LORETTA

Good News! Loretta went home from hospital today. She sounded much stronger when I talked to her and said she is feeling better.

LORETTA

Loretta is in the hospital in Warsaw. She has exacerbated COPD and Congestive heart failure. I talked to her today and she sounded very weak and too tired to talk longer than a couple of minutes. Keep her and Jimmy in your prayers.

STRANGER IN THE HOUSE

I woke up from a nap this afternoon...heard somebody holler and thought it was on the tv...which was on in the living room. But the third time I heard the yell...and could hear a commercial on tv...I decided to investigate! I walked out to the kitchen...over by the table...and....there was a strange man sitting in George's recliner.

He looked at me...like 'who are you'....and I said, "who are you...what are you doing in my house?" He said....well slurred, actually..."I'm Brian's nephew." It was pretty obvious to me that he was stone-cold drunk! To every question I asked, he answered that he was Brian's nephew. Evidently, he thought I should know Brian, since I was in Brian's house! It took me about ten minutes to convince him that Brian didn't live here....and perhaps he should check the house next door! After he left, I looked out the window (after locking the door behind him...kinda like the horse and the cart, right?) and there was a red riding mower in our yard and the grass had been very drunkenly mowed!

Now, believe me I was not as calm as this writing about it sounds. I was scared spitless! While I was calmly trying to convince him to leave, random thoughts flitted through my head...like...call 911...but maybe he'll get violent if I pick up the phone.....go out the back door to a neighbor...but there's no neighbor out back of us....It seemed my best bet was to stay calm and convince him he was in the wrong house.

About ten minutes after he left, he came back and got the riding mower. And maybe a half hour later, he was again mowing our lawn! But I had all the doors locked!

GOOD THURSDAY

This was a good week for Tammy at Shipshewana. The weather could not have been better. I had planned to go with her on Tuesday, but this old body just wouldn't cooperate. We made a little money...enough to pay the entrance fees for Three Rivers Festival.

We went out for dinner tonight with Teri and Anthony...we, means me, Tammy and Kadyn. We went to KFC...one I had never gone to. But, if you've been to one KFC buffet, you've been to them all. Dinner was very pleasant until Kadyn got tired....and loud....and didn't want to sit in his high chair anymore. Speaking of Kadyn....he got his first real haircut today. All his precious curls are gone and so are his baby looks. He looks like a little boy now...and the image of his mother!! He's talking more and more, even putting two words together. "want more" "stop dog" The cutest thing is when he comes up you and points to his rear end and says "poo"....he'll even go get his diaper. Sarah is starting to potty train him. She said today he was straining, so she asked him if he wanted togo to the bathroom and he pointed toward the bathroom and then ran in there...where he stood in front of the toilet and pulled his shirt up. Evidently he's seen his Daddy and big brother go. Then Sarah put him up on the big pot and he did go "poo".

When he comes over here, if I'm laying down...and I usually am...he will run into the bedroom and the first thing he does is grab my shoes and bring them to me. That tells me he wants me to get up! Then when he leaves, he has to tell everybody....and everything bye. Bye, dog...bye bird, bye television....I am besotted with that child!!! He is God's gift to my old age!!

RON AND PAULINE

Ron went home from the hospital today! It was amazing. Last Monday and Tuesday the nurses and doctors thought for sure he was dying. His doctor said the only chance he had was the surgery to put the tube in his neck into his windpipe. They did the surgery late Tuesday and by Wednesday afternoon, he had improved amazingly. I can only contribute it to the Power of Prayer.

He will be on oxygen at home at night and during the day whenever he gets short of breath and a home health nurse will come in to check on him. Pauline is ecstatic and is praising the Lord for his remarkable recovery.

MORE ON BROTHER IN LAW

My sister's husband, Ron, had the tracheotomy today. Pray that it will work and he can eventually be weaned off the ventilator.

Pauline said he seemed much better today and the doctor was more optomistic. Good news!

Pauline update

On Saturday, 6/7, Ron, Pauline's husband, was transferred from the hospital in Warsaw to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne.
In Warsaw, he was taken off the ventilator (life support) and became so distressed, the doctor told Pauline he wouldn't live more than 6 hours if they didn't put him back on life support. So, they did and then sent him by ambulance to Fort Wayne "because they have better equipment and doctors" Pauline was told.

Pauline called me and asked me to be there when the ambulance arrived since she could not get there until later. Tammy and I were at the hospital when the ambulance arrived. We talked to the doctor, lung specialist..who told us Ron would need a tracheostomy. He had just finished talking to us when Pauline and Rhonda with her husband Bill, showed up. So the doctor went all through it again. The doctor said a lot of things...mainly that nobody could know for sure if Ron will live or not...but definitely not without the trach.

Monday, Pauline got to the hospital after the doctor had been and gone. She found Ron very swollen, clammy and running a temperature. Pauline became very agitated and the nurses called the doctor to come back and talk to her. Again, the doctor told her he wasn't God...and could not tell her for sure if Ron will live or not, even with the trach....but the trach is his only chance. He is having the trach put in this afternoon. I will go to the hospital to be with Pauline for this.

Pauline is understandably upset and worried sick. She keeps saying she wishes they had never put Ron on life support. He had filled out a living will a couple years ago stating he did not ever want to be on life support.

I'm not sure if Warsaw hospital asked her ahead of time...when she first took Ron to ER...or if they just went ahead and put him on the ventilator. But on Saturday morning when they removed it, they did give her a choice. Did she make the right decision? I don't know. It was against Ron's stated wishes, yet, in the crisis and the emotions of the moment, she chose life support. She says she thought it was only temporary and they could reverse the effects of the sleep apnea and he could be taken off the ventiator successfully.

So...how important is it that we fill out a living will if our family, in a high stress emotional moment can opt for the life-support?

Personally, given the information she had, I think she made the right decision. The doctor thought...or let her believe anyway...that the ventilator was only a temporary measure. I'm sure most of us would choose life support if there was a chance we could get well. Say, if you had pneumonia and there was a chance of curing it with the help of a ventilator. I know I don't want to be on life-support if there's no chance I'll be well again, but if it's merely a tool to make you well, of course you should use it.

Pauline

Last night Pauline's husband, Ron, was taken to ER because he stopped breathing. He's been treated for sleep apnea for the past year or so. Last night about 8 he fell and Pauline couldn't get him up so she called a friend who called 911. When he got to the hospital they put him in ICU on a ventilator. The doctor tells her its touch and go whether he makes it or not. Tomorrow morning they will try to wean him off the ventilator. If he can't breathe on his own, then Pauline will have to decide whether or not to put him back on the ventilator.
I don't know much about sleep apnea, but Pauline said the doctor said Ron inhales but doesn't exhale...and the carbon dioxide has built up in his body.

Pauline is a wreck. Ron has been her whole life. She's not even close to her children. She says she doesn't know what she will do, both emotionally and financially, if she loses Ron. I just feel so sorry for her but all I can do is pray for them both.

OBAMA

Well, it looks like Barack Obama will be the democratic candidate for president, which means he will probably be president. I just can't see our country voting in McCain, who echoes President Bush's policies. With the war, gasoline prices and the downturn of our overall economy, I can't see a Republican, any Republican...winning again.



I have listened to Obama's speeches. I have to say he's very inspiring. But, what are his real beliefs? I haven't heard anything specific from him as to his policies. Yeh, our country is ready for a change....but it must be a change TO something better.



At the risk of sounding racist, which I really hope I'm not, I ask myself....is our country ready for a black president. More that that, are our black citizens ready for a black president? I have some fears about that. I have had a few black people whom I could call friends. Yet, when these same people got in a crowd with other black people, they turned militant...even towards me. Its my opinion that black people don't want equality...they want dominance.



My compassion for black people only goes so far. I did not, nor did my ancestors, own slaves. In fact, my people were so poor they probably wished they were slaves so they would at least know where their next meal would come from. When I was in Florida for a few months in the late 50's, I did feel very sorry for black people. It wasn't right that they had to drink from a separate water fountain in the drug store where I worked...or use a separate bathroom. Or sit on the back of a bus, or give up their seat on the bus to a white man. But they don't have those problems anymore. Today, Blacks and whites work side by side on assembly lines, making the same pay. I do wish and hope we eventually get the poorest schools on a par with the schools in more affluent areas....for both blacks and whites. I don't think the school inequality is a race problem, I think it's a poor people problem.



Anyway, my point here is that I believe black people should just get over the slave issue. That was 150 years ago. It happened and it's too bad. We can wish it didn't but we can't undo it. But blacks are still hostile to whites. Oh, not one on one...but in groups they feed on each other's inner hostilities and resentment. I worry that this militancy will escalate under a black president.

I also have problems with a man going to a church for 20 years and having a close friendship with the minister...and can still say he doesn't subscribe to that minister's beliefs! If I don't agree with what is being preached from the pulpit, you better believe I'm going to find another church that reflects my own beliefs.

All we can do is pray. Pray that Obama will be a good christian leader. Pray that race relations will improve..not get worse. Pray that our economy will improve. Pray for all the people who are losing their homes to foreclosure.

GARDEN

I am so frustrated. I want to plant two or three tomato plants near my back deck, but can't get anybody to dig it up for me...get rid of the weeds, etc. Last year Jimmy, my brother, tilled it for me but with the cost of gas, he and Loretta seldom even come to Fort Wayne and I can't blame them.

So, this morning I took my handy little hoe...really a tiny thing for house plants....in hand and went to work. By the time I had a ..maybe...one foot square area cleaned out, I thought I was gonna pass out, but I persevered and dug a hole and planted one tomato plant. That might be all I get planted this year, but at least it's something. By the time I was finished, I was so exhausted, I couldn't stand up. I crawled over to the steps and sat there for about ten minutes, until I was able to make it back into the house. But at least I'll have a few fresh tomatoes later this summer!!

I still have two more tomato plants and thinking maybe I'll get some potting soil and plant them in big pots. I did that a few summers in Michigan and got a few small tomatoes off the plants.

On second thought, maybe tomorrow I'll try to clear another small area and plant a couple of cucumber plants.

Random

We didn't go to Shipshewanna because rain and thunderstorms were forcast for all day today...and guess what...it didn't as much as sprinkle. We consoled ourselves by saying that perhaps there wouldn't be many people at Shipshewanna because they all thought it was going to storm!

Poor Sarah! She and Kadyn, with a girlfriend and her daughter, went to Indy children's museum today. On the way home she said a police car was behind her, following her for several miles before finally pulling her over. He told her she had crossed the centerline! Then asked if she had any "drugs" in the car. She said no. He asked if he could use a dog to check and she said ok.
By this time, there's four police cars pulled over behind her, and she panics. The policeman kept asking her what was wrong, what she was acting so guilty over. She tried to explain she was just nervous...and said..."just look at this...its like a Cops Gone Wrong episode."

Sarah told the officer that she has not smoked dope in over two years...so they won't find anything. But they brought out this puppy lab and played with him with a tennis ball...and said he had a "hit". Sarah said that was impossible.

Then he picked up a handful of dirt off the floor of the car and said "this is 'shake'. Sarah said no, its dirt!

Then he asked her why her girlfriend was so 'relaxed' and mellow. Sarah said thats just the way she is...she's mellow and I'm hyper, that's why we're good friends!

He told her they'd had a call-in from someone who said there were two girls in a car just like hers smoking dope...and he had to follow her until she made some mistake before he could pull them over. He gave her a ticket for crossing the center line and told her the really thinks they were smoking dope with those babies in the car, but couldn't prove it.

What a crock! Sarah was so upset. She knows she didn't do anything wrong...but four police cars! and to still be accused of smoking dope in her car when she won't even smoke cigarettes in it when Kadyn is with her! That was pure and simple police harassment. Sarah thinks they were training the dog!

Tammy brought Grant over...my little Buddy Boy....and I had him giggling out loud. I stood him on the table and he loved it! But...tammy went outside to smoke...and I went over to pick him up....he took one look at me and screamed! He thought he had been left alone with this old lady. As soon as Tammy came back inside, he was fine.

Thats all from the Wussles house today.

first post

I'm going to try this and hope people read it. But then again, I might bore them to death. How interesting can it be reading about the lives of three elderly people?

Today was Sunday and it was very quiet. After church, I stayed home and worked on jewelry. Joe and George went to the OTB ... Off track betting parlor, where they go every day except Monday and Tuesday when it's closed.

This past week Tammy went to Shipshewanna Monday, Tues and Wed. I went with her on Monday. Sales were quite brisk up until 2 pm when there seemed to be a mass exodus. I enjoyed the day even though I got very tired and had to lie down in the car for an hour. And the bathroom was too far away for me. My cousin Alta went with Tammy all three days and was a great help to her. She plans to go again this Tues and Wed, but the weather forecast calls for rain Tues, so she might not go. I'll try to go on Tues if she does, God Willing.