BACK TO BIBLE STUDY

Joe is doing so much better.  I keep saying to him, "My Joe is back."  His sugar is still low, but he is eating regularly and keeping it up.  He is enjoying eating the sugary treats he loves but hasn't been able to in several years.  I'm thinking because he recently lost 65 pounds that maybe his medicine doesn't need to be taken in the same dosage as in the past.  Or maybe he can just control his diabetes by diet as he did in the past.  In any case he is getting an appointment with his doctor to get this checked out.

I made strawberry cupcakes for Bible study this morning.  They turned out so good.  The cake is nice and light and I topped the white icing with red sugar.  Everyone liked them.  I'm not a cake decorator so they certainly looked homemade, but the taste more than made up for the looks.  I took the left overs to work and they went quickly.

Our treat table at Bible Study

 Joe even felt well enough to attend and help teach.  I did the majority of the teaching this week because he wasn't up to it, but he contributed a great deal.  And he's looking and feeling so much better.  Pastor Justin was really surprised to see him.

Joe in the "teacher's chair" looking good.

 Can you believe how well he looks?  I am totally amazed.  God is so good.

At the end of the study Pastor Justin came in to say hello to everyone.  I asked him to take a picture of us since I had my camera with me.  It's a shame that three people were missing today, but here we are.

Dottie, Charlie, me and Joe

 I am making copies of the picture for everyone for next week.  I still might get another one with all of us before Charlie moves to Kansas the first of April.
 

HE'S BETTER

Thank you, everyone, for all your concern and prayers.  They mean so much to both of us.  Joe is doing better today.

This morning we took Joe's blood sugar level.  Yeah, I know we are supposed to do this every day, but haven't in a week or so.  Here his blood sugar was very low.  He is really good on his diabetic diet and taking his medication.  But this was too low.  I gave him some orange juice and a bowl of cereal to up his carbs.  Fifteen minutes after he ate we took his blood sugar level again and it had gone up 70 points.  Still low, but better.  It never occurred to me until this morning that low blood sugar could cause some of the problems that he's been having.

After I got him back to bed, he asked me to call his movement disorder doctor who had doubled one of his medications about three weeks ago.  He wasn't there so I left a message on his answering machine.

Around 11:30 Joe called me and said he wasn't feeling any better and would go to the Emergency Room.  So I got him up, got his clothes changed, shaved him and he brushed his teeth.  I got him downstairs and we were putting on our coats when the doctor called back.  He talked with Joe about 15 minutes, asking him all kinds of questions.  He seems to think that the two medications that were increased were too much.  So Joe is now back to his previous levels and is already doing better.  He is not shaking as much and his mind is much clearer.  While he was up I made him eat a couple of tuna sandwiches for lunch to keep his carbs up.

This has been one of the hardest weekends of my life.  Worse even than when I have been sick.  I truly appreciate so much all the support I've been given.

Joe has asked me to go get him an Italian hoagie for dinner, so I am heading out to do that.  He said that last night when he fell he tripped over his pant leg because his pj's were a little too long for him.  I thought he might have had a seizure (he has epilepsy) but he said no, he felt himself falling and tried to save himself.  

So that is what's going on here.  If it really is his medication and blood sugar, I should know for sure by tomorrow.  If he is not better, he has agreed to go to the ER in the morning.  I hope he is on the mend.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Happy New Year!  This is the year of the snake.  I'm a snake on the Chinese Zodiac.  According to the Chinese Zodiac, the people born the year of the snake are smart and can be unscrupulous. Is that me?  Well, maybe the smart part.  Ha, ha.  Lucky colors are yellow and red.  I like the way yellow and red look together.

 

We celebrated by having  Chinese take out from the restaurant down the block from us.  We had "lucky" food: 

dumplings for prosperity and

long noodle lo mein for long life.

The noodles were not all that long in the lo mein so does that mean short life?  Everything was good.

     Here is a picture of the parade from Philly's Chinatown.  It's always a big event.

Joe has not been doing well.  Yesterday he slept all day, didn't even eat.  He was having a hard time waking up.  When he got up for dinner he had a hard time keeping his eyes open.  He finished eating and said he had to go back to bed.  He started upstairs holding a bottle of water and couldn't lift his foot high enough to get up the stairs.  I had to take the bottle from him and walk behind him holding on to him and lifting his feet for him to get up the stairs.  When he got to the bedroom door, he started to lean forward.  I grabbed him and told him he wasn't to the bed yet but he kept insisting he was because he could see it and ended up falling on the floor.  I couldn't pick him up so he had to get himself into bed.  I was never so happy to get him laid down, take off his glasses and cover him up.

Today we didn't go to church because he could not wake up and get up.  I wasn't feeling all that good myself, so I just laid around today too.  He got up to eat dinner again, but that was the first time he was up all day. It ended up with him laying on the sofa sleeping because he couldn't wake up.  I got him up enough to eat (although he didn't eat much) and then he went back to bed again.  He did watch about half of Downton Abbey on TV but then turned over to go to sleep.  I asked him if he would be OK tomorrow if I went to work and he started talking nonsense.  I kept saying I was serious and to answer me but he talked about running a video when he was "good and ready and not before."  Now he is asleep again.

I am very worried about him.  He is acting the way he did when we were first married and he was being poisoned by one of his medications.  I don't know what to do.  I think I am going to try to talk him into going to the Emergency Room in the morning.  So if you are a praying person, please pray for us.  I will let you know what happens. 

P.S.  After I wrote this post, I was watching TV and fell asleep on the sofa.  I woke up to a bang and found Joe laying in the hallway where he had fallen.  I had a really hard time getting him up.  He said he was heading for the bathroom and didn't know how he got on the floor but his head hurt where he had hit it.  I am definitely getting him some medical help tomorrow.