Life is Good!!!

Things are going well at the Lyman house! Nothing exciting the last few days, just good ole family life...nice and calm and uneventful. I guess uneventful is not the right word....it just feels so good to have things just kind of "normal".

Norm has been doing really well. He feels better all of the time, but still is having a bit of trouble understanding why he has no energy, and sometimes gets a little depressed. The other day he said he never thought it would take him all day long to fix a sprinkler!!! Gosh, at least he is able to get out there and do it!!!! He has made amazing progress. It has been quite a while since he has used his oxygen during the day. He is learning how to deal with the heat. We don't go out during the real hot time of day, and we use the ceiling fans because the moving air seems to help him breath. He really is doing well. He has driven a bit, but I think it tires him out cause he always wants me to drive back. For all of these years, I guess I have taken for granted that I have been able to sit back and look around, instead of driving all of the time. Now, for about four months, I have been doing the driving. But, that will change too, although I think we are headed for a bit of trouble....I hate his driving and he hates mine!!!! I see a compromise in the future!!!

Cardiac rehab is going really well. Chad has boosted his time on the treadmill and bike to 25 minutes and he is going at a faster pace. He still uses his oxygen for excercise, but that is alright. His recovery is really fast. They take his "sats" (oxygen saturation) quite often during the excercise time and it will go down during excercise, but right back up again to the right levels. That is so much better than it used to be. He says now, that he actually feels pretty good after he is finished.

I guess I already said that we have gratduated from having speech twice a week, to once a week. I guess Jim is running out of stuff to give him to do. He has narrowed it down to a couple of specific areas to work on. Jims seems pretty happy with Norms progress. Life is really good.

On Monday (???) Ty, Bridger, Austin and EmberLee came over and spent some time with us. The kids played in the sprinklers and it sure felt good to them. It has been very hot!

Tuesday (I think it was Tuesday...Maybe Wednesday) Christy, Roger and Katie came for dinner and Norms sister Lurain came too and that was fun. I love eating out on our deck. It is nice out there and plenty of room to let the kids play and us to visit. Having my children and other family close is really nice. Before we moved here, we had little contact with familly. We had some dear friends that were like family but not the same. (But, we miss our friends too!!!)

Our 4th of July celebration was nice. We went down to Christy's house and had dinner. She made the best pulled pork sandwiches. I don't know where she got her talent for cooking cause she sure didn't get it from me!!!

Her in-laws were there. (Roger Sr.and Theresa Lowe) It was really nice to visit with them. They sre some of my favorite people. I always like to visit with Rogers brothers and sisters also. That whole family has been nothing but nice to Norm and I. They love my daughter too, so what more could I ask for. The Lowe family are just "good people". Thanks to Christy and Roger for asking us and for the Lowes inviting us to be a part of their family.

I was really proud of Norm cause he made it all day long with no oxygen. It was hard at times but he worked through it. We got there about 5:00 and left at about 10:30. A long day, and he did really well. I think things will be alright where he is concerned.

We ended up with quite a few fire works that night. I brought some, Christy and Roger bought some and "Big Roger" and Theresa bought some. Roger had to go to work that night at 10, and wanted to do fireworks so he got dressed for work before.

It just seemed funny to see a police officer setting off fireworks and then having to go to work and confiscate some. The difference is that ours were legal and he had to take the illegal ones. We all had fun and I am glad he was able to stay and do that cause he is a "closet pyro!!!!"

All in all, it has been a good week. Today we were able to make it to all of our church meetings. When we were getting out of the car at church I asked Norm if he was going to bring his oxygen in with him. He said "do you think I need it???" I told him that I would come out and get it if he did, so we went in without it and it stayed in the car. That is the first time we have been able to go to church and him not use it at all.

Tomorrow begins a new week. It promises to be a busy week, but a fun one. We have Cardiac Rehab tomorrow and then on Tuesday and Wednesday, we have Katie!!!! We love it when she comes!!! She gets to go to Cardiac Rehab with us on Wed. Then, Thursday we have a day off, but we are supposed to walk. Then, on Friday, we have Cardiac Rehab and Katie again!!!!

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts.

~Author Unknown