I didn't realize that it has been so long since I last blogged. I've not been feeling so well. I'm not sure why. I felt so bad that I went back and increased my night-time dose back to a full tablet hoping that would help. But, I've been plagued with severe diarrhea, still. I get it every morning wether or not I eat. (I've tried everything). The sample of medicine that the doctor gave me just makes it worse.

I am making it out of the house for short periods. I went out to lunch Wednesday with some of the girls from church. I went home, took a nap, and then went to church at 7pm. I felt really good after church, a little weak feeling, but the best I've felt in a while.

Dan went to Valentine on Tuesday, he got the feeling that he needed to go see his Dad. He is really glad that he went. He thinks he might be back on Saturday.

Today I struggled all day trying to feel better so that I could get something accomplished. I'm still not feeling well. My stomach is not feeling so good. I hope tomorrow is a better day. I have errands to run in town.

Shi had her vet appointment yesterday and is doing well. I had my doctor appointment yesterday and we moved around the doses of my aldomet without increasing it. We are just trying to spread it out over the day. 1/2 a pill at 6am, Noon, and 6pm. So, like Shi in the picture above I was sleeping hard from 2-4 from the pill at noon. That will go away in a couple of days.

Dr. Li also took a look at Dan's EKG he thinks it is a matter of where they put the leads, but he repeated it in two different ways at his office. He'll let us know what the results are, he had to leave before the EKG was done. So, we will know more next week.

Dan's appointment with the orthopedic doc went well. He said that the tear Dan has in the inside of his knee is a vertical tear, the first one he has ever seen in his career. Most he said are horizontal. I asked him how he thought it occurred and he said he had no idea, just never saw anything like it. He said that there is nothing he can do about it, it will just need to heal up on it's own.

Wednesday we went and played goofy golf, it was a lot of fun. We had ice cream afterwards and then walked on the Platte River Parkway for about a mile. We saw Osprey's in their nests and a lot of people floating the river. It was a great time.

Dad got here yesterday for a little visit. This is a picture with him and Ozzie in our back yard on top of the wood box.

Dan was able to stop using his crutches today. Tomorrow is his post-op doctor appointment. We'll get some questions answered about that joint capsule tear.

Dan's team: Frank, Pat, Clint, and John

Happy Father's Day to all. Our church had it's annual Father's Day Shoot after church. Even though Dan couldn't shoot he still got together a team. Frank and John from our church and Pat Phillipps (his best friend from high school) and his son Clint made out the 4 man team. They placed third place and everyone won 1o lbs of hamburgers!

Dan was the official griller for the cookout. I took a few pictures. We had a great time.

Dan with his bandage removed and replaced with three bandaides.

This picture is of Dan one Day after Surgery.
Dan is doing better today. We took his big bandage off today and he had me take some more pictures, but I haven't got them downloaded yet. He is walking with one crutch now most of the time.

I'm not feeling so well today. I went to my new dr appt. I haven't had a primary care physician and with my weird syndrome wasn't sure I wanted one. Dr. Li has been so kind to treat my bronchitis and etc. (not something that a cardiologist would usually do). He was a nice man and actually new some basics about the autonomic nervous system and guessed what drugs I might be on, so that was really cool. He said he would be happy to help out with anything and would even be willing to prescribe some IV's if Dr. Li was out of town. I've been having a flare up all week with my stomach, so it was nice to be able to discuss some options with him. We discussed some long term solutions and then he gave me some samples for the days when my stomach cramps have me rolled up in a ball on the couch. So, we will see how it all works out.

I think between my stomach, the dehydration, lower blood pressure's and trying to help Dan out with his chores I'm just getting a little run down.

It was nice here today, not too hot and not windy!

Today Dan had his left knee surgery. It was an arthroscopy with menisectomy. He was put under general anesthesia (his throat is very sore) and it was a very quick surgery. Probably about 20 minutes. He did very well. The doctor said that he has advanced arthritis in his knee and will need a knee replacement when he gets older. Naturally Dan was thrilled that he was finally too young for something! They trimmed the loose cartilage that was hanging him up and causing pain. But, Dr. Landon said they found something that he wasn't expecting, a tear in the joint capsule. He said he couldn't do anything about that, it would just need to heal on it's own. He also said that would account for some of the pain that he had been having. So, that was a little disappointing that he would still have some pain from that tear, but at least the knee won't lock up on him anymore.

His knee is wrapped in a big heavy bandage which I get to remove in 3-4 days and then he can shower and we cover up the three holes with bandaids. He is to rest, elevate and ice his leg for the next 3-4 days. He is very groggy from the pain meds and some residual effects of the anesthetic.

We did get copies of the two EKG's and I will take them to Dr. Li next week when I have my appointment. It will sure be nice to know his opinion.

Our Pastor and Dave, from our church as well met us at the surgical center. It was a huge blessing as Dan was very, very nervous.

He is doing pretty well tonight, mostly with a severly sore throat from the breathing tube.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers.

Still buddies! Dan and Ozzie.

I just realized I hadn't posted some of the closed up pictures of Dan's dog bite, so here they are. As time goes by the purple scars from the bites should gradually fade.



These pictures are all at the 9 week mark. We are no longer wrapping or covering it in any way.
The white spot in the center is the last scab we are waiting for to fall off.

Yesterday wasn't a good day. My 9am blood pressure was very low and for the first time in a long time I was severely nauseated, sweaty, very lightheaded and I thought I was going to pass out before the machine finished reading my blood pressure. It was only 79/28. It hasn't been that low in a long time. I had to have Dan help me back to the living room. I chugged some gatoraide and water and layed down. My symptoms go away when I lay back down.

An hour later my blood pressure was up to 100/60. I was still a little shaky and could feel my blood pressure dropping if I stood up for too long. My 6pm blood pressure was 87/60, not much better but I was starting to feel a little better. Needless to say I didn't get a lot done yesterday.

Today, I woke up and felt so much better even before I got out of bed. I got so much done today and felt so much better. We even went to a movie, "X-men". It didn't cost us anything as I had received some movie passes from the City for working 10 years as an instructor (I got those at the beginnning of the year and we hadn't used them yet.)

We are looking forward to Dan's knee surgery on Monday, he is in a lot of pain and limping more and more.

We've had a little bit of excitement around here and I just couldn't write about it until I knew more.

Dan had some regular pre-op tests done, the usual bloodwork, EKG, etc. Same as always. When he had the EKG done the technician asked him when he had a heart attack, Dan said I haven't. As expected we received a telephone call from the office nurse the next morning. She asked Dan a whole slew of questions regarding all different kinds of chest pain, shortness of breath, etc, etc. Dan denied everything. She said that Dan's EKG this time was dramatically different from the one he had three years ago. Then she told Dan not to worry. She would have the anesthesiologist review the info and they would call back on Monday. (This was Friday). So, we had a very long weekend wondering what was going on.

Yesterday the nurse and the anesthesiologist called as promised. We really didn't get a conclusive yes or no did Dan have a heart attack. All they concluded was that he had no symptoms that would prevent him from safely having surgery on the 12th.

Dan and I decided that we would get a copy of the ekg from 3 years ago and of this one and take it to my cardiology appointment the week after Dan's surgery. We will feel better if doctor Li takes a look at it and then we will feel better. But, as it stands, he is still on for surgery the 12th. We don't know the time yet, they will call with that info.

I still seem to be having more good days than bad days. Yesterday was not a good day. But, today is better.