Marcy's Daily Updates

Marcy physically seemed a little better yesterday: no fever and she didn’t ask for pain medicine after her 6a meds until bedtime, making a total of 4 Oxycodones for the day. And she didn’t ask for Oxycodone with her 6a meds this morning.

Emotionally, the day started off badly with the news that Marcy’s friend Benita died Monday. Benita was one of Marcy’s nurses early in Marcy’s diagnosis, then Benita was diagnosed with ALS. She got her trach in October of 2005. We went to her house twice, met and love her family, and ran into them at the mall one time a few years ago. Marcy and Benita always had a special connection – even before Benita’s diagnosis.

Emotions improved yesterday when we heard from a case worker in Marsha Blackburn’s office, assigned to help us with our home loan modification. In addition to being a congressional aide, Stephanie is the daughter-in-law of one of the sweetest, most giving benefactors that Marcy loved at Happy Tales – over 10 years ago! Not a coincidence – a God incident.

And emotions improved more when Dr. Allison and Rita came back to the house for more treatments. Particularly because they brought several dresses for the Homecoming dance for Darcy to try on. Dresses shown here are the ones that Darcy allowed me to photograph.

Kara was off yesterday.

Darcy worked on homework yesterday when she wasn’t modeling dresses.

Matt worked and went to school yesterday. He was home about 10p and stayed in for the night.

Today’s Bearing: Matthew 15:30; Application: I lay Marcy down at Jesus’ feet.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Lots of openings in October’s Dinner Calendar.

F:4, J:1, I:0, Y:4, B:1, O:4, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key

Marcy still was not feverish yesterday and asked for a little less pain medicine (2 Oxycodones at 6a and 2 at 11p.) She asked for 2 Oxycodones with her 6a meds today.

Kara had to stay home yesterday with a sick child. I stayed close to Marcy, cleaned the office and the bedroom.

When Darcy tried to leave for school yesterday, her battery was dead, so she took the van to school. When she got the van home, I used it to jump start her car and it works fine – I’m guessing she left something on the night before. I asked her to drive the car to charge the battery and she went to a nursery (on her route) to take photos of plants for a school project. Then last night Matt took her back to school (her license does not allow her to drive after 7p) to film a soccer game for the media department.

Matt worked yesterday 8a-4p, came home to change, went rock climbing until he took Darcy to school at 6:30p, hung out with friends, picked Darcy up at 8:30p, then went back out with friends until 10:30p when he came home to study.

Today’s Bearing: 1 Corinthians 3:3; Application: When there is strife and division, I am a mere man.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Lots of openings in October’s Dinner Calendar.

F:3, J:1, I:0, Y:6, B:2, O:4, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key

Marcy didn’t seem as feverish yesterday – she didn’t ask for Motrin all day. She did, however ask for 2 Oxycodones 3 times: with her 6a meds, about 5p, and with her bedtime meds. She has already asked for 2 Oxycodones with her 6a meds this morning.

I stayed close to Marcy except to do the cleaning she asked me to do. This was a good sign – that she had assignments for me rather than sleeping all day.

Darcy went to church with Jo yesterday morning, then Colton picked her up to go back to his house and to his church’s youth service last night.

Matt made it home from his Knoxville trip yesterday about 3p, showered, studied, had supper with us, and watched the season premiere of Dexter with us.

Today’s Bearing: Galations 5:22-25; Application: These fruits show when I am walking in the Spirit.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Still some openings in September’s Dinner Calendar.

F:3, Optimental: 2, I:0, Y:6, B:2, O:6, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key

Marcy felt bad yesterday. She had wanted to go out – she asked me to put her sling under her Friday night – but felt too feverish yesterday. She asked for 2 Morphine pills at one time yesterday afternoon (the first time she has done that) and 4 Oxycodones total for the day (2 pills twice.) She asked me to keep an ice pack on her forehead most of the day yesterday.

I stayed close to Marcy all day. I was able to edit the TiVoed segment of the news from Thursday night that shows us at the fundraiser and I added it to our 9/25 post. I also cleaned the guinea pig cage and cleaned up around the house.

And I wrote a letter to Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn asking for help with our loan modification application – now 3 months in process. When Marcy and I were at the mall early last week, we saw a poster saying she was going to be at the mall for a book signing on Saturday (yesterday) from 1-3p. I wanted to hand deliver the letter to her and let her re-connect with Marcy. (Ms. Blackburn appeared at a couple of Marcy’s Happy Tales events and they got along real well.) One of the places Marcy and I wanted to go yesterday was the book signing. But Matt had to go to the Cool Springs area yesterday afternoon and said he was able to introduce himself and give her the letter.

Darcy’s soccer game was rained out yesterday. Colton came to our house early yesterday afternoon. They watched movies together in the basement and ate supper with us. They they went to a play in which Darcy’s friend Jo had a speaking part. They were home about 9:30 and went to Sonic before Colton left to go home.

Matt slept late yesterday, took our letter to Cool Springs Mall for us and hung out with friends. He left about 5p yesterday to go on an overnight trip to Knoxville for rock climbing.

Today’s Bearing: James 4:1-4; Application: Things go a lot smoother when I ask God for the right things.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Still some openings in September’s Dinner Calendar.

F:2, J:2 (yesterday,) Optimental: 2 (last night,) I:0, Y:6, B:2, O:4, Morphine 2, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key

Marcy slept almost all day yesterday – resting from Thursday night out. She asked for 2 Oxycodones at 11p.

Kara was here yesterday. I spent most of the day following up on our loan modification application. I also made a quick trip to Wal-Mart for a few things and to CVS for prescriptions for Marcy.

Darcy stayed after school to work on a video project then Colton and his parents took her out for supper. She went to their house until about 10p.

Matt worked yesterday 8a – 4p, was home for supper, then went rock climbing until about 10p. He came home, showered, and went to be with friends until about 12:30a.

Today’s Bearing: Titus 3:4-7; Application: I claim a renewing of the Holy Spirit.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Lots of openings in September’s Dinner Calendar.

F:3, J:0, I:0, Y:6, B:2, O:2, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key

Marcy woke yesterday feeling emotional. But we pressed through and made it to the “Sip a Merlot for Marcy” wine tasting event last night and had a great time. She was in her chair from about 6-10p and didn’t need suctioning the whole time she was out. She did, however, ask for 2 Oxycodones about 8p and 2 more with her bedtime meds. She has already asked for 2 Oxycodones this morning with her 6a meds. We were 2a getting to bed and she seemed very, very tired.

Kara was here yesterday. I washed Marcy’s hair and Kara styled it for the event while I cut grass before showering. Then Kara followed us over to Barbara’s house to meet everyone and enjoy the festivities. We (Marcy, Cricket, and I) had a great time and saw lots of friends we don’t get to see often. Barbara and Beverly do such a great job.

Darcy came home from school and did homework. We had a little supper with her before leaving her home with the pets.

Matt had his long day at school yesterday, made even longer by leaving the house before 8a to go to the library to finish a paper. He came home 5 minutes after Marcy, Cricket, and I were in the house last night.

Tuesday morning Marcy approved my column for this week, scheduled to publish today. But if you read these updates, you’ve already seen much of this week’s column.

Today’s Bearing: Romans 13:8-10; Application: I love my neighbor.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: Rest from outing last night. God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Lots of openings in September’s Dinner Calendar.

F:3, Optimental:2, I:0, Y:6, B:2, O:4, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key

Marcy had another good day yesterday. She only asked for one Oxycodone with her bedtime medicines last night.

Kara was off yesterday, though we had lots of other company.

Saucy Sister Barbara came by the house to pick up silent auction items for our “Sip a Merlot for Marcy” wine tasting event – that’s tonight – y’all come. Our friend Peter (from the Nashville Striders) came by to visit and bring dinner for us. He is healing nicely and ramping up to be able to run again.

And Sandra came with some massage oil and massaged Marcy’s arms and legs for over 2 hours. When Sandra was finished, Marcy blinked that her legs were hurting before Sandra started and that now they weren’t. Sandra was happy about that, too, and said she was happy to help the brain remember where the muscles are so she’ll be able to walk more easily when the time comes.

The first of Darcy’s homecoming dress options arrived yesterday from friends in Arizona. Darcy reluctantly let me take a photo of her when she tried it on. She liked the dress, she didn’t like the idea of photos. Jennifer (see yesterday’s update) said that’s how the stars often do it: the stylist will take a polaroid of each outfit and pin the photos to a wall to compare them side-by-side. After the “runway” it was back to homework.

Matt worked yesterday morning, came home to do a little homework, then went to school until almost 11p and was in for the night.

Today’s Bearing: Mark 9:23; Application: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: Great outing tonight. God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Lots of openings in September’s Dinner Calendar.

F:4, Optimental:2, I:0, Y:6, B:2, O:1, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key

Marcy had a good day yesterday. She only asked for Oxycodone once – 2 with bedtime medicines last night.

Kara was here yesterday. Regan (see 9/18 update) came back to give Marcy another facial and to teach Kara and me how to do it so we can do it as often as Marcy likes.

Also, a new friend, Jennifer, came to do a “style consult” with Marcy and Darcy. Jennifer works in the music industry with professional stylists to the stars. They have many dresses in Darcy’s size and want to let her use at least two dresses for Darcy’s homecoming dances 10/9 & 10/10. Yesterday was to let everyone meet everyone and for Jennifer to get a sense of Darcy’s style. She asked Marcy and Darcy a lot of questions. Jennifer plans to bring back lots of choices for Darcy 10/2. Once the dress is decided, they will “work” on shoes, bags, and jewelry. All three girls are very excited. I told Jennifer we have a few friends who are also bringing dresses for Darcy to consider and she said the more the merrier.

After Jennifer left, I worked some more on my friend’s website.

Darcy did homework once her consult was done.

Matt left for school before 10a and was home about 7:30p. He ate and stayed in for the night, studying.

Today’s Bearing: Luke: 21:36; Application: I am ready for whatever He brings.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Lots of openings in September’s Dinner Calendar.

F:4, J:0, I:0, Y:6, B:2, O:2, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key

Marcy rested well yesterday after her outing Sunday. She slept late, until early afternoon. And only asked for one Oxycodone once – with her bedtime medicines and used her speech synthesizer to record shows much of the day.

Kara was here yesterday. I ran a few errands. Garland is out of town and Gretel is busy at school so I renewed some license tags for him. I also went to the bank, CVS for a prescription for Marcy, and Wal-Mart for a few things. I was home by 3:30 and worked on a website for a friend.

Darcy had lots of homework yesterday but made time to watch Monk with us during supper.

Matt worked 8a-4p, came home to change, and went rock climbing with friends until about 10p before coming home to study.

Today’s Bearing: Philippians 2:3; Application: Everyone is better than me in at least one thing.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Lots of openings in September’s Dinner Calendar.

F:4, J:2, I:0, Y:6, B:3, O:1, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key

Marcy woke yesterday and blinked that she felt great. We had planned Saturday night to go out yesterday and since she was feeling great, that’s what we did. She was in her chair from about 2:30-7:30p. She asked for 2 Oxycodones before we left, 2 about 6p, and 2 with bedtime medicines, but I think most of those were preventatives – she didn’t seem to be in pain yesterday. (And we did remove her last Fentanyl patch when it expired Friday.)

We (Marcy, Cricket, and I) went to the mall to buy a gift for a friend. Then to Joann’s Fabrics to get a picture frame and plate holders. She had a fun day.

The bad news from yesterday was the buyer for the motor home reneged. Or at least delayed his decision. He had a personal crisis with a family member that may require substantial investment and wants to investigate that before paying for the motor home. He doesn’t know how long it will take to project his need. Even that news did not depress Marcy yesterday. Me either – all in God’s time. Shane came over yesterday and took the motor home back to his house.

Darcy went to church with Jo yesterday morning. Colton was waiting on her at our house when she got home. He took her back to his house for movies and his church’s youth group meeting last night.

Matt made it home from his sleep over about 11a yesterday. He worked from 2p – close, then came home and studied before going to bed about 11p.

Today’s Bearing: Acts 2:40; Application: It’s great to know that whatever happens in today’s news, we are saved.

Daily Prayer for Marcy: Rest from outing yesterday. God’s continued healing manifestation. Total relief from pain and discomfort.

Lots of openings in September’s Dinner Calendar.

F:5, J:0, I:0, Y:6, B:2, O:6, P:0, T:1, Levaquin; Key