Yes.....things are beginning to return to normal here.

Ray had his abdominal ultrasound Tues. morning we got the VERY good news that it was negative! Whew!  The dr. called me in from the waiting room to assure me.....there were no tumors or masses in the liver, kidneys, pancreas, etc.  And yes, we were both quite relieved. 

Ray is slowly beginning to feel better.  Still tired, but not as bad.  We saw the Nurse Practitioner yesterday and she's baffled.  She said his Sed rate last week was very elevated and that could indicate infection.  So yesterday she had the lab draw blood for more things, like iron levels, etc.  And we'll see what those liver enzymes look like now.  She'll call when she has the results and like she said, bottom line Ray is feeling better.  So it just might take time to get over whatever it is he had. 

I still feel it was a smart move to cancel our trip to France for next week.  He needs to be fully back to normal before going over there and I'll start working on booking for Sept. in the next week or so.

I want to thank all of you that have sent good wishes to Ray either via phone calls, emails, or comments here.  It was very much appreciated.

And now.....on to some happy things.  Last week my aqua plants arrived FedEx.  I'd ordered a water lily and another plant.  When I'd bought my water lily for my pond in New Port Richey it came in a pot, etc.  Well, this one didn't.  What arrived was simply that!  A plant!  I had no pot, no aquatic soil, etc.  But not to worry......my good friends Doreen and Oliver came to my rescue!  Oliver came over and brought me a mesh pot for the pond, along with a bag of the correct soil and he even did the planting for me.  (yes, they're very good friends and very reliable)  Here's what my plant now looks like in the pond.

You have no idea how much I'm enjoying this fish pond!  I love hearing the water as I sit in my studio typing or at night through the open bedroom window.  And I really enjoy wandering out to the yard to feed them or check on them.  I find it so relaxing.  And I'm also finding the larger fish have a definite personality.  Now when they hear my voice they come swimming toward that end of the pond.  Okay, okay.....so maybe they ARE only coming because they're looking for food, but I think we're "bonding."  I've now got the larger ones named.......the largest orange one is Hemingway, the smaller orange one is Kiki, one of the speckled ones is  F. Scott and the other is..........yes, you guessed it........Zelda.  And here they are......

Oliver is extremely knowledgeable with fish and I've bombarded him with a million questions lately.  He's so patient, explaining everything to me and he's really whet my appetite to get seriously involved in these fish as a hobby.  So much so.........I'm going to be getting an inside aquarium for my writers studio.

I'd thought about going with saltwater fish, but after Oliver explained everything, that's a bit too involved for my sometimes extremely busy schedule.  There's some really pretty freshwater fish (like I have in the outside pond) and that's what I'm going to get.  Mother's Day is next month, and I know Ray will be looking for a gift for me......so I told him, not to worry!  Let's get me a freshwater aquarium now.

So we're heading to Gainesville tomorrow to a fish shop there that Oliver recommended.  I called the owner today and he said he'll talk me through it, etc. and what kind of fish I could put in there right away.  He said he knows it's a one hour drive each way from Cedar Key and he'll explain which particular fish I could put in there right away, rather than get the aquarium set up first and then drive back in 24 hr. for the fish.

So I have the spot all set here next to my desk and I'm looking forward to greeting my new fish arrivals.  Hey, I'm a Pisces.....what can I say.  So join me here next time and you can meet them too...........

Yes.....ahhhh, life. One of my dad's favorite sayings was, "Life is great, if you don't weaken."  Where do I begin to tell you about my past week.....

You'll recall that the last time I did a blog entry I'd mentioned that Ray was sick.  Well, he's really no better.  We saw the dr. we'd been seeing a week ago Thursday......he wasn't sure what it was, maybe a flu, and put Ray on Cipro.  They also did blood work.  I called them on Monday.  Yup, blood work was back and "it's okay" says the nurse.  Okay, define "okay" for me I told her.  Is it all within normal limits?  Well, no his white count is high, Bilirubin is a little high.  Oh and so is his BUN.  Hmmm.  Okay.  What are we going to do about it, I asked, because he's really no better.  The GI symptoms had diminished, but he was feeling exhausted.  No energy whatsoever and just "not feeling good."  The nurse said to me, "What would you like us to do?"  Well, gee......maybe a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia?  They don't do those at that dr. office and she told me to go to the ER.  For a chest x-ray?  I thought we were trying to keep this sort of thing OUT of the ER's and only dealing with emergencies there.  I didn't like her idea at all and hung up.

Moving the story along here, on Tuesday I took Ray to the Immediate Care Center in Gainesville because I was told he could get a chest x-ray done there.  AFTER I did all the paper for insurance, etc. we're called into a room and told, "He has a history of COPD.  We can't do a chest x-ray on him here.  It might be cardiac related."  I assured her he wasn't in any acute cardiac or respiratory distress.  But nope.....sorry.....go to the ER is what she instructed us.  Back in the car, drive down the street to No. Florida Regional Medical Center ER.  Well.......after sitting there for almost 2 hours among at least 20 other people.......we walked out.  So we spent 5 hours in Gainesville last Tues. and got absolutely nowhere.

At this point, I'm really lovin' the medical system even less than I normally do.  Came home and called Chiefland Medical Center.  The back story here is.......this is where we always went since we moved to Cedar Key 3 yr. ago.  I was very pleased with the care there and they EVEN do chest x-ray's there.  However, about a year ago the dr. we had finished his rotation there and moved on.  We were told we'd have to see the Nurse Practitioner until that Aug. when another dr. would be on board.  I didn't like that idea.  That's when we switched to UF Shands Clinic in Old Town. (where we were a week ago Thurs.)  Still with me here?

Took a chance and called Chiefland, they still had Ray's records in the computer and told us to come in the very next day, last Wednesday, at 1:00 and we could see Miss Martha, the Nurse Practitioner.  (For those of you not from the south, calling her Miss Martha is a southern thing.  Sweet and respectful)  We went.......and I have to say I was VERY impressed with Miss Martha.  Knowledgeable, intelligent and extremely professional.  At that point she wasn't sure what was going on, but Ray's lungs were clear.  We did a chest x-ray anyway and no pneumonia.  They did a lot of blood work and here's where things get tricky......

Miss Martha called on Friday afternoon......Ray's liver enzymes are very elevated.  First question of course, does he drink?  Those of you that know Ray know the answer to that.  He's lucky if he has one beer or one gin and tonic once a month.  That's it.  Never was a drinker.  So that shoots that out as the reason.  Without going even into more detail......Ray did have some clams to eat 2 weeks ago last night.  So my first thought when ALL of this started that Mon. evening (48 hr. after eating the clams) was possibly Hepatitis A.  Miss Martha is also thinking possibly the same thing.  Now, his Hep A test came back negative.  However, many times it doesn't show up in the blood until 15 to 50 days later! 

Sooo......we're going this Tues. to Gainesville for an abdominal ultrasound and we'll see her again on Wed. for more blood work.  Here we are 2 weeks later since he got sick and we'll still no closer to knowing what's wrong. 

Although Ray is feeling better as far as GI symptoms, he still has no energy at all and is extremely tired.  Based on this.........I've had to cancel our trip to Paris.  We were due to leave a week from this Wed. on April 29.  I just cannot see him bouncing back that fast to endure the flight over, the drive to Normandy and Brittany and then on to Paris for a week.  Yes, I'm very disappointed and so is he.  But we need to find out what's going on with his health.  And as I told him, based on what the tests show we'll just reschedule the entire trip for September.  We love going to France in the fall.  So yesterday morning I canceled my house/pet sitter, the hotels, the apartment in Paris.  And this is where we're at.

Yup, my dad was very right.  Life is great.......if you don't weaken.  See you here next time........