June 13, Still in the hospital!

Up we go and off the Starbucks....what will this day hold?

After Starbucks we went by Freedom Inn and looked at Rosines new room.  We are hoping it is ready tomorrow!

                                                 

                                                    Things are looking up and so is Rosine!

There she was when we walked in this morning....there is an interesting phenomena going on....the first day she was laying flat and only talked a little......the second day she was elevated another foot and was alert and questioning......yesterday up another foot and starting to complain and give out orders....today, almost all the way up, complaining, and giving EVERYONE orders....can't wait to see what happens when they stand her up!  lol!

I had a doctors appointment this afternoon to find out the results of my stress test!  My heart actually looks good except for the small amount of AFIB.  My meds for now are okay but he thinks that I have had this ever since I started having the sinking spells!  So, finally after 35 years, someone got it right!  I love this new doctor....did I say that he is a race car driver and he let us listen to his cars engine running?  lol!

                                                                                     

Rosine's grandson, Mario, came to visit.  Bless his heart, he entertained Rosine for several hours and she loved every minute of it!  Good job, Mario!

                                                                  

                                                                  

   Mario's mom, Susie kept Vicki and me entertained!  It was nice to be able to visit with her!  She brought videos that the twins made for Rosine....they are 7 and sooo cute!

                                                                              

                                                Avery and Alaina are Vicki's nieces!

                                                                                 

We decided that we needed to have some control in our life.  I called Sam, our hairdresser and begged her to take us and fix us up!  It is the only place in our lives where we believed we stood a chance of getting it together.  I am quite happy with mine and it has a nice line in the back!  Thank you Sam!

                                                                               

                                                       Thank You, Sam                                                                 

Sandi says that I look really good too!  I feel so much better, and she should know because she was a hairdresser in a past life!  lol!  ..thank you Sam!

Well, this is it for the day.....no cabin to go and hide in and no room service!

June 12, last Dear Dad!

Just woke up early and thought I would turn on my computer.  It is another day and maybe we will know what is going on by the end of the day.  Cancelled my computer appointment and that is okay.  Don't have the energy to go and do it anyway.  It must be all the ice cream I ate yesterday but I am sleeping as I am typing!  lol!

I think I hear the alarm going off so I had better go and see what the worlds is doing...I am sure Rosine has a list of things she wants done.  I always thought, when  the GENERAL was flat on their back that they could not give orders!  lol!

Well, we still don't know much.  Rosine will be going back to Freedom Inn and will have a hospital bed and will be moved to the second floor next to the nurses station!  When this is going to happen is unknown to us.  Vicki's brother is flying in on Friday and he will take charge.

Today I got a call from my doctor and the results of my stress test are in.  The arteries are clear but the test showed some AFIB.  So we are going tomorrow to see him and then in the afternoon we are getting our hair done.  The interesting thing is that if I had not changed doctors, it would not have been found!

Vicki is very tired and overwhelmed and is now in the shower.  I stayed home this afternoon but tomorrow I will go with her.  I saw Rosine tho morning and I think she was feeling better as she was getting bitchy!

On this trip to Canada in 2006 we were with Roger and Mary.  We took a 5 day pour  before the cruise and then we stayed a few days in New York.  It was a surprise to see that ground Zero still looked so bad!  The trip itself was wonderful and we were so glad to make friends with Roger and Mary!

DEAR DAD 13, The last in the series!

You know that we went on a trip to Canada and New England. well we had some really strange things happen to us….

First of all, we went to Ottawa.  We were so happy on the third day of the tour that we were going to be able to sleep an extra hour!  Something went wrong and when the alarm went off we jumped up and quickly got dressed…then we found we had not changed the clock….so we decided to go to breakfast, to Starbucks and to the drug store.  Something is very wrong with the prices in Canada….we went into the store for 2 bottles of water.  Why do you think it cost us $69?  We got water, 6 protien bars and some ECHINACEA and a sleeping compound.  Vicki  took the sleeping compound that night and was awake all night.  She was up and down, hot and cold and she  kept scratching the furniture and the drapes ..”what is CATNIP anyway?”  It was in the compound.  She  also kept purring on the bus!  I told Vicki she  can’t have anymore CATNIP Anyway!  lol!

                                                          

           Yes, you were purring on the bus and everyone on the bus heard you!  lol!
                                                                                                                         

We had a wonderful day in Bar Harbor.  but once again something strange happened.  we went to a lobster dinner but it was nothing like we have ever had.  ”why was the lobster sleeping on our plates with eyes that were looking at us?  “The nice lady said to grab the lobster and hold it while you TWIST  the tail off.”  Vicki must not have heard her and she RIPPED the lobster’s tail right off and everything went flying!  Over went her ice tea and water!  The nice lady next to her had her arm in a cast and now it was all wet..…..I was on the left  side of her and I  was getting very wet.  before Vicki could say she was sorry,  “Rosine  taught Vicki to always say I’m sorry.”  the man on the other side of me  ripped the tail off of his lobster and sent all of his liquids sailing.  Vicki was wonder why I was screaming and holding the table cloth up in the air?  We had corn bread with the lobster and we could not figure out why the cornbread, on the bottom, was soggy and tasted like tea. Better it tasted like tea than tasting like that horrible smelling lobster!   Do you think this is a new way to make corn bread?  lol!
                                       

My shirt is still wet and I smell like a lobster and that is not a good thing!  lol!

Vicki  knew that Rosine was very excited that we were going to see the view.  we had to get up very early.  what is the alarm didn’t go off?  they said we had to stand in a long line for a long time .  What if we got tired and our legs hurt?  what if we have to go potty?  they said once we get in and sit down we would be locked in.  this scares me, what is we need to go pottie?  what about food? Food is a big issue...we could pass out!   it scares us to be locked in a room.  so we didn’t go!  And we felt better!  Let's go to Starbucks!  lol!
                                                   
                  They are nice ladies but they don't give away CARS!  lol!

We decided to go to ground Zero to see if it had changed.  We were looking for the subway.  Why do they hide them?  We kept going up and down the street and then there was a loud noise “it sounded like a splat of raw meat slapping the cement. “  Vicki was down and couldn’t get up!...all of a sudden two Muslim Angels  picked her right up off the ground.”  Why do you think they were holding their backs as they walked away.  I took Vicki into a Deli and asked the lady, sitting at a table for 4, if Vicki could sit down at her table as Vicki had just fallen down!  The mean lady said “no” so Vicki started wailing, "there is no one at her table, why won’t she let me sit down, oh my God!"  I found a seat clear in the back of the Deli and then I glared at the lady.  If that happened now,  I would have to shoot her!  lol!
                                           

            This is where the mean lady was...how could she be so mean to my Vicki?

Next we went to ground zero and took a look.  It is cleaned up but they have found more remains and we could not tell what was going on.  and guess what?  There were men with big bags, big enough to put 2 people in…and they wanted us to look in the bags.  Why do you think they wanted us to look?  Vicki was scared and I thought they might put us in the bag....  We looked anyway.   Vicki is  just like mom…she would have looked!  There were special purses…they would let us look and then slam the bag shut…it was like they were hiding them!  Why would they hide them when they were such a good deal???  A $1,400 purse, for only $40!  they should put them out so everyone could see them!  Vicki bought one and then they hid them again!...We don't get it!

                                         

                        It is so sad.....it has taken a long time to clean it up!

                                                             
This next thing makes Vicki very sad and scared.  On our way back from ground Zero we were on the subway.  Vicki thought it was time to get off the subway.  I was behind her and before I knew it, the doors closed.  Vicki was yelling at me but I couldn’t hear her!  It is really not a nice thing to do to leave a blind person on the subway!  All by herself!  Vicki thought I would get off at the next stop.  I got off the subway and there were no people on the platforms.  2 gangsters looked at me strangely.  Why did they look at me strangely, didn’t they know that they were the gangsters?   I ran around, up and down like a mouse in a maze and finally I found my way out and I came up right next to the hotel ! Boy was Vicki relieved!

                                                     

Last but not least was Oprah's, THE COLOR PURPLE!  No one ever told usthat the people from Africa have different ways of talking and telling jokes that we can not understand.  They dance really well and they sing really well too!  We didn’t get the jokes.  So, we left at the intermission.    It is too bad too because they gave us such nice seats.  They were for a blind person and were in the 2 nd row in the center!

Did I say.....there were only 2 other white people in the audience?

                                                                                   

Well dad, this is all for now.  I don’t think I want to move.  I like it here!  But I really do LIKE those cruise ships!  Especially with Roger and Mary!

                                                   

                              We all love to Cruise....yea, what fun!

Be careful out there!

SnV

June 11, Working on the problems!

Well, I am not sure I am ready to face this day!  We are going to run and get some breakfast and then we are going to face the music for the day!
                                                                             
                                                                             

This is where Rosine lives.  Freedom Inn is assisted living and Alzheimers care. If Rosine is not able to transfer herself with the help of only one person, she will have to go to skilled nursing!  

Went to get breakfast and then we went to the hospital to see Rosine.  Rosine was off having an Echocardiogram.  We were able to talk to the Pa and she said that Rosine has congestive heart failure and right now they  are trying to get the excess fluid off her heart.  She will be in Observation for a couple more days and we are hoping she will go to rehab for awhile.  We are still up  in the air about going to San Diego!  The nurse at Freedom Inn recommended that we get the neurogology assessment done while she is still in the hospital.  It sounds like a good idea to us!  She says she is not going back to Freedom Inn!  The head nurse says,"oh, yes she is!  So we will see who wins this round!

I am at hom e and Vicki is at the hospital trying to figure things out.  Evidently the doctor has come in and told Rosine that her life as she has known it has radically changed.  He said that her feet problems are caused from her congestive heart failure and that she will need to be in a 24 hour facility.  Sheryl the head nurse at Freedom Inn is insistant that they can keep her at the Inn.  She is talking about moving her to the second floor by the nurses station.  She is also now on oxygen full time.  It is very hard to believe how fast this happened!  The doctor told her that she is going to be all right but her life will be different!Hopefully by tomorrow we will know exactly what is going on and her living arrangements will have been decided!

There are a few people on Vicki's side of the family that Vicki needs to tell the story too.  

Vicki just called and said that Rosine thinks that 24 hour care means assisted living plus 24 hour care by a caregiver.  that would run about 15K.  When doctors say 24 hour care, they mean skilled nursing!

She is not going to a group home......not if I have anything to say about it......it is not an appropriate level of care for her.  They do not get up with them in the middle of the night....we went through this with Vicki's dad and it was awful and he did not get the level of care that he needed.....I don't care if I am not a member of this family, legally, but I will  fight anyone who tries to put her in a group home!

                                                                     

                                   We are hanging in there and we will get the job done!

There is only one more Dear Dad letter.  I cannot find the one about the margaritas in the closet!  Too bad!

Dear Dad, 11, June 2003

Now you are really not going to believe this one!  Yesterday was one of the most humiliating days of my life.  I just don't understand how this could be happening.

As you know we went on our little trip and came home a day early.  We went up to Positive Choice, our weight loss clinic, and got weighed in and paid our money.  We came home and did our homework and then decided that we were too tired to go to the class.  I called the strange man who runs the class to tell him!  To begin with, he answered the phone, which he was not suppose to do.  He then informed me that if I didn't come to the class that he was kicking us out!  Can you imagine how shocked we were?  After all, I know we have not been losing any weight but we were learning and we were paying the money every week.

I  thinks it really is because we passed out chocolate covered cherries before the last class and he smelled the chocolate when he came into the room. lol!  I also thinks that he found out about the brownie making contest that we had on the sixth floor and how we ate them everyday until they were all gone! lol!  This class was not to be about weight issues but about addictions and the teacher told us that he had had them all.  He has a long pony tail, wore a leather jacket and drove a motorcycle and that seemed strange to me.  Even though we ate the brownies we were always careful to drink a protein drink with it so we were still doing the program.!  lol!
                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                         

   Now we don't know what to do!  We don't want to see the strange man again and we certainly are not taking anymore chocolate covered cherries when we go up there for any meetings.  I think he kind of  scared us and then there was no way we were going to go to the class.  lol!

                                                                                             

                                                            

Dear Dad,  I'm thinking I need to move out of San Diego!  What if he pulls up next to me on his motorcycle while I am driving on the freeway.  It would scare the you know what out of me and I might accidentally run over him. lol! I think it would be an accident!!  Well, we had better not chance it.  I am out of here!  lol!  Don't tell MOM!

Be careful out there!

                                                                                     

     

OMG!  They are coming to get us!

June 10, What a surprise!

Here it is Monday again and the week is starting all over again! The difference with this week is it started with a phone call from Freedom Inn....it seems that Rosine did not feel well in the night and told them that she wanted to go to the hospital.  It seems that her blood pressure went up high, 170/110 and she could not stand up!  They  put her in observation and they    are running tests including an echo.  Hopefully she will be able to go back to Freedom Inn and not have to go to a nursing home.  I would guess, at this point, we will not be going to San Diego on Saturday!  I will add updates to this blog as I get them.  Vicki and I had lunch and then she brought me home and she went back to the hospital.  I think Rosine is going to want Vicki with her 24/7 and she does not realize that Vicki does not have the nervous system to do that!  Rosine is in a private room....duh...she is contagious! It is the same as taking universal precautions!  Suit up...mask up...glove up!    Geez.... Rosine is wearing red socks and has a red DNR sign on her wrist.  Red socks mean she is TOTALLY UNSTABLE and is not to be let out of bed.  She is not happy about having to use a bed pan.  She cannot use one at Freedom Inn.  So, this will be continued in tomorrow's blog!
                                                 

                    FINALLY!!!  I have not eaten since yesterday, it is about time they fed me!  lol!


 Yesterday I renewed our San Diego Zoo Membership.  Since I was born and raised in San Diego, I can remember when we got in for free.  Not too many years ago, 20 to be exact, it was only $8.00 a year for a senior.  Now it is $114.00 for a dual household for a year and that is only if you are a San Diego City resident!  I will have to check and see how much the merry-go- round is.  It was suppose to never go higher than 5cents, so everyone can go and it was left to the city for the children of San Diego!

                                                   

          I am glad we are going to be going back to the Zoo.  The Giraffe's are my favorites.

                                                                                 

OMG!  The zebra is riding on the giraff                                  

I use to come to the zoo every Saturday and I would also take Ballet lessons in the park.  It was so nice that it was free, otherwise I would not have been able to do it!  I have a special connection with the gorillas!  lol!

                                                                                               

Little does Sandi know ....Her connection with me is even closer than she thinks!  lol!  So is Vicki's!

                                     Aaron and Tami like the pandas the best!
                                                                                                 

  I had a hard time telling that this was a panda....the reality is that when you have a blind person writing a blog you will have some strange experiences!  lol!

Dear Dad 10

We are on a trip that you don't know we are on so it makes it hard for me to write this to you.  It has been exactly one week since the mice incident and I will admit we are all still a little jumpy.

                   

On Tuesday we went from our time share in Lake Taho to Reno and spent the night.  We then went to the airport and picked up Mary Lou.  Then back to Tahoe.

         
                             
  Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place regardless of what time of year it is!                         
            
            Mary Lou and Vicki are having a great time walking in the water!

On Wednesday we spent the day driving around the lake.  We stopped at Garwood's and had lunch on the deck and it was beautiful.  The whole deck was covered with umbrellas, like Lyle's, but MUCH BIGGER!!!  It was so much fun.  Sandi got a little sunburned but that's okay as she says she is a natural red head.  I don't know what that means!
                               

                             
                   I just love these umbrellsa!
                           

                       This is the dock at Garwoods!
                         

                  I have to admit, we did not have these drinks, we had hot fudge milk shakes instead!  lol!

Well, before we left for Reno we had a problem with the noise at the swimming pool.  It is suppose to close at ten and at eleven we finally called and they closed the place up.  These are the rules and the nuns always told me that I should obey the rules.  Well, last night it happened again.  At ten fifteen Sandi called and they said they would turn off the music right away.  At ten thirty there were three guys in the hot tub!  What is wrong with them, did the nuns forget to tell them about the rules?  lol!

                                     

              I love this pool....it is wonderful to lay on the water under the pine trees.  This is where we were when we learned that Princess Diane had died....I will never forget it....we were in the middle of a water arobic class....September 1997!         

At eleven we were getting really upset as the boys were now jumping in pool

and making lots of moaning noises.  What is wrong with them?   Sandi decided

she would call the office and tell them that someone had taken the cover off

the pool and that they were making a lot of noise.   The kid at the other

end of the phone said that he was unaware of the problem, Hah!   At this

point, Vicki, forgetting that she was not a nun, started shrieking out the window "THE POOL CLOSES AT TEN O'CLOCK!!  GET OUT!!!

The three young men shot straight up into the air and hit the deck running.

Strange thing, one of them was the night manager whom Sandi had been talking to on the phone.  I think the nuns should have used a ruler when they taught them about rules!!  If I had had one, I certainly would have used it.  lol!

Needless to say, we packed up the car the next morning and headed for Las Vegas, leaving the sinners behind.

Be careful out there.  SnV

June 8, I don't like mice!

Today we met Irwin at Starbucks and visited with him and a few of his friends .  He has decided to change his tech service from Cox to Direct TV.  We are going to check it also.  We will meet him at Outback for dinner at 5:30!

                             

We had a very nice dinner at Outback.  Irwin's steak was a ittle tough....mine was done but not tough and Vicki did not have any steak.  I love their chopped salad!

                                                                           

                         After dinner we went to Rita's for a custard dessert.  It was delicious!

Off to the mall we go to take back a few things and then over to see Rosine.  We got a call from her saying that they have decided that she has shingles!  This is not good....but at least she is not having any pain or itching!

We got over to see Rosine and she is discouraged and I think a little fearful as to what is going to happen next!  We will drop back by there after dinner and take her a lightweight blanket for her to cover up with when she is napping!

So, for now there is nothing more to report so I will go ahead and put the dear dad letter into the blog!

                                                                       

                      I am out of here...Vicki is getting the paper towels!  Run for your lives!  lol!

Dear Dad 9.

On Tuesday morning we left San Diego and started on our trip to the national parks and then on to Lake Tahoe. 
As we were driving into the gas station in Modesto I heard a loud screeching sound.  "What is that I yelled to Vicki?"  Now remember that this is a blind person asking the deaf person what is going on.  She said, ""NOTHING". So silly me , I believed her.  After filling the gas tank, filling the coke cups and emptying the bladders, we were ready to go.  I was still standing outside the car when   Vicki started screaming.  What is wrong with her?, I thought as I backed away from the car   "there is a mouse in the car and I just tried to pick it up as I thought it was a leaf!"..this was not good news and I continued to back away from the car."get me a paper towel she demanded.  I couldn't argue with that as there was absolutely no way that I was going anywhere near that mouse.  She picked it up and escorted it to the trash can.  She gave it a little extra squeeze on the way! lol!  She is a baby mouse killer!  lol!  Gross... she then got into the car and insis 
                                         

ted that I follow.  As I started to get into the car Vicki let out another shriek telling me not to get into the car.  She yelled "there are two more on your side of the car..get me a paper towel!" she demanded.  Not to worry, I am getting good at getting paper towels!  NOW it was not too much longer and I realized where the eek eek eek was coming from when we arrived at the gas station.it was me killing two baby mice.  Yipes!

Now, we have not found out how the mice got into the car and we do not know how many more there are and the big question, '"WHERE THE HELL IS THE MOTHER?"  We left a piece of KASHI on the front floor to see if anyone eats it.  Since it is locked inside the car and Vicki and I are on the outside, the KASHI should be safe.!  lol!
                                                                   

                                                                                Where are my babies?

In my hysteria I called Mary Lou and she had a great solution to the whole problem."buy a new car!"..lol!   so DAD. I think she is right and a new car is a good way to get rid of the mice!  Who wants a mouse house for  a car?  Who would want their daughter to ride around in a mouse house?  What would Nancy and B.O.B. think of such a thing? After all, they sell cars, not mouse houses!!

In the true tradition of a dear dad letter it is time for me to sign off and go have margaritas, popcorn and chocolate cake!  lol!

Be careful out there!

June 8, It's Saturday!

Here we are starting another day and it started at Paradise Bakery!  I have decided that I am not sure that I like to go to Paradise Bakery.  It seems that things do not go well when I go there!  lol!  No,  I am not going into details!  You really don't want to know!
                               

After we had breakfast we picked up a breakfast sandwich for Joshua who was at home doing his families laundry.  Their washer is still not fixed!

Kodi and I are here doing the laundry...not that Kodi is really helping!

"If he thinks I am helping him with the laundry" he is crazy!  "I am here to get treats from Nana!"lol!

Joshua helped me with some computer problems.  After he was done with that he set up Net Flicks for us...I am not sure I am going to like it as Vicki is now sitting at her computer with headphones on and only God knows what she is watching...do they have porn on Net Flicks?  lol!

This is really draining...I am very tired...a girl came into help Rosine and it did not go well...I made a few suggestions, which Rosine agreed with, to the girl who did not like my attitude.  She grabbed Rosine and was doing a body press to put her in her chair....Rosine started yelling and then I started yelling.....not a pretty picture...Of course, Vicki missed the whole thing!  Vicki had gone to get Rosine some water!

This wheel chair fits me just fine!

Rosine has moved all of her stuff into the handicapped bathroom.  I lowered the mirror on the wall so she can see herself and put on her makeup.  As I have said before, she is a real trooper but it is very hard for Vicki and me to watch her loosing her independence!

I THINK i WILL GO AND TAKE A SHOWER!







                     

June 7, I am so bbad!

Okay, I know I am so bad!  My sister and her daughter in law got so excited when they saw the picture of the "mini face lift".  My daughter IL, Melinda, got excited too!  Here is the rest of the story......Vicki and I went to Dillard's and had our make- up done.  We went home and had our neighbor take our picture.  Judy's comment was so true!....."you look 10 years younger"  that is because the picture was taken 9 years ago!  lmao!  Can't stop laughing!  So, Judy and Maria you can still come and see us....there just won't be an appointment for a "mini face lift"!  I will say....Vicki and I are really having fun with this blog!  lol!

                       We know we are bad....we will try harder to do better!  lol!

Rosine is still in a dither!  She is really liking being mobil in the chair....so, she is cleaning her room.  At least the PT and the OT will keep her busy while we take a week off and go to San Diego!  The word from Jerry in San Diego is that it is cold over there!  This is why they call it June Gloom!  Will we complain?  Yes, you know we will!  But a 50 degree drop....sounds good to me!
                                                                   

                 We will still go to Starbucks most mornings and to Paradise Bakery on some days!

Today I had my nuclear stress test.  Next time I will opt for the treadmill!  Can you imagine what my body and my brain were thinking when they took my blood pressure down to 40 and raised my pulse to 124 and my body was not moving...it was not fun...I really thought I was going to pass out...my vision got blurry and I did not feel so good...I then went to eat lunch and a BLT sandwich was not a good choice...I lost my mind during the test and forgot about my gall bladder!  lol!I may not be laughing later!  lol!

We are missing not seeing Sandi in the mornings for coffee!  Hope she is having a good time in Boston and playing games with her grandson!

Now about the Dear Dad letters, there are only a couple left in the series!  Remember that they took place over a 6 months time frame in 2003.  I call the summer of 2003, my college dorm summer!  We really had some wonderful times .  Because of the Dear Dad letters have reconnected with Johnny Angel !  We are planning to have dinner with him when we get to San Diego!  I WILL take some pictures!  I promise!

love yas,
Be careful out there!