What a January!

My, we have been through a lot lately. Randy went in for hip surgery and came out with hip and heart surgery. When he was in the hospital for his surgery, the nurse said his heart was doing weird things. He had many tests done on it and found out some of his arteries were blocked. He could have dropped dead at any time. So he had a 6 by-pass heart operation as well as his hip operation. I have been really stressed. Having lost Alex. I was doing a deja vu.

Randy came through both surgeries fine. There is a long recovery time however. The thing that scared me the most was that he had a couple of hypoglycemic attacks. Those can be very serious. It's when your insulin levels get too low. You can go into shock. The DR had told him to give himself an insulin shot in the morning and at night and taking it at night lowered his insulin to very low levels. He had cold sweats, his body temp was only 95 and he was shaking all over and could not get warm. Luckily the home health nurse came and they finally got him better. He had to drink hot water, Ensure and pile on a lot of blankets. He was actually very irritated and slurring his words. That was a close call! Now he does not take his insulin at night and that is not happening. I sure had to live in a really hot house for a couple of days when he was so cold. He is on medication to keep his heart rate good and his hip no longer hurts. They had found an impingement in his hip joint as well as arthritis. Of course, he is still weak but getting stronger every day. I have had to be Randy's nurse for a while and I can tell you it is hard work. Those medical people deserve a medal for all they do. They work 12+ hour shifts and are so dedicated. I also appreciate having the home health people who come and do heart and hip therapy. We are blessed to have these options with our Medicare and I know people think we spend too much on government medical programs, but we would not have been able to do without these programs. The hospital alone was over 200,00K. We only had to pay $1200.

I have been more tired than I have ever been in my life. I have had a bad winter with my fibromyalgia. Now it actually feels like my MS may be coming back. I am really dizzy, extremely tired and weak. Hopefully it is just stress and is caused by all the things that have been going on. I do go to the DR tomorrow and get things checked out.

I would like to thank those in my family who have helped. Tina for sitting with me during the surgery, Monica and Jay for visiting Randy and giving him moral support and especially for John and Kathy who have helped me with the cats and the house cleaning. And for Tammy, Matt and Jennifer who have called me and given me moral support. I hope things will be back to normal soon and I do appreciate everyone. I also am thankful Randy's sister who lives very far away but she has called and given her support. And also Randy's friends in California and Arizona.

There may be no camping this summer but we will still do road trips I am sure. Randy has to be careful of his hip until everything heals up well and camping is maybe a little too much physical work for him this year. Bless all of you and thanks you for offering to help me in these tough times.