Ready for Hurricane Ian

 Hurricane Ian, that's who!

Actually, here in the Delmarva peninsula we will only receive the tropical storm remnants of Hurricane Ian, 

Right now the time if 6:30 PM Friday night. All day the winds have been whipping around with light rain. However, make no mistake about it the heavy rains are on their way. Maybe now I'll get my new pond filled up.  

We're the blue dot on this satellite map

Again, I am so thankful that where we live here on the Delmarva peninsula, only two miles from the Atlantic Ocean, that we again are dodging the bullet of a direct hit by a hurricane. 

I remember my first Hurricane. It was Hurricane Hazel and the year was 1954. As a young boy I was so impressed yet scared of this weather phenomenon that was all over the news, creating fear. We lived in a second floor apartment on Washington Avenue in the small Pennsylvania town of Downingtown. When the winds began I took our dog out for a "walk", nervous as could be for a 12 year old boy experiencing his first hurricane. My Mother warned me not to go outside but I did anyway. I didn't stay out too long though once those winds almost blew me over. Later I found out the winds velocity was only about 60 MPH but that was enough for me.

  Since then I've experiences many hurricanes, the last one being Hurricane Floyd in 1999. For my efforts in getting to work at my job as a hotel front desk clerk at the Hampton Inn during Hurricane Floyd I won a trip to Disney World. Ironically Disney World is located in Orlando, Florida, the state that so often suffers the destruction of hurricanes. 

Of all the hurricanes I've experience I've never been in one that was a direct hit on where I lived. The closet call was Hurricane Sandy which only missed us here in southern Delaware by fifty miles. PHEW! 

They keep saying here in Sussex County, Delaware we're due for THE BIG ONE. I'm eighty years old now. I sincerely hope I MISS that event. A few years ago we had one of those water funnels (mini tornado) tear through our back yards here in our development where Casa Tipton-Kelly is located. That "little" tornado tore out a huge chunk of my favorite river birch tree, just missing my bedroom by feet. That's close enough for me folks. 

Happy Birthday Bill!

 

Bill Kelly River Drive, Philadelphia, PA 1966

Guess who is 94 years young today? My husband of fifty-eight years, Bill Kelly!

Bill can't believe that he's 94. One of the nurses last week told him he only had six more years to go until he gets a letter from the president of the United States congratulating him on reaching his 100th birthday. Well, I don't know about that. But hey, the chances are he'll reach that unbelievable goal more than me reaching 94 years of age. With so many of my friends now gone, I don't think I would even want to live if all my friends were gone. I don't have that many left.

I have to admit I am grateful that Bill is still here. Today was shower day (yes, I still have to give him a shower every three days), which is always a workout, but we've acclimated ourselves to our new lifestyle.  I am Bill's caregiver.  Bill is legally blind and has some cognitive issues and weak but he's still Bill. He hasn't lost his personality. He can't do the things he used to which used to so frustrate him but he's accepted (more or less) his status in life. We have our routine pretty well worked out now which is mostly comfortable for both of us. As I've said many times before, my only worry now is that he will out live me but I don't worry as much now about that happening as I used to. If I should go first, Bill won't be long behind me. But you never know. In that case Pat, the VA and my grandniece Lyndsay will see that Bill is taken care of.

It is ironic that Bill has reached the grand old age of 94 given that his father Clarence died at 21 years of age in a drunk driving accident. It's like Bill is making up for all those years that his father missed. 

We have nothing special planned for Bill's birthday today. I used to give him a birthday card but we stopped exchanging cards when he lost his eyesight to macular degeneration. He only sees shadows now. It's sad but he only sees me as a shadow, he can't look into my eyes. Nor can I look into his eyes. When I do they seem empty and that's because he has lost the central vision out of his eyes. He only has peripheral vision. 

Bill and I have been together 58 years now. We've seen a lot and done a lot in that time span. These days I treasure each day that is pain free and peaceful with Bill. Both of us are ready at any time to ease into that Final Journey into Eternal Rest. 

Happy birthday Bill! I hope we're here next year to celebrate  your 95th birthday.

Bill "Buddy" Kelly about 1932

Bill's Emergency

 

Bill at the Emergency Room visit last night waiting for me to pick him up

This time yesterday we began another emergency room visit for Bill.

All day Bill was complaining about "something" being caught in his throat. I reviewed in my mind what I gave him to eat the previous day. Bill has had esophageal swallowing problems for years. Several years ago he even had an endoscopy to address this problem he has.

Reviewing what I fed Bill, the only different food I fed to him in addition to his daily oatmeal (which I grind up to a powder, Ensure and instant banana pudding which is his usual daily diet) was a pineapple fruit popsicle. I noticed when I took a bite of that popsicle there were small bits of pineapple in the popsicle. I thought that was a nice touch but I failed to realize that that pineapple would cause a swallowing problem for Bill. Sometime ago I had to stopped feeding him instant oatmeal with bits of apple because that caused a swallowing problem for Bill.

I thought this problem would go away yesterday but Bill was complaining about it all day. What to do? I decided to take him to the local walk-in clinic. That requires checking with the VA first for the protocol so they cover the cost. Phone calls. That I did and had my forms ready for the personnel at the walk-in clinic. 

The closest walk-in clinic is about five miles from here in a medical complex. The same complex where I get all my "stuff" done, including my recent cataract surgery, which is coming along fine by the way. As I was navigating the complex (they had recent construction adding a new wing to the local main hospital, lot of us old folks down here) I remembered that they moved the walk-in clinic location. Oh goodie! Now to figure out where it was. I found it, it was on the side ground level of the new four story hospital. Getting there was "fun." I went out on the highway (Rt. 24) and traversed a couple of traffic circles. Of course when I got in I realized I could of went in the back way. Oh well, now I know for the next time.

We hobble in the clinic. It wasn't too crowded. We didn't have to wait too long (we never do, I've used the clinic several times myself, I'm old and falling apart too) before a health care provider saw us. He was jolly and happy which seemed out of place but be that as it may. I explained Bill's situation to him and he told me that the food particle (that pineapple bit) would dissolve itself within twenty-four hours. Bill wasn't having it. He wanted something done NOW!

Bill at the walk-in clinic having his vitals checked

The doctor who was seeing him said "I don't have a camera here to stick down your throat. You will have to go to the emergency room. Want me to call an ambulance?" Call an ambulance? What was THAT? I told him I would take (drive) Bill to the emergency room. It was only a few miles away. Through a LOT of traffic (this still is Rehoboth Beach in season after all) but nearby. 

We hobble our Old Man Way out to my red Subaru Forester, looking lonely out in the almost empty parking lot, and I navigate my way out of the traffic maze that is the newly enlarged medical center complex. 

To get to the emergency room I have to go to the main hospital in Lewes which was across the notorious Route One (Coastal Highway), very busy at that time of day with all the day time workers in the Route One Outlet Malls (Delaware is a sales tax free state) and other dayshift service workers of restaurants, hotels, medical offices and all the other support businesses for the area of the country where we live which doesn't make anything, we only have the Atlantic Ocean and low taxes, attracting many from nearby high tax states for their retirement (that's why we're here). 

I missed my turn off of Route One but lucky for me I knew the back way in from New Road from my now long ago days when I worked at the hotel in Lewes. 

I arrive at the hospital and fortunately found a parking spot open in the almost full parking lot. We had to Old Man Hobble our way up the sloping hill that is the entrance to the emergency room. 

At the entrance a hospital employee offered Bill a wheelchair, obviously seeing that he was having trouble walking (as I have trouble walking) on the uphill sloop. Bill turned him down, three times. Yes, THREE TIMES. He looked at us with what I saw as saddened pity. Here are these two obviously ancient old men, hanging on for a few more days. 

The room was almost full of waiting folks. I thought to myself "Well, we're going to be here for a while." I've been to this rodeo before, the Emergency Room Wait. Last time we were there all day. Literally ALL DAY. And nothing was resolved. As a result of that visit was why I put Bill on hospice care, so the health care worker wouldn't send Bill to the emergency room every time his blood pressure was below 90, which was often back then.

Anyway, I settle Bill down in a seat far away from the plexiglass checkin location.  I approach the check in and tell her our sad story. I give her Bill's identification and she looks him up in their system. We're both in the system, we've both been in that emergency room more than a few times since we moved in Delaware in 2006. I finish with her and return to my seat next to Bill, preparing myself for the Big Wait.

In less than five minutes a woman comes out and asked "William?" I looked up and thought "No, that couldn't be us."  She called again "William?" Most of the other twenty-five or so folks waiting look up and around. Again, the third time she says "William Kelly?" It is us! We struggle up and when I get to her I said I didn't expect to be called so soon. She said "Oh we're just taking your vitals." Oh, that makes more sense. Of course we're still in for the Big Wait In The Emergency Room. 

Well guess what? We were next? She took Bill's vitals and then settled in in a curtained location. I guess the explanation she said when she first called Bill in the emergency room waiting room was to avoid bad/hurt feelings among the horde of people that were there before we were. 

Bill waiting for medical care in the emergency room bay

She had Bill sit down on one of those hospital beds (oh how many times have both Bill and I put our posterior on one of those expensive adjustable beds that area always too short for both of us who are over six feet tall). By the way, as we walk the hallways I'm doing side glances in the other occupied curtained bus, wondering why those poor people are in the emergency room this day. Later I overhead them explaining to one woman she had a silent heart attack. But I digress.

After Bill's vitals were taken again a physician's assistance saw us. I explained Bill's situation again with the lodged pineapple bit in his esophagus. He entered all this information in on his medical iPad (notice how they don't write anymore? Medical personnel all use iPads now. So cool). 

He left to consult with the doctor on duty. We never did see the doctor on duty but the PA did get direction from him. He had Bill drink two full eight ounce glasses of water and eat a pudding. Bill loves pudding. He said "If he can drink the water and eat the pudding the doctor isn't going to perform an endoscopy surgery on you tonight." Well, Bill wasn't happy with that and started to get irascible. Bill wanted that particle of food OUT NOW! 

I apologized to the PA for Bill's irascibility and he left giving me a chance to talk to Bill. I reminded Bill of the "rules" posted on the wall about "aggressive behavior" not being tolerated. I saw the same sign at the walk-in clinic earlier. Bill calmed down. I am a calming influence. He better calm down.

Even though Bill said he couldn't drink the two full glasses of water, he did. And he ate the pudding. The PA came back and we were discharged after being given our discharge papers, which stated that if Bill continued to have a problem we could arrange to have an outpatient endoscopy. Thus instructed we made our Old Man Hobble out of the emergency room curtained bays. I guess we must have looked pretty pitiful, two old gay men navigating our way out of the "right turn here, left turn there" to the EXIT. We only made one wrong turn which was quickly corrected by a sympathetic hospital worker. 

Bill was so cold. He only had his short sleeved shirt on. I was wearing short but I thought to take my shirt jacket. I should have taken Bill' sweater but I didn't think we were going to do the Emergency Room Visit thing yesterday.

When I got home I called the VA Emergency Number to report Bill's emergency room visit. This is something I have 72 hours to do, in order to have the cost covered by the VA. They've been very good about covering all of Bill's medical costs but you have to get VA authorization. I answered all her questions and got the NINETEEN DIGIT authorization. We shouldn't be getting any bills from yesterdays adventure but occasionally some of those expensive bills make their ways to the patient even though these medical facilities are informed NOT TO SEND BILLS TO THE PATIENT. But they do, I have receipts. But I digress again.

So here we are twenty-four hours later and Bill's pineapple bit that was lodged in his esophagus HAS dissolved just like the doctors said yesterday. 

Just another day of caregiving folks, but thankfully Bill's condition resolved itself. We're very lucky and thankful. 

Cataract Surgery Update #2

The eye is better!

Good news! My recovery from my second cataract surgery is MUCH better! Thank God! Goodness, or whatever expletive I can use. THE PAIN IS GONE!

Now I can resume my normal, or at least what passes for normal, life around here at Casa Tipton-Kelly.

Here are the latest updates:

I developed a painful red rash in my inner thighs from all the stress I've been going through recently. What to do about this? Go to the Walk-In Clinic and SHOW THEM? Odds are I'll get some pretty young woman to expose my nether regions to her thus ruining her day. No, I decided not to do that. Instead I searched the Internet (don't we all?) and found out that this rash is easily curable. Less drama and some cortisone cream. That I did and the rash is almost gone. One down.

I just paid off a rash (different application) of higher than usual bills. 

1) School/Real Estate Tax ($2,000, still a chunk of money but not the $9,000 that our former residence in Pennsylvania was costing us).

2) Lawn Care (fungus application is $390 a shot, just had two). Well worth it, I found out last year how important my lawn is too me after living through a summer of a Mars landscape left behind after that Army Worm invasion.

3) Eye drop medication for my cataract surgeries (I get my medication through the VA and I decided not to jump through those hoops for this surgery, would take too long and still not have the drops my eye doctor preferred, that set me back over $1,200)

There was another big bill but I forget what it was, I'm still in somewhat of a daze from my painful second cataract surgery and the other bills. Oh, I remember now, it was the $500 I paid to Jose and his crew to dig a pond hole for me. That pond, still in development, gives me a lot of pleasure. Well worth the expense. 

The next few weeks I am doctor appointment free. FREEDOM! I LOVE IT! I actually had another yearly followup appointment with my urologist this week but he had an operation so they had to reschedule my appointment with him which will be in December. 

How is Bill doing? We're still doing the showers every three days. Every morning I have to help him wash up, change is Depends and dress him. I will always have to prepare his food for the rest of his life, no difference than I've been doing for the past 58 years, I always cooked for him. He tired once and it was a disaster. I give him his medication, take him out for his rides (and mine too) and order radios (fourth one coming today from Amazon) to keep him company. Because of his blindness he can't read or see TV but he can listen to the radio. Unfortunately he can't listen to podcast on his iPad because the iPad doesn't have an earphone jack. The only radio station that comes in clearly around here is the local Fox (Faux) News affiliate. He does get the news but unfortunately is subjected to the Fox Brainwashing.  After a few days of that I have to assure him that the "Caravans" of immigrants from our southern border are NOT invading the US to take all our jobs, rape our women and steal all our money. Every day is a challenge folks, living in this dystopic country that the grifters on Fox (Faux) News is feeding to it's all too gullible listeners. Other than than, Bill has stabilized and we're managing. No more pooping his pants and he can get around on his own, albeit slowly. He's very careful not to fall and so far he's been successful.

I am so happy with the result of my cataract surgery. Other than the very painful few days immediately after my second cataract surgery, both operations were successful. I now don't need glasses for distance. Wouldn't that have been a great option when I was young and hanging out in the bars cruising? Back then (last century) I was near-sighted. Now I'm the opposite. Oh the times when I spied someone across the bar only to saunter over there and find out that he wasn't my type at all. That's when I got contact lenses which I wore for many years until I got a stigmatism in my left eye. Then I went for glasses so I could see. Now it's the opposite. I have to take off my glasses for driving. I'm so used to wearing my glasses that sometimes I forget to take them off and I noticed when I'm driving I couldn't see as well. Not having to wear glasses is also great for watching my Netflix rentals on my 60 inch flat screen TV. No more having to clean my glasses every time I watch a movie. Now to get a good movie or series. I just finished watching the first season of "The Gilded Age" which I LOVED. Sure, it's a lot like "Downton Abbey", the American version (same creator, Julian Fellowes) but to me it's grand entertainment. I especially like any movie or series that Christine Baranski graces and she is fabulous in "The Gilded Age."

Well folks, the sun is shining outside and weeds need to be pulled. Have a great day! And sorry about posting yet another current picture of my eighty years old face. Not the handsome young man of forty years ago but there it is. I'm still here, walking  upright and pain free (for now anyway).

Oil Portrait of me 1979 in Provincetown, Mass

Cataract Surgery Update

 

My cataract surgery check off list

Just got back from my eye doctor. He said my cornea abrasion was almost healed. I still feel like I have something in my eye but its tolerable. He said I could stop taking one of my drops tomorrow and dispense with my eye covering when I sleep. Progress!

Later, when I stopped at my favorite local fruit and vegetable stand to stock up on fresh corn, the woman who usually waits on me said she missed seeing me and Bill.

She was afraid something happened to Bill. I told her that I was having problems with my second cataract surgery. That I had an abrasion of my cornea. She said that years ago she had the same problem. She went to sleep with her contact lenses. When she woke up in the morning she couldn't open her eyes! She panicked and texted her doctor with her eyes closed (I don't know how she did that) and he got her eyes open. She said the pain from the abrasion of both of her corneas was so intense she would rather give natural childbirth of all of her four children. Tell me about it. I thought kidney stones were bad (and they are, believe me) but having an abrasion on your cornea HURTS! Remember how when  you were a kid and fell down on the pavement and scrapped your arm and the pain. Then imagine that scrap on your eyeball. Again, I am SO THANKFUL this procedure will soon be history. 

Sometimes life is more than just finding food and shelter (and love if your'e lucky). It's avoiding pain. I don't do pain well. And believe me folks, I've had more than my share of pain in this lifetime. I'm ready to move on to a boring and pain free few months.

Cataract Surgery, One Week Post Op

 

In three hours (11 AM) I see my eye doctor for my one week post op followup to my cataract surgery. 

Thankfully I can report I am no longer in pain. What an experience though, something I wouldn't wish on anybody. I just cannot imagine what my blogger friend Raybeard went through when his surgery went bad and his doctors had another operation on his eye to "pick out the pieces" of the lens they shattered in his eye. That's also what happened to my late brother John, which resulted in an 80% loss of eyesight in his eye. 

The good news is that I can see clearly out that eye now. Thank goodness I only have two eyes. If I was a cyclops with three eyes, I think I would forgo the third operation. 

Cataract Surgery - The Good, Bad and Ugly

 

Last Thursday (September 8th) I had my second cataract surgery. Sad to say but this surgery did not go well. My cornea was scratched. I was in excruciating pain for one full day. The next day, still very painful but at least I could get some respite by sleeping and keeping my eye closed. 

I am now on Day Five of my post cataract surgery. My eye socket is still painful and I feel like I have something in my eye but at least I can function now. 

Prior to my cataract surgery I heard all these glowing reports "Oh, it's a breeze!" "You won't even feel a thing!" "It's over with before you even know it!"

Well folks, those comments don't necessarily apply to all who have had cataract surgery. My late brother John first cataract surgery was a complete disaster. The lens shattered in his eye. He had to undergo subsequent operations to remove the shattered pieces of replacement lens. He never did regain full recovery in his right eye. He lost 80% of his vision. He found out later that the woman who performed the surgery it was her first time. She put the lens in UNDERNEATH instead of ABOVE (whatever that means). He had that cataract surgery while he was undergoing years of chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma cancer. By the way, he didn't die of the cancer, he died of the chemotherapy which destroyed his vital organs. They failed. 

I am thankful that I have my vision in my right eye.  Before my surgery I asked several times if my regular eye doctor was going to perform the surgery. I was told he would but I did detect some hesitation in their answer. I suspect what happened was that he was training somebody new because the second surgery took longer and of course, I ended up with an "abrasion on my cornea" as my doctor diagnosed it when I called him in after hours because I couldn't stand the pain. 

I saw him the next day and he told me that I "had a scratch on my cornea and it would clear up in 24 to 36 hours."  It has but I still have the soreness. Another good thing is I now have excellent eyesight in both of my eyes. But what price I had to pay. 

"It's a breeze!" Don't believe everything you hear. Hopefully if any of the readers of this blog are planning on having cataract surgery I hope it is "a breeze" and you don't have to go through what I just went through. Or even worse, what my late brother had to go through. 

I'm on he mend now and hopefully I can get back to my regular routine of blogging, gardening, caregiving (oh yes, I had to continue to be Bill's caregiver, that doesn't take a break no matter how much pain I'm in) and living what's rest of my life pain free. I think I've experienced every type of pain there is except childbirth.

Guess which eye had the bad outcome cataract surgery. I survived so I guess that's what's important. I never want to go through anything like this again. Man, could I use a facelift. Talk about a hangdog look. Well, it's my look and it's staying that way.