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Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 27 April 2009
Latest Update: Sunday, 3 May 2009 2:00 p.m.
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Monday, 27 April 2009
I
had been at work about half an hour this morning when I got a phone
call from the head of the volunteer office at the hospital. Dad had
taken a nasty fall and was in the emergency room. She did not think it
was serious but thought I would want to know. The hospital had called
mom down from her department to be with him. I called Frances to let
her know. I called Bob but he already knew. The hospital had called
here first and Bob had given them my work number.
Frances and I
arrived at the hospital just about the same time. Other than a very
nasty black eye along with a large hematoma and a small cut just right
of the eye, he was fine. They took him for a CT just to make sure he
did not have any head injuries. He actually landed with his face on his
hands which knocked the lens out of his glasses. I am sure that is what
caused the hematoma and the cut. I took his glasses up the eye clinic
to be repaired while Frances and mom stayed with him in the emergency
room. They kept him about two hours to make sure his BP and heart rate
were normal, stitched up his eye and gave him a tetanus shot.
I took
them home while Frances went home to pick up Al. They retrieved dad's
car while I went back to work. I imagine he will be sore tomorrow plus
the eye he blackened is his good eye which is swollen almost shut.
When I walked in the emergency area I asked him what the other
guy looked like. The rest of the day was pretty busy playing catch
up and working on a project I was getting ready to start when I got the
phone call.
It is still very warm, mid 80's The nice thing
about this warm weather is the lack of humidity we have later in the
summer. The pollen continues to fly around until we get some rain to
wash some of it down.
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Tuesday, 28 April 2009
I called dad when I got to work this morning. He is sore and bruised but otherwise feeling fine.
With
rain in the forecast the rest of the week possibly starting tomorrow
evening and into the weekend I came home and mowed the lawn. When I
mowed Saturday I set the deck up one more notch to the highest it will
go. I should have kept it where it was. The grass was pretty high by
this evening. I tried setting it back down one and mulching but the
grass was too high and still way too sappy. After two passes I could
tell it was clogging the blade to I put the bagger back on. That is one
advantage to my new mower. I can switch back and forth from catching to
mulching since I have just the one blade. With the old mower once I put
the mulching blade it did not work well with the bagger because of the
blade design.
The temperature when I started was still in the low 80's but with a pretty good breeze blowing it felt much cooler.
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Wednesday, 29 April 2009
No update.
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Thursday, 30 April 2009
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Duncan had another one of his bad nights last
night. Up and down, panting, restless, etc. It has been weeks since he
had this bad of a night settling down. We gave him plenty of water
thinking he was just hot, I tried moving to his favorite spots in the
bathroom and foyer; I tried everything. I think he finally settled
around 2 this morning making it going on 2:30 or later before I finally
got to sleep. I wish he could tell me what is bothering him so I can
fix it. It may just be old age restlessness.
The promised rains
have still not materialized. It was misty/cloudy this morning but the
sun came back out this afternoon. A big storm north and west of us last
night died out before it got here. We actually need some rain. The
winds the early part of the week have dried out the top soil.
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Friday 1 May 2009
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Duncan had another bad night last night. As a
last resort I finally took him down to the hall bathroom around 1:30
this morning. This was despite the fact I had given him half of one of
Malcolm's calming pills for when we travel. Bob completely covered the
floor with rugs for him to lie on then we closed the door. I made sure
he got a big drink of water before we took him down. He was sound
asleep this morning which is the way he has been all week instead of
getting up when we do.
I had trouble waking him when I brought
his morning vitamins and piece of ham but he finally woke up long
enough to take them. Bob called me later in the morning to let me know
Duncan was not walking hardly at all with a bad limp on his left front
leg. He was lethargic and almost non-responsive. At that point Bob and
I were both pretty worried that he was rapidly declining. But, Bob
called again around noon to let me know he seemed to be feeling better
and had eaten a treat. Later this afternoon he got up by himself from
the bathroom and walked past Bob's office door.
Tonight he ate
all his dinner and took a big drink of water. I am thinking perhaps it
took a long time for the pill to kick in and/or it had residual
effects. Or, he may have not been feeling well or exhausted after two
sleepless nights. I know I am. The last two days have been rough
trying to get by on very little sleep and be sharp at work.
Still
no rain. It gets close to us but never makes it this far. I am still
reading the Dalziel and Pascoe. His books take me a little longer than
other plus I have not had as much reading time this week at lunch or at
night. We have been watching the new season of Tudors and the first
season of Bones.
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Saturday, 2 May 2009
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No rest for the wicked. This morning while I
had one load of work clothes washing I ironed what was in the basket.
Not only did I take the sheets off to change I pulled the spread,
blanket, and mattress pad to wash. The blanket will go in the linen
closet for the summer. While my load was drying and bedding was washing
I took off to run errands. My last stop being the plant store to pick
up some bedding plants.
This afternoon I pulled up the pansy's
in the big front bed to replace them with the annuals and perennials I
bought this morning. Then I mowed and edged. The sun came out
while I was mowing then it clouded up like it wanted to rain. We had
maybe ten drops. The front that was to come through last night and this
morning has still not arrived to bring some much needed rain. Things
are getting really dry again.
Duncan is much improved. Last
night he ate his dinner but was still pretty quiet lying around
sleeping most of the evening. I only had to get up to help him get
resettled once and Bob got up once. None of the panting and pacing.
Today he is more active and alert and even walking better than he
has for a long time. Perhaps his fall down the stairs last Sunday did
not catch up with him until Wednesday. Bob and I both thought we were
going to loose him yesterday.
Speaking of which, dad is fine though he still has bruises appearing and is still sore.
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Sunday, 3 May 2009
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Duncan continues to be very active and alert.
He had one short spell of panting/pacing last night around midnight
then settled down the rest of the night. Malcolm the rooster let us
sleep in until 8.
I ironed the stuff I washed yesterday before
getting started on the house cleaning. After doing the bathrooms and
vacuuming the kitchen I asked Bob if we could move the fridge to hang
the doors that go on the two small cabinets while I had the vacuum
handy to clean under and behind the fridge. The one small door is like
one of the big ones. Bob will have to trim down the edge in order for
it go close all the way. In the meantime at least they are up.
I
finished vacuuming the rest of the house while Bob finished his
computer stuff. He then fixed our self flushing/water trickling commode
in our bathroom with a new "Bullseye 501 Super Flapper" as is was named
on the package. He did not have to replace the flushing mechanism. We
had bought that toilet repair kit years ago to fix one or the other
toilets but never used it. After our successful morning I jumped in the
shower to get cleaned up for the day.
This afternoon I cleaned
off my desk, paid bills, and other assorted task. So far no phantom
flushes coming from the bathroom which is on the other side of the wall
from my office.
We had a brief downpour about 9:30 otherwise
it has been partly to mostly cloudy all day. I just had the dogs out
back for a little playtime while the sun is shinning. It looks as if it
could pour any minute but it has looked like that off and on for the
last four days. Last night after we walked the dogs first time I
watered the plants I put in the ground yesterday and the sod. With
these type of spring storms the rain can be hit or miss. Storms are
forecast for this afternoon and tonight.
I did finally finish
the Booth. This afternoon I will start another Brady Coyne, Nervous
Water by Tapply and watch the golf tournament being played in
Charlotte, NC this week.
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Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003,
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.