I am not liking this year so far

Tucson
Okay...I am ready to skip 2009. This year has really started out bad, bad, bad. Outside of the mess in Seattle with the snow, then floods, etc. things here aren't good either.

My brother Dick is failing...but not fast. He is so very sick; renal, liver failure and congestive heart failure, plus diabetes and he has 4 leaky valves in his heart and he is 80 years old. The doctors have taken him off all his meds and he is on "comfort meds" only. He isn't eating hardly at all...oh, he will eat ice cream, with peaches some times, sometimes plain; but not very much. We haven't gotten him to eat anything of substance for a few days now. He was so sick over last weekend. I cared for him on last Saturday and he wouldn't drink or eat anything...not even ice cream. I called Hospice a couple of times and the nurse came out once, took his blood pressure and glucose readings. BP was low, so was the blood sugar. I helped him to bed around 9:30 p.m. and I checked on him every hour. At about 1:30 a.m. I went in to check on him and found him laying on the floor. He had slid out of the bottom of his bed. Of course, I was scared silly. I called Hospice and in turn 911. EMT's came out and helped get him up, nothing broken, thank goodness. So off to the ER we went and spent the night there. I learned I could sleep on those nasty plastic chairs that they have in ER....just not for very long. After 8+ hours, they basically sent him home to die. The doctor said there was absolutely nothing they could do...his BP at one point was 47/30. They did give him a litre of normal saline to hydrate him. That began his rally. The doctor said he would do this, just can't guess how long the rally will last. Knowing my brother, it could last a while...he is very determined to live. Anyway, we brought him home and he slept most of Sunday and Monday. By Tuesday he was sitting up talking, but very confused and not making much sense. His son from San Diego was here and we were both amazed at how much improved my brother was. Today, he is sitting up talking rationally and about back to where he was before all of this started. However, I have been told not to get my hopes up...it is just a matter of time.

In the mean time, I took Al to the doctor yesterday and his blood pressure was 192/121!!!!! The doctor just about flipped. Al's labs show is kidneys are also failing due to diabetes and the meds used to control them. He is only additional lasix (water pills) and potassium pills and increased his blood pressure meds. AND NO SALT AT ALL. Now, those of you who know Al, know how that went over! I have to watch him like a hawk and have started to cook without salt..(ick).. the salt substitute is icky. He can have 1 gram of salt a day...and let me tell you that isn't much. And everything has sodium in it! I have scoured the shelves at the grocery store for low sodium stuff...and haven't came up with very much. Something tells me this is going to be a real battle. I have moved all the salt/seasonings with salt into another pantry/storage closet, but I don't know if that will do the trick.

And then today we received a phone call that one of our friends from Lancaster had a heart attack and died last night. CRAP! And he was only 60! I was totally shocked!

So, can this year get better???? Can't get much worse...or can it? Probably.

On another note, we have had AL's cousin Neal and wife Bobbi here for a few days and that was a bit of a break. They have a big 5th wheel trailer like ours and they parked in our drive and they were nice to have around. They stayed in their "house" and visited with us. They are now in Deming, NM for a few weeks...and they are full time RVers so who knows where they will go next. They always have a spot here.

And our friend from Yuma, Dick and his grandson Corey and another friend were here for 5 days hunting javalina. No javalina tho...I did see two coming up our road, but that was after dark and they can't hunt them then. Smart pigs! Corey lives in Colorado and he was a nice young man...14 years old and very polite and well mannered. He can come back and visit us.

And on that note, I am going to go rest...something I haven't gotten much of lately. All my kids/friends and family are telling me to take care of myself, but sometimes it is really hard to do when you are worried about those you love. It's gotta' get better.