RECIPE: QUICK KRAUT

Ed Brandon

Finely shredded cabbage                                  1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. salt                                                      2 Tbsp. vinegar

            Finely shred cabbage; tightly pack into quart jars. Place salt, sugar and vinegar in top of jar. Pour boiling water over cabbage filling to top edge of jar. Seal lids, cool and store in dark place.

Mother's Journal

Feb 12, 2011 Brother Elmer and Anita were here a couple of days ago and Brother Elmer brought me this book, and wanted me to write down my feelings, what I feel each day.

I wake up every day with the same feelings I have had for years. Just so thankful that God gave me another night on this earth, and each night for years I have counted my blessings and always thankful that I was able to make a difference in someone’s life, even if it’s just a big laugh with them, a loaf of bread or whatever. It isn’t the value in dollars; it’s where it comes from the heart.

I now have hospice and they are all so very nice. I guess they can tell the pain is getting worse. The pain has had two changes for the worse and both times they have increased the meds strength; so they have it under control.

I have heard from both of my sisters this week, and they both plan on coming for a visit real soon.

RECIPE: KRAUT

Alberta Thomas Brandon

Shredded cabbage                                          1 Tbsp. salt

            Finely shred cabbage; tightly pack into quart jars. Place 1 tablespoon salt in top of each filled quart jar. Fill jars to the shoulder edge with cold water. Tighten lids; place jars into crocks or kettles (somewhere dark) and cover jars with ice water. Use a plate to keep jars submerged in water. Keep jars covered with water for 25 days, checking once a week to be sure jars are still covered. After 25 days, dry jars off, retighten the lids and store in a dark place. Recipe keeps the kraut crisp.

RECIPE: NO COOK STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM

2 cups crushed strawberries (equal to about 1 quart ripe fruit)                           4 Cups sugar

¾ cup water                                                                                                    1 box Sure-Jell fruit pectin

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the fruit and sugar into strawberries; let stand 15 minutes.

In a small saucepan, mix the fruit pectin and water. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir into the large bowl of fruit. Continue to stir for 3 minutes. Quickly pour into six 1-cup containers. Cover at once with a tight lid. Let stand overnight. Then store in freezer until ready to use.

1932 - Early Years

      As I said before, I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio where we lived until the year that I was to turn six years old. For me, as for many children the age of six ushers in the first grade and learning how to read, write and interact with other children of the same age.

      This was a problem for my father who was extremely prejudiced against blacks. My father was always civil to blacks but he made the decision that no child of his would be subjected to having to go to school with blacks, so we moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to the coal mining camps of Harlan County, Kentucky.

      I had an aunt and uncle who lived way up on the top of a mountain where there was no way of getting a car up to. At the time we moved there they had eight children; by the time they had their last child they had a total of eleven children.

      We had a cabin at the foot of another mountain. The cabin was built in the popular shotgun style with the rooms running in a straight line from one to another. Downstairs, there was a pot bellied stove with a flat topped trunk. This trunk was where any courting was done.

      The cabin had a ladder up to the attic where there were wall to wall iron beds, with feather pillows piled up high. I have really fond memories of all of those pillow fights when we were suppose to be going to sleep.

      Our bathroom was a log across from one side of the creek to the other. My uncle and my father had hewed the top off and we could walk across; stopping in the middle to use the bathroom. If the water was running in the creek then the bathroom was flushed; or, if the creek was low, our “deposits” stayed during the dry spell.

      My oldest cousin and I argued a lot. One day she threatened to shove me off the log and I told her that if I went she would be going with me. Sure enough she tried to push me, I grabbed her and we both went into the dry creek bed with its odorous holding. I tell you what we both stunk to high heaven. We had to carry our water all the way from the branch above to our tubs. Usually the water was allowed to warm up for a bath but, because of our high smell, there was no time for the water to be allowed to warm. Our mothers would pour a bucket of water over our heads, scrub a while, then whip a while, scrub then whip, scrub then whip. Believe me there were no more arguments that took place on the log in the middle of the creek. We settled our arguments way before we got on that log.

      There were lots of maple trees in the forest above the coal camp. My father went into the forest placing a drip spout into the maple trees in the early spring. I was allowed to go too. The syrup dripped into our buckets; we would take the syrup home to my mother who would boil the syrup down for us to use. Uncle Cecil had a cow who gave fresh milk. My aunt and my mother would make butter from the fresh cow’s milk. Then my mother would make biscuits that our two families shared. We would slather butter on the biscuits, and then pour the maple syrup over the biscuits too. I wish I could set once more and share one of my mother’s good biscuits, slathered with fresh cow butter and rich with maple syrup with my family.

RECIPE: PEACH JAM

4 Cups mashed peaches (peeled and pitted)   5 cups sugar

1 (1 ½ oz.) pkg. fruit pectin

            Measure peaches into a saucepan. Add fruit pectin to peaches. Add sugar and stir vigorously. Place over high heat and keep stirring until comes to a hard boil; boil for 1 minute. Stir constantly. Take off of heat and skim surface, using a metal spoon. Stir and skim 5 minutes to keep any of the fruit from floating. Quickly ladle into jelly glasses. Have paraffin melted so the jelly can be sealed right away. Cover about 1/8 inch. This should make 9 medium glasses.

RECIPE: ORANGE RHUBARB PRESERVES

6 cups sliced rhubarb              5 cups sugar

1 lb. “orange slice” candy, cut into small pieces

Combine ingredients in a large kettle over medium heat; stir until all sugar is dissolved. Simmer about 30 minutes.

To be on the safe side, stir and watch closely to prevent scorching. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

RECIPE: ROSY RHUBARB PRESERVES

1 (6 oz.) pkg. strawberry gelatin                     1 (8 ½ oz.) can crushed pineapple

5 cups sliced rhubarb                                      4 cups sugar

Mix all ingredients together and cook for 30 minutes. Pour into sterilized glasses and seal. Mixture will thicken as it cools. Makes 5 cups of preserves.

RECIPE: GREEN TOMATO JAM

Faye Harris

2 cups chopped green tomatoes                      1 ½ cups sugar            1 (3 oz.) pack raspberry Jell-O

Bring the chopped green tomatoes to a boil, boil for 10 minutes. Add Jell-O and sugar and boil for two more minutes. Pour into freezer containers, cool and freeze

RECIPE: CORN RELISH

Alberta Thomas Brandon

4 cans whole kernel corn, drained                  2 tsp. celery seed

1 small head cabbage, chopped fine               1 ½ cup sugar

1 cup chopped green pepper                           1 cup water

1 cup chopped onion                                       1 tbsp. mustard seed

1 tsp. turmeric                                                 1 cup chopped celery

1 tbsp. canning salt                                         1 cup chopped red pepper

Stir all together; let strike a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pack in hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles with a knife; seal. Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove, cool, store in dark place.

PRESERVING CHILDREN

Take one large, grassy field,

One-half dozen children,

Two or three small dogs,

A pinch of brook and some pebbles.

Mix children and dogs well together,

Put them in the field, stir continuously.

Sprinkle the field with flowers,

Pour the brook gently over the pebbles;

Cover all with a deep blue sky

And bake in the hot sun.

When the children are well browned,

Remove, and set away in the bathtub to cool.

Wilma (Thomas) Noe

Born: August 27, 1941

Daughter of Rachel (Powers) and Finley Thomas

Sister of Harold Thomas

Wife of Sonny Noe

RECIPE FOR A HAPPY FAMILY

1 husband                                1 wife                          children

1 Bible for each

Generous portion of prayer

3 Cups of love, paced

1 Tbsp. of understanding

2 Tbsp. forgiveness

1 Tbsp. Patience

1 package work

1 package play (together)

1 small paddle

1 cup kisses

            Mix thoroughly. Sprinkle with awareness. Bake in moderate oven of everyday life, burning as fuel all grudges and past unpleasantness. Cool. Turn out on platter of cheerfulness. Garnish with laughter and tears. Serve in large helpings to GOD, COUNTRY AND COMMUNITY.

Ruth Murch

Wife of John Murch

Aunt of Robert Frank “Jack” Booher

2005 Trip to Belterra from a Letter Written by Ann

2005 – April 17 – Trip to Belterra

From a Letter written by Anne to Sue, Buck, Faye and Russell

--- Old Main Street Apt –

Munfordville, KY 42765

April 17, 2005

Hello Aunts and Uncles,

I hope this finds you doing okay. I’ve been to the doctor for an X Ray of my knee (Diagnosis: old age – never – and deteriorating bones), I also went because of congestion and another lump under my left arm and in my right breast. I’m suppose to have another mammogram done the end of this month or the first of May.

Mother has been to three different doctors the last two weeks and is scheduled to go to the orthopedic surgeon May 2 to see when she will be having another surgery on her left shoulder. Mother says the pain is just getting to be too much for her. I’m just afraid that the “bathtub incident” aggravated everything. Oh! I forgot you all don’t know about the “bathtub incident”.

Remember I was telling you all that we were going to try to make it to Belterra? Well, our trip started from Elizabethtown to Stanton and then on to Rising Sun, Indiana where the ship Belterra is. Mother and I went up to Teri and Barry’s, in Stanton, on Thursday afternoon and Thursday night Mother decided that she wanted to get into the bathtub and take a bath. This is something she hasn’t done since she injured her left shoulder. Showers – yes, sit down in a bathtub – no. Anyway, I heard her calling me and went to check on her. Mother couldn’t get her knees under herself and since her bad side, the left shoulder, was on the outside of the tub, she couldn’t get enough leverage to get herself out of the bathtub. After trying to turn her different ways to get her out of the tub and realizing non of them worked, I decided there was only one thing to do. Drain the water out of the tub and get in myself. By getting behind and then under her and lifting her up I got her out. But that is when the pain in her rib and shoulder started getting worse. And that is also when my knee started getting worse. The rest of the Belterra trip was just as interesting.

Our rooms were free, thanks to Teri and Barry having coupons, but we found out our meals had to be paid for. Teri and Barry had let us think that the meals would be free also. They were on Saturday morning, when Teri and Barry had their cards validated and comped, but it cost almost $80.00 for the four of us to eat Friday night. Anyway, Mother and I both lost what we had brought with us, $60.00 to $100.00 does not last long at all, especially when you hit the wrong button on the penny machine and realize too late that you have hit the maximum bet to be made! Mother and I went to our rooms about 10 PM, we left Teri at the Blackjack table (about $975.00 ahead) and Barry was at the Red, White and Blue Sevens machine.

The next morning, about 9 AM, there was a knock at the door, it was Barry with two large cups of Starbucks coffee. Mother was in the shower so I confirmed with Barry that 11 AM was checkout time and that we would be ready to leave by then.

Mother had just got out of the shower and I was doctoring the rash she has under her arm, when the fire alarm went off. The loudspeaker started blaring, “Guest of Belterra, an emergency situation has been reported and our employees are checking it out. Please do not panic, we will be keeping you updated.” This kept repeating over and over. I looked through the peephole and could see that all of the lights were flashing but there wasn’t anyone in the halls. I thought maybe it was a false alarm, so I went on and got into the shower.

Barry knocked on the door, Mother grabbed my bathrobe and answered the door. Barry told Mother we needed to go on and get packed up.

It was about now that the funniness of the whole situation hit Mother. (1) Every time she had got naked to clean herself up, something drastic had happened. (2) The preacher had found out she had gone to Belterra and reported a fire. Needless to say she had me laughing right along with her. When Teri knocked on the door to make sure her Nanny wasn’t having a heart attack from being scared, that was what she found. Mother and me laughing until we cried. Teri turned around to Barry (their room was straight across from ours) and told him it would be okay, the sounds they heard through the door wasn’t a panic attack, it was just Nanny and Mother laughing their buns off. So Barry comes in and tells us, “If you all were ready to go home, you didn’t have to pull the fire alarm, you could have just said so.” And we started laughing again.

Teri pulled me outside and told me that since we were on the eighth floor and we had a wheelchair for Mother to ride in that Barry had gone all the way down the eight flights of stairs to check the situation out and they had told him that the possibility of a fire had not been eliminated and that we should start our way down the eight flights of stairs. Barry told him, “You don’t understand. I have my wife’s grandmother with me and she is in a wheel chair and I don’t know how we can get her down the steps.” They told him they would send someone to help.

Belterra wound up sending five employees to help get Mother down the steps. Just as Mother was realizing that we were eight floors up and that there were people waiting to get her down stairs the all clear was sounded. But I don’t think Mother wants to go back to Belterra again. She says the fire alarm was God’s way of telling her she shouldn’t have gone in the first place.

I’m still spending more time in Elizabethtown than I am in Munfordville, but I enjoy my time with Mother – she keeps me laughing.

Have I told you that I am going to try to go back to school – and hopefully back to work at a good paying job? If everything works out I’ll be starting classes the end of July or first week of August.

Well, guess I had better run for now. Mother is waiting for me to drive to church.

Love you all,

Your niece

Ann

Note from Ann:

My favorite part of this is that mother told on herself to the associate preacher. We met him in Wal Mart’s and because she thought I had said something she told him what a great time she had before the alarms started going off. I really had a good laugh when she realized he had not a clue what she was talking about. Then she had to tell him because she had started the story herself.

April 2005 – Be Careful What You Sale at a Yard Sale

In April 2005 I was living in Murfreesboro, Kentucky and mother was living in Elizabethtown on Washington Street. I had a storage building that I was trying to get organized so I could get rid of some of it and take the rest down to Murfreesboro.

Mother decided she wanted to have a yard sale and asked if I would like to bring some stuff to sale. Since this was my game plan I told her yes and we started getting the garage set up for the sale. I accidently brought a bucket of screws that I had organized into baby food jars. These were not for sale because I used different sizes of the screws for various projects that I did. There was also a small butter tub with jewelry in it that wasn’t for sale because I was going to have it repaired. There was a watch and a smoky topaz ring with a broken band in it along with a couple of gold and silver chains.

I got back from school and mother was all excited because she had gotten a quarter for the watch in my butter tub and a quarter a jar for my screws. I reminded her that I had wanted to keep the bucket of screws but that was okay maybe I wouldn’t need them. I didn’t say anything about the watch.

Then mother asked me if I would care to attaché the four industrial rollers I had in a tote to the bottom of a barrel she intended to put flowers in. I had no use for the rollers and told her I didn’t mind at all.

When I went to get the screws that I needed to attach the rollers to the bottom of the barrel, there were no screws to be had; so I had to go buy the screws that I needed. They cost six dollars and fifty cents. I wasn’t surprised but mother was. Every time she would need a screw she would remind me of the time she had sold all those jars of screws and then we had to go buy just a few and had to pay almost seven dollars for them.

I never did tell her that the watch she had sold for a quarter was a Seiko that needed a battery.

1943 – August – My Little Shadow

Back when I was sending all that candy to all those boys overseas, I decided I would send a picture of myself along with the candy that I sent to Engel and Harold. It wasn’t until I got the pictures back that I realized that my little baby sister, Sue, was cutting up right behind me! So Engel and Harold got to see a picture of me and right along with that picture they got to see my little shadow, Sue.

Mother Has a Fall

2011 - March 1 – Mother Has a Fall

Mother had a fall yesterday afternoon. I thought we were both taking a nap; she thought I was gone to the post office and she would go outside onto the deck until I got back. I still hadn't cleaned the deck up from the tornado on Monday so it had debris (including overturned flower pots with spilled potting soil) and was still wet from the additional rain Tuesday morning. She said she was coming back in when she stepped from the deck onto the hardwood floor in the utility room. The bottoms of her house shoes were wet and the tracks were filled with the potting soil, so as soon as her feet touched the hardwood floor they went out from under her.

The sound of her hitting the floor is what woke me up. I couldn't get her up by myself and went running out the front door looking for help. The girl that lives next door heard me yelling and ran to get her mom's boyfriend, Shorty. Shorty stands 6 feet 7 inches and is very muscular. He put his arms under both of mother's arms from the back and lifted her like she was a baby.

All I've found so far are a large bruise on her left knee and a small bruise on her right shoulder. She said what saved her from being hurt worse than that was the laundry basket full of clothes that was in the utility room waiting to be folded. I am so glad I hadn't gotten that job done. It could have been so much worse.

You Think You Had A Really Bad Day

2011 – March 20 Email about a bad day

So you think you're having a bad day? The following is taken from a Florida newspaper, and supposed to be true: Ann laughed so hard when she read this to me I couldn’t half understand what she was saying, I finally read it for myself.

A man was working on his motorcycle on his patio and his wife was in the house in the kitchen. The man was racing the engine on the motorcycle and somehow, the motorcycle slipped into gear. The man, still holding the handlebars, was dragged through a glass patio door and the motorcycle dumped onto the floor inside the house.

The wife, hearing the crash, ran into the dining room, and found her husband laying on the floor, cut and bleeding, the motorcycle laying next to him and the patio door shattered. The wife ran to the phone and summoned an ambulance.

Because they lived on a fairly large hill, the wife went down the several flights of long steps to the street to direct the paramedics to her husband. After the ambulance arrived and transported the husband to the hospital, the wife up righted the motorcycle and pushed it outside. Seeing that gas had spilled on the floor, the wife obtained some papers towels, blotted up the gasoline, and threw the towels in the toilet.

The husband was treated at the hospital and was released to come home. After arriving home, he looked at the shattered patio door and the damage done to his motorcycle. He became despondent, went into the bathroom, sat on the toilet and smoked a cigarette.

After finishing the cigarette, he flipped it between his legs into the toilet bowl while still seated. The wife, who was in the kitchen, heard a loud explosion and her husband screaming. She ran into the bathroom and found her husband laying on the floor. His trousers had been blown away and he was suffering burns on the buttocks, the back of his legs and his groin. The wife again ran to the phone and called for an ambulance.

The same ambulance crew was dispatched and the wife met them at the street. The paramedics loaded the husband on the stretcher and began carrying him to the street. While they were going down the stairs to the street accompanied by the wife, one of the paramedics asked the wife how the husband had burned himself. She told them and the paramedics started laughing so hard, one of them tipped the stretcher and dumped the husband out. He fell down the remaining steps and broke his ankle! 

2011 Email About Anne's Fall

2011 - January 20 Email to Anita and Brother Elmer

Good Morning

I thought I would share a little bit of laughter this morning. I was going to the grocery as soon as mother had taken her medicine and lain down. I had her in bed, tucked in, and turned out the light. As I left the room my feet got tangled in her oxygen line and I fell down.

Mother started, “Ann! Ann! Are you okay?” To myself I’m thinking okay I don’t want to upset mother anymore than I have to; the fall was enough. So I told her it would take me a few minutes to get to my feet, not to worry just give me a minute to see if I’m hurt and could she reach the touch light to turn that on.

She turned the light on and about that time she started laughing and said “This reminds me of that time we both fell on ice going in the door coming home from church. Ann, are you all right? And by that time I was laying right along beside you.” When she said that I started laughing so hard I couldn’t get up at all.

So here we were, her in bed not able to help if I needed it, and me laughing so hard I couldn’t help myself.  She said, “Well, my button won’t help from way up here in Stanton from Elizabethtown and the phone is way in the living room, so we are really in trouble birdsong!” More laughing at ourselves until we were both weak.

When I finally got my breath between laughs I told her I had my cell phone in my pocket and I could call Teri to let the paramedics in if we needed them. That brought on more laughter until we were both almost crying.

Anyway, I’m a little bruised but no broken bones and mother and I had a short walk down memory lane. Laughter is a good medicine after all.

2011 Results and Diagnosis

Jan 17, 2011 – 12:45 PM, Dr. Anthony G. Rogers Results of lung biopsy

As we are going up in the elevator I remember what had happened forty one years ago to the day. I had buried my first husband, Harold. I mention this to Ann as we ride up in the elevator. My bad feeling just keeps getting stronger.

Dr. Rogers is a very nice man, who has to give me a bad diagnosis. There are now two masses in the lung instead of only one. It is small cell/large cell carcinoma. Whatever that is; I will have Ann to research it and tell me exactly what we are facing. I know it’s cancer but what kind is it?

Dr. Rogers is going to contact Hospice. Ann panics because she knows that means that I only have six months max; but Dr. Rogers says that Hospice isn’t like that any more. They are there to be of help to everyone; the care giver and the patient. I still have my doubts, we will see.

NOTE: When I did the research on the small cell/large cell carcinoma I found out that by the time it was diagnosed it was really too late to do anything but wait for the end. Mother had made me promise that I would hold nothing back from her, no matter what I found out. I tried to keep this information from her, but she kept asking until I just handed her the information that I had printed out. She took it better than I did. But that isn’t surprising; she has always been a stronger individual than I am.

2011 Lung Biopsy and Bronchoscope

2011 - January 14, – 10:00 AM, Central Baptist Hospital CBH Bldg D, Tower Elevators, Lung Biopsy

Jan 14, 2011 – 10:00 AM, Central Baptist Hospital           CBH Bldg E, Tower Elevators, 2^nd Floor, Bronchoscope

There are two procedures to be done today. I don’t have a good feeling about any of this. Today is January 14^th, it is forty one years to the day that my first husband, Harold, turned to me and said, “Bert, I don’t feel very well.” He then passed out and slumped over the wheel. I started screaming and trying to get the car stopped because we were at a four way intersection and were fixing to roll on into the middle of it.

There was a young man in the car behind us that noticed something wrong; he jumped out of his car and got our car stopped before it when on into the middle of the four way intersection. He helped me to get Harold to the hospital. Within half an hour he had died of a massive blood clot to the heart. I didn’t even have time to call the kids in to say goodbye.

NOTE: It was this happening, dying from a blood clot and being a free bleeder, that in later years allowed us children and grand children to find out that not only had he been a free bleeder, he had a rare form of it called Von Willebrand. Ten percent of all free bleeders have this. It goes into highs and lows; one time you could die from a scratch and the next time you could almost cut an arm off and bleed very little. Of that ten percent; ten percent of the females are not only carriers; they can be bleeders themselves. My nephew, Jason, just had twins born in July 2011. The boy, Ewen tested negative; and the girl, Cara, tested positive for Von Willebrand.

Schedules

2010 – December and 2011 – January - Doctors Schedules

Dec. 31, 2010 – Dr. Heilig, Winchester, KY: Dr. Heilig removed fifty eight cc’s of fluid from mother’s shoulder; this seemed to give her some relief.

Jan. 4, 2011 – Troy Brooks PA-C, Stanton, KY: Follow up ER visit E’town 606-663-2511 In one of these records from 2004, there was a report about a spot on her bladder. The doctor had never followed up on it and mother did not know anything about it; so when we went to see Troy Brooks, I took the binder with her records in it and showed him the one about the spot on her bladder. Mother was still in a lot of pain even though she was on pain medication; nothing seemed to give her any full time relieve. Troy scheduled a CT at the hospital in Winchester

Jan. 5, 2011 – Clark Regional, Winchester, KY – CT of back, shoulder

Jan. 6, 2011 – Troy Brooks PA-Stanton, KY: follow up for CT; Troy called us as soon as he got the results back and wanted to see mother as soon as possible. I woke her up and took her in that same morning. There were three masses, one in the bladder, one in the kidney, and one in the lung. Troy started scheduling more tests to see what could be done about the masses.

Jan. 10, 2011 - 12:30 PM Central Baptist Hospital, Dr. Anthony G. Rogers, Lexington, KY We saw Dr Rogers about the lung mass; he set up a PET; which I researched. It was to be done on January 13, 2011.

Jan. 12, 2011 – 3:30 PM Freddie L Terrell, MD, Winchester, KY: We saw Dr. Terrell about the bladder mass. He told mother he could schedule another appointment for a test or he could go on and docthe procedure right then to determine if it was cancer or not. Mother told him she didn’t see any reason to wait and wonder; just get it over with.

The final diagnosis was Bladder Cancer. He told mother that he thought she should wait until the needle biopsy was done to decide what to do. Mother agreed with him. We scheduled another appointment for Feb 23, 2011 1:30 PM – we later canceled this appointment.

Jan 13, 2011 – 9:30 AM Lexington Diagnostic Center, Lexington, KY PET

Jan 13, 2011 – 1:00 PM University Inn, Lexington,, KY 40503 859-278-6625

Jan 13, 2011 - 4:15 PM, Central Baptist Hospital Pre-Admission Testing Appointment

2011 - January 14, – 10:00 AM, Central Baptist Hospital, Lexington, KY             CBH Bldg D, Tower Elevators, Lung Biopsy

Jan 14, 2011 – 10:00 AM, Central Baptist Hospital, Lexington, KY      CBH Bldg E, Tower Elevators, 2^nd Floor, Bronchoscope

Jan 21, 2011 – 2:00 PM Dr. Heilig, Winchester, KY follow-up on the shoulder and hip

Feb 4, 2011 - 9:45 AM Dr. Troy, Stanton, KY; follow-up on tests from Jan 10^th, 12th, and 13th

Jan 17, 2011 – 12:45 PM, Dr. Anthony G. Rogers, Lexington, KY:  Results of lung biopsy

Feb 23, 2011 1:30 PM Dr. Heilig Call after results from lung, We canceled this appointment.

Beginning of the Final Journey

2010 - December 27 – Beginning of the Final Journey Home

Memory from Alberta’s Daughter, Anne

It was 7:30 AM; the phone rang; the caller ID showed it was my mother. This was not an unusual thing for her to call me early in the day; what was not usual was the pain and panic I heard in her voice. “Anne, I’m not sure what I need to do here”, she was saying. My mind raced with all the things that could happen to an eighty four year old still living on her on. She continued, “I’m in so much pain I’ve been taking those Lora tabs the doctor gave me.” Considering how high mother’s pain tolerance has always been I was surprised and shocked.

“Mother, what’s going on? What kind of pain are you having?” I asked.

“My shoulder and my hip are hurting so bad I just can’t seem to get any kind of relief.” She answered. “Should I call 9-11 or should I call Brother Elmer?” Brother Elmer is our pastor at the church mother attends regularly and the one I am still a member of. If it weren’t for Brother Elmer, his wife Anita, and Brother Doug, a deacon in our church I would have been worried about mother all the time. I had her call Brother Elmer.

Mother was at the hospital over eight hours; was given a shot of morphine and sent home to consult her family doctor.

When her doctor didn’t call her back she called me and asked me to try from Stanton to call Elizabethtown to get an appointment made. Her doctor didn’t call me back either, so I made arrangements to have her see, Dr. Heilig, the shoulder doctor she had been going to in Winchester and my doctor in Stanton, Troy Brooks, a Certified Physicians Assistant, was someone mother trusted.

2010 - December 30 – My Birthday and Picking up Records From the Hospital

When I went to the hospital to pick up the record for her December 27^th visit, I was given her records all the way back to 1994. I am a firm believer in God always having a reason for everything; so I started a very large notebook and put her records in chronological order, from 1994 to the December 27^th visit.

As I put the records into the notebook I come across a report from 2004 that shows a spot on her bladder; the doctor had never followed up on the report. When I asked mother why not she said that was the doctor that had moved back to New York and that she didn’t know anything about there being a spot on her bladder.

When we went to the appointment with Troy Brooks I took the note book with me and showed him the report. He scheduled a CT scan to be done at Clark Regional Hospital in Winchester, KY. The scan would show exactly what was going on and hopefully would let him be able to do something more than medication for her pain.

The CT was done on January the 5^th. The phone rang at 9: AM the next morning; January 6^th. It was Troy’s nurse; he wanted to see Mother as soon as possible. With a sense of foreboding, I said we would be there by 10:00 AM.

We were shown to a room almost as soon as we arrived. I knew as soon as I saw Troy’s face the news wasn’t good. Troy told us there were three masses; one in the bladder, one in the kidneys, and one in the lung.

Mother cried briefly. Troy gave her a hug, gently patting her shoulders. Then Mother looked up at Troy and asked, “Where do we go from here? What comes next?”

Troy told Mother that with her permission he would schedule some more tests to be ran that would tell if the masses were cancer or benign and then we would know how to proceed.

Mother told him then that was what we would do. By the time we left the office there were several tests scheduled to be done in the following weeks. Including a follow up appointment with Troy on February 4^th.

2010 December Pneumonia

2010 – December 10– From Mother’s Tape, that date –

Pneumonia again; I just can’t seem to shake the stuff and not get it again. I had the shot this year just like the past three years. I asked the doctor why I still got it and he said the shots weren’t to keep me from getting pneumonia; it was to keep me from getting as bad. Sometimes I think Mom may have been right; all these shots they say us old folks need to take are just to help us to hurry along on home. Well, I guess that’s okay; I’ve got my suitcase packed, I’m just not homesick yet.

A soft laugh follows. Even when she was sick, she had her sense of humor.

Gorilla Glue

– Gorilla Glue

When I lived in Upton, Kentucky, Anita and Brother Elmer came to visit me. The chair that Anita sat down in collapsed from under her. I was going to throw the chair away but Brother Elmer told me to get Gorilla Glue and he would be able to fix the chair.

I guess I didn’t pay as much mind as I thought I had because when I went into Lowe’s looking for my glue I couldn’t find it. There was a man there in Lowe’s putting up stock and he asked if I had found everything all right. “No,” I told him “I can’t find the Giraffe Glue.”

The man dropped his head, kinda laughed to himself, turned loose of his cart and said, “Come on I think I know what you are looking for and I will show you.”

When I saw that he had picked up Gorilla Glue and not Giraffe Glue I said, “Well, I knew it was something big and strong; guess I know now it is gorilla and not giraffe.”

The man said, “Lady that is the best laugh I’ve had in a long time. Thank you for making my day better.”

I could hear him as I was checking out and he was still laughing when I left the store.

Note: When we heard this story, Sis and I bought a miniature palm tree, a miniature gorilla, and a miniature giraffe which we gave to mother as a joke. I guess the joke was on us; she kept those small items in her kitchen window until she moved in with me December 2010.

Trip to Nashville

2010 - March 10 – From Mother’s Tape, that date - Trip to Nashville

I’ve been sitting here rocking, listening to the tapes and trying to figure out what that noise is. I just realized that noise on the recorder is my rocking chair; so when you hear that noise you will know that mom is a rocking.

I wanted to talk about mine and Faye’s vacation to Nashville. We were going to go to Virginia Beach. Faye had called and we were talking back and forth and she said, “Sis I need a vacation and I think I want to go to Virginia Beach.

I had been taking care of Jim (J. C. Jennings) before his death. I had talked about needing a vacation for sometime. Faye told me about going to Newport News, Virginia when her son Phil was stationed there and how much she had enjoyed it. They had gone to Virginia Beach and that was the place to go. So we decided we would go, but not tell Mom Shoupe. Mom had a habit of inviting a bunch of kin to her house and then calling me to come and cook and clean for the lot of them. This was something that I normally liked; but I just wasn't up to it at the time. I was still missing Jim and needed a break.

Darline and Dana were staying with me, while Dan was in process of being discharged. So I told Darline that Faye and I were going to take a vacation but not tell Mom. I figured it was about time for Mom to pull one of these family get to gathers, and I knew I wasn’t up to it.

Sure enough Mom called just before we left, she had invited Aunt Myrtle’s kids, Dalma from Ohio, A. D. and his wife, their little boy, Betty Lou and Bob all in. She called and said, “Faye came in unexpected and I’ve invited all the gang. Bring your big coffee pot gal and get started cooking.”

I told her that I knew Faye was in but it wasn’t for a long visit, but for a vacation that Faye and I were going to take. “Not without me, you’re not!” ”Oh yes I am.” Well Mom and Faye had been arguing about the vacation all ready with Faye telling her she was coming to my house after breakfast and Mom telling her no she wasn’t without her.

Faye came to my house after eating breakfast with Mom. Well Mom started to pout. She called me and told me that Faye had said she couldn’t go but she knew I would let her. I never could stand up to Mom like Faye could, she was working on the weakest link.

I told her, “Mom, Faye is right this time. I need a vacation. I really do need to get away. You can’t go.” I knew Faye would kick my butt if I gave in.

We got away from the house without Mom; Darline was laughing her butt off because she thought it was so funny that two grown women were arguing with their mother like that. But we had held our ground and were on our way to Virginia Beach.

We really did have every intention of going to Virginia Beach. But it was dusky dark by the time we got to Nashville so we decided we would stay in Nashville for the night. We stopped at a Holiday Inn there in Nashville.

We got our stuff out of our car and went to eat in the Holiday Inn dining room. Just before we got through eating we could hear a band striking up. And boy was it good! It sounded like it was just around the corner from us. We decided as soon as we got through eating we would go check it out.

Not only was there a live band, there was a dance floor! Jim and I had gone dancing and listening to bands before he got sick; but Jim had been sick a long time before he died with cancer, so it had been a long time since I had been near a dance floor. Faye and I decided we would go in and at least hear the band play.

We sat down at a two seater table. People started coming in; but they were all men! The first couple of men that came in, asked if they could join us and when we said yes, they scooted a two seater table over and joined it to ours. As new men came in they would scoot another two seater table over; another two seater; and another; until there was a string of twenty men sitting with us!

The guys wanted to start dancing. Just us two women and twenty men! When that first man asked me to dance, I said yes. So another man asked Faye to dance and she said yes. Between us and those twenty men we danced with all of them at least once.

We figured they were all married; but we didn’t want to get married and neither one of us wanted a man; just to dance; so we figured it would be okay. We were just having some good clean fun.

It turned out that the first man I danced with was retired military. He told me that this same group met there once a year and had a conference. He also told me he was married to a Japanese woman and had three kids. He showed me pictures of his wife and kids.

We really enjoyed dancing and listening to the music. Well I didn’t have a cell phone, and neither did Faye. I still don’t have one. I wouldn’t know how to use it if I did. At any rate we decided we needed to call home.

Darline had promised me that she would go and get groceries or anything else that Mom Shoupe needed. But we still wanted to be sure that everything was okay at home, so we called. We found out that Mom was mad at both of us because we hadn’t told her we were going on vacation and that we hadn’t taken her when we decided we were really going to go. Now she was mad at Darline too because she told her she didn’t know where we were and wouldn’t give her a number where she could reach us. She thought Darline was lying.

We were going to give Darline the number but told her not to give it to Mom, or she would be calling us constantly. Darline told us no she didn’t want to know where we were and did not want the number; that way she wouldn’t be telling a lie when she said she didn’t know and didn’t have a number.

After we talked to Darline that night next; the next day we went on a tour with the Greyline Bus Tour. We forgot all about going to Virginia Beach. We traveled all over Nashville; then went on a General Lee Ship for a boat ride. We saw different stars than the ones at home, Music City you know. On the deck of the General Lee there were people playing and singing; we thoroughly enjoyed that trip; just having good clean fun.

The men we had danced with the night before had asked if we would be there to dance that night. We had told them yes but that if we did it would be for us and not them because we were not on a schedule; we were on vacation and just having good clean fun. We might be there after we ate.

But we didn’t have any supper, just went on down to the music. We ordered drinks. I hadn’t had anything to drink in an ion of years. So I just sat there and sipped, pretended that I was drinking; but after a while that drink tasted pretty good. I soon forgot my worries and my troubles. Yes, that drink had a pretty good taste.

We decided that we were going back to our room. Those men walked us to the door. That was when we found out that we were downstairs from them upstairs. When we got back to the room Faye called Russell.

Mom had called Russell trying to start trouble, she said we were down there messing around with men and we were where we don’t have any business. Russell had told her Faye had a credit card, enough money and if she didn’t have enough money, she had a check book and could get some more money. So now Mom was mad at everyone. She was on the warpath.

Although Faye had been use to liquor while she worked at the Ford motor company and had drunk pretty often, she wasn’t use to drinking now. So next morning, not being use to drinking; we both had diarrhea and were sick at our stomachs. We decided not to do anything today, just to sit around pool.

Faye said, “You know Sis, it always made me feel better to have a little hair of the dog.” So Faye went to get some liquor, just a little bottle of it, we used the glasses and the ice in our room and took our drinks to the pool with us.

It was May; for May the sun was pretty warm. In fact that was the hottest May we had ever had. So we were just sitting in the sun, sipping our drinks, and fell asleep. We got sun burnt really bad. Later on we found out that drinking and sitting in the sun will make the sun light worse. You will burn a little quicker. We found that out the hard way, we were both blistered.

Faye could swim, I couldn’t. Pop had always told us not to go near the water until we had learned how to swim. Faye had gone not only near the water but into the water and learned how to swim. So she tried to cool herself off by swimming. Anyway, the blisters started raising, we didn’t think we had been out that long,

I sat on one bed, her on the other. We could see the blisters raise and pop. I couldn’t even put on my bra; and I don’t go anywhere without my bra. We took baths, and the blisters raised even more. We couldn’t stand clothes on.

Faye said we needed to let someone know where we are in case we died. I told her that was a bunch of foolishness; She said to at least call emergency room. So I called the emergency room at Baptist Hospital. I told the man that answered the phone that my sister and I both had diarrhea and were both sun burned with blisters popping and running. He wanted to know how it had happened so I had to tell him that neither of us was use to drinking and the whole story of what had happened. Faye kept asking if we were going to die. He said you could die if you had enough of the sun. Faye kept asking if they could have someone to call and check on us.

The man told us to get vinegar, and pour over the sun burned areas. I told him we were both pretty good size women; we would need a bath tub full of vinegar to cover us. He laughed at that.

So here we were diarrhea, sick at our stomachs, and sun burnt. I knew we would have to get something to doctor with. So I broke my cardinal rule of not going anywhere without a bra on. I put on a baggy shirt, no bra, and a loose pair of shorts. I found out that even the tops of my feet were burnt. I drug up to top of the hill to the Days Inn, I didn’t want anyone from the Holiday Inn to see me. I knew there was a restaurant at the Days Inn too. So I went to side door and asked to speak to the manager. When she came to the door I asked if she had any vinegar.

She told me that she only had one gallon of vinegar and that she would need that to use for salads and all since it was the weekend; but she could probably spare one cup. I told her I would take all she could spare. I don’t even remember what I paid for that small, really small, coffee cup of vinegar.

When I got back to the room I halved that cup of vinegar with Faye. I took my half and poured it into the ice bucket, added water; then I used a wash cloth to put the vinegar water on my shoulders, which were worse. Faye was worse on her legs and arms. Faye tried to use hers in the bath tub. In a little bit I heard her cussing and raring because it had leaked out of the tub.

She asked me, “Can I use some of yours? Mine has all gone down drain.” So she got another was cloth and used mine too. No dining room tonight for sure! What with no bra and not being able to stand clothes on. We couldn't dance, no matter what kind of music it was.

So when those guys knocked on our door, we pretended we weren’t there. Our car was out front in the parking lot but we didn’t answer the door. We hid from those guys for the rest of the week. By Friday, when they left, we had gotten better. We thought we were safe so we went outside.

We could hear music coming from up the lane, so we followed our ears. There was a little place there called Gabe’s Place. It was a little country music joint and they had a guitarist, a drummer, and one guy that played a keyboard, playing there. We were sitting at a table and this woman came up and joined us and told us that the men in the band were from the Grand Ole Opry.

 She told us that was her husband was the man playing keyboard. So we got acquainted with the wives and girlfriends of the musicians from the Grand Ole Opry and they invited us to go next night to the Grand Ole Opry.

We started counting how much money we had and found out that we had spent more than we thought. I had bought Kaopectate at the BP One Stop Service there. They hadn’t had any vinegar but they had had Kaopectate. I had bought that vinegar from the Days Inn and Faye had finally got well enough she had gone and gotten more vinegar and stuff to help us get better. The motel was over a hundred dollars a night.

We had had a pretty good amount of money when we left out but we were in Nashville and everything was double and sometimes more than double because there was no choice, you paid or else. We had gone on the bus tour and for a boat ride. Now we were about out of money. We had both maxed out our credit cards. We had spent our cash on shopping and all before got sun burnt. So we decided that we were spent out. Instead of going to the Grand Ole Opry we had better be headed home.

We had a continental breakfast at the motel before we headed out for home. We were aways down the road, almost to Cave City, when we saw a sign that said, “Foot long hot dogs and milk shakes.” We didn’t have that much cash on us and we knew we couldn’t charge them to our credit cards, they were maxed out.

When we counted our change we had enough for one milk shake and one foot long hot dog. We split that milk shake and that one foot long hot dog; and it tasted really good!

We told everyone what a good trip we had going to Nashville; and it was! We really had a good trip. It took me three years to pay off my credit card and we didn’t make it to Virginia Beach. In fact we haven’t been there yet!