INFUSION DAY

 Hello, friends!  Hope you are having a wonderful day.  I love this cute little picture of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.  Enjoy the cold while you can.  Spring is almost here.  Yay!

Yesterday I went to the cancer center to meet my new doctor and to get an infusion that I get once a year.  It is to protect my bones.  I didn't want to go alone, so I took Joe with me.  I was really nervous about meeting with the doctor.  I've had some things wrong with me and I was sure he was going to say there was something majorly wrong with me.  I was shaking when I went in.

I had to go to the blood lab first and give a donation.  Ha, ha!  The tech found a good vein immediately, so it was quick and easy.  Then on to the cancer center next door,  I checked in and it wasn't any time at all until I was taken back.  I saw a lot of nurses and techs that I hadn't seen in a long time.  I had taught in the morning, so went in the afternoon to the Cancer Center this time.  There were almost no patients there.

The nurse took my vitals and then I got to meet the doctor.  I had seen him for years in the Center but had never met him.  He was not at all what I expected.  He was so nice and kind and listened to what I said.  And what Joe said.  I was so nervous that when he asked me a question, I would forget what I should be answering!  When he was done, I went to the infusion suite for my treatment.  And I found out that I was getting Zometa.  They had called it by another name (Reclast) but I didn't know that that was what I was getting.  No wonder I feel nauseous afterwards.  Zometa always did that to me in the past.

The nurse was nice, but she was brutal with getting that needle into my hand,  It hurt so much!  Even when I told her it was hurting me, she just kept pushing it in.  But she got it in the first time and once it was there, I didn't feel it at all.  It's a 20 minute drip and once it was all over, we were on our way.

Bob Evans restaurant is in the same complex.  I had told Joe about it, but we had never been there.  Well, I had been there before, but he hadn't.  So we went there for dinner.  Neither of us had eaten much that day.  Joe had chicken fried steak and I had chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce.  Everything was good, but I think I like their breakfast better than their dinner.

On the way home we stopped at a few places to run some errands.  I picked up some cute gnome garden stakes that spell out the word "LOVE".  They are adorable.  It is only 30*F (-1*C) right now, so I may wait another day to get them into the yard.  It's supposed to get warmer tomorrow.  I know just how I want to do my yard to make it really cute for Valentine's Day.  And I will definitely show it to you once I have it the way I want.  I also got two pillow cases for the sofa.  They are cream with pink and red hearts all over them.  I'll show you that too.  They are really pretty.

I need to get off of here and start my day.  Thank you everyone for the prayers and good wishes you sent my way for the infusion.  I really appreciate it.  And for those of you who are waiting for another video from me on YouTube, it's coming.  I just haven't had a minute to sit down and film one!  But this week for sure.

See you all soon.

Kathhy

THE CONCLUSION OF THE FURNITURE ADVENTURE

 

Hello, friends!  Hope all is well with you and your family today.  It is early, but we are going to Cape May Court House for church today and have to leave early.  It takes 2 hours or so to get there and the service starts at 10:30 a.m.  Joe has wanted to get there for two months now and every Sunday it either rains or snows.  Today is supposed to be sunny and warm so today is the day.

But let me tell you the end of the living room furniture saga.

When last we left off, the box with the sofa had left the building and I had stopped crying and felt better.  But now we had to deal with the rest of the problem.  Joe took the mattress upstairs and put it onto the bed as I told you.  Now the old chair was empty, and we had to get it out of the house.  But how to get it out.

We moved things out of the way, and Joe tried to take it apart to no avail.  I was sitting on the sofa because he didn't want me to help.  I had had an afib attack the night before.  I did too much.  So boxes and bags were piled around me and the little end table was on top of me!  I couldn't move.  Joe opened out the recliner which made it thinner, put it on its side, and pulled it out the door.  I don't know how he did it.  He then dragged it across the street to the Veterans building and put it on the sidewalk.  When he came back, he opened the box that the new chair was in and began unpacking it.  Uh, Joe.  Joe, I'm still underneath the furniture and boxes.  It's getting heavy.

He looked over at me and went, "Oh!" and began unloading things from me.  "Sorry."

He took everything out of the box and looked at the directions.  He began trying to put it together, but with his tremors, he couldn't get his hands to work with the tiny parts.  So he called his friend, Lenny, who said he could come over the next day and help him.  For that night he put the seat of the chair on the floor and laid the back on top of it,  It was so pretty, though.  I love the upholstery.

George discovered the chair and immediately claimed it.  He hasn't been scratching at it (much) but loves to lay in it.  In fact, he's lying in it sleeping now.

As promised, Lenny came over the next day.  It took about an hour for the two of them to put the chair together and put it into place.  It is so pretty!

Here's the old chair (ignore all the mess around it.  There was mess for quite awhile):

And here is the new one. (Jack loves the new chair too):

It is very comfortable to sit on.  But there is one problem.  It is so deep that when I sit back, my feet stick out like a little child's.  Oh, the problems of being short.  As we continue to clean out the room, we are planning to buy another one so that we each have a chair.  We have so many plans and I hope they all come to pass.

That is where we are now.  Still cleaning.  Still going through tons of papers, books, etc.  It will get done, but I have to do it slowly because I do not want another attack.

And now to get myself together for church.  I hope you all have a great day.  Thanks for joining me on this furniture journey and I hope you enjoyed it.  I'm sure there's lots more coming this month.  Especially as things continue to go out of the house.

Until later...

Kathy

THE ADVENTURE OF THE LIVING ROOM FURNITURE

 Hello, friends!  Welcome back to another installment in the redoing of Kathy's house.  When last we left off, we had just put in a new mattress and box spring.  And let me tell you, they are very comfortable.  But we had other furniture we needed to replace.  The worst being the recliner in the living room.

We bought the recliner second hand for $50 back in 2008.  It has certainly done its duty and owes us nothing.  The cats liked to claw it too.

So Joe and I looked through the chairs from Walmart and found one we really liked and could afford.  In fact, I decided to give it to him for Valentine's Day.  I never know what to get him and since this is where Joe usually sits, it was the perfect gift.  We ordered it and were told it would be delivered on Friday afternoon.  This was perfect because our trash day is Friday, and we could put the old chair out in the morning.

Joe also looked at sofas, but we decided to wait to order one of those.

Early Thursday morning there was a knock at the front door.  We were still asleep, and it woke us up.  I went to the door and a FedEx driver was there with a big box.  It was the chair.  A day early.  And there was nowhere to put it.  He slid the box in the door and told me he had another box for us too.  I yelled for Joe, and he came downstairs.  The other box was a sofa.  A sofa we were looking at but didn't order.  These boxes were so large that we couldn't even close the front door.  (You can see part of the chair box next to the brown chair above.)

We finally rearranged things and shut the door.  But then we couldn't open the door to use it.  What a mess!  I admit that I started crying.  It was such a bad situation.  Later that afternoon we figured out to stand the sofa on its end next to the coffee table, remove the table by the front door and put the chair box there.  The mattress box was in the old chair and Joe and I sat squeezed together on the little bit of the sofa that we could sit on.  No wonder Joe went to bed early.

Things remained like that for three days while Joe argued with Walmart about taking the sofa back.  Not only did they deliver it because Joe accidentally ordered it, but they also sent the wrong one.  At first, we agreed to a reduction in the price and were going to keep it.  But then discovered it wasn't even the one we were looking at but another one with leather upholstery and a foot longer than the space we had for it.  Can you imagine what the cats would do with leather?

Finally, we worked things out and Walmart agreed to let us return it.  They sent Joe a return label which we printed out.  They were going to pick it up on Monday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.  We put it out on the sidewalk at 8 a.m.  And what a time that was to get it out the door!  But it was there, and the room looked so roomy without that gigantic box.

It sat on the sidewalk all day.  Our neighbors are having work done on their house and one of the workers knocked on the door to tell us we had a delivery and ask if we needed help getting it into the house.  The mailman also knocked and asked if we wanted him to help us get it inside.  So nice of these people but NO.

Finally, at 4 p.m. the FedEx man showed up.  He scanned the box then leaned over, picked it up, put it on his shoulder, and carried it to the truck.  That weighed over 100 lbs.!  Wow!  Joe ran to the door and asked if he needed help, but he said no.  Remind me to keep that driver on my side.

And that is where I am going to end today.  Come back next time for the conclusion of our story.  Yes, there's more to come.

In the meantime, Happy Groundhog Day.  Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow and so we will have an early Spring.  Yes!  Let's have an early spring.

See you next time.

Kathy

THE ADVENTURE OF THE NEW MATTRESS

 

Hello friends and welcome to February.  Didn't January feel like a long month?  Everyone I know says so.  Even the news programs.  But in any case, it is a new month and time is moving on.  This month is going to be busy.  Lots of doctor appointments and unfortunately an infusion for me in the next week or so.  I am always sick to my stomach for a few days after that.  I get this infusion because the cancer medication I received years ago has made my bones brittle and the drug I am getting offsets this.  It is only once a year, so I can't complain too much.  I remember going once a week for a year so once a year is nothing.

Joe and I are redoing our house.  Well, we are beginning anyway.  It is going to be a long process.  We started by getting a new boxspring and mattress for our bed.  The boxspring has been broken for quite a while but it finally collapsed, and Joe was literally sleeping on the floor while I had to hold onto the side of the bed to keep from falling into the hole.  Time for a new one.

We had quite a time getting the boxspring up the stairs.  Our stairs turn and getting it around the corner was tough.  It was so heavy too.  But we did it.  We had to cut the box off of the boxspring which was another feat.  It took over an hour to do this.  And getting it onto the bedframe was another matter.  

Then we had to put on the mattress.  Actually, we waited until the next day to do this, putting the old mattress on for that night.  It was hard work, and we were bushed!  We aren't as young as we once were.

We were able to put the boxspring and mattress against the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Society building across the street.  Joe is the Chaplain there.  One of his buddies came with his truck and picked them up the next day.  He took them to the dump for us so that we didn't have to wait until trash day to get rid of them.

What Joe figured out to do was to first bring down the old boxspring.  Not as hard going down the steps as going up!  I held all the doors open for him, helped him get it around the corners, etc.  Then he dragged it across the street.  Next was taking the old mattress off of the bed, putting it in a plastic bag, and sliding it down the stairs.  That was harder to do.  The box spring folded in half, but the mattress didn't.  What a time!  But Joe got that across the street also.

Next was getting the new mattress upstairs.  We opened the box, took out the mattress which was wrapped in LOTS of plastic and Joe literally "walked" the mattress upstairs.  He would put it on the step in front of him, go up one step himself, then put the mattress up to the next step.  When he got to the bedroom, he left it in the doorway and took a rest.  I offered to help him, but since my heart was misbehaving, he didn't want me to put extra stress on myself.  I had been doing too much.  After dinner he was able to get the mattress onto the bed.

Quite a time we had, but what a difference in our sleep.  So comfy.  It was time we did this.

You might think this was something, but there is so much more to tell.  That will be for the next post.

Happy February everyone.  Have a wonderful day and I will talk to you soon.

Kathy