Free at Last....Free at Last!!!

Mickey got himself "unhooked" yesterday....and he couldn't be happier! His IV was taken out and he is no longer tethered to his fanny pack and antibiotics. YAHOO!!!!

Ready to Roll!

Knowing her father's history, we thought we'd get her accustomed to wearing safety gear!

Her future's so bright, she's gotta wear shades!

Ken, Hailey and I were running erands on Saturday. Ken asked for a pair of sunglasses. As I was cleaning his sunglasses, Hailey asked for a pair of sunglasses as well.
I handed her my sunglasses and she was able to get them on perfectly. The only staging was asking her for a big, toothy smile.

Somewhere over the Rainbow!

We had wild weather on Friday -- rain and wind and sun. I was working in the loft with my head down working on my laptop and/or conference calls. I happened to look up and saw a brilliant end-to-end rainbow right in front of the house. By the time I got (found) the camera, the rainbow had faded a bit. The photo doesn't do it justice, but it was still quite lovely.

I considered rowing out to the base of the rainbow to find the pot of gold!

The Cook

Poor Mickey....he's just 2 weeks out of the hospital and he's forced to cook. (Actually, I was gone all day and he was ready with a meal when I got home after 8pm....) WHAT A GUY!

For those counting, he is now 64% of the way through his daily IV antibiotic treatments.

It's officially here!

SPRING arrived today and not a moment too soon for many in the soggy Pacific Northwest. The day was gorgeous and there were spottings of the first trilliums in the woods (delicate little white lily-like flowers). I neglected to bring the camera, but this is too important of a measurement of the year to forget to acknowledge.
(Rain is forcasted for the next 10 days......but today, who cares!)

Yahoo!!! Spring is on it's way

It was a sunny, almost warm day that convinced us both to venture outside for a bit. Mickey took a break from the NCAA marathon and washed the cars (note his ever-present fanny pack) and I tackled a kiwi vine that's taken on a life of it's own in the last couple of years.

Yogi drank a bunch of soapy water and then somehow found a tennis ball in the garage and became totally obsessed and obnoxious. No picture taken...he's lucky he was allowed back inside for the night!

Hey, wait a minute...what's she doing inside while I'm outside?

Hailey came over to visit this afternoon (along with her parents). Fairly early into the visit, Yogi found himself on the wrong side of the door. Stubbs, Yogi and Hailey were all a bit put off by the circumstances. She's pretty close to figuring out how to open the door to let her friends in or get herself out!

Grandma, tell me again how cute & smart I am!

O'Yogi, after a few too many green biscuits

O'Yogi, our Irish Retriever, has had a few too many green biscuits today in honor of St Paddy's day. We've just sung "Oh Danny Boy" for the 10th time and are feeling a bit weepy.

Think we’ll have some more biscuits and beer.

MARCH MADNESS (and my winning game picking strategy)!

This is where we will find Mickey until April 3rd when the final NCAA Championship game is played. He and Ken take these games VERY seriously and get quite irritated when I complete a NCAA tournament pool and actually pick some winners.

Here’s my strategy – I pick at random, I pick the Catholic schools, I pick schools where I knew someone attended, occasionally, I pick based on the mascot. I don’t think I ever won the whole tournament…..but I’ve not been too far behind the experts (Mickey and Ken).

We’ll keep you posted on how we are all doing!

Joe's final tasking

One of Joe's must-do responsibilities every time he comes out for a visit is to clean up our computers (de-bug, de-spam, de-clog, de-etc) after we have messed with them since his last trip. As much as he’d like to get out from under the strain of this responsibility, he’s not getting out of it (we won't let him!). His only hope is that he has an IT prodigy (or two) at home waiting to take over the role of The Hall Family IT system administrator.

Here he’s trying to decide if Mickey’s laptop needs more memory. We only hope he puts all the pieces back together correctly before he leaves in an hour!

Ioka "TACO's"

Well, they aren't actually Taco's, but they are a special Hall Boys tradition -- flour tortilla shells fried up in hot oil that are then given to each person to add their own mixture of fixings like tomatoes, cheese, avocados, lettuce, onions, ground beef, refried beans and sour cream. This is a SERIOUS meal that takes intense concentration and an appetite! Joe managed to muscle through 3 for his farewell dinner before he gets on a red-eye heading for home.

Joe & his Grandmother, Florence

After Mickey's daily hospital 'refill', he and Joe stopped by Florence's house for a quick visit and a couple of hugs. She was surprised AND delighted to see one of her favorite grandson's!

Note the Stanford sweatshirt!

HFB's come to visit

My brother Hugh, sister-in-law Lucy, and one of their son's, James, came over from Seattle to visit for a few hours.

They brought a mountain of food and a bushel of great reading for the patient as he convalesces.

Visiting Hours at Ioka

Fiday night we had a couple of folks stop by to see how the patient was doing -- neighbors, George & Gretchen (along w/ their Bassett Hound, Harley), and soon to be neighbors, Fred & Melissa (currently living in Portland). We all had a little medicine (Jameson's Scotch or Champagne) to celebrate Mickey's continued and improving good health and the Ford's changing residence status.

You can see Harley resting comfortably on the dog bed (beside George), but Yogi is no where to be seen. He's probably under the table and being petted by as many people as possible.

Joe is working through his task list

The Oyster Harvest process

Oysters are gone from the beach

Diana, we are sorry to break the news. They have taken every single, beautiful, luscious, yummy oyster from our beach.

JUST KIDDING!...(we can hear the"OH NO" all the way from Hanover). We actually had the beach harvested to clean the beach and start anew. They had grown so thick that it was treacherous to walk through, Mickey had to clear a path for the dinghy and Yogi was constantly getting deep cuts in his paws when running on the beach. Several days ago at high tide, the Hood Canal Oyster Company dropped off about 20 large wire cages and then each day, at low tide, a couple of guys would show up and collect the oysters and get them ready for pick-up. This morning at about 7am we heard a boat 's engine VERY close to shore.....and for the next 90 minutes he scooped up the cages, stacked them ever so carefully on the deck, and then headed towards the distant shore.

Don't worry, they left the perfect ones we all so love, AND they will be back to seed for a new harvest that we will enjoy for years to come.

Joe is on his way to Ioka

Joe is coming out to Seattle to see us for a few days and make sure his Dad is on the mend. Generally while he is here, Joe and Mickey do all sorts of outside tasks and projects (new trails in the woods, drink some beer, etc.), with Joe acting as general supervisor. This time, since Mickey is a bit 'off his game', he will be acting general task manager. Here is a "Joe" list that's taped up to the refrigerator (along with pictures of Hailey, Lauren & Sarah; Hailey's first work of "art"; and, Mickey's daily hospital appointments). The JOE list includes:

• Replace a couple of light bulbs (I need an inch longer arm to complete on my own)
• tease Yogi
• weed thru the computer stuff and advise what can be discarded
• TIVO troubleshooting and analysis
• Discuss flat screen TV options and mounting hardware
• tease Yogi some more
• dig out a part of the culvert that's started to accumulate due to recent heavy rains
• eat any and all candy and sweets around the house
• drink some beer
• tell us EVERYTHING about his girls
  

Shades of northwest grey?

They are forecasting another storm this evening. That means a ton of rain, wind, and yuck. At one point today I looked out and there were a million shades of grey (notice how wet the deck is). I guess it's better than tons of the white stuff, but today I'm not so sure.
It was so miserable, even Yogi didn't want to go outside.
HOW MANY DAYS TILL SPRING?

Mickey's purse for the next 30 days

Mickey has a fanny pack with him 24/7 that feeds him antibiotics 4 times a day, for an hour (10am, 4pm, 10pm & 4am). It has a long skinny tube that's hooked from the bag that contains the 'juice' and feeds to the PICC line that enters through a vein located above his right elbow. During the hour the antibiotics are being pushed through his vein, the machine makes a quiet, rhythmic sound. It's rather soothing! Every day we go to the hospital to get a new bag of antibiotics and a check on the IV tube.

Prior to a shower, we wrap the arm with plastic and bandage tape to keep it as dry as possible. And that pack is always close by!

We were going to post a photo of the 8-10 inch scar on his right butt cheek, but it's a bit too obnoxious (and obscene!)

We settle in to a new schedule

Mickey's comment for the Blog -- "It's going to get pretty fucking boring around here". So, now we settle in to some sort of daily routine -- trips to the hospital for his IV refill; time for the pain to subside; deal with probable cabin fever; and, figure out how I can complete my must-do work w/out going into the office. Mickey is tired of seeing only his picture on the site, so here are our Oscar ballot's about half way through the telecast tonight ... along w/ his Vicodine medicine!

Back to normal (almost)

Just had dinner (supplied from some angels of Ioka)...Ken is visiting and all is well here. Mickey is EVER SO HAPPY that he is home.

Home, Sweet Home!!!!!

Mickey was sprung from the hospital today...finally! All the vitals continued to improve and as soon as the Doctor gave the discharge orders, we started prodding the nurses to do their stuff to allow us to leave. We finished with a meeting w/ the IV folks so he could be set up with a "fanny pack" size pump that stays with him 24/7 and administers the drugs on a regular basis (every 6 hours for an hour). We will need to go to the hospital for a refill EVERY DAY for the next 30 days.

Yogi's days at the neighbors

While Mickey's in the hospital, Yogi's been spending the days (and evenings) with the Carbone clan. Sounds like Yogi and Rowdy had some 'establishment of power' discussion yesterday, but all was well today. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Mary & Jerry.

I pick him up at the end of the day. He's still trying to decide the best way to profile while driving home in the Mercedes.

today.....

I spent 13+ hours at the hospital, just got home, am completely sober and I can't exactly tell you what all happened today!
Oh My! If I'm starting to lose it, I can only imagine what Mickey feels like.....
Here are the highlights -- heart is back in synch; no blood clots forming; moved again to another room; lot's of Doctor visits; several visitors; antibiotics protocol determined (IV for 4 weeks); PICC inserted in his veins (for the drugs); lots of blood drawn and 'vitals' measured; some quiet time together -- Mickey reading or trying to nap and me on the computer wading through work emails. A really long day and a really long hospital stay; Doctor says that IF heart cooperates and IF white blood count rises and IF temperature stays normal, he may allow him to come home on Saturday. That would be a good thing!

What an exhausting day!

Mickey had a busy day -- I got there at 5:45 for a visit (with latte and newspapers) before heading to Seattle for half the day. He met with 4 different doctors (plus George). An Infectious Disease Specialist (and an internist) to talk about this funky bacterium that’s wandering about his body; A Cardiologist because there was concern the bacteria could damage or weaken the heart valves; The Orthopedic Surgeon who handled the surgery (saying that perhaps he’ll be able to come home on Saturday); and, a radiologist for an Echo-Cardiogram. He was told his heart looked beautiful. HOWEVER, there was concern the heart’s pumping was ‘out of synch’ (there was a far more technical term!). They wanted him to be under Cardio care so he was moved to another floor – hence, a couple of the photos. Because of this irregularity, he was scheduled for a ZAP! (you know those paddles you see on TV? Similar to that, but less voltage). The nurses got him all hooked up to monitors and gave him a pill that was in preparation of the morning’s jolt. About an hour later she showed up and said his heart was now in perfect synch and the procedure would probably be cancelled. WHEW!

We ordered dinner, watched some TV and I left him to get some sleep. Hopefully his heart will continue to pump and flow perfectly and there will be no ZAPP-ing.

One last note…I picked up Yogi at the Carbone’s after he’d spent the last day & a half with them. He was not the nicest guest and got into a tousle with Rowdy. He was given a time-out but I doubt that did much to correct his behavior or attitude. Hmmmm….bad, Yogi, bad.

Carolers wandering the halls of Harrison Hospital?

I'm not sure I have adequate words to describe this photo! These two young nursing students transferred Mickey from one room to the next (I followed with the cart that held the flowers and clothes and misc junk he'd accumulated in 36 hours). When they finally banged their way into his new room we understood why hospitals look beat up well before they should.

They were at the end of their shift and then heading to the Boat Shed for a few drinks. We were invited, and seriously considered the offer.

Nothing, nothing, nothing to report tonight

The novelty, thrill and excitement of hospital living is already wearing thin. Here's what happened from noon on -- he took a stroll around the corridor; had his cousins, Bob and Chuck Huff, visit; got a few phone calls from well wishers; suffered through the nurses bugging him; got wrapped up in the bed sheets a hundred times; a work colleague and friend, Burt Cardell, stopped by; tried to order dinner (soup, fruit and milk) but they hadn't returned his call when I left about 45 minutes later; decided he was just going to try to sleep for as long as possible so he could be woken every 20 minutes throughout the night.

I was going to take a picture for the Blog tonight, but decided I might be pushing his thin veneer of humor.

The good news – his fever has subsided. They have identified the bacteria strain and now are growing a culture to get the correct antibiotics. I’ll be in early, early tomorrow morning before I head to Seattle for work. Yogi is having a sleep over at the Carbone’s. They have been wonderful about keeping Yogi these last few days while I’ve been away. (Now I need to clean the house in anticipation of the housecleaners coming tomorrow!)

He is one HOT (and then freezing) tomato

Mickey is feeling a little better, but still has worrisome spikes in temperature (105 last night) and major sweat sessions. They are pumping him full of antibiotics and fluids and he's eating a regular meal(and sharing those lovely, gourmet meals with his wife. YUM!). We both had major headaches yesterday and finally decided they were from lack of caffeine! (okay, so I guess they are right when they say it's an addictive substance).

I brought him a latte and the paper this morning. Ken, Stephanie and Hailey brought flowers and kisses. Hailey was a bit tentative seeing grandpa in bed and looking a little funny (more funny than normal). She got bored so she visited with the nurses and played with Mom. I went and got Florence and brought her over. Joe called and checked in. Whew...no wonder he's so tired!

We left him to try to get some sleep, if that's possible. I'll go over later for dinner and update if anything new happens.