Friday, October 11th. I can’t believe it has been a week since I last posted something. I am glad to report that this week has been a much better week for Ms, Kate. It has been a week of appointments though. Wednesday, she had a nephrology appointment. That is to check the functions of the kidneys. The nephrologist informed us that she is in Stage 4 Kidney failure. This was the first we had heard about a kidney failure at all and apparently she has been in stage four since June. So we were in a state of mind that said “what else?????” They tell her that her heart is operating at 30-35% and have her wearing a life vest defibrillator, and now she is in stage four kidney failure. 

Today she had her regular scheduled appointment with out family doctor and he spent a good deal of time talking to her about all of this. He said yes, —- her heart output is bad and yes the numbers indicate that she is in stage four kidney failure. However —- he says that the specialists who see her and advise on the results of stuff fail to consider the mitigating factors that can affect all of those numbers and systems like having four major surgeries this year and five or six hospital stays where doctors constantly change around  her medications. So yes —- her health is not good and she has several things going against her; —- but she is not in the crisis that the specialist doctors who walk in and see her for five minutes make it out to be. He has her starting heart repair therapy and we hope that will increase her heart output and she can take off the life vest. We left there today feeling much more positive about her whole situation. 

BTW, I had my annual physical today and the doctor said he couldn’t find a single thing he could fuss at me about and that I am in excellent shape for an 80 year old guy. Thank you very much God!!!

Yesterday, Kate and I went to the orchard ut in Posey County and picked up a half bushel of Golden Delicious apples. So, there will be a couple of apple pies baking in the oven before this weekend is out. 

That catches you up on our week. Congratulation to my former parish churches. Their new pastor starts this coming Sunday. May God guide him as he starts this new ministry. 

Peace. 

 Good morning and welcome to Friday. I wanted to give a short update on Ms. Kate. We hope to be going home today, and all indications are that we will. However, her Hospitalist said she want a Nephrologist to see her first and render an opinion. Kate’s kidneys aren’t functioning like they should. Now, part of that is reaction to her different medications so they have to figure out a good balance. That imbalance is partially what caused this hospitalization in the first place. So, we don’t want to go home and have to turn right around and come back. 

Yesterday they fitted her with a cardiac life vest. It is a portable defibrillator worn under her clothes and next to skin. In the event her heart should stop,  this device will shock it back into motion. It’s the same effect you see with the “paddles” you see on television. It gives her an alarm when it is going to happen and she has to lay down because it will literally knock her down. Hopefully it never goes off but she has to wear it 24/7 except in the shower. They will keep her wearing this for 3-6 months and then do another ECG to see if her heart is doing any better. 

But —- she is feeling so much better than she did when she came in here and hopefully it will all remain steady. I thank God for any and all progress she has made and I thank all of you who have lifted her up. 

I hope you have a blessed weekend. Continue to pray for all of the hurricane victims. My heart cries for each of them. Take time to give God praise for your abundance of blessings. 

Peace. 

 Welcome to October. Our October started out just crappy. Ms. Kate is once again in-the hospital with congestive heart failure. Each time seems to get a bit worse. She asked me to bring her in first thing Monday morning. She had gotten to the point of hardly being able to breathe, couldn’t lay down to sleep or even lean back in her recliner. She was and is totally worn out. So, we’ve been in here at Deaconess Midtown since then. They are working to get the fluid off of her but are also working on a couple of other heart issues with her. We hope she can go home tomorrow but I’m not overly hopeful about that. So, keep us in your prayers. 

Have a blessed day. 

 Rain, rain, and more rain to come. But I am not complaining one bit. As I look at all of the destruction the  that Hurricane Helene has caused, and over 40 deaths so far —- our rain is merely an inconvenience. I haven’t talked to any of the local farmers so I don’t know how they feel about it. I know a lot of the crops have been brought in but there are a lot still out in the fields too. Nobody will be driving a tractor out there for a few days. I hope none of them had destructive winds that flatten the corn and make it impossible to pick up. We have seen that happen. But our rain this morning isn’t a hard rain, just slow and steady. 

Yesterday I made a pot of veggie soup and Ms. Kate made a pineapple upside down cake. Between us made some darn good fixins. I had cake for breakfast. Not a bad way to start a rainy Saturday morning. I may decide to do some reading today. I have a Stephen King that I have only started on and I have another book that I picked up from the free book table at church. I really could take some of my books and put them on the table. Maybe someone else could use them. That’s one of the problems of retiring from a profession; one collects so many books and then what do you do with them? 

It’s very quiet around the house today. Kate is snoozing in her recliner, the rain is falling gently on the roof and I think I will follow Kate’s example. I hope you have a wonderful day. I would ask that you offer prayers up for all of the millions of people that are trying to recover from this latest storm damage. It isn’t over yet and there are several major dams in danger of breaking that will cause even ore destruction. Lift them up in prayer. Peace. 

 Happy Wednesday. We are back from our weekend trip to see cousins. We had really good visiting time and got to catch up with them and their lives. We drove over on Sunday morning to Giant City State park in southern Illinois. I highly recommend you visit the park  if you are close enough and have the time. There is so much to see. It is all park of the Shawnee National Forest and there are so many trail to walk and horse-back riding, picnicking, camping, and other nature things to do. My one nephew goes over there  every year to hunt morels but won’t say exactly where he hunts them. 

We got to the lodge at 1:00 pm, and had a wonderful family style chicken dinner. I was hoping for maybe 25 folks to show up but we only had 16 folks there. But we had a good visit and hope to make this an annual event. Most everyone left around 3:30 pm and Kate and I checked into our cabin that we had rented for the night. However, when we got over to where the cabin was located, I quickly realized there as no way Kate would ever be physically able to get down to the cabin. Well, actually, she might get down to it, but she would never be able to walk back up to the parking area the next morning. So I went back to the desk, explained the situation and they were very accommodating and gave us another cabin just across the parking lot. It was simple but it fit the bill. 

Monday we met with another cousin for lunch and a nice visit and then headed to Sainte Genevieve Missouri where we were supposed to stay for two nights. Unfortunately, Kate was already feeling bad so we stayed just one night and then headed back home yesterday morning. It seems to get harder and harder to plan trips anymore because of Kate’s health. But it is, what it is. I’m just glad when we can do what we can manage. 

I guess I better quit and grab my gloves and weed eater and go take care of some yard work. I hope you have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Happy Saturday morning. I pray your weekend has started off well. We’re doing a bit of busy-body work this morning. Two loads of laundry, empty dishwasher, fix a little something to eat, put stuff away that we should have already put away; —- you know —— just stuff. 

Tomorrow we are heading to southern Illinois and possibly Missouri for a long weekend. We are going to the Heumann family get together. I’m excited to see the cousins and become a bit more acquainted with them. I really don’t know so many of them and there aren’t that many. My parents moved to Indiana when they got married. All the rest of their family remained in southern Illinois. WhenI was a kid we would go over to see the grandparents maybe once every couple of month. We’d go on a Saturday afternoon after Dad got off work and then come home Sunday afternoon after lunch. Most of the time there we spent at my maternal grandmothers house and then drop by for a couple of hours at my paternal grandparents house. So, I never really got to know my cousins at all. I am so glad that we have connected through social media and are getting to know one another. Unfortunately I already lost a couple of them. It was my intent that we have a chance to get together somewhere beside a funeral home. 

Ms. Kate and I will be staying Sunday night in one of the Bluff Cabins in Giant City State Park. Then we plan to meet with another cousin from my maternal side for lunch and have a visit. From there, we plan to go to St. Genevieve, MO and spend a couples of days. I had made reservations at a bed and breakfast for Monday and Tuesday night but we cancelled those reservations because Kate has had a rough week health wise and we didn’t want to pay for something and not use it. So, if we do decide to stay, we will just find a place. I expect it won’t be hard to do. BUt, we need to play it by ear. 

That’s it for today. Have a most blessed weekend. Take time to go to your house of worship and give thanks for a week of blessings. Take time to pray for our nation too. We need all the help we can get. Peace. 

 Happy Wednesday afternoon. It’s 2:15 pm and I’m being lazy and not going out in the 91 degree heat and 47% humidity. I certainly have enough work to do out there but it can wait. Maybe I’ll go out after the sun gets a bit lower and do a couple of things. I have to go out to take the trash out and get the garbage cans down to the street. 

This morning Ms. Kate and I went to out to our church. I needed to fill the new flag holder stands with sand. Kate and I bought some new ones because the old ones looked so bad. The new ones are made of plastic, (what isn’t these days) and you have to fill them for stability. The old one were a solid brass and were heavy as heck. But they were so old and so dull that Kate and I thought they dishonored the flags. So, with permission from the council, we bought new ones. They really look great. 

Tomorrow morning at 0830 I have a dental appointment to build a new molar on my left lower jaw. I broke a large piece of it off last week and this was as early as I could get in to my dentist. Fortunately there has been zero pain involved with the the tooth and I have been able to eat most anything. Although my right jaw is tired of doing all the work. It will be nice to have a full mouth of teeth again. 

This weekend, we are heading to Giant City State park in southern Illinois. I have put together a cousin’s reunion at lunch time at the lodge. There are so many of the extended generation that I don’t know and I only have five “first cousins” left on the Heumann side of the family. It’s important that we stay in contact.  On my mother’s side of the family, I only have three “first cousins left. The older you get, the more you lose. I’m the senior member on the Heumann side and I have a cousin , Jeanne, that is the oldest on my Mother’s side. 

That’s enough for today. Have a great day my friends. Peace