Job Hunt

Today, I must get back to the job hunt. In the next pay period I have to turn in my job search paperwork with my time sheet. So far, I have only three applications in.

Yesterday morning I called to check on Donnie and Pete said, "Come on down" so I did. When I got there, they were just moving her into a bed to go have a test where they put a light down your throat, thread it into the heart and see what kind of damage they can see in the valves. I sat with Pete for the one hour it took to do the test. I did get to see Donzella shortly before they took her in for the test. Pete and I visited. He is fearful of Donnie being left an invalid. He is in poor health too and doesn't know that he would have the strength to take care of her. Donzella has always been very healthy and very active. She is the chair in charge of all funeral dinners at their church. She was preparing for one the day after she went to the hospital. She had to turn that over to her committee of course. Since Donnie had such good health, she was taking care of Pete who was a lot more fragile.

Finally the test was over and they announced that the mitral valve was not as bad as they had thought but the atrial valve was stuck only partly open and appeared to be frozen that way. She was not getting enough blood pumping out of the heart. And she is not a candidate for open heart surgery. There is a new procedure though where they go in from the rib area and do arthroscopic surgery. Unfortunately, the Bartlesville heart doctor does not do that surgery so they would have to send her elsewhere to have it done.

Pete is fearful that he could not afford the hotel bills and other expenses of going elsewhere for her to have that surgery. She is 83 and he is 84 and their money has to last a few more years. It's a quandary alright. Before she got the pneumonia, she had no symptoms. Whether she could recover enough without the surgery to go back to her old life, is the question.

When we finally got into recovery to see Donnie, I told her what the doctor had said and she said she would have to give that some thought. She is lucid enough to make her own decisions about treatment. Pete will just have to swallow that.

I came back home shortly after noon and ate a bite and then went to see Phyllis and Gerry. Phyllis was napping on and off so I didn't stay long but I did go see Gerry and took her the newspapers I had promised. Her son was there and he told me about the new Italian restaurant being open now. He and his wife had eaten there the night before and he said it was good.

Then I went to see Bob A. and we discussed Phyllis's condition. I also told him about Donnie's dilemma.

When I got home I called Phyllis F. and asked her if she would like to eat at Napoli's with me for dinner and she was delighted to go. So we did. And it was good. I got home about 7:00 and watched a little TV before taking my bath and going to bed about 10:00. Slinky was sleeping outside so I got a good night's sleep. I got to sleep until 6:00 this morning.

I went out to look at my daffodils this morning. I finally got that last back yard flower bed cleaned out yesterday afternoon. Then I took Slinky for his walk just before meeting Phyllis F. for dinner. Busy day!