Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #34 – Grass Pickup, Good Medical Reports & Less Dialysis Needed

 

Wednesday, Apr 29^th, 2020…… The weather is cooperating with us again today so I hope later to be able to get out and get the clippings scooped up. But first up is Rylee’s walk and then getting Lydia set up. I fixed us both breakfast and then let Kaitlyn in for Lydia’s evaluation. She needed to go through some of the same tests as they did on the very first meeting to check on Lydia’s progress. Overall, she is doing really well but because she will be most likely feeling effects from the oral meds (round 2B) starting tomorrow, they thought best to extend the sessions for another 30 days, just to be safe.

After Kaitlyn left, I went out and got started on the grass pick up job. I managed to get everything done in less than an hour and then it was time to head over to Albany for Lydia’s dialysis. When I got home, Sis was already there and she was bagging up the grass. Funny, when Kirk and Carter are here and doing their flowerbed weeding, they fill a trash container and then take it out to the woods behind the property and dump it. I could do that too but instead I choose to bag it and dump in the trash container for pickup. I am always asked why I don’t just leave it for lawn mulch. First of all, some of the clippings don’t always get picked up by my tow-behind raking catcher so I have plenty for that. Second, before raking, there is always a ton of grass – more than I want lying out there for butthead to wallow in (and turn green!) and then track into the house! Here’s what it looks like before (Tuesday with the sun out), during, and after running the catcher over it (on Wednesday when it was cloudy).   

Thursday, Apr 30^th, 2020…… We totally stayed at home today. I walked Rylee, made us breakfast, then went out to work a bit on the blueberry enclosure. I took off all of the lower wood border boards. I want to replace all of them and will do so when I can get away to go to the lumber yard. FedEx came today and delivered Lydia’s oral med (this is the round 2B). This is for 14 days. She has to make sure to not contaminate the medication and to safeguard it. No worries – we are only two people and can do that!  She plans on taking it later this evening.

Today was also laundry day. I had Lydia do the sort and I got the five loads going in and out throughout the day. Later, she had me get out everything for a new casserole she was trying today. It takes egg noodles, cottage cheese, sour cream, green onions, cooked ground turkey, cheese, tomato sauce, and spices. I cooked the noodles and then the turkey meat and combined all of the ingredients/mixes in layers which all went into the oven. We decided to have just that alone and it was the right choice. I liked it and would only have her add maybe mushrooms next time.

After dinner, Lydia took her medication and we settled in and watched tv and that was about it for the night. I will be closely watching for any side effects which she may get in the next few days. Hopefully, it won’t be extreme.         

Friday, May 1^st, 2020…… Good night’s sleep last night for both of us. So far, Lydia has had no issues. I made us fried egg sandwiches for breakfast and we spent the morning lounging around until it was time to head off to dialysis. We have been watching news from our governor’s office this morning about opening up the state. Looks like she is working on a slower pace and is proceeding with caution so it may take a while. I don’t think America will EVER get back to pre-covid life. I’m betting that all of the sneeze guards in Costco, 7/11, etc. will probably remain in place. I think that restaurants and fast foods will have less tables and maybe every other booth open. I bet they shut down some of the movie theater seats and still have folks maintain the six-foot rule in lines at markets and fast food places. Some of these things will surely make it hard for the smaller businesses to survive. We’ll see. We left a bit later and went on to Albany. While enroute, she got a call from the infusion center that confused her. They said she was getting a different type of medicine for her next scheduled appointment on May 14^th and that they couldn’t do that medication at that center and that she would have to go to Albany Hospital Infusion for that.  ??  So, she called her oncologist’s office and left a message. Janice called her back and said that decision was made by Dr. Olivera and was less invasive to her system, would take less time, and was not as expensive as the infusion (we are still paying copays until we reach our max so maybe they felt guilty).  Janice said she would schedule an appointment with him the day before her shot so he could explain all of it. The Albany center called right after that so we’re all set for that on May 14. More good news – later, Lydia called me while in the dialysis chair and told me the nephrology doctor came in and said her labs were back and that her creatine was getting back to normal so her kidney seems to be functioning again. That’s great news!   For now, he said starting next week, she would only need two days of dialysis instead of three. Maybe it will get better going forward….    

Later, I headed back to get Lydia. I left a little earlier because I needed to get gas in the Honda. I know it's still over $2.00 in Cali. and way cheaper in Ohio for Bill and Treasa but we're happy here too!

On the way back, we got a call from our neighbor, Corie, who said she was bringing over some chicken noodle soup for us. So, we headed right home and waited. Lydia hadn’t had lunch so she grabbed a dill pickle spear from the fridge to help her along. Corie and Paul came by a bit later because Paul wanted to bake us some chocolate chip cookies. We all sat in the living room and talked. Good thing I had lunch today because it took a while. Once they left, we heated up the soup and the rolls they brought and later had the cookies. All were very good and filling. We settled in and watched tv for the rest of the evening. A good day!