Ron is improving

Finally, some good news from the doctors for a change. Ron say his kidney specialist this past Friday and he said everything is looking very good. The potassium is down to a manageable level, his BUN and his creatinine look decent, and he's very pleased. In fact, unless something changes, Ron doesn't have to go back until October.

March 7, he will have his first cataract surgery. He's nearly blind in his left eye because the cataract is so big and the doctor is confident that he will be much improved after the surgery. We are confident as well.

God has been really good to us through all of the things that have gone on these past few months. When Ron fell in December and broke his hip, he "could" have laid there until the Meals on Wheels driver brought lunch, but he was able to get to his phone and call for help. Now, he keeps his phone in his shirt pocket (most days). Having the visiting nurse twice weekly was really the reason he didn't go into full-blown kidney failure. She was available to draw blood each time and the doctor saw the results early enough to forestall something worse.

He's been home from the hospital for nearly a month and is doing well. Although he's not getting physical therapy, he is doing his exercises on his own and is now walking (some) in the house with a cane instead of a walker. I told him that I didn't want him using the cane if I wasn't home. I bought him a three-wheeled walker with a tray so he can use it to get himself water or something to eat, without worrying about trying to carry it while using a cane. He's still not very steady on his feet and sometimes still in denial about what he's capable of doing.

I still come fully awake at night when he needs to get up. I'm so worried about him falling in the night that I get up and turn on the bathroom light for him while he puts on his leg and left shoe (thankful, he's decided that he doesn't have enough "foot" left to try to walk without the support the shoe and insert give him). I also turn on my lamp and once he's back in bed, I turn it all off. Eventually, I'm sure I'll relax enough to let him handle it but for now, I'm not. Consequently, I'm tired most days because he gets up at least twice nightly (he at least stirs enough to wake me). I sometimes feel like I have a newborn in the house {grin}.

I have been very lax about writing since there hasn't been too much going on except his health issues. LOL - that can get very boring for everyone. I know it's been monotonous for me.... home for a while, then the hospital, then home, and repeat. He's been to the local hospital so much that the nurses KNOW him on sight! He's had some of the same CNAs and nurses taking care of him. In fact, he's been in the same room more than once.

I was supposed to go on a business trip next month and I was kind of worried about leaving him behind but the trip has been canceled. I'm a bit disappointed since I've never been to Chicago (except for one day when Shaun graduated from Navy boot camp; when Amy graduated from boot camp, we didn't go) but relieved that I don't have to worry about who was going to stay with Ron while I was gone.

I'd like to go to watch Shaun's ship return from deployment but not sure I can swing that. Airline tickets are kind of high right now and I don't see them going down anytime soon. I haven't seen Shaun in three years, partly because his ship has been on deployment so much in the last two years, partly because of Ron's health, and partly because of finances. In order to take Ron to Seattle, I have to make sure that we have preferred seating, get a rental car that I can haul a wheelchair in (he can't walk very far even before the hip replacement), and then get a hotel room since Shaun's house is not handicap accessible (the bedrooms and bathroom are upstairs). That is way more money than a 4-day trip should cost. Sigh... maybe this year but I'm not sure I can make it happen. I know Shaun is disappointed that we probably can't make it for his ship's return (Ron's never seen his ship come back from deployment, whereas I've been blessed to make all of them except one) as he wants his dad to experience the joy of the occasion.  We'll see...

Keeping Ron healthy enough to even contemplate it is a challenge so it may be a moot point anyway.