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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!

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #33 – Feeling better After Round 2(A) & Yard Work


 

Saturday, Apr 25th, 2020…… Nothing on the agenda today. Lydia did ok last night. She had a couple of potty trips but she feels ok for now. Today we just hung around the house. I don’t think I went off in the car anywhere today. I did make us breakfast again. I fixed myself another omelet but she was waiting to have brunch. She asked for (and helped make) a tuna melt for her meal. We had everything and it was pretty easy to assemble. I hung around the kitchen with her in case she needed assistance. I ended up getting out some bowls that were hard to access while using her walker but she got most everything put together and ready for me to put into the Oster broiler/oven to cook up a bit. Not my favorite meal but she enjoyed it!
Later, and again, with Lydia’s help and overseeing, I put together the chicken/green bean casserole that we like so much. Once we waited for it to cook, we were able to clean up everything and later enjoyed a nice meal. Yummy and leftovers for tomorrow! We ended up watching a few of our own programs before calling it a night. Lydia is on a high dose prednisone for 5 days after taking her chemo so she was a little wired up and had a hard time sleeping last night so she took some melatonin and that calmed her down enough to get a good night’s rest. As I said before, I don’t have to get out of bed now to help her to the potty. But I am still aware that she’s up. I used one of her trips to let butthead outside to pee but went back to sleep after both of them settled back in for the night.     

Sunday, Apr 26th, 2020…… We saw yesterday on Facebook that our local bar, the Growler Café is doing take-out brunch on Sundays and they showed a picture of their breakfast burrito, which looked tasty, so that was plan for today. I called it in and then went and got myself some 7-11 coffee and then picked it up on the way home. This is a little different burrito than we’re used to. This one has potatoes, eggs, sausage, pepper jack cheese, mushrooms, bacon, onions, and country gravy all inside. We opted for no onions and Lydia asked for extra gravy. I think she misunderstood my order because she left off the onions but also left off the mushrooms too!  Oh well, I liked it anyway and would order it again. Lydia not so much. I cut hers in half so I have some now for tomorrow! Lydia settled in her office chair and I watched Nascar e-racing in my room.  Not the same but it fills my racing ‘fix’ for now.  Lydia was hungry later and she made a macaroni dish with diced tomatoes and mushrooms. I was good from breakfast. We didn’t get anything out for dinner because we will have the chicken casserole tonight. Easy meal for me!  The weather today is nice and sunny. My neighbors are out mowing today, but our lawn is still too wet for that. I will text Kirk tomorrow to try to get the other mower back so we can mow again if the skies cooperate next week. I did get the garden hose hooked up out in the field. This field spigot is where I usually set up Rylee’s pool. Her old one got tossed last season. I just need to go shopping for a new one soon because she is ready to romp in the water. So, today we just tested the water and Rylee is ready!
After our leftover meal, I went out and worked in the shop for a few minutes, just straightening it up a bit, then came back in and watched tv for a while and then called it a night.   

Monday, Apr 27th, 2020…… Today I was up early. We are supposed to get rain on and off for this next week. That’s not what I wanted to hear. I want a few days of dry and sunny weather so the lawn can dry out enough to mow. This grass is alive and well and grows super-fast and it’s already overgrown after the last mowing. So, no yard work today. Lydia made me a list for Walmart and after I dropped her off this afternoon, I headed off to go do that. I had added the pool and some more chair cushions to help Lydia get in and out of her chairs easier. I found almost everything on her list and got home and got everything put away. I had a short period to rest a bit then headed back to pick her up. I had gotten some ground turkey out to defrost for tacos tonight. Lydia helped with the meat. It’s sure nice to see her with more energy these days. This last round of chemo, although shortened, has produced very little side effects, as least so far. She is doing more and more each day and we’re both thrilled with that. I anticipate that her next nursing/rehab evaluation will go well enough so that she won’t need home visits any more.  That is supposed to happen sometime this week.
We ate and relaxed and settled in for tv until bedtime.        
    
Tuesday, Apr 28th, 2020……  Weather is giving us a break! No rain today and the sun is shining! I texted Kirk and he said he can drop off the mower later this morning and then come back and get it later for an afternoon job. But I needed to go to Lowes this morning to get rock salt for our water softener system. I got Lydia taken care of and then headed off and got that done. I also found a chair pillow (that wasn’t overpriced!) so I bought that for Lydia’s office chair. I got back home and got started with the string trimmer and got that done just as Kirk was pulling in. Sis came over and immediately jumped on that mower and started in on the back field. I got the other one out and did the rest. The sun was out and the grass cooperated! I would say I made quick of it but our neighbor came jogging by and I stopped her to give her a headband I thought one of her daughters dropped when they were out last week. We got to talking and I told her about Lydia. We visited for 30 minutes or more before I started back in. Meanwhile, Penny got her part finished and was using the leaf blower to clean the mower. I finished shortly after and got my mower cleaned up. I also took the leaf blower out to the blueberries and blew all of the clippings out of that area.  Kirk came by right after that and got the tractor loaded back up on the trailer and then started in on my yard until he had to leave. Lydia had Dominique come by for PT and another person for the OT. We also got a call about the oral chemo she will soon be getting. That is scheduled to start as soon as received. I’m calling the infusion 2A and this oral med 2B. Jack wanted to go over all of the effects and side effects of the new drug and make sure she follows the safeguards for securing the medication. We are ending up having to pay the first copay on this one. That is, until we get – and pay for - the invoice for the copay infusion she got last week. We think that once we make our insurance copay maximum, we should be ok with all future 2020 copays. Sis went home and I came back in and rested and then took a shower after all of that yardwork. Later, I went out and got us burgers and fries and then we settled in for the night and watched tv.          

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