Today was quite the day, to say the least. I was supposed to work the late shift at work, which means 11:30 a.m. - 8 p.m. Not a really fun shift to work, but there's a 10% shift differential, and I usually go in at 9 a.m., so I get 2-1/2 hours of time and a half, PLUS I get the extra 10% on those 2-1/2 hours. Can't beat that! Anyway, I got up around 6:15 to start getting ready for work. When I came out of the bathroom, Greg, who was still in bed at the time, has this conversation with me:
Greg: I'm confused. Do I have a job?
Me: HUH?
Greg: Do I have a job that I go to every day?
Me: What are you talking about?
Greg: I'm serious. Do I have a job that I go to every day?
Me: Greg, you're disabled. You haven't had a job in three years.
Me: What is going on? If you're messing with me, I'm going to hurt you!
Greg: What day is it?
Me: It's Wednesday. What do you do every Wednesday night (he goes to prayer group at church)
Greg: I don't know.
Me: What did you do on Saturday? (He went to a Christian men's conference)
Greg: I don't know. What day is it?
And on it went! I was really scared at this point and thought maybe he was having a stroke. He was blinking his eyes really fast and looked SO confused! I called our neighbor, Wendy, who is a nurse and asked her about it. She had me ask him to smile and see if one side of his face was "droopy." He smiled, as much as he could, and wasn't droopy. I then asked her if I should just drive him to the hospital, she thought it would be better for me to call an ambulance, because if he WAS having a stroke, if something happened on the way to the hospital (about 25 miles away), I would not be able to deal with it, so I ended up calling an ambulance.
You know, we've been pretty used to Greg being ill and being in the hospital, but this was DIFFERENT. It wasn't the "normal" heart failure that he's had numerous times that I was used to. This was SCARY, because I had NO IDEA what could be going on and what was happening to him. I was actually quite scared! I don't like that feeling!
After the ambulance left, I called Pastor Will and his wife, Pastor Jen. Neither were available at that time, but when I was riding to the hospital with Erica (she drove), Jen called me back. I was totally OK, until she started asking about how I was doing! I just about lost it, and almost started to cry. I knew I couldn't do that, because Erica was in the car with me and driving (Abby was a short distance behind us in her car with my dear friend, Jessica, who made all kinds of arrangements to have her kids taken care of so she could come to the hospital and be with us!). I had to be strong! It's really HARD sometimes to be so strong! This kind of stuff isn't about me, it's about Greg, so when someone starts to ask about me, I get all choked up, because no one ever asks about me! It's not like no one cares, but it's because the main focus is on the sick person, not on the caretaker.
Once we got to the hospital, Greg had already had blood taken for testing, an IV had been set up, and they were just starting to do some heart tests, because of his pacemaker. The tests all came out fine, including when they tested his pacemaker. Thank goodness!
I have to thank Pastor Will and Pastor Jen. She had some stuff to do in Wausau and Will went with, so while he dropped Jen off to do her shopping, he came to the hospital to be with us! I do LOVE our church! It was awesome to have him there, along with my friend Jessica. Thank you, Father God, for putting these people in our lives! I don't know what I'd do without them!
Next, they took him for a head CT. The good news from that was that they shot some dye or something in his IV and were able to see all his arteries leading to his brain. All of those were clear! They said that while everyone has to worry about a stroke, in a normal sense, all of his arteries were clear, so he had no reason to worry any more than a normal person! YAY! That was GREAT news to hear!
It turns out that Greg was having a reaction to his meds. He's taking about 15 different ones, and they're tapering him off some, and increasing some others. So, all is well! Greg is fine and we were back home the same day.
Praise God! All is well, and Greg is as normal as he can be! LOL
Blessings to all!
Julie
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Saturday, April 25, 2015
NEW Washing Machine!
I bought a new washer 2-1/2 years ago from a store in Wausau. It was a model that didn't have an agitator in the middle, but you still had to put the clothes around the outside. Well, it didn't last very long, and suddenly it stopped rinsing and spinning. We had to go and hit the button to get it to rinse and spin, and it was kind of a pain in the butt, because we didn't remember to go and change the setting until we remembered it and it was time to dry the clothes, and then we'd find them sopping wet in the washer. Here's what we had.
Greg went to a men's Christian conference in Marshfield on Saturday, so I told him how much we could afford and to check around for washing machines. I also told him I wanted a front load machine. He went to a bunch of places and found a FABULOUS deal on a Sears front load washer, and even better, he was able to fit it in his car and bring it home! How awesome is that?
The only thing we had to do was get the old washer out and the new washer in! Not an easy task for me and Greg! Fortunately, we had Abby to help us! She's so good about helping out with stuff like this!
Greg went to a men's Christian conference in Marshfield on Saturday, so I told him how much we could afford and to check around for washing machines. I also told him I wanted a front load machine. He went to a bunch of places and found a FABULOUS deal on a Sears front load washer, and even better, he was able to fit it in his car and bring it home! How awesome is that?
The only thing we had to do was get the old washer out and the new washer in! Not an easy task for me and Greg! Fortunately, we had Abby to help us! She's so good about helping out with stuff like this!
So, thanks to Abby, we have our NEW washing machine in the house! Fortunately, the washer and dryer are right inside the door, so once we got it in the house, we didn't have far to go!
This washing machine is AWESOME! So glad we decided to go with a front load!
Blessings to all!
Julie
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
What a Difference a Year Makes!
Today marks the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of me starting my new job! It's hard to believe that an entire year has passed. Since I started my new job, so many things have changed. I'm not only making more money, but I have health insurance coverage that I can actually AFFORD, my daughter is working with me again, along with two of her friends and one of my cousins! I have the ability at this point in time, to work unlimited overtime, so I'm putting in extra hours to pay for the things we need to fix up around the house that we've neglected for so many years while we didn't have anything extra. I can even pay our mortgage and other bills without suffering a panic attack! I paid bills the other day, and was amazed that I wasn't panicking after paying our normal monthly bills, and also paying Greg's doctor bills! The transformation in our lives has been HUGE!
I owe it all to God! Every bit of it. The new job, the ability to pay my bills, the ability to work overtime, the ability to replace old appliances and other things that desperately need replacing, being able to pay for vehicle repairs, and being able to help my children financially when they need it . . . It's all because of HIM! All the glory goes to God! The blessings He has bestowed on our family are amazing!
So, to keep this short and sweet, YAY for me on my one year anniversary! This is an awesome company, and in the top five of the largest companies in its field in the WORLD and I can see myself working here until I retire! There are so many opportunities here that I can also see my wonderful Erica working here and growing and moving up for years and yeas to come, until SHE retires! Yes, it's that awesome!
Again, all the glory to God for He is the one that placed me and my family in this position and gave us these wonderful opportunities!
Blessings to everyone!
Julie
I owe it all to God! Every bit of it. The new job, the ability to pay my bills, the ability to work overtime, the ability to replace old appliances and other things that desperately need replacing, being able to pay for vehicle repairs, and being able to help my children financially when they need it . . . It's all because of HIM! All the glory goes to God! The blessings He has bestowed on our family are amazing!
So, to keep this short and sweet, YAY for me on my one year anniversary! This is an awesome company, and in the top five of the largest companies in its field in the WORLD and I can see myself working here until I retire! There are so many opportunities here that I can also see my wonderful Erica working here and growing and moving up for years and yeas to come, until SHE retires! Yes, it's that awesome!
Again, all the glory to God for He is the one that placed me and my family in this position and gave us these wonderful opportunities!
Blessings to everyone!
Julie
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Springtime in Wisconsin!
So, yesterday morning, I woke up to 6 inches of SNOW! Yes, I said we had SIX INCHES OF SNOW on April 10! That was some sort of cruel joke from Mother Nature, to be sure!
This was taken out my bathroom window when I got up to get ready for work. We knew it was coming, but it was still pretty awful to wake up to that! It was so wet and heavy, I almost needed 4 wheel drive to get out of the driveway! It ended up being in the 50's all day, so even though everything had to be plowed for the morning commute, most of the snow had melted by the end of the day. There were just some bigger "piles" left by the plows that ended up melting today.
By the way, today was GORGEOUS! It was in the 60's, so I was able to take almost all of my houseplants outside and get them all cleaned up! They really needed to have the dead stuff cut off/picked out and be rearranged a bit. The plants I had to take outside were mostly hanging plants. I have a gorgeous spider plant with TONS of babies. It's actually two different kinds of spiders that I combined a few years ago. I bought a Hawaiian spider when I worked at the greenhouse (that one is a green spider, with variegated babies) and combined it with a variegated spider that I've had for over well over 10 years. They're doing great together, but needed to be cleaned up a bit. I also cleaned up a pothos, a Marantha (prayer plant), a helicopter peperomia, a brazil philly, a curly hoya, a purple wandering Jew, and a Chinese evergreen (or Aglaonemia, for those that know plants). I have one other plant that I need to take outside and work on -- a HUGE mican philly that's hanging in my bathroom, but is way too big for me to take down myself. I'll need Greg to help me with that one. It felt so good to be able to be outside and get some spring cleaning done!
Speaking of spring . . . the foul outside are LOVING this warm weather! I asked Greg to bring out the goose "pond" today (we stored it under the deck for the winter) and turn on the outside water. Once the "pond" was filled up, I hollered for Rufus. It didn't take long for him to realize that he had a pool to swim in!
Rufus spent at least 20 minutes in the pond just going crazy and washing off all the winter grime. He was SO happy! The female watching here has not been in the pool yet (we just got her over the winter) and was having a hard time getting in it. I'm sure she'll make it in soon enough, because she was VERY curious and excited about it!
It was so awesome to spend time outside watching the chickens, geese and ducks enjoying themselves in the warmth that is a spring day in North Central Wisconsin!
We have a few hens that are VERY friendly and let you pick them up and pet them. We got them as babies last year, so this was their first winter. They managed just fine, even in the sub-zero temps we had.
Hope everyone else had a great day!
Blessings to all!
Julie
Thursday, April 2, 2015
23 Years Ago Today
I know that today is not the "exact" date, but I also know that it was Holy Thursday, and it was a day that would change my life forever. I was just 27 years old. Working full-time and a mom of an adorable little one year old boy.
Many of you know that Greg had cancer. Actually, what he had was "Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma" which is a cousin of Leukemia. A cancer of the blood. What happened 23 years ago was life-changing for all of us.
Turning back the clock, to December, 1991. Our health insurance deductible had been paid in ful, along with our out of pocket cost. Greg needed to have a bone spur on his foot operated on, and seeing as the insurance would be paying for all of it, because of Aaron's birth costs, we decided it was time to have his foot taken care of. When the doctor did his pre-surgery physical he found "something" in his gut, but couldn't figure out exactly what it was. He sent him for a CT and other tests, which all came back inconclusive. We didn't think too much more about it. After all, the doctors couldn't find anything wrong, so no big deal. Greg had that foot surgery, and everything was fine . . . or so we thought.
Four months later, Greg found a lump near his groin. The doctors decided that they had to operate. Aaron was just a year old at the time. We had just had a big party to celebrate his first birthday on Palm Sunday. On Holy Thursday, Greg went in for surgery. It was to be "day" surgery and he would be coming home that night. My in-laws babysat for Aaron so I could be at the hospital.
I remember the surgery taking longer than what they told me. I went to the nurse's station and asked what was going on. They, of course, didn't know, or now, in hindsight, as I recall the looks on their faces, they knew something was wrong, but weren't about to tell me. A while later, a nurse came out and said that the doctors had found "something," and now they wanted to check out those suspicious "things" in his stomach area. They needed me to sign an authorization to make the incision. Of course, I signed the authorization. What else could I do?
A while later -- it seemed like FOREVER, the doctor came out to talk to me. I remember as though it was yesterday, sitting in the waiting room and having the doctor tell me that my husband had cancer. I believe he told me it was lymphoma, but I'm not sure. I remember asking what I thought were the right questions, and I very clearly remember asking if we would be able to have any more children! I was doing really well, until a nurse came up and moved a box of tissues onto the table in front of us. It was then that I lost it and started crying. I'm pretty sure this doctor was not used to having to give someone this kind of news. And there I was, all alone, trying to digest all this after what was supposed to be a simple day surgery.
I remember we decided that we would not tell Greg that day and needed to wait until the next day, when he was more lucid. I called my mother-in-law to tell her, and apparently, she called Greg's sister at work to tell her. After I made sure that Greg was settled in his room, I decided it was time for me to go home and take care of Aaron. There was nothing more I could do at that point. As I was walking to my minivan in the parking lot (yes, I actually drove a minivan back then -- don't judge!), I heard someone call my name. I turned around to see my sister-in-law, Jody. She told me that she told her boss that her brother had just been diagnosed with cancer and I was all alone at the hospital and that I shouldn't be all alone and she needed to leave work to be with me. That was, without a doubt, the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me! We went back to the hospital and visited with Greg a bit and then left and went to my mother-in-law's house to get Aaron.
I remember the next day going to visit Greg and he said to me: "What the hell happened? It feels like they ripped my gut open!" I responded with "they DID!" Then I told him the news. He had the same attitude he's always had. OK. What do we do about it!
I can hardly believe it was 23 years ago that our lives were changed forever. There are so many other details that I remember, but this entry is long enough as it is. Suffice it to say that Holy Thursday has so much meaning for me. It's hard to believe that my husband has been a cancer survivor for 23 years! There are not many people who can say that, and it is only because of God's grace that he is still here!
I'll be writing more about our cancer journey in the next week or two, because we have another milestone ahead, and this time of year just hits me kind of hard. While Resurrection Sunday is an amazingly joyous day, I usually have a difficult time dealing with all the things that have happened around this time of year. With that said, it's time for me to go to bed and dream happy, peaceful dreams.
Blessings to all!
Julie
Many of you know that Greg had cancer. Actually, what he had was "Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma" which is a cousin of Leukemia. A cancer of the blood. What happened 23 years ago was life-changing for all of us.
Turning back the clock, to December, 1991. Our health insurance deductible had been paid in ful, along with our out of pocket cost. Greg needed to have a bone spur on his foot operated on, and seeing as the insurance would be paying for all of it, because of Aaron's birth costs, we decided it was time to have his foot taken care of. When the doctor did his pre-surgery physical he found "something" in his gut, but couldn't figure out exactly what it was. He sent him for a CT and other tests, which all came back inconclusive. We didn't think too much more about it. After all, the doctors couldn't find anything wrong, so no big deal. Greg had that foot surgery, and everything was fine . . . or so we thought.
Four months later, Greg found a lump near his groin. The doctors decided that they had to operate. Aaron was just a year old at the time. We had just had a big party to celebrate his first birthday on Palm Sunday. On Holy Thursday, Greg went in for surgery. It was to be "day" surgery and he would be coming home that night. My in-laws babysat for Aaron so I could be at the hospital.
I remember the surgery taking longer than what they told me. I went to the nurse's station and asked what was going on. They, of course, didn't know, or now, in hindsight, as I recall the looks on their faces, they knew something was wrong, but weren't about to tell me. A while later, a nurse came out and said that the doctors had found "something," and now they wanted to check out those suspicious "things" in his stomach area. They needed me to sign an authorization to make the incision. Of course, I signed the authorization. What else could I do?
A while later -- it seemed like FOREVER, the doctor came out to talk to me. I remember as though it was yesterday, sitting in the waiting room and having the doctor tell me that my husband had cancer. I believe he told me it was lymphoma, but I'm not sure. I remember asking what I thought were the right questions, and I very clearly remember asking if we would be able to have any more children! I was doing really well, until a nurse came up and moved a box of tissues onto the table in front of us. It was then that I lost it and started crying. I'm pretty sure this doctor was not used to having to give someone this kind of news. And there I was, all alone, trying to digest all this after what was supposed to be a simple day surgery.
I remember we decided that we would not tell Greg that day and needed to wait until the next day, when he was more lucid. I called my mother-in-law to tell her, and apparently, she called Greg's sister at work to tell her. After I made sure that Greg was settled in his room, I decided it was time for me to go home and take care of Aaron. There was nothing more I could do at that point. As I was walking to my minivan in the parking lot (yes, I actually drove a minivan back then -- don't judge!), I heard someone call my name. I turned around to see my sister-in-law, Jody. She told me that she told her boss that her brother had just been diagnosed with cancer and I was all alone at the hospital and that I shouldn't be all alone and she needed to leave work to be with me. That was, without a doubt, the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me! We went back to the hospital and visited with Greg a bit and then left and went to my mother-in-law's house to get Aaron.
I remember the next day going to visit Greg and he said to me: "What the hell happened? It feels like they ripped my gut open!" I responded with "they DID!" Then I told him the news. He had the same attitude he's always had. OK. What do we do about it!
I can hardly believe it was 23 years ago that our lives were changed forever. There are so many other details that I remember, but this entry is long enough as it is. Suffice it to say that Holy Thursday has so much meaning for me. It's hard to believe that my husband has been a cancer survivor for 23 years! There are not many people who can say that, and it is only because of God's grace that he is still here!
I'll be writing more about our cancer journey in the next week or two, because we have another milestone ahead, and this time of year just hits me kind of hard. While Resurrection Sunday is an amazingly joyous day, I usually have a difficult time dealing with all the things that have happened around this time of year. With that said, it's time for me to go to bed and dream happy, peaceful dreams.
Blessings to all!
Julie
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