Come and gone

Good afternoon everyone,

Well he said with a large sigh, Christmas has come and gone for another year.  I had an enjoyable day.  All of Dolores's family were here, her three brothers and spouses along with son David and Gramma Brown.  Miltons's son and wife and 2 grandchildren were also here.  The turkey was home grown and it was a monster bird.  there was stuffing, yams, broccoli, mashed potatoes, ample gravy, jellied salads and a tossed green salad followed by pumpkin or blueberry pie with ice cream or whipped cream along with plates of  home made squares and cookies and after dinner chocolates.  What a feast.  I'm sure glad my appetite has returned and and my taste buds are working again.

We had  Christmas like weather light snow on and off all day with a temperature around 10 to 15 below zero Celsius.  I am wearing one of Gramma Brown's old hearing aides in my left ear and I certainly notice a difference in what I can hear.  I am sure the radiation affected my hearing along with all the other damage it did.  Along with his oncology training, Dr. Filatov is an eye, ear and throat specialist and when all of the swelling is gone, I will have him check my hearing and have him send in a request to my supplemental health care provider for authorization to have the hearing aids made specifically for me if required. 

I have been suffering from a bad cough for the past 3 or 4 days and the mucus problem has persisted.  A couple of nights ago (Dec. 23 and 24th) Dolores had to suction my trachea trying to clear a blockage which severely curtailed the amount of air I was able to breathe in.  The trachea/windpipe was blocked right near the end of the trachea tube.   On both occasions she injected a sterile  saline solution into my trachea tube which induced heavy coughing and the blockage was released.  It is scary when I realize that I can just barely get enough air into my lungs to stay conscious.  Of course, it's the panic that races through me that is the most debilitating reaction.  When this happens Dolores has me sit down and focus on my breathing and relax.  Usually I am able to regain control and we get on with the suctioning.  If that fails, we head for the hospital PDQ.

Yesterday and today I felt very good.  I slept poorly last night because of the coughing but, now that I'm upright I am  in control.  I missed Dolores yesterday as she had to work.  We open our gifts when she arrived home last night.  These 12 hour shifts that she work certainly cut down on the amount of time we have to spend together.

That's it for now.  I'll post more in a few days.

Love to all,

Rick aka Lumpy