I'm so bad.........

I forgot to come back and tell you all the news over the Christmas days.

Michael got a super, repeat SUPER, good report last Wednesday! He is doing so good he does not have, repeat HAVE, to go back to doctor until APRIL of 2012!!!!

His viral load, which was at 1.3 MILLION in August is down to 62. Yep you got that right. 62. (Average for HIV patients is 48)

His CD4 counts that were down to 47 in August are 362 or 369!! (Average for HIV patients are 600-800)

His platelets are 82, up from 6 in September. YAY!!! (Average for people in general is 150-450) Thousand that is. This number is in thousands so it is up for 6,000 to 82,000.

So we had a blessed Christmas just with this news!!

Next the root canal did great. No pain. Wonderful piano music, warm blanket, roaring fire, red wine......ah it was so peaceful.

Well until Doc brought the jack hammers in and destroyed my image in my subconscious! Go back in a couple of weeks to get fitted for the crown.

Had the grands for about 3 days while I was off and it was super grand let me tell ya!

Then we all had Christmas at Layne's, including Dad and Mrs. Dad, and it was another super grand day! Even had all the kids and grandsons! Couldn't have asked for a better Christmas!!

Hope all of yours was grand too!

May the Good Lord bless and keep us throughout 2012!!

Hugs!!

My Christmas Present to me........

A root canal on Thursday......

Go me.......

What a super wonderful painless gift...........

Right??

We shall see. ..

How many shopping days til Christmas?

How many do I have to get Christmas presents?

I have gotten this many so far: ZERO!

I have no clue what to get the kids....

I liked it better when they were little and had a list of toys......

Grown kids are much, much harder!

And not so  much fun.........

Any suggestions??

No Clue

I have a really really great idea for a blog!

I just can't remember what it is.........

Grins and giggles!

Well, it's Monday

It's another Monday.

Not a bad Monday.

Just another Monday.

The older I get the faster they follow Friday.

I'm not likin' that atall...........

Not atall..........

Have a happy, or contented at least, Monday!

Hugs!!

Thoughtlessness

Sometimes in our lives, we hurt people we care for the mostest.

Yesterday that was me.

I acted like the old me that I can't stand.

I am so very sorry.

There are no words to express my feelings.

I love this person so very much.

FYI-Instructions are important

Just an FYI-

Make sure when cooking in a microwave you read the MICROWAVE instructions........

For some reason CONVENTIONAL oven instructions do not, repeat do NOT, work in the microwave......

They will turn pizza into CHARCOAL in 7 minutes.

PLUS cause lots and lots and LOOOOOOOOTS of smoke........

Just saying...............

Muddy dogs for sale or trade

I have a yard without grass.

We have had rain for five days now.

(I am not, repeat NOT, complaining about the rain.)

But because I have a yard without grass, I now have mud.

I also have a pet door, or rather a pet screen.

So when the 4 leggeds need to go potty they can go without waking me up.

They only wake me up when they come back in.

Cold.

Wet.

Muddy.

As they crawl in bed to get warm and dry.

Do I hear any offers?

Trades??

Hello??

Anyone???

It seems strangely quiet in the audience today......

Hmmmm.....

Guess that means I am stuck with the muddy monsters.

At least until the yard dries up.....

Happy Pre-Hump day!!

indecent exposure

As I was drivin along the other day and saw a runner.

A male runner.

Well, he was tryin to be a runner.

With a white rather hefty torso.

No one deserves to see this.

I am a thinkin there should be law against half naked men runnin along side the road.

I was blinded.

There there was the issue with the man boobs.

I almost had a wreck.

Trying to get away.

This was definitely indecent exposure.

I can promise you no one would want to see a half naked me running down the road....

Happy weekend!

World AIDS day

Today is Wear Red Day and of course I forgot!

World AIDS Day

It is World AIDS day and with it all in our face at our house, you would think I would remember to wear red......or put on a red ribbon........or something.

Nope got up as usual, in a sleep stupor, and got dressed and went to work..

Woke up about halfway to work and remembered it was Wear Red today......

OH! Wait! I have red underwear on!!

YAY! \

So does it count if I can't show it??

Hugs!

Pray for a cure!

Love ya'll!

I thought he was jokin, really.

Michael wanted some crawdads from popeyes yesterday. Ok it's sorta on the way  home so I said sure.

I drive up and say I would like to order the Crawdad Lunchbox, a large order of tenders, and two wraps. 

Silence.

Still silence.

Finally, the kid comes back on and says:

We don't have a large order of tenders.

I reply, knowing full well they have a 5 piece and a 3 piece: 

Me: Soooooo  what DO you have?

Idiot replies: Well, we have a 5 pc and a 3 pc. 

ME: Ooooook, well, um, let's see, I think, uh,  I'll take the fiiiivvvveee piece..

Prozac MUST be workin, otherwise, I would have spouted off some very obscene words about morons.....

15 minutes after I finish the 10 minute dialog to get my food ordered, Moron brings my food. 

I didn't realize that they had to CATCH the crawdads when I ordered them......

He hands me my food with a "Sorry for the wait" and walks off. 

I reply: "Thank you and have a nice day. Come back to see me, why doncha?" 

Of course by that time he is walkin in the door.....so he probably missed my positively sweet sarcasm......

I almost took my receipt in before he got there and asked them just where did they go to catch the little buggers.......

Prozac was holdin me in the car........for reals........honest......

Layne is amazed at my control lately...

So this must be a good thing.....

Bossman told me that the crew at work was gonna to get a collection up to make sure I would always buy my meds, because I'm much happier. 

Happier is good for EVERY BODY he says.

 Like the saying, "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy", I guess .......

Though Jesse did call up the other day from the floor to tell me I needed a better attitude. 

My response was he didn't have to call me. 

He said I should be nice. 

I responded, I can hang up........

Maybe I need stronger  Prozac...........

Cheers my friends! 

He is HOME!!!

That's all folks! He's HOME!!

A Michael (aka Micael) Update

Good news: He has stabilized over the past 24 hours with the platelet count! They are thinking it is the Atripla that is making these counts go up and down. I don't think they have had a lot of experience with this drug since it is fairly new.

He could be coming home soon, which is a far cry from yesterday's diagnoses of you are here for an indefinite period! I'm so happy I could bawl like a baby!

All the tests are, once again, coming up negative for anything except HIV.

So he have to go back for more frequent labs, not just once a month anymore. I can deal with that!

More good news: In one month this medicine has increased his t cell count more than in several months of the other drugs he was on. It also brought his viral load down amazingly fast too. Last drugs he was one took 2-3 months to get up over 300 and Atripla got him to 365 in one month! That much closer to the 600-700 that I think they are aiming for! Where he will feel almost human again! I'm ready and I know he is past ready!

Thanks for all the uplifting and prayers! I don't think without them he would be where he is today! We have been given more time to spend with Michael! How blessed we are!

Love and hugs!

 (aka Michael's Mom)

Missing in Action

As you know I have been missing in action lately.

Michael started a new drug, Atripla, (I think that is the way you spell it) the end of September.

Has some purty nasty side effects: hallucinations, dizziness, tremors, tics, etc. These have finally gone away for the most part. Purty much only happens at night now after he takes the meds.

Then he goes in for labs so that all the blood counts will be ready for his appointment on November 11 and we have not gotten in the door and the doc is on the phone.

Michael has to check into the hospital. His platelets are at 6. Which is down from 9 just after he started on the meds, but way down from August, which was 95. Low platelets can cause brain hemorrhages, eye hemorrhages, dementia, all sorts of things, with the worst being the brain hemorrhage.

We live so far from a hospital that the doc didn't want to take any chances.

Good news though is that the Atripla has brought his viral load from 1 million plus to 13 thousand and his T cells up from 47 to 365. But it is reacting with the blood it seems.

Scary thing is the docs are perplexed.

They have taken him off the Atripla without telling him. So now he is on a tear this morning, and I don't know how many of you have ever seen him on a tear but it is NOT a purty sight. He can outdo me, and that takes some doin.

This is where I am and do not know when I will post again. I am going to the hospital every day and getting home late.

To make matters worse, he feels fine. Which makes it hard to stay cooped up in a hospital room 24/7.

Please remember to lift us up.

Hugs to all!

Kentucky

The first week of October I was off to a trade show.

Went up in a bucket truck.

This is what it looked like at 85 feet above ground:

If you look real close over the top of that building, you will see downtown Louisville.

It was pretty fun.

AND beautiful!

I think I want to live there.

Yup. It is soo pretty.

Have a super duper day!

Cheers!

Walk like an Egyptian

Nuff said..........

Happy Day!

What in the World was I thinkin?

I had this great stupid idea when I first got Scrappy and Lady that they could sleep on the bed with me.

It was all well and good until it got cold. Then they slept IN the bed with me.

Ok, so it's just 2 little dogs. No biggie, right?

Then Lady got sick and ended up with 2 more to help Scrappy though when Lady had to move on.

I got stairs for the new "kids" on the block so they could get on the bed.

I got rid of the stairs when Baxter kept bringing in leaves and sticks on the bed while I was at work.
(Does this sound familiar?)

Now the four legged kid family has grown to 5 (or 6 if you count Winnie). Scrappers, Crystal, Baxter, Harlie and Jack.

Two of which are NOT little dogs.

Crystal sleeps on the other pillow.

Scraps sleeps next to my shoulder behind me or ON MY pillow, which he gets bumped off of when I realize it but as soon as I turn over he is back.

Baxter sleeps either on the floor or under the covers growlin and snappin at everyone.

Jackson sleeps at my knees, in or out of the covers,

Harlie sleeps at my feet on top of the covers or under the covers butt to butt with Jackson.

And somewhere in the queen size bed is me.

Winding my way through the stinking dogs.

What in the world was I thinkin"?

The bat mobile

While visiting JD a couple of weeks ago, I saw a car that made me laugh soo hard I forgot to grab the phone to take a picture.

Picture this car:

painted that light baby blue

with a stencil of this on the front door:

No yellow. Just the black bat. No circle just the bat. 

Very bad stencil to boot. Smudged edges.  

I laughed so hard that I almost sat through a green light. 

I almost turned around right then and there so I could get a picture to share but JD was hungry...And you know how hungry boys are.......vicious......HAHAHAHAHA

Have a laughin good Tuesday! 

Cheers!

Mini Donuts

Last weekend, the grands came to stay the night. 

I just love it. 

They make my heart sing!

I try to do something fun when they come. 

This time it was this: 

A mini donut maker!

Use a cake mix and you have cake donuts that look like this:

Powdered sugared or plain. They like the sugar ones and I like the plain. 

Funfetti donuts!!

These are the ones that eat them: 

My very own personal donut eaters!! 

Lights of my life!

Have great weekend! 

New Painting

New Painting

Actually it is two paintings. 

And it is SOLD!

Have a few touch ups but for the most part it is done. 

And yes it is two canvases. 

I have never in my life sold a painting. 

Or a drawing.

Just recently I have sold 4 bags. 

It feels weird to sell something I create. 

But I think I will feel weird with my hand out, palm up. 

Thank ya very much!

I get Brownie Points!!

Michael had a doctor appointment yesterday.

It is all good. Nothing new. Which is what we knew but it was still good to hear.

He lets me go in with him to see the doctor. Which I appreciate.

I usually open my mouth.

I opened it and words begun to fall out.

I thought-WTH?? SHUT UP.

So the nurse asked what I said.

I replied: nothing.

No. Really, nothing.

And went back to reading the kindle book.

Doc came in and chatted with Michael.

I stayed quiet until the doc asked if he ate a lot.

I shook my head.

Doc looked at me and said Mom is shaking her head, why is that?

I said He FORGETS to eat.

Doc: FORGETS?? I never forget to eat!~

Me: Yeah, me neither. (As is VERY evident when you see me!)

And I once again shut my mouth.

So I get at least ONE brownie point??

Told him on the way home, I was gonna drop him off and I was going shopping next time.

He's well enough I don't need to know what is going on.

Michael can tell me.

Shoppin' here I come!!

YEE HAA!!

Michael's and my conversation via IM

Micael says
better today?
K  says
well, so far I havent punched, ran over, screamed at, or killed anyone..............
so is that a plus for today?
Micael says
i would think that a good thing
K  says
and so long as i dont drink or eat anything hot, my tooth does not hurt.
or sweet
forgot and ate a mini dark choco bar and about died
or cold
so so long as food is mushy and luke warm i am good
tho if i have to drive that car too much farther, i will take it back to AS and drive it up someones ass.......
Micael says
are they swapping you out another?
K  says
they are scrambling to find another or i take my car back
and I am calling onstar to see if there is another servivce center i can use besides this worthless piece of so called service department at the dealership......
and so far today the worst word i have said is shit......so go me...
AS has one hour and 12 minutes to find another car...........
shall we make bets???
or maybe, MAYBE, they will have MY car fixed..........
any bets??
takers??


no bets so far.....

do you feel Michael's pain in talkin to me? see how I switch from one topic to another without warnin?

that happens in person too.

drives him up the screamin mimi wall.

some days, minutes, well, er, seconds we swap topics, like, uh, 12 times.......

and sometimes he doesn't even know it because i can come back to the original one in one breath...

yeah, i, eh, rattle off alot, sometimes about not much of anything....

just like on here.......

poor you guys and Michael......

NOT!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers!

Welp, I am unfit

Because I have a DUI in my past I am unfit to mentor to children.

Also because the school chose to turn me in to Department of Human Services because of a bruise on Laynee's leg because of 4 licks she got because she lied to me. I am unfit to mentor children.

But I am still in the running for Secretary/Treasurer at school.

Ironically, I am dropping all my classes this semester. And the funny part is that if I would finish these 3 classes I would have my associates degree.

But I have a teacher who will not work with me, will not answer my emails, and will not let me make up a test I  missed while Michael was in the hospital. All quizzes are 100% of the grade.

 I have a 3.7 average. I am not going to mess it up because the teacher is a jackass jerk. I will start over. He is supposed to be a great teacher in person. So we shall see what happens next semester.

Maybe I will take art classes instead.

I am too tired. I am worn out. I can't sleep. I'm about to explode at any given moment. I want a vacation.

Even work sucks.

What in the world was I thinkin??

Just put my name in for Secretary or Treasurer for the English honor society at school.

What in the world was I thinkin???

Also checked on volunteering for the Communities In School program for an hour a week mentoring a child.

What in the world was I thinkin???

Have I lost my mind???

What in the world was I thinkin??

The life and times of Jackson, in pictures

These all happened in no less than 10 minutes.

Honest. 

Jack staring out in to the back yard.

He did this for about five minutes.

I didn't know he could sit still this long.

Then all of a sudden out he goes!

Faster than a speedin bullet, and jumped all dogs in a single bound,

to get to this:

(ignore the screen lines, the back yard is NOT plowed)

This is what Jack sees. . .

(I see nuthin. . .)

 He comes barrelin back in with this. . .

A stick. . .

It must have moved in the dead grass. . .

A walkin dead stick. . .

He started to look out the window again but

decided to pant instead

Oh, aren't I cute?

Huh? Huh?

I know you put alllll this pillows up here just for me. . .

You wuvs me . . .

Cuz I's cute and I wuvs you too. . .

lots. . .

(Really he just found the breeze from the fan in the background.)

Hugs from all of us to all of you!

Michael is home

Michael told them at the hospital that either they could discharge him or he could walk.

Choice was theirs. They were through with tests so why was he there?

They discharged him tonite.

Winston is one happy happy dog.

He has not left Michael's side.

Start regular meds tomorrow and ARVs about a week and a half.

He has to finish antibiotics first.

Monday update

Well, I THINK all the tests have been run. Today was a lung biopsy and a bone marrow. Both extremely painful.

Spinal tap came back no minny gitis.

Prelim blood results came back no CMV, but we will have to wait for positive NO from bone marrow test.

He is going crazy because he does not feel sick, even though the tests say he should be in bed. He has lived this way so very long that this is the norm. One nurse told him she didn't know how he was doing so good because if she had all that he she would be in a ball crying.

Today he is still steady. It is weird, he went to the doc to get back on the meds and then we couldn't leave. Got stuck in a examining room for 8 hours because of all the counts. What should have been high was low, what should have been low was high.

I must admit that it scared the crap outta me. When docs look worried and concerned, it makes me worried and concerned. Yesterday, another ID doctor came in and explained so much stuff to me.

So that is all I have today.

Plus I think the auditor at work is gone. I think. No guarantees though.

Cheers my friends! Thanks so much for the prayers  and well wishes, and thoughts and all the good stuff that you good guyeses do.

update

Well when the REAL doctors finally came in today, the news was up lifting.

Hopefully he will be released Wednesday or Thursday. They just have to wait for prelim results to see which way to treat whatever it is that he has.

Update!

Talked to one the med students that is taking care of the kid is not expecting us to be in here for a very long time. The vampires have taken blood 7 times so far plus blood gases. X rat has been done. He's calling the docs Bert, Ernie and the sesame street gang so the snarky - ness is in full force. He is able to walk around, not on iv tie down. Right now it is a wait and see game.

Hugs and much love to all

Note from Michael

"effin hell. looks like bert, ernie and the sesame street posse are goinmg to be up my snuffleupagus for the duration of this visit. throat punches are inevitable."

so things sound normal from his state of mind. . .

Contact info for you guyses!

I need contact info for those of you who want me to write you back. I realized as I was sending personal notes to all who commented yesterday that some went back to no reply.........and then I couldn't find a way to contact you guyeses off of your blog. I do not have access to contact info from Michael. So if you send me contact info I will not publish it. And for those of you who did. I will remove that comment. I apologize. I was not thinking very well last nite.

I am at work at the moment, trying to catch up and then run to the hospital. Prolly for the weekend.
If you want to contact me here is my email: klaws256 at hotmail dot com.

I have nothing new to share so far. When I called him a bit ago the herd of docs had just walked in.

Hugs and kisses to all you guys! I have sent a special thank you to the Man upstairs for all of you and asked for special blessings for each and every one of you.

love and hugs,

Michael is going back on hospital

We are waiting for a negative air room to open up or get cleaned up. I do not know which. Joe Tcells are back down. 47 this year as opposed to 43 last year. Platelets are 15,000, viral load is over 1 million. X rays, bone marrow biopsy and other tests are being ordered while we wait. Internal medicine have been 3 times, 2 different docs and then the whole friggin team troops in with the same damn questions and same damn exam. Geese Louise get us up to the 7th floor already.

Will post more as I know it. Ask God to give us strength to get through this! And to restrain or hands and mouth! Michael is ready to pinch someone and rip them a new one!

Hugs!

Auditors!!

THE AUDITORS HAVE TAKEN OVER!!

Good grief I have forgotten what it is like to have auditors at work!

I came in yesterday and laid on the couch.

Crashed.

DIDN'T EVEN WATCH WHEEL OF FORTUNE!

Until 7, ate cereal for supper.

Laid on the couch til 9.

Crashed.

At nine, got up and went to bed.

THEN IT TOOK AN HOUR TO GO TO SLEEP!!

Geeze Louise!

Back again today.

But since Michael has to go to the doc tomorrow, then I will miss Mr. Auditor!!

At least he's nice.

Real sweet kid.

Sad to think anyone under 40 as a kid...

Man, I'm gettin old.

Dang auditor!

Along with wipin me out each and every day, he makes me feel my age!

Bleh.......

Won't see him til Monday afternoon.

So maybe by then I'll be over it, ya think??

Hugs!

WHEW. . . .

Well, the IT guys at school uploaded ALL Texas Politic classes at the beginning and have now UNloaded the ones that dint belong there! So life has slowed down for 8 weeks! WHEW!!

So I"m back on making my bags and baby blankets!!

Michael goes back to doctor on Thursday. Please remember him in your prayers or thoughts.

Hugs!