Good Morning Everyone. Anthony has taken a turn for the worse in regards to his heart function and breathing assistance. He has been struggling to breathe the last few days. Despite attempts to keep him on non-invasive breathing assistance; this morning’s chest x-ray showed that the mid-lobe of his right lung has a large fluid build-up requiring his re-intubation. It appears his lungs are having difficulty because of the reduced function of his heart. We were on a plan that was basically pushing him to heart success or failure. He seems to have hit the limit of his heart’s capability. The doctors increased his milrinone and restarted dopamine. We expect to sit down with the Doctors later today and discuss our road ahead-reactivating Anthony’s status on the organ recipient list. Use of dopamine (which is hard on the heart) is an indicator they are working to preserve his other organs in order to make him a better recipient. It is hard to see him look so much better then take such a drastic turn for the worse again. When we know more we will post; but please say a prayer for Anthony. All the past prayers have done wonders and we are very appreciative to everyone who has kept us in their prayers and reached out to us with love and support (it helps us get through this).

I met Beth this morning, and we went to an Herb Club meeting at the Garrard County Extension Agency. It was quite fun. They had set all the tables around themes such as lavender and dill. We had herb tea from freshly grown herbs, and many delicious treats such as lemon cake and egg salad. We had a speaker that talked about growing herbs for tea and another who talked about her horse rescue mission called JUMP THE MOON. She made organic shampoo and lotion from herbs and had some there to sell. Beth bought some of her lotion. I tried some, and it felt very nice. I was able to buy some organic herb and flower seeds and hope to plant them. I gave some to Beth and Tammy and still had plenty left.

In the afternoon, the other groupies came and we went to a B&B on Maple Avenue for tea. It was a MURDER MYSTERY tea and was a lark. We all dressed up and played characters. Each of us was a suspect, of course. We had wonderful small sandwiches, chicken salad tarts, chocolate dipped strawberries, truffles, cheesecake balls, and many other delicious edibles. Oh, incidentally, I was NOT the murderer.

Here’s the promotional blurb for Hammond’s Hall (the B&B):
“The Mystery Teas are great fun! When you arrive at Hammond’s Hall, you are given a nametag and an envelope containing a description of your character and what you must reveal during the simulation. You then select costume pieces to enhance your character and participate in a variety of fun activities, as part of the simulation, while you dine on scrumptious fare.”
And here’s the link to more pictures.

I drove on to Richmond to do errands, stopped at Kelley Ridge where I found no-bake cookies and handmade jewelry from Tammy awaiting me, and then headed back to the Valley to watch the UK game and Olympic luge and women’s moguls with Mombo. I received phone calls from all of my children (with a serenade from KK and K), Nancy, and Jerry (he serenaded me, too). All in all, it was a lovely day.