October 1 - 20, 2024
Tombstone, Arizona
The month starts out on a high note meeting up with great friends! Joe and Gay are in Bisbee for the first week of the month - surprisingly a place they had yet to visit. One of the few good Mexican restaurants in our area had sadly closed its doors, but quickly re-opened with a new name and new menu. Now Los Hermanos, we all enjoy our yummy lunch on their nice covered patio. Although we arrive early (per their website hours), they accommodate us with soft drinks, and we jump right in to a few hours of catching up.
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| Joe, Gay and Bill |
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| Gay captures this precious pic of our sweet Tessa. |
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| The girls with the curls. |
A week later Hurricane Milton tears into Florida just two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina. I feel somewhat contrite complaining about warm temps when so many have lost so much from "bad weather". Seeing the devastation in North Carolina and Florida, having friends in both, recognizing how long it will be before any sense of normal returns for millions......Ima just gonna shut up about our desert.
And then our world turns upside down with Bill getting very, very ill. Initially complications from his kidney failure and dialysis not meeting adequacy, his days of sick stomach turn toxic with two separate hospital stays. The second two-night stay starts with 28 hours in the ER due to over capacity at our hospital in Sierra Vista :-(( He finally gets relief following a visit to his doctor, and after nearly two weeks he can keep down liquids and then solids. It was brutal and I'm so grateful he's feeling himself again.
This setback also means no more in-home treatment - back to clinic dialysis three days a week. Although we thought the in-home treatments would give us more freedom, the opposite is actually true. We move forward again.
As is often the case with rough times, it's hard to look back and see anything else happening in your life! And really there hasn't been much.
More front porch time with nature, and the return of our weekly craft group. Yay!! So fun to get caught up with this fun group of women. Half traveled while the rest of us stayed put for the summer, so an entertaining plethora of stories to share. Rebecca and I are planning more day trips which I am very much looking forward to!
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| Without hesitation with pretty doe jumps the fence and keeps an eye on me. |
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| She slowly walks across the yard, about 6 feet from me sitting on the porch. Tessa is asleep :-) |
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| After sniffing and staring, her goal is soon clear. Not a bird in sight! |
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| She makes several stands to enjoy her snack, then it's back over the fence to her twin fawns waiting in the brush. Bye! |
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| Hard to see the squadron of Javelina - three babies (called 'reds') and two adults. Our first sighting this year. |
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| At crafts group I finish the felted fall leaf hanging. Time to start on Christmas pieces! |
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| A few days of chilly weather is very welcome! |
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| In local news, Duke has been restored in front of Doc's Saloon :-)) |
I corrected the typo from the last post - the new grand coming in April is our 10th!
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| I'm delighted to see Miss Penelope in the birthday shirt we sent that is soooo her! Mom and Reese hanging out in the back. |
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| M and M having Halloween photo fun. |
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| Ezra's classroom is Hogwarts for October. |
October is always the fastest month of the year for me - starts out in summer and ends up in the holidays! This year I'm happy to have most of it behind us.
So sorry to hear Bill has to again return to the clinic. ARG! I'm sure it's not your expectations, but you will certainly make the best of this twist.
ReplyDeleteHow fun have a deer jumping your fence and raiding the bird feeder! at least the Javelina can't jump the fence!
Your crafts have your home looking so comfy!
Penelope with her Wild Curls and terrific smile. Now that's a great picture!
I wear my Gryffindor cape when passing out the Treats (or Tricks).
Love that you're a HP fan too :-)) Bill is so happy (as am I for him) to be feeling good again so the clinic is no big deal for now. We will just keep on keeping on!
DeleteNice to see Gay and Joe, nice to see the friendly deer, nice to see the sweet faces of your grandchildren.......NOT nice to hear that Bill is struggling and not nice to know what you two are going through right now......so sorry. We're thinking of you and sending positive thoughts that this chapter will come to a happy, healthy end soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue, we're very glad to have it behind us and hoping the clinic can avoid any future issues. It was really great seeing Joe and Gay :-))
DeleteA visit with Joe and Gay is always a great way to start out a week! They are such good people. Poor Bill, hopefully things are under control now and he continues to feel better. Love those deer pictures, that doe sure is ingenious getting the bird seed like that!
ReplyDeleteThat doe was very determined in her endeavor to have an early morning snack!! Agree Joe and Gay made the month much better :-) We have been watching Barb's doppleganger every day on Good Morning Football - if you don't, check it out!!
DeleteOh my! What a scare for you and Bill. So glad to hear it all turned out well. Your observation that with tough times it's hard to look back and see anything else happening jumped out as a deep recognition.
ReplyDeleteYour mantle is absolutely fantastic in its fall beauty. Love, the felt leaves, what a great idea! Those bats are terrific. And of course the skull.
Great pictures of the grands and 10... Oh my goodness!.
Aren't those bats fun??? They're favorites. It's so fun to see all the grands get up to this time of year - and in all my fav colors :-)
DeleteSo sorry to hear Bill has been so ill! And glad he is on the mend even if it does mean trips to SV. I LOVE that photo of Gay and Tessa--we all love our dogs so much--and Gay! Brazen deer! How fun to have a crafting group--I love your fall leaves!
ReplyDeleteSeems like we're in SV five times a week anyway!! Couldn't even tell you why :-)) I've never been a crafty person so our little group is new fun for me.
DeleteGood morning Jodee…we always enjoy visits with you, Bill and Tessa! I love the girls with the curls! Tessa and Penelope wear them well…😉! I am so sorry to read about Bill’s medical issues. And I am happy to read he is feeling much better. I love your fireplace and the felted fall leaves hanger, and those bats are awesome! Duke is looking good!
ReplyDeleteCurly girls are the bestest :-) Bill continues to improve and we're very happy to have those couple weeks behind us! I love Fall colors and decor and the new(er) fireplace is perfect for dressing up.
DeleteOh, Jodee...I'm so sorry to hear that Bill was so terribly sick. (28 hours in the ER!!) I'm so glad that he's feeling better now. I'm so glad you have your peaceful porch time and your crafting projects. I just tried felting for the first time a couple of months ago and loved it! Your felt autumn leaves are so beautiful on your festive fall mantle. I always enjoy seeing how you decorate for the seasons. How fun that Ezra gets to go to Hogwarts for October! :-)
ReplyDeleteI wish all the kids could go to Hogwarts all year :-))) Ezra is really having fun with it. Great to hear you enjoyed felting - there are so many different ways to do it. Glad to have Bill's yucks behind us!
DeleteHello, if you couldn’t achieve adequacy with PD, has Bill and his Nephrologist considered Home Hemo. Looks like there’s a pretty well developed left forearm fistula and learning to cannulate or use a catheter and to do Hemodialysis at home is well within the capabilities of most intelligent ppl. Both DaVita and Fresenius have home hemodialysis training programs. Also, the NxStage Machines and others of its ilk can be configured to travel with the same set ups for solutions as PD. Might solve your travel needs.
ReplyDeleteWent to EMHS and knew Bill and serendipitously found your blog when I was looking up resources and ways to do the kind of traveling you guys do.
I also worked in the dialysis “industry” for over 40 years and have seen lots of people successfully do home dialysis.
There are people doing home hemo on YouTube: #NxStage, home hemodialysis.
Also, I enjoyed your blog.
Hey Tom!! How fun you found us. I was Jodee Oatman at EMHS (class of '73) and remember you and Owena and your family's store very well! I hope you get to travel fulltime - it's the very best. You can also search Laughlin on the blog to see ten years of EM reunions - we've had great fun with old classmates.
DeleteUnfortunately dialysis centers nationwide are at capacity so finding support while traveling has been impossible. We may look at home hemo down the road, thanks for the input, every bit helps. Hope you and yours are all doing well, thanks for commenting :-))
Good to hear from you. Your blog’s very informative and interesting and it looks like you guys’ve built a great life. I’m still working full time because I feel I need the routine to keep myself heathy so planning the kind of traveling you’ve done seems to be more of a hobby (in truth, I’ve probably traveled too much in my earlier life). Hope everything goes well for you and Bill and your family.
DeleteSo, I'm a little behind on blog reading needless to say. We have been back east for awhile visiting Atlanta to see Kevin's new house and then flew up to Jessica's for awhile. It was probably the best fall weather we've experienced in both areas. Over a weeks worth of sunshine and beautiful autumn colors and temps in the high 60's. It was so nice since I really thought it would never cool off in BC.
ReplyDeleteI was crushed to read about Bill. So very sorry he had two hospital stays and can no long use at home dialysis. But SO very glad to hear he is alright:) I can only imagine how scary it was for both of you. Life has a way of throwing those curve balls. Love your new leaf felting project. I'm sure are enjoying the opportunity to get out with the ladies. Can't wait to see what you create for Christmas. You have the most adorable grands. They just have the sweetest smiles.
Yay for family visits with great weather! Autumn is my fav time of year, but our desert has been dragging its feet getting there. Bill is doing so much better and we're both happy he's back with the clinic dialysis. Hoping it will make some short distance travel more feasible. Christmas crafts are always so fun :-)))))
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