

Sheila

Laying Mom to rest...

Thought I'd share a little about Mama's funeral. I put a link to the songs, Supermarket flowers was the first song that played. If it was called Walmart flowers it would have been more fitting. She loved grabbing her a bouquet when she went to Walmart. Then we had Bro. Wayne Russell read something for us, that I am sharing here. Thank you again Jack for letting us share what you wrote for her on your blog. Then we played Take my hand, precious Lord. (my Grandfather's name was Otis B. but most called him O.B. and what he called her was Johnny, but I made it more feminine. She said that was what he wanted to name her so he just called her that, though I don't know how he would have spelled it.)

Supermarket Flowers

FROM HER CHILDREN:

Mom was born Sybil Jean Anderson in the town of Dixie in Escambia County, Alabama on October 3rd, 1934 to parents O.B. and Hastie Turner Anderson. Most of her family growing up called her Jean or Sybil Jean and to her daddy she was Jonnie. She had five brothers: Curtis “Curt” Anderson, Charles “Pill” Anderson, Lloyd “Mutt” Anderson, Walter Anderson, and Lawson Henry “L.H.” Anderson who passed away when he was very young. And she also had three sisters: Corine Stone, Theresa “Reesy” Ziglar, and Geraldine “Gerl” Adams. She married Grover C. Boyett on December 19th, 1949, and together they had five children: Ronnie Dean Boyett, Carl Edwin Boyett, Terrie Lynn Boyett, Sheila Jean Yarbrough, and Grover Shawn Boyett. From them, she has 13 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

FROM HER FRIEND JACK DARNELL:

Joan of Arc is a well-known name. She did not live long but established her place in history. At 16 she attempted to join the army and was laughed out of the building. A short time later she tried again and won.

After many weeks/months of meetings it was determined she was in contact with the Saints and led in the battle of Orleans. She had other victories, but was captured by the English and burned at the stake. She was 19. It never pays to kill a hero; her memory was the rallying point of the French in the 100 year war. Did you know her name was Jeanne d’arc?

We here in Bloggersville have had a friend, Jean of OPP. Actually she was Sybil Jean Boyett. She is not famous worldwide like her namesake, but to her family and we here in Blogland, this lady was incredible. Jean’s blog was written exactly as she spoke, using terms I remember growing up.

In her 80s, this lady could do more than most seniors I have known. She could handle a pressure washer. She cut trees to get her cat down. She washed a truck and car at least every week. She cut the grass, chopped what ever had to be chopped, cooked and baked. She also took care of her lifelong love Grover, like a baby during his last years. Never did this lady complain.

Heck she was older than Sherry & I, and once she replaced the main memory in her computer. I wouldn’t attempt that. Her feats are enumerable. Once passing near Opp, Alabama I asked if we could take her and Grover to dinner. They agreed and we had a nice evening. Our one regret was learning later she had a cake at home for us had we accompanied them home, but we hated to impose.

I have related just a few of the things recorded by that lady. Life is a twisting tale, Jeanne d’arc or Joan of Arc was declared a Saint many years after her death. But the Jean of Opp (AKA Sybil Jean Boyett) was declared a Saint while she lived, because she was.

Rest in peace from your many labors, Sybil (Jean) Boyett, your works and creations WILL follow on.

FROM HER GRANDCHILDREN:

Grandma was the magnet that always brought the family together during the summer and at Christmas time, no matter how far away we were from each other. Her house was like a second home to us. She was always ready to make us a grilled cheese sandwich, whether we asked for it or not. She had fun trying to scare us but usually didn’t succeed because she’d crack up laughing. She loved to laugh and would often get so caught up that she would laugh so hard she cried. She would sit in the living room with us playing Yoshi’s Island and Super Mario World on the old Super Nintendo. She’d have us take a break and we’d watch her play through the same level over and over again to get us extra lives so we wouldn’t have to start all over again when we died. She would always swing the controller when she had to jump because she felt like it helped with the momentum. Grandma always tried to pay us for errands and then she’d get mad when we snuck the money back in her purse. It became a sort of game to try to return the money without her finding out until it was too late to give it back to us. She was famous for her biscuits and everyone always looked forward to breakfast at Grandma’s. It was usually already cooking well before any of us woke up. When she gave us hugs, she’d always rub our backs and call us “shug”. 

Grandma was a very kind-hearted and caring person who always made sure we had anything and everything we needed. She’d always laugh at our jokes, even if they weren’t funny, just so we’d feel good. She made everyone feel welcome, whether it was the first time meeting them or the hundredth. Every friend of ours that had the privilege of meeting her loved her. She had a lot of love to go around and was very generous in showing it to everyone around her. She was loved and will be missed more than she could ever imagine.

Take my hand, Precious Lord

A short bit of what Bro. Wayne said:

Most of you here know Ms. Sybil as Mom or Grandmother or Great Grandmother and she's left quite the legacy just with the family. And it sounds like just how she conducted herself in life also left quite a legacy, something you can all be proud of and share in. It's undeniable that a mother's love is one of the greatest gifts that God could ever bless us with and it's very precious to us. We know that Ms. Sybil is special to you and that the loss you feel right now is evidence of her love for you and your love for her. 

He read Ephesians 2 verses 4-7 and explained its meaning and said a prayer. 

The last song we played

When I'm Gone

Thanks for stopping by,

Sheila

2020

 Hello all,

I've started several times to update my blog but wasn't quite ready. The only good thing to come out of 2020 was my youngest child, Cori, moved back home and is in nursing school. 

Mom had heart valve surgery toward the end of January, the kind where they go through the vein, called TAVR. She did great, no problems with surgery. A month later, at her check up, she was starting to get a little congested. She ended up with bronchitis, then feet and legs swelling. Heart doc said it was from the steroids....a patient just has heart surgery and one of the symptoms after can be leg swelling, but lets not check that... Primary doc was no better, you know, Covid and all. She spent a few days in hospital in April, after calling the doctor who did the surgery, and he said to go to ER, but the laryngitis and tiredness continued a while. Her heart rate was a little higher and her blood pressure lower. She finally went to a heart doc closer by and went to a different primary doc too.  Hubby had outpatient surgery in Gainesville, on May 14th and I called her that night and we talked over an hour and a half. Her hoarseness was gone and she sounded so much better, thought she was finally turning a corner. On Friday the 22nd, her legs were swelling again so she went to her new doc, he wanted her to go in the hospital so they could get the fluid off while keeping check on her blood pressure. Saturday morning they found her unresponsive, they revived her twice but her heart couldn't sustain it. When she was in the hospital in April a doctor commented that the bronchitis had caused congestive heart failure, I'm not sure that is true. When she first found out about her heart valve, years ago, she said she wasn't going to have surgery for it, if it killed her it killed her. But she had to because she had no energy and tired out quickly, after a bad episode after Thanksgiving. The symptoms of no energy and tiredness continued which made her depressed. She always said if she couldn't see after herself or do the things she's used to doing, (like washing both vehicles, cleaning her carport, cutting trees down to save cats, etc  :-) then she would rather be dead. I think her heart was just too worn out after all these years, maybe if she had had the surgery done after Dad passed, but who knows, the same thing might have happened. My Mom passed away on May 23, 2020, some of you may have read her blog Jean's Tales. I miss her everyday. I used her cake holder the first time the other day and it made me cry, Hubby asked if I was okay, I said I just miss her, he said I miss her too. She told hubby after my Dad passed that she loved him like her own son. She was loved by so many who got to meet her. She was kind and generous and welcoming. She loved to laugh, and we'd laugh until we cried over nothing. But she could fuss as well, ;-) This lady made the best biscuits, we all loved them, neighbors, family and friends would check to see if there were any left if they came over. I made a video of her making them back in 2015, hoping I could eventually make them as well as her. I may one day get close, but they'll never be like hers. 

Take care, Sheila

2019 update...

Hello again,

Behind our house - they survived the holiday

We made it through Thanksgiving, now it's almost Christmas. We split Thanksgiving between Alabama and home. My brother Shawn and his family were coming to my Mom's and our youngest daughter was coming to our house for Thanksgiving. So we spent time in both places. 

Now on to how the rest of 2019 went...

Jarin spent a month in Jan -Feb visiting her friend in Washington state. She got to see cold and snow and she caught strep throat :( 

Hubby and I got to enjoy Colonoscopies a week apart. My first, the end of February and his second in March. My Dad had colon cancer in 1999 so the doctors have been on me to have it done. I put it off as long as I could. All's well that ends well, we're good.

Our new toy in April

In July, Cori changed jobs again. She gets to use her artist side in this job, designing pins and logos and such.

Hubby's late brother Mike's son got married in October. We were proud for him, he has always been a good kid / man. He was our ringbearer when we got married. We missed Mike being there.

Cori and Elliot brought us the respiratory crud at Thanksgiving and it's one that likes to linger. I'm a little bit ahead of Hubby and Jarin getting over it.

So here we are near the end of December. Mom has to have a procedure done after the first of the year. It's something they've been watching for years but time to take care of it now. Hubby's Mom had a recent fall and is in rehab to get her strength up. So please send up prayers for my loved one's in need. Thank you!

The oversized chair and ottoman we recently got rid of. I loved it but it was too big.

(Cori and Shawn's kids Madi and Noah )

Soon the year 2020 will be here and we are up to date on the years I missed.

Take care,
Sheila

Moving on to 2018...

Hello,
We made it through Halloween. In the first bunch of trick or treaters one little girl decided she didn't want candy, she wanted to come in and see what hubby was eating, lol. But she finally took the candy.

Buzzards hanging around the swans and ducks today for some reason.

There were about 4 buzzards until I went to get my camera...of course.

End of 2017...

After Dad passed Jarin and I stayed through Christmas. My brothers and their families came back at Christmas too. Jarin had a friend from Australia coming Dec 31st, Rachel. They spent a few days at Disney World since Jarin picked her up in Orlando. Jarin brought the crud back with her, then Rachel caught it a day or so later, then Mom. I thought I had dodged the bullet but then I caught it. So that delayed my leaving until Jan 15, 2018.

2018...

With still a little coughing and congestion, Jarin, Rachel and I headed back to NC. Jarin had to go back to get her car and they stayed a week up there. It snowed shortly after we got home so Rachel got to enjoy snow while she was here. We enjoyed having Rachel, she was a lot of fun and hopefully she'll get to come back soon.

So back to the move, Hubby came back up mid February for a couple of months and we finished getting the house ready. Getting rid of stuff and taking stuff to the dump or goodwill. Gave some things to friends. The movers came March 6 and 7 to get us packed up and loaded. His job got Hubby a hotel in Greensboro near work and I stayed a couple of days in town because I had Carpet cleaners and such coming after the movers left. Then I went up to the hotel in Greensboro. While there we picked out stuff for the new house we were building in Florida. A one story finally after all these years. We did our taxes and the girls taxes. Just enjoyed our time together. Thankfully our house in NC sold pretty quickly and we closed on that in May. I left NC to go to Mom's on April 9th, thinking Hubby had to stay a few more weeks but he only had to stay about a week longer.

So the next few months was me going down to stay with hubby in the camper 6 weeks or so then back to mom's, back and forth.

Then Hubby's dad started going downhill with infections and such until he passed on Aug 11. He was a retired Air Force veteran so he got the full military funeral.

We finally closed on our house Sept 21. It shouldn't have taken over 9 months to build but it did. 

Completed

The kitchen minus the fridge and stove

Our doors are dark grey

Oct 6 - 10th - Hubby spent in the hospital with pneumonia. He came home the Wednesday before thinking it was the flu but he was no better by Saturday. I told him he needed to go to the hospital - 'no, I'll be alright' - can you walk to the car or do I need to call an ambulance? 'I can walk to the car'. So we got him dressed and to the hospital. Hurricane Michael was headed this way during that time, he got out the day it was expected but lucky for us we had no effects from it. 

On to 2019...

Take care,

Sheila

The 2017 update...

Good afternoon!

We have been busy the last two weekends. We had to clean up the love bug onslaught. Weekend before last we cleaned off the front porch, door and windows. The love bugs make their way between the screen and window. The builders put the window screens in half-arsed,  just saying, so we cleaned them out, me inside - hubby outside and got the screens put in right. Then I put out a little decoration for Halloween. This weekend we cleaned the rest of the windows and trim, then cleaned the back porch. I washed the rocking chairs and tables. So glad that is done. We had our back porch screened in a couple of weeks ago. So that will keep the love bugs, frogs and birds that want to make a nest and poop on our rockers out. Doggies have a visit with a new vet today. Charlie needs a couple of shots.

Well on to 2017. It was not a good year.

On January 20 we lost Hubby's brother Mike unexpectedly. Others knew him as Steve but he was Mike to family. Sudden cardiac arrest. Still hard to believe. Hubby and Mike's son Justin gave the Eulogy, they did a great job, I wish I had a recording of it. Hubby started working on moving us back closer to home.

So around June Hubby went to Macon, Ga for a few months. The company had a place there and Lake City, FL. We weren't sure which place we'd end up but they were both about the same distance from home (Alabama).

Come August, Cori took another job and moved to Orlando, FL. Tech support and making power apps. Hubby said she could fall down and find a $100 dollars (pertaining to how easy she could fall into a good job..ha).

Then in September I followed Jarin to Mom's so she could stay there while I got the house ready to sale. I stayed a little while, stopping by Macon on the way there and staying in Macon a few days on the way back to NC. It was a little hard going back to NC by myself though.
Shortly after, it was decided that Lake City is where we were headed. Hubby came back to NC here and there. We ended up buying a travel trailer for him to stay in in Florida.

For Thanksgiving that year, Cori went to her Dad's and Jarin came up to NC. She was going to stay with me until I went down for Christmas. But God had other plans. Right after Thanksgiving my Dad took a turn for the worst and we headed to Mom's on Dec 1st. He was unresponsive by then, though he did open his eyes that night, but I don't know if he was aware. All the siblings (except my brother Ronnie who passed in 2013) were there when he passed on Sunday morning the 3rd.

    Mike

          (Cori said Uncle Mike doesn't look like he'd be funny but he is...ha.)

  Hubby, his Dad and Mike

   (Summer before we moved to Washington state)

                                     

 Dad

   Dad - Army 

  From his and Mom's 60th Anniversary celebration

       Mom and Dad were 16 days from their 68th anniversary when he passed. Love him and miss him.

To be continued...
Take care,
Sheila

It's me again...

Surprise, surprise...it has been awhile. Things have changed since the last post. But I will catch you up.

We are all doing well. No longer in NC, now in Florida. But I'll get to that on another post.

2016-
About 4 days over the 4th of July in 2016, Cori was given a chance to go to an Anime convention in L.A. to demonstrate a company's drawing tablets for computers. She owned one that she used to draw on her computer. She told them if they paid her way she would come do it and they did, paid all her expenses. While there they offered her a job and she went to China to train for 2 months, from Sept 1 to Nov 1. Yes, her mama survived... She made a few videos for them demonstrating the products and also designed and drew the booklet that came with the tablets. Here's a link to a couple of them. She didn't know they were planning to make a video in the first one so she didn't dress for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFkOYC4QAEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO9CV1-0S7c

She became their tech support for the tablets and also helping with English translation.

After she returned in November she rescued a kitten she named Tokki (Toe-key).


We stayed home Christmas 2016 because Jarin had to work. Turned out to be the last Christmas there because I didn't decorate for 2017. More to come....

To be continued...

Take care, 

Sheila

Hello,

We are still here. Nothing much 'new' going on. We had a good Valentine's' and I hope you all did as well. We've had a few episodes of snow and ice sprinkled here and there. Going after while to get a haircut. It's been a few months since I last went. My hairstylist wanted to style it a little different way, so I am letting her. (Mainly because Cori didn't think I would let her...ha) I was letting it grow as long as I could stand it, so hopefully I'll be a little further along into the style with this cut. Nothing drastic, just letting some of the layers grow out that I've had for years.....and years.....and years. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks. :) It should be a nice weekend with highs in the low 60s. 

Jack, you shared your pics recently of the old tree at the Alamo. So I thought I would share a couple of mine with daughter Cori (Cori of different color hair fame). This was when her Granny and Grandpa and Granny's cousin Patricia, came to visit us in San Antonio.

Here she is on the Riverwalk boat with Granny's cousin Patricia. Granny was on there too.

I am still waiting for that one good snow this year. Not sure if we will get it, but a girl can hope can't she.

Take care,

Sheila

A wrap-up of 2015...

Well, here we are into another year. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's.  We stayed home this Christmas for the first time in about 20 years. Jarin started a new job in October and she had to work so we stayed home this year. We missed everyone but we had a great Christmas. We cooked our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve so we could relax on Christmas Day. We grilled steaks on Christmas Day.  Jarin and I made our annual trip to the Festival of Lights the week of Thanksgiving.  That is at the Tanglewood Park here. Lowes Foods took over sponsorship this year and brought back the marshmallow roast. We always like to get one of the big pretzels.

Our outside decorations this Christmas.

I mentioned looking for some battery lights for the swag on the door and Hubby found some and brought them home. They worked great.

Christmas Eve before Santa came. :-)

Christmas Moon 

I'll catch you up a little on the rest of 2015. Hubby healed great from his eye surgery in February to fix his Orbital floor blowout fracture that happened when he slipped on an icy, outside escalator on a business trip to Chicago.  He had his other surgery in Mid May for the ICD, he had no problems and recovered well from that also. Hopefully everything will go well on the medical front this year. 

The many hair colors of Cori in 2015... I'm sure there were some shades I missed.

Cori got to see her favorite Kpop (Korean) band in person, twice this year.  Once at Earth Day in Washington DC (bottom two pics) and the other at KCON 2015 in New Jersey (top two). She got to touch their hands in New Jersey, that's her favorite she's touching in the pic (dark haired one).

In June, Jarin and Cori went to Heroes Con in Charlotte again. I went on Friday with Jarin because Cori had classes and that was the day to pick up the ticket badge and free stuff.  I did meet the cartoonist for Snuffy Smith. I bought two compilation books of comic strips for him to autograph for me and my Dad.

He also drew a picture in each one.

(my Dad's)

Some dress in costume at Heroes Con.
The ladies of Hocus Pocus.

Shawn, wife Iliana and little Sierra after canoe race

Brother Shawn competed in the Texas Water Safari canoe race in July (I believe his 7th time). They canoe over 260 miles, starts on Saturday morning and they have to be at checkpoints along the way by certain times. It is usually in June but all the rain and flooding postponed it twice until July. He competed in mixed with another lady Debbie, they came in 7th overall and 1st in mixed. For my Facebook buddies there is a video I shared on my wall that Debbie put together of their race. I got to watch along the way on Periscope. I stayed up until 5:30 am on that Monday morning to watch them come in at the finish line. That was neat to get to do, I was able to let him know I was watching and congratulate them at the end and say hi to the family. 

Then we met at Mom's later in July and went to the beach for an overnight. Sierra is into Frosty the snowman and he was there at the beach...ha. 

Jarin and I went by to see the military stone that was put on brother Ronnie's grave, while we were home. We miss him.

I caught a double rainbow in September, on Labor Day.

Hubby had to use up some vacation time before the end of the year so he went to his parents Thanksgiving week. He didn't get to go during the summer when the girls and I went. He also took the week after Christmas and since we had pleasant weather that week we got the garage cleaned out. Oh and we had a few problems with our Christmas lights on the bushes in front. We thought it was because of the steady rain we thought would never end. We replaced a couple of net lights and after Christmas they went out again, turns out it may have been a rabbit that chewed through the cord. Well, something did and I have seen rabbits run for the hills when we came out with the dogs to do their business. And last but not least, Cori wrecked her car a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. She was fine, drove it home. The headlight on the front passenger side fell out. She wanted to keep it so I guess we need to build her a box to hold it so she can hang it in her room...ha. Too bad we don't know how to wire it so she can turn it on and off for a light.

So I think that pretty much wraps up 2015, the highlights anyway. 

Hope everyone has a great week!
Take care,

Sheila

On the mend...

Time sure does get away from you. Back here for another update. Rick went back to the eye surgeon yesterday. He is healing good, pretty much back to normal on the outside. His lower lid is slightly down but that is normal as the inside continues to heal and graft over the implant. The doc showed him how to massage it to help it along. His vision is back to normal and he can go get an eye exam next month for new glasses or lenses, the ones he has are scratched from the fall. We had a long wait though, his appointment was at 3:30 pm and we didn't get out of there until almost 7 pm. Hubby was getting hungry and a little perturbed...ha. Oh and I went into the snack area to get Hubby a soda and the door locked to get back into the main area (it was after 5 pm). Thankfully there was a young guy that heard me knocking on the door and let me in...ha. Hopefully Hubby would have come searching for me if I hadn't come back... hopefully... :-D

The cardiologist still wants to do the ICD but no date on that yet.

 

 I had two ghosts rocking in my chairs recently... :-D

We are in that transition period where we have warm days and cool days, rainy days, cloudy days and sunshine. 

 Hubby got a notice for jury duty too, but depending on his surgery to implant the ICD he'll probably get that postponed. 

Thanks for stopping by and thanks again for the prayers for Hubby,

Sheila

Update on Hubby...

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts for Hubby, they were greatly appreciated!

Today has been a week since surgery and he is doing very well. He had an appointment yesterday with the eye surgeon and he is healing very well. He has healed to the point that most don't reach until about 3 weeks after surgery. He still has some bruising and swelling, but his double vision didn't return like they thought it would. They pull out the bottom eyelid and go through there to put in the plate, so he has no stitches on the outside. He also had to have the titanium plate instead of the plastic because there was too much bone missing. He'll go back to the Doctor in a month and he should be healed enough that he can go get an eye exam to replace his glasses. The left lens of his glasses was scratched.

He also had a cardiologist appointment yesterday. He's had an Echo gram, nuclear stress test and a heart catheterization (no blockages) done over the last six months. His heart has gotten a little weaker since he had a heart attack in July of 2007. He gets extra beats sometimes, not sure how often, he doesn't feel them and they don't always show up on tests. They showed up this time on his EKG during his annual visit to the heart doctor, but not on any of the other tests. They're just kind of random. They don't last long (just a few seconds), but there is a slight chance, if your heart is weaker, that the extra beats could get it out of rhythm and it not be able to correct the rhythm. So they tweaked his meds and they are going to do another Echo gram. If his heart has gotten stronger they will watch it for now, but if it's the same they want to put in an ICD as an 'insurance policy' in case it ever gets out of rhythm. They could do more adjusting with his meds but that would make his blood pressure to low. Because even though he has had a heart attack, he didn't and doesn't have high blood pressure (strange I know...ha). Once you have a heart attack they give you meds to keep it lower than what is usually considered normal, in his case anyway. So we are hoping the meds they tweaked have helped strengthen it.

 This is what hubby found on his white board at work after his fall.

He got a rose yesterday from the eye surgeon.

Thanks again for the prayers,

Sheila