6/29/11 SOME ROUTINE

Joe stamina is still weak; He eats so little and he tries to cover it up so that I will not notice what be leaves on his plate. But when he turns around I peek under the napkin and plate. We start the morning with a toasted bagel with light cream cheese at the New York Deli on Five Forks Trickum, Mrs Kim greets us cheerfully every morning. After eating I drive off to Bally's Fitness Center and do one hour and half of water aerobics. I usually am exercising much harder than my peers in the class. You get what you put into it. In the class there are about 30 people, when I do aerobics, Joe drives over to Lilburn Park where that have a nice level track and some other green trails. Joe had started with 2 laps last week when as started out exercise routine. He is now doing 4 laps around the track. We get home about the same time. We rest long enough to stop sweating, at times we have some chores to get done such as bill paying and investments, pick up the limbs off the grown, trim some bushes.

About 7pm I walked with Max around our block which is hilly and is about 1.5 miles long, I love walking so I can see what is going on in the neighborhood. AS one passes by walking or driving. each person waves to the other. There is a bunch of yard trimmings next to the road from all the thunderstorms that we had. The county did not pick all of it up. I do not think that they were expecting a big load. On Monday the hairless coyote spotted me at the beginning of Musket Lane. It was sitting in the middle of the street to keep his eye on me. The coyote has lost its hair with a bad case of mange, It sure looks quite weird looking. Coyote followed me down Musket Lane to Musket Court then he got lost in the bushes. He is alone and looks sad without his crew.

I used Joe's electric shaver to shave his face, chin, neck and ears. Joe is in heaven when I shave him since he finds it so relaxing. It is an act of love of course. Joe's cough is so much better right now but he has a nasty diarreha which occurs about 6 hours after he takes his morning pills; One night when I could not sleep I read the issues on the drugs. It is my opinion that the diarrhea is a reaction to Azithromycin which is one of the two antibiotics he takes for the mycobacterium gordonae. Joe body temperature is so messed up. One minute he is sweating profusely then another minute later he needs a blanket or a jacket to get rid of the cold. His appetite is very fair.

I had to do some straightening out of the future schedule for Joe medical appointments to get them changed for when we will be in Houston. I also had to reschedule several other appointments that were on days that we were no going to be there. I would send a secure email on mymdandrerson but nothing got corrected so I had to get more involved with calls and follow up to make sure that it is done. It can be a real challenge and Joe is glad that I handle it all. He just does not have a clear organized mind to get it done correctly.

Today I had sent an email to Dr Romaguera about Joe's peersistent explosive watery diarreha that happends in mid afternoon. I also told him about Joe's excessive sweats and extreme temperature, and fair appetite. He wanted Joe to see Dr Torres in the Infectious Disease Department but that would not be for 2 weeks which was too long a period of time .I set up an appointment with Dr Winton at Emory for tomorrow. I forward DR Romaguera's email which stated what he would do and why. So we go to Emory Joe will have his stool tested as well as additional blood tests to make sure Joe does not have another infection. I also told Dr Romaguera that I could not get an appointment for Joe to see Dr Torres in Infectious Disease until September. Romaguera would fix that and he did. I have got to get Catherine Lewis, Dr V's nurse to put his appointment on the schedule for 7/12 since we will be there only that one day. I have been trying to get it on the schedule for a week and it is still not there. I was succeccful in getting DR Schiffman's appointment moved to September when we will be there for a few days.

United Health Care finally paid the Home Care that I had to give Joe drugs via IV and even mix the crazy stuff. United kept rejecting the claim and I was getting worried since the price was up to $65000. I had called Applied Health Care about the bill and they told me not to worry about it. It was approved. They go through this with United Health Care each time. Phew I am glad that worked out.


Joe and I have enjoyed being homebodies so much that we hardly venture out of our little community. On July 20 I started exercising quite seriously with on Monday, Wednesday anda Friday I do an hour and a half of water aerobics at Bally's Gym. At night I walk 1.5 miles around our hilly neighborhood. On Tuesday and Thursdays I go back to Bally's Gym and ride a recumbent bike 13 miles then do 12 sets of 10 movements on the various weight machines. Every night I do the walk around the neighborhood where I take Max with me since Max also has weight to lose. Max gained 6 pounds since last March.

Early this morning we took Max to Banfield Animal Hospital to get his shots updated and that want very smoothy and efficient for a change. We need to get Max groomed on Friday so that is why his shots had to be updated. I think I caught Poison Ivy from Max on the inside of my left arm. What an itch! I asked the pharmacist at Walgreens for help. She helped find me the right ointment gel to use and to take Benedryl also.

Tomorrow we have to be at Emory at 8:30 AM for Joe's blood tests. then a stool test, followed by an appointment with DR Winton and Jessica Neely. I had to take a sleeping pill tonight since I only got two hours sleep last night. I also had a glorious two hour massage at Massage Envy today with Hannah.

I had spoken to Hollie Baker who had a Allo Stem Cell Transplant and she is finally out of the hospital and in an apartment 5 minutes from MDACC. She said there are 13 pages of side effects from a Stem Cell Transplant and she got every single side effect. She lost 40 pounds during the transplant process and her appetite is still poor. She sounded great on the phone and is so grateful for her husband, Johnnie. She is now allowed visitors so that makes Hollie a happy woman.

Good night since I am really tired tonight.
Bonnie