THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER : VOLUME 66 MAY 2011
Dear Readers,
As predicted the boys stretched the installation of my new bathroom floor from my birthday to Mother's Day, when Josh installed the tack strip between the hall carpet and bathroom tile. They did a beautiful job and I am thrilled with the new look. I fully expected this to be a combo birthday/ Mother's Day Gift. However, when I mentioned to Sean that I was considering purchasing a garden arbor he immediately suggested that it would be a great Mother's Day gift from my kids: so thanks to all of you who contributed whether in labor or dollars!I expected the boys to pick up a pre- made one but they decided to design and construct the arbor themselves. I was convinced that this would probably be finished in time for Christmas but to my amazement Josh and Sean put the whole thing together on Mother's Day. Bryn arrived with a post hole digger a couple of weekends later and he and Josh cemented it in place. Eventually I plan to stain it to match the deck.
For Mother's Day my metro kids put together a wonderful barbecue lunch that we were able to enjoy on the deck – they all made numerous side dishes too and Coryn actually made baked beans from scratch and they were really good! I think she might be a late blooming cook like Julia Child - remember that woman didn't start cooking until she was menopausal. The kids bought one of my favorite desserts: ice cream cake. There was plenty left over, clogging up the freezer as your dad put it- so he decided to clog up his arteries as he consumed slice after slice to free up the freezer.!
After lunch the boys began work on the arbor. Coryn had arranged for me to be safely out of their way at the Spa for part of the afternoon – then she and Jeremy took me for a walk around the Arboretum and to a large lawn and garden center so that I could shop for some more plants for my garden – Norm's present to me.
I am writing this portion of the newsletter in your dad's hospital room at KUMed. When doing inpatient video monitoring for seizure activity they require a family member or friend to be with the patient 24/7. It's definitely a great help to have so many children available whether it be through their physical presence or calls of support. Marc flew in on Monday morning to spend the first couple of nights with Norm and they seemed to be great roomies. Norm's snoring didn't bother Marc and Norm was oblivious to Marc's nocturnal bathroom visits. Since your dad didn't get admitted until 7:30 pm that Monday Coryn and Norm picked Marc up and enjoyed lunch together at a Cracker Barrel. I elected to stay home and plant a clematis to grow up my new arbor.
On Tuesday I arrived at the hospital late in the morning and since they were still attaching electrodes to your dad's scalp Marc and I decided to eat lunch across the street from the hospital at some place called Jazzy's – recommended by Bryn. I should have known it would be a dive. It has a New Orleans flavor to the food and décor – post Katrina. I could smell the musty dankness of a building with a water problem and lighting so dim that you couldn't see the water stains that I suspected were all over the floors and walls. But the food was pretty good, although I had to take most of it to go and it went straight to Norm when we got back to the hospital as his lunch hadn't arrived and he was starving!The most special thing about our lunch though was that Marc insisted on paying!
Wednesday morning was very wet and overcast and by the time I was ready to head to the hospital we were under a tornado warning. I tried to call the hospital on both my land line and cell phone but neither worked. I grabbed my purse and headed to the basement where I watched the tornadoes blowing ever closer to me on the big screen TV. Your dad actually managed to call me , advising that I stay home and not to come to the hospital as everyone was being evacuated to the basement. I could only imagine the chaos for the hospital staff having to move all those patients and visitors. Of course many of the patients were probably hooked up to huge pieces of medical equipment like your dad. Once the tornado passed over my neighborhood I decided to follow it up I35 to the hospital and found myself trapped in torrential rain, actually hydro- planeing for a moment. I arrived at the hospital at about the same time Norm was returned to his room. Actually Marc seemed far more upset about the experience of being crammed into a basement area with strangers than your dad. He declared it horrid.
One great side effect of all the morning's excitement was that it seemingly primed your dad for an Oscar worthy performance for his small screen video debut. A technician had your dad stand by the bed and step in place and soon the physical exertion had him seizing. The technician had never seen such a performance. Soon nurses were popping in and out hoping to catch an encore. Coryn orchestrated this by arriving with a bag of fish sandwiches and french fries. Once your father was sated she had him walking the length of his twenty foot cord which kept him tethered to the equipment. He soon went into his spells which greatly intrigued his nurse who bemoaned the fact that she wouldn't be working the next day to catch another show.
Whilst this was going on I was driving Marc to the airport to catch his evening flight back to LA and on my return home I was again caught in torrential rain which made it almost impossible to see the signs for the various interstates I needed to take – and I don't see well at the best of times! Thank goodness for the voice of my GPS which guided me home. Sean had volunteered to spend the night with Norm so he took over from Coryn and stayed with him until I returned the next morning – driving through rush hour traffic so that Sean could get to work.
Norm was scheduled for a tilt test that morning – something that has already been done in the past and I frankly considered it a waste of time but for once I was wrong. A cardiologist had been called in for a consult as they noticed some problem – I explained that he had undergone cardiac testing the previous month but the results were fine. They suspected another problem which they thought might be detected by the tilt test.
When Norm was returned from the test. I asked him how it had gone and he said fine, nothing happened just as in the previous tests. Another waste of tax payers money I said to myself. Early in the afternoon a couple of cardiologists came in and asked your dad how he had done. He thought he'd done just fine but the doctors informed him that he had actually passed out during the procedure and had what they assumed was a seizure. They said his blood pressure had rapidly fallen very low whilst his heartbeat had failed to increase from its preset pacemaker rate. Norm had no recollection of having passed out. They said they were going to reset his pacemaker to a higher heartbeat rate and a quicker response time if it should drop. They also decided to put him back on a beta blocker but said there was little they could do to rectify his blood pressure that swings from extreme highs to extreme lows very rapidly upon any exertion. They recommended a wheelchair and helmet to guard against falls. They also recommended having your dad sleep virtually upright and eating a high salt diet – the later eagerly embraced by Norm of course. The rest of the ideas were not as appealing although he does of course use his wheelchair most of the time now when out of the house and does wear a helmet when he drives the lawn mower around the yard but that activity is probably no longer advisable.
The technicians that came later in the day to reset his pacemaker were the same ones that had performed his test earlier and they were very surprised that he had no recollection of some of the events. They seemed to find the situation very intriguing too.
Coryn arrived with Chinese take out for supper, hoping that a subsequent walk would result in Act Two for the camera , which it did. Josh came by after work for awhile too and Bryn spent the night as he had Friday off work. Sean drove to the airport to pick up Leslee while I drove home to enjoy some peace and quiet with the cats. The kids arrived back at the house at about eight thirty starving for supper so I quickly whipped them up some cheese omelets. Grocery shopping was not something I had time for! Leslee and I washed our hair that night to save time in the morning – figuring we could sleep in until rush hour was over since Bryn didn't have to leave for work.
Friday found Norm very excited to see Leslee who can always be counted on to keep things lively..She and Bryn escaped for awhile to have lunch together at some new Mexican restaurant while your dad I ordered room service. As always your dad spent a lot of his hospital stay studying the menu and trying to order cookies for breakfast – he was denied! Late in the afternoon we learned that the doctors had captured enough episodes and were going to discharge him on Saturday morning. They have diagnosed him with Dysautonomia which basically means that his autonomic nervous system is no longer working properly and thus causing many of his problems. Unfortunatelt there is no cure, We will learn more about the seizures in a few weeks when they have had time to study the video and brain waves.
Josh picked up food for Norm and Leslee that night while I drove home hoping for a good nights sleep before your dad returned. I picked him up early Saturday morning and Leslee was thrilled not to have to spend another night in the hospital on a small sofa bed. She too was able to induce seizure activity in your dad for the camera so the neurologists must have plenty of footage to analyze.
Unfortunately your dad seems to be having more not less episodes since the changes have been made to his pacemaker and medications so hopefully the doctors will be able to adjust things again when we see them in a few weeks. We were back at KUMed yesterday for a follow up at the Alzheimer clinic and blood work in preparation for his trip to the urologist for his prostate cancer next week.
I will be enjoying a break for a few days as I head back to Fort Madison for a long weekend June 10th. Evelyn Wenke's daughter Sarah is being married so I want to be there for that and it will be a great chance to hopefully see many of my friends. I’m going to stay with my friend Becky Clay for a couple of nights and then I'll spend Sunday night with Mary and Mike Brockman. I shall get to see Elizabeth and Brent's new house and my beloved Mia and Drew. Lunch at The Ivy too I hope!
In other family news Claudia recently made her First Communion, Ming Jon made his first trip to London and your dad attended his first social event held by Brits International. This was just before he was hospitalized. Unfortunately I had suggested a picnic at a previous meeting and the idea was eagerly acted upon by our group leader but for some inexplicable and definitely not in true blue blood fashion he decided to have the picnic at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning that barely made into the fifties. We were all huddled in our winter coats and blankets and not a cup of tea to warm us! I can see I need to be more involved – as you know children Mother is never reticent to assume a leadership role!
Just think this time next week I shall be streaking my way to Iowa in my trusty Ford Focus, burning rubber and cranking up Adam Lambert! Don't you wish you could make the road trip with your Mother?
Love, your on the road again Mom.
