Mom and Dad send greetings from Madison with pleasant smiles on their faces. Kurt, Mia, Livi, and I had a wonderful visit with dad and mom today in Madison. Mom looks so much better. She is receiving morphine and fluids intravenously. She was able to drink water and eat some delicious muffins and KEEP it down!!! We also enjoyed the company of some dear friends and phone calls from more. The doctor said they would keep mom for a few more days and regulate the morphine intravenously until she was rarely pushing the button. Then when they switch over to oral medication, they will continue to keep her for monitoring.
Much love, Kurt and Jenn

Dear family and friends,
We would just like to give you a quick update on Mom's condition. Mom and Dad's week was very weary. After returning home from an overnight stay at the UW hospital last Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning seemed to be heading in the right direction with pain meds and nausea under control. But, Sunday evening pain was returning and so did the nausea. Wednesday anti-nausea meds were upped. Mom spent all week in bed and couldn't keep anything down. Dad was by her side of course every step of the way and very concerned about dehydration.
This morning we put a call into Madison and she has been admitted to the UW hospital to get fluids and meds intravenously.
We are so very blessed to be surrounded by all of you during this time. Thank you dear ones for traveling this journey with us!!
Love, Kurt and Jenn

Hi...just another quick note. I'm being admitted this afternoon to the hospital in Madison. Hopefully we can get this pain under control - and not come out a zombie!!!

Don's going to be spending the night, assuming they keep me today (I am not scheduled to be there until 1:00 p.m. mostly because of the travel time) and we'll see what comes of tomorrow.

Talk with you later...
Love,
Deb

Good morning...it's Thursday morning and I've just spoken with the Madison nurses and this is what they've come up with...we'll try one more pain/nausea medication today and if there isn't noticeable improvement today/tonight, they will admit me tomorrow to the hospital in Madison to see if they can't figure out what's going on. The PA said there is only so much they can figure out over the phone - and we agree. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf - mostly Don's...he's exhausted and just about at wit's end with all this. We all kind of are, aren't we?

Thanks for your love and prayers...
Don & Deb

Hi! Not writing much these days...I'm most uncomfortable with tailbone pain...in bed is the most comfortable as I cannot even sit anymore. I've called the docs and they've increased some of the meds...hope it helps.

Love to all,
Deb

Hi! I just wanted to say "hello" and let you know that the pain has subsided mostly and I am enjoying getting out and about, though Don still isn't letting me drive (with the drugs I'm on it's probably the smart thing to do). Something I'm taking makes me do & say weird things. I've shared some of those with you and we just laugh! Last evening I'd fallen asleep in the chair while watching TV. I woke up - and I know I was awake - but I kept trying to give Don the coupon I had for Ken's salad dressing. It's $1 off and I thought he needed it. Bless his heart, he kept saying, "but why do I need it?" I kept telling him he liked it and the coupon would be useful. It was about 10:00 at night and he had no intentions of grocery shopping then - besides, in my right mind, the coupon was for Jenn. I thought Don was Jenn!! It wasn't until the next day that I realized what I had done & said. Oh, boy! Don just smiles and we laugh, laugh, laugh!

I just want to put this before you as a prayer request. I do not see our doctors until the beginning of February, so that means I have a little time off from the treatments. We are considering getting a second opinion in the interim. It's not that we don't trust our docs in Madison because we do beyond a shadow of a doubt. We're not sure what to do so we're doing the best we can right now - sitting on the fence! We're not sure a second opinion is necessary at all. It may cause more harm than good. That's why we need to pray about it. Thank you.

Have a great day - honor our Lord with all that you do.
Love,
Deb

Hi there...just wanted to write and tell you how wonderful I feel! The pain is probably 95% gone and what a difference it makes!!! I'm taking pills just about every couple of hours or so, though I've arranged them to have a little more time between dosages during the night. Works well. Still having the "unusual" arm & leg movements - Don said the other day on our way up to Madison, when I had fallen asleep, that I was directing an orchestra!! He just gently laid his arm over mine to keep them a bit quite so I can rest. It's hard to rest directing an orchestra!!

I cannot tell you the number of ways that Don has made life as comfortable as can be. My heart is overwhelmed with love and gratitude to God for placing Don in my life so many years ago. Don has cared & tended to the "nth" degree for me - spoiling me, to be sure.

Have a great weekend...
Love,
Deb

Hello hello! Just got back from Madison and all is good with the pain meds, except that he is adding Ibuprofen to the mix hoping to relieve the "bladder" pain or whatever it is. I've taken a dose already and things seem improved. We shall see.

Take care...
Love,
Deb

Good morning! Don & I are headed to Madison for a consult with the pain doctor. When we were there last week and he changed up all the meds, he wanted to take a week to see what was working, what wasn't, etc., etc.


The pain is about 90% gone!!! Amen!! The other 10%, though, is causing quite the problem. I cannot stand on my feet for more than three to four minutes, thereabouts. So we'll see what he has to say.


Life has been interesting on more morphine...when I'm awake, I have no problems with all the drugs. But when I go to sleep, that's when "stuff" happens and it's usually the middle of the night, though these have been known to happen anytime I fall asleep!! I've asked Don to water the refrigerator, I "lose" things in the bed and spend many minutes trying to find them - lost a tube of toothpaste in bed one night (I was shaking out the sheets to look for it) and I continue to lose little scraps of paper in the night (again shaking the sheets to find them), but my fingers don't work so good and picking up the scraps is a problem (in my dreams). I talk out loud, I push grocery carts, thought his arm was a log one night and tried to throw it back into the river...

Don says my arms and legs are moving a lot in the night - most nights. This one particular night the restless stuff was pretty bad so Don threw his leg over my legs and his arm over my arms to see if that might help quiet me down. It worked for a little while, but then I was hunting for something else. We'll see what the doctor says today!

Don is most patient and kind - we are just enjoying one another to the max. He works in the kitchen now. He prepared most of our Christmas Eve food. Please keep him in your prayers.

Well, off we go...I'll write more later when we get home from the doc's office.

Love you,
Deb