This has been an interesting winter. After a heavy snowfall and some bitterly cold temperatures in December, the weather has been very mild. In fact, during the last two weeks, we had eight or 10 days with temperatures in the sixties (15-20 C). That set some records, brought some birds back a little early, and prompted some trees to begin budding.
Doug and I both had a touch of the flu, but nothing like other folks we know. Then Doug came down with another case of chronic hiccups, probably brought on by the coughing he'd been doing. After eight days, several trips to doctors, and trying various medicines, we finally resorted to going to the hospital emergency room. There, they were able to give him some more powerful medicine intravenously, and it cured him. That was 10 days ago and so far, so good.
In the midst of all that, I had to have some dental work done, involving the removal of four crowns (numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10), drilling out the decay in each of the teeth under the crowns, then fitting me with temporary crowns until the permanent ones could be installed on February 28.
Monday, as we were walking a neighborhood and passing out the John/Romans booklets that I mentioned in the last post, we knocked on the door of a pastor of another church. He and his wife invited us in and introduced us to another man and two women who were apparently staying with them for a time. As we talked, he invited us to attend a presentation on church safety at their church on Tuesday, the 28th, dealing with how churches can prepare for some of the dangers, both natural (as in killer storms) and criminal (as in killer humans), that are becoming so prevalent these days. Doug told him we wouldn't be able to go because I was getting new teeth that day. One of the lady guests said, "She'll be able to take a bite out of crime." Cracked me up.
It won't be long now until our favorite ice cream shop opens for the season.
Hope your lives become less frantic with health issues. Tough to fight illness this time of year, they said 4 kinds of flu were prevalent here. I had a terrible time shaking it. We have had a number of young families join our church so I am shopping for a few new tables and chairs to add to the Sunday school rooms today.I am waiting myself for the soft serve, I look at the shops diligently, hoping to see the open soon signs. Had homemade Sunday at church for a ladies birthday. mmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve. Sorry to hear that you've been sick. I just saw on Facebook that the ice cream place in my photo will open a week from today. Yay!!!
DeleteI'm sorry to hear about the problems with teeth and hiccups. But hopefully both problems are now in the past and you can both enjoy Spring.
ReplyDeleteWe're both feeling better, George, and looking forward to spring.
DeleteOh My Goodness.... Sounds like us and health problems... This respiratory thing really hit me hard (first time I've been so sick in many years)... I'm still hacking --but luckily, no hiccups... Glad Doug got some help for his.... Scary!
ReplyDeleteSorry about your teeth problems... I had some BIG teeth work done a year ago --so hopefully, I'm okay for awhile... That darn stuff is EXPENSIVE....gads!!!!
George is fine --other than some serious eye problems.. BUT-hopefully, he caught them in time and will prevent further damage..... Oh how much fun it is to get OLD.... NOT!!!!! ha
Hugs,
Betsy
When Doug gets hiccups, Betsy, he gets them bad. They're constant, about every two seconds. He could hardly breathe, let alone sleep. We're so grateful for the help he got in the ER. You're right...dental work is expensive. But I'm grateful to still have my teeth, even though most of them are wearing crowns. Sorry to hear about George's eye problems and hope the treatment is helping.
DeleteLinda, bless your hearts. I am so sorry to know that you and Doug are going through these difficulties. I will keep you both in my prayers. Hugs and love to you both.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the prayers, Linda. We're both doing well now.
DeleteLinda, I'm sorry to hear you and Doug had the flu. Somehow we managed to avoid it... so far. I never heard of a case of hiccups so severe, but I can imagine how dreadfully tiring and aggravating it must have been. I hope your new teeth settled in well today. I can sympathize as just last year I had to replace a crown and one of my other teeth got a hairline crack down the middle and got infected so I had to get it crowned, also. Right now, I have a tooth that has been filled three times already and all the fillings have all fallen out so they want to crown it to put an end to that. Crown, crown, crown - I suppose you and I are just royalty, queens that is. ;)
ReplyDeleteToni, our cases of flu were very mild compared to so many others. My new teeth are a welcome change from the temporary crowns. I always fear that those temporaries will fall off before the permanent ones can be installed. Your dental issues sounded awful. I'm glad they were able to save that infected tooth. You and I will have a lot of crowns to lay at the Savior's feet. :)
DeleteI do hope that things gave settled down for you. Health problems are no fun.I have been blessed to have good health so far. I hope it stays that way.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've had a healthy winter, Ruth. You've sure had a colder and snowier winter than we have. We're both feeling well now and thanking the Lord for that every day.
DeleteThat's true, Linda, spring is on its way, we also had some sunny and warm days though not as warm as you had. Good to hear that Doug got some efficient help in the hospital and that your teeth will be almost like new again. :)
ReplyDeleteThat presentation sounds helpful. We may not know how to face those dangers and it would be easier to follow some reasonable guidelines when dealing with them if they happened, especially older people are very vulnerable. Presumably we all hope that such a thing will never happen to us but it is better to be prepared, just in case.
Hi, Petra. The weather did return to cool, but warm days are interspersed with the cool ones, a sure sign of the approach of spring. I'm not thrilled with the job done on my teeth. There's a possibility it might have to be done over again. Regarding the presentation on church safety, our culture is changing so rapidly. So are our weather patterns. It's always good to think through the possibilities in advance and be prepared for anything.
DeleteOur weather has been so weird this year. I like the warm temps but now we are back to normal cool. Glad your husband got better! It must be miserable to hiccup that much.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kim. Doug had another flare-up of the hiccups last week, but a new medicine stopped them quickly. It IS a miserable condition to have, but maybe we've finally found a medicine that works quickly.
DeleteGod Bless.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Regine. May He bless you, as well.
DeleteWhat a blessing that you have found me again, Linda. I'm certainly sorry to hear about your husband having chronic hiccups. I can't imagine how that could wear a person out. I'm glad that they were able to help him at the hospital.
ReplyDeleteAnd you with that dental work! Oh my goodness! I hope that the new crowns are working out well for you.
Dianna
I'm glad we've reconnected, too, Dianna. Doug's doing well now, although the hiccups did flare up again. We were able to get them controlled within a day or two that time. As for my dental work, the new crowns may have to be replaced. The teeth are too short, leaving a gap between the upper and lower teeth that makes biting through things difficult. It affects my speech, too, as the upper teeth don't connect very well with my lower lip. It makes words with "f" and "v" sounds difficult to form. And the gap often means my tongue can't form the "th" and "s" sounds. With my speech impediment and Doug's hearing loss, things get interesting around here. :)
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