Ethan’s Journey

 I am Typhoid Mary! I have a cold from traveling. All the people that sneezed and coughed into the air embedded their germs on me.  Now no one wants to be around me at our house. Ethan is understandable. I am staying away from him, excessively washing my hands, wiping down knobs, drawers and handles with Lysol… Paul and I have been sleeping apart the past few nights to have him avoid me as much as possible. Now Paul doesn’t want me in the same car. Boo hoo for me. The dogs don’t care that I am coughing and snotty. I have graduated from Kleenex to a roll of toilet paper to blow my nose. It lasts longer. Luckily we have soft toilet paper. I am gross! 😷  I took the dogs to get their dentals. I pulled into the parking lot and parked. Another car pulled in shortly after and parked perpendicular to me. The driver pulled in to their spot. They backed up to try to fix their lousy parking job. BAM! Backed right into my car. Luckily, my car is in hospice. It only has about another...

 Today I was slammed at work. One of those days when I took two steps forward and 4 steps back. Everyone has had those days. I made lots of notes to try to stay on task. I still didn’t finish my work, it will be there tomorrow. I had a few errands to run.  The field is finally drying out. FINALY!!!!!  I actually was able to walk a lap today. I didn’t bring any dogs with me because I didn’t want any chance of dirty dogs. I wasn’t sure how soggy things were. By next week all the dogs will be able to go! I have plans to get them walking over the weekend. I am hoping to tire everyone out including myself. I chatted with a good friend this evening. She had me cracking up. It was a friendship that we don’t talk a lot but pick up right where we left off. We have been friends for over 25 years. Why does that make me sound so old? Tomorrow I drop Jiminy and Ferguson, the more fragile dogs, for their dental cleanings under anesthesia. They had their blood work, they got their anti-...

​I have to fill out pages of forms for Ethan’s Medicaid review. He is evaluated every year. It’s another stress added to his pile. Today he said “I am so sick of worrying about my health.” I told him that I can’t even imagine what he must go through. Because I can’t.  I can’t imagine my 23 year old self trying to be disciplined about my diet, my medications, my health, my trajectory of life…..I had it pretty easy at 23 in comparison. We had some progress on project Barndominium. There were dump trucks, mini bulldozers and a plumbing inspector- Paul and his buddy did the plumbing last night. The plumbing passed inspection! Yay! Apparently one of the dump trucks got stuck and that was a process. Avery swung by after her externship. She went with me to get groceries. We put them away together (just like old times) and then we went to dinner. It was such a nice visit. She even showed me her official badge! She has been busy with safety training.  It was such a wonderful gift to sp...

 Ok the jet lag has officially hit! Super tired today and sluggish. Maybe this a by-product of going back to work. But likely jet lag.  Ethan had me hit the ground running with a cardiac MRI. They only do these two places in Rochester. He chose to stay away from the hospital (smart move) because that is “where the sick people are”. Makes sense, and he isn’t wrong. We drove to the location and the took him back. I told him they likely would have me sit in the waiting room but at any point, he could request I join as his “advocate” if he felt like he wanted me in with him during the questioning. He asked what he should do about his GFR because he was supposed to get contrast. I told him to insist they make sure it is over 30 which is the cut off for kidney damage. I feel like he can handle this. This test is being done because they noticed subtle changes on his “squeeze test” during his echo. A squeeze test is an evaluation of the way the muscles are pumping blood. It measures t...

I woke up super early, around 5:30 am. Paul was not in the bed, indicating I was snoring, even though I tell him I don’t snore (I sure do). He had gone on the couch for some peace so I could saw wood. He came upstairs to sleep while I started all my overdue chores. All the dogs got their bath. They were a bit ripe.  I washed sheets, mopped,  vacuumed and even did a meal prep.  ​I slept good last night but running slow today. By 5:00 Paul was frustrated with my crankiness. Little Jiminy came over for snuggles after dinner. Jiminy was unbothered by my crankiness! He is so perfect!

​ We walked to the coffee shop and ordered some delicious breakfast. I got fancy and got a cappuccino. I was not upset with my choice. We had about an hour after we got back from breakfast before getting to the airport. We sat in the lounge area which was great. It had fancy couches and fancy lights. It was relaxing. We then had the front desk call a cab. We did this so that we didn’t get ripped off. Thankfully the cab took us door to door because it was pouring. Copenhagen was crying on us because we were leaving. It was probably tears of joy….but we won’t talk about that. We got to the airport and shuffled along through security at a snails pace. People were being annoying and not paying attention. I thought there should be a bouncer so that they could bounce the people that stood in line for an hour to the back of the line for not paying attention. You put your things in the tray and walk through the machine. Why is this so difficult. The lady next to me was flipping out because my ...

​ We met for breakfast. The Queen’s Hotel puts on a nice spread of freshly baked bread, home maid cinnamon buns, fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, sandwich meats and cheese. Yum!  We sat down in the dining room. One other couple was in the dining room with us and chose the table RIGHT next to us. Why? 37 other wide open tables and they choose the one right on top of us. My assessment of Stockholm is that it felt safe. It was very clean. People were friendly and welcoming. We spoke to a guy yesterday that was from Astoria and he was so grateful to America for helping his country. He was almost in tears. He had never been to America and described it as the land of endless opportunity. We take living there for granted. Even riding the train to the airport. It was quiet, it was clean, people take turns getting on and off. People seem polite. I can’t even imagine what these people would think of an American train station. At the airport we found a lounging area near our gate. We had a ...