Settling into a routine... kinda!

I am getting back into a routine.  I have been trying to figure out what I can and cannot do here in the house.  I cannot do more than I expected but I can also do more than I thought I could.  I know that sounds odd, but the house is giving me limitations because of it's size.  The 100 year old design is not always wide enough for the furniture and the walker I am now using to keep from falling.  But, by the same token, there are places where I can go without the walker because I have enough stuff to grab onto that I can move without the walker.  I just have to take careful, thoughtful steps to prevent becoming unbalanced and stumbling so what used to take a few seconds now takes a few minutes.  But I am in no hurry, so it works for me.

Of course, with the holidays and Brian coming to visit on the 21st, I am still not quite sure what my normal is actually going to be like.  He has been such a comfort to me.  He has cooked some wonderful meals... turkey dinner then made turkey broth from the carcass and then soup.  Then we had pork roast, sauerkraut and pierogi for Christmas Eve.  He stops back by tomorrow for a prime rib dinner.  I am going to be so spoiled by his cooking that it will be hard to start cooking myself.  But I should have a good week of leftovers when he leaves.... if not more.

He has also been a trooper about moving things around so I can have an easier walk around the house.  He cleared the dining table from all of my sewing stuff and reloaded it when the company had gone.  He has great fears about having to clear out the house when I die, but hopefully I will have plenty of time to get rid of the excess that I have from the consolidation of my summer weekend home and the main home here.  I feel I am making progress, but I am sure it is slower than he would like to see.

I started this several days ago.  Brian has come back, prime rib cooked perfectly and shared with friends and he has returned to Minneapolis.

The routine is getting settled and preparing to change at the same time.  I have a lovely Physical Therapist whose name is Gerry.  He pops in three days a week.  He works my poor leg with exercises and massages and yet, we only seem to be able to get a consistent 75 degree bend.  I feel like I have reached a plateau, just as one does with a diet.  I am a bit more flexible in the morning and then by the time I get breakfast fixed and getting dressed, etc. I can already feel the knee itself getting tight.  It is some minor swelling, but it prevents it from bending.  I am sure that it is a matter of time before the swelling stops, but for now it is frustrating.

Gerry seems to think that I will be better served by getting to a Physical Therapy facility where they have machines and therapists with alternative techniques.  I agree with him.  I have sent in my paperwork to become a registered member of Rover Transportation.  It is a small bus/van service that will take seniors to doctors/therapy/hospitals/grocery etc for $.75 one way within Chester County.  This will allow me to schedule therapy at the new facility about 5 miles from here and pay under $5.00 per week for the trips.  Now I need to get in touch with the medical center to set up the appointments and then the doctor to have the script sent for the change from home therapy to outpatient.  I am gearing myself to have that ready for next week.

So, routine and yet always changing.  These are the days when I wonder why I did this surgery.  But even the worst pain today and fighting to get the bending better is better than the pain I was having before I had the surgery.  I am guessing I am just wanting things to go faster.  Patience is the key.  I just need to keep plugging along.  It will happen and this will all be part of a fuzzy haze of discomfort when I look back.

Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for your patience.  The transition to being home has been trying.

Actually getting here was not that hard.  Marji and Danny arrived at Ephrata Manor at 1:00 PM on Thursday morning.  All day long, the nurses and staff had come by and said farewell.  I signed lots of papers and they gave me medication for the rest of Thursday and Friday.

Danny loaded up the van and I was finally heading back to my home.  Such a wonderful feeling to be out of the regulated environment and into my own control.

We got the water on, the heat kicked up and turned on the hot water heater and water softener.  I realized that my little house is smaller than I imagined it was.  Me and the walker kept running into things on the floor.  The little throw rungs get in the way and the hallway to the bath and bed and office ... well, I spend more time lifting the walker than walking, but I will adapt.

Marji and Danny hung around until the water was hot enough for me to get in the shower.  They wanted to make sure I was not alone for that.  It was the first shower since going to the hospital.  Let us just say that I have never felt anything so wonderful!  Water flowing from the shower head, down over the head, shoulders, body and legs.  Heaven in the bathroom.  I had difficulty getting into the shower but out much easier. (I have since figured out an easy entry and exit that is safe for me!)

Marji and Danny finally headed home (save for a stop for Danny's Deer... ask him about that for the full story) and I began living on my own.... again.

I have made mistakes... dropped the walker on my good foot (pain, knot, will be black & blue) and still figuring out how to carry things with the walker.  But hopefully the walker will be short lived and I will be on more sure footing with my new knee and all of this behind me.

Prayers appreciated.

Gone.... a gap or two.... but fine

The staples came out today.

The young lady said it would be a small tug, like a bee sting.  I have not had a bee sting in a long time, but I remember it hurting.

Well, it hurt.  Not badly, but it hurt.  I had to stop her about halfway.

But they are gone.

Now, please note the small area where the connection does not seem completely sealed.  It is not.  And after I took this, it opened up some more.  I asked and was told it was fine.  The healing is happening from the inside out.  BUT to make me feel better, I got some steri-strips put in a couple of places to make the scar more even.

Haven't been to therapy yet, but soon.  Then home tomorrow!

Only One More Night .... Yippee!

I have been cleared to go home, alone, tomorrow.  It can not come fast enough.

It is 7:00 AM in the morning on December 18th.  I woke up on my own and went into the bathroom to pee and to scrub my body.  Came back to my side of the room and dressed.  The temp outside says 28 degrees, but I am in shorts?  Why, you might ask...., well I will be heading to my surgeon's office to have the 29 staples removed from my knee.  Another appointment that cannot come too soon.  Therapy has been going well, but bending the knee is painful, more from the staples pulling.  I am looking forward to therapy this afternoon to see if it really makes a difference.

I will be packing my stuff the rest of the night.  Marji and Danny are coming up to pick me up at 1:00 PM.  Gives us time to wake up and move, but I want to be ready as soon as they come.

Once home, I will have Thursday evening, all day Friday and half day Saturday to figure out what I need to adjust to do this on my own  with a walker.  That way Brian, who arrives in Philly close to noon, will be able to help me make the adjustments.

I will be having therapy at home until I can drive and then probably still at the new center in Parkesburg.  Those arrangements are being made today.

So, I will be home soon, prayers answered and progress continues.  Be ready, friends, I will be in need of rides and shopping over the next 4 weeks.  I will be calling!  And thanks for the offers.

I am ready for a jail break.....

The process has begun.  Discussions have begun to get the steps moving forward to get away from Ephrata Manor and be back on my own at home.  I am not sure that the powers-that-be are quite ready to have me out of here before Christmas, but I have news for them.  I am aiming for Thursday, with a drop-dead day of Friday.

The idea of coming here was that I was not quite ready to live on my own directly from the hospital.  I would have needed someone to stay at the house for several days and there was just not anyone around who could come and live with me and provide me with assistance getting in and out of bed, chairs and toilets.  So I came here, to Ephrata Manor, to become better able to take care of myself.  I am now officially independent here in the nursing home.  I can walk the halls, go to the bathroom alone, bathe myself from my little tub, eat what I want.... independent!  So, I figure I can be independent at home just as easily as here.

Besides, I am ready to be in my own bed, no roommate who reads all night long with lights on.  I do not want to hear cat fights in the hallway between women who have differing opinions. I do not want to hear wailing of a resident who wants to be home and cannot understand the dramatic health change that brought him hear.

I am ready to be at home.

So I will give then a chance to go through the motions and paperwork.  But come Friday, I may be calling on some of my more adventurous friends to come and pack my up and take me home.  Brian flies in from Minneapolis on the 21st and I plan to be home to spend time with him!!!

So friends... be ready to break me out of jail!!!

A quick view before they are gone

Fast post.  Long weekend at Ephrata Manor.  I guess I am just ready to be back at home and on my own.  But just imagine being in a place where all of the people in charge want to do every single thing for you.  I have come close to whacking some of these helpful angels across their knuckles to say let me unwrap bowl of peaches by myself!  They are no used to anyone who is completely independent!

Anyway, I took a couple of pics this morning with my cell of the staples in my knee.  I have a 9:30 AM appointment in Lancaster on Wednesday to have them removed.  Then, with in hours, or a day at the most... with or without the help of Ephrata Manor, I will be home.

More tomorrow:

Here is the knee..... you are

Wow.... I can now pee without help!!!

Yesterday I gained my independence!  I was placed on independent status.  I can get up and out of the bed, stand up, move around, get dressed, walk the halls, etc. without having to wait for someone to come watch me.

Therapy continues to push my knee to new heights.  I was placed on the NuStep machine.  This is a recumbent type bike/stepper that works the legs and knees without strain on the back.  I have it really loosening up the knee joint.  I need to get the knee to bend.  I have not used the knee correctly for.... well, years.  They measured my degree of bending when I first started.  It was close to 65 degrees of bend.  After 10 minutes of bending and pushing, I was at 75 degrees.  A second round in the afternoon and I could push the knee to almost 80 degrees.  If I can keep this up, I may be a normal person by spring.  Lots of work ahead.

Dave Gehman came in just before supper.  He is the pastor of my church and has visited three times in the short time I have been here.  He asked what I needed and my concerns about the snow and my driveway were discussed.  I usually plow my driveway.  But not usually this early.  I never even thought about plowable snow.

The process to get me home is this... staples out on the 18th, home evaluation where I go with an occupational therapist who looks for issues... so we have to be able to get into the driveway and then get out of the vehicle and into the house without falling.  Then, I am cleared to go home!  Brian comes home on the 21st, so I need to be home then!

So the church has been put on call to keep my driveway usable.  I am so grateful.

Sheila came by to visit.  The weather and life in general have kept her from visiting often.  But I have been busy with therapy that by evening I am ready to chill.

I am really getting ready to be at home.  I have stories about things inside a nursing home.  I will share them later.

Yes, I am still around.....

Hey, you should really walk in my shoes for a few days.  Wow, do they keep you busy!  And it is especially hard to do  when you have to continually wait for someone to 'assist' you.  I am still listed on the book as needing a walker with 1 assist.  Basically this means if I want to get up from my chair or up off the bed, I have to ring for someone and then wait until a Nurse, CNA or other properly authorized person comes in to 'watch' me get up and go to the bathroom, changes clothes or anything else that I have been able to do since I was 2 years old.  I understand that with this newly implanted joint that I am a 'risk to fall'..... but come on, let's be real.  I believe that may change sometime today as the paperwork has been sent up from therapy that will allow me to be more independent.

Honestly, there is one nurse or aide who I have to see come through the door when I buzz.  She hovers, she grabs my arm to help lift, she prefers me to be in a wheel chair so she can whisk me off to the dining room and when I ask her to let me please do it myself, she is genuinely surprised that I am so independent.  Freaky!!!

The meals have been OK.  Not on the same level as at LGH, but OK.  I did finally ask for some yogurt with a couple of my meals and they sent a fruited one last night that was yummy!

My sweet little roommate has been a pain in the butt the last few days.  She has been complaining about most things, refuses to allow certain women to assist her and has stayed up reading the last several nights.  I did not think lights from her side would bother me, but every couple of hours I was awake.

Therapy is going strong.  I have occupational therapy.  This is where they teach you how to survive living in your house without major damage to your house or yourself.  They also build up your  upper body muscles so you can use the walker and not kill your shoulders.  Physical Therapy is brutal.  I have been walking (with the aid of a walker) to therapy.  Then I am given tasks, in groups of 30, to do.  I am surprised how quickly things come back.  There is an area of my knee that is still painful.  It is not a sharp pain, but more of a dull ache.  It feels like I have an ACE bandage tightened around my knee and where the knee bends in the back, it feels like the bandage has wrinkled and gotten tighter.  I know the doctor had to do some muscle tweaking as my knee was in a permanently bent position, so muscles back there were shorter than they should.  I am assuming that this will pass as soon as I get them stretched back out to size.  My body is still not trusting the new knee, but everyday gets better.

My day is basically getting up, breakfast in bed, cleanup, dress and go to either occupational therapy or physical therapy.  After morning sessions, I come back to my room.  Yesterday I curled up and slept hard for several hours.  When I woke up, my dinner had arrived and was waiting on my dresser.  I ate and went back to therapy.  I was still working as the therapists began heading home for the day.

Back to my room for supper in bed.  I really cannot do food in the dining area.  I am the youngest at 66 years old.  Dinner does not start being served until 5:00 PM, but the nurses begin placing folks at tables around 4:30 PM.  It is a quiet bunch, 1/3 are sleeping, 1/3 are watching them prepare food and the other 1/3 are crying to go home.  NOT my idea of fun dinner companionship.  So I have them bring trays to my room.  It is much more like I am at home, TV on and my dinner in my lap.

Yesterday I got a vase of flowers from my church family.  I was quite touched.  Nothing fancy, some lovely red carnations, but it makes me smile just to look at them.  No visitors as the two snow storms have changed how everyone feels about driving at night.  My concern now is that since the snow was not plowed out of my driveway and it has now turned cold, I have an ice rink where vehicles will need to be when I am released to go home.  I have seen the front of my house and the driveway in years past when it did not get plowed and became a frozen pond.  Marji says I am not to be concerned, but I am.  I could be doing all of this therapy only to find myself injured on the first step out of the vehicle.  I know my driveway from past experience... I am scared.

So, after a good night last night, I am up, I am waiting for some breakfast and then waiting for the process to begin over again.

Thanks to everyone who has called or visited.  It has help make this time go much faster.

Life in a Nursing Home.....!

First I want to explain to you  who are new to my blog, I do not post detailed information on Facebook.  Too many evil people in the world and putting details there like I am not living in my home right now invites the seedier among us to figure out where I live and help themselves to some of my nifty stuff.  So no Facebook posts while I go thought this rehab and recovery.

Yesterday was a day of amazing visits.  When you are doing rehab in a nursing home that is a good 45 minute drive from your home, you really know who your real friends are when they show up at your door with snacks to help offset the institutional food here at the home.

The food is not bad.  I have had worse.  But it is not gourmet by any stretch.  So I had posted here that anyone who visited should bring snacks.

The first to arrive was Sharon, one of the OBX ladies along with her boyfriend, Steve.  They called me on my cell to get my room number and she kept talking to me until they walked in the door.  It was a very pleasant surprise.  Sharon & Steve live in Delaware and while they were up in this direction for other things, they went out of their way to visit and I was exceptionally touched by their kindness.

Next to arrive was Deb, another OBX lady and her husband, John.  They had driven up from Belair, MD to get some things they like to buy in nearby Lancaster.  John went off to go to one of his favorite stores and Deb and I sat and talked and talked.  She is recovering from a heart attack, so she is slowly learning what her body is up to doing.  My friend Annette arrived before John returned, so Annette and Deb got to chat some and Deb was able to share her energy healing with Annette.  It was fun to watch the two of them interact.

Annette stayed until a little after three.  It was her first long drive by herself outside of Parkesburg.  Her late husband was always her driver and since he died, she has only driven around the Parkesburg Area, relying on others to go farther.  I was quite honored that she would take this brave step to come see me.  Now that she knows how easy it is, I hope she will come back to visit or adventure out to other areas.

And during the visits, I also had a call from Rob, my son in Alaska.  He was checking in on me and updating me on his wife Kate.  The chemo has rendered her very tired, so they are moving at a much slower rate than they are used to.  My family is pretty much on a ONE-DAY-AT-A-TIME mode.

I talked to my BFF Marji.  Her husband is supposed to arrive home today.  The only thing that might prevent that would be the icy weather coming this afternoon.  If he does return, I am sure they will be up from Maryland, too.  Like I said, you can really tell who your true friends are when things get difficult.

I am blessed.  I have made some wonderful friends since Rudy died.  They support me and are there when I need them most.

Dave Gehman and his wife Lois came last evening.  He always seems to find me eating supper.  I had just finished as much of the meal as I could eat, so I wheeled my way back to my room.  We chatted for 20 minutes, he said a lovely prayer before they headed out for an evening of fun.

Today is the annual Christmas Open House here at Ephrata Manor.  The nurses keep talking about the good food that will be carried around by butlers.  There will also be a wide variety of Christmas Music in several areas of Ephrata.  It should make the day go faster.  I will let you know if the food is better

My life starts at Ephrata Manor...

Yesterday was a blur and yet very vivid at the same time.  It started normally at the hospital with vampires arriving well before dawn.  Checkups and therapy happened at the routine times.  Then everything changed when I learned that I would be going to Ephrata Manor Nursing Home.  Yes, not many people here even know where Parkesburg is located, so I am well out of my comfort and friend zone.  Sheila lives about 10 minutes away.  She showed up for a visit, along with her dog, Waldo.  She helped by unpacking clothing and getting bags from the hospital unpacked. I am moved in, for all intents and purposes.

I know that many of you have visited nursing homes before.  My dad lived in a couple of them prior to his death.  I visited him daily and really thought I knew how he felt.

WRONG!!!

First of all, I was bombarded with people.  Admins, dietary, occupational therapy, physical therapy, medical, doctors, more admin and nurses.  Registered nurses, CNAs and just plain aides.  They were delightful, all of them.

I now have a roommate.  The lady in the bed by the door is a tiny little thing with a soft, squeaky voice.  She barely speaks and is very quiet.  Almost like not having a roommate at all.  Her name is Denudo or Dinudo.  She eats all of her meals in her room instead of the dining room.  After having dinner tonight, I can see why.  I also ate in my room last night.  While we were relaxing, a tall gentleman came into our room.  I had no idea who he was, but Dinudo spoke to him and then he wandered over to my side of the room.  He wandered to my half of the room, opened my closet, played with the middle hinge on the bathroom door and stopped and stared at me.  I smiled and said hello.  He turned on his heel, marched to the middle of the room, stopped and farted and then marched out of the room.  Turns out he is a long time resident and may have been in my side of the room at one time.  I am fine as long as he stays away and does not try to evict me!!

The residents look at me oddly.  I am young, they do not trust me. Do you remember cliches in school.  Little groups of  boys and girls who talked about you as you walked by.  No different here.  Tonight, when I went in to get supper, the nurse who wheeled me down asked two lovely ladies if I could sit with them.  I got a no... so and so would be in along with whats her name. So I sat a table with Norman, who really wanted to be alone.  When Dave Gehman showed up for a quick visit and prayer, the man was rude enough to wave a friendly handshake away.  I may have to rethink eating in the dining room during peak hours.

The funny thing, and it happened in my dad's homes, is that the residents begin lining up 30 minutes before the meal.  I think they are afraid they are going to run out of food.  But I will bide my time and head down for food after the first sitting!  Much nicer company.

So, the room is nice, the place is clean... no foul odors.  Some odd characters wandering around but I need to be tolerant that.  I may very well be one of the loonies some day.  Therapy was intense.  Similar exercises but instead of 20 reps, they require 30.  I can handle it and it will get me out of here faster.

Annette is going to try to drive out from Parkesburg tomorrow.  I am looking forward to it.  Sunday is a Christmas Open House with food and snacks and music.  I hear the shrimp is to die for!

I slept like I died last night.  The Vampires did not wake me.  I got up once to pee, but slept until well past 8:00 AM.  Nice breakfast with homemade raisin bread. and then therapy.  The big meal is at lunch and supper is soup and sandwiches.  I am likely to loose some weight while I am here.  If any of you come visit, bring snacks!!!

So, here is the blog for today.  I am not allowed to go anywhere without assistance.  Hopefully next week, I will graduate to independent moving!  It is, after all, my goal.

Another Day in the Hospital.....

It is Thursday, and I am still in the hospital.  I think I could go home if there was someone there to help me.  But since that is not the case, I have applied to go to a nursing home.  The Social Worker is busy trying to find one that has room for me.  No idea where or when.  Could be today.  Could be tomorrow.  But soon.

This way, when I do head home, I will be better able to live by myself.

I look in on the house everyday.  No one has broken in and all of my stuff is still there.  I miss the simple things like being able to get out of bed and pee without having to push a button, wait for help to arrive... getting suited up with belts and socks to walk the 6 or 8 feet to the toilet.  I understand the reasoning, but I know that I am the different one who would be fine.  Just a real pain the the knee!

OK.... things are moving and so am I.  The Social Worker just came in and I am going to Ephrata Manor.  The nursing home is a nice one from what I can see and is close to one of my friends, so I am hoping to see her more often.

Things will be moving quickly, so let me get this posted so I can get packing.

Crummy Night.... we will see what today brings....

After two rounds of physical therapy yesterday, I found that through the night I was experiencing some pain spikes.  I would drift off to sleep and in an hour or so, I would wake straight up out of my rest with an aching from mid calf to mid thigh.  In the rating system here at the hospital, I would have rated it a 6.  I had difficulty getting comfortable but would eventually drift back off to sleep.  It happened in cycles all night long.

At 4:00 AM, while experiencing a really nice sleep, the vampires came to visit.  This one appeared very confident, after three sticks, she was finally able too get the fluid she needed.  Now it was not the leg keeping me awake, but three pieces of gauze covered by three pieces of tape.  Just cannot win.

Vitals taken at 5:30 AM.  No wonder people leave here worse than when they come in.  I finally gave up at 6:00 AM and had constant stream of folks in until I was rolled down for therapy.  My doctor's aide, the doctor, the nurse assigned to me, the Nurses Assistant.

I guess the hardest thing was that yesterday they took out the catheter out.  So I had to begin to ask for assistance just to go pee.  And what an ordeal.  They come in, put a belt around my waist, get the walker, lower the bed, I swing over the side (no small feat with one working leg and one non-working leg), then standing using safety protocol, hobble the 4 feet to the bathroom, do the twist and turn to get positioned for the safety protocol for lowering my butt on the pot.  (And I thought that having a baby took away ones dignity!)  I hate not being in total control of my life!!

Therapy today was two fold.  Occupational therapy was first.  I learned to sit in a chair and get back out.  I learned how to sit on a toilet and get back up.  I learned how to get into and out of my bed and how to get in and out of a car!!  Then more PT.  By the time I git back to my room my body was rebelling.  I had the nurse give me a barf bag and get some ginger ale.  I managed to drink the ginger ale and the barf bag went unused.

Slept for a while and the next round of people.  Nurses checking sugars, nurses giving shots  but nothing yet from Social Services.  I have my application ready for nursing homes and they need that to start making arrangements.  I am guessing that I am unusual in that I am asking for this step instead of going home.  But I have always been different.

I am attaching pictures of my dinner last night.  I thought you would like to see what hospital food looks like in Lancaster, PA.

This was my dinner last night.  Chicken Pot Pie with broccoli and a dinner roll.  NOT your normal hospital food.

The work begins... ouch, ouch, ouch......

I did get some decent sleep last night.  I found nothing on TV and the leg was painful, so I needed some pain medication, so well before I would normally go to bed, I turned out the lights and drifted off to sleep.

A  nurse woke me up between 11 PM and midnight.  It was a the normal vital check and she let me know that they would be drawing blood at 3:00 AM!!!!!!!!  No wonder the people in hospitals are so glad to be sent home.

Back to sleep.  They waited until 4:30 AM for the vampires to descend upon the room.  Then, one at a time, things began to be removed.  The catheter ( I will miss that one), then the drain... glad it is gone but hate the process and then disconnected the IV.  Setup remains in the back of my hand.  Bathing from a small basin, getting out of the hospital gown and into some shorts.

Pancakes for breakfast....Yum!

Off to PT.  OMG... such discomfort.  Note I did not call it pain.  I am sure that others would, but it is different from what I have dealt with for years.  It is from muscles that have not been used properly for years.  It is from places where my bone was cut for the new knee.  It is not really the knee.  Dr. Renz (the wonderful surgeon who did my knee) says that I need to concentrate on getting my knee straight so the muscles learn the new motion and get stretched out.  Bending is important, too.

Back to my room. I drifted off a bit and woke up to find my brother walking into my room.  He had taken his Mother-In-Law back to her home in Yardley and stopped by on his way home.  He stayed for a bit.  My lunch came (crab cake, veggies, lemonade, dinner roll....eat your hearts out) and then he hit the road and I got ready for round 2 of PT.

The checkups showed I was low in Magnesium and my blood pressure was low.  I got a pneumonia vaccine, and all manner of other pills, an IV bag for the Magnesium and then off to PT.  Much harder this time and with an IV next to me, hard to workout.  Did the best and back to the room.  Into bed and the next thing I knew the lady was here to do Reiki.  It is an alternative healing type service.  Lovely music, gentle touching, and the pain is greatly reduced.  She leaves and I am back sleeping.  Very nice and very relaxing.

Not bad for a hospital!!!

Through the night....

I am pleased to report that I made it through the night.  I actually turned out the lights early.  Drifting off to sleep, however, was a waste of time.  If you have ever been in a hospital, you know that they come in every so often to make sure you are still breathing, add antibiotics to your IV, check blood pressure, etc.  The only good interruption was for pain meds around midnight.  Slept well until the vampires arrived around 4:30 AM.  Dozed  again until they came in to check  blood pressure around 5:00 AM.

Just had a visit from my nurse for the day, Natalie.  She had come in with all kinds of bandages.  As she explained, it was bandage reduction day.  I had this BIG ACE bandage from my foot to my upper thigh.  She was here to cut it off, bandage the dressing and remove the drain.  I have had one other drain in my life, when I had my gall bladder removed.  So I knew what was coming.  It was not quite as bad as when they pulled the one from my chest area, but it was ouchy and I am glad that it is over.  She also removed my catheter, so I will now have to get out of bed and onto my new knee to go pee! Today is going to be an adventure.

This is really a very nice hospital.  I am in a private room, so I do not have to listen to a stranger sleep or moan or have company.  They  have some half decent TV channels, although there was little on last night.  And, of course, the Internet.  I will be here until Thursday, in all likelihood, before I go off to a skilled nursing center.  They will be able to help me get on my feet so I can get along without help at home.  Will also be a big... pardon the pun...leg up in my rehab.

So, I am waiting for breakfast, then I will get dressed  and off to rehab at 8:30 AM and 1:00 PM!  Stay tuned!!

Surgery Day...

Well, the fact that I am blogging tells you that I survived the procedure.
hecked in right in the parking lot.
I had to be at Lancaster General Hospital, the Orthopedic Center, at 7:30 AM.  Marji & Danny arrived around 6:00 AM.  Danny went with me to the basement to see the procedure for shutting off the water, turn off the hot water heater and water treatment stuff.  i also showed him how to reset the time.  I am sure i will not be able to do stairs when I finally make it home, so he will have to go down and do it for me.

We left the house in pitch black a few minutes early, and with the  lack of traffic, we arrived at the hospital about a half an hour early.  We had to do the block circling once as we missed the entrance.  We parked, got my suitcase and bag out and were checked in right there in the garage.

At the check in desk, I was greeted with smiles.  Marji was able to come back with me.  from that moment there was a parade of folks asking me my name, date of Birth and why I was there.  If it was asked once, I was asked 40 to 50 times.  I signed forms and had procedures explained.  Finally, a few minutes before I was scheduled, i was whisked off to the Operating Suite, transferred to the table and in no time, I was out like a light.

In two hours, I was waking up in recovery.  My right leg was covered in one of the biggest ACE bandages I have ever seen.  There was some significant pain but they gave me a minimal pain med until I was taken to my room, given some lunch so I could be given a pain pill.  Marji & Danny soon joined me.  They sat with me, helped me get cords set up for the cell phone and this netbook.  We met all of the day staff and Miss Marji lightened the mood with her wonderful sense of humor.

They left around 3:00 PM.  Dinner came.  The food here is not bad.  Things were a bit unsalted, as would be expected.  But the chicken noodle soup was delicious.  I had a turkey sandwich for lunch and chicken salad sandwich for dinner.  They were nothing special, but tasty for hospital food.  I am guessing that they must have an Amish/Mennonite folk working in the kitchen.

I dozed for a bit and then had a bright and shiny Sheila visiting me.  She burst into the room with her ear to ear smile and she bubbled with news and stories.  We chatted for a bit before she had to head home.

So i am sitting here, writing on my blog, legs elevated, little booties on my feet that are pumping up in an alternating pattern to keep the blood coming out of them and keeping things circulating.  I have a CD player in the room with some lovely relaxing music, and some lavender essential oil to help me relax.  The TV has some fairly good channels and I can surf the Internet.... what more could I ask for??

Well, maybe less pain!!  I am not allowed out of bed today.  Tomorrow the rehab work begins.  Yuck!!!  Pictures tomorrow!!

Still eating the elephant...

I am making headway in my preparation for surgery.  I have been cleaning and sorting and throwing out and rearranging the stuff in the house.  I needed to do an un-clutter, at least of the floor, so I can get around with a walker or a cane without tripping over stuff.

It was a daunting task.  I had (and still have) 20 years of things that I brought up from the Maryland house.  For quite a while, it was everywhere.  I am down to the last few boxes in the back of the truck and in the garage.  I will go through them one at a time from now on until they are all done.

But since scheduling the surgery, I have been working very hard to get rid of the clutter.  I am not completely done.  I still have things in piles, but they are smaller and you can see large areas of floor and the doors open so you can go outside both front and back.  I am working now to be company clean.

Brian will be arriving on the 21st, and chances are I may not be getting home too much before that.  So I am trying to get things as ready as I can for the holidays.  That way, when I come limping home, I will not have to do anything more than welcome Brian home.

So, while the elephant is not as big, I am still doing a bite at a time.  I would recommend the one bite at a time routine.  You do not have the overwhelming feeling of drowning.  And the progress, even though slow, makes one feel like a success!

Schedule for Monday....

I had a really hard time falling asleep last night.  It was after 2:00 AM before I finally fell asleep.  My knee was really hurting and since I cannot take any Ibuprofen right now.

The doctor's office called this morning.  I did manage to sleep in some and the office called while I was still in bed but awake.

So, I have to check into the hospital at 7:30 AM on Monday morning.  Surgery scheduled for 9:30 AM!

Prayers appreciated.

No such thing as a small turkey dinner.....

I am here to tell you that having a Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey dinner for a large number of people only take a couple of hours longer to make than a tiny, small, "quick" turkey dinner for one!

I had made the decision to stay at home alone this Thanksgiving so as not to run the risk of running into a person/child with a bug, this close to my surgery.  I bought a little 6 pound turkey breast.  It cooked in a little over 2 hours.  I made stuffing.  Still took as long to make a smaller batch as to do the larger batch.  The only difference is that it cooked faster.... which also threw off my timing.  I made mashed potatoes from scratch.  I used the pressure cooker, so it did take a shorter time to cook and the potatoes were not soggy, but I still had to mash them.

So, there is no such thing as a homemade turkey dinner that is less complicated than a big one.  Next time I want a fast turkey dinner I will buy a TV dinner or have it catered.

Happy Thanksgiving

Good Morning... and Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends and family who follow me on my blog.  I was able to sleep in until almost 10:00 AM and have talked to my BFF Marji already.  She was preparing to head to Baltimore to be with her family.  I am sure she will enjoy being with her family today.  Family is always important to her and she and her sisters are very close to each other.

I will be at home alone.  I made the decision that I did not want to go out and be with any of the friends who had invited me to join them this day or to the family members who also extended invitations to me to join them.  But I will be having surgery on Monday to replace a very painful right knee and the last thing I need is to come down with a bug this close to that day.  Next year it will be a totally different holiday.

I have not posted for a while as I have been helping my son and his wife begin to deal with cancer.  She has been diagnosed with a form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  They have been going through the testing and determination of the stage of the cancer and the plan to battle the disease.  I am not sure what I will be able to do from so far away, but having walked the journey with my late husband almost three years ago, I can guide them through the pitfalls of dealing with some of the things they will be facing.  Fortunately for them, her cancer is one of the most curable so we have high hopes that they will be able to eradicate it from her body.  Prayers offered for that.

My friends are all upset that I am alone.  But I am trying to get my house ready for visitors and Christmas.  I am sure that some of the things that need to be done will be more difficult with a healing artificial knee.  I am also hoping to get some sewing time in before I head to Lancaster on Monday.  I will have a turkey dinner here at home.  There is a "Castle" Marathon TNT, so I am a happy camper.

Enjoy your day... I know I will.

I will try to post here as I go through recovery, but I am not sure I will be able to during the hospital stay.  But once I am back to being connected, I will update my recovery and rehab.

Work is a many splendored thing.....

Yesterday was a get my butt in gear day so I was not pressured to get the job done for Hershey Motors.  I got the art work on the same day that I picked up the jackets.  I immediately set about determining the size I would need for the jackets and sent it off to my digitizer.  I had the design back within 24 hours and it was perfect.  The design was the company name around an outline of an antique car.  The car design had small, intricate lines that do not always translate from line drawing to sewing with thread, but ti stitched out beautifully.

I stitched out a test design and then headed to meet Evan at the Morgantown office.  He approved the design and he wanted it all in white, rather than the two color design in the file.  I also got the approval to stitch the design on the right as the jacket had a nifty zippered pocket on the left hand side where the design would normally go.

So, yesterday I got the machine set up, found a way to use my clamping system which makes hooping for the design super-simple.  I had to test sew a couple of additional designs to make sure the tension was right and that the thread was the right one.  White thread and red thread are the hardest ones to work with.  They both take some intense processing to get to the color just right, but it makes the thread more vulnerable to breakage.  But I found a white that would go through the machine easily and gave a beautiful, smooth design.  So I started with the first jacket.  I sat and stared at the machine to make sure there were no hiccups.

It stitched out beautifully.  So I put in jacket number 2.  Again, it stitched out beautifully.  So I put in jacket number 3 and began going through the piles of stuff that had begun to grow in the office.  So, not only was I working on an actual paying job, I was clearing up piles and piles of clothing blanks and papers and catalogs that had grown into an unyielding amount of clutter.  Can you say "two birds with one stone"?

By 1:00 AM, I had finished 9 jackets and had two trash bags of junk ready to head out to the garbage can for Wednesday.

I also found that by the end of the day I felt as though I had really accomplished a great deal and did not have time to fall asleep in my recliner.  I guess, once I get back on my feet after my knee replacement surgery, I should get back into doing more embroidery.  The extra money coming in would be nice and keeping busy will make the time go by better than just doing nothing.

So happy that I have this business to keep me busy!!!

Benefits of small town America.....

I have lived in this area since my first husband moved us here in 1976.  It is a basically rural community.  For the first few years I lived in town.  When my ex and I divorced, I bought the house I am living in now.  It is a mile or so outside of the town, so I really have not gotten to know local people until Rudy died.  Living here full-time and not going away on weekends to play in Maryland, I have joined in classes, organizations and become involved in business groups.  I have also kept going to local businesses to take care of my cars, lawn, trees, etc. so I have kept the friendships and acquaintances from before I became a widow.

Today, that paid off.

I have surgery coming up on December 2nd.  I also need to be preparing for winter.  One of those things is to get the pickup truck set up with the snow plow so that when the bad weather comes, I can plow out the driveway to become mobile as quickly as possible.

The pickup truck is a 2004 Ford F150 4-wheel drive.  It was the only vehicle that Rudy ever had as a brand, new vehicle.  He custom ordered everything he wanted on this truck and was his pride and joy.  He trained me on how to plow snow just before he died and the first two years after his death there was so little snow, that the truck did more sitting than plowing.  But during the good weather I did drive the truck to Maryland from time to time and after selling the house in Maryland, it was the main transportation of 20 years of stuff that needed to come north.  In fact, there is still stuff in the back of the truck that I have just not been able to go through.  Perhaps over the winter....

This year, I bought a van to help me carry stuff around and on trips that gets better mileage than the truck.  As a result, the truck has not moved from the driveway since the snow plow went on last December.

This summer, after I got home from my trip to Chicago & Minneapolis, I decided I should really start up the truck.  The battery was so dead, it would not even let the remote open the door.  I charged the battery and it started.  I ran it, sitting still, for several hours and it would start every week until I got lazy.  I have charged the battery for the last several months and the truck has still not moved out of the driveway.  I really love my van and my Elantra, so the truck has been sorely neglected.

I had to add air to my van tires a few weeks ago, when it first turned chilly.  I noticed that the truck tires were also low.  I pumped up the front tires and went to turn the truck around only to find the battery dead, again.  I began thinking that when I had the truck in for inspection in December, I would get a new battery installed.  I also noticed that the column shifter was very, very stiff.  I realized that my not driving it had been a really bad thing.  And now with the surgery scheduled, I was not going to be able to get the work done in the usual time frame as the earliest I could normally get it inspected was December 1st.

I have stewed about it and worried about it.  I have relied on Danny and Marji so much over the last couple of years, I really hate to be a burden for stupid stuff.  But sometimes you need to ask for help.

I had to drive to Morgantowm today to get approval of an embroidery design and settle on thread color.  While I was out, I decided to head to L C Autibody to see about getting the truck fixed and ready for winter.  I have know Larry Constanble through a business association and have always been impressed by his wonderful spirit and ethical dealings.  He also hired a really wonderful gentleman to help his shop, after locating to a new location, become stronger in the mechanical area in addition to fixing up auto bodies.  John had worked at Hershey Motors for years and I have used them for local repairs over the years.

John knew exactly what vehicle I was talking about.  He understood the basic neglect I had given the poor truck and he helped me decide that I should change the inspection period (which one can do in Pennsylvania) so I could have the work done the rest of this week and into next week.  This way the truck would be back in the driveway, ready for the plow to be installed and set for the winter season while I was having my surgery and going through rehab.  What a relief it was to have that one loose end taken care of.

Not only that, but John suggested that one of his guys go back with me to the house, make sure the truck would start and then he could drive the truck back to the shop, saving me the trip.  I am equally sure that they will deliver the truck back to me, should I need that to happen.  Only in a small town, could I have been comfortable turning over my truck to a stranger, knowing that it will be lovingly cared for and fixed up at a reasonable cost... by friends I trust.

I am blessed!

Random thoughts late at night.....

I am not sure.... am I depressed or bored or just trying to forget what is coming in the next week or so?  I find myself falling asleep in my recliner and sleeping soundly for an hour or so.  I had started doing it before Rudy died and I attributed it to just getting older and not being as active as I once was.  That could still be the case.  My doctor even asked me if I was depressed when I mentioned to her the loss of Miss Molly.  I told her no as I really do not want to begin thinking about taking medication to 'feel better'.  I took an anti-depressant once to combat hot flashes.  The hot flashes went away, but so did every emotion that I ever had.  I did not feel bad, I did not feel good.... I felt nothing and I hated it.  So no pills for me.  If I am depressed, it comes and goes, which to me is normal living.

Anyway, I had one of my longer naps than normal yesterday which had me awake well beyond the 2AM hour this morning.  I was reclined in my lovely bed, watching some mindless TV and thinking about stuff.

In those random thoughts I came to the realization that my life is pretty much as far afield from where I thought it would be as it could possibly be.  My ideal world would be to have my two sons, grown and living on their own. They are doing that, but they are so far away that they cannot "be there" for their mother.  I had imagined them sticking a bit closer to home.

My immediate family, locally, were all my husband's family.  His sister died in the spring of 2006.  Marcy was always planning family outings and Rudy and I were generally included.  We could always count on who we would be with on Thanksgiving, sometime around Christmas and Easter.  There were also numerous gatherings to celebrate birthdays, weddings, births, etc.  It kept us busy and connected.  When she died, little by little, over the years, the Boylan side of the family has become more and more fractured with family gatherings on important holidays becoming smaller and smaller.  It was not an immediate thing, but little by little in the last 7 years.

I lost my father in 2007.  While making sure he was not left out in the cold and being alone since he moved to the are in 1997, I was thrilled to have him around and get to hear the stories of the things he remembered about my youth that even I did not remember.  His passing moved the torch of the oldest generation in my family to me.

In addition to my kids being far away, my only sibling is my brother, Andy, who is about 4 hours (give or take an hour depending on traffic around D. C.) away with his wife and kids.  He married later in his life, so his kids are just finishing their educations and are still living at home.  He and his wife are just at different places in life.  So, while we get together over Christmas, we have not spent a lot of time together.  I am hoping that now that he had retired and I am semi-retired, that we might find a few more things that we can do together.

Rudy died in 2011 after battling cancer for a year.  It has really left me at loose ends.  I had a wonderful vision of the two of us traveling and finding a lovely retirement home and just enjoying doing leisurely things together.  We were robbed of that chance with his untimely death and I am still working very hard to find a new path for me that will satisfy me.  I was a loner as a teen, but it is not all it is cracked up to be as an aging widow.

Rudy's niece, Nancy, was the one family member who kept some of the fragments of the family together.  This summer she suffered some medical setbacks of her own.  Uncontrolled high blood pressure had her in and out of the hospital most of the summer.  She is back at work but still suffering from dizziness.  She is trying hard to keep her life simple and will not be getting the family together for the first time since her mother died.

And then there is Molly.  She was my sweet little dog, who frustrated me daily but gave me a reason to have a normal day.  I am still looking for her little tail to be racing me to the couch when I come from the kitchen to the living room.  It hurts not to see that.

So, I am looking around, and my life is completely different from where it was in 2006.  The last seven years has completely derailed all of my hopes and dreams.  I can completely understand why the elderly can get so lonely and adopt hoards of cats.  I can understand why they are pictured in their favorite chairs, snoring.  I can understand why they are not eating well.  It sucks cooking for one.  I can understand being up late at night, as the naps and lack of schedule really make a regular sleeping routine pretty much a mute point.

Just the random thoughts on a late night.....

The good news is I have taken on an embroidery job which is keeping my mind busy and giving me structure for my time heading up to my surgery.

Seems I am all set to go....

Monday was a getting settled day and final steps to prepare for my knee replacement.  I enjoyed sleeping in my own bed on Sunday evening.  While the Amish View Inn has wonderful facilities, it is always nice to get home to your own sleeping accommodations. My 'amusement park bed' does have qualities that are generally not found in a hotel, and I did not really miss the vibrate feature of my bed until I no longer had it.

I have also realized that I can head into bed at just about anytime.  I generally headed to bed around 11:00 PM as I wanted to let Molly go out as late in the evening as I could with the hope for a good sleep throughout the night.  (Molly always had trouble making it all night.  It was like having a baby for 15 years!)  But now, with Molly no longer around, I can actually close, lock the back door and throw on the alarm once the kitchen is cleaned up after dinner.  So, Sunday night, I curled in bed early and watched TV, drifting off to sleep during one of the Netflix programs.

I had a phone interview from the Anesthesia group.  I answered all of the questions that they had and was informed about the need to wash my body with a special soap the evening before and the morning of my surgery.  The lady on the phone indicated that there should have been a paper in my packet, but I could not find one.  I am happy that she mentioned it.

I also had a physical with my family doctor to clear me for the surgery.  I had a chance to ask about the suspect EKG.  I am glad I did not totally freak out about it, as my doctor indicated that it was once again, something that was not unexpected in someone of my age, weight and physical fitness (not).  So I know I am going into this with risks, but I run those same risks just getting up in the morning.

The rest of the day was spent waiting for Hershey Motors to call.  I am going to be embroidering jackets for them.  They are providing the jackets and the young man who had them was going to being them to the store, but I was not able to get them until today.  I still do not have the artwork for digitizing.  It is the last, but most important part of the puzzle.  I will hopefully have it later today.  They want them done before I head for my surgery.

In the mail, yesterday, I got two sets of remote controlled outlets for lights.  I installed three of them in my bedroom and two in the living room, with one to spare.  It will give me control over the lights in both rooms without having to get up.  Just something to make recovery from the surgery.  Still have some cleaning to do.  But I could manage, should the surgery happen tomorrow.

Still no idea if I am cooking or visiting for Thanksgiving.  Yikes!!!

As the Dust Settles....

After a really sucky week last week, I am happy to say that the dust has settled for me and I am once again on a forward march.

I have just returned from my final Quilting Retreat of the year.  This is a group of ladies that I have retreated with off and on for 6 years.  It may have been the final time I am going to this particular retreat as the prices that are being posted are just a bit above my comfort zone.  Next year it would cost just about twice what it costs me to put together a retreat on the Outer Banks for a full week.  I would much rather do that.

It was a very nice time, however, with some exceptionally talented ladies who are more than willing to share their extensive knowledge of quilting.  This time I actually shared a non-quilting craft with them all.  Marji (my roommate this time) and I had made up a large bunch of button flowers and we put them together in some small vases and salt shakers so we could give every lady at the retreat a bouquet of button flowers.  I was able to give those ladies who were interested in learning the instructions on how to make their own.  I would imagine that there will be an explosion of button flowers in many cities around the area.

I was able to really make progress on a quilt called "You've Got Mail" that was in a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I had started it when I was in the Outer Banks in October.  I finished the first step this weekend and began to assemble the basic blocks.  It is going to be a very fresh looking quilt.  It has even inspired me to unload the car and get my sewing center set up again so I can continue working on this quilt.  I would love to have it finished before my surgery.

I am still missing Molly very much.  But I have to admit that I enjoyed not having to close all of the doors as I unloaded the van and could immediately set about getting my sewing machine set up instead of reclining to give her some lap time.  But the house is very quiet and I still long to have her warm, furry body curled up in my lap, but I am doing fine.  It is really going to make my surgery next month much easier.  If it is decided that I should go to rehab, I no longer have to worry about what to do with the dog!  So there are positives!

Over the weekend I got notification from my son that his wife (my daughter-in-law) has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (B-cell type).  They are still in the early stages of discovery, so lots of things being put together.  The retreat I was at has primary fund-raising effort for cancer research and I found many comforting words from retreaters who had also had the same cancer and recovered nicely.  So I am hopeful and praying for the same result for my DIL.

I had to leave today and head to the gun range.  Today was training for the "Range Masters" which allows me to enter the range when no one is there and shoot on my own.  So I wandered around with many others, learned about what being a Range Master is all about and am ready now to get some good practice in with my newest weapons.

So, as you can see, I am back into a good routine.  I am sure I will have some down times, but I think I will be OK.... until the next time Life Happens!  No, getting ready for surgery!

Life Piles On....

To say there have been some significant hiccups in my life over the last several days would be considered an understatement.  I have never felt so devastated and helpless and alone as I have since last Wednesday.  I really have had a fairly level playing field in my life since my husband passed away.  There were emotional ups and downs, but overall things have been fairly good.  That ended on Wednesday.

I had scheduled the van for it's first inspection since I bought it.  I figured that it would not og without some additional work.  My guess had been brakes, which was the only thing that I had not looked at when I bought it.  I was right, but in addition to brakes on all four wheels, they suggested that I also buy new rotors.  Not knowing how the previous owners had used the van, I decided that for a bit less than $400.00, it was a good investment to make sure I could stop when I press the pedal.  One Hiccup.

Thursday morning, I was on the phone with my brother catching up on the goings on in his life and bringing him up-to-date on my life.  During that call he heard his cell phone ringing in the basement.  As we continued our conversation he walked to the basement to check his cell.  He picked it up and commented that it had been a call from his wife's boss at work.  Carol works in the school system and this year is an aide for a special needs student.  Unlike the lovely boy she had last year, this year her student tends to run away, kick, it and is much more difficult to deal with.  He listened to the voice mail, he found out that he was being summoned to the school to pick up his wife and take her to the hospital.  So our conversation ended and he departed to see what was going on.  Two Hiccup!

While waiting to find out what had happened and how she was, I received an email from my son Rob, who lives in Alaska.  He was taking her to the hospital that day for a procedure to take a biopsy of a lymph node that was significantly enlarged.  The exact description is three very long and difficult to spell, much less pronounce.  The internet describes the enlargement of this node as an indicator of lung cancer.  Rob & Kate were in good spirits but concerned.  Three Hiccup!

I had a dinner with some of the ladies that I had bonded with through GriefShare.  I was gone only a couple of hours, but when I got back I found that Molly had peed all over the back of the couch.  She had been drinking water like crazy as well as eating me out of house and home.  I scrubbed the couch and washed the rubber sheet and regular sheet that I had on it to protect the cushions, I never imagined that she would pee on the top of the couch.  I knew then that we were about to make another trip to the vet.

I made the appointment for the next day and Dr, Frame discussed Molly's un-diagnosed Cushings Disease.  We decided to run some bloodwork to rule out any other possible issues before moving on.  She would call me on Saturday morning.  Hiccup #4.

I spoke to Rob and the biopsy had been successful in getting what they needed.  They had been able to get to the node with going through any other vital organs.  They had done a couple of needle biopsies and checked them somewhat before taking, what Rob described as a core.  Evidently the needles showed something that required more detailed analysis.  Not the best news, but they are still waiting to hear the results.  Hiccup #5.

Saturday morning, just before noon, Dr. Frame called.  The bloodwork showed nothing that did not point to Cushings Disease.  We discussed the possibility of medication.  The prescription for the disease would cost $85 from the vet.  I could find it online for about half that.  BUT, we would have to have blood tests once a month for the first several months and then every so often during the year and anytime a dosage change was made.  The hospital stay for the test and cost of all of the other tests would be close to $350.00 each time.  Needless to say, I could not afford to do that.  Just not in the budget of a retired person.  So, the decision was made that it would be prudent to put Molly to sleep.  The blood test that had been run already showing that some of her systems were becoming compromised.  For all of the water she was drinking, the test had showed her to be dehydrated.  So it was time.  Hiccup #6.

Sooooooooo, after a weekend of saying Goodbye, I took her back to the vet this morning.  She received the injection and with less than a minute, she relaxed and passed away quietly with no more suffering.  Hiccup #7.

So, I am once again in mourning.  This time it is my little companion who gave me a reason to get up everyday and kept me focused on life after Rudy died.  I am not sure I would be doing so well if it were not for her.  I am going to be missing her so much!  At the same time, when I have my knee replacement in December, should I need to go to rehab, I will not have to find someone to take care of her while I am gone.  Still, it will be a very quiet and lonely house.

In Loving Memory!!!!!

A Few Days Off...

I have not posted in a couple of days.  Sometimes there is just nothing worth blogging about.

I did vote yesterday.  I was among the few in our area and that does not bode well for our future elections.  Honestly, though, even though there have been tons of those annoying little lawn signs all over the place, when I got up yesterday there was nothing that had happened in the past few weeks that so much as reminded me that it was election day.  I was reminded by a neighbor who had called me to see if I could take him to his barber this morning (Thanks Lion Dave) when he reminded me it was election day in our conversation.

We have many basic rights, but one of the most sacred, to me, is our ability to select those people who represent us in various public offices.  It does not always go our way, the majority rules, but it is by far the best process we have in place.  I think if the general public would get their heads out of their butts and realize the awesome power that we do have, we could change the direction that this country seems to be heading.  We can remove the idiots who are throwing the American people under the bus to further their own selfish gains if we just look at the people who are running and get more quality people into the race and remove the jerks who hold our lives hostage for their own agendas.

I had a chance to talk to my youngest son this week.  I have two very independent sons who live in distant parts of the country.  Brian is in Minneapolis and Rob and his wife, Kate, live in Fairbanks.  I had noticed that Brian was slated for a significant snowfall this week and thought I would give him a call.  We chatted for close to an hour.  He was unaware of the forecast, so I think I may have helped him get ready.  We chatted about cooking (he is an excellent chef) and guns (he is the one that inspired me to take up shooting.) and other things in our lives.  I enjoyed talking to him and really wish they would call more often, but they are normal men, they do not think to call their mother very often.  But, they do not.  I raised them to be independent... and they are!

I had a delightful dinner on Monday with my friend, Annette.  She had me over for dinner.  I brought dessert, making my fluffy key lime pie.  We talked and talked and talked.  She is a widow, too, and we talked about things that concern us both.  We even talked about the need to be better prepared for the demise of our peaceful world.  I thought I might have been the only one to think about it, but I am not.  I will be sharing with her the info about the gun course I took.  I will be seeing her Thursday at our GriefShare dinner at Anna & Roccos.  And we are going to a comedy club Saturday night.  I figure I had better be doing some things while I can still walk!

So, nothing other than just living life, but living is the key!

I hurt and it is quite taxing...

My right knee is really hurting.  Everyday it is deteriorating a bit more.  I am no longer able to sleep through the night.  even taking ibuprofen at night, within a couple of hours, I am awakened.  Most nights I can squirm around a little and fall back to sleep.  Last night, I slept about 2 hours before the aching woke me up but I could not fall back to sleep.

It is not helping me in my moods.  One is never in a good frame of mind when hurting.  So I found Saturday to be a really down day.  I spent the day playing Holiday movies on Hallmark and crying as the girl got the guy or Santa saved the day.  Just one of those days and in one of those moods.

Today was a little better.  I had to go to Walmart to get dog food for Molly.  So I got  that and some laundry stuff so I might have enough to do laundry once I get home from the hospital.  I made oven friend chicken for dinner and made a bunch of button flowers.  But I still had a down day.  It was a short trip to Walmart and once I was done, I wanted to cry.  I took the Elantra and getting back down into the car after a short trip to Walmart was painful.  It took me a bit to get the knee bent to allow me into the car.  I may have to travel in the van until the surgery.

Tomorrow I am making a couple of desserts.  Annette has invited me to lunch.  I am going to make an Eggnog Custard.  It seems easy and if it is good, I will make it for the Holidays.  If it does not turn out, I will make my fluffy key lime pie to take to the dinner.

Off to clean up the kitchen and then more button flowers.....

Fresh Baked Bread

One of my favorite memories growing up was when my mother would set about making her own, fresh bread.  She did not do it often, but much more than I do.  This makes it particularly interesting as my youngest son, Brian, makes all of his own bread as well as pasta and sauces.  So I guess things do skip a generation.

I finally, after a year or more, have uncovered my kitchen.  I have been sorting through twenty years of stuff from the house that my late husband and I had for 20 years.  I still have boxes of things to go through, but I have determined that the stuff in the house has to be dealt with first, as the clutter was getting me down.  I am not the neatest person, but what I was dealing with was overwhelming.

This morning I found a recipe for homemade bread.  It sounded really good and brought back such memories, I decided to try the recipe in my newly cleaned up kitchen.  I carefully followed the recipe as yeast breads and rising can be an issue.  But the dough doubled nicely.  It rose in the pans and cooked beautifully.  I think I may have had a tad too much flour, so next time the last cup will go in more slowly.

But the house is filled with the wonderful smell of fresh baked bread.  I have already had four slices.  It was still warm and I used real butter, so the first bites took me bake to my childhood with my mother in her apron and smiling as we enjoyed hot bread, fresh out of the oven.

Funny how nice it is to cook in a clean kitchen.  I am looking forward to living in a clean living room shortly.  I made big strides this week in that direction.  I should be ready for my walker after surgery.

Here are a couple of pictures of my yummy loaves.

Dreary and Dull

Yesterday was a dull and dreary day.  It was cloudy outside.  I talked to a friend of mine in Maryland and she told me the the sun had come out there.  Her house is only about 25 miles from here.  But the sun never came up this far.

It was one of those days when I just did not want to do anything.  So, I did not!  It is nice to be able to have that option.  I am finding that I am not sleeping as well as I would like to.  I think it is due to the upcoming surgery, but I find that I wake up during the night more than I used to.  Could also be the knee pain.... hmmmm!

I have been in the process of watching the entire TV series of The West Wing.  In 2011 I got my first Roku Box (I now have three!) and I have been enjoying watching movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime.  The West Wing series is on Netflix.  I also have it on DVD.  But I like watching it on Netflix as once you have finished an episode, the next one is automatically queued up.  Yesterday I watched the last episodes in the final year.  I really enjoyed the program when it was being produced and it  has never failed to entertain.

I made a delicious dinner.  I used my Crockpot to make the 3 envelope roast, then I used my new pressure cooker to make a spicy eggplant dish that turned out yummy.  I also made come cornbread using a mix I had gotten at the restaurant store that was not so good.  I still prefer good, old Jiffy Mix.

I also worked on some button flowers.  I am planning to take some to the upcoming quilting retreat, plus I just want to have them around for quick gifts.

Molly and I headed to bed at our normal time, but falling asleep eluded me.  So, I opened up my Roku box and looked through some of the movies and TV shows for something new.  I came across a TV series that I had never heard of called "Hart of Dixie" and it looked like a cute, fun little show.  So I watched the pilot and the first couple of shows and it is delightful.  I had no idea where it could be found or if it is even still being produced.  But I was determined to find out.

This morning, I slept in (Molly and I were up several times in the night for potty breaks and a windy, thunderstorm that dumped close to a quarter of an inch of rain) so my first show this morning was on Hallmark, The Home & Family show.  Oddly enough, the first segment featured Tim Matheson talking about his series "Hart of Dixie".  So, one question answered.  It is still being produced.  Then I went to my cable menu and found it is being aired on a local CW station that I had omitted from my favorite channel listing, so I have added it and will try to add it into my regular TV watching schedule.  So, my insomnia last night was actually very productive.

Hopefully, I will be more productive today.  I would really love to do some sewing tomorrow.

First Trip to the New Medical Center....

As my friends who read this blog with any regularity know, I will be having a complete right knee replacement in early December.  I am looking forward to it with some dread and trepidation.  I have heard all sorts of stories, good and bad, about knee replacements.  I am praying that mine will be a good one.  But for now I am just getting my ducks in a row, having all of the pre-surgical testing that needs to be done.

My surgeon is part of the Lancaster Orthopedic Group, so I am traveling west into Lancaster County to see him.  I have had to go into Downingtown and into Lancaster for the tests to determine what is happening inside my knee and it has always been a pain in the butt to get any testing done because of living in Parkesburg.  Since moving here in 1976, if one needed to get X-Rays or any other kind of test, you had to drive at least 30 minutes or wait in the halls of local hospitals with paperwork on top of paperwork in order to get insurance to pay for it.

This year, a new building began to sprout on Route 10, across from Hershey Farm Market.  It took a month or so before signs began to appear revealing the facility as a Health Center connected to Lancaster General Hospital.  It opened in the last week or so.  It will be such a pleasure (if getting tests run can be a pleasure) to not have to drive for miles and miles to get anything done.

Not everything is up and running yet.  There were still workers putting finishing touches in areas.  There is dust from the wallboard being trimmed in various places as evidence of the ongoing progress to being finished.  But it was complete enough to be able to run all of the pre-surgical tests that I needed.

I had three appointments... one for blood work, one for an EKG and one for a chest X-Ray. There are two Kiosks in the lobby for self check-in.  The receptionist was very helpful as I was walked though what I needed to do.  I would imagine that as the place get busier, there will be lines at the kiosks.  Once done, I waited for the lab lady to come and get me.

A beautiful, young lady appeared and took me back to the lab.  It took her longer to input the required tests than it should have, but I am sure that there is a learning curve to using the computer system.  But she kept at it, chatting with me the entire time.  She was a tad frustrated with my veins.  I had warned her that I am hard to give up my blood.  She said she prided herself as the one who could get blood when other techs could not.  I proved to be every bit the difficult 'stick'.  I left the lab with bandages on both arms, but she did get the needed fluid in just two tries.

She was also the tech who administered the EKG.  This one went much faster.  I have no idea what the tests will reveal, but they are being run and will appear when my surgeon looks at them before removing my old, worn out knee.

I crossed the empty lobby and rode the elevator to the second floor.  There I was greeted by the X-Ray tech who showed me to a room to take my upper garments off for a chest X-Ray.  The changing room had a single hook on the back of the door.  No bench and no place to put anything else down either.  I am hoping that those items are just among the missing items that will find their way into the rooms shortly.  I was given the chest X-Ray, two views, and taken back to the bare room to get into my clothes.

I am sure, as the Parkesburg folks find out what can be doen there, the place will be a beehive of activity.  There is an Urgent Care center.  Besides the services that I had, they can do Ultrasounds, Dexa scans, MRIs, and all manner of Cardio testing.  There will be a Women's center, Physical Therapy, a cardiac unit and in the future, a Diabetes center and Orthopedic and Neurology center.

I am grateful for the new facility.  The service today was outstanding.  It will, hopefully, stay that way.

A Down Day and Bad News....

Perhaps it was the bad news that sent my day into a down day.  No clue.

After several days of progress, I took a day off.  It all started with an early phone call from my BFF, Marji.  It was her cell phone, and she sounded breathless, so I knew immediately that something was wrong.  And I was right.  She was back in the hospital.  But this time it was not the infection but rather her heart.  She had gone into heart failure again and fluid as building up in her lungs so they had gone back into the hospital the night before.  She just wanted me to know where she was.  And I am honored at that.  Marji generally will not tell anyone when she is ill, even her family.  But she knows I will honor her request for no visitors.  Her doctors had already been in and there was already progress in her recovery, so she is hoping to go home today (Wednesday).

I had planned to go to the gun range, but decided to get some paperwork finished and set my pre-surgical testing at the new facility in Parkesburg.  So I made a couple of calls and set up everything for today.  So shortly I will head to the new Lancaster General Health facility that just opened.  I will be interested to see what it is like.  It is very nice to have such a facility so close to the house.

The rest of the day I watched TV.  I turned off cable and turned on my Roku Box and headed to my West Wing videos.  I really was a big fan of The West Wing when it was being shown.  It was a well written and interesting show that highlighted the behind the scenes happenings of the President.  I own the DVD set of all seven seasons, but I have also watched it on Netflix and am doing the entire series again from the beginning.  I am in the final year.  There are still a couple of the programs that I may not have seen, so I am enjoying it very much.

I really enjoyed the day.  But enough of that... back to reality today.  Testing and then more cleaning at the house!

The biggest , fun thing I did yesterday was to play the Giraffe Riddle game on Facebook.  I answered a riddle and thought I was very smart.  But, I got it wrong. So I had to change my profile picture to a giraffe.  There are several going around on Facebook, but I downloaded this cute baby giraffe for my profile.  Enjoy! She makes me smile!

Still Eating the Elephant...

Not so much progress in the un-cluttering yesterday.  And yet, there was some.  I found I am getting into more detailed the sorting.  Instead of just making piles, I am getting things put away.  So the pace has slowed but it is like how one eats an elephant.  Looking at the entire thing is overwhelming but if you eat one bite or small piece at a time, you can get through the task.

There was some very good news yesterday.  My BFF, Marji, was released from the hospital.  The infection in her foot is under control.  She has stitches in her foot where they kept opening it up to remove the infection gunk.  And she has a special boot to wear to allow for healing and yet allow her to walk some.  She is to see the doctor in the office today, even though the doctor was in every day while she was in the hospital.  So as long as she is good, she should be healing nicely.  She is scheduled for a cruise that begins November 17th, so I am sure she will make that happen.

My other BFF, Debby had a busy weekend.  She spent the day outside on Saturday with her son and his family.  They took their young kids to some fall activities,  Being outside all day, chasing and pushing the kids around and on her feet totally wiped her out.  I talked to her yesterday and she just vegged all day.  We all need a day like that from time to time.

At this point, I have no appointments at all this week.  I have to go pickup medication for Molly today, but the rest of the week is mine!  Next week, not so much!  Perhaps I will head to the range one day with my newest gun to get some practice under my belt.

Another Piece Gone.....

Today was a bittersweet day.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to the people who were attending the Widow/Widowers breakfast that I had the remote control planes that Rudy had built.  One of the ladies was going to a function that evening with people who might be interested.  She said she would mention it.

On Thursday I had a call from one of the men she had spoken to.  His name was Mike Denest.  He wanted to come out on Sunday (today) and see what I had.  He called to make sure I was available.  He arrived and we descended into the basement.  It took an hour or more to gather together all of the things Rudy had.  He made me an offer that was much too low but we finally agreed on a fair amount.  It was no where near what the stuff was worth, but batteries were dead and the planes had been sitting, unused for three years or more, so the fact that I had anything in my hand and all of the stuff out of the basement is a plus for me.  And I am sure he feel like he has gotten the bargain of a lifetime!!

But while it is fine that the planes are gone..... The Planes are GONE!!  One more little piece of the things that meant so much to Rudy are out of the house and my life.  I could always go into his work room, see them and smile knowing the joy that the planes had given him.

By the same token, I am a step closer to having a sewing room!!!

A side benefit, while looking for other plane parts, I opened a cabinet and found a stash of 22LR ammo and a couple of partial boxes of 38 special ammo.  At the price and scarcity of ammor these days, that was a windfall for me!!!

Progress.... Big Time!!!

I have no idea what happened to me yesterday but I kicked butt!!!

Honestly, I have added a couple of herbals to my daily pill routine.  They are designed to help regulate Cortisol levels.  It is a newer way to deal with depression and mood swings in women.  At first I was not sure it was helping, but I have to say, it may actually be helping with my mood.  Not that my mood had been bad, but I found I was not always feeling like digging in and doing anything.  I was content to stay in my recliner and watch TV with Molly in my lap.  I blamed it on my knee and the pain I am in, but perhaps it was also some depression, too.

I have been feeling overwhelmed with the clutter in the house.  With all of the trips and projects over the summer, things had gotten piled up.  I think my mind was just saying it was too hard to deal with.  But yesterday I just started at one end and began going through the piles and boxes.  By the end of the day, I am feeling much better about things around the house.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.

I still have some areas that need to be looked through, sorted and put away.  But I feel it is manageable.  I am feeling really good that by the end of the day, I will almost completely under control!!  It will be the first time since moving all of the stuff out of the Maryland house, this time last year.  It will be an amazing feeling!

Bad News, Better News...

It is getting cooler here, in the Northeast.  Last night there was a freeze warning.  From the amount of frost on the vehicles at 7:30 AM, I am sure that it must have gotten there.  So the bad news is that it is cold this morning, the good news is that the grass growing season should stop shortly which means my lawn guys will no longer be coming and that will save some money.  But they have been worth every penny I have been paying them!

There have been several good/bad things in my life.  Two of my retreat ladies have been or are still in their local hospitals.  One is my BFF Marji.  She has an ongoing infection in her right leg.  Marji has a habit of not wanting to make a fuss about herself.  She is also very old school about taking medication (many things do not make her feel better and instead react to make her ill) so sometimes she will not say anything about issues with her health and by the time she does, it has gone beyond where it is harder to get things under control.  Thus it is with this infection.  I talk to her daily and they are beginning to see some progress, but there is a long way to go to make sure she does not lose her leg or foot to the infection.  Bad... Marji is in the hospital.  Good... signs that she is improving.

Yesterday I had a call from another retreat lady.  Debby R. has been helping me learn more about using my pressure cooker.  I had spoken to her on Tuesday (I think... time is flying and I lose track of time easily these days) about a recent success with my cooker.  She was very excited about being able to help me and was going to find some of her favorite recipes to send my way.  In her call yesterday, she started out by saying her husband was not going to let her 'play' with me as I had gotten her so excited that she had a heart attack.  At first I thought she was joking, but I soon realized, that while I had not caused it, that she had suffered a mild heart attack shortly after she hung up the phone from talking to me.  She had a couple of stents implanted in an artery that was, in one place, over 90% blocked.  But she is home now and feeling much, much better.  Bad... Debby R. had a heart attack.  Good... stents in place and she is home, feeling better.

And I have been working on the clutter from unpacking from the retreat and it's preparation.  I also have the boxes from work in the embroidery business that have blocked my front door put away in the attic.  I still have piles of clutter to go through, but I have taken big strides in getting things under control.  I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel.  Bad.... still have clutter.  Good... getting a handle on the clutter.  It feels really good!

Staples No More.....

Molly is celebrating.  The dreaded and itchy staples have been removed.  Dr. Ewing removed them this morning, two full weeks after they were put in.  So no more bandages, no more Elizabethan collar, no more goopy eyes, no more knotted ears.  Yippee.

No if I can live through the licking of the paw that will be the immediate response!

Dinner with Debby... Molly, too

Yesterday was a very nice day.  I think I said the same thing in my post yesterday as well.  I am finding that I am having more and more nice days which is nice.  There have been days, after the death of my husband, that I did not ever think I would have some nice days.  But I am finding that even though a bad one creeps in now and then, I have nice days more than not so nice days!

I actually got to sleep in a bit.  I am not sure it has anything to do with the new herbals I am taking or not, but it was nice.  I will blog about that in a week or so after I see if the stuff really does what it is supposed to do.

I headed into the office to work, for the first time in quite a while.  I took the dog outfit that I had bungled the afternoon before and attempted to put the lettering again.  This time I backed it in the black stabilizer and re-positioned it again.  I also held onto the part of the tiny jersey that needed to be under the bobbin arm.  The jersey was so small and the material was so stretchy that I was afraid it would pull up and back under the lettering.  This time it worked perfectly!

I also started on a job for one of my local companies.  I have some lightweight jackets to do for them.  I managed to get all but two of them done before I headed to Thorndale to visit with my BFF Debby and have dinner.

I had thought about what to bring for dinner, but everything I thought about cooking myself, just did not sound good.  I was hungry for Chinese.  So I placed an order for some Shrimp Egg Rolls, Shrimp Egg Foo Young, General Tso's Chicken and some Pork Fried Rice, put Molly in the car and picked up the food.  Debby seemed very pleased that Molly had come to visit.  We ate and Debby worked on some table runners that her Book Club will use this weekend.  We talked and caught up on activities since we got back from our trip.

Headed home and intended to finish the jackets, but there were a couple of messages on my phone, so I returned those calls.  One was about a dinner with GriefShare Grads early in November.  One was from a man who may be able to help me find homes for Rudy's planes or at least tell me what I can sell them for.  Then Debby called to make sure I was at home and said our other BFF, Marji had posted that she would not be around for a while and to pray for her.

I called Marji's house and got her husband.  Danny said that Marji finally went into the hospital so they could try to get a handle on the infection that was under the skin on her right foot.  It has started moving up her leg.  With her medical issues, this is very dangerous.  I called Marji directly as Danny had taken her cell phone to her.  She had just finished some in-room surgery as they removed some of the infection from the top of her foot.  She managed to talk to me for a little while and then we said our goodbyes.  I will be checking in on her today.