Movin' Along!!!!

Well, I don't know what to tell ya. Nothing really "happnen" happnen. But, like I have said before, that is a good thing.

It is hard to get anything done when it is this hot. Just sit around and exist. We do get some done when it is cooler in the mornings and then when it cools off later. The weeds are overtaking my yard, but, well, I guess they will just have to go for it, cause they are ahead of me now!!! Don't think I will ever catch up. Norm is out there whenever he can, sitting in his chair, pulling weeds around his beloved radishes....I told him tonight that with any luck, he would have the garden weeded by winter!!!! He didn't think that was funny. And, that is only one garden. You should see the weeds in the other one!!! Don't even want to think about that.

We went to Cardiac Rehab today, and took Katie with us. She loves it there and is so good. Of course, everyone loves her too. Who wouldn't???? She really does watch her grandpa, and waves to him all of the time. Today she came up to him and "tickled" him. I can't believe she is almost a year old. She is such a happy baby and soon is going to be keeping her mom and dad very busy. She is crawling now and is trying to walk. Oh my!!!! She is a busy little thing and very opinionated. I love to watch her when something or someone gets in her way!!! Watch out cause she will go right though. What a pleasure it has been to have her in our lives this past year. I am fortunate to have been able to see her be born. I will forever be grateful to my daughter and son in law for allowing me to be there. She is the third grandchild I have been privileged to see come into this world and what a choice experience that has been.

Anyway, Norm is making progress every day. I know that I say that a lot, but it is true. Usually when we go to Rehab, I drop him off at the door and go park the car. so, he gets up there to the second floor sooner than I do. Today when I got up there, they said that his oxygen sats were 88 and quickly went up to 91. That was so awesome. He is using less and less oxygen all of the time. Even when he was exercising, he had his oxygen turned down to 2, when before, he was using it at 6. This is real progress. The heat makes it harder for him to breath, but he is really doing well. I wonder what it will be like when it is cooler.

One thing tho....we are going to have to buy him a bunch of new clothes. His shirts just hang on him and he can't keep his pants up, they are so loose on him. He has his belt into the last hole and has even made a couple of new holes, but, he still can't get them to stay where they are supposed to be!!! His church suit just hangs on him too. His white shirts look awful cause they are so big, but his suit covers that up some.

He is doing fantastic. Every once in a while, I think about him lying in his bed, in a coma, and I remember thinking that he may never come home, he may not ever know us, and on and on and on......and now, he even argues with me!!! Never thought I would think that was so cool. He even drives by himself now. Not a lot, but he does some.

My little buddy Clancy is still not doing really well. Right now he is blind. We are hoping that it is something that will go away, but it is going to be a waiting game, to see if he ever sees again. The poor guy is so confused and scared cause he can't see anything and I keep bugging him about putting meds in his eye. The poor thing has his regular eye drops twice a day, for the rest of his life, now, temporarily, he has and additional ointment twice daily, another antibiotic drop four times a day, serum every two hours, and then, he takes two different pills twice a day. Of course that isn't so bad cause he loves cream cheese, and I can hide them in that. Perhaps it is a good thing he is a dog and doesn't know what is ahead of him. He just trusts.

He lives to dig. In fact when we moved here, we didn't know what we were going to do to keep him from "getting the critters" all over the yard. So, we picked out one of the flower beds in the back yard and gave it to him to dig in. He never has made holes anywhere else, unless we tell him "get the critter, right there!!!"

I don't think he will be able to dig anymore. If he does get his sight back, it won't be worth it for him to get dirt in his eye, and then another ulcer. Our pocketbook much less him, could take this again. I sure do miss him tho. He just lays in his cage with his little collar on, so he can't scratch his eye. I feel so bad for him. Norm and I are just praying that we don't have a real difficult decision to make in the near future. Don't know if I could do it. He has been my "best buddy" for a long time. This coming Oct. he will be 10 and I have had him since he was 6 weeks. Can't imagine him not being here. K, I'm not going there!!!!!

Once you choose hope, anything's possible.

~Christopher Reeve