My helper #2 was here on Tuesday and we tackled the last of the trees. We discovered there’s a wide disparity in burlap quality.
We’d started out with this burlap I’d gotten on BuyNothing. It is just like the burlap I remembered from childhood. But it didn’t go far, so I ordered more from Home Depot.
The burlap from Home depot had a looser weave but would be fine. The problem was, there wasn’t much of it available. So I ordered more from Lowes.
It was labeled “organic” and the weave was next to useless for my application. It would do little to stop the wind. Fortunately I had ordered more than I needed.
So we doubled it on one elderberry and put some extra on the windward side of another before it ran out.
You can see the difference where we could double it and also where we didn’t.
It wasn’t until late afternoon I remembered that we should have put the tree guards on these 3 trees and had forgotten them. My intern is here on Wednesday and we will do it first thing.
With all the rain we’ve gotten since early October, the drought status has eased, but is still in place.
My husband continues the radiation treatments, but often suffers vomiting afterwards, mostly due to improper administration of meds, and making sure he eats beforehand.
The pain is still uncontrolled and there are still severe problems with reactions to various meds. They changed the pain meds, yet again, and so far he is not stable on them.
He is not mobile either and moving a lot, like transport to radiation, often sets off the pain.
On Tuesday I got a call from the Case Manager and they intended to send him to Rehab that day. I pointed out he was far from medically stable, still using IV pain meds as needed, and that Rehab cannot administer IV pain meds. Also he was not mobile and that had been an important criterion for going to Rehab.
But they had found a bed in a “5 star” place, near the hospital, and were hell bent on sending him. I refused permission and when I hung up I called my husband. They had said NOTHING to him about all this. They never did mention it. He was firmly against being moved at this time.
So it was left that it would be revisited when he WAS medically stable and if they lost the room, oh well. If he was in pain and not mobile, the promised PT that he does need, would have been useless. And the Rehab would have not been able to control his pain if he needed IV drugs.
His radiation ends next Monday, and we’ll see how things play out between now and then.