Marian’s Journal

Marian June 12th, 2008

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Marian November 12th, 2007

We recently drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Along the way we stopped at the site of the ‘94 Olympic Kayaking course and took a few snaps.

Pictured here, is a fire watch tower along the bank of the Ocoee River. The leaves had yet to begin turning at such a low elevation, but up in the mountains, along the Parkway, they were gorgeous. Unfortunately for us, we were in the clouds for the next 3 days. No views, but occasional glimpses of glorious color.

Cheers for now…
Marian

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Marian July 9th, 2007

Well, our friend Bill, who is a great “handy” guy, was almost finished with the repair of our shed, when he went inside to add concrete panels to the wall, when he found TERMITES. Well, that put everything behind, as far as finishing the shed….

We had some spray for carpenter ants and termites, Bill removed the door from the side shed and we are letting the area dry out and continue to spray the affected areas every day…

My husband, son, and I went out and cleared most of the area around the wall where the termites have nested. We moved thing, threw things out, and got rid of an old desk that was made of particle board that was falling apart, not just due to the termites but also the moisture that the old side shed configuration allowed to exacerbate!

Well, it will be a few weeks before we can get back in and remedy the damage to the shed. Bill won’t be available until then!

We will have to replace some of the plywood flooring, the wall in one section, the building was constructed right on top of the ground… Not on any kind of pier! Well, it will be repaired soon enough!

Wish us luck!

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Marian April 15th, 2007

I couldn’t believe when I woke this morning to look outside to see snow falling! This has been the weirdest Spring I think I have ever seen! First everything blooms in early March…. then, were have a hundred year freeze that has killed all of the new growth on trees and shrubs, as well as the flowers on the trees! everything was so beautiful…. Our Wisteria had bloomed for the first time in over 12 years! It was so pretty. Well, we got some snaps of it!! The bad side of this spring was that it was one of the worst on record for pollen counts being through the roof! Pollen has been so bad! People who have no real allergy problems were having problems! The up side, trees can only produce pollen once a year!

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Marian April 5th, 2007

Our son, Roy, has been sick since last Friday. You know, the stomach thing, diarrhea & vomiting. This combined with what we came to find was Strep on Saturday at the Emergency Room.

Last night, about midnight, I was getting Roy’s bed ready to move him off of the couch and into his bed when I heard a whimpering sound (I had no idea it could be Roy) but, I turn around on hearing him, and saw him clutching the wall, trying to steady himself. I reached him just in time to keep him from falling to the floor and hurting himself.

A sick child is a terrible thing, but when you have a child who is unable to communicate as a normal child might makes things much more difficult to grasp. He was terrified, not knowing what was happening to himself and loosing control of his body. We were terrified, as well. Dad was still at work because of our bad weather. Kerri was nearby and came as soon as I called for her.

We know that he is dehydrated and just can’t get him to eat or drink as he should. After he passed out and was feeling a bit better, we moved him to my bed, but he kept having little accidents, having to change his pants. Immodium just doesn’t seem to be stopping the diarrhea, (where most dehydration begins!) I put him on the scales. Saturday he weighed 106 lbs. at the hospital, last night he weighed 99 lbs. His weight loss is visible.

We concentrated last night on keeping him comfortable and trying to re-hydrate him. Kerri went to the store and brought in Pedialite, Gatorade, yogurt, bananas, etc…

We called the doctor this morning, she’s out today, but her nurse told us to stop the antibiotics (Augmentin) as it could be exacerbating the problem. Now, we wait to hear from them to see what our next step should be!

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Marian April 3rd, 2007

Friday began like any other Friday…. Get up get the kids off to school, all of the usual things. Little did I know that Roy would come home from school sick. It started with diarrhea at about 3pm. Then by 9pm it had graduated to vomiting. All through the night, he could never really get comfortable and the going from both ends continued. Finally, at 6:30, we became more concerned. He had the shakes and couldn’t stand up steadily. His eyes were sunken. He was dehydrated! We decided to call the doctor, but I wasn’t familiar with the Doctor on-call, so I thought it wasn’t too early to call my neighbour, Maria, who is also an M.D. (she didn’t answer!)

Then, we decided we needed to call his doctor at home! She’s a friend, and I am loathe to take advantage of that friendship. But, my son was sick and getting sicker by the minute, so I called her, and woke her…. ( I owe her lunch! )

She told us to give him another suppository to stop his nausea, and if it didn’t stop it to take him to the Pediatric E.R. After 30 minutes we still had the diarrhea and nausea. We got ready to go to hospital. Roy was triaged and and taken to a room in the ER, where he was receiving treatment within a short time of our arrival. He was given IV fluids and eventually antibiotics as they also did a throat swab which indicated that he had Strep.

We left the ER by midday and were on our way home after a couple of intermediary stops, on of which was the pharmacy. Then it was home, where we tried to keep Roy as comfortable as possible, but his temp started going up. We decided to let it work for a while. Your body runs a fever for a reason, usually to cook out whatever bug is going after you!

We kept him home from school on Monday and Tuesday… and it looks like it may be Wednesday as well!

Wish us luck, until later,

Marian

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Marian March 9th, 2007

It all began the night /evening before Thanksgiving! That feeling. You know, like you’re coming down with something. Little did I know that I would still be fighting whatever it was into late February.

I had had a flu shot about 10 days earlier, but this was just a cold, or so I thought! When I really started having all of the symptoms, I took a coarse of Tamiflu, just in case the Flu shot hadn’t become effective, yet!

A month later, just after Christmas, I saw my doctor who prescribed a Zee-pac. Nothing happened.

Then into January, the cough and other stuff continued, beginning to feel worse, then February when I was really feeling rotten! The doctor determined that everything had become Pneumonia! Gave me a stronger, more specific antibiotic which did the trick.

Now, this week, I can say that I have had a few days where I can honestly say that I have felt great! I still get a bit fatigued in the afternoon, but I am getting some exercise and feeling, all-in-all, much better than a few months ago!

The weather has been sort of cool, and wet of late. But, now we have the beginnings of Spring. We went out on our first Photo Safari since last November, on 3 March. We went to Maple Hill Cemetery. It is the oldest continually used cemetery in Huntsville!

We are preparing for a holiday abroad. Hopefully, I will have lots-O-cool pictures to add to my gallery!

Bye-Bye from Me!

Cheers!

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