11 June 2014: Wednesday ... Douglas Alan Nyhoff's 56th birthday ... early AM call nice ... Renee & Juli, consummate at their jobs, fitness instructor and RN ... Mom funny pics ... donation & note to Music School of Delaware, Kate Ransom, Pres. & CEO ...

   
Photo Booth on the iPad is a lot of fun to play with and mom took these photos, one sent (left) to Doug and the other sent to Liz with a short note, "love you", typed out by mom.

It's starting to pour outside now as it approaches 11:30 p.m. and I hope Dancer is under the shed. She was yesterday when it poured cats and dogs in the afternoon as Nick Moretti waited for a friend to pick him up. It taps continuously on the roof in the TV room and the sound is not unpleasant but disconcerting because I wonder about Dancer.

Today is Doug's 56th birthday and we had a nice talk this early morning. He seemed at ease and it felt good to share with him on this day, his entrance onto this planet in Bridgeport Hospital in 1958. He was headed to work this morning and had a full day but his girls, Norma and Norma, planned a gathering this evening.

Had a strenuous Body Pump with Amy and an equally challenging Body Combat with Renee. Asking her afterward about a "zone" feeling during her workout, Renee said that she couldn't get too distracted from the routine because it requires focus but that the act of exercise made her a better person, a better mother and just made her feel great. I marvel at her concentration and the beauty of her execution and the verve of her fitness. On a different level and skill set, Juli, the PRN nurse for Hospice, came by for about the 3rd of 4th time and spent significant and meaningful time with Mom. She is so thorough and always has excellent suggestions after her history. She told me something remarkable about her interaction with dad -- I think she saw him just a few days before his passing -- and he made a confession to her about his own health state and how he missed the diagnosis and felt bad about it. She remembered telling him that we cannot diagnose ourselves, we are no good at it, we cover it up and cannot be honest about our condition. I found it an amazing declaration.

On a sad but necessary note, she mentioned the passing of her father about 5 weeks ago in the Compassion Wing of St. Francis Hospital. DE Hospice rents a floor dedicated to hospice care at St. Francis and that's where her 88-year-old father died after being there just a few days. I mentioned a touching obituary story of an individual on WBUR radio this morning where an 88-year-old cardiologist died. He'd gone into medicine to find out the cause of his mother's early death and went on to meeting his only girlfriend and wife for life -- they had 10 children -- and he'd take them on a vacation to the mountains and work as a doctor in a town that had had no doctor or medical care during this time. It was such a touching and wonderful story about a regular guy who led an extraordinary life and touched many with his dedication and skill.

The Remembrance Project: Dr. Charles Keevil

"Dr. Charles Keevil died April 8, 2014, in Lincoln, Massachusetts. He was 88 years old, worked for 54 years in the same hospital, and, with his wife, had 10 children. During summer vacations, they packed various family configurations into a VW bus and drove to a coal-mining district of Appalachian Kentucky, where he volunteered in a hospital that had never seen a cardiologist."

19 May 2014: Monday ... Doctor/Nurse visit from Hospice ... refill bird feeder (Mom's lovin' it) ... Associates at Forwood Independent Living (success ... Thom is back, not singing, yet) ... beer at Tyler's

Gordon and Margaret and the rest of the Associates participate 
in the group sing following our performance at the Forwood Manor Nursing
Care Independent Living off Marsh Road (near Graves Road), negotiated by Joanne's familiarity
of the area with Robbie on this Monday evening. A delightful evening with
participatory elderly who sang the songs and truly enjoyed the visit. 

So, mom loves the bird feeder and asked that I refill the depleted store of seed that had been eaten by mostly small birds and thankfully, no squirrels, to date. And I found a chair in the document room of dad's office and went out the door, rarely used, and set it up under the feeder and refilled it this morning. It was satisfying.

A call, in addition to mom's, just before Body Combat with Renee indicated that Hospice was sending one of their physician managers to do an evaluation of mom along with a nurse, Renee, one of her case managers. I left early to get back in time but they beat me there and I got to meet them in the bedroom -- Dr. Altimuro (sic), tall and muscular and Italian with a New Yorkish accent and the toothsome Renee. It was a good visit and I believe mom will be ok'ed for continued maintenance through DH. The other call, which I did not answer, came from the insurance company and the voicemail detailed that an adjuster would call and arrive in the next two days to check on the claim for water damage in the living room.

I got that call from at Dan Hathaway and he will arrive at our home this Wednesday at 1 p.m.

And I forwarded Composer's Datebook to Larry Stomberg and he responded with gratitude and the need to sign up for the e-mail. It concerned the first performance of the B-Minor Mass of J. S. Bach in this country, the first full one being New York with 500 performers and a full house. There was mention that one director send off to Europe for two oboe d'amores for historic accuracy.

            Oboe d'amore by Johann Wolfgang Koenigsberger,
Roding, Oberpfalz, Bavaria, ca. 1730. 
... the University of Southern Mississippi choirs and the Meistersingers Civic Chorus as they perform Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor

A great example of how a simple, mundane exchange can lead to a revelation with a simple comment. Bought two cards -- a birthday card for Lindsay from her grandmother (only card in that category) and a congratulatory missive for Susan on her upcoming marriage -- the cost being $6.28. I asked the cashier, a young lady, whether she could compute the money returned from my $10 bill in her head without looking at the register. She assuredly said "Yes" because she was going to be a math teacher and loved the subject. We shared a few words on the basic and integral nature of math in all of life's endeavors and I mentioned my experience with a good math teacher, who it turned out also was good at spying on me and reporting to the principal but all is forgiven. We do what we need to do for our family and if it means throwing someone under the bus, well, it's hurtful but sometimes necessary. Back to the exchange, it was uplifting, almost exponential in benefit to my spirit.

    

16 May 2014: Friday ... rainy day ... Core Challenge & Body Combat ... Zombie Run in Middletown (Pamela invite) ... met Renee, PRN nurse w/Delaware Hospice (talked medications) ... talk w/Rick Gambacorta ... Horizon checks AC leak ... called Lititz filed claim ...

7 April 2014: Rene visits while I'm at the Y ... mom calls as I spin ... cancel dad's AAA membership ... sign up for Nielsen ... Eleanor's contribution in dad's behalf to Am Cancer Society ... Associates rehearsal at Gordon's tonight ... misty walk with Dancer

Working out was a challenge today. I was, as Helena declared, the "token" male in Body Pump today, hiding back in the corner, but it was a good workout as only the maid from Brighton can do. She is tough on herself and her fellow practitioners. Afterward, the minutes went slowly during cycling/spinning with Carla. It went faster when she challenged us to a 2-minute pick-up to see if we could make a mile on our monitor. My first attempt went for .97 mile and on my second attempt, I went for 1.03 miles, so the encouragement was vital and I even boasted of my achievement. (I was in the first row next to the middle-aged woman with the great legs, always riding in the first row, next to John.)

During my spinning got a call from mom. A nurse, Rene, came to visit and she called out the front window about the key under the mat. 

13 March 2014: Thursday ... Aunt Carol's birthday (she would have been 84 today ... "What is it?") ...

Just remembered and shared with mom the iconic phrase that was Aunt Carol's, whose birthday is today (she'd have been 84 today), and it is: WHAT IS IT? ... I can hear her voice now, that incredible sense of humor she possessed and shared with so many, it is a legacy that is profound and meaningful to the memory and being of those who loved her. 

Called Liz and as I was talking to her the doorbell rang and Julie, the PRN nurse from Hospice, who has seen my parents a handful of times and always is attentive and helpful and thorough and totally professional, was there and we began to immediately talk about the patient, my mom and I TOTALLY FORGOT THAT LIZ WAS ON THE PHONE. Later, when she was talking to mom, I apologized effusively and she understood as she heard me talking to Julie over the phone and knew that I was involved and just hung up.

30 January 2014: Thursday ... chill, sunlit shadows of moi-meme et mon chien a Facebook ... sand vacuuming in waiting room ... oil burner off ... onto yoga with mat ... mom has ski hat on for chill

A new approach to the blog ... 5 events listed, at least, during the day as a way of remembering what went on, much like listing 5 things that you are thankful for, an idea proposed at a Church service some weeks ago and done on a "few" occasions:

1. We ran out of fuel oil this morning and the burner quit. I tried the restart button, which you should press only once, and it started only to quit a few moments later. Called Shellhorn and Hill and they arrived posthaste that morning (had planned on yoga but never made it) and discovered the paucity of the black stuff, which is in short supply. They only gave us 100 gallons last fill-up and wrote on the slip ("not full" or something to that effect). Well, within hours and we had about 5 as the technician put 5 gallons into the tank (they keep a supply of 70 gallons on their truck for just such occasions) and you get about an hour for each gallon, he said, the filling truck arrived and gave us the oil we needed and we are back to 70 degrees. We were down to about 60 degrees and I had a ski hat on mom, which pushed her hair in all contorted directions when she removed it later (amusing).
   
2. Traci, a Delaware Hospice RN, called on her way back from Dover to say that she'd be by to get blood from mom. She did and mom enjoyed, as she does all who visit her to care for her (and the DH people do care and enjoy talking with mom), the visit. The blood will go to LabCorp but I guess the days of seeing Lisa, mostly, are over. Also, she'll get her blood drawn every two weeks and not every week. Traci had a couple of years under her belt at DH but worked as an ER nurse at Christiana Hospital for 11 years where she saw patients die from a gunshot would to the leg. Cannot imagine what she encountered in that venue of medical trauma.
   
3.  

18 December 2013: Wednesday ... writing Thank Yous and listening to Beethoven by the Orford on CD (the first 5 of them) ...

It beats changing the record each time, even though they do sound sonically better, but putting in five CDs of the Orford String Quartet, who I just found out are Canadian, a favorite of my father and being able to listen for hours is a delight, especially when I am composing thank yous to the cards and then to the visitors (?) to the visitation.
 

Have moved on and am playing at this time (11:22 a.m.) the Brahms' Symphonies, the First is sounding right now, after the British National Anthem and the Tragic Overture, I was a little confused and thought this first movement of Beethoven's so-called "10th", also an overture. Go figure. These recordings were made in 1952 by Toscanini with the 6-year-old Philharmonia Orchestra. 

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/HallofFame/Toscanini/Review/Brahms

Just solved a minor dilemma about the initials of a name, D. A. Ramsey, on a address label for a condolence card. It is David A., who is the husband of Kaye, a nurse who worked for years with dad in the Employee Health Clinic at the Memorial Hospital and then the Christiana Hospital. They live fairly close by at 5426 Pinehurst Drive; Wilmington; 19808-2619. I will have to write them a Xmas card because she also came to the visitation. 

While Joe Brennan was talking to mom. He stopped by to wish his condolences as he'd learned of dad's passing from a search on the Web that brought him to his obituary. He spend some of his military service at Fort Gordon, head of the Army's signal corps, but he was in security, I think. Served 3 years. Showed him some photos of dad from years gone by and which were on display at the visitation. One that was not had dad as a baby in the arms of his mother. I iPhoned it and sent it to Facebook as Joe spoke with mom, who enjoyed his visit.

 
I am so amazed at the quality of reproduction for a tiny photo
in a weather-beaten frame from years past. The caption read:Rudolph Nijhoff held in the arms of his mother Hendrika circa 1928, Holland.

Dr. Maged called and the INR is whopping 5.9. He said to stop the Coumadin for three days and renew it at 2.5 mg per day, so that will be simpler. We also discussed her lethargy and her declining physical state. He said that she needs to move more and in the future, he mentioned tapering her off the high level of the opiates. I was honest with mom and told her the situation and I think she agrees that she needs to move more but is hesitant, make that resistant, to decreasing the level of her pain meds. "I need them," she says. And yes, she does but maybe not at the level she is currently at. I told her it was all in her head and she could have some measure of control over what she thought. We shall see.

Finally figured out how to post an album of photos on Facebook and now have 8 photos from the visitation up at this url, I think:

https://www.facebook.com/rnnyhoff/media_set?set=a.10152438069992656.1073741827.500927655&type=1&notif_t=like

   

        

   

Just sent link to the visitation album to Art Steele and he responded posthaste with a thank you. I could not post the album on his Timeline because he does not allow it in his preferences, but I just requested his cell and snail mail address and have not heard back from him in the last two minutes.

I got an e-mail from Susan about the Merry Christmas card, sent to me by Gerrit Stam, which I forwarded to her, and she mentioned the flights for the kids that Doug promised to pay for and whether I'd mentioned it to him and the book that she sent about the prodigal son and of course, the Time Share, and how we were doing in "the aftermath" and that she would be praying daily for us. I responded with a wry return and wrote short, pithy sentences. I don't know how to respond to her these days. (I need to message her with the link to the Visitation Album, which I will do, posthaste.)

4 October 2013: Friday, Foggy walk clears to brilliant sun shining through drawn curtain ...

The fog was intense this morning as I took Dancer up Pickwick and into Sherwood and then an early arrival on the campus sidewalks of St. John the Beloved Catholic School, its classrooms quiet, the posters bright and descriptive -- READ -- the carved inscription over the entrance to be honest is the best action, then walking past the Vianney House where the nuns and priests (?) reside and then out onto Milltown and into the development of Maplecrest and then around to Milltown and then back onto Pickwick, the fog still think and I notice one car without its lights on and I think, damn, that's dangerous and what it might have meant in my accident over 30 years ago at nightfall, perhaps that's the reason I pulled in front of that car, never saw it.

St. John the Beloved Catholic School

But today I had an appt. with Jim Nacchia, Jr., Director of Human Relations of /Homewatch Caregivers of Delaware,a patient care biz, run by his family -- father is head and brother, sister, and mother also work for the biz -- and I filled out the background check and took home the application for the details of places where I worked and people who know my work history. Learned of the Certified Nurse Assistant program for free and called, later, and left messages about details of the program from the two teachers.

Newark Free Library in the University of Delaware town.

Drove to the Newark Free Library and got on the computer to register web sites for the patient care biz and the Delaware program to train CNAs or Certified Nurse Assistants. (Just got through messaging John "de Gooser" Webers -- HIS FIRST TIME doing this type of interaction on FB -- who is driving down tomorrow and will call me when he gets into Delaware. Parents are looking forward to his trip, especially mom.)

Organic, mostly, tomato at Farmer's Market at Carousel Farm.