Susi,
Nothing anyone can say really helps at these times but my thoughts are with both of you.
Kirk

Susi,

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's illness! I'm very glad to hear that he is improving!! My vote is that you water and then take a nap.

I was wondering about you, I've sent a couple of e-mails to you and was not sure if you've received them. When you get a chance, let me know if you received the picture I sent you.

Keeping you, your husband and your family in my prayers,
Sherri

Suzi,
Odd that I was going to entitle my next missive here: 'What Would Suzi Do?' as I was imagining how I'd get up the gumption to approach some folks at a plant related Chamber of Commerce thing I went to recently...I imagined a 'Suzi' approach to selling some flowers, (I have always enjoyed the wonderful and humourous way you write and can HEAR you speaking in your messages and I've always imagined a spunky Texas twang)...

Anyhoo, I know that that energy will pull you and yours through this tough time..This gal from the Green Mt. State certainly sends you good thoughts for your husband's speedy recovery,
Randi

Suzi - I agree - your spunkiness and humor will help you through this...along with your family, glad they're close and can help you and your husband! My husband's mom has been ill since January (staph infection that cause a disk to rupture - then surgery and recovery). She gets to go home tomorrow, so now we'll all be helping her at her home instead of the care facility.
Take care and get some rest too!
Wendy

SusiQ,

Have you considered asking the cellphone repairman to the house? A hungry Great Dane can be a real persuader. :)

Holding the good thoughts for you here in Tennessee.

Ray

Susi,

My prayers are with you and your husband. Remember God only gives you what you can handle. Remember that and it will help you get everything accomplished that has to be done. Hope he gets better fast and maybe it will rain this week so you don't have to water.

Rita

Suzi,

Oh, boy, you've been through it! I'm so glad to hear your husband is off the vent and turning the corner for better. My thoughts will be with you.....we'll have time to rethink that southeastern co-op later!

Many, many cyber-hugs--

Valerie

Mostly just read here...but I too wanted to send best wishes for your husband's full recovery. josh

My thoughts are with you also. Remember your husband, family and even dogs need you more than the flowers, which you can resume whenever. Been there, done that, but always felt good about putting relatives first. Best of luck as your husband recovers...Ann

Susi,

The way I see it, you beat Murphy by getting your husband in for help. Keep your chin up and keep kicking Murphys butt and your husband will bounce back soon.

Take care and God bless,

Steve

Thank you ALL, SO much!

When my in-person friends call or come to the hospital, they always ask, "And how are YOU?", to which I answer, in tears, "Fine, til YOU showed up!" LOL, of course.

I'm having the same reaction reading your messages, heartfelt and humble tears.

The generosity of forum and in-person friends is amazing. I treasure you all.

That generosity DOESN'T apply to beurocrats! I have a GREAT RozanneRozannadanna story, or maybe it's Emily Latella. Probably more her than Rozanne!

We might have cell phone insurance, but if so, it's buried under 2' of bills husband keeps saying he's working on. As if! So, I wanted to find the phone # of the store where we got the phone, thinking they could help me directly. I went online to find that phone #. Listed is a number for that area code. Turns out it's one of those automated voice things. FINALLY got through to a human (sweet young girl, this isn't her fault), and discover that my husband never signed me up as an authorized user of the phone and phone service we've both had for YEARS! SO!!!!!!!, they can't access our records without his approval. I tell the girl that he's in ICU, and VERY sick. She asks if he could just say his name and the last 4 digits of his social. I tell her "I" can say his name and his last four digits, and besides, not only is he in ICU, he's heavily sedated and CAN'T TALK!!!!!!!

I told her my wish for ALL her superiors was for them to have a loved one in the hospital and then have to face beurocracy run rampant. Not her, of course, she's just the unfortunate messenger.

She puts me on hold again (all this time I'm on a Land-line Long Distance Call because of the stupid phone # thing), and comes back, and says, "Well, we can try to maybe fix your phone while we're talking." And then I say and realize,

"You mean you have to have my phone HERE, while we're talking?"

"Yes."

"It's in my Daughter's car!" and as Emily Latella would say, "Never Mind!".

Well, at least I have an 800 # I can call to try to fix the phone, IF I can get my nerve up!

Just talked to the dr, he said my husband is still disoriented and mostly sedated, but his white blood count is down to nearly normal--11,000 instead of a high of nearly 16,000, --and the fluid outside his lungs is not very much, so they're not going to do anything, yet. He said maybe ICU for the rest of today, and maybe a regular room sometime tomorrow. As the white blood cell count gets closer to normal, hopefully his disorientation will go away. It's still taking 5 nurses to calm him down and get him back lying down when he decides he's "leaving"!

I did water some yesterday, glad I did. Enjoyed the activity even tho it was cold and I was in shorts, and the plants needed it! The rain may come later today or tomorrow, but they needed it then.

Thanks again, all "y'all". I appreciate you enormously.

And Ray, I should've sicced my Great Dane on that cell company--wish I could've!

Susi.

Susi,
So glad to hear your DH is recovering! What an awful thing to go through! Doesn't he know he can't get sick at this time of year....Only from about Nov- Feb!

MAybe he is trying to prove whether you love him more then your flowers....if so , it is mighty dangerous thing to try and prove with a gardener like you!

Hey, I am so glad to hear that he is getting better day by day! Hope the progress keeps moving seadily forward. It will be a great day when he knows where he is and can lie still and heal. Keep your chin up girl, but cry all you want. You deserve that option!

Sending prayers for his speedy recovery AND the will power to kick the habit!

Hi SusiQ,

Just wanted to say my thoughts are with you and yours and I'm sure things will turn out OK!
Susan

I'm sending all the good thoughts I can come up with your way. Hang in there. If they aren't going to do a tap to get the fluid out, it means there isn't that much in there, and they think it might re-absorb on its own. I doubt very much that the doctors are going to give him a quit-smoking lecture. They are unlikely to have more effect than his own recent experience did, and probably assume he already knows smoking will kill him, since it almost succeeded.

I'm glad to hear he's off the vent. That means there's LOTS of hope. His recovery could be slow, with the respiratory problems he has, but since he was strong enough to get off the ventilator, he is probably strong enough to recover. It's okay to cry. I'm thinking good thoughts for you, and wish you lots of patience, and time. Forget about your garden for now, if you can. It will re-grow, he won't. But, once he is oriented and in a regular room, out of ICU, if he asks for a smoke, I suggest you offer to shoot him! And/or offer to shoot any person who provides a smoke. Yes, of course I don't mean it, I don't think you should really shoot him, but if he smokes, he's killing himself, the long, painful, short-of-breath, in-and-out-of-the-hospital way. He's going to get past the initial stage of cravings while he's still in the hospital, so there was never a better time to quit. Looking death in the eye - which he did - is the strongest possible persuader. If he continues to ask for a smoke, you could remind him, in as much detail as you are aware of, what happened. Then tell him it will happen again, and again, and again. Nicotine is powerfully addictive, but being in and out of the hospital and short of breath much of the time is miserable, no way to live, and a HORRIBLE way to die. I've watched quite a few COPD "frequent flyers" go in and out of ICU their last few years, short of breath all the time (that's awful, you feel panicky ALL THE TIME), then die. I wouldn't wish it on an earwig, and I hope he has the fortitude not to go that way. I hope he will be strong, and that you will, too. And you might want to get rid of all tobacco products in the house BEFORE he goes home. It's a powerful addiction. If he absolutely has to have nicotine, patches can can provide it, without making his lungs worse.

Okay, enough lecturing that you don't need, and I'll just send a heartfelt wish that he will recover quickly (and that you and your garden will, too!)

Jeanne

A thought here--why not simply put a male voice on the phone to give the name and ss#? They don't know what he sounds like.

I'm backing Jeanne on this. As soon as he's feeling better and you're up to tackling the issue, we are locked and loaded for the lecture.

Ray