1/16/11 THAW and RECOVERY

The HyperCVAD-R part A that Joe had at Emory last week has really wiped him out more than before. He told me two days after we got home that on Tuesday night of the day we came home, he had to crawl up the stairs to the bedroom since he did not have the strength to climb the stairs. It is one of the things Joe does that drives me crazy, withholding information from me. He rested quite a bit Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and most of Saturday.

On Thursday with Joe' s insistence we went to lunch at Chick Fillet and stopped by Publix for things we needed and items Joe had a craven for such as grapes and sherbet which he hardly ate previously. I tried to discourage him but he was convinced we would be okay. There was a big crowd at the Chick Fillet and Publix. We walked out with about 10 bags of groceries.

Getting back to the house was the real adventure of the day. The ice was so thick in our subdivision. First I came in from Gunstock over to Musket Lane. I could not get the car up the same hill there after several tries. I slid backwards onto Gunstock where one of the neighbors got some entertainment watching me try to get up Gunstock. The key is trying to find some exposed pavement to get some traction. On the 5th try, I made it up!!!Yeah!

Silver Hill Road also had some thick ice but thankfully it is flat. Driving in this stuff it is best to let a car from the other direction make their way pass you since you have no idea if your car will skid and slide all over the place. In order to make it off of Silver Hill Road onto Musket Lane, I had to ignore the stop sign to keep my momentum going, If you stop, you are stuck. Now our last challenge would be Musket Court which has a steep hill which was covered with even a thicker layer of ice and there was no asphalt showing. I got a running start off of Musket Lane up to Musket Court and a fourth of the way up, I got suck. I moved backwards and forwards and turned the wheels hoping to get back down the hill since I was not totally sideways blocking the whole road. Finally slowly the car slid all the way down to Musket Lane. I tried that hill six times and Joe thought he could do better. Now it was Joe at the wheel. He got stuck big time where I had to get out of the car to push it till it would slide down the hill. The hard part was getting out of the car on the ice and trying to get to the driver's side of the car so I could push it down. I was holding onto the car for dear life since my feet kept sliding. No wonder there were so many people in the emergency rooms with broken bones and worse. Joe tried it two more times with the same result and decided to leave the car parked on Musket Lane. He parked on the opposite side of the street where He would have to walk on the ice which was downright treacherous. I tried to get him to park on the other side of the street where he could walk on the lawns that had some traction with crunching your feet through the layer of ice. Since Joe's platelets are so low, he has such a huge danger of bleeding. I was terrified of him falling on the ice that I had to yell at him like a madwoman since he was not listening to me. He got angry at me but I kept yelling till he got to safety on the lawns. He walked up the hill on the lawns forgetting about all the groceries in the car. I got in the car and moved it to the opposite side of the street to get the groceries and get some traction on the ice snow. I consolidated the ten bags of groceries to five and headed up the hill, huffing and puffing. By the time I made it to the house I was drenching in sweat. I fully admit that I was peeved at Joe.

Joe was on the couch in the living room. He made some type of statement and all I said was, "I don't want to hear it!" I kept my mouth shut thankfully for a change. I put all the groceries away and sat in the den and did not want to move for any reason for the rest of the day.

I could not believe that Joe went outside and got his tractor going. He completely paved the driveway clear of the ice snow. He should not be doing stuff like this but I do understand why he did it. It was have to some control over his life.

The alarm clock goes off at 6AM Friday morning since we had to be a Winship at Emory Infusion department for blood work and transfusions. Neither of us wanted to get out of bed but we did. Our car was at the bottom of the hill so we trekked down on the ice snow in the darkness where the only sounds were the crunching of our feet into the frozen matter and our huffing and puffing. Driving to Emory slowly on the slick roads were the key to safety. Panera Bread was open which was a shining star for us where we had a light breakfast before going over to Emory. Joe's appointment was for 7:30 AM and they finally called him for the blood draw at 8:30AM. Now we had to wait around for the results which they told him could be in thirty minutes which would be excellent. Every thing else was closed at Emory so all one could do was to wait in the waiting area. Surprise! They called Joe into the Infusion area at 9AM. The RN came over to us and stated that they were waiting for the full chemistry results. At 9:30 the RN came over and said Joe did not need any transfusions which was a shock. Joe's red blood counts got better and his platelets held decently. Celebration, come on! Joe was producing red blood cells.

I went upstairs to Dr. Winton's office receptionist since he was not there nor his nurse. I had wanted to know if Joe should start taking the neupogin shots but the white blood cells were in the normal range. I could not get an answer so I decided to hold off till Joe's next appointment. We were told when Joe checked out of the hospital to go to Winton's office and make a follow up appointment for him, blood tests and transfusion. The receptionist where Winton practices said no that you do it downstairs in the hematology department. I go back downstairs and got a sweet receptionist to went the extra mile to assist me. It turned out that all of Joe's appointments were set up and that Joe would come back on Tuesday afternoon for the blood and infusion. They were closed Monday for Martin Luther King's birthday. On Thursday afternoon he would see the doctor and get the chemo Vincristine The receptionist printed out the appointment list and that was great.

The sun was shining brightly on Friday which assisted in melting some of the ice snow. The roads were getting better but still the subdivision was awful. After leaving Emory Infusion we headed over to Emory Clinic hoping to see an internist for my Urinary Tract Infection. I was blessed that I only had to wait 15 minutes to see a resident. All I wanted was a prescription to kill the miserable burning infection. I got it and off we drove back home where we stopped for lunch and a stop at Kroger at Five Fork's Trickum and Rockbridge Road to fill my prescription. I sat Joe down over at the in store, Starbucks, to get his Caramel Frappacino and a Hot Chocolate for me. The clerk at the pharmacy that it would take an hour. I surely did not want to go home and get back out of the road especially since the Dekalb police had shut down Old Stone Mountain Road where a truck got stuck and a car was in the ditch. The officer said that it was even icier down the hill and further down. This is a very busy road and it is still impassable on Friday. Thankfully the prescription was ready in thirty minutes. We were not on our way home for the rest of the day and night. I got a fast start off of Musket Lane to get up the hill on Musket Court with a wee bit of slipping and spinning, I made it to the top and into our garage. SUCCESS!

Joe loves the Atlanta Falcons thus is the reason we already had tickets to the playoff game at the Dome against the Green Bay Packers for Saturday night at 8PM. My oldest son, Keith, who lives in Memphis was coming into town to go with us though his ticket was elsewhere. He was surprise by the amount of ice still on the roads after almost a week since the storm. We never had snow stay around so long.In the afternoon Joe and I easily made it over to Penneys Northlake to buy red Falcon jerseys for the game. We both got RYAN #2.

We left at home at 5:30 PM to start the evening with an Italian dinner at Capozzi's on Clairmont. Clifford already had our bottle of Pinot Grigio on ice since he knows I love it very cold. We all enjoyed our dinners. Joe had Chicken Parmesan which is said was terrific. I had my favorite, Chicken Marsala. After dinner I drove over the the Decatur MARTA station and dropped Joe and Keith off on Church Street so Joe would not have to walk very far. I found a parking spot near Decatur High School which would had been a difficult walk for Joe. I caught up with them both downstairs at the rails and of course, we had just missed the train which always seems to be the case but another train came in five minutes which was not too bad since Joe had a place to sit. We all also got seats on the train since by the time we got to Five Points it was people shoulder to shoulder. We always get off at the Vine City Station which is one station further down from the Dome. As we pulled from the Dome Station, we could see a huge line of people trying to get to the stairs and passage way to the Dome. It crept along. Thank goodness we were able to avoid that or Joe would have wiped out. At the Vine City Station we took the elevator to the street level and followed the crowd a short distance to the Dome entrance. Thankfully the security lines were not very long. We also used the elevator to get to the upper level seats. Our seats were in row 13 so Joe did not have to climb too much. Once he was in his seat, he stayed there the entire pathetic game. I ran back and forth to the concession stands to get whatever he wanted. He had another craving for a tub of popcorn and he ate every last kernel himself. By the third quarter we were losing so bad that we both wanted to leave. With stinky yellow Cheeseheads in front and back of us made the lost even more unbearable. It is hard to maintain one's cool as your team is being insulted by unwanted drunk guests. Keith and I were texting back and forth and decided that we would leave with 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter unless they scored two touchdowns. Hell would have to freeze over for that to happen since Green Pay was invincible and we played the worse game of the year at the wrong time. So many upsets this time! The mighty Patriots lost to the New York Jets this evening. I know my New York buddies are thrilled. We took the elevator down to the street level and followed the other early defeated fans over to MARTA. To make things harder, it took MARTA forever to get a train there. We all wanted to get home and drown our sorrows. Kidding! I neglected to remember to use the elevator at the Decatur station and Joe proceeded to follow me up the long stairs to the street level. Oh my! He was having such a difficult time and moving so slow. I ran down the steps to help him but he refused help and two men behind him offered to help him also but he also refused. I felt so bad about that but then again he could have gone to the elevator himself. We caught up with Keith and I instructed them to wait on Church Street while I got the car. All was well and after we got home, he rested on the couch and watched Saturday Night Live and whatever came on later which meant he was recovering from the active day.

Sunday Joe stayed home from church to get some more rest. It was calming for me to attend church and see all our wonderful members. When I got home, I told Joe about all the good wishes and thoughts that he was pleased and thankful to hear that he was not forgotten. I made a light lunch and watched some more football even though our team was eliminated.

I want to thank Joe's sister and brother for the text messages that we received from them at the game since they made us laugh in spite of us losing. I hate losing. I am not a good loser but within a few minutes, I am over it.

Joe's brother in law, Rick, stent placement was successful to open up the 90% blockage. He is doing great and we are all thankful since we care so much for Rick and Donna as well as all the girls.

I still have not heard from our friends in Queensland, Australia and keep praying that they are Okay. They are such wonderful fun people. They are strong and a resilient bunch but it still must be horrible for them with the massive historical floods.

Tomorrow is a great man's day of honor, Martin Luther King's birthday. Thinking of how he made the black people's voice be heard in a non-violent powerful way. It is even more unreal in today's turbulent times. All of us can learn what made him tick. He is a man for all ages, colors and nations.

Peace be with you and may God make your troubles go away!