Finally some good news! Prayer warriors and senders of good vibes,
thank you!

First some background: Mary's edema has recently made collecting a
blood sample quite problematic. They tried to do it at the Allina
clinic on Wed and even the most experienced technician failed with
apologies. We went down to Mayo on Thursday afternoon, stayed
overnight at the Kahler Grand -- which ain't so grand, more on that
later. First thing on the agenda Friday morning was a blood draw for
lab work that the hemotologist needs to assess, prescribe and proceed.
Mary mentioned that they'd been unsuccessful in Minneapolis. The lab
tech just smiled as if to say "this is Mayo." And so it was. She
hit paydirt on first jab. She used several preparatory techniques
that Allina didn't seem to know about.

Lab work was done while we had lunch, bought some new compression
stockings at the Mayo store, and waited for a few hours. We then saw
Dr. Chee, the hemotologist. Hemoglobin count was good, platelet
count was good, Mg was a bit low ... and the concentration of amyloid
protiens was down from almost 300 to a single digit. YAY and OMG!
The chemo is working! That's the best news we've had for months.
Things looked good enough for Mary to have chemo again today. They
added Mg to the drip. The chemo was a quick push but Mg must drip
slowly so we didn't get outta there until after dark. I dislike
driving at night but it was easy tonight after good news. It wasn't
snowing, the road was dry and there was a full moon.

When we got to chemo, we mentioned that Mary's edema made finding a
vein quite difficult but that the techs in the lab had succeeded. The
chemo nurse grinned as if to say, "hah, that's the lab, this is
chemo. Watch this!"
We were not disappointed.

Mary is still quite weak from her several hospitalizations due to
internal bleeds (and chemo, of course) and the edema (from
transfusions) continues to be a problem and nuisance, but if her
heart and gut can hang in there for a little while with the kappa
amalyoid proteins under control by chemo, the damage to the heart
and gut will eventually begin to reverse. The disease is still
incurable (but then, so is herpes) but it may be managable enough to
allow some quality life to look forward to. **** defintely happens
but today's findings were very encouraging.

We planned her funeral on the ride home as a matter of conversation,
what she wanted to talk about. It's something couples our age should
discuss, who knows who will go first. We haven't discussed mine if I
should go first because I really don't give a ****.

I asked her if she was ready to give up and die. She said oh hell no,
far from it, just wanted me to know her preferences.

She clearly expects to die first. That purely sucks, he said
selfishly.

Dr. Chee, a very high-energy young woman, asked Mary how her energy
level was. Mar said with a grin that she could barely lift a foot six
inches from the floor but her energy level to keep trying was
undiminished. The doc actually laughed out loud, clapped and shouted
"YES!!!"

The rehab center (not Mayo, not hardly!) has an excellent rep for
rehab PT and OT which is why Mary is there. Mary is very pleased
with the rehab she's getting and the people that are providing it. As
a care facility, it definitely has some warts. Most of 'em do as you
no doubt know. First issue was, they are lockstep military rigid
about meds while Mary needs some leeway to adjust dosage of one med
according to prescribed guidlines. They weren't letting her do it.
Specifically, she needs to adjust her Lasix for gradual edema
reduction according to how much weight she loses each day with target
being 1 to 2 lb, not significantly more or less.

I can understand how they don't want residents with dementia making
decisions about their meds, but it's quite evident that Mary is far
from mentally deficient or addled. It became immediately clear that
trying to discuss this with the head nurse was a complete waste of
time. His receiver was turned off, smashed and the parts cast to
the wind. He da man in charge, shut up. Roger that, this needed
to be fixed. We discussed it with Mary's primary physician at
Allina. He was dismayed, but seemingly unable to figure out what to
do about it. So today we discussed the matter with Dr. Chee at Mayo
after she'd had a look at Mary the Michelin Woman.

I don't think I would like having Dr. Cheng Chee mad at me! She
wrote a freakin book of orders, crystal clear, precisely defining
bounds of prescribed discretion: how dosage should be adjusted on a
day-by-day basis according to specified conditions and measures,
putting the legal onus squarely back on the care facility if the CYA
buggers are driving: allow Mary to follow orders, or if you insist
on driving than you'd better follow orders flawlessly: screw this
up at your peril because we will definitely be paying attention. She
printed them out, gave us hard copies to deliver, bestow and serve
upon Herr Obersturmfuhrer nurze at Das Rehab Zentrum.

Mary has me there 3 to 5 hours a day, not to mention all day when
we're at Mayo. I think their staff could get her ready for bed as
well or better than I can, but she wants me to do it -- and she
directs like a melodious-voiced goddamned drill sergeant. She is
definitely organized. I purely hate being micromanaged but Gawd,
how I would miss that woman! I'm patient. Son Dave is sometimes
amazed at how patient I can be, though I do eventually put up some
mild-mannered resistance. "Mar, you're micromanaging." She
delivers a velvet rejoinder that gets returned like a tennis ball
that hit a smiling claymore. She says, "oh... yeah" for that round
only. We've been doing that for most of 30 years, nothing new. Life
with Mar is never boring.

The Kahler Grand: way far more amenable to our present needs than the
Microtel. Handicapped-accessible rooms, wheelchairs everywhere,
direct connection to the Mayo skyway/subway system. I can stop at the
main entrance, go in and shag a wheelchair, come out and load her up
and move her inside, then go park in the Kahler ramp. Once that's
done we won't have to mess with the car until we're ready to return to
Mnpls. There are several good restaurants at the Kahler and
elsewhere in the completely-wheelchair-accessible system.

But it has its warts. Things in the Mayo system are very clearly
posted and marked, and system maps are readily available. Within
the Kahler itself, an old hotel, ya pretty much have to recon it and
dope it out. There are many entrances to the parking ramp so you'd
better be able to recall and retrace which one is closest to your
car.

My key card that operated the door on our room would also serve as our
parking pass and would allow entry from the ramp to the hotel. That
was cool because I'd lucked into a parking spot right next to an entry
door on the 2d level. I checked no fewer than three times to verify
that the card would work after checkout, since we checked out this
morning but didn't depart until after our long day at Mayo. I
parked Mary at the access door near room 292 (I'd mentally notched
that tree on previous recon), went out confidently to get our coats
out of the car, start the car to warmitup, and return to inside to
collect Mary. The goddamned card wouldn't open the goddamned door.
ARRGGGHHHH. I tried both cards every which way from Sunday. No joy.
I decided to make a little noise just in case so I heel-stomped the
living crap out of that steel door half a dozen times and paused to
see if that might have any beneficial effect before walking two blocks
in the cold. (15 and windy) It did. Mary, knowing me well,
deduced what the racket was all about and enlisted the aid of a
passerby to open the door from inside. (It was at the top of a ramp
too steep for Mary to wheel herself up and assist from inside.)

Turned out the passersby she enlisted had a similar experience
involving climbing several flights of cold stairs, so they were
sympatico.

Loaded up in warm car, Mayo wheelchair #892 left to hopefully be
crushed by an errant Audi since we couln't open the goddamned door
with our goddamned keycard to courteously return it like good
Minnesotans, thence to exit the ramp. The guy at the desk, upon
inquiry after being told that we checked out this morning, had
assured me that the keycards would open the gate to release us from
the ramp.
It didn't. I tried that 8 ways from Sunday. No joy.

I noted what looked like an intercom with a pushbutton. I pushed the
button. I wondered if the button was really intended to push that
far, since I punched it with some vigor and was surprised at how it
yielded. No voice emerged from the plastic intercom grilll but the
gate opened forthwith. Mary said "drop the cards, go before it
changes its mind". Great minds, our trunk was past the open gate
before she finished her sentence.

Thence back to the rehab facility 90 minutes north, where I spent an
hour getting her moved back in and ready for bed. That's after
swinging thru Fridley to glom some clandestine Lasix in case Herr
Obersturmfuhrer nurze at Das Rehab Zentrum is too bloody thick to
follow orders. Winning here isn't about being right, it's about
taking care of Mary as job1. Mar has no problem with sneaky,
devious, alert cunning and sly when appropriate.

Thence home and some supper at 22:30. Phew! Mar ate in the car as
we left Roch but I don't like to eat while driving so I got by on
Caribou Coffee. You'd think a freakin' coffee shop would have more
than one kind of coffee, wooncha? Ethiopian light roast fercrissakes.
I have nothing against Ethiopians, but light roast?

Two messages on the answering machine, one at about midnight last
night and the other shortly thereafter. "This is xyz care center,
urgent that Mary McCann call ASAP." I laughed out loud. They'd
misplaced Mary and didn't know it until midnight, where the hell is
Mary? OMG, she's AWOL! I called them back and said if they'd like
to talk to Mary directly she's in bed in room 716 right down the hall.
The person that answered the phone that time was Demi, a very neat
young nurse. She laughed, said yeah, some wires got crossed and some
folks got a bit frantic the previous evening. What a laugh! Demi
knew that we'd been careful to make sure the desk knew we were
leaving, where we were going, why, and when we'd be back.

The place has excellent rehab therapy, that's why Mary is there.

Long day, but all in all a very good day. I will sleep much better
tonight than I did last night. The bed at the Kahler Grand was ...
well ... I've slept in better hammocks. But the accessibility is
good if the freakin keycards work.

On Sat, 19 Feb 2011 03:17:42 -0600, Don Foreman
wrote:

Finally some good news! Prayer warriors and senders of good vibes,
thank you!
......

Don, thanks for the update. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be
with Mary and you. Give your honey a kiss for me.

P.S. You'd best hunker down for a good old fashioned MN snowstorm
tomorrow

Karl

"Don Foreman" wrote in message
...
Finally some good news! Prayer warriors and senders of good vibes,
thank you!

First some background: Mary's edema has recently made collecting a
.....................................


I don't know you from a bar of soap Don but I've been wondering how you two
are getting on.

It's great to hear positive news!

Dennis, my best wishes to you and Mary. I do not recall if you
mentioned what her actual diagnosis is. Looks like she is getting good
care.

i

On Sat, 19 Feb 2011 03:17:42 -0600, Don Foreman
wrote:

Finally some good news! Prayer warriors and senders of good vibes,
thank you!

--snip--

When we got to chemo, we mentioned that Mary's edema made finding a
vein quite difficult but that the techs in the lab had succeeded. The
chemo nurse grinned as if to say, "hah, that's the lab, this is
chemo. Watch this!"
We were not disappointed.

Excellent!


--snip--
She clearly expects to die first. That purely sucks, he said
selfishly.

Condolences, but she has the right attitude, and you seem to be coming
around to it.


Dr. Chee, a very high-energy young woman, asked Mary how her energy
level was. Mar said with a grin that she could barely lift a foot six
inches from the floor but her energy level to keep trying was
undiminished. The doc actually laughed out loud, clapped and shouted
"YES!!!"

Sounds like an outstanding doc. Congrats on getting her.

--snip--

But it has its warts. Things in the Mayo system are very clearly
posted and marked, and system maps are readily available. Within
the Kahler itself, an old hotel, ya pretty much have to recon it and
dope it out. There are many entrances to the parking ramp so you'd
better be able to recall and retrace which one is closest to your
car.

Pass this info on to the bigwigs (both day and night crews) and see if
they can whip up some maps before your next visit.

--snip--

Loaded up in warm car, Mayo wheelchair #892 left to hopefully be
crushed by an errant Audi since we couln't open the goddamned door
with our goddamned keycard to courteously return it like good
Minnesotans, thence to exit the ramp. The guy at the desk, upon

snort

--snip--

Thence back to the rehab facility 90 minutes north, where I spent an
hour getting her moved back in and ready for bed. That's after
swinging thru Fridley to glom some clandestine Lasix in case Herr
Obersturmfuhrer nurze at Das Rehab Zentrum is too bloody thick to
follow orders. Winning here isn't about being right, it's about
taking care of Mary as job1. Mar has no problem with sneaky,
devious, alert cunning and sly when appropriate.

Right, one manages the quality-care tidbits while the overall
life-preservation regimen takes care of itself.


Thence home and some supper at 22:30. Phew! Mar ate in the car as
we left Roch but I don't like to eat while driving so I got by on
Caribou Coffee. You'd think a freakin' coffee shop would have more
than one kind of coffee, wooncha? Ethiopian light roast fercrissakes.
I have nothing against Ethiopians, but light roast?

Egad, the heathen Sadists! One can't find a decent dark roast without
it being French BURNT, either. 'Tis a quandary.

--snip--

Two messages on the answering machine, one at about midnight last
night and the other shortly thereafter. "This is xyz care center,
urgent that Mary McCann call ASAP." I laughed out loud. They'd
misplaced Mary and didn't know it until midnight, where the hell is
Mary? OMG, she's AWOL!

LOL!

I called them back and said if they'd like
to talk to Mary directly she's in bed in room 716 right down the hall.
The person that answered the phone that time was Demi, a very neat
young nurse. She laughed, said yeah, some wires got crossed and some
folks got a bit frantic the previous evening. What a laugh! Demi
knew that we'd been careful to make sure the desk knew we were
leaving, where we were going, why, and when we'd be back.

The place has excellent rehab therapy, that's why Mary is there.

Bueno.


Long day, but all in all a very good day. I will sleep much better
tonight than I did last night. The bed at the Kahler Grand was ...
well ... I've slept in better hammocks. But the accessibility is
good if the freakin keycards work.

DO let them know, both verbally and in writing with their complaint
system. Some hoteliers do _care_, but sometimes you must find a way
get the info past the sloppy gatekeepers and -to- them. Sometimes you
get lucky and find an intelligent and caring maitre d or concierge.

Wow, it was a long day, as I'm tired just reading about it.

Carry on, you two. Hugs to Mary.

--
Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy
simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.
-- Storm Jameson

On Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:13:47 -0600, Ignoramus9508
wrote:

Dennis, my best wishes to you and Mary. I do not recall if you
mentioned what her actual diagnosis is. Looks like she is getting good
care.

i

I always wondered about your nym, but not any longer!

Don Foreman wrote:

Finally some good news! Prayer warriors and senders of good vibes,
thank you!

First some background: Mary's edema has recently made collecting a
blood sample quite problematic. They tried to do it at the Allina
clinic on Wed and even the most experienced technician failed with
apologies. We went down to Mayo on Thursday afternoon, stayed
overnight at the Kahler Grand -- which ain't so grand, more on that
later. First thing on the agenda Friday morning was a blood draw for
lab work that the hemotologist needs to assess, prescribe and proceed.
Mary mentioned that they'd been unsuccessful in Minneapolis. The lab
tech just smiled as if to say "this is Mayo." And so it was. She
hit paydirt on first jab. She used several preparatory techniques
that Allina didn't seem to know about.

Lab work was done while we had lunch, bought some new compression
stockings at the Mayo store, and waited for a few hours. We then saw
Dr. Chee, the hemotologist. Hemoglobin count was good, platelet
count was good, Mg was a bit low ... and the concentration of amyloid
protiens was down from almost 300 to a single digit. YAY and OMG!
The chemo is working! That's the best news we've had for months.
Things looked good enough for Mary to have chemo again today. They
added Mg to the drip. The chemo was a quick push but Mg must drip
slowly so we didn't get outta there until after dark. I dislike
driving at night but it was easy tonight after good news. It wasn't
snowing, the road was dry and there was a full moon.

When we got to chemo, we mentioned that Mary's edema made finding a
vein quite difficult but that the techs in the lab had succeeded. The
chemo nurse grinned as if to say, "hah, that's the lab, this is
chemo. Watch this!"
We were not disappointed.

Mary is still quite weak from her several hospitalizations due to
internal bleeds (and chemo, of course) and the edema (from
transfusions) continues to be a problem and nuisance, but if her
heart and gut can hang in there for a little while with the kappa
amalyoid proteins under control by chemo, the damage to the heart
and gut will eventually begin to reverse. The disease is still
incurable (but then, so is herpes) but it may be managable enough to
allow some quality life to look forward to. **** defintely happens
but today's findings were very encouraging.

We planned her funeral on the ride home as a matter of conversation,
what she wanted to talk about. It's something couples our age should
discuss, who knows who will go first. We haven't discussed mine if I
should go first because I really don't give a ****.

I asked her if she was ready to give up and die. She said oh hell no,
far from it, just wanted me to know her preferences.

She clearly expects to die first. That purely sucks, he said
selfishly.

Dr. Chee, a very high-energy young woman, asked Mary how her energy
level was. Mar said with a grin that she could barely lift a foot six
inches from the floor but her energy level to keep trying was
undiminished. The doc actually laughed out loud, clapped and shouted
"YES!!!"

The rehab center (not Mayo, not hardly!) has an excellent rep for
rehab PT and OT which is why Mary is there. Mary is very pleased
with the rehab she's getting and the people that are providing it. As
a care facility, it definitely has some warts. Most of 'em do as you
no doubt know. First issue was, they are lockstep military rigid
about meds while Mary needs some leeway to adjust dosage of one med
according to prescribed guidlines. They weren't letting her do it.
Specifically, she needs to adjust her Lasix for gradual edema
reduction according to how much weight she loses each day with target
being 1 to 2 lb, not significantly more or less.

I can understand how they don't want residents with dementia making
decisions about their meds, but it's quite evident that Mary is far
from mentally deficient or addled. It became immediately clear that
trying to discuss this with the head nurse was a complete waste of
time. His receiver was turned off, smashed and the parts cast to
the wind. He da man in charge, shut up. Roger that, this needed
to be fixed. We discussed it with Mary's primary physician at
Allina. He was dismayed, but seemingly unable to figure out what to
do about it. So today we discussed the matter with Dr. Chee at Mayo
after she'd had a look at Mary the Michelin Woman.

I don't think I would like having Dr. Cheng Chee mad at me! She
wrote a freakin book of orders, crystal clear, precisely defining
bounds of prescribed discretion: how dosage should be adjusted on a
day-by-day basis according to specified conditions and measures,
putting the legal onus squarely back on the care facility if the CYA
buggers are driving: allow Mary to follow orders, or if you insist
on driving than you'd better follow orders flawlessly: screw this
up at your peril because we will definitely be paying attention. She
printed them out, gave us hard copies to deliver, bestow and serve
upon Herr Obersturmfuhrer nurze at Das Rehab Zentrum.

Mary has me there 3 to 5 hours a day, not to mention all day when
we're at Mayo. I think their staff could get her ready for bed as
well or better than I can, but she wants me to do it -- and she
directs like a melodious-voiced goddamned drill sergeant. She is
definitely organized. I purely hate being micromanaged but Gawd,
how I would miss that woman! I'm patient. Son Dave is sometimes
amazed at how patient I can be, though I do eventually put up some
mild-mannered resistance. "Mar, you're micromanaging." She
delivers a velvet rejoinder that gets returned like a tennis ball
that hit a smiling claymore. She says, "oh... yeah" for that round
only. We've been doing that for most of 30 years, nothing new. Life
with Mar is never boring.

The Kahler Grand: way far more amenable to our present needs than the
Microtel. Handicapped-accessible rooms, wheelchairs everywhere,
direct connection to the Mayo skyway/subway system. I can stop at the
main entrance, go in and shag a wheelchair, come out and load her up
and move her inside, then go park in the Kahler ramp. Once that's
done we won't have to mess with the car until we're ready to return to
Mnpls. There are several good restaurants at the Kahler and
elsewhere in the completely-wheelchair-accessible system.

But it has its warts. Things in the Mayo system are very clearly
posted and marked, and system maps are readily available. Within
the Kahler itself, an old hotel, ya pretty much have to recon it and
dope it out. There are many entrances to the parking ramp so you'd
better be able to recall and retrace which one is closest to your
car.

My key card that operated the door on our room would also serve as our
parking pass and would allow entry from the ramp to the hotel. That
was cool because I'd lucked into a parking spot right next to an entry
door on the 2d level. I checked no fewer than three times to verify
that the card would work after checkout, since we checked out this
morning but didn't depart until after our long day at Mayo. I
parked Mary at the access door near room 292 (I'd mentally notched
that tree on previous recon), went out confidently to get our coats
out of the car, start the car to warmitup, and return to inside to
collect Mary. The goddamned card wouldn't open the goddamned door.
ARRGGGHHHH. I tried both cards every which way from Sunday. No joy.
I decided to make a little noise just in case so I heel-stomped the
living crap out of that steel door half a dozen times and paused to
see if that might have any beneficial effect before walking two blocks
in the cold. (15 and windy) It did. Mary, knowing me well,
deduced what the racket was all about and enlisted the aid of a
passerby to open the door from inside. (It was at the top of a ramp
too steep for Mary to wheel herself up and assist from inside.)

Turned out the passersby she enlisted had a similar experience
involving climbing several flights of cold stairs, so they were
sympatico.

Loaded up in warm car, Mayo wheelchair #892 left to hopefully be
crushed by an errant Audi since we couln't open the goddamned door
with our goddamned keycard to courteously return it like good
Minnesotans, thence to exit the ramp. The guy at the desk, upon
inquiry after being told that we checked out this morning, had
assured me that the keycards would open the gate to release us from
the ramp.
It didn't. I tried that 8 ways from Sunday. No joy.

I noted what looked like an intercom with a pushbutton. I pushed the
button. I wondered if the button was really intended to push that
far, since I punched it with some vigor and was surprised at how it
yielded. No voice emerged from the plastic intercom grilll but the
gate opened forthwith. Mary said "drop the cards, go before it
changes its mind". Great minds, our trunk was past the open gate
before she finished her sentence.

Thence back to the rehab facility 90 minutes north, where I spent an
hour getting her moved back in and ready for bed. That's after
swinging thru Fridley to glom some clandestine Lasix in case Herr
Obersturmfuhrer nurze at Das Rehab Zentrum is too bloody thick to
follow orders. Winning here isn't about being right, it's about
taking care of Mary as job1. Mar has no problem with sneaky,
devious, alert cunning and sly when appropriate.

Thence home and some supper at 22:30. Phew! Mar ate in the car as
we left Roch but I don't like to eat while driving so I got by on
Caribou Coffee. You'd think a freakin' coffee shop would have more
than one kind of coffee, wooncha? Ethiopian light roast fercrissakes.
I have nothing against Ethiopians, but light roast?

Two messages on the answering machine, one at about midnight last
night and the other shortly thereafter. "This is xyz care center,
urgent that Mary McCann call ASAP." I laughed out loud. They'd
misplaced Mary and didn't know it until midnight, where the hell is
Mary? OMG, she's AWOL! I called them back and said if they'd like
to talk to Mary directly she's in bed in room 716 right down the hall.
The person that answered the phone that time was Demi, a very neat
young nurse. She laughed, said yeah, some wires got crossed and some
folks got a bit frantic the previous evening. What a laugh! Demi
knew that we'd been careful to make sure the desk knew we were
leaving, where we were going, why, and when we'd be back.

The place has excellent rehab therapy, that's why Mary is there.

Long day, but all in all a very good day. I will sleep much better
tonight than I did last night. The bed at the Kahler Grand was ...
well ... I've slept in better hammocks. But the accessibility is
good if the freakin keycards work.


Keep us informed, Don. The prayers will continue. From the way you
describe Mary, she might be the first one to beat this cancer.


Take your cutting torch the next time you stay at that so called
'hotel'. ;-)


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

"Ignoramus9508"
wrote in
message
...
Dennis, my best wishes to you and Mary. I do not
recall if you
mentioned what her actual diagnosis is. Looks
like she is getting good
care.

i


".... and remember, I'm pulling for ya, we're all
in this together".
Red Green, keep your stick on the ice.....

Not sure why I said Dennis, must be autocompletion ran amok

Sorry DON

On 2011-02-19, Ignoramus9508 wrote:
Dennis, my best wishes to you and Mary. I do not recall if you
mentioned what her actual diagnosis is. Looks like she is getting good
care.

i

"Dennis" wrote in message
. au...

"Don Foreman" wrote in message
...
Finally some good news! Prayer warriors and senders of good vibes,
thank you!

First some background: Mary's edema has recently made collecting a
.....................................


I don't know you from a bar of soap Don but I've been wondering how you
two are getting on.

It's great to hear positive news!

As a longtime reader and 99% lurker, what he said!

You talked about Mary's edema and need for compression hose; three years ago
I had to wear compression socks for a year due to edema from my blood
pressure medication and I just wanted to pass on that the best place I found
to buy them is at www.ameswalker.com. Great service, great prices, and lots
of good info on their site about sizes and how to put them on. I wore there
120-xl knee-high (over the calf, as they say :-)) in white, and they were
very durable and comfortable (they are a cotton and synthetic blend). I
also tried the 111's, all cotton, and while they were a little more
comfortable they stretched out so they were noticeable loose after just six
months while the 120's were still snug after over a year. Not quite as
cheap as zenni optical, but the best I could find :-). Best way I found to
put them on was to roll them up and then unroll them onto my foot and leg.
Then use a latex or nitrile rubber glove for traction to drag them the rest
of the way into position. You don't actually need to put the glove on, just
wad it up like a kleenex and wipe the sock upwards without damage. If you
try to pinch the sock with your fingers and pull you are almost certain to
cause local damage to the elastic.

Well, best of luck, and back to lurking.

-----
Regards,
Carl Ijames

"Don Foreman" wrote in message
...
Finally some good news! Prayer warriors and senders of good vibes,
thank you!

First some background: Mary's edema has recently made collecting a
blood sample quite problematic. They tried to do it at the Allina
clinic on Wed and even the most experienced technician failed with
apologies. We went down to Mayo on Thursday afternoon, stayed
overnight at the Kahler Grand -- which ain't so grand, more on that
later. First thing on the agenda Friday morning was a blood draw for
lab work that the hemotologist needs to assess, prescribe and proceed.
Mary mentioned that they'd been unsuccessful in Minneapolis. The lab
tech just smiled as if to say "this is Mayo." And so it was. She
hit paydirt on first jab. She used several preparatory techniques
that Allina didn't seem to know about.

Lab work was done while we had lunch, bought some new compression
stockings at the Mayo store, and waited for a few hours. We then saw
Dr. Chee, the hemotologist. Hemoglobin count was good, platelet
count was good, Mg was a bit low ... and the concentration of amyloid
protiens was down from almost 300 to a single digit. YAY and OMG!
The chemo is working! That's the best news we've had for months.
Things looked good enough for Mary to have chemo again today. They
added Mg to the drip. The chemo was a quick push but Mg must drip
slowly so we didn't get outta there until after dark. I dislike
driving at night but it was easy tonight after good news. It wasn't
snowing, the road was dry and there was a full moon.

When we got to chemo, we mentioned that Mary's edema made finding a
vein quite difficult but that the techs in the lab had succeeded. The
chemo nurse grinned as if to say, "hah, that's the lab, this is
chemo. Watch this!"
We were not disappointed.

Mary is still quite weak from her several hospitalizations due to
internal bleeds (and chemo, of course) and the edema (from
transfusions) continues to be a problem and nuisance, but if her
heart and gut can hang in there for a little while with the kappa
amalyoid proteins under control by chemo, the damage to the heart
and gut will eventually begin to reverse. The disease is still
incurable (but then, so is herpes) but it may be managable enough to
allow some quality life to look forward to. **** defintely happens
but today's findings were very encouraging.

We planned her funeral on the ride home as a matter of conversation,
what she wanted to talk about. It's something couples our age should
discuss, who knows who will go first. We haven't discussed mine if I
should go first because I really don't give a ****.

I asked her if she was ready to give up and die. She said oh hell no,
far from it, just wanted me to know her preferences.

She clearly expects to die first. That purely sucks, he said
selfishly.

Dr. Chee, a very high-energy young woman, asked Mary how her energy
level was. Mar said with a grin that she could barely lift a foot six
inches from the floor but her energy level to keep trying was
undiminished. The doc actually laughed out loud, clapped and shouted
"YES!!!"

The rehab center (not Mayo, not hardly!) has an excellent rep for
rehab PT and OT which is why Mary is there. Mary is very pleased
with the rehab she's getting and the people that are providing it. As
a care facility, it definitely has some warts. Most of 'em do as you
no doubt know. First issue was, they are lockstep military rigid
about meds while Mary needs some leeway to adjust dosage of one med
according to prescribed guidlines. They weren't letting her do it.
Specifically, she needs to adjust her Lasix for gradual edema
reduction according to how much weight she loses each day with target
being 1 to 2 lb, not significantly more or less.

I can understand how they don't want residents with dementia making
decisions about their meds, but it's quite evident that Mary is far
from mentally deficient or addled. It became immediately clear that
trying to discuss this with the head nurse was a complete waste of
time. His receiver was turned off, smashed and the parts cast to
the wind. He da man in charge, shut up. Roger that, this needed
to be fixed. We discussed it with Mary's primary physician at
Allina. He was dismayed, but seemingly unable to figure out what to
do about it. So today we discussed the matter with Dr. Chee at Mayo
after she'd had a look at Mary the Michelin Woman.

I don't think I would like having Dr. Cheng Chee mad at me! She
wrote a freakin book of orders, crystal clear, precisely defining
bounds of prescribed discretion: how dosage should be adjusted on a
day-by-day basis according to specified conditions and measures,
putting the legal onus squarely back on the care facility if the CYA
buggers are driving: allow Mary to follow orders, or if you insist
on driving than you'd better follow orders flawlessly: screw this
up at your peril because we will definitely be paying attention. She
printed them out, gave us hard copies to deliver, bestow and serve
upon Herr Obersturmfuhrer nurze at Das Rehab Zentrum.

Mary has me there 3 to 5 hours a day, not to mention all day when
we're at Mayo. I think their staff could get her ready for bed as
well or better than I can, but she wants me to do it -- and she
directs like a melodious-voiced goddamned drill sergeant. She is
definitely organized. I purely hate being micromanaged but Gawd,
how I would miss that woman! I'm patient. Son Dave is sometimes
amazed at how patient I can be, though I do eventually put up some
mild-mannered resistance. "Mar, you're micromanaging." She
delivers a velvet rejoinder that gets returned like a tennis ball
that hit a smiling claymore. She says, "oh... yeah" for that round
only. We've been doing that for most of 30 years, nothing new. Life
with Mar is never boring.

The Kahler Grand: way far more amenable to our present needs than the
Microtel. Handicapped-accessible rooms, wheelchairs everywhere,
direct connection to the Mayo skyway/subway system. I can stop at the
main entrance, go in and shag a wheelchair, come out and load her up
and move her inside, then go park in the Kahler ramp. Once that's
done we won't have to mess with the car until we're ready to return to
Mnpls. There are several good restaurants at the Kahler and
elsewhere in the completely-wheelchair-accessible system.

But it has its warts. Things in the Mayo system are very clearly
posted and marked, and system maps are readily available. Within
the Kahler itself, an old hotel, ya pretty much have to recon it and
dope it out. There are many entrances to the parking ramp so you'd
better be able to recall and retrace which one is closest to your
car.

My key card that operated the door on our room would also serve as our
parking pass and would allow entry from the ramp to the hotel. That
was cool because I'd lucked into a parking spot right next to an entry
door on the 2d level. I checked no fewer than three times to verify
that the card would work after checkout, since we checked out this
morning but didn't depart until after our long day at Mayo. I
parked Mary at the access door near room 292 (I'd mentally notched
that tree on previous recon), went out confidently to get our coats
out of the car, start the car to warmitup, and return to inside to
collect Mary. The goddamned card wouldn't open the goddamned door.
ARRGGGHHHH. I tried both cards every which way from Sunday. No joy.
I decided to make a little noise just in case so I heel-stomped the
living crap out of that steel door half a dozen times and paused to
see if that might have any beneficial effect before walking two blocks
in the cold. (15 and windy) It did. Mary, knowing me well,
deduced what the racket was all about and enlisted the aid of a
passerby to open the door from inside. (It was at the top of a ramp
too steep for Mary to wheel herself up and assist from inside.)

Turned out the passersby she enlisted had a similar experience
involving climbing several flights of cold stairs, so they were
sympatico.

Loaded up in warm car, Mayo wheelchair #892 left to hopefully be
crushed by an errant Audi since we couln't open the goddamned door
with our goddamned keycard to courteously return it like good
Minnesotans, thence to exit the ramp. The guy at the desk, upon
inquiry after being told that we checked out this morning, had
assured me that the keycards would open the gate to release us from
the ramp.
It didn't. I tried that 8 ways from Sunday. No joy.

I noted what looked like an intercom with a pushbutton. I pushed the
button. I wondered if the button was really intended to push that
far, since I punched it with some vigor and was surprised at how it
yielded. No voice emerged from the plastic intercom grilll but the
gate opened forthwith. Mary said "drop the cards, go before it
changes its mind". Great minds, our trunk was past the open gate
before she finished her sentence.

Thence back to the rehab facility 90 minutes north, where I spent an
hour getting her moved back in and ready for bed. That's after
swinging thru Fridley to glom some clandestine Lasix in case Herr
Obersturmfuhrer nurze at Das Rehab Zentrum is too bloody thick to
follow orders. Winning here isn't about being right, it's about
taking care of Mary as job1. Mar has no problem with sneaky,
devious, alert cunning and sly when appropriate.

Thence home and some supper at 22:30. Phew! Mar ate in the car as
we left Roch but I don't like to eat while driving so I got by on
Caribou Coffee. You'd think a freakin' coffee shop would have more
than one kind of coffee, wooncha? Ethiopian light roast fercrissakes.
I have nothing against Ethiopians, but light roast?

Two messages on the answering machine, one at about midnight last
night and the other shortly thereafter. "This is xyz care center,
urgent that Mary McCann call ASAP." I laughed out loud. They'd
misplaced Mary and didn't know it until midnight, where the hell is
Mary? OMG, she's AWOL! I called them back and said if they'd like
to talk to Mary directly she's in bed in room 716 right down the hall.
The person that answered the phone that time was Demi, a very neat
young nurse. She laughed, said yeah, some wires got crossed and some
folks got a bit frantic the previous evening. What a laugh! Demi
knew that we'd been careful to make sure the desk knew we were
leaving, where we were going, why, and when we'd be back.

The place has excellent rehab therapy, that's why Mary is there.

Long day, but all in all a very good day. I will sleep much better
tonight than I did last night. The bed at the Kahler Grand was ...
well ... I've slept in better hammocks. But the accessibility is
good if the freakin keycards work.

Good. I'll say a prayer for her if it's PC with you.

I heard a cute story the other day.

Helen calls the hospital and asks how Helen is doing in room 713.

Nurse shuffles papers, and says, Helen is doing fine. Her blood pressure is
stable. Her labs came back good. She's eating and resting well.

By the way, who is this?

Helen says, This is Helen in room 713, and I just wanted to call and ask how
I'm doing. They won't tell me **** in here.

Best to you and Mary.

Steve

"Steve B" wrote in message
...

snip
Good. I'll say a prayer for her if it's PC with you.

I heard a cute story the other day.

Helen calls the hospital and asks how Helen is doing in room 713.

Nurse shuffles papers, and says, Helen is doing fine. Her blood pressure
is
stable. Her labs came back good. She's eating and resting well.

By the way, who is this?

Helen says, This is Helen in room 713, and I just wanted to call and ask
how
I'm doing. They won't tell me **** in here.

Best to you and Mary.

Steve

Your story reminds me of an experience I had. While in St Louis University
Hospital when my wife called me they wouldn't put her through to me, when my
boss called me they gave me the call. The kind of crap I put up with at the
hospital I'm not surprised about lawsuits.

RogerN

Don Foreman wrote:

The goddamned card wouldn't open the goddamned door.
ARRGGGHHHH.

Don't you just love brain dead automation. My local podunk post office is on limited
hours like sales counter open from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm. Reason being low volume of sales
at my post office. Not being open for the working class is by design going to further
reduce volume and get it closed which I am sure is the goal.

Two weeks ago, I stopped in to get my mail on the way to work when I took the first half
of the day off as vacation and when the lobby is open for those with post office boxes. I
gave up on rural delivery years ago. Between the county taking out my mail box with the
plow every winter and the route driver refusing to deliver because a drift showed up in
front of the box after I left for work and finding mail after the thaw froze into the
roadway because the idiot tried to rubber band records to the box in the face of a strong
west wind, I gave up on free delivery.

Anyway, I tried to open the lobby door during the window that it should be open. No dice,
locked up solid. Call uncle to investigate later in day. Lock is on a time lock system,
it got out of time so it wasn't open when it should be.

We are both old enough to remember the good old days when humans, maybe not rocket
scientists but humans with reasoning ability were in the loop when entering doors or
calling a firm. Technology has some down points.

I am very happy to read that your Mary is improving.

Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Ignoramus27971 wrote:

Not sure why I said Dennis, must be autocompletion ran amok

I had a big HUH? moment with that one. I read some things I type wondering who the hell
did that after seeing it posted. Often too much enthusiasm and knowing what I intended to
say which makes proofing difficult at best. As a coder, I'm sure you understand that.

Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

"Ignoramus27971" wrote in message
...
Not sure why I said Dennis, must be autocompletion ran amok

Sorry DON

On 2011-02-19, Ignoramus9508 wrote:
Dennis, my best wishes to you and Mary. I do not recall if you
mentioned what her actual diagnosis is. Looks like she is getting good
care.

i


Had me scratching my head to Ig!

Thankfully we are all well.

I am very happy to read that your Mary is improving.

Wes

Me too, thanks, Wes!