Treatment 18

Well you know the saying, “you got to take the bad with good”?  That’s where we are now.

Thursday was a good day.  Debbie Paquet came to visit in the afternoon and stayed until early evening.  Debbie always brings a book and a cribbage board, but some how they never make it out of her bag.  However something did come out of her bag this time, hair clips!  Trace’s hair has gotten so long that it hangs in her eyes.  In my almost 22 years of knowing her, I have never seen it so long.  I like it!  I have always wanted her to grow it out and she would start and then give up after a couple of months.  I don’t know when she last had it cut, but I know it has been at least since October 20^th, when this whole journey went in to high gear.

Tracy has had another reduction in her Ativan, a good thing.  We are currently at 6mg per day, a long way from the 18mgs not long ago.  Because of the reduction she is much more active and very lucid at times, a really good thing.  But with the activity comes some bad things; she tries to get out of bed and has plays with her feeding tube in her nose.  I noticed a change in her feeding tube Thursday and was told it was just discolored from mucous. 

Friday was Treatment 18, another good thing.  Her treatment went very well, however it left her very drowsy and tired.  It was also a day of conversations about health insurance.  Not really a good thing, but we have Heather on it.  Please continue to pray about this too.  And to quote Forest Gump “that’s all I have to say about that”.

Friday was also a good day for Tracy, as I said very drowsy, but more with it than the last treatment.  It was also a very good day as Drew came out early and not only did he come out early, he brought good news.  Bragging time!  He was able to report that he had the results of 5 of his finals and was waiting on the sixth, English, one of his 3 AP courses this semester.  He is getting all A’s so far!  We are so proud of him, it was a very aggressive schedule for him and in spite of all that is going on with our family, he has guaranteed himself better than a 4.0!

Friday also included talks of reducing Tracy’s Ativan even more, probably to 4mgs per day.

Tracy also got a new bed on Friday, yes Jay; it’s a Hill-Rom bed.  It has air bladders in it, which means that the nurses do not need to rotate Trace from side to side, but the still do.  This new bed also appears to be more comfortable.  One of the bad things is that with the air bladders the mattress is much thicker, making it sit higher thus making the rails lower and a greater risk of Trace falling out of bed, not good.

Drew and I celebrated at BD’s Mongolian Grill for dinner, only 3 plates for him this time.

That was our week.

Drew says he will write the next blog, therefore I will the weekend to him.

God Bless and “Never Give Up… Never Ever Give Up!”

Rob

Romans 8:39

Week 10

As I write this Tracy has had 17 treatments.  I will try to be brief with this post to get them back to maybe every other day or third day.

Last Friday night I left Tracy in the hands of our friend Sarah Hartfield and headed home to take Drew out to a wild game banquet.  I had reserved the tickets for us back in November while Tracy was still in Beaumont, never even dreaming that we would still be in the hospital let alone U of M.

It was very difficult leaving Trace, but I knew it would be good to go home and spend a night in our own bed for the first time since December 2^nd.  Sarah arrived shortly after I left and updated me throughout the evening on how Tracy was doing.

Drew and I arrived at the dinner much to the surprise of Steve Maniaci, who had invited us back in November, but didn’t expect to see us there.  Drew did not know what to expect, but quickly caught on, eating the likes of pheasant pot pie, wild boar and buffalo meatballs, venison stew, smelt, shaved buffalo, rabbit and venison steaks.  He ate, and ate, and ate and ate some more.

I woke up early Saturday morning and called to see how Tracy’s night was, and it was just fine.  I went back to sleep and slept better the next two hours than I had the previous.  We got a fair amount of snow Friday night, so I then headed out to shovel.  But our neighbor Steve Merkel came to the rescue with his snow blower, thanks Steve.  This allowed me to head up to SoRoSbux (my Starbucks) and coffee for Steve, Drew and myself.  I miss my SoRoSbux.

Before heading out to Ann Arbor, Drew and I stopped and watched our boys play basketball.  Drew and I have coached the same group of boys for the last 4 years in our churches Upward Basketball league.  This is the first year we haven’t coached them and thought it would be fun to stop in and watch them on our way out of town.  It was wonderful, they are currently 5^th graders playing in a 6^th grade league and they won!  What was even better was meeting with them afterwards.  We always prayed with them at every game and practice and Saturday their parents prayed for our family before we left for Ann Arbor.

Drew beat me to Ann Arbor and waited for me to go to Trace’s room together.  Tracy was happy to see us.  We spent a couple of hours with her before heading out to dinner.

Sunday was a quite day.  Tracy was kind of lethargic, and Drew had lots of homework to get done before he started his studying for his first semester finals.  I rewarded him with a late lunch at the Maize and Blue Deli, which I highly recommend (thanks Bill).

Drew left early Sunday to head home and go to WSM, our high school ministry at church.  He just missed Jayne Riley, a friend of ours that used to live here some 15 years ago.  We had not seen Jayne for some time, and she had just recently found out about Tracy’s journey.  We spent probably two hours with Tracy and then Jayne and I spent probably another two hours just talking, as Jayne had just recently been in the same position that I am in, with her sister.  It was some good therapy for me.  Thanks Jayne, we miss you guys.

I stayed with Trace until around 9PM and headed back to my room for bed.

Monday was treatment 16.  It went well but I didn’t know this until around 1PM, as this last week was quite the week for me.  As I head several meetings scheduled for our business throughout the week.  I went down with Tracy for her treatment and then left for a morning meeting with Design Hub, our marketing consultants.  Returned to the hospital just in time to stop them from double dosing Tracy again.  I just don’t get it?  This is why I hate to not be around.  I then went to find out how her treatment had gone and spent almost 2 hours explaining Tracy’s journey to them.

I quickly headed back to Trace’s room for a bit before meeting friends for the evening.  She had just finished her physical therapy and just started her occupational therapy.  They said they were going very well, as the therapists were pleased with progress.

I met my golfing buddies Steve Maniaci, Bob Tremonti and Lennie Joseph in West Bloomfield for the evening and had a wonderful time.  It was truly needed and literally was what the doctor ordered!

Tuesday was a long day!  I was in Tracy’s room shortly after 6AM and spent around 15 minutes with her before I left for a Peerspectives meeting in Pontiac, a little over and hour away.  This is a business owners group that I meet with monthly to discuss different issues in our businesses and it is truly a give and take group and Tuesday they gave to me!  Thanks guys.

Wednesday was treatment 17.  They picked Tracy up early and I had to catch up with them downstairs.  As they took Tracy in for her treatment, I headed back to my room for some breakfast.  After breakfast I showered and dressed and started attacking emails, as my emails had not been forwarded to me since Monday afternoon.  I ran to my new favorite bakery Dom’s and got donuts again for the ECT team meeting Wednesday afternoon.  I then ran out of time, as I was to meet my personal courier, Dante Burchi, for lunch and work from the office.  It is always good to see him we have a good time just wish it could always be longer. 

I again returned to Tracy’s room to find her doing her occupational therapy.  She now has 140° of mobility in her left arm and 130° in her right.  Occupational therapy mainly works with her arms and neck, while physical therapy works with her legs, standing and sitting, but include her arms and neck too.  Both groups are great, but we have our favorite.

Yesterday was also the start of bills from U of M.  I was told that they would be capped a certain level before we got here.  But according to the bills received, that doesn’t appear to be true.  So if you’re looking for something else to pray about for us, here you go.

I stayed and spoke with Tracy until about 8:30PM when she started dozing off.  I took it as my queue to do the same.  I headed to the room to sort through the mail and pay bills that I had brought back with me over the weekend.  I went to bed around 10:30 and slept until 9AM this morning.

I will close now and try to do the same again, however the Hoosiers are playing and that probably won’t happen.

God Bless and “Never Give Up… Never Ever Give Up!”

Rob

Week 9

First of all, a few things I need to say.

Happy Birthday Dad!  I love you.

Drew is now a National Honor Student!  Forgive my bragging, but we are so proud of him.

Thanks to everyone who have been providing dinners for Drew, I can’t say how much of Blessing you have been and two more weeks are opened on the calendar at take them a meal, click here if you wish to sign up.

The last thing before I update you on Tracy, Is THANK YOU to all of you who have donated hotel rooms to me, I have had over three weeks of lodging donated!  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Now on to the journey.

Sorry it’s been a while, but to be honest I haven’t been up to blogging.

Tracy is doing well; her occupational and physical therapy treatments have been very good.  Her ECT treatments have all been good too; it’s just that they haven’t had the visible effects that they have had in the past.  The doctors say that it is normal not to see the benefits at times and to not be discouraged.

Tracy has had plenty of visitors this week.  Bill and Albert DeFluri showed up on Sunday; Drew and I missed them as we went to Woodside Detroit, the new church our church started in Detroit late last year.  I know I am a little partial but it was so good to be there, Drew and I really needed it, as it was the first time we had been to church since Thanksgiving!  Highlights of the evening were Cliff’s sermon, The worship team, sitting next to Adam and Rene Simon and not even realizing it and then my heart swelled more than the Grinch’s when Rachel and Kristen, Barista’s from My SoRoSbux, came over to see us and more importantly to let me know that they were praying for us.  I cannot express what this means to us, but it is your prayers that are carrying us every day.  We came back to Ann Arbor recharged.

Monday was Tracy’s 13^th treatment.  It went well.  But I lost that energy from the night before.  I was worried as Tracy was not responding as well as she had been last week when Kay and Sarah (her mother and sister) who were here for a couple of days last week.  I regained that energy in the evening as Jerry and Bekah Hines came out and took me to dinner and brought me an overwhelming gift!  Jerry and Bekah are our churches High School pastors and they brought a bevy of gift cards and cash for various places to eat and plenty of Starbucks caffeine, approximately $400 worth!  WSM leaders, I can’t thank you enough, it was very humbling to know that you would you give so generously.  

Tuesday was good as we had 2 more visitors, Debbie Paquet and George Newcomer.  It was good to have friends as Tracy spent most of the day sleeping, which is becoming a trend and leading to sleepless nights for her.

On Wednesday we had two more visitors, Lisa Harrison and Sarah Hartfield.  They showed up shortly after Trace’s treatment.  Which was another good one.  But, Tracy continued to sleep a lot.    Wednesday was also the day the doctors started talking about transferring Tracy to the 9^th floor, we moving on up, to the top!  Not sure when this will happen but they feel that Tracy’s medical needs are lessening.

This was one of the devotions I read on Wednesday, I had received it overnight but had not read it until a friend and customer, Jeff Bolin, sent it to me.

Regaining Our Balance January 18, 2012 Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn READ: Ephesians 6:10-18 Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. —Ephesians 6:13 For the last few years, my wife, Marlene, has suffered from inner-ear problems that cause her to lose her equilibrium. Without warning, something inside her ear is upset and she becomes dizzy. If she tries to sit or stand, a condition called vertigo makes that impossible—and she has to lie down. No amount of effort can compensate for the power of the inner ear to disrupt and disturb. An active person, Marlene finds these unwelcome episodes frustrating. Sometimes life is like that. Something unexpected upsets our routine, and we are knocked off-balance. Perhaps it’s bad news about our job being eliminated or disturbing test results from our doctor. It may even be an attack from our spiritual enemy. In each case, our emotional equilibrium is hammered, and we feel as if we can’t stand. Those moments should cause us to turn to God. When we feel we are losing our balance, He can help. He provides spiritual resources to help us stand. Paul says, “Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6:13). When life knocks us off our feet, we don’t have to be frustrated. With God’s strength lifting us up and God’s armor protecting us, we can still stand strong. —Bill Crowder With patience in His love I’ll rest, And whisper that He knoweth best, Then, clinging to that guiding hand, A weakling, in His strength I’ll stand. —Pentecost We can endure anything if we depend on God for everything.

Thanks Jeff, it really hit home.

Thursday was a bad day for me.  I woke up to realize that this all this hospital stuff started 4 months ago!  Tracy’s first overnight stay was October 20^th.  I had not slept well the night before, but did sleep fairly sound after making sure Drew was up and getting ready for school and checking on Tracy’s night.  So I slept until around 9AM. 

I got to Tracy’s room around 10AM and she was not very responsive.  I was concerned about how things were going, (nights turning to day and vice versa in sleep patterns and her lack of responsiveness).  So I went and met with a couple of her doctors to discuss this.   They told me that it was the Ativan (Drew did too) and that this was all normal and not to be alarmed.  They had lowered her Ativan to 8mg a day.

Later Thursday afternoon Tracy was doing much better.  She is still having trouble remembering some things, which it tough for me.  But we know God is still at work and that His timing is perfect and mine is anything but.

Please continue to pray for Tracy strength as she is not gaining any weight and needs to.  Pray the same for Drew, as he has had to grow up way to quick and for me, sleep and patience.  I want you to know that it is your prayers and the Grace of God that gets us through this journey.

As I close this, I promise I will try to be better at posting to the blog.

God Bless and “Never Give Up… Never Ever Give Up!”

Week 8 of Hospitals

Sorry it has been a while since I last blogged, but the first part of the week was a slow tough week.

We had seen steady improvements in Tracy for the last couple of weeks and last weekend we didn’t see any improvements, but we didn’t see any regression either!

As I left Sunday night to go to bed the nurses told me that Tracy’s treatment was scheduled for 8:30AM not the usual 7:30.  Ah, I could sleep some more. 

I woke up at the 6:15, called Drew to make sure he was up and then called to see how Trace’s night was and both were good.  I went back to sleep and got up at 7:30.  When I arrived at 8AM her room was empty, they had picked her up at 7AM!  I rushed down to the 1^st floor to find her in the treatment room.  The nurses told me that she was just getting ready to come out of the treatment room.  She did, I told her I was sorry I was late and one of the nurses told me they were sorry they took her early because of cancellations.  While waiting for her to recover I talked with the Jennifer (she has attended to Tracy on every treatment so far) and she informed me that Friday’s and todays (Monday) had not been very good.  This explained what Drew and I had seen over the weekend.  Tracy got back to her room and slept most of the day.   I found out that afternoon that there had been some miss communication between the nurses and I.  Tracy’s Ativan dosage had not been changed the way I thought the previous week.  I had been told they lowered from 15mg per day to 10mg, (2.5mg four times a day).   But the dosage actually went up, 3mg four times a day, for a total of 12mg per day.  This fit with what Dr. Taylor had told me about no lowering the dose no more than 20% each time.

Tuesday was not much better; in fact it was my worst day since Christmas.  Tracy was not responsive all day and slept all of it.  I think the fact that I knew the previous treatment was not a good one weighted on me, kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy thing.  Tuesday evening Trace was scheduled for another MRI of the brain.  The nurses kept asking me if I thought Tracy would need anesthesia for it.  I was like, I’m not a doctor, let’s talk with the doctors about it.  Well as fate would have Tracy’s new lead doctor, Dr. Houtchins, suggested that we increase the Ativan for the dose just prior to the MRI and see if we could go without the anesthesia.  Drew had said that he thought we should try without also and if didn’t work then try again with anesthesia.  So we went without.  She went down at 6:30PM for the MRI and I went with her.  She went in around 7PM and was done by 8 without any anesthesia!  It had been a long day.

Wednesday was a new day!  We left Trace’s room for treatment at the usual 7AM time.  I didn’t sleep well again, so I went back to the room and slept for another hour.  Got back up again and dressed headed to Ypsilanti to pick up donuts for the ECT team that has been treating Tracy. 

I returned to the hospital to deliver the donuts and was welcomed with huge smiles.  First of all, they said that Tracy had had a very good treatment and secondly the big box of donuts.  I had arrived just before their department meeting and later I found out from Dr. Rosinski that Tracy and I were the talk of the meeting.   She also told me that the MRI from the previous night still showed nothing.  I then left to meet Dante Burchi for lunch in Belleville. 

I rushed back to see Tracy as I knew that she should be very lucid after hearing earlier how well the treatment was.  I got there and she was very talkative.  Dr. Rosinski came by and told me that they were lowering the Ativan to 10mg a day (now, 2.5mg four times a day).  I later began to worry about how Thursday would be, as Tracy’s mother Kay and sister Sarah were due to show up on Thursday and the last time they came up, Tracy had a good day the day before they got here and a really bad day the day they arrived. 

Well Thursday came and it was a good day.  Tracy was having a good day and Kay and Sarah showed up around 4PM.  They were very happy with the progress they saw in Tracy, as they were able to converse some with her.

Drew came out that same evening around 9:00 just as the snow started to fly.  I was glad he came out before the weather got too bad.  We stayed in Trace’s room until around 10PM and then headed for our beds.

The week had turned, God is Good.

God Bless and “Never Give Up… Never Ever Give Up!”

Rob

Days 37 & 38 @ UM

Remember the Double Mint commercial, Double Your Fun?  Well we had a little of that last Friday, courtesy of Joe Crabb, Ravae Wilson, and Max Schuler, Schuler, Schluler? from the Student Ministries at our church.  I don’t know what happened but here it is.

Same Arrangement, Same Card, Same People!  Thank you, Thank you.

Drew came A2 last Friday, a little later than usual, but still hungry.  We met at the hotel and then visited Tracy for a while and then headed out for dinner.  It was a first for Drew, not the first time eating this type of food, but I think it was a first for dinner, Ramen!  We went to Tomukun Noodle Bar for dinner and it was really good.

Saturday started slow but was an ok day.  I got up and made my customary 6:30AM call, it was a good night.  I rolled over and went back to sleep until 8:30, got up had breakfast and was in Trace’s room by 9:30.  I went to our room around 11:30 and Drew was up, dressed and ready to eat.  We had breakfast for him lunch for me in Ypsilanti.

We returned and spent some more time with Tracy and then Drew went back to the room to do homework.  I am so proud of him; he continues to excel at school, in spite of all that is going on. 

He called later and asked when we were going to dinner (I know that means can we eat now).  So we headed out again.  We ordered Thai food from Tuptim; we had eaten there before on the advice of the Burchi’s.  This time Drew only ordered one entre.

We returned with the food to Tracy’s room to watch the Lions in their first playoff game that Drew can remember.  We were both excited and tried to get Tracy excited too, fat chance on a good day. 

Well the first half was great, the second not so great, as we went from winning to losing to lost.  We were happy with the season they had, just wish we could have been to more of their games.

After the game we prayed with Tracy and headed back to the hotel to start the next day.

Sunday was a busy day.  Drew actually got out of bed before 9AM so he could have loaded hash browns from the cafeteria.  We got to Tracy’s room around 10AM and Drew returned to the hotel to do some more homework.  DeAnn Rohloff showed up around noon to see Tracy, just as Drew and I were leaving to go watch the Wisconsin and Michigan basketball game.

DeAnn was pleased with Tracy’s progress, as she had not seen Trace since before Christmas. 

While at the game Drew and were walking around the concourse and there was a trophy case dedicated to Cassie Russell.  I told Drew that he was one of my first basketball idols while playing for the Golden State Warriors along with Nate Thurman, Rick Barry, and Jeff Mullins.  I can’t remember who the 5th starter was 4 out of 5 is not bad!

Then in the first half, whom did they welcome back?  

Cassie Russell himself!  It was a thrill for me.  We really enjoyed the game, commenting to each other how much fun it was to watch a game and not care who won; as neither of us are Michigan sports fans, just Hospital fans.  At halftime we decided to play cribbage on our phones and the next thing we knew, it was 6 minutes into the second half.  Michigan controlled the entire game and won rather handedly.  Drew admitted that he was rooting for Wisconsin kind of because he felt sorry for them.  As they had lost the Rose Bowl to our Oregon Ducks and then lost on a last second shot, that was ruled too late, to Michigan State three or four days earlier.

When we got back to the hospital, Drew went back to the room to pack up some and put some finishing touches on his homework, as went to Tracy’s room.  I had only been there 20 minutes or so when Ann Marie Collins and Patti Crow showed up with this HUGE bag of Panera sandwiches!  It was the first time since our Troy Beaumont days that they had seen her and they were also impressed with Tracy’s progress.

They left and Drew followed shortly after.

It was nice to see all three of Tracy’s friends from her Kmart days.  And by the way Tom and Barb thanks for the cookies they were good.  I was just surprised it wasn’t signed from Burgers & Beers on the Beach!

Well that pretty much wraps up the weekend here.

God Bless and “Never Give Up… Never Ever Give Up!”

Rob

Day 33 @ UM and Treatment #9

Wow, 33 days!

I forgot to mention in the last blog that they have again reduced Tracy’s Ativan!  She got a 33% reduction in the dosage and is now at 10mg per day.  This started Wednesday the 4^th and Thursday we saw the benefits.

Trace is much more talkative, still hard to understand, but talking.  If you are controlling the conversation, you can make out some of the words.  This is very exciting for me, because she has always tried to communicate but I couldn’t understand her.  But now we actually have short conversations! 

Thursday started with the daily 6:30AM call to see how the night went.  I was told it went well and went back to sleep, as Wednesday night was again a horrible night of sleep.  I woke up around 9:30AM and made it over to Tracy’s room around 11AM.  As I turned the corner to her room and saw an empty bed, I lost my breath for a moment, only to see Tracy sitting in the recliner!  She had 2 physical therapists with her who were working with her.  They were very excited as they had been in the day before and were impressed with the changed since then. 

The day nurse came in around noon and told me that they had put Trace in the chair around 8AM.  That means Tracy had been in the recliner for 4 hours!  Now I was extremely exited.  Until the nurse informed me that Tracy needed her nails cut and/or filed and they, the nurse’s could/would not do it and I had to.  Call it the male in me or whatever, but I had never cut anybody else’s nails, let alone filed my own!

I needed to leave to go exchange a jacket for Drew at Costco and thought I would have lunch there too, you know, $1.50 hot dog and pop!  For some of our long time friends you know this is difficult, as Costco use to be our Friday night date for many years.  But as I was getting ready to leave the nurse came in and asked if we would like to see Romeo, the therapy dog.  She didn’t even need to ask.  Romeo was scheduled to come between 1:30-2:00, so Costco and lunch would have to wait.

Romeo did show up on schedule and he was adorable!  He was a King Charles Spaniel, just like Ivy, who had seen Tracy before Christmas.  He cuddled right up to Tracy and lived up to his name, he was a lover boy.  Tracy loved it!   She laughed and talked to him.  Word traveled throughout the floor about how Tracy was interacting with Romeo, and soon we 5-6 nurses in the room with us.  They all were so excited to see Tracy responding to Romeo.  Romeo was truly great therapy for both of us!

His owner said that he was usually more affectionate and would come back in an hour, as we were their first stop and that he would cuddle more after seeing a few more patients.  They did come back and Romeo was more affectionate, but they didn’t stay very long.

Shortly after Romeo left, Dr. Kim (Tracy’s new lead Dr.) showed up and spent 15-20 minutes talking with us.  This was her first day, as they rotate lead doctors in every 5 days to keep fresh eyes and thinking on Tracy.

I finally left about 4PM for Costco and got my hot dog and pop finally.  Exchanged Drew’s jacket and bought some oranges for Drew to take home with him over the weekend.  When I talked with him Wednesday night he had a brutal cold.

I got back about 6PM and went to Tracy’s room and stayed until about 8:30 to hopefully get to bed early for Friday’s treatment.  Well bed early but not sleep.

Sleep came slowly but when it did it was sound.

Friday’s treatment came quick.  I got up at 6:30AM, looked out my window at Tracy’s room and saw the lights out.  I decided to take a shower since she wasn’t awake yet.  After getting showered and dressed I looked to Tracy’s room again, it was still dark.  So I thought I would grab a bagel and banana from the continental breakfast as I did this I checked Tracy’s room again, this time the lights were on.  So off to her room with breakfast in hand. 

When I reached her room again her bed was empty and she wasn’t in the recliner!  The nurse said that they had already picked her up and I was a couple of minutes behind her.  I had never missed a treatment with her and I wasn’t about too.  I rushed to the elevator and to the PACU unit and made it to her before she went in.  The doctor was late imagine that!  I talked with nurses about trimming her nails after she came out of her treatment while she was stile somewhat sedated.  They thought that was a good idea and suggested that I also file them after cutting them.  So off to the gift shop to hopefully find a nail file.  They were open at 8AM and had nail files. 

With files in hand it was back to the PACU to give Tracy a manicure.  I think it was the most difficult thing I have ever done.  I was so scared I would cut her; I know understood why the nurses didn’t do it.  I was sweating profusely and I hadn’t even finished one hand.  I finished them both and then started filing.  After I finished the filing the nurses said why stop there.  I said are you kidding me, did you see me sweating?  The pressure got to me so I became a pedicurist too!  They took Tracy up to her room and I headed out to do laundry and start yesterday’s blog. 

Over a week's worth of dirty clothes and computer in hand, I headed off to the laundry mat.  With the clothes in washer, I ran a couple of errands and returned to put them in the dryer.

I then went across the street to Starbucks to write the blog for a while before it was time to return for the clothes and meet one of my bestest friends Steve Maniaci for lunch and then back to the hospital to see Trace.  Steve walked in and said hello to Tracy and she smiled back at him and laughed.  Steve has that effect on people.  Steve stayed until about 1:30 and then headed back to work.  I hadn’t seen him for probably 3 weeks, it was so good to see him and good for him to see Tracy.

About 2:30 Mike and Katie Titus showed up to see us.  I don’t think I had seen either of them since the summer.  It was good to catch up with them.  Tracy and I would occasionally meet them for coffee after church.  We even joked with Trace about having coffee with them next time in the hospital and she could drink with us.  They stayed about 2 hours.

Drew showed up about 5.  We sat and chatted with Tracy until about 6PM when the Ativan started to kick in.  We went out to dinner and returned around 7:30.  Spent another 90 minutes with Tracy and headed back to the hotel for the night. 

Drew was really pleased with Tracy’s progress and we were both in bed by 10PM.  He went right to sleep and I struggled to sleep last I knew it was 11 and I was still awake, still earlier than the previous few nights.

I will leave you with a song that was included with a card sent from my parents in Oregon.

I wake up every morning

I sense that You are always there

For I can feel Your Holy Presence

As Your glory fills the air

I don’t know where I would be

If I had to walk alone

I have strength with You right there

Knowing I’m not on my own

Sometimes it seems to me

That You are very far away

But always just in time

You hear me when I pray

Never have you ever failed

To keep Your promises

Through every test of life

My Faith it still stands

God Bless and “Never Give Up… Never Ever Give Up!”

Rob

Treatment #7 & 8

Well, Tuesday started out real slow.  I got to Trace’s room at 7AM, only to wait with her until 7:45, as the transport team didn’t show up.  So the PACU (don’t ask me what it stands for) sent up a nurse to get us.  We arrived at about 8:00 only to wait some more.  The treatment ahead of us was complicated and lasted about 45 minutes.  Then they told us that outpatients take precedence over inpatients regardless of appointment and that two had come in while we were waiting on the one that took so long ahead of us, so it would be at least another 45 minutes before they got to Tracy.  They were right on with their estimate.  Tracy went for treatment at 9:30 and was back in her room by 10:45. 

The treatment went well.  Tracy looked good and was responding well.  By early afternoon she was somewhat a wake and responding to me.  I have to be honest writing these blogs, I get lost as to what happened what day.  But I believe Tuesday evening Jerry and Bekah Hines visited.  It was the first time Bekah had seen Trace since our Beaumont days and Jerry’s second visit to A2.  He and Jordan Deane visited; I think our first week here.  So they both were very pleased with the progress Tracy had made.  It was good to see them.

I retired to my room that night exhausted, but slept horrible.  But was back up at 6:30AM Wednesday for treatment #8 the next morning.

Wednesday was a busy day.  I went with Trace for treatment, she was the first one of the day and Dr. Taylor was waiting.  I spoke with him and found out that not only is he the leading specialist in catatonia, but he is a donut aficionado too.  We talked about Tracy’s treatments so far and he said he was very pleased with where we were and how things were progressing.   He then divulged his favorite donut shop Dom’s Bakery in Ypsilanti.

Since I did not sleep well Tuesday night, I went back to bed since Tracy started her treatment before 7:30AM.  I got up around 10:00, dressed and returned to Trace’s room to see how her treatment went.  It went well, and she was sleeping.  So off I was for a Starbucks.  I knew it wouldn’t be a SoRoSbux (by the way, that’s South & Rochester Roads Starbucks, which is My Starbucks, Steve), but it would have to do.  I got there and with Americano in hand, started to blog.  About half a blog and 45 minutes later, I got a call from Dante Burchi saying he was leaving to meet me for lunch in Belleville, and to bring checks to sign and mail from work.  By the way if you are ever headed out to see us and can give me a days notice, I can usually use a courier for work.

We met at Tim Horton’s, which was very good.  Had a nice talk, I miss our neighbors so much.  He left around 1PM and I headed to points unknown, as I needed to find a Huntington Bank to take care of some banking for our business.  There was one in Canton, but I was not familiar with Canton.  I know, your thinking use the GPS on your smart phone, I did.  But Gertrude the GPS didn’t know the way.  I needed to go north, which she sent me, but then she sent about 2-3 miles east, then north a couple of miles and then west about 2-3 miles back across the original road I headed north on.  Are you getting the picture?  For those of you here in Michigan, it was the biggest Michigan left I think you can make.  Thanks Gertrude, for making what should have been a 15-minute drive a half an hour!

It took me about an hour to get all of the banking done.  I figured I had better ask for directions this time.  Yes, I said it, but you will have to fight me for my man card.  The banker told me it would be easiest to go back through Ypsilanti.  Ypsilanti!  That’s the home of Dom’s Bakery. 

So there was no way I couldn’t try Dr. Taylor’s favorite donut shop.  So I got 26 donuts, 24 for the nurses of 5B and 2 for me! 

Here is 1 of my 2. 

Not as pretty, but tastes as good.

I was so excited about my two that I texted my brother as this is one of his favorites too and this is the only place I have found buttermilk bars in the Midwest so far.

I had to hustle back to the hospital to get the donuts back before the morning shift went home.

I ate one of the buttermilk bars on the way and it was so good!  I got back to the hospital in time and actually gave my other buttermilk bar to a lady for her son, who after see the big donut box, said she wanted to go where I was going.  Her son was going to be on huge sugar high as she now had a buttermilk bar and a 20oz. Mt.  Dew for him.

The nurses were so happy to get the donuts and quite a few were even left for the night shift.

I went to Whole Foods for dinner that night and had some chicken salad and broccoli salad; they were good, expensive, but good.

I stayed with Tracy the rest of the evening and returned to finish the blog I had started earlier in the day.

This is where I will end the blog today.

I have a request to make.  I mentioned in my last blog about a friend of mine, Ally, whose grandfather had been hit by a car while jogging.  I have since found out that he is not doing very well, so please join me in praying for him and his family as they also go through a very trying time.

I also have heard and seen that Tracy’s blog has been hacked. J  I appreciate the gesture, but will be updating the password to prevent future hacking.

God Bless and “Never Give Up… Never Ever Give Up!”

Rob