Hello Again

Well, more than a month has gone by since my last post. Is hard to know what to write sometimes. Our life continues to be much like a roller coaster. We have great days, rough days and so-so days or portions of days.  There are many stories I could tell, but really what is the point? This is our life and we're trying to make the most of what we've been given and some days are just thankful to get to the end of it. Other days I'm rejoicing that it was almost normal. I am trying to be more diligent about keeping a short journal and maybe one day I will write a book.  Some of our happenings over the last month have been:


Mike and I helped in the kitchen for VBS, plus I took pictures and set up a PowerPoint presentation for the closing. I enjoy working with programs like Power Point and it was such fun to be creative and help out in that way.


My nephew, TR & his wife, Brittany are creating a corn maze and pumpkin patch for the fall so we tested it out with my sister, Carol, and her husband, Ed.  Rains have been few and far between so the corn isn't growing as much as they'd like. TR set up irrigation to help it out.  If you live in the area, keep watch for when it will be open!


There are two people I want to introduce to you.  Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of either of them, but am very thankful for their help in the last month, in particular.

First I'll tell you about Max.  After losing 2 caregivers & multiple attempts to get someone from an agency to help with Mike, no one was working out. My niece, Coley, suggested asking a man from church who is a retired firefighter. So at the end of May, I called and asked Max if he would be interested. He started on May 27 and is a true God-send for Mike & me!  He is very calm, quiet-spoken, caring, and best-of-all Mike likes him! He really studies Mike and works at being careful not to agitate Mike as much as possible. He comes Monday and Thursday from 8:30 - 3:30, but thankfully is flexible and has worked longer days and more days, as needed. He's had to deal with the many faces of Mike, but takes it all in stride and as he said "deals with it automatically".  When Mike is with Max, I don't worry and can go and do what I need or want to do. I praise God for Max!

Me acting silly - "I'm trapped!"
May as well have fun with it!

Second is Dr. James Sellman, Mike's neuro-psychiatrist. We have been working together to try to minimize the amount of medication Mike is on. I am so thankful that Dr. Sellman is available via cell phone and is so good about calling me back. We are slowly decreasing one of Mike's meds and the new medication he tried, we have stopped because it was causing hallucinations.  The photo is after Mike barricaded me in my room to protect me from "them" - someone he thought was in the bathtub. Dr. Sellman even called one night while we were in Charlotte to make sure Mike was alright on the trip. That's a caring doctor, in my opinion.

As you can see in the photo, I have a bandage on my right hand.  I have had carpal tunnel issues for probably 6 years, but wore a brace at night and it wasn't too bad. Last spring, my PCP, Dr. Rosenbaum, gave me a cortisone shot and it helped me tremendously through the summer gardening season. By January, I needed another shot and then in late May/early June it really started to bother me again. It would wake me up at night - my hand would be numb and tingling and then I started to get shooting pains, plus could not write more than a page without it going numb. Dr. Rosenbaum said it was time to refer me to a hand specialist. On June 26, I had carpal tunnel surgery performed by Dr. Rawles. It was done out-patient under local anesthesia and was almost fun.  The Dr., nurses and I talked throughout the entire procedure. My hand immediately felt better. I have had less pain ever since than I was having the weeks prior to surgery. I still cannot really grip anything and cannot lift heavy items, but just today I removed the dead skin where the incision was made and the scar is barely visible. The lower hand and wrist is still a bit swollen, but Dr. Rawles said the ligament will grow back together and leave a wider space for the nerve that runs through the carpal tunnel. I'm so glad I had the surgery and so thankful for Carol and Gayle who came to help me (and Mike) that first week when I couldn't get it wet.

We finished The Holiness of God Bible study the end of June. What a wonderful study!  I am ready to do another study by R.C. Sproul. He is such an intelligent man and great teacher.

On July 4, Mike and I enjoyed picking blueberries with my cousin PJ. They were so delicious! PJ let me borrow her vacuum seal machine and I was able to freeze a few bags for later.  I also froze some squash to have in the winter. Mike helped me cut up the squash one day. The next day he was just pacing. Sigh...

On July 8, Mike and I packed his things for camp and our trip to Charlotte. Again, thank God for Max. He came on Mon., Tues., and Wed. so that I could get last minute things done before our trip. He took Mike to Johnny's Wednesday morning so I could pack my stuff and then when they got back we took off. Mike gets so anxious when we are travelling somewhere, so this made life much easier on me (and him). Mike did great on the trip, read the whole way. Thursday morning, Amy, Aria, Mike and I walked around the Ikea store and ate lunch there. Mike was having a fantastic day. Mark's family (Mike's brother) arrived in the early afternoon and then Mike rode with Mark & Jenney to pick up Mom Rice and his sister, Lynn from the airport. We played games, played with Aria and enjoyed a few days with family. Aria is such a cutie and so fun to be able to see her. She smiles a lot and is focusing on peoples faces more. So precious.

Amy is such a great Mom.

The center of attention.

 Well, I think this is enough for one post. I will have to write another one later today or tomorrow to fill you in on Mike's camp experience so far and what I'm doing with all this time off.  Blessings!