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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!

Friday, March 27, 2020

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #24 – Back in a Routine


 

Monday, Mar 23rd, 2020……  Another early day. We were up around 5:00am and, with Penny’s help when she came over, we got ready pretty quickly and got Lydia out the door. Lydia had a slight accident last night. Right before bedtime when we were moving from the bed to the toilet, she went weak-kneed and I tried to catch her but had to let her down to the floor and re-grip. Problem was when I had hold of her arm, I moved across a large really purple bruise on her bicep that she got when in the hospital. We found later that it broke loose and was bleeding. I found a few items to clean and bandage her up but had to do it again later in the night. I will need to make a run tomorrow to the health/beauty section in Walmart to get more substantial bandages and tape. Anyway, we got her moved out and made it to dialysis with time to spare. Once we left and came home, I walked and fed Rylee and then headed off to Walmart to get some things to help stock up the house. Yes, I got those bandages!
I had a few minutes to work on my last post before Sis came back and we left to go pick her up. No issues and she feels pretty good today. Only cold but that’s not unusual.  We had stopped at McDonalds for fish sandwiches for lunch and then it was just kick back time for the rest of the day. When it was time for dinner, I fixed bbq chicken wings and she ate one or two. I changed out her bandage, then it was bedtime. Both of us were tired and I know I went right to sleep.
  
Tuesday, Mar 24th, 2020……  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANIE!  We are now one of the 21 states.  Our governor Kate Brown – yes, we have a governor Brown here in Oregon! – has followed suit with other states and we now have a stay-in-place order. The dialysis center gave us a letter which authorizes our right to be on public streets going to and from dialysis. I don’t hope to ever have to use it. The grocery stores and drive-up businesses are open. Most of the smaller stores/coffee shops, etc. have set up parking stations out in front for drive-thru pickups. We still have stocked shelves in Walmart although some items are missing. Hey – the health food is still there!
Lydia is doing ok. She walked unassisted (with backup front and rear) from the bedroom to her living room recliner using her walker. It’s good exercise but wears her out at this stage.      
We have enough tv programs to watch and I can still go out to the shop and work on projects but for now I have been hanging around the house, playing nurse, butler, maid, cook, and everything else so I am staying pretty busy. In my spare time, Rylee keeps me alert and we still can play and have some fun together inside and out in the yard. The sprinkles came back yesterday so I was sure glad we got the lawn done. I still need to go get some lumber so I can start on the wheelchair ramp that we need right now. I have studied up a bit and watched videos so I think I am ready to start that project. I’m just waiting for the rains to dry out the walkway so I can get started.  Tonight, she sent me off to Taco Bell for dinner. She’s still not had much of an appetite so she’s not eating much but it is slowly getting better, especially when she comes up with an idea for dinner. We finished up the night watching tv and relaxing until bedtime.         

Wednesday, Mar 25th, 2020……  Another dialysis day so we were up at 5:00am and got ready to leave around 6:00am to be there by 6:45am check-in. Today, when we checked in, Joan told us that since she is a 3.5 hr. patient, there is a better time slot for her. So, effective on Friday she will have to be there at 12:45pm for 1:00pm dialysis. Since she has trouble waking up in the morning, this will work out better for now. Of course, we are still on the list for transfer to the Lebanon facility should a chair open up there at whatever time is available. We’ll take it!  After I dropped her off and came home, sis went back home and I left to go get the oil changed on the truck. Once that was done, we got back together and headed back to get her. Once home, I fixed her some soup for lunch and she went to bed for a few hours than got up for dinner and tv until bedtime. Tonight is Survivor and The Masked Singer. She has gotten caught up on both shows and we continue to enjoy both of these season’s episodes. Tonight we didn’t have a clue for The T Rex on The Masked Singer. It’s probably because they are newer artists and we don’t keep up with the new music genre today. But it’s still fun to watch!

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