Hello, Dorothy?

smoke dec 010
Originally uploaded by woodsrun

No, I'm not in Kansas anymore. This is what the foot of the lake looks like at -13 degrees. This was yesterday morning at 7:00. The white in the foreground, just beyond the trees, is ice with a dusting of snow. Beyond that is open water, smoking away in the cold. The lake won't freeze over by Christmas this year, that's for sure.

I haven't been around much for the last while. Ken has been gravely ill, a slow heart rate which lead to oxygen deprivation, coupled with dehydration and being poisoned by blood thinners. He's been in the hospital for 2 weeks and is now a greatly improved patient. Is walking with a walker (which sounds not great but trust me, is incredibly good), is eating (again, more exciting than can be believed--half a bowl of oatmeal and 1/2 cup of ice cream, 2 bottles of Ensure a day for 3 weeks before hospitalization), and now is cross because he can't go home until tomorrow. He agreed to having a pacemaker put in, at the insistence of his sons, so now his heart rate is up from 50 to 70 and he's much improved.

I've been working extra hours every day so I can spend 1 1/2 hours with him at lunch time and I go there every night after work at 5 and stay until nearly 8. Sometimes Bill and I overlap, sometimes not. Sometimes I put Ken to bed, sometimes Bill does. on it goes. When he goes home he'll have a relative (Stevie, who's an angel, and the neighborhood contractor) stay with him all morning. I'll stop by every evening on my way home to get him something to eat. Maybe a Medicare nurse can spend time with him. He's agreed to MedicAlert (milestone!) and I'll sleep with my phone by the bed (yes, Ken, yes, I reassure him constantly). He worries about being alone at night but I showed him that he can get out of bed on his own and can get to the bathroom (this is a huge concern for the elderly--just you wait, everyone, we'll be there soon enough).

So we have winter, we have work, we have Christmas, we have a house that's been trashed, we have well-behaved and loving dogs and a needy cat who got shut in the bedroom yesterday but still wanted to spend the evening in there. We have good wood to burn but couldn't get the house warmer than 54 last night. What's up with that? Got home too late, finally just went to bed. It's warmer today and I'll get home earlier, no grocery shopping tonight.

I hope this doesn't sound whiny, I'm not suffering. It's true, I'm tired of room 432 and Mr. Brooks, the deaf roommate who watched Spanish TV until his daughter said "They're speaking Spanish!" and changed the channel. He's leaving today and hardly ever had any company so Bill & I chatted with him & I tucked him in once in a while. He & Ken "raced" each other to the bathroom (think 2 old men with bare butts and walkers) and spent inordinate amounts of time in there.

I think this may be easier than doing it for my mother will be--I have a lot of patience with Ken, and he and I have many, many long-standing jokes we share. At any rate, it's certainly good practice.

So I guess I have enough time to write this. I have nothing else to report. I spent most of last weekend at the hospital. But I promise myself that this weekend belongs to ME. A visit or 2 with Ken, but at least he'll be in Hawkeye instead of 30 miles away.