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Lebanon, Oregon, United States
We are Terry & Cathye Kinkelaar. If you've followed my blog in the past, you know that Lydia, my beautiful wife of 52 years, and I made the lifestyle choice to move to Oregon in 2017. You've seen my posts about losing her in May 2020 to cancer. Although I was left alone, I am pleased to say that I have found happiness again. In April 2021, I met Cathye, who also lost her longtime husband in 2020. Well, we fell in love and were married in April 2022. So, if folks are still interested, I will continue to post here as we move forward with our lives and adventures!

Saturday, May 18, 2019

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #46 – Visiting & Going Home!


 

Thursday, May 16th, 2019…...  I slept in this morning but once I moved, Rylee was all over me to get up and let her out! I showered and took her out for her walk. The rains are back and it had just stopped sprinkling when we went out. After that, I went and got my breakfast and settled in and rested for the morning. I only had a few items on my to-do list for today and waited to get started after reading my paper. I dusted the house and then vacuumed and then straightened up the kitchen. I was done for the day after that. I called Lydia and checked on her. She has been up but still has some muscle weakness and she is worn out after a few minutes. The doctor is due in later.  I spoke to several folks who have called me asking about her. I nuked the spaghetti leftovers and was good to go. Later, I called back again and she sounded a little more rested. She has been up 3 times today. The doctor says she should be able to be released Saturday or Sunday. I am heading back up tomorrow to spend the day with her.  We have had a lot of flowers open up in the last few days. I went out and took a couple of pics of these. I'm not sure what they are called but we have a bunch of different colors!


  


Friday, May 17th, 2019……  My sister suggested that she come over and walk Quincy, then we feed the dogs and then go to breakfast before I leave to head up north for the day. Good idea!  We drove out to Shirley May’s only to find a sign on the door saying they were closed today due to illness. So, we decided to head back to town and go to Kevin’s instead. No big difference in the quality of food – they are both delicious!
We got back and I took off, this time driving the Honda to get it out on the ‘road’ again. I decided to drive to Corvallis and get some gas and then follow 99E this time to the Portland area. That was a good choice but a whole lot slower, taking me through Hillsboro and into the city from the west. I got there and made my way up to her floor and we visited for a while. She was just finishing up her lunch. She said she had been up and walking and had done her ‘chores’. Dr. Herzig had put on her board to get up and sit in her chair three times, and then walk three times. They took her catheter out so she had to get up and go pee on her own again. She was allowed to go back to a regular diet as well. The only thing out of whack was her blood sugars. They have been monitoring her since surgery. They had gone up right after surgery and today, they were lower than normal. This happened when she had her kidney transplant as well. She was told she was borderline diabetic but after about a month she was off all of the testing and was back to normal. This time they were not worried either but have been poking her finger every two hours and getting readings. His assistant came in a bit later and said that she could go home today. We were surprised but didn’t say no!  They gave her one new prescription plus they want her to continue monitoring the blood sugars. I will have to go get that stuff when we get home. It took a few hours but she finally got released. I went and got the car and they brought her down and we headed home. We did get stuck in the usual southbound-Friday-get-out-of-town traffic but once we cleared the normal bogdowns, we made pretty good time. No rains today, even though it was predicted. I think we only got a few drops but that was all. We stopped and picked up burgers and went home. Rylee was excited to see her Grammy and I had to hold her back so she wouldn’t jump up on Lydia. We ate and then she got back into her jammies and settled into her recliner and relaxed and watched tv until bedtime. Rylee felt better now that she had both of us in her bed again!       
  
             
Saturday, May 18th, 2019…... Rain is in the forecast but it was clear last night. We both slept well. Lydia has pain in the surgery area but other than that, says he feels pretty good. She’s said she had not passed any solid food yet so we’ll see how that goes today. She good a good shower and got dressed for the day, even though we weren't going anywhere!


The morning was clear so I got Rylee out and walked and then came back in and made us egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. My sister had found that they carry Farmer John link sausages at our local Safeway so I added some of those to my sandwiches. After that, I headed out to Walmart to get the glucose testing equipment. Our local Walmart is closed right now. On Tuesday, while we were in Portland, someone had gone to the pool chemicals area and mixed a couple together and started a fire. They evacuated the area and the news said the sprinklers only came on in one area. That is conflicted by locals who say the whole store went off and that they now have everything wet in the store. All we know is that the store is still closed. Anyway, I drove to the Albany Walmart and got everything so she can now do the twice-a-day tests, starting tomorrow morning. We spent the rest of the day just hanging around. The sun came out and it was a nice day and we had the house opened up. But later in the day the skies darkened and we had a thunderstorm pass thru. But it only lasted about 30 mins. And it was dry again for the evening. I still need a few days of sun so I can mow again so I watch the weather closely so I can plan ahead.  Later, I went out to Taco Bell and picked up dinner. We ate and watched tv until bedtime.     

       

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