Appointments - Day 174

The first of many appointments today was a visit with his primary care physician, Dr. Todd Butler. Weight is 128.6 pounds with clothes on. Blood pressure is 70/46. Jim's plan of action to reduce the frequency of taking Midodrine was curtailed by Dr. Butler, who said he really needs to be taking it three times a daily so it will last all day and raise his blood pressure. Otherwise the medicine only lasts a few hours and is of little benefit. Results of blood work drawn indicated his thyroid is fine and he is a little anemic.

The consultation with his dentist, Dr. John McGrane, resulted in an appointment Wednesday morning at 11:10 to remove the infected tooth. Then, on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 11 a.m., he will have two fillings repaired.  

Onward we go - Day 130

As Jim gets better (still has occasional dizziness and gaining weight is a very slow process), I have gone the opposite direction, trying to get out from under so much that is keeping me feeling rather poorly.

We enjoy the time God has allowed us to be at Wilton Baptist Church. We don't know how long that will continue, being the congregation does have need of full-time pastoral leadership.  During September Jim has preached there the 6th and will again the 20th. He is hopeful for following weeks as well as he already has sermon ideas. We plan to visit some of the folks in the hospital or recuperating at home in coming weeks.

In thinking of all the places where we have served and of all the events of this past year, I jotted down this prayer request -- "To be sent wherever God leads. To be used wherever needed. To recognize needs. To be open to staying places and filling roles for however long the Lord desires. To have those who desire our aid to be open, not hiding, not pretending, not being false or fake."

Jim was rather listless over Labor Day weekend. He has watched the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon for years - last year it was on TV only 3 hours and this year, not at all.  He didn't quite know what to do with himself. On Monday, Sept. 7, he remembered a DVD he put together last year from episodes that were on youtube.com and watched it.

AWANA at Immanuel began Wednesday, Sept. 2 - we started coming Sept. 9, bringing grandson Austin to participate in Cubbies, the preschool class, to learn about Jesus. I go in to work earlier and get off by 5:30 so we can all get to church on time and have supper too.

We took our second mini-trip to Northeast Missouri (LaGrange and Hannibal) Sept. 12-14, and it was enjoyable as always. We stopped at HLG and visited with Jim's friend, Ray Carty, who is vice president of something (LOL). He gave us a personal tour of the new science building that opened the end of August. We bought gas in Hannibal for $1.99, a huge decrease from the $2.29 we paid in Cedar Rapids before heading south.

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, Jim got a flu shot at HyVee Drug Town, and it apparently made him very tired, as he slept much of the afternoon, and we both went to bed early that night.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, Jim and I and Christina and our grandsons, Austin and James, went to Waterloo to attend the Cattle Congress fair. We weren't sure how the day was going to end up, being it was raining in Waterloo in the morning, then raining here and still raining when we headed north at noon. Fortunately, the rains stopped and the skies remained dry, although a little cloudy, the rest of the day and into early evening. We saw lots and did lots of things, everybody (except James) got in lots of walking ... and Jim has more stamina ... and I think Austin had fun. I'll include some photos at the end of this post.

Today is Saturday, Sept. 19. A nice sunny day, a bit on the cool side, but considerably better than Friday's downpour. This morning Jim and Rocky worked for an hour or two on cleaning the garage -it's a vast improvement.  Jim printed off his sermon - 11 pages - guess God gave him much to talk about!  His message for Sunday is "Be All You Can Be" and Scripture is I Peter 1:10-16.

 Upcoming appointments: 

• Friday, Oct. 23 - 3 p.m., Jim meets with Dr. Bailin, a cardiologist at UIHC, for a second opinion re: use of coumadin for surgery-related afib.

• Tuesday, Oct. 27 - 10:30 a.m., Jim has colonoscopy with Dr. Gerke at UIHC

• Friday, Oct. 30 - 9:30 a.m., Cathy meets with Dr. Gerke re: digestive issues begun Aug. 5

Photos taken at Cattle Congress in Waterloo: 

Appointments - Day 41

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a boy (or girl) healthy, wealthy and wise. ... tired is more like it.

Jim's first appointment was at 8:30 with Dr. WeiWei Li at PCI Cardiology. He weighs 135.6 pounds without shoes. His blood pressure was taken twice, 10 minutes apart -- first it showed 68/30 and then 80/50.

An EKG was taken. Some of the meds were discussed, particularly the Amiodarone, which is taken to help control the AFib. We were told the medicine can affect the thyroid and liver and with long-term use, side effects increase.

Dr. Li was not sure how long Jim would be on Warfarin (Coumadin). The doctors at UIHC said he would probably be on it for several months and if his heart stayed in rythym, he could probably go off it. Before Jim was released May 21 after his cancer surgery and through his second release  June 17 after a 10-day stint at UIHC, his heart remained in rythym. I got the distinct impression from Dr. Li that because Jim had an ischemic stroke 3 years ago, he might go in and out of AFib and never know it, and that might be reason enough to remain on the medicine. It makes more sense to me to pray about what God would have him / us do. Listen to the doctors and then determine.

Dr. Li wanted a pulmonary function test and nuclear stress test done - the pulmonary function test wll be Tuesday, July 7, at St. Luke's, and the nuclear stress test, July 13 and 14, at PCI Cardiology.

Next we attempted to make an appointment with Dr. Hoxie, his urologist. They are kind of booked up, so will call us to let us know when they can get Jim in. PCI Urology called back at 2 p.m. and we now have an appointment for Tuesday afternoon, July 14.

Third stop was MedLabs in Hiawatha.... for blood drawn for INR  readings and a thyroid check requested by Dr. Li.

Jim's second appointment and fourth stop was UnityPoint Clinic in Hiawatha to see Dr. Todd Butler, Jim's primary care physician. Dr. Butler et.al. manages Jim's coumadin, although he says the pharmacy or cardiology department could also manage it.  Blood pressure results were 88/58. Dr. Butler said he would appreciate knowing when Jim is off the coumadin. He wasn't too happy with communication from UIHC. We are to return for a follow-up visit in two months - Monday, Aug. 3.

Jim is feeling better, more energy, but still tiredness sets in. He is currently working with Craig trying to figure out why the kitchen light switch (es) aren't working. That project has bit the dust. The two of them decided it takes more know-how than they have.

He has not taken any pain meds since 10 o'clock last night.

Jane from Dr. Butler's office called and said Jim's INR level is at 3.0, so 3 mg. Coumadin tonight and another blood draw tomorrow.

Jim is eating more and the food is digesting fine.

Home Again - Day 37

Today is the first full day Jim has been home from the hospital and it has been a busy one .. .

Jim woke up at 7 and I slept in till 8.

He is very tired so has slept frequently during the day. His appetite also isn't up to snuff. He didn't have any breakfast, had pudding after noon and the pasta at 4:45 p.m.

My devotional study this morning brought me to Jeremiah 29:11 -- "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."  

My thoughts --

Jesus sets the pace
Not us
We may have much to do
but first and foremost
we must focus on Him,
keeping our steps in line
with His
instead of us moving
on our own thinking.
That is not easy.
We have appointments
to keep
and new ones to make,
but along the way
we need to keep
our primary focus on Him,
so we don't become discouraged.
Discouragement comes
from our own way of thinking,
from our focus on things
other than Christ
and His goals, His mission,
for us
Discouragement is at the back door
moving to the front
when we think our plans
are the best plans
and they should not fail.
We need to keep in mind
who is in charge of all life.
It is not us.
(c) Cathy Orrick Luders

Our day --

I already had two appointments for today and made two more for next week before both of us (and Bandy the Bunny) left at 9:30.  Bandy had a 10 o'clock appointment for a nail trim. Then we went to MedLabs so Jim could have blood drawn. He's back on Coumadin for his Afib (a complication of his cancer surgery May 12) and will stay on it for several months to see how things go. The doctors at UIHC said that if his heart stays in rythym over a period of time he may be able to discontinue the Coumadin.

After I dropped off Jim and Bandy at home, I went to CVS Pharmacy to pick up 9 prescriptions for Jim plus stop at Klauer Optical to pick up and of course pay for the left contact he lost in the hospital over a week ago. Then there was a noon appointment for the car - just an oil change and tire rotation... Ha! It's not often you can take the car in for one thing and be done, so today was no exception. We needed two back tires which we got at a somewhat reasonable price, plus the free alignment. That whole process took 1 1/2 hours -- you'd think I would have the waiting process down by now.

By the time I got home Jim wanted to go to the Fareway grocery store to find things to take tomorrow morning for our mini-road trip to NE Missouri. And then we got some nutritional protein drinks to help put some weight on him. His current weight is in the 130s. And then we stopped at Zio Johno's for good tasting pasta, which we had soon after arriving home. Jim can't eat very much and he gets full rather easily, but I gave him 5 Tablespoons of mostaccoli (sp?) and he ate all of it, plus a small glass of apple juice.

It's now 5:15 p.m. I have meds to put in the pill container for the next several days and evening meds as well. A suitcase to pack, a car to pack. And the things I didn't get done today, won't be done tomorrow either; it will probably be Monday afternoon, after morning appointments.

Tomorrow morning we have to get blood drawn again at MedLabs. By 10 a.m. we hope to be on the road heading south.