I had a wonderful time in North Carolina! Talk about a beautiful area I was in Wow!!! Streets all lined with big beautiful trees and azalea bushes in full bloom everywhere one looked! Not a weed in the area!
I went to the largest flea market I have ever been to. I couldn't even buy anything there as there was just too much "stuff" to look at!!! Sheila calls it "eye candy". My hosts were wonderful!!! Rick's folks took absolutely wonderful care of him along with the home care workers and Jake and Val. Rick says that he missed me so very very much (he has to say that) LOL!!!
We have been going out for walks and unfortunately he is having a very difficult time learning how to steer with his sip and puff. Yesterday, I ended up steering his chair for him as we walked. The controls are all backwards now...hard to teach an old dog new tricks! Just about ran over my foot a few times but I managed. I tried to get him on the lift in the van for the first time since last fall so we could go for a little ride. That never materialized as Rick just got too overwhelmed with it all as he has lost control of steering the wheelchair accurately now. Because his breathing is so bad anything that is stressful just adds to the difficulty in his breathing. We decided we would wait till he is more rested and another day to make another attempt at it.
Because he no longer can use his hands or legs he is feeling extremely vulnerable and it makes it very hard to do anything much outside of our suite. We are fortunate that there is a handi transit van that is available locally that we will have to use from time to time. We do have some events that Rick and I are involved in. We have tried to stay involved as much as possible. Making our own little dent in the world.
Rick and I will be making a presentation at the Whitemouth School ALS Walk kickoff this Friday afternoon and then at Reynolds School the following week. We are in the process of setting a date to meet the students in Beausejour School also. Our ALS Whitemouth Walk is on Friday, May 14th and leaves from the Whitemouth School. Reg starts at 9:30 am and leaves between 10:30-11:00am. Everyone is welcome!
Katie and Tia's 2nd Anual ALS Fundraising Garage Sale is next Saturday, May 8th. That should be a great time. It will be held on the yard from 9:00 to 4:00 pm. If you have anything you want to donate to this sale please do let us know email rfewster@mts.net. Everyone is welcome to this as well! We will be selling hotdogs, coffee, chili and I am sure you will see Katie running around trying to sell some lemonade! To her you can't have a garage sale without lemonade!!!!
Jake will be hooking up Rick's sip and puff for his bed soon as he can no longer use the bed controls, tv controls as well as hooking up the bipap unit for the wheelchair. I am his remote control for bed and tv right now! You could say Rick really knows how to push my buttons! When you phone it takes us forever to answer as I have to run and get the headset to put on Rick so he can speak. Usually he has his bipap on so then I maneuver the headset over the bipap...so nothing happens too fast!!!
Some of the things that really have brought some tears to my eyes is while I was washing the car and thought about the fact that he will never be able to sit in it or drive it again or us go for a drive in it. We always loved going for long drives together! I will never feel his arms around me. He can't hug me anymore...that is a big one! He has to call me over and tell me he wants to kiss me. He can no longer just do that on his own! He can never write me a note with his own handwriting...the cards I get are now signed by others! Last year he wrote me pages and pages so I would always have them from him!
In all that I am so happy that we have each other. He tells me over and over that he can't believe how good I am to him as a wife and how good I have taken care of him! I am so happy that he is so appreciative of me and that I bring him joy, care and love in his life! I just never want to look back down the road and feel I didn't do enough for him....that will probably happen anyway but at least I am trying to minimize that as much as possible.
We are so very happy that this spring has come with such wonderful weather and we have had so many birds fluttering around the feeder outside our window. Anyone knowing Rick knows he loves watching the birds! He takes after his mom for that. Amazing how the little things continue to be a source of one's daily joy! It is no longer the years but the days that we rejoice in!
We have todays for now and for that we are so grateful!!!
