Playing with the New Cameras

Cassie and I are having fun using our new cameras. Here's a shot of both of us taking photos of our shadows! This was taken in the parking lot at Lancaster Manor.

She's been busying snapping shots of the landscape as we drive by, of other vehicles, of buildings. There are shots of me driving, Mark driving, her feet, her blankie on the next seat, her books, and her backpack. You name it, we now have a photo of it.

I've been practicing too. Turns out my camera has a setting called DM which allows me to get microscopically close to an object and take a clear photo. Maybe this is one way I can read the small print on my medicine bottles...

Here's a shot of the photographers at the library after closing time.

Another Lost Tooth

Cassie lost another tooth Monday night!

This one took a long time to wiggle loose and the last couple of days it was difficult and painful for her to eat.

We carefully wrapped it in a tissue and put it beneath her pillow. The Tooth Fairy left a quarter.

Here's a photo she took of herself Monday night with her new camera.

Another Busy Week

Ran a bunch of errands on Mon and Tues but really got nothing accomplished. Don’t ‘ya hate when that happens?

Wednesday, Cassie and I visited Betsy at Lancaster Manor after work.

Thursday a girlfriend and her hubby were in town from Las Vegas - Kathy’s oldest daughter was getting married in Omaha. Cassie and I met Jim and Kathi at Tico’s for supper, and her other daughter, Loray, Loray’s son Robbie, and her boyfriend were able to join us as well. Cassie ran out of gas at 7:30pm so I had to make a short night of it. Got the little girl home and right to bed; she was asleep before I left the room.

Friday I’d originally planned to visit Betsy again. But we’d had such a busy week and we were going to see Betsy on Saturday anyway to get a universal remote and a clock for her room, that I decided at the last minute to skip Friday night. So Cassie and I went to Valentino’s at 70th & Van Dorn for supper.

We like that location best because there are several buffets to chose from, not solely an Italian Buffet like at the Holdrege Street location. We happily helped ourselves to the Kids Buffet (me – I love the corn dogs!), the Pasta Bar, the Salad Bar, the Pizza Bar, the Seafood Bar, the Chinese Bar, the Dessert Bar. I also nabbed for her a purple balloon that we tied to the back of her chair. So we were happily munching along.

Then brother Scott called to say Mom was on her way to the ER at St. E’s. We finished our desserts and headed over. I called Mark and he left his part-time night job to pick up Cassie and put her to bed. I sent Scott home since he’d been up since 3am (he works the early shift at the Target warehouse) and he still needed to eat his supper. So it was just me and Mom all night in the ER. They decided to admit her, and I got home at 1am. Long story short, she had an episode of atrial fibrillation. Meds were adjusted and I was able to take her home on Saturday. Also hit National Pharmacy to pick up her prescriptions.

Then Cassie and I visited Betsy at Lancaster Manor. I got the Universal remote to accept the TV in Betsy’s room (or maybe it's the other way around?), showed her how to use it, and left her a clock. We also ran several errands.

Sunday Cassie and I got donuts from LaMars. After breakfast we hit Best Buy for a new digital camera. My Canon PowerShot A530 died and it was time for a new one. Problem is I just can’t get my head wrapped around all the techie stuff. I don't understand aperture, ISO, resolution, pixels, optical zoom vs digital zoom, so I just buy a camera I can put on Auto. I came home with a Canon PowerShot SD 790 IS Digital ELPH (10 megapixels) on sale. I’m currently reading the manual. Best of all it's a rechargeable camera - no more running through tons of AA batteries.

I also bought Cassie a camera. The little stinker knew how to use my other digital camera so I decided what the heck. The $20 Hannah Montana models or $40 High School Musical things were pieces of crap. So I got her a $70 Insignia (7 megapixels!) in bright pink. She knows how to take a picture, zoom in and out, look at the photos she’s taken, delete what she doesn’t like, and change the batteries (yeah, I'm still buying AA batteries for a camera...sigh). So we’ve had fun taking photos together, and taking photos of each other taking photos of each other.

Also visited Betsy again, checked on Mom, washed the van, went through tons of paperwork, and did lots of laundry.

I had to go to work on Monday just to rest up!

Cassie's Bday Party

Cassie enjoyed her birthday party.

I worked that weekend so her party was held at 6:30 at Mom's. This year she wanted a giant cookie with the Disney Princesses on it instead of a regulation cake. I had Mark and Cassie pick up her cookie (and Hy-Vee managed to misspell her name!), and get the paper plates, cups, and napkins - Hannah Montana, Disney Princesses, and High School Musical of course. Sigh.

She was very excited about her gifts: "Uno" card game with Hannah Montana on the design, several books, "Wall-E" dvd, a couple of music cds (Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, shudder), and a craft kit to make garden stones (from Uncle Scott). We make and decorate our own stones and then put them in the garden plot in front. Right away Sunday morning Cassie wanted to begin work on the stones.

But even through the excitement, fun, and joy of Cassie's birthday, I always think of her birth parents and the heartbreaking decision they had to make. They will never know how she's doing, what country she's in, and in general what kind of person she's turning out to be. They will never see her smile, feel her hug, smell her hair, hear her laughter, receive her handmade projects, or hear her say, "I love you Mommy." Well-meaning, but ignorant, people say to us that we did a wonderful thing by adopting her. And sometimes they say this in front of Cassie! But in truth Mark and I are the lucky ones.

A Rough Week

Most of this week I spent at home sprawled on the couch. I returned to work on Tuesday but shouldn't have. By Friday I was much better and returned to work. Unfortunately due to my own illness and taking time off for Betsy, I'm now 9+ hours Leave Without Pay on this time sheet.

Lab results came back and I don't have C-Diff or salmonella or any other of a host of things they checked for. Just a really bad case of the stomach flu. Really bad. Really. Bad. Really.

We planned to celebrate Cassie's birthday on Saturday, but since I was down all week I hadn't done any shopping on behalf of me or Mom. So Friday night Cassie spent the evening at Grma's while I quickly hit Toys R Us, Barnes & Noble, Target, etc with list in hand. There's not a Ken doll to be found in Lincoln, that's all I can say. Luckily Toys R Us and B&N pulled some items that I wanted and held them for me so I just had to swing in and out. (Yeah, like I can ever just pop into B&N...)

Earlier this week Betsy was moved from Bryan LGH East to Lancaster Manor. She's not happy about that and finds fault with everything. Friday she was taken to Bryan LGH West complaining of chest pains and difficulty breathing; they chose to admit her.

Mark's Mom is still having a rough time of it but has finally returned from the Norfolk hospital to the nursing facility in Verdigre. She's also convinced she gave C-Diff to Cassie who then passed it on to Betsy, so she's refusing to see Cassie to prevent spread of disease to anyone else. This is not true but we can't convince her otherwise. I'm trying to get Mark to go up to visit, but so far our next scheduled trip is at Easter.


Medical issues have been the theme since February. With luck, Cassie's birthday party can get us switched to a new state of mind and moving in a different direction.

Not the Weekend I'd Planned

Betsy went home from St. E's last Thursday evening. I was very surprised they released her but the doc okay-ed it so I had to follow through. Cassie and I picked her up after I got off work, hit the grocery store for a few basics for her fridge, then got her settled at home. After ensuring Betsy was fine, Cassie and I had supper at Taco Inn and went right to bed. It was past her bedtime and I was very tired - too tired to pack for my weekend quilt retreat.

Friday was Cassie's 7th birthday. I sang Happy Birthday to her, we let her open one present (a pillowcase made out of Hannah Montana fabric), and she and I gathered around the radio to hear her birthday announcement on KFOR. Got Cassie to school by 9am and I headed off to pick up Betsy's antibiotic prescription. Then I could pack and head to retreat.

Not to happen.

Betsy's home health care provider called. Betsy had exaggerated her condition because she wanted to be home (and I can understand wanting to be home), but now she recognized this was a mistake. However, now that she was home the hospital social worker would not be finding a nursing home for her, it was now MY job to call around. Long story short, the visiting nurse arrived early and agreed Betsy needed care. She suggested we just call 911 to have her transported back to the hospital - there was no way I would be able to get her to my van. We ended up at the ER at Bryan LGH East.

Cousin Bob called me in the afternoon to kick me out. He reminded me I'd been caring for Betsy almost nightly for most of February, and that I needed this quilt retreat for ME. He promised to take over until I returned Sunday and I was to leave town and forget the worries. So I headed home to pack and take the 30-min drive to the 4-H camp outside of Gretna while listening to a book on CD.

I arrived and unpacked in time for supper. I didn't eat much but then I'm not a fan of jambalaya. At 8pm I was very tired so I headed to my cabin, showered, and went to bed. At 1am I awoke and spent the rest of the night in the bathroom with my cabinmates peeking in on me occasionally. I called Mark at 6:15am to say I needed picked up. He and Cassie finally arrived at 7:45 to take me to Bryan LGH East. I was concerned I'd contracted C-Diff from Betsy and wanted to be tested, and if they decided to admit me I wanted family to have to visit only one hospital.

The ER staff really hopped to it when I announced I'd been exposed to C-Diff. I was so dehydrated they had difficulty finding a vein for an IV, but finally I got hooked up to fluids, electrolytes, and an anti-nausea med. By noon I was stabilized and could go home with an anti-nausea prescription. It takes two days for the lab to test for C-Diff so I'm still up-in-the-air about that diagnosis. I spent the rest of the weekend on the couch, mostly sleeping, dozing, being read-to by Cassie, and catching the Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family.

Sunday I could stand and had tolerated a piece of toast for breakfast, so I had to accompany Mark back to the retreat to collect my things plus the van was still there. My quilting sisters had kindly packed up my stuff so all we had to do was load the van. Cassie chose to ride with me - my having the retreat snacks might have had a little to do with that - and she happily munched on popcorn, coke, and a candy bar on the way back to Lincoln (Mark drove the Neon down I-80 but I took the van down the more scenic route on Hwy 6). Then I hit the couch again and slept hard.

I was able to eat chicken noodle soup and later some rice. Now Monday morning I still don't have an appetite but need to eat something to get my strength back. My quilting stuff is still in the van (though I did bring in my sewing machine) but I'm not gonna worry about that yet. I'm just disappointed I didn't get to attend retreat. Last year Diana D. just got unpacked, was ill during the night, and her hubby retrieved her; this year it was me. I hope we don't have a Hat Trick next year.

Too Smart at Almost 7

While waiting for one of our doctor appointments a couple of weeks ago, Cassie was reading an animal book aloud to me. The book was explaining that bats sleep during the day and are active at night. She looked up and said to me, "That means bats are nocturnal, Mommy." And casually went back to her reading.

?!?!

The other parents and I just looked at each other with wide eyes.

A Medical February

February was even more hectic than January.

February 2 I had my medical appointment, and Feb 3 I had my eye appt. I make good use of my days off! I have new glasses with a new prescription.

Deb H. left town for a class so Cassie and I were the official catsitters for several days. Mark would drop Cassie to me at the library at closing time, then she and I would head to Deb's to feed and play with the critters. They learned quickly what time we'd arrive and were generally waiting for us at the top of the stairs. I headed over at 6am to feed them breakfast and get me back home before Mark left for work.

Saturday Feb 7 we held Betsy's 80th birthday party. She had been under the weather for several days but hadn't 'fessed up yet to the seriousness of her symptoms. I gave her a pillowcase made out of Kitty Cucumber fabric to coordinate with the Kitty Cucumber quilt I gave her last year. I also baked her a lemon cake.

Sunday Feb 8 Cassie and I were out early to have breakfast, feed the kitties, then run a ton of errands. We were at Deb's in the Highlands when Betsy in Bethany called to say she needed help. It took us several minutes to get there, then we took her to St. E's. I spent the entire day in the emergency room with Betsy while they ran tests. (It was very busy there that day with tons of sick people and I managed to catch bronchitis. This time the antibiotics worked like a charm.)

I called Mark after lunch to pick up Cassie and they went shoe shopping. Finally the docs decided to admit Betsy to St. E's and I left there at 9pm to hit the grocery store and feed Deb's kitties (who were not happy at the lateness of their meal). Betsy had a massive UTI and was on fluids, morphine, and antibiotics. Cassie and I would visit each evening after work, get our supper from the hospital cafeteria and eat with Betsy. After a week she was transferred to Tabitha.

I was very pleased with Betsy's progress at Tabitha, especially at how well she was walking with her walker. She was doing better now than she had been for a long time and I know it was due to the PT, though Betsy pooh-poohs exercising. So I expected to hear that they'd be releasing her soon yet I wasn't hearing anything from the social worker. So I made an appointment with the director of social services and got some updates from her and explained Betsy's home health care program to them. Finally got Betsy home two days later though Tabitha continued to visit to keep up with PT and OT - which was fine with me but irritated Betsy. She was only there for a week, but Betsy was very pleased to leave Tabitha.

In the meantime Mom had several dr appts and Mark took her to a couple as well when I didn't have my Mon/Tues off to compensate for weekend work. She's still weak and has trouble walking. The diuretics aren't working as needed so she's now wearing special socks to try to get her feet and legs back to normal size. Her cardiologist and her primary physician are still sorting out her meds.

President's Day I was off work and Cassie had no school. She had a morning dental appt, we had to stop at my doc's for a follow-up, stop and get my new glasses, then we had lunch at McDonald's. That afternoon Cassie had her eye appt and she needed to order glasses for reading. I managed to trick her into choosing the $105 frames instead of the $145+ Hannah Montana frames by continuing to show them to her and getting the idiot clerk to agree that the frames in my hands were the ones in the poster that she liked.

The next day Cassie had three teeth extracted (or "wiggled" as the dentist refers to it to the kids). The dentist said her mouth is too small for all her teeth, and that by age 12 she'll be wearing braces. They schedule wiggles in the morning so the kids don't have to worry about it all day, and I was fortunate that they had an opening the next day when I was still off work. I wasn't happy that she missed school, but I could understand the dentist's reasoning. After the procedure they gave her a cute sticker that read, "Ny nouth nis afleep." They used laughing gas on her so she didn't have to deal with a needle, but she still had to deal with the aftermath - she couldn't speak well and thought her lower lip was hanging out.

I changed the bloody gauze in her mouth three times, let her snuggle on the couch beneath my denim quilt, and let her watch cartoons all morning. By 1pm she had stopped bleeding and was hungry. She ate two servings of macaroni and cheese, then at 1:30 asked when she could return to school. That surprised me, but I let her go back since she wasn't bleeding and she wanted to go.

Parent-Teacher conference was Tuesday Feb 24. Cassie is doing math at the second grade level, doing very well in reading, and is well-liked by her classmates. And she came home with several books from the Book Fair.

Thursday Feb 26 I got a call late afternoon at work from Betsy's home health care people. She had a doc appt and the physician was immediately admitting her to St. E's. So I left work early and met her at the hospital. Lab tests confirmed that she now has Clostridium Difficile. C-Diff is a serious bacterial infection that affects older people, people who've just come off a round of antiobiotics, and people who have been in a nursing home environment.

Cassie and I picked up my mom and we all visited Betsy Friday after work. As usual Cassie and I got our suppers on trays from the hospital cafeteria. Mom can't walk very far so when we arrived at the hospital entrance I nabbed a wheelchair for her. Cassie had a blast pushing it and I could barely keep up.

On top of all this, we got word that Mark's mom is AGAIN, in the hospital. This is, what?, the fourth time since Thanksgiving? Her symptoms sound curiously like Betsy's so I emailed to brother-in-law Jack all the info I had on C-Diff.

Saturday after work I went straight home. I was exhausted and heated myself some chili. I tried to watch "The Magnificent Seven" but Cassie needed mommy-time so halfway through the movie I just quit, and Cassie and I got into jammies and cuddled while watching cartoons.

Sunday Mark, Cassie, and I visited Betsy after work, then we had supper at Perkins. We only stayed at the hospital for 20 min because I don't want Cassie catching this. Betsy looked worse and was back on morphine. Perkins was incredibly slow that night but we ran into Vickie and Steve (Cassie's daycare provider) and got to see new pix of the new grandson.

Aside from all the medical issues and doctor appointments in February, we had a nice anniversary on Wednesday the 25th. On that date in 2003 Mark and I received our adoption referral from the China Center for Adoption Affairs and got our first look at Gan Li Mei, soon to become Cassie Li Mei. Here's her referral photo.