As to the good news, it comes with a flip side that I can't "see"! One of those is I did hubby's last IV last night. We thought that was going to be the end of them. However, the home nurse and the pharmacist at the home med supply both have said they think it's just time for a reevaluation and he may well have another 2-4 weeks because getting the bone infection cleared up is not easy and especially in the bones he has it in (foot). Tomorrow is D day.... D for doctor! Today we only had to flush the pic-line and treat and bandage his foot. We'll do that in the am again and be to the doctor (ortho) in the afternoon, armed with a notebook from the home visit nurse which includes her notes and with the med supply companies info and phone # so I can call them asap to let them know if we need more drugs and supplies or not.
The bad news of the week is not such a horrible thing and is definitely "livable". The first is the home drug company has been taken over by another and they changed their rules/policies. The hospital, home nurse and doctors gave me instructions and all said the same..... nothing is shipped to me unless I call and ask for it! I must keep a close inventory of the supplies so I have what I need and don't run out. The company shipped supplies and drugs (2 huge boxes) and I didn't know they were coming. I had (nurse said it was ok) left hubby home for his nap and went to town (34 miles) to get prescription refills, few groceries and such. I got home after dark and drove (as usual) to the back of the house. UPS had delivered the supplies after I was gone and left them out front..... in the snow and rain. I didn't see them until the next day! Both boxes were wet and snow covered. I HATE wasting time dealing with issues like this! The initial supplies were delivered to his hospital room before he could some home. Then I called for some supplies and said go ahead and send the IV's for the next week. They (hs company) said they'd call in a week to see if we needed anything. They didn't say they would ship without a call. Lesson learned.... one can NEVER assume and especially when it's EXPENSIVE medical supplies and the IV's are $440 each!!!!! That's some antibiotic I tell you! His foot does look better though but the bone grosses me out some.
The other bad news is my 2 milking does don't want to share their lovely, delicious milk with me any more. They have been trying to wean me for a few weeks but I've just calmly resisted their efforts to tell me I'm "too old" and need to get a life. I am sure hoping this means they are both bred because I was highly disappointed in only a pint of milk last night. Those gorgeous udders are soooo shrunk up and "flabby" looking I guess I should "get a clue". So, tonight I didn't milk. Tomorrow I'll just check on them to make sure they are doing fine in the drying up and maybe milk them every other day for a few days. No matter what they need me to do for them in the drying up process, I'm still gonna miss that milk. That's my breakfast.... a nice huge glass of milk and sometimes chocolate milk. I really do like that milk!
The good news is Nipper, my ND (Nigerian Dwarf) buck seems to be getting the job done. He never pays much attention to the 2 milkers now. He gives them a cursory sniff as they go back in the pen but he quickly runs off to the other young does who have moved into his honeymoon quarters. He's sure happy having those jr does within his reach so he can sniff and blubber and do his buckly activities. He has 2 things that are important in his life.... DOES and feeding time. Oh to be so happy.... lol He has the last of the does who will be bred this year with him. The other 5 who haven't be exposed are either too small or too young to breed until at LEAST February or later. Those would be the 2 ND does and a Boer doe who will be a year in mid February and 2 Boer does who won't be a year until early August. I'm really looking forward to my mini Alpine kids come early spring. I just put the last 2 of the jr does to be bred this year in with Nipper so hopefully all are bred after this and these will too. One of these last ones is Cinnamon who is one I'm really really looking forward to kidding. I've also had someone tell me they want a doeling out of the breeding so this is my first prebirth request. I hope I get the number of doelings next spring that I had this year! I'll be estatic if I do! I'm sure as kidding time gets closer you'll be hearing more and more of how much I'm looking forward to the 2010 kids!
The news of the moment is just the usual homestead chores and doings that take much more time in the winter and aren't as "fun" to do. It's so much easier to just pop out the door and do something during nice weather but this time of the year it's a bundling up time and then trying to move "gracefully" on the slick spots and waddle like a penguin at the same time. My current pair of outdoor boots have a boot that sprung a couple holes so I've been trying to patch them. So far so good.... I found my sled to haul the jugs of water around. I have some jugs from kitty litter that are good sized I'm using. I got them and some buckets off a freecycle ad. That poor gal probably thought I was nuts to be so excited over a bunch of kitty litter containers! I felt like I'd been handed a gold mine! The buckets were all very handy all summer and now the jugs are the handy items. Buckets will freeze and split in this weather so they aren't so useable and I need to save them for summer when everyone drinks more water and I need more containers to water from.
The other good news which may not be such a big thing to many is it has been sunny almost all day! We needed that badly! Here's what I'd been looking at for about a week and it makes a sunny day good news! These dreary days just don't aid in keeping ones spirit "up". So, yes, a sunny day is GOOD news!May you have a sunny day real soon!
Hi! Just thought I would stop by and visit your blog. I saw the link posted on the homedairygoats yahoo group. Very nice blog! My husband and I raise some Boers and a few Nubians in Kansas. I have a blog too but it is more goats than anything. I will be back to read more!
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer! Thank you for the compliment and taking time out of your day to read my writings! I have Boers and dairy goats also. I wasn't sure I could come up with enough just about the goats to only do them on a blog so decided to just go with homesteading and that would make it so I can't about anything, including my crazy goats! Do come back to read any time! Thanks!
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