We offer thanks today for each of you who have supported us in so many ways -- with your friendship, your offers of help, and most of all with your prayers. Without those prayers, Ray would not be here today. We KNOW that. Instead, he is sitting in the living room snacking on uncooked stuffing that didn't find its way into the turkey. He is looking forward to the traditional meal, and plans to join us in his wheelchair. Instead of moaning because he is using the wheelchair and still has lots of healing ahead of him, we rejoice because he is willing and able to join us at all!

Give thanks!! Keep praying.

Yesterday's visit with the oncologist -- the first since Ray's hospital discharge -- went very well. His albumin level is low -- needs more calories. He was anemic enough to require two units of blood, which were processed through the lab in record time so that he actually got them yesterday afternoon.

This was our first venture out using the wheel chair, and it went very well. He could get in and out of the truck, to and from the chair. The chair (smaller and more light weight than standard models) is very easy to manipulate over level, even surfaces even carrying his 200 lbs. He transferred from chair to bed to chair for his transfusion with two people there 'just in case' but without a walker -- there wasn't one available. At home, just the two of us got him out of the truck, into the house and into bed -- again without a walker. It was a very long day. We left home at 8:45 a.m. after a physical therapy session, and were not home again until 7 p.m. -- but he looked better when he got home than he did when we left. Life is good!!

Give thanks! Keep praying!!!!

After a broken water line in their neighborhood, my brother made a comment on his blog the other day about how it was worse to be without water than without electricity. This was followed by a flurry of comments on places in your house where water is stored, and by ways to treat 'found' water to make it potable. That prompted me to think about another one of the consequences of living with cancer -- compromised immune systems. That, in fact, is what bought Ray his 44-day hospital stint that has cost so must in loss of energy and muscle. So all those things I used to say about Hetch Hetchy water quality as part of my job, suddenly came smashing home once again. Especially the part about "... safe for the normal user. But if someone in your home has a compromised immune system, you might think about taking additional precautions...."

One of Ian's readers commented that the Brita and PUR water filters don't filter for bacteria, etc. When I was in the market last summer for a filter pitcher, I started reading labels. It is true, most off-the-shelf home systems DON'T filter for the hard core stuff. But we did find one that specifically says if filters for trihalomethanes, beasties which breed in water when the levels of chlorine and organic matter get to some critical point. It's the trihalomethanes (aka THMs) that I specifically wanted to filter for -- so you know what we bought.

Please offer a prayer or two for Mike, our neighbor, who is currently on life support in a Sonora hospital following a heart attack. Pray for his sons, as well, who need all the strength they can muster at a time like this.

Just when you think you have it bad, someone else pops up who has it worse than you do.

Give thanks! Keep praying!!!

Oh, dear! If I don't write quickly, at least three of you will be reminding me that an update is overdue....

Mobility. Ray has showered, complaining all the while that the new bench has bumps on it so he can't slide. That's right. No slide, no fall. Also no slide, harder to move deliberately. It took every ounce of energy he had to get that shower done, but he DID it. It would almost be easier to take out the tub altogether, put a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor, and GO FOR IT! Hmmmm. If this were a permanent need, we might consider an option like that.

Yesterday, nausea struck again, and with it came a low-grade fever. Today, both the nausea and the fever are gone. The Physical Therapists assure me that activity helps ease the nausea, so the more we can get Ray up and moving, the more comfortable he is going to be. Food helps. So do lots of fluids. That's hard to accept that when your stomach is turning somersaults, but doesn't make the facts any less true.

Despite it all, each day gets just a tiny bit better, and after a week we see real improvement.

Give thanks! Keep praying!!

Dr. Bonnie has maintained for nearly 2 months that the cause of Ray's nausea has been all the antibiotics he has be receiving. At least one of the medical doctors insisted that was not possible, since he was receiving his antibiotics by IV rather than by mouth. Since they were bypassing the stomach, they could not be causing his nausea. OK. He's been off all antibiotics since Thursday morning. Yesterday we drove to Sonora for his Arinesp shot (covered by insurance if given at hospital, not if given by home care nurse ... go figure.) Although his stomach was queesy, there was no retching and gagging.

At 6 a.m. today -- for the first time since mid-September -- he asked, "Do we have any SOS (aka chipped beef on toast)?" Then he proceeded to devour two pieces of toast and an entire pkg of frozen Chipped Beef in white gravy. All kinds of salt and preservatives, questionable nutritional value, but real people food. No nausea. Nuff said.

Next goal: improve mobility.

Give thanks! Keep praying!!!

Oh! Have I missed a post or two? Did I think life would be EASIER when Ray came home? Silly me!

On the plus side, it is good not to have to make the 30-mile trek to Sonora all day every day. Ray is eating better (although still not ravenously). He wears real clothes some of the time. I can get some of the routine household chores done -- like laundry and ironing and dishes and running the vacuum cleaner.

On the negative side, he is still very cautious about moving in the walker when I am the only other person in the house. He needs A LOT of attention, and a higher level of attention than he has ever needed before. When he was initially recovering from cancer treatments in early 2005, I had no qualms about leaving him alone while I went to the pharmacy, bank and post office. I could leave him at home for the day and know that he could get to the bathroom and get himself fed. Not so this time around. He was MUCH sicker this time, and will consequently have a much longer recovery period. Thank goodness for Jeff and his friends, who are real champions in building a support network. The bits of reality are beginning to fall together.

Give thanks! Keep praying!!!

The weekend did not go as smoothly as hoped, although it wasn't bad. One of the doctors told Ray in the hospital several days before discharge that if he fell, he "could break every bone in his body and kill himself". Or at least that's what he has heard. The experience of not being able to get out of a low recliner on Friday evening did not help. All weekend he has been afraid to get out of bed at all for fear that he will get someplace and not be able to get up again. Or worse yet, fall.

The Home Health Care RN came yesterday and reported that he is is progressing well -- at least on the medical front. We changed the IV bag, and it went just as it was supposed to go. I will do that again by myself tomorrow, and the RN will come back on Thursday when we do the Heparin flush as we are taking the line out of service.

The physical therapist will be here later today. My hope is that he will instill some confidence in Ray so that he will not be so afraid to go places on his walker. He would go in the wheelchair, but it is extremely difficult to get that chair in and out of his bedroom. Maybe sheer boredom will encourage some movement!

If you have an inclination to come and visit, please do -- so long as you don't have any bugs to share. Call first to make sure he is not in the middle of visiting nurses or physical therapy, though!

Give thanks! Keep praying!!

Ray is back at HOME!!!! We arrived in a pouring rain -- well, not QUITE a tropical downpour, but close enough for our purposes. The new ramp/decking worked beautifully and now I wonder why we didn't just put that in long ago. Silly me.

Back to Ray. He can get around reasonably well in the walker. Getting up out of a chair we THOUGHT was high but turns out to be quite low is problematic. The new toilet helps. But he is home and we are managing.

Give lots of thanks! Keep praying.

Ray is coming home tomorrow!!!! Thanks be to God!!!!!!! It has only been since 20 SEP -- would you believe?

Tomorrow at 9 a.m I have to drop his new prescriptions off at the pharmacy on my way to Sonora. Once at the hospital I will be trained how to operate the infusion pump which will administer his antibiotics, how to flush the Hickmann line, how to change the medication (only have to do that twice, since it will run for 48 hours and he only needs 6 additional day of antibiotic), and how to change a sterile dressing -- just in case the site of the Hickmann line gets wet in the shower. We are told that a generous patch of GladWrap or similar held down with tape is adequate to keep it dry, but JUST IN CASE .... He will be getting physical therapy at home, likely a visiting nurse at least twice, and a tub transfer bench -- which means that he never has to stand up in the bathtub. I spent $12 today on a hand-held shower head for his bathroom, and another $25 (yes, really) for a longer hose (to reach the bench comfortably), a valve to turn the water off without leaving the bench, and a second handle for the shower head. But he is now fall-proof in the shower.

Naturally, it is raining in Groveland tonight with more rain expected tomorrow. We'll need the truck to bring everything home tomorrow -- guarantee the wheelchair and the bench will not fit in the car! Wish me luck.

Give lots of thanks! Keep praying!! Those prayers truly make a difference and have gotten both of us this far. Thank you.

The promise of coming home must has spurred Ray into action. He was up and walking the halls yesterday, eating biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and cinnamon roll for a treat. Today he wants scrambled egg. More later!

Give thanks! Keep praying!!