November 23, 2016
Today is Thanksgiving Day. We are all still recovering Settlers’ Day and it is nice to have an extra day off this week. My sister, Meg, is so nice. She knows how long the weekend was for all of us, so she usually invites us for dinner. This way I don’t have to cook again after the all day cooking marathon of last Sunday. My little addition to the meal this year is some of the left over candied squash and cranberry sauce from Sunday and I always bring her flowers for the table. This year I decided to make a centerpiece from a pumpkin.
I always plan to arrive early enough to help out with any of the prep and cooking that might need doing. Meg and I love to cook and we can both hold our own in the kitchen. (We are both very proud of that skill and are not afraid to show it off when we feel the need.)
Needless to say, we all had a nice relaxing day. The meal was superb and it is always nice to catch up with family news over a good meal. Even Harrison liked his turkey and stuffing.
After dinner was over and everything was cleaned up, we settled in for naps and some play time with the dogs. Meg has two Shih Tzo dogs and as I said Harrison came with us for the day. Meg’s dogs are a little more playful than Harrison is used to, so Harrison spend most of his time on someone’s lap or cuddling in another’s arms. Some time after desert, it was time to get home. I have work tomorrow, bu the rest of the family can sleep in…lucky them!
Just so you know, when Den goes out for what we plan to be an entire day, we take his “ditty bag”. This is a bag that carries everything we would need if his controller or batteries develop an issue while we are away from home. In this bag we always have his back-up controller, 2-4 fully charged batteries, 2 spare battery clips, his physician contact list, a dressing kit and a list of his current meds. If we are just going out for a short time, we only take 2 batteries. If we are planning to be out for an extended period of time, I usually put in an extra set to make sure we are covered. The batteries usually last from 6-8 hours, depending on Den’s activity level. The more active he is the faster the batteries seem to deplete. The one thing we have learned is to NEVER leave the house without the bag! You never know when you might need something out of it when you cannot get home fast enough.
******Note*******
I am quickly coming to the end of the 2nd volume of the Dennis LVAD story. Please send me your questions or ideas for future posts. I am pretty good at thinking of things to tell all of you, but even I get stuck once in a while.
Den's LVAD 