More Mom

Dear Ones,

We spent the day in the ICU with Mom/Carol waiting for the ICU doc to give us the scoop on Mom/Carol’s condition.  He wasn’t able to meet with us until 5:30 and stayed with us for over an hour explaining the diagnosis by her Tucson cardiologist and why the cardiologist made that diagnosis and what he really thought the diagnosis was.  Based on the change of altitude and many other things that we just can’t explain in a concise manner, her body stressed. 

Good news:  she is making headway.  Her brain has not been affected by the seizure or anything else.  Her sodium level is rising.  While she spent the morning fiddling with tissues, she stopped long enough to eat a good lunch and sleep this afternoon. She woke up without the fiddling (which is good because it was making us a bit nuts).  Her cognition is still a bit off but is far better than yesterday!  She is still a bit obsessed with some quilts she has in her mind. 

We will be here for 4-6 more days, with the next 2 in the ICU, where the Doc feels she will get a lot of deserved attention.  We have a wonderful facility to stay - the Taylor House (like a Ronald McDonald House), now that the timeshare comes to an end tomorrow morning. We stopped by this evening and it’s lovely!

Well, Lori is bringing home dinner so we’d better set the table!  (She’s been a blessing, that’s for sure!)

Holy Crap!

Mom...

Yesterday she ended up in the ICU because she seized (twice).  Scared the living daylights out of Dad and me.  The entire hospital staff ended up in the room within a few seconds.  The worst part was the chest compressions we were "privileged" to watch.  Dad and I stayed out of the way until a nurse was able to escort us through the maze of docs, nurses, techs etc.  I, in my usual style of trying to add humor to the moment, sent mom's food tray across the path into the room.  It gave me something to do to keep me from having my own heart issue!

Mom is still not well.  Her cognitive faculties suck.  She is obsessed with making 3 quilts for Anne and Gordon (b & s-i-l) because she says that Anne's eyes are bad...weird.  Her quilts are made with tissues.  It's difficult to watch.  She tries to chat and even said that she'll talk to me when the words she wants work better.  So there are some things that aren't firing well in that brain of hers.

She is so well taken care of here.  The staff is so gosh darned nice!  We feel so good about the people and the care!  Blessing for sure!

Lori is off gallivanting through Flagstaff on her own.  There are plenty of shops and fun places to keep her busy!

Paul's dad turns 95 today! He has been horribly ill and it improving steadily!  Yeah!

Lots of love to our readers.  We can feel the Holy Spirit working through you!  Keep it up!!!!  (please)

PS  please add a little prayer to St. Anthony to locate my phone!

Priorities

Carrie's mom is still in the hospital. They aren't ready to discharge her yet and Carrie's dad is working to get her discharged from the hospital in Flagstaff so that he can take her to the hospital in their town of Oro Valley, near Tucson. Carrie and her dad, Dick, are visiting mom, Carol, now. I decided that they'd be more comfortable visiting with her without me hanging around.

I'm relaxing at the condo, contemplating going over to the pool. I imagine my sunblock is not going to save me from a sunburn, which is kind of motivating in itself. I only tan if I get burned in the process. (I can hear my Aunt Wendy chewing me out now.) I finished my book last night and am ready to start a new one. I love Dan Brown books. "The Lost Symbol" did not disappoint. Fantastic! I'm getting ready to start "Traveling with Pomegranates," by Sue Monk Kidd. She's the author of "The Secret Life of Bees," which I loved. We'll see how this one is.

We've put our sightseeing on hold while Carol is in the hospital. Her health is the priority right now. We want to be near so that visits are easy and we are available if need be. If we get the chance, our plan is to go to Jerome, Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon and Slide Rock. We'd better check and see if there is any water at Slide Rock, though. My guess is that there is not water! It's dry as a bone around here.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, Reiki, healing thoughts, and energy.

Somethings DO suck

Mom and Dad joined us yesterday afternoon and mom was a mess.  Her ability to communicate was severely impaired. After re-hydrating and a snack she was much better but once we were all headed to bed to enjoy our novels, she really was messed up.  Her cognition was severely lacking.  With the help of Lori's sister's advice (she is a pharmacist), we headed for the ER.  It has been determined that her electrolytes were extremely low.  After a bolus of saline etc, she was almost normal (whatever that is).  She spent the night in the hospital and is so much better.  She is better than I've seen here in a while!  Crazy!  The aren't thrilled that her electrolyte levels aren't returning to normal as fast as they'd like so she will spend the night again tonight.  She is so mad that she is stuck in a hospital in Flagstaff on my birthday!  Well I understand that but I'm so relieved that she isn't stroking out on us that I can overlook that fact!

Lori, Dad, and I visited mom this morning then we did a quick run through of Downtown Flagstaff.  We ate lunch (beer and margaritas were involved), therefore we came back to the townhouse for naps!  We will head back out to visit with mom and eat dinner at a burger joint called Bunhuggers - yummy!  I'm hoping for a drive to Sunset Crater to - get this - watch the sunset!

Keep Mom (and Dad too) in your prayers!  We love the comments from our friends!

Carrie

This does not suck...

We are sitting on the deck at Carrie and Paul's timeshare. We each have two chairs, one for our bottoms and one for our feet. There's a table between us with coffee, cold pizza, water, fresh peaches, chocolate, Carrie's laptop and our books. Neither of us are dressed and we may or may not get out of our jammies. Behind the condos across the street are the San Francisco Peaks. Humphrey's Peak is over 12,000 feet and has a summer chairlift adventure. I hope we do that this week. Flagstaff is about an hour and a half from the Grand Canyon. Carrie wants us to watch the sun set over the canyon, so we brought lawn chairs to do so. I'm really looking forward to that. She showed me on the Flagstaff map where they have funky shops with tie dyes and Birkenstocks. We are so going there. The historic shops look fun, too. Carrie's parents are on the way to join us. They are so cute! I think Carrie's dad may be as ornery as my dad! Carrie's mom wants to go to a local museum about local Native American tribes. Carrie's birthday is tomorrow, so we are going to a local brew pub for dinner.

Carrie's mom is an accomplished quilter, as is Carrie. Her parents house in Tucson is so cool. It is Spanish style, with high ceilings, tile floors and southwestern decor. Carrie's mom's quilts are on display in nearly every room and they are spectacular! There is one on the wall in the guest bedroom that is about 8 feet in diameter. It's their Christmas tree skirt. Gorgeous! The landscaping at their house is truly desert inspired. Cactus, bougainvillia and Mexican bird of paradise make a beautiful statement. The most beautiful statement is the pool. I could have stayed there for a couple hours, but Carrie says I would have been fried. I might not have minded being fried in that manner.

Christa says I need to include a few of our humorous adventures. We have had a couple, but we've mostly been in the car, so that doesn't lend itself to too many funnies. I did leave my glasses in Carrie's brother, Rick's, backseat in Deming, New Mexico and didn't discovery it until we were about 50 miles on down the road. We had to turn around and go back to get them. I could have worn my prescription sunglasses for two or three days until we could have gotten them by next day mail, but that would have been a pain. Fortunately, Rick was fantastic and agreed to drive toward us to meet us half way. It was great to meet Rick and his wife, Sharon! I know that wasn't such a funny story, but I think Carrie will hold it over my head. She was so excited to get to her parents in Tucson and I held us up at least an hour and a half with going back to meet Rick. I could hear my dad's voice in my head. "Lor-ri. Think!" I also sprayed myself in the face with Carrie's "camelback" water bottle yesterday. She got a kick out of that.

It feels weird to be at our destination and have nothing on the agenda, but it is very, very relaxing. Carrie went to take a nap. I'm reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Have a relaxing day, whatever you may be doing!

Pizza is Ordered, The Wine is Poured

So we have had a wonderful couple of days!  We are now in Flagstaff and I am just reveling in the smell of pine, the mountains all around and the cooler temperatures. We have driven through bayou, ranch land, desert, scrub and forest.  I LOVE IT!!!!!
Yesterday I visited our home and the school from my elementary days.  Lori forced me (not that she would have done that in her girlhood home!) knock on the door.  No one was there but we stood around the yard like stalkers for a while.  Then over to the elementary school where I expected to smell mimeo fluid!  Lori had to listen to me point to things and tell what we did there and who was there and all that stuff that zings back into your brain when you start remembering.
We drove down the main drag and I had to choose between 2 of my favorite restaurants of those days:  Smitty's BBQ or Leos.  We went for Leos and enjoyed yummy Mexican food and more talking about the stuff I did as a kid.  (Poor Lori...)

Next stop was Deming, NM where my brother and sister-in-law are living.  Rick is an electrician who is installing solar panels in different sites around NM.  He and Sharon are living like nomads and enjoying every minute of it!  The solar site was really cool!  I'm so proud of him!!!

Next stop was Tucson where my parents live.  We enjoyed a great nights sleep and a soak in their pool this morning.  We ate more Mexican food at one of our favorite dives called Nico's!  Super yummy!!

The pizza should be here shortly and we will pour another glass of wine and zonk out!  Who knows what tomorrow will bring?  (Actually, I do...my mom and dad will join us for a couple night!  yeah!)

Nostalgia....

I'm enjoying bit of pre-Bowie life! I lived in El Paso, Texas for many years!

Lavender Fields Forever

So much for butchering John Lennon's lyrics. We left NOLA this morning about 8:30, after we had our biegnets and chickory cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde. Biegnets taste like funnel cake and are drowning in powdered sugar. Mmmm. We drove through the bayous of Louisiana from NOLA, through Baton Rouge, and on into Texas. I ate at my first ever Sonic. It was delish! (Today was so not a low carb, low cal day.) Our plan was to drive to Fredericksburg, TX and visit a winery and lavender farm. Unfortunately, everything in Fredericksburg closes at 6 and we didn't get there until 6:30 or so. Fredericksburg is a little town with Old West and German influences. We did some window shopping and a great pit barbecue dinner. On our way into town, we were muttering about missing the winery and the lavender (it isn't even in blooming season), when Carrie said, "Don't worry, something will happen to make this interesting." Literally seconds later, we saw a homestead with three CAMELS in the field in front. Now, that's interesting! Random.

Beware of Hurricanes...

We had a sweltering, but fun day in NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) yesterday! We were able to book an historic hotel right in the French Quarter and walk to everything for $80 a night! We got there around 11 a.m. and checked in at the French Market Inn. Our room was in the farthest building of a group of beautiful red brick buildings connected by a quaint, winding courtyard with interesting fountains. (A nice, yellow tabby cat lives in the courtyard. Meow!) We then made our way down to Central Grocery Co. for a muffuletta. A muffuletta, in case you don't know, is an Italian sandwich made with muffuletta bread, lots of Italian cold cuts and "olive salad." Olive salad is made of olive oil (lots) and three different kinds of olives and marinated veggies. I was a little dubious of the salad in my sandwich, but it was fabulous. The sandwich was probably big enough for four people, but Carrie and I split it. We ate it alongside the Mississippi River as we watched the Natchez paddle wheel river boat slide on by. The wind was lovely as the humidity was killer. We took a mule-drawn carriage tour of the French Quarter and the downtown cemetery. We were both scratching our heads at the need for a tour of the cemetery, but it was so cool! They have done all kinds of shoring up of crypts to protect them from rising water over the years. The crypts are huge and crammed in very close together. We saw the most famous voodoo queen's crypt, which was covered by triple x's and had lots of offerings and a voodoo doll. We saw many of the NOLA-specific homes, such as the double shotgun homes and the camel back homes. (Look it up, say our mothers.) The ironwork on the balconies is one of my favorite parts of the French Quarter. We wandered through lots of shops and watched a brass band made up of young men who were having a great time entertaining people in Jackson Square. They also made a freaking haul in tips. We wandered to Bourbon Street as the sun was setting and saw the beginnings of the evening's shenanigans. Carrie and I had decided to have a Hurricane (a type of a Rum Runner, kinda) and dinner at Pat O'Brians. When we got there, we went into the Dueling Piano bar and got our huge drinks and asked for a dinner menu. No food was served in the bar. By the time we finished our drinks and heard the song I had requested, one of us was more than a little tipsy. Carrie walked and I staggered into the restaurant, we both ordered shrimp entrees that were heavenly - and we each had another Hurricane. I heard earlier in the day that they are called "hurricanes" because, after you drink one, you feel as if you brain has been in a hurricane. That would be a "no shit, Sherlock" situation. We had a great time. Poor Carrie had to steer me back to our room. Boy, they were good!

Bourbon Street

Day 2 Begins!

Why can't ACs in hotels either run the fan continuously or be quieter???  Ok, I know that I should just be happy for a working AC but this stupid thing goes on and off every few minutes.  I just counted and in the last 5 minutes, it has gone off and on 3 times!  Grummble, grummmmmble...

So, this is the day we head for New Orleans!  We are so stoked!!!  We hope to find a hotel in the French Quarter so it's all walking.  I remember going through NO when I was 12.  Which means that it was "stupid."  I've been back since but really don't remember too much about it.  Ben went with us the last time but he was in a stroller!  I'm thinking this will be a different experience!  :-)

Time to pack up the car, top off the coffee and move on out!

Day 1 Ends

We are in a La Quinta in Meridian, Mississippi.  We had a great day of driving.  The weather was great most of the time but there were some huge thunderstorms north of Birmingham.

We ate breakfast and lunch in the car but stopped for a great McDonald's salad (their Asian salad is great!).

We listened to an eclectic mix of tunes from a Christmas song to the Beatles to CSN with a musical thrown in.  We listened to Janet Evanovich's newest best seller and played Akinator on the cell phones.

Tomorrow morning we'll head for New Orleans and spend the day in the French Quarter!  If you have any restaurants or places you think we HAVE to visit, let us hear from you!

Alabama

Stopped to visit Julia, my bestest mother-in-law, and her family...her brother, her parents and other long departed angels!

Gas stop

Fill er up! Lori is trying out the rockers.  It's a beautiful day for driving.

Day 1

It's Wednesday morning, the car is packed.  I'm waiting for the coffee to finish brewing and I'll be ready to say good-bye to my boys.  I have been looking forward to this trip for so long and yesterday it dawned on me that I might actually miss them!  sigh....  Will they eat right (not that they do when I'm home), will they water my tomatoes and jalapenos (probably not), will the house be a bigger mess than it is now (undoubtedly), will they miss me????  maybe :-)
So off I go to pick up Lori!
Carrie

What to read? What to eat?

Carrie and I are going to the library today to have our first argument. (Just kidding! That was for Laura who thinks we are going to have lots of arguments.) We are in search of the perfect audio books to keep us entertained while we drive. We like similar books, but I hope the library has some titles we are interested in. I was there the other day and was less than inspired by the audio collection. I'm thinking we may want to head to the younger reader section, since we both love children's fiction. (That could be because we both act like we're 12 years old. We're gonna have so much fun on this trip!!!) Oh, yeah! I ordered the audio version of the Janet Evanovich book that comes out on Tuesday. It'll be here before we leave!! Sweet!

We have also been throwing ideas back and forth about what to snack on in the car. Carrie's been doing Weight Watchers and I've been doing "The Belly Fat Cure." (For the last week, I've been doing the "eat everything in sight" cure. I've been sick, you know.) I'll be contributing the high protein, low carb, low sugar snacks and Carrie will be providing the low cal snacks. We're thinking lots of nuts (for the nuts), baked chips, dark chocolate from Trader Joe's with no sugar (sooo good!), veggies and dried fruit. And coffee out the butt. If anybody has some brilliant suggestions, we'd love to hear them!

The Set Up

So, Lori and I are headed out on Wednesday for Flagstaff.  We are getting aps on our phones so that we can find cheap gas, cheap hotels, and maps!  We will do our best to let anyone interested know where we are and what we are doing.  We are really excited!

Carrie