Charting progress

January is half over and time is slowly marching on. Each day is full of challenges. Some days there are accomplishments, other days failures. When just getting out of bed can be a hurdle to overcome the tasks that we gave no thought to yesterday may be one of life's biggest challenges today. This is how things have become with Randy. He has gone so far downhill that just standing for five minutes is exhausting to him. I have tried to remain positive and supportive of him. It is hard. He is depressed by his failing health and frustrated at the extremely slow process of recovery. Of course we do not know how far he can recover, but we intend to try to regain some of his health.

In order for him to develop and maintain habits that will assist him toward his goal of improved health, we are charting his progress. We are hopeful that the components of the program will become habits for him. Even little accomplishments are acknowledged and rewarded. We chart all of the steps that he needs to do, from the various exercises that he does to rebuild stamina, to A.M. and P.M. dosages of vitamins to whether or not he has been smoke free that day. Being smoke free is one of the most important steps in this process and so far he has not been able to do it. I am hopeful that his accomplishments in the other areas will give him the additional incentive to allow him to finally break his nicotine addiction.

Despite his current limitations he did manage to change the master brake cylinder in the truck over the course of the last couple of days. He took the old one off of the truck on Tuesday and went to the auto parts store when I got home from work. Yesterday he put the new one in. As minor as this job was, it was still an accomplishment for him because it required him to stand while he did it. Yet another small feat to be celebrated.

We didn't have a chance to bleed the brakes to finish the job because of the weather. It was miserably cold and raw here yesterday. At about 11:15 A.M. it began to sleet. It sleeted and snowed most of the day. However, because the temperature at ground level was above freezing there was no real accumulation. Raised areas such as our steps and porches were a little slippery from the slushy combination that collected on them, but the roads never got that way. The story might be different if this precipitation had held off and come this weekend. The temperatures this weekend are forecast to be bitterly cold, with daytime highs having trouble getting above freezing and night time temperatures in the teens. We will have to take steps to prevent frozen water lines. We've already had one episode of frozen pipes and don't want a repeat.