Yuk!

Good morning.
This is what I awoke to this morning......

Yuk! Too early!
But at least I did manage to get all the leaves up Sunday like I wanted to.
I took Craig out Sunday also, and he did very well. Walked with me to both stores I went to. Took him out Monday also, and he did very well. He seems to be making faster progress as time goes on. It might also be that he's now on Norco, instead of the powerful Oxycontin. But he says he's feeling so good, that he plans to return to work later this week on an extremely limited basis. One customer on Wed., 2 on Thur., 3 on Friday and Sat., with extra time between customers so he can rest.
He's also driving today when we go out to make sure he feels comfortable with that.
It's good to see him doing so well, since it's been just 2 weeks since he broke those ribs.
We also need to get another shoe rack to replace the one he broke when falling.  Do they make Nerf shoe racks?   :-)
Also, Monday morning, while Craig slept, I went in and got my first crown. No, not on my head, in my mouth. :-)
Back on our last RV trip, I broke a tooth. I went to the dentist when I returned, and he prepped it for a crown and put in a temporary one.  It had been on a watch for a possible future crown because the filling it had, had been replaced a couple times. But the install went smoothly, and today, it feels just like the rest of my teeth.
Anyway, time to get on with the day.

Ahhhh, a weekend

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon.
It was a busy week in the Salon, partly due to spreading Craig's customers amongst the rest of the staff.
Craig continues to improve. S-l-o-w-l-y. Bones don't heal fast.
He wants to go out with me today. He's getting tired of being shut up indoors.
I have to get laundry detergent for the Salon at Menard's, tp, paper towels, and coffee supplies for the Salon at Gordon's, and what ever he decides he wants for dinner at Meijer's. He can sit in the car, or walk in with me. We'll see how he feels.
He has been able to do bookwork this week during the day when he feels good.  It helps to keep him busy during the day. I'm happy I don't have to try and deal with it, and I'm sure he's happy I'm not  touching it.   ;-)
During the week, the rest of the leaves from my 2 large Maples came down, and hopefully, I'll get them up this afternoon. We're in for some bitter cold weather starting tomorrow with temps only in the 30's for highs this week. Nearly 20 degrees below normal.
I may have to finish cutting down the rest of the perennials in the spring if the weather stays like this.
And now, time for my shower and to get on with the day.

termite update....and a Craig one too

Good morning.
Rose Pest Solutions came out yesterday to check the bait traps again, and this time found just 2 with termite activity.  We had 4 last time. He said most likely, the termite nest has shrunk due to the feeding, and there's probably not as many foragers available to feed. The other unusual thing I noticed, was one of the active bait stations was on the west side of the house below a bedroom window where we had indoor active termite activity earlier. The other bait station was near the south east side of the house. That's got to be nearly 40 feet from the other and there is 3 other bait stations in between. He said, "that's termites".  They will travel up to 350 ft looking for food. And that's why they couldn't guarantee  when they would find the bait stations. The termites randomly forage for food, and they 'stumble' on the bait stations. That's why, even though we only had visible activity on one side of the house, they put stations all the way around it.
In Craig news......
He continues his slow healing. He is able to get in and out of his chair easier, and the same with the bed. he also has been able to tend for himself, so I'm not as anxious going to work and leaving him. He still sleeps a lot, but that's probably a combination of the body trying to heal, and the side effects of the Oxycontin he's on for a couple more days. On Saturday, he's being switched to Norco. It's very similar to Vicodin, but contains less Acetaminophen than Vicodin. Still a strong pain reliever. He'll have a 2 week supply, and by the end of that, should be able to get by on over the counter stuff if needed.
And with that, time for me to get to work.
Someone needs to make some money.   :-)

a Craig update.

Good morning.
I write this as Craig is sleeping. He's been sleeping about 12 hours a day since he came home. Probably good, as he didn't get much in the hospital for 4 days, and with less movement, the ribs can heal quicker, hopefully.
I've made a few adjustments to our home. First off was a riser for the toilet. Second, a bigger table by his recliner to hold his water, cell phone, tablet, TV remote, booster meds, and a towel for when I'm out and about. He needs the towel as the Oxycontin he's on for pain has a possible side effect that causes sweating, and he's got that. I'm washing sheets and mattress pad every day.  :-\
The last adjustment is by the bed. To help him in and out, I took a shirt and pant rack he had in the corner of the room, and wedged it under the bed and night stand. He can now grab the bar to pull him into an upright position to get out of bed.
So just a few little things to make it easier on him.
As of yesterday, he can get in and out of bed by himself. Go to the bathroom by his self, get in and out of his recliner, and take a shower.
He still needs help drying and getting dressed, as he is unable to bend enough to do that. I've moved my morning appointments at the Salon later, so I can help him with that before I go.
Today, I'm concentrating on making sure he will be able to be by himself for the day, as I'm completely booked Wed. and will be gone about 9 hours.We'll be doing a run through today.
He'll have oatmeal and a banana for breakfast, and I put the milk on a lower shelf in the fridge, and the oatmeal on the counter. For lunch, I'll make him a sandwich  before I go to work and stick that in the fridge with some yogurt . Dinner will be left over casseroles I made from Sunday and Monday and ready and in the fridge and he'll just need to microwave them. I told him to put the dishes in the sink so he won't have to bend to get them in the dishwasher. I'll also have plates on the counter so he won't have to reach for those either.
I'm so glad he came home Saturday, so we have these few days to work out any issues. I think he'll do okay.
He also has a doctors appointment this afternoon with his primary care doctor. The hospital doctor gave him Oxycontin to take for 7 days. After that, he'll probably still need something, and his family doctor will prescribe that. I know it won't be more Oxycontin as they want you off that as soon as possible. But pain level has been managed well so far, with him not taking many of the booster pain meds they also gave him. Besides the Oxycontin 20mg he takes twice a day, they gave him Oxycodone 5mg he can take every 4 hours and 3-6 pills. He only took 3 pills yesterday morning. So hopefully by Saturday, he'll be able to switch to something not as powerful.
And thanks for the comments, flowers, cards, phone calls and e-mail well wishes. Craig appreciates them all.
Now time for me to go.....

Craig's ordeal

Good afternoon.
Whew! It's been a week!
Let me fill you in on the details........
Last Tuesday night, I went to bed and Craig stayed up to watch some TV. He said he fell asleep in the Chair. He awoke later, got up to go to bed, and blacked out. The reason he blacked out was most likely due to his blood pressure medication. His new doctor had changed the type he was taking, and the new stuff wasn't keeping it down low enough so the doc said to double up. He did, and everything looked good, most of the time. He was still occasionally getting too high a reading. So at times, he took a third. The day he fell, he had taken 3. And when he awoke from sleep to get up and go to bed, his blood pressure was probably too low, and he stood up too fast. Anyway, down he went.
This is what broke his fall, and his 3 ribs....He must have gone down sideways when he hit.

Of course, the noise woke me up, and I came out to see him on the floor withering in pain. He didn't at the time tell me he blacked out, and I thought he just tripped himself and fell. I helped him up and to bed, not even thinking how serious it might be.
He wakes me up around 2am and says he thinks he needs to go to the hospital. I get up and get dressed, but he's still in bed. He says he can't move, it hurts too bad. I call an ambulance, and they transport him to Sparrow Hospital, St Lawrence emergency. I take a quick shower, and arrived shortly after them.
They do a ct scan and discover 3 fractured, and displaced ribs. That throws up a red flag and he was to be transported to the main campus and the trauma unit. From what I know now, 1-2 ribs is one thing, but when you have 3, the pain level is tremendous. Craig said his was a 10 on a scale of 1-10. They put him on an iv drip of morphine, and it barely touched his pain, They gave him a shot of Dilaudid before transporting him to the main campus. It's supposedly 10 times stronger than morphine and that helped a bit more.
The trauma team evaluated him and admitted  him for pain control and respiratory monitoring. They said his level of pain could not be controlled with oral meds at home and he would have to stay until his level of pain subsided to the point where oral meds would work. There was also the risk of pneumonia, since with such a large area of ribs damaged, deep breathing is next to impossible. So breathing exercises where to be done also to keep the lungs clear.
They got him into a room around 8am, and I stayed with him until about 10, cancelling my morning appointments at the Salon. When I decided they had him settled in with a plan for treatment. I then went into work and and was there until around 5pm. I had cancelled my evening appointments so I could get back up to the hospital and sit awhile with Craig. I arrived to find they had put in an  epidural for the pain. It wasn't helping as much as it should. They had to mix several different blends of medications before finally  they had him down to a 2-3 pain level by Thursday morning. I left Wed. night around 7pm, going home and crashing since I'd been up since 2:30 am the night before. I awoke Thursday morning and called the nurses station for an update to find they had gotten his pain under control. I went to work at 8am until 11am and then up to the hospital for a couple of hours. Then back to work until 6pm and back to the hospital. Friday morning was very busy at the Salon and I didn't get to the hospital until 3 pm. I happened to walk into the room when the doctor was there. He explained with this type of injury, the pain is severe for the first 2-3 days, then slowly subsides. They had switched him from an epidural to intravenous pain medication. After a couple of days, they would switch him to oral medication for a couple of days and then he could go home.
I worked again Saturday morning and got a call from Craig saying they were thinking of letting him go home that evening. They had already switched him to oral meds since he was doing so well. I went up after work around 3pm taking clothes for him to wear home.
They released him at 6pm, and I brought a happy, tired, weak Craig home.
First thing he wanted to do was take a shower and shave. He needed a lot of help, but he got it done.
I got him a little dinner and to bed he went. He was suppose to sleep in the recliner, since trying to lay down in a flat bed is very hard on his ribs at this point, but he really wanted to sleep in the bed, so with my help, we got him in. He slept 13 hours!
Today, has been a busy day for me as besides cleaning the salon, I've had to do shopping, laundry, yard leaves and dinner. But it's worth it to have Craig home.   :-)
I've got to serve dinner now. I'll try to find time to update.