[Written over several days this week.]
The infusions via the PICC will cease after Tuesday. It would be nice to have a way of preventing infective endocarditis (IE) by these bacteria because of the damage they cause and because the treatment is long, involved, and a pain in the arm. Having dental work, even flossing, is a risk factor and while there are antibiotics and oral rinses (Now using Chlorhexidine gluconate 0.12%.), The American Dental Association thinks that “. . . only an extremely small number of cases of IE might be prevented by antibiotic prophylaxis for dental procedures even if such prophylactic therapy were 100 percent effective.” That’s not highly reassuring!
After Tuesday we wait two weeks and have blood drawn and cultured. If Nancy’s blood is free of the bacteria, the PICC will be removed. So while IE may be rare in the overall population, Nancy has had it twice. Our response is going to be extreme vigilance, being on the watch for any of the signs of IE that we are now (unfortunately) too familiar with.
And speaking of rare events. Last Sunday a storm cell hit Ellensburg just seconds after we entered Dean Hall on the CWU campus — thunder, lightning, hail and wind, the storm swept right over the campus where we were going to the memorial service. They took me in an hour early at the hospital for my infusion, and I was able to make it to the campus in better time, and got in the building right before the “bottom dropped out”. Luckily, the major storm cell was 10 miles south of our house and the puppy and his dad, out in separate yards, were not exposed to the bad part.
We had gotten there early, so we stopped at Hebeler, a building two down from Dean where we were going, to clean out my locker from several years of teaching there in a computer lab. We didn’t have a big enough box or a cart to carry away all the stuff, so we will have to return one of these days. We loaded a small box, and two plastic bags, with books, paper, and things.
Then on to the other building, with huge drops of rain (and we had no umbrella), but we parked right behind it and went in the door before getting soaked. We watched the storm from the 3rd floor of Dean Hall, and we could see the other end of the valley north, and realized our house was not really in the storm. In 30 minutes it had blown on to the east and the rest of the afternoon was exceptionally nice. Many years ago we lived in places where summer thunder storms are common. Not so here.
Monday found us on the road to Yakima to Costco, as we were out of lots of things we need. Then Tuesday, visited my doctor, family physician. I’m in much better shape than when I last saw him, in August. We also got our flu shots, both of us, this visit. Normal afternoon visit for antibiotic infusion. Tuesday night I went and played music with “The Connections”. They were all happy to see me back among the living.
Wednesday… was another busy day. Had to be at the hospital for an Echocardiogram at 12:45. There wasn’t time and I didn’t feel like starting my exercise class, so we went to lunch. Ate well. Then dropped by my class at the end to say hello and let them know I was alive, and in better shape than when I last saw them in August. I wanted to thank them for the cards they sent to ICU Yakima in mid August. On from there to the hospital for an infusion, after an ice cream cone for each of us. McDonald’s has a good deal of a 50 cent soft serve cone, and I get it in a cup with a spoon.
Thursday. Time to go play music, but all morning was spent either with the puppy or on the computer putting together a slide show of my students in action over the past couple of years, for showing at the retirement “party”, Saturday, Oct 2nd, afternoon. Then after music at Hearthstone, we went to the hospital and then home. Today (Thurs.) was the day for the PICC line dressing change (once a week). John is busy now, making a pecan pie and another for a scholarship luncheon tomorrow at CWU, Friday.
The Scholarship luncheon is a group at CWU of mostly staff members, who get together and someone fixes lunch. Then the money for lunch goes into a scholarship fund at the Foundation, and is distributed to needy students. I have been in this group since 1988, and a few of the people from the beginning are still there. Now it is Friday, and we went and had a great garden salad and rolls. The garden salad was all from Ruth’s garden, i.e., tomatoes, corn, (doubt she grew the black beans), onions, and a slaw of grated cabbage and carrots. Yum. On the way home, we hit a couple of yard sales. At one, John found a Wrangler shirt in new condition, for $1, in the blue and yellow colors of Sweden. (Many web sites render the yellow incorrectly but the shirt gets if right.) I found a lovely western shirt for a buck, as well. Then we came on back home, but on the way saw a long time friend in his yard splitting wood, so we stopped and visited for a nice visit, before getting home for a stop before going back for an infusion.
Saturday, brings more music at Briarwood (a retirement community). They provide us with a free lunch for playing and singing. This time, they are planning to feed us cabbage rolls. I checked today, and will go a little late to my infusion, so I can participate. I did and we had a great time.
John and I hit some garage sales this morning. We didn’t get as much as usual, but did get some good things and deals. John did not bargain on his major purchase, a set of 5 unopened packages of cedar wood thin pieces. (John, please elaborate. Okay – glue on panel replacement, 3.5 inches wide and a fraction thick.) He also found a stuffed horse (2 ft. high) for $2. At the same place I bought a brass giraffe and baby on a small stand. It is for me to give to one of my nurses who loves giraffes. It was only $1 and is about 6 inches high. Then another place I found some moccasins that fit for $1. I found a stack of various kinds of greeting cards to replace the stash I used the last of recently. All plus some other stationery / cards for a quarter. We did walk through some sales that had nothing to offer, or whose prices were out of line. Another sale made us question, “Why bother?” There was so little stuff. At least I got some exercise walking around them.
Sunday, nothing is planned… to my knowledge, except for the infusion again.
The other thing I have been working on all week is a slide show (mostly of recent students and other things) to show in the conference room of Dean Hall during the retirement party. It will just revolve through them without intervention. I’m cleaning my computer and snagging smaller pictures of my students in action – for the past couple of years. I have pictures of them presenting their map projects and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) projects in 3 different classes at the end of a quarter, in a University Poster session in the Science Building. I have done that for at least 10 years. I also have had my Urban Geography class do posters on their final term project. As well, I have pictures from some of our Wine: A Geographical Appreciation class field trips. There are pictures from different award banquets that I have nominated students for over the years. Pictures of events during classes, such as orienteering on campus, or visiting the Map Library to learn about maps and research in Government Documents. I have fun pictures, as well, of a Halloween pumpkin carving contest one year, when we shared a building with geology and physics. Now we share a building with anthropology.
That’s it for the week. Hope yours was good. Stay tuned for next weekend, hopefully not before.
Nancy