Well, treadmill here I come!

It's not a New Year's resolution, it's a prescription from one of my doctors. I have been having a constant pain on my left ankle on the inside bone. My M.D. sent me to a vascular surgeon and he did an ultrasound on my leg and said that the valves in both my legs are bad.

Bad news, there is no fix or cure for this. The blood that travels up and down my legs is not all coming back up and it is starting to gather around my shin area. Right now it is more noticeable on my left leg and barely on my right leg. If it goes untreated eventually I could develop ulcers on my leg that will begin to bleed out because the blood has no where to go.

Good news, we can keep any more blood from gathering there by:
1. Exercising
2. Losing weight
3. Burning out one of the veins in my leg ( out-patient laser surgery)

So, I have retrieved the treadmill I had given to my cousin Chonita, of course I aske if I could have it back and the reason that I needed it. My doctor has prescribed that I walk 30 minutes each day and begin a diet.

I have to admit when he first told me about my bad valves I began to cry and he asked my why I was crying and I told him about my dad having had 6 stints in his arteries because of blockage and was this happening to me. He assured me that this was in no way related to what dad had. He said this is something not even close to it. By exercising I will build up my leg muscles and the strong muscles will help pump that blood back to where it needs to go. He told me to not even think about blocked arteries. These valves are located in the lower part of my body and even though they can't go in and fix them we can help the blood flow better by taking the pressure of my legs.

I now have to wear compression hose on a daily basis to help ease the pressure from my legs and at the end of my day I have to take at least 30 minutes each day to elevate my legs higher than my heart to help the blood flow back up my leg.

Cito and I got the treadmill last night and I got on it to try it out. It still works. I need to buy some silicone spray for the ramp but it works just fine. I walked for 15 minutes this morning and plan to walk another 15 tonight. Cito recommended that I start at 15 minutes each time until Monday and then I can go 30 minutes non-stop.

My co-workers are really something else. When I told them about this they offered to walk with me during the first 30 minutes of our 1 hour lunch break. We are going to walk around the top floor of our Religious Education building for 30 minutes each day and then have our lunch the last 30 minutes. They didn't want me to walk alone and they said they needed to walk, too.

Please pray that God give me the strength to continue on this journey.

Merry Christmas To Everyone

So, how did everyone spend their Christmas? We spent it at my brother Frank's home with his wife Maria and stepdaughter Audrey. It was really nice. It was my first visit to their home and it is beautiful. I fell in love with a great recliner/rocker that they have. We all met their for dinner and gift exchange. My family has always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with dinner and gift exchange and this has really worked out well for my married brothers & sisters because their in-laws do Christmas on Christmas Day. Isnt' it neat how God fits people together.

We had a great dinner and we all received some great gifts. My sister Ramona and her family weren't with us and we were also missing my nephew Tommy, Jr. Ramona lives in Nederland, TX and her children and grandchildren live down there too, so she was with them. Tommy, Jr. was with his Mom but he'll be with us for New Year's.

My Christmas wish for everyone is that God continue to fill your families with His blessings.

December 7, 2008

Well, it's been 4 years to the day that our dad passed away. I don't know if my siblings do this but I find myself, since Thanksgiving Day, reliving each of the events that took place up until dad's death. He went into the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, 2004 and never came home.

I can recall each day and how he looked. We all would visit him constantly and I remember what the doctors would tell me and how I got the call from his doctor the day he died saying dad wanted them to call mom and me and let us know that they were taking him to ICU before he would let them take him. He wanted to tell mom how much he loved her. He told her 3 times before he hung up. I remember the look on the doctor's face when he told me that he wasn't responding to the CPR and should they continue. The doctor saying that he went so fast the doctor didn't have a chance to do anything. But what I remember most is the day he died I had gone to see him during my lunch hour and when I left they had hooked him up to an IV giving him blook because he had lost some overnight, but the way they hooked it up when I went to kiss him goodbye I couldn't reach him. I stretched over the machine as much as possible and he did too but we couldn't reach each other. So we gave each other an air kiss. If I had known that it was going to be my last chance to kiss my dad I would have found a way to get to him.

Never take any moment in life for granted and never wait until tomorrow to let someone know how much you love them. Tomorrow may never come. You know you hear people tell you this all the time but until you've experienced the loss of a tomorrow, you won't understand it. So, to my family who will read this, just know that I love you, I love you, I love you.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Wow, we had a great weekend. My sister Ramona came up from Nederland, Tx with her husband Tim. They stayed with Mom & me here at the house. We started our weekend by attending 9:00am Mass on Thanksgiving morning. It was a really nice Mass dedicated to our dad. It also would have been his 82 birthday. After Mass we went to my sister Maria's apartment where her in-laws were going to celebrate their Thanksgiving. Yes, we crashed their celebration. Not really, Maria invited us. After filling our bellies we came home and stayed up late watching a movie and eating ice cream.

Friday Ramona & Tim went shopping all day. Mom and I stayed in and I took advantage of the time to do some housework. When Ramona & Tim returned they began to fix up Mom's bathroom. It really looks nice now. All that is left to do is paint and cover her window.

Saturday we all met at the cemetery to take dad his birthday balloons. It was really a beautiful sight seeing all those balloons going up to heaven with our special messages on them. Of course mine got caught in the trees and popped. But I know that dad got my message anyway. We later went to Luby's to eat lunch and then back to Mom's house for some fun.

We spent the afternoon playing cherades pictionary style. I came up with 14 different movie titles and you had to draw out the title and see if anyone could guess the movie. Of course, this group needed some motivation after filling their bellies with food so, I told them that as they won a game they could choose from my library of VHS movies and take the one they wanted. It worked because they later began strategizing with each other as to which movies to go for next.

Cito, I hope none of them were yours.

John & Jacque left about 7:30pm and Maria left about 10:00pm. All in all we had a really good time. We were missing our brother Cito but he and his wife were celebrating her parents 50th anniversary in Iowa. Besides we'll be together again for Christmas but this time we'll be missing Ramona & Tim.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, too.

Quiet but productive today!

Well, other than the wind blowing leaves all over the yard, nothing much happened today. This is a good thing. I was able to spend some time putting my room in order. Mom took a long needed nap in her room and Gia kept wanting to go outside and bark at the dog next door. She can't see it because of their privacy fence but she can hear it and that's enough for her. Did some laundry, fixed breakfast and supper and now just sitting around watching the Wizard of Oz.

I'm gonna have to take some time to redo our budget because our pay periods are going to change effective January 1, 2009. Now instead of getting paid every 2-weeks, pay day will be on the 15th & last day of the month. Damn, just when I had it going right with the budget. Oh, well. Finances 101 here we go again.

Mom survived Halloween without a scream.

This was our first year to NOT hand out candy to the little tricksters so, mom asked me to take her next door to sit with my cousin who was handing out candy.

We sat out side on her driveway which she had decorated with cobwebs and a blacklight. She was decked out, too. A long black dress with a black cape, a 3 skeleton head walking stick. She was sitting next to a small round table on which she had her candy tray, and a small pumpkin. Not to mention her glass filled with blood, from which she occasionally took a sip. She also had a vicious black hound sitting at her heels. It was dressed in a scary devilish costume. I had never seen "Boots" look soooooo cute. She was the cutest little chihuahua.

We had some cute little kids show up all in their costumes and then it happened. Across the street there was a group of kids and I noticed that one was really tall and dressed all in black. When he turned his head his face looked different so I studied it really hard. Yep, just as I thought, he was wearing one of those ugly rubber masks and it looked really freaky. Now I know not many people know this but when my mom was younger and worked at Baylor hospital she was scared by someone wearing a rubber devilish mask. Long story short she has never been able to tolerate those masks and even my brothers have never been able to get near her when they would wear one. So, here mom was in her wheelchair sitting outside and here comes this tall kid, wearing all black with a white rubber freaky mask and black hair sticking out all around it (picture Edward Scissorhands) coming across the street in her direction. I did some fast talking to mom and explained who was coming across the street and that there were little ones with him so if she got too scared she might scare the little ones not to mention he was only coming for the candy and not her. I explained to my cousin and her fiance why those masks scared her and they told her there was nothing to worry about because with all of us with her no one was going to harm her.

Well, Edward came and went without any incident but I don't care how far he walked away, he was never out of mom's sight. She kept her eyes on him from the time he reached the candy tray until he disappeared into the night. We didn't stay outside much longer after he left. But that's ok because he was with one of the last groups to show up.

The sad part of this whole story is how much our street has changed. I remember when we were young you could go to every house on this street and collect candy. Last night I could have counted the houses giving candy on one hand. It's not the same old neighborhood anymore. It's sad to see what the future is looking like for the children of tomorrow. Will we still rush home on October 31 to fill our bowls up and sit by the door waiting to hear the tiny voices say "Trick or Treat" or will it just be another night like all the rest?

Mom has an official Senior Companion

I don't know how many of you know this but, since October 2007 I have been trying to get Mom signed up with the Senior Companion Program. This is done through the Area Agency on Aging for Dallas County. Anyway, the representative came to the house back in October and met with us to evaluate Mom's situation. They are the ones that had the handicap bars installed in her bathroom. They told me that it may be in January when they can get her a Senior Companion.

The Senior Companion Program is funded by a grant. They pay senior citizens to go and stay with your elderly person while you are out of the house. Well, January - May came and went and nothing. Finally in June they called and said that they had not forgotten about us but that they did not have any volunteers int he Mesquite area. I told them about Mrs. Alvarez, Mom's current caregiver, and asked them if she wanted to could she sign up with them as a volunteer and then they would in turn pay her to stay with Mom. They said sure but that she would have to take the training and everything. Well, Mrs. Alvarez agreed to do what she needed to do. In June we submitted her application. July she took the week of training, First Aid, CPR, and informative classes on diseases affecting senior citizens. She also went through a background check and medical physical.

This past Monday (10/27/08) Mom, myself and Mrs. Alvarez met with the Senior Companion Placement supervisor at our house to officially assign Mrs. Alvarez as Mom's senior companion. They will pay Mrs. Alvarez $2.65 per hour to be with mom. She will be paid for 8 hours per day for 5 days per week. They will also pay her mileage. Woohoo!!!! This is going to be a great help to us. We are very grateful to Mrs. Alvarez for agreeing to help us out this way. She said she really enjoyed the training and said that she learned more about Mom's Parkinson's Disease and she is now able to understand why Mom moves and reacts to things the way she does. Her official start date was Monday (10/27/08).

Boy, my patience was really tested yesterday

It started as a beautiful day and the next thing you know, SATAN reared his ugly head in the church office.

One of our front office workers got really upset with some of us because she just found out yesterday afternoon that one of the other workers in the front office may be going to a workshop on Friday and how can that be if she (Satan's puppet) is leaving early on Friday to go to her daughter's football game because she has volunteered to be the snack mom for the band. She blew up out of control at Michelle, Imelda and myself. I got it when I went in there to try to calm her down because I could hear her all the way into my office. Thank God it was right after lunch an none of the priests or directors had returned yet.

I kept trying to calm her down because she even began crying about she always tries to let everyone know her schedule at least 2 months in advance and why is it that people just spring things on her at the last minute. Imelda tried to explain to her that she did not know if they were going to get to go to the conference/workshop until Friday afternoon and she was already gone to her daughter's game. Even so, not finding out about an event on Tuesday that MIGHT take place on Friday is not a last minute notice. No one ever said she could not leave early for the game, if anything, arrangements had been made to cover for Michelle so that she would not be left in the office alone.

It just reached an embarrassing point and I finally just said, "look, this is a simple lack of communication and we what we all need to agree on is to try to do better in the communication department. But, we also need to prepare for the fact that this is not going to be the last time something like this happens and we cannot take it personally. No one is trying to intentionally offend or hurt someone's feelings. It's just how things happen sometimes and we need to be able to deal with these things without getting all upset and out of control."

They all apologized to each other and everyone went back to work. As for me, I had to keep reminding myself that I worked in a church office so, kicking someone's ass, especially when they yelled at me about ganging up on them, was definitely out of the question. Ask anyone in my family, I only discuss for so long before my fist flies into your face to shut you the hell up. Then I tend to feel much better. The good thing is that my joints now don't let me react as quickly as I did in the past so I've learned to just leave the idiots talking. But if they follow, I'll not be held responsible.

And how was your day?

Beautiful Weekend

This has been the most beautiful weekend. Why oh why didn't I have a yard sale??? Oh well, I'll just have to wait for the next beautiful weekend.

Mom and I stayed in this morning but around 3:00pm we went outside and sat on her swing. It was beautiful outside. Belinda came over and we all just sat outside and talked. It seemed like old times. We haven't sat out there like that since Dad died. The three of us used to go outside at night, especially on the weekends and just sit and swing and watch the cars go by. We talked about bills, life, and family.

Belinda and I both had some laundry to finish so we came inside about 5:00pm and then I went to Taco Cabana to get me & mom some supper. She's sleeping now and I'm listening to "Brothers & Sisters". Gia & Juan Diego have both been fed and are laid out like to fat babies, out to the world.

I guess I'm gonna call it a night myself. An early night sounds good. Hope everyone has a great night.

What a life!

He's fat & furry and you never know where he is until you hear the jingle of his tags. Yes, I'm talking about Juan Diego. Let me begin by immediately taking ownership of my part in his behavior. Yes, I have spoiled him but I just picked up where Dad left off and I am not the only, you all know who I'm talking to. But now he has upped his game a little too much.

Juan Diego has always been happy with dry Purina Cat Chow for his meals. He has never been into human food and still isn't. He's not a moocher. Purina began adding a sample can of their Fancy Feast Medley's canned food in theri bags of dry food and I unwittingly decided to open one up for him one day and just see if he would like it. BIG MISTAKE!!! Not only did he like it he now cries everytime he sees me if I don't give him a can. So yes, I cratered and went out and bought him a box of fancy fest canned food, notice I didn't say medley's. I opened a can and he only nibbled at it and left the rest of the food in the bowl untouched. I decided that if he got hungry enough he would eat it. Wrong! He decided to challenge me and would not touch the food instead he would wait for me to feed Gia her food and then eat her leftovers.

Ok, I said to myself, we'll just see who wins this game. I'm not even gonna bother with the rest of the story, Juan Diego gets his can of Fancy Feast Medley's once a day each morning before I leave for work. Oh, don't worry I never forget to give it to him because he beats me to the front door so he can swat at my legs to steer me in the direction of his food bowl. To avoid snagged nylons I have learned to open the can before fixing breakfast. Hey, have you priced pantyhose lately?

Yea, it's Saturday!

Last night I told myself, it's Saturday tomorrow, the house is clean, the laundry is done, so what if I haven't folded it, it's clean, and there's no need for me to get up early so, late morning here I come. NOT! I had forgotten that my brother John had planned to stop by and have breakfast with us so, I was up early washing up, clearing off the bar and making the coffee for breakfast. Oh well, maybe I can sleep late next weekend.

It turns out I'm glad I got up early because the day is gorgeous! I went around the house opening all the windows and the two doors. No a/c today. It feels great! Only one little problem and her name is GIA!

We now have new neighbors next door and, of course, they're working in their yard and such and Miss Gia has taken it upon herself to greet them with her constant barking. She not only barks at them when she's outside but she comes in and sits on top of our sofa and lays down half on the sofa and half on the window sill and barks from inside the house. She is so neighborly. I on the other hand refuse to close the window because the breeze id from the north and it's the north window she's claimed as her watch tower. What can I say, bark on GIA, claim your space!

Hello Everyone!

Wow, this is like an online journal. Can't wait to start sharing with everyone. But of course that will have to wait 'til I get home tonight because I'm at work right now. All I wanted to do was post a comment on Frank & Maria's blog and the next thing you know I'm creating my own blog. How cool is that. Well gotta go for now. Look forward to sharing with you and especially your comments. Everyone have a GREAT DAY!