Ethan’s Journey

 The weather was alright this morning. I took the dogs for a long walk. By mid-morning we had some wind. It came time  to get out our snacks. We eat well at camp. We typically skip lunch and sample everyone’s snacks instead. The snacks were great!  We had a day fire all day! The women built the fire and kept it going all day. We chatted and had a happy hours. The “s” was purposeful in that last sentence. There were blankets involved at the fire and we rotated dogs near the fire to stay warm.  We had the tunes on. We mentioned that we were thankful it wasn’t raining. Dinner was chili to warm us up, with lots of yummy sides and desserts. Andy found one of the “gifts” I left for him to find. After dinner, we went down the lakeshore for cards against humanity at the neighbors house. It was a lot of silly fun!  Happy Birthday Marcus!!!!!!!

 The weather was quite tolerable this morning. The men were able to get the docks in. That is step one to having a great summer. Paul looked hilarious. The dogs got a lengthy walk off leash. Moe and Penny found mud and needed a visit to the lake. It was mostly feet and underbelly’s, but still very much unwanted in our camper. Moe was being silly with his rawhide. He was carrying it around like a cigar. I picked up some steppingstones that were sitting n different shapes. They came with their own paints. Diane and I painted away blissfully while the men did men things. Lois joined us for the activity as well. At some point I will seal them. I started a day fire we enjoyed. Jiminy stayed warm. He enjoyed a day fire nap. We had dinner together.. it was established it would be a cottage night. We went Nextdoor and listened to tunes, enjoyed adult beverages and stayed dry. The prank war…..which isn’t really about pranks, it’s more about hiding fun things to find, has begun. I have been ...

 It’s Friday going into a holiday weekend. Woo hoo! I woke up early, packed up some of the dogs and Paul drove us to his work. I worked in the front room with some dogs until he was done with work and we traveled up to camp.  The ride was full of bumpy NY roads, Paul’s foul language about other drivers and some frustration of people, doing people things littered the air. We arrived to camp and Paul backed into our pad. The truck ended up getting stuck and sinking about 3 ft deep. As Paul verbally processed the situation, I allocated the dogs and myself to a safe space.  Finally things were situated, leveled, and put in their place for the summer.  Paul and I shared a large sandwich that we got for dinner. We sat around the fire as some shore friends came over to say hello. The gang is back. I really enjoy the sense of community! Tomorrow we will say hello to those that we didn’t get a chance to visit with today! Jiminy fell asleep by the fire. Pure bliss!

 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...