Week end, May 29-31

To all of the blog junkies out there, I apologize for not updating sooner. I hope I didn't cause you too much stress. Friday, Mr. Bichler was discharged from Madison County Hospital, armed with some heavy-duty antibiotics for the UTI which is believed to be the culprit of this latest hospitalization. We have a follow-up appointment on Wednesday and I assume we will find out the results of the many blood cultures that were taken last week. Although, he seems very fatigued, he is so glad to be back home. Mike and his construction crew put the finishing touches on the garage and it is a real beauty. Saturday, we visited two of the graduation open houses that we were invited to and Mr. B had a great time visiting and eating. Wade and Devan both had his very favorite strawberry filled cake. Not sure what we will do today. It is Graduation Sunday at our church and the hand bell choir is playing. I still have some mulching to do around the front of the house but other than that I think I have things pretty well caught up. Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers during this last brief hospital stay. We would also like to congratulate all of the new graduates and wish them continued success in the future!! We ended up going to dinner at York, a birthday dinner compliments of our friend Sharon. Saw quite a few people from West Jeff and one special young lady named "A".

Thursday, May 28

This morning I talked to the doctor and Mr. Bichler's white blood cell count was finally getting down close to normal. However, his temperature spiked again several times through the afternoon but the doctor still thinks the antibiotics are working and by morning they hope to switch him over to oral antibiotics and send him home. Hopefully, by tomorrow afternoon we will be back home recovering once again.

Wednesday, May 27

Well, things aren't going quite as we had planned...so what else is new? This morning when I arrived at the hospital Mr. B was being wheeled down for chest x-rays. Took me by surprise as I thought he was being treated for a UTI but evidently his temperature spiked early this morning to 103 and now the doctors are worried that there may be another underlying infection somewhere else. So they are trying to rule out pneumonia, heart problems and they have sent blood and urine cultures to try to isolate the culprit. Unfortunately, some of these tests take several days to reveal anything. I hope to see the Dr. in the morning to get more information. I did go to work (yes it is work because I get a pay check!) at the Girl Scout Camp after checking in on Mr. B at the hospital. We had a group of 1st graders today signed up to do creeking, fishing and pond study. I helped with the fishing. We had a great time and caught one large mouth bass, about 12 inches long, at least seven times. He evidently really had a taste for the hot dogs that we were using for bait. The kids had a great time and the rain held off until the bus pulled out of the parking lot.

Tuesday, May 26

Well just when it seems all is right with the world something unexpected happens! After a great weekend and good beginning to Tuesday, I returned home from the zoo to find Mr. Bichler not feeling very good. I took his temperature and it was 101.8. After talking with his Doctor at OSU he suggested I take him to the ER, suspecting a urinary tract infection. We went to the ER at Madison Co. around 5 pm and I got home around 10:30. Mr. B was admitted and is getting IV fluids as well as antibiotics and motrin for the fever. When I left he was already feeling so much better. Hopefully, he will get home by Thursday morning. He is looking forward to a dinner date with the 5th grade teachers from Norwood and already informed the doctor that he has to be home.

Friday, May 22

Not sure what I was thinking when I signed up to do a tour in May. There were no less than 100 of those big yellow buses in the parking lot when I got there. The school group was late and appeared to arrive without anyone in charge. They came in and immediately dispersed into the already busy and crowded court yard. We finally salvaged enough to piece together several groups of the remaining students. Evidently, the parents in the groups didn't get the memo that 10 docents had been requested to give them a tour to talk about animal classifications, adaptations, life cycles and habitats. My group of about six 3rd grade boys, 4 parents and a stroller headed into the North America region We stopped at the swans, talked about the pronghorn and how they are the fastest land mammal in North America and then on to the otters and bald eagles. At the eagles we lost one of the boys, 10 minutes later we found him with another group. Romeo evidently didn't want to be in my group. We crossed the train tracks and were in the wolverine cabin when we were told that the toddler that I assumed was in the stroller was missing. I was minutes from calling security to report a missing child before the parents came back with said child. The toddler was located back at the otters. I hurried through bears, cougars, wolves and moose and got them to the picnic area and wished them a good day at the zoo and headed the opposite direction. I would be surprised if they actually get back to school with the same number of students that they came with! When I got home Andy was enjoying a visit from one of our neighbors. I was so glad to see Mr. B having such a nice time. Tomorrow we may check out the flea market on S. High, just for the fun of it!! Happy Memorial Day Weekend.

*Pictures are at the battlefield of the Little Bighorn where Gen. George Custer and his men were killed and buried. Gen. Custer was later moved and now lies at West Pointe.

Thursday, May 21

A long, busy day today. Mr. Bichler did double duty today. He had his usual therapies in the morning from 9-11:15. We had lunch and then he had to be back at 1:15 for a group therapy. I didn't go with them but I guess they rode the bus to Dodd Hall and completed a scavenger hunt at OSU. Mr. B said he did lots of walking. They had to find the Oval and Mirror Lake just to name a few. When I picked him up at 4 he was definitely worn out. His therapist said he did really good so he was pretty satisfied. Tomorrow he can rest while I am giving a tour at the zoo to a group of 3rd graders! I'm excited, it's my first tour this year.

Wednesday, May 20

Not much to report today. We went to see Gary Jainshig and he still is not looking well. He was still in his room, not in his usual seat policing the dining room and checking out all entering visitors. After lunch we finished planting the sweet corn and started working on getting our pool open. That may take some time. Hope everyone is enjoying this lovely weather!