Friday, September 25, 2009

Tommy has continued to get back up to speed, and in a week or so he should be back to about where he was on Memorial Day weekend, when he went to the emergency room as all his looming problems came to a head. He is now again able to take all of his weight when doing transfers, and soon he'll be walking those dozen or so daily "laps" on the porch with the walker and me assisting. Bob Cairo and his staff at Tidewater rehab have done a great job helping Tommy; he may actually have only another week or two at Tidewater before his prescription runs out. Then we'll be on our own again for therapy, but I have learned a lot from the Tidewater folks so we'll be ready.
Yesterday evening we went to the VFW for the post's last crabfest of the season. It was Patti's birthday party, so we had a tableful of pickers with flowers and a cake to top it off. We sat at the far end of the enclosed porch, with a fabulous view of the sunset over Indian River Bay. Patti's neighbor Gordon very kindly picked crabs for Tommy, allowing me to kick back for a while. It was a very pleasant way to end the summer.

Monday, September 21, 2009

We had a hunky dory weekend. Tommy is getting back to where he was before (aack) Memorial-Day-in-the-Hospital weekend; and we are in the midst of those incredibly bright, breezy early fall days; and, to top it off, we celebrated both Patti's and Irv's September birthdays on Sunday with a feast supplied mostly by Patti, with me throwing in the corn and tomatoes. We spend several hours a day just dozing on the sun-warmed back deck with the dogs. More days like this, please.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Tommy is still struggling with the g.i.-tract problem; it has caused him much off-and-on discomfort and also kept him from two of his three physical-therapy sessions this week. Yesterday, Irv and I took him to see Dr. Giddins, who told me to continue with the regimen she recommended last week, plus to give him one packet of MiraLax every morning. She also ordered an X ray; so, when we left her office, I took Tommy down the street to the Beebe Imaging outpost, where the staff were wonderful and fun, too. We will see what the X ray shows and also how Tommy does through the weekend.

September 8, 2009

Just when things seemed to be looking up, Tommy came down with a really bad case of constipation early last week, and he's been struggling off and on with it since then. His doctor said to add Colace to the efforts I was already making, which has helped a little bit. If Tommy isn't strong enough to go to physical therapy tomorrow (he missed two sessions last week), I am going to ask the doctor to send in the nurse again, and maybe she can come up with a plan. In spite of his slowdown, Tommy was able to join Irv, Patti and me for our "farewell to summer" cookout dinner on the porch last night. Patti brought several wonderful salads made with the last of the summer vegetables (including her own luscious tomatoes), and Irv grilled Italian sausages. What a feast. Needless to say, Tommy's plate was heavy on the veggies (fiber) and light on the meat. His appetite has been flagging the last few days, but not last night, which made us all happy.