A great weekend and a bit of a reprieve coming up...

Just got back from a quick trip to Reno with my sister.  We went to the bingo tournament, didn't win the big bucks- in fact we didn't win at all...but we spent some nice time together and got to sleep in today and relax before coming home.  Had an impromptu dinner invitation to Diane & Mike's - Bill had spent the entire day up there watching football, playing with the kids, swimming and it was a beautiful day!! Could we finally be getting our Indian Summer in October??

Mom is hanging in there- she is done with the IV treatments until we see the Doctor on the 10th...however, she is not eating well, she has been experiencing a few other side effects and we are hoping that she does not have c-diff again.  If she does it's no where near the caliber that she has had in the past, so I am fairly sure that it's just a non-related reaction to medication and/or to her eating habits.   Right now Imodium seems to be helping.  I think if it was C-diff, that would not help the situation that quickly.  Hoping that the wounds continue to heal and need to keep a close eye on them this week, while changing the bandages twice a day.  The bandage changes are extremely painful for her, but they have to be done.  My brother handled them this weekend while I was gone and he said it was really difficult.  I guess I've just developed a thick skin having been doing these bandage changes for months.  I don't take pleasure in causing her pain, but unfortunately it's just a by-product of what needs to be done.   I keep focused on the big picture- we are trying to save her leg!

I spent a good deal of time this weekend going over Body Pump 83 and am very excited to teach it Tuesday night to my Gold's crew.  I need to take some time out tomorrow to run through it one more time with my barbell and "let it rip".  It's a great release with great music and choreography.  

I finally have made some head way on Christmas shopping- I started to freak out last week realizing that it is almost October and I had made very little progress in this direction.  I am trying to make sure that I keep things economically lean this year.  No splurging, no expensive spoiling of anyone.  We have to save money for our remodel projects that are soon going to be underway.   Really trying to stick to this oath!   I really am in denial though that it's October and soon will be 2013.  Although I am really ready for a fresh new year, 2012 although not a bad year for me personally- it has just been filled with too much pain and suffering for the ones that I love.  I'm over it!

Starting to plan our trips for 2013...we have Maui in the plans for January and hopefully Palm Springs for March- just waiting confirmation on our dates..still on the fence if I'm going to attend the Vacation.com conference in Orlando in June.  Thing is if I go, I would want to combine it with another "vacation" aspect and a cruise would seem like a likely choice, but there just aren't any sailings that fit into the schedule and Bill can't be gone too long from work.   I could go ahead to the conference without him- but it's at Disney World and there are free time events- I'd want him with me for those..so I don't know, need to figure that out or brainstorm on an alternative "vacation" we can tack on for a few days afterwards or before hand.  The conference starts the day after our 7 year wedding anniversary and we normally go away for our Anniversary.   The rest of the year is up in the air and I can't think that far ahead although I am expecting a 50th birthday trip for Mike and perhaps even a Destination Wedding sometime next summer for a very special couple.  We'll see.

For now, still have to finish up 2012 travels- which will be a visit to Bill's family this coming weekend and then a quick trip to the East Coast for my cousin's wedding at the end of the month.  Both extended weekend trips- the kind that are whirlwind and tucker you out easily because you blink and they are done.  Had thought that I was going to try to go to Disneyland for my birthday this year but in lieu of that, I got a ticket to see Barbra Streisand in concert in November at HP.  Her tickets are RIDICULOUSLY expensive, so I decided to go alone.  Bill didn't have a burning desire to see her and I couldn't justify having him go at the cost of the tickets.  However, a friend of mine saw my post on Facebook and she went and bought a ticket herself, so we'll drive together and hopefully go out to dinner before hand.  It happens to be on her birthday, so I'm looking forward to celebrating with her and getting to know her better.  She used to be a participant in my Friday spin class and then became certified last year.

Ready to attack this week and it's a short one with loads of things to accomplish!  Travel work for one,  3 classes to teach, 2x a day bandage changes for mom, pack for AZ, go shopping for tiles and pick that out for bathroom remodel #1!   Now off to bed!

This week has been rough...so happy to be over the hump!

I can't really put my finger on it- but can only guess that it is a combination of allergies that have been acting up, the fact that I can't seem to go to bed earlier than 1am and I have to be up early every day to get mom to the hospital for her infusions.   Then once there, the room is so sleep conducive.  I just want to come back home and crawl back into bed.    As a result, I have not been nearly as productive as I should be this week.   Oh well, there is always tomorrow and I'm determined!   Produce or Bust!

We had a pretty crazy weekend, it was supposed to be a low-key weekend, but really wasn't afterall.  Friday night we went dancing and my foot did hurt, most of the night- but it felt good to dance.  Bill was happy to get his happy feet going again.  It was great to see friends and have people happy to see us.  All in all a pretty good night.   Saturday had an amazing Body Pump class- every piece of equipment was used and lots of energy- just starts off the day on a wonderful note...it was also a bonus that mom's infusions for the weekend were canceled in an effort to regulate the dosage.   Once done with class, a little grocery shopping, changed mom's bandage and then got ready to head up for our night of Babysitting.  We had the McClymond 3 and the Foley 2 ranging from 2 years old to 10 years old.  We had a really good time, but we now know why our parent friends are always tired!  Great group of kids though and they were all very well behaved.   We ended up staying there until after 2am, once Diane & Mike got home we stayed up chatting for quite awhile.  Slept in Sunday, watched the 49er game, went for a massage and that was supposed to be it for the plans.  However, after the massage Bill suggested Mexican food- so we went to Margaritas and then I thought going to a movie might be fun- so we walked down the street and saw "Hope Springs"- a really good chick flick.  :)  Came home, did some work and got ready for the week.  Poof- weekend over.

Mom is doing pretty well...her infusions are now just once a day and we get blood work drawn tomorrow to make sure the Vanco trough levels are where they need to be, the wounds are looking better but it's still slow moving.  I think we'll be doing these treatments for a couple of weeks.  I am happy that the treatments are relatively easy and she is taking it in stride- I guess all things considered this is a pretty easy part of this journey today.

I have started to get on with planning our 2013 trips.  Booked Maui for January and in the process of booking Palm Springs for March.  Bill is all booked for his boys trip with Charles to Nascar in March and I'm trying to decide if I should go to my annual v.com conference in June.  It's in Orlando at the Disney Swan which will be a great location, but just not sure if I want to do Disney World again.  I'd rather do a cruise, but the cruise options don't really fit in with the conference schedule and I know Bill can't really take that much time off at one time...decisions, decisions.  Must decide soon though and go from there.  I'm leaning toward not going this time around unless I go for conference only and he stays home- but then that's no fun at amusement parks.   I really have no business planning trips with all the remodeling that will be going on, but then again it is my job, my duty to travel and keep on learning for my business!

I splurged last night and decided to buy myself a ticket to see Barbra Streisand in concert in November.  I told Bill he does not have to get me a birthday gift- this is it!  The tickets are ridiculously expensive and at a place like HP you have to get good seats or else the acoustics suck.  So cha-ching, $500 - here you go Barbra!   Although, today it was very cool, my friend Blair from the JCC emailed me and said that my Facebook post inspired her to "bite the dust" also and she bought a solo ticket too, the concert is on her birthday and we're going to ride together and go to dinner before hand!  I love Facebook for these sorts of things- so fun!

Anyway, time to get some sleep- up early to teach 6am spin and get some activity!!

Classic Lines from this weekend....


Diane to Pam as she is getting ready to leave her kids with us for the night:   "You do know how to change a diaper- right?"  (good question to ask after you've had me lined up to babysit for a month BFF- LOL)

Bill & I are cleaning up after dinner (while babysitting the kids) and 2 year old Brooklyn starts pulling at her diaper and says "Poo poos"   Bill says to me,  "That's your cue"    Hey I got to change one diaper and he had to clean up dinner dishes for 7 people- I think I won that one!

Massages on Sunday, the Therapists just left the couples room,  Bill says "Did you have a nice nap?" I said, "yes, I sure did 90 minutes just isn't long enough, did you have a good nap?"   Bill says, "No, between Cody beating up on my tweaked back from playing with the kids last night and your snoring, how could I nap?"   We both laughed at that one.

It was a weekend full of laughs...

So here we go again....

The two sores on mom's legs are not healing and in fact the one on the front of her shin has been looking like it's gotten worse.  Last week, Dr Gillon took a swab of the wound to run a test to see what we are dealing with here and yesterday we got the results that it is once again the MRSA infection.  This is the same infection that eventually led to the loss of the big toe- so some very serious stuff.    We decided that the best course of action would be IV Vancomycin  as an outpatient.  It really is the most efficient way to get the drugs into her system so that they can attack this infection, it is also covered by medicare doing it this way vs. oral vanco which is $30 per pill after insurance is calculated into things.

So it got set up very quickly, much quicker than I thought it would.  I got the call to bring her in at 2pm today to start and that we'd be looking at 2x a day for 7 days, each day at 8am and 4pm.  YIKES!   So once I got over my initial shock of the frequency, and broke the news to my mom because she is not a happy early riser...I looked over my calendar and realized that other than a few conflicts that I needed to work out- the time schedule really was going to work out best and still afford me some time in the middle of the day to get some work done.   I also convinced mom that this would be good for her, she'd get back in time for breakfast and in time for dinner/bingo.

Today's infusion took much longer though because it's the initial start up and making sure the IV gets put in correctly, paperwork completed, etc.  They are hoping tomorrow to be able to insert a pik line to make the transfusions much easier and less poking and probing to find a vein.  Just not sure if she can be squeezed in tomorrow and if she can't then my Wednesday is going to get tossed up, but I"ll work it out...it may just turn out to be a day off so that I don't stress out. We'll see.

The next week is really critical, we NEED this Vanco to do the trick, we need to see the leg wounds showing signs of improvement.  The bandage changes are getting more painful for mom and that can only mean more vulnerable tissue is exposed and we are dangerously close to having the bone exposed.  She simply cannot lose her leg, that would be just too much for her to deal with.  The toe was hard enough and that was mostly emotional, the leg would be both emotional and so physical of an adjustment.  Other than self-destruction with cigarettes, she is a very good person - she does not deserve to go through that.   PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!

So I am gearing up for what was once a quiet, peaceful week that will now be a very packed week with 12 hospital visits- I may be able to get some relief with 2-3 of them, a nail appointment, a Giants game, 5 classes to teach, a night of dancing that I have promised my husband come hell or high water, a long day of babysitting 5 kiddos on Saturday and a massage on Sunday!  Oh and don't forget, run a travel business!   Monday is probably the worst day though with 2 early morning classes, then 8am infusion for mom, 10 am eye Doc appt for mom and then 1215pm vascular doc appt for mom...HA!  Not sure how we're going to pull that off- everyone must be on schedule and my brother will help with drop off to mom's infusion!

This is actually going to be a low-key weekend, other than these runs to the hospital infusion center. And we're ready for a low-key one I think.  We've been on a party marathon of late and it has been fun, but I am exhausted.  This past weekend was tons of fun- the highlights:  GREAT dinner in Saratoga at The Basin with the most amazing NY Steak that I've ever had,  fun fun concert at Mountain Winery - old school with Sugar Hill Gang and friends.., lunch with my High School BFF (but known here since 1st grade), Neighborhood reunion and got to see my Godparent's daughter after connecting on Facebook, helped a beautiful fitness instructor friend celebrate her wedding day at the "after party"...and finished up the weekend with the 49er Home Opener with a nice win over the Detroit Lions!   Just an action-packed, fun-filled weekend!

I have a feeling after this weekend....and the week to come...that massage on Sunday will be very well earned!   Looking ahead to the following weekend with a nice over-night trip to Reno with my Sis to win big at Bingo!  We have not done this in AGES!

So I think that I am just about ready to get to bed and get a good night sleep to attack this week.
Oh and the Giants Magic Number is now EIGHT!!  HA!

It sucks to get old.

I took my mom to the Doctor today for our weekly check up on her leg wounds.   The ankle one is clearing up pretty nicely and although I thought the one on the leg is looking worse, Dr Gillon thinks it's about the same.  She took a culture just to make sure there isn't something else going on.  Praying that it is nothing to worry about.   She & I also noticed mom's toes to look a bit on the purple side- well two of them anyway.  I see my mom's foot everyday and they have not been purple.  Dr. G used the ultrasound to check for the vein activity and the veins in your foot are very thin to begin with and although they are all pumping, it doesn't take much for one of them to become blocked.   I saw this as the perfect time to rat my mother out and let the Doctor know that she has been smoking.

I figure that we need all the ammo in our corner to convince mom that she just cannot smoke, it is not an option, it is out of the question.  She says she has not smoked since last week- that was when I called her out and told her that I saw her smoking in front of WT.  Well, I didn't actually see the cigarette- but my bluff worked.  I know her too well.   I also know when she is lying.  But Dr. G basically said point blank if you smoke, it's not a matter of IF you'll lose the leg, it's just a question of WHEN.  You will face amputation.

Dr. G asked her why she is smoking, if she was having cravings, etc.  Mom says no and I think we concluded that she is not so much experiencing a physical craving, but more of the emotional need.  She is lonely at times, she is bored at times, she is unhappy at times and she is depressed at times.  She sees so many residents at WT that are so much worse off than she and although that makes her grateful that she's not like that, it also depresses her.  I totally get it, but I have also made numerous suggestions of things she could be doing, ways she could expand her horizons and she bats each suggestion down.  It's always a no with some explanation of why it won't work/happen.  Today she says to the Doctor of how she envies people who have fun and that she doesn't have fun anymore.  It's really very heart-breaking.

She also has not been sleeping very well and we just can't figure out why- she is beyond exhausted and says her prayers, lays down and watches the clock turn hour to hour- this doesn't help anyones disposition.  Without proper sleep we all get grumpy, we all get depressed, we all start to have a pity party.  I just wish I knew what to do for her.  It's hard.

Dr. G was going to get a prescription called in for a drug that would help with depression and with nicotine withdrawals/cravings for smoking.  Hopefully, we'll have that tomorrow.  It's supposed to be a drug that does not have ill effects.  Let's hope.

For as much as she is depressed, she still does say that she likes WT and that she has met some very nice people and I hear her talking about many of the same people- she just needs to nurture those acquaintances and turn them into friendships and start to do things together.  I told her today, when someone else says "it's just another boring day", why not reply with "we don't have to have a boring day- let's go catch a movie" - of course, that got the quick "no" reply with all the reasons of why this would not work.  Sigh.

Anyway, that was my sad part of the day- I felt bad ratting mom out, but also feel that she has so much respect for Dr. G that she would do what she tells her to do.   Here's hoping.

Time for bed..it's a very early morning for me with 6am spin class...lots of work to get done so that I can call it a weekend by 4pm!!   Look out weekend, cuz here I come - because weekends were made for fun!

A busy two weeks....

It must have been if I have not blogged!!  I feel as though there were 1/2 a dozen times that I wanted to write...oh well.   I made it back home from Rochester and other than missing that nephew of mine, life has been pretty good for the month of September!  Of course, I'm not really sure how it got to be September already- but it's here and it's almost half-way done!

Work has been insanely busy and I am averaging about 2-3 new referrals each week, people who are finding me on Yelp!   I am pretty excited about this because I am an avid Yelper and always review businesses, so it's nice that other peoples reviews are circling back around to help me with my business.   Some are good referrals and a few are shoppers, but I have made some good bookings from these.   I really need a quiet weekend though so that I can get caught up on administrative stuff, the part of my business that I don't enjoy very much - right up there with paying bills!

Fitness & Weight Loss- well as for weight loss I had lost 3 pounds before Rochester and have been up & down since then but I think I will finally be back on track.  We've had some pretty point unfriendly weekends!  But, they have been so much fun!   I went for my first walk since May- I decided to try some distance walking in my Sketcher Shape Ups, since they don't seem to aggravate the toe- I walked to mom's apartment and it went well so on the way home still feeling pretty good I decided to turn it into a real walk and went just under 4 miles.  I don't think I could have done much more than that.  Still gotta figure out a way around this stupid toe.   My classes are going well and I am going to try to get in some of my own workouts now that life is settling down a wee bit...at least during the week, things are settling down.

Social life has been off the hook!  Labor Day weekend was filled with impromptu plans- a nice BBQ at the McClymonds to ring in Diane's 44th year, Giants game on Labor Day...this past weekend we went out to dinner and dancing with the RWC crew to officially celebrate Diane's birthday- 20 people, everyone was there- we had a BLAST!  Saturday we went over to Cyndi's house and met her husband Martin and had such a great dinner and visit, topped off with a couple hours in the hot tub and a freezing dip in the non-heated pool- but it was fun!   Sunday- Bill & I headed up to SF early so that we could watch the 49er game on TV across from AT&T park before that game.  What a great plan!  Some friends that we vacationed with last year in Cancun for Jeanette's birthday joined us for the 49er game and it really was fun.   Giants game that evening- wins for both SF teams, happy day!   Just when I thought we couldn't top it I am anxiously awaiting this upcoming weekend that is so full of plans!  Dinner/Concert on Friday,   Lunch Date/Reunion Dinner/Wedding after party on Saturday and Opening Day at Candlestick to see the Niners!   I am so happy that Monday is a JCC closing Jewish Holiday- I get to sleep in!

The Giants are in 1st place, they are 6 games ahead of the Dodgers- the MAGIC number is 15!   I am getting so so so excited for Orange October....I sure do love my G-men, always have and always will.

Life is good.