A few more updates

 Here's a few updates to things going on in my life.  I'm hoping things calm down soon so I can go back to regular old blog posts!   :)

My dad and covid...     Last weekend was pretty miserable.  Sunday afternoon he said he was so dizzy and had a lot of stomach pain.  My sister Cheri and I went to his house, masked up and went in.  I found him with a low BP and pulse, pale and weak,  We decided it was time for a trip to the ER.  We knew it was likely that they wouldn't let us in, and that's what happened.  We pulled up, they came and got him and told us to wait in the parking lot and call the ER in about 30 minutes.  It was heartbreaking to see them wheel him in and not be able to go along. We waited and then I called.  They said - oh, it will be at least an hour.  He's not even registered yet.   At that point we decided to drive somewhere and get a cup of coffee, instead of sitting in a dark parking garage.

We enjoyed seeing some of the cool old buildings in town.

This is one of my favorites - it reflects everything around it so nicely.
We found a Bigbees and got some coffee, then sat in the car and called the ER again.  I got to talk to a nurse this time and tell her what's been happening.  She said she didn't know if he would be admitted but we may as well go home, as the tests they were running would take over 2 hours.
So, we headed home (it's about 30 minutes) to wait for more information.

On the way out of town, we say this building with all the decorations lit up.

I dropped Cheri back home a little before 6 and then went home for supper with Bob.  Shortly before 9 they called and said they were releasing him.  They had given him IV fluids, his other tests looked good. So, Cheri and I went back to the hospital, then brought him home and came back home.

The next morning, he said he's had a bad night again.  I was at work and had an appt with my rheumatologist in the afternoon.  He felt like he needed to go back to the ER (and this is not at all usual for him).  I knew I couldn't take him because I had been fit into that specialist appt.
So, Cheri left work and took him back.  Again things checked out ok, they said it would just take time to build up strength.

Then - I went to my specialist.  He feels my diagnosis is Rheumatoid Arthritis.  He will do more labs in about a month to be sure.  I'm started on hydroxychloroquine.  This is the med that is supposed to be helpful with Covid.  It's used for malaria and rheumatoid arthritis.  It will take 3-4 months to really start working.  In the meantime, I'm on prednisone which they are trying to taper down.  I still have pain, especially in the morning in my knees and shoulders, but it is so much better with the prednisone, and it improves as the day goes on.  He feels we caught this early enough that there will be no permanent damage and we just have to find the right treatment.

This was all on Sunday and Monday, last weekend.
Since then, I continue to check with my Dad daily and he is doing much better.  He is still tired, but a lot of the other issues are resolving.  He's even out of quarantine now.  Saturday I picked him and Ann up, we went to the grocery store and the bank.  He was tired out, but it's wonderful to see him looking more like himself.  Ann never got it, but we are noticing that she has been more confused.  We set up a plan for meals for them from us kids, grandkids and Ann's family too.  For now, we take it day by day.

Then one more thing happened.  Most of you know our daughter Heather is expecting,  She is a type 1 diabetic so is high risk.  She has been having non stress tests twice a week and goes to her specialty OB.  On Friday, the non stress test wasn't going well and her BP was elevated so she was admitted for the weekend.  They are giving her steroid to help the baby's lungs mature.  She was able to come home this morning. She's at almost 34 weeks, so keeping baby in for a few weeks would be good.  But, it does look like baby may come sooner, rather than later!

That's what's going on here.  Hopefully the next time I do an update, it's filled with good things!