Friday, February 29, 2008

Doctor Appointment

I went to my doctor appointment yesterday. The doctor informed me that my sternum wasn't healed yet. He puts his hand on my sternum and asks me to cough hard. When he did that it reminded me of another doctor appointment my beloved wife set up for me where I was also asked to cough and to bend over, all at the same appointment . HA HA Lets just say I wasn't very pleased with Betty. I'm just kidding I still like to give Betty a bad time about it though. Anyway, I got a little side tracked there but, the doc said he could feel my sternum click and move a little when I coughed. He told me not to lift anything heavy and to come back in a month.

I also found out that when they wired my sternum together they doubled the amount of wire they normally use. I guess the reason for doing that was because of my size and weight.

We left for Bismarck Wednesday after Betty got honme from work. They were forcasting freezing rain and snow for Wednesday night and Thursday. Betty didn't want to drive in it so we got a room at the Seven Seas north of Mandan. That was the only hotel that we called that would honor Betty's travel counselor discount. We got a $93 dollar room for $53.

Brandon, Julie, Alex and Nicole all came to the hotel to swim with Betty and Casey. Brandon got there around 7:30PM and we went to eat supper at the Pizza Ranch in Mandan. Alex, Nicole and Julie all had to work until 9:00PM so they couldn't eat with us. When we got done eating Brandon went and got Julie and called Alex and Nicole to ride with him to the hotel. They got there about 10:00PM. Everybody swam until about 11:00PM and then went home. Everybody had a great time.

Thats all for now.
Love, The Dyks

Luke 2:1-20

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Today was Jerry Van Beeks funeral. He had a heart attack while at a restaurant in Bismarck. He drove Tom Vander Wal up to Bismarck to get groceries for the kuchen factory. I guess he did that quite often. Anyway I guess he never woke up again and was pronounced dead at St. A's. The church was almost full.


Casey was on computer this morning. This afternoon he watched a movie & then he went riding 4 wheeler for quite awile. We had a high of 46 degrees this afternoon. Wow, what a great day for riding. Especially for February.


Betty has been cleaning house, washing clothes and hanging pictures in our bedroom. She plans on painting it soon. She wants to get pictures hung & patch the old nail holes first.


Alex and Nicole just got home. Nicole also went to a funeral this afternoon. Her best friends mother passed away. She leaves behind two kids in High School. While she was at the funeral Alex helped Nicole's Dad with some projects he was working on.


As soon as Alex & Nicole got here, Casey said it was so nice out why don't we go hunting squirrels so that's what they did.


We went out for supper last night, in Linton, with Ryan, Sarah and Tyler. We went to Thatsa Pizza and More, formerly known as Hot Spot Pizza. Tyler really likes Sarah. He kept calling her his friend. As we were eating pizza, out of the blue, Tyler says I had the shits for two days and I had to get a shot in my butt and have blood drawn. We all laughed so hard. Casey had a hard time eating after that. He kept thinking about it and would start laughing again.


Brandon called this morning about the time I was suppose to leave for the funeral. He told me the tranny in his car finally went out completely except for reverse. He went to leave work yesterday and didn't make it out of the parking lot so he put it in reverse and parked it on the lot. The guy he works with gave him a ride back to Bismarck.

Well I better give Brandon a call back as I cut him short this morning so I could ride with Mom & Dad to the funeral.
Love,
The Dyks

We'd like to encourage everybody to look up & read the following Scripture!!
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Timing is important. All the experiences listed in these verses are appropiate at certain times. The secret to peace with God is to discover, accept, and appreciate God's perfect timing. The danger is to doubt or resent God's timing. This can lead to despair, rebellion, or moving ahead without his advice.

Correction

I have to make a correction to the previous post. My next doctor appointment is on the 28th not the 29th.

Friday, February 22, 2008

What's up Doc

Hewwo,
You wascawwy wabbits.



Well it's been awhile since I posted so here goes. I'm starting to feel quite a bit better. I haven't been doing much, can't, since the Doc said not to use my arms for anything. I'm starting to get a little stir crazy. I keep finding myself walking around the house looking out the windows. I have a doctors appt. on the 29th so maybe he will let me do a few more things.


Betty went back to work on the 15th. She's not thrilled with it to put it mildly. She forgot alot of the stuff she learned. I can understand that since she only worked two or three months before she took a six week leave of absence to take care of me. She says she has never felt so stupid before in her life. Everybody there is very understanding. Most of them say it's very hard to remember things when they're gone for one or two weeks, let alone six weeks. I think after a few days on the phone it will start to come back to her again.


Tha Tha Tha Tha Thats All Folks
Love, Duane

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Week-end

Wow the weekend is here again, it's amazing how time flies. I've been busy trying to get projects done before I go back to work next Friday. I guess the first thing I should statr doing is getting up earlier so I get used to it. Since I've been home we always get up at around 7:00 or 7:30.Thats just not going to work when I go back to work.

Brandon came home for the weekend last night. He brought the pick-up. He brought back Ryans old dryer. They got a new washer and dryer set, so they no longer needed Ryans.He also pulled home his buddies trailer. He is going to load our old van on it and haul it back for Joe. We sold it to him for little or nothing, but it needs alot of work and its just sitting around here not doing anyone any good. Where if Joe has it him and Brandon will fix it up and his wife will use it to haul around kids, and run errands.

I finally got my curtains for the patio door. Hopefully Brandon, Casey and I will get the curtain
rods hung this week-end. I'm really anxious to get them up once and with that rod I don't thing I can do it by myself. Once I get that up I want to get some pictures hung in the Living room.

Then its on to our bedroom. I already pulled out furniture and am trying to figure out how to arrange it, and what color of paint to go with. Although at this point I think I'll have to wait a few weeks to start with the painting. I'll have to do it on some Saturday morning. Because I've still got some bookwork to finish up, and some deep cleaning I want to get done before I go back to work. Not to mention I should do some studying and organizing of notes for work.

Duanes got physical therapy Monday morning and since he can't drive yet I will be his driver.
Then on Tuesday morning I have a hair appointment. Wednesday physical therapy. Thursday free to get some work done, hopefully if nothing changes. Then Friday It's back to work again.

Duanes been feeling pretty good almost too good. Everytime I turn around he's doing more than he should. He's not suppose to be using his chest muscles for anything yet until the breast bone heals. Which means no carrying anything, opening slidding doors, jars etc...
Thursday night he arranged to count money at the Church. We get ther and the elevator is out of order. No big deal right, he just has to take it slow and do the stairs. I carried his money box up for him and asked the guys to put it on the table once the table was cleared because he is not suppose to lift it, which they did. When they were done counting money I seen him coming down the stairs so I went to get his box. Here Donny had offered to carry it for him but Duane told him he didn't have to do that if he would just pick it up and hand it to Duane he could just carry it himself. Needless to say I was a little upset. I knew once he started feeling better it would be hard for him not to do things he wasn't suppose to. He figured it wouldn't hurt since he wasn't lifting it, just carrying it.

Then this morning he was ready to get up at about 7:00, and I wasn't because we never went to bed until after 1 and I can never get to sleep right away. So I helped him get up and I went to lay back down. Pretty soon I hear what sounds like the patio doors. I said Duane What are you doing? He says Buster was sitting by the door wanting out so I tried to let him out, but he must think its was too cold out becausse he changed him mind. Needless to say that was the end of my going back to sleep. He said it didn't hurt when he opened it I just hope he didn't do any damage. He forgets what he's not suppose to do, I guess some things are just automatic and a person doesn't think about it.
Well I guess I'd better go rotate clothes (washing sheets) and get some work done.
Have a Great Day!

Friday, February 1, 2008

We're Home Again, at last.

Wow, it's been forever since I last posted. It has been kind of busy around here. But I've been home from work for almost a month now, so I really have no excuse for not writting.

As I'm sure you all know Duane is home, and doing pretty good, each day he gets a little stronger. He had an appointment on Monday the doctor says he's doing good, he gets to quit wearing those cute white socks (support hose), I think I was as happy to hear that as Duane was. Those things are NOT easy to put on. The doctor also said he needs to keep carrying his little pillow with him (It's a heart shaped pillow that he needs to hold against his chest whenever he coughs or sneezes, to support his breastbone) and is not suppose to use his chest muscles at all.

Because he can't get out of bed, or out of his chair without using his arms, or chest muscles I decided to take my full 6 week leave of abcense, I'm sure by the time 2 more weeks are up he will be able to be on his own while I'm at work. The doctor also said he could sleep on his side now if it wasn't uncomfortable which Duane was glad to hear, he doesn't usually sleep on his back and isn't very comfortable on it. But He tried it and it doesnt work yet it hurt too bad.

I've been busy around here the last couple of weeks. When we first got home I did nothing but sleep during the daytime in my extra time. But now that Duane is sleeping better at night and
doesn't need quite as much help during the day I've been working on home projects in my spare time.

I tore the pantry shelves out, painted inside then I used some left over vinyl tiles to cover the floor and I cut the shelves down so now the pantry has 3 walls of shelves from top to bottom, instead of huge deep shelves. I decided it would be worth having a little less shelf space If I could reach stuff in the back, and see everything that was in there.

Then Casey decided to bring the TV up from the basement and put it in his room (nobody was using it down there) so he needed a TV stand. We looked around until we found a shelf that would work. We had to cut part of the top off and add a couple of shelves on the bottom. Then we painted it to match his bedroom. It works really good, now he can sit on his bed and play playstation,and theres even room for more people when the other kids are here and want to play.

Now I'm working on our bedroom. Trying to pick out what color I want it. I want to get that painted over the weekend if possible. Then I can hopefully get everything arranged the way I want it and decorated before I go back to work.

Duane has another appointment with his heart doctor on February 5th, and then an appointment with a doctor in Linton on the 6th (he has to go see a doctor in Linton before they will let him start physical therapy there).
I would imagine he will start physical therapy on the following Monday. So we will be busy running from that point on. I return to work on the 15th.

Casey went to Ryans last night to help him adjust his TV antennae. He's getting ready for a Supperbowl party. Nothing too big, just his girlfriend and a couple of girls that are staying at her parents helping on the farm.

Brandon called the other night, he had frozen pipes. He wasn't feeling well in the first place, then he got home and the pipes were froze. But it turned out not to be too bad, it was just one pipe and he was able to get it thawed out with a propane torch. As cold as it has been I was surprised he never had problems with that before then. But he did insulate really good under there, and he has heat tape on alot of the pipes.

Alex is busy looking for another job. He quit his job at UBC. He said his back just couldn't take it anymore. They have been working on that new apartment and he has to stand reaching over his head stuffing insulation in all day. I sure hope he finds something soon.

Well, guess I'd better go get something done.