Harvest Moon

Tonight's moon is our harvest moon. Only barely past full but orange as can be. The colors in this photo are absolutely true. This is just what it looked like. It made me feel very glad to be home, (as if I didn't already). :-)



Click to enlarge.

Taken with Nikon D-80, ISO 400, 1/60 sec, f/5.60, focal length 200 mm (300 mm in 35mmFilm), flash: fired, auto, return light detected

I'm Baaaaaaackkkkk!!!!!!

Howdy All,
Got home today. Yippee!!! Had a quick lunch and went right to sleep for a couple hours.

Let me go back in time a couple days to keep my story chronologically correct. :-)

Somewhere along the way, I think it was Saturday evening, I got a roommate. She's a real sweet gal who was in with a kidney stone stuck in her ureter. OUCH!!! She had already spent several hours in the ER and in a lot of pain. We, of course, immediately claimed the title of The Stoned Room. We were definitely stoned(kidney for her, gall for me). That set the tone for the time we spent there together. She made a great roommate. We probably have nothing in common but we became new fast friends immediately. I was NPO which means "nothing by mouth" but she could eat anything she wanted to eat. She was afraid her meals would drive me crazy but I told her I would enjoy them with her vicariously...the smells, the conversation, the ooo-ing and the aaah-ing. It was fun. So "we" really liked the pork, mashed potatoes and gravy and that was just the start. :-)

By Tuesday, my blood was all back to normal so I was good to go for surgery. The anesthesiologist came in to see me Tuesday morning. The surgeon came in about 10:00. I asked when the surgery would be so I could let Gooserock know and he could be with me. (He couldn't just come and stay because he was also taking care of GMom and Toto2.) She said it would be late afternoon, definitely after 3:00 and maybe as late as 5:00.

Gooserock called at 1:30 to say he was leaving the house. Five minutes after he called the anesthesiologist came in and said we were ready to go!!!! I said NO! my husband isn't here yet but he's on his way. He said sorry. All of my courage and bravado vanished and I started to tear up. I needed Gooserock and he was on his way and "they" were two hours early!!!

The scrub nurses came in and I told them the same thing again and apologized for being such a baby and when I explained that they were taking me two hours ahead of schedule they kinda looked at each other and began to slow down in hopes David would make it in time. A pole on the head of the bed was too tall to go through a doorway. I said the bed was on my side. They slowly lowered it. Just inside the entry room before the OR there was a lady there with a little therapy dog who looked like a wirehaired chihuahua. I got to pet him and scratch him under his little head. It was a very wonderful warm and fuzzy moment and it helped a lot. But no Gooserock.

So here I am, on my hospital bed being rolled along and crying. Now, I gotta tell you, I do NOT cry pretty. My eyes swell, my nose turns red and swells, my lips puff up. A glamorous movie star crier I am not. The scrub nurses who were rolling me along explained to everyone why I was upset.....taking me early before Gooserock could get there. I knew I should get myself in a better frame of mind before getting anesthetic so I worked to "let it go". My Qigong helped me get my mind back into the present.

The anesthesiologist grabbed my arm and stretched it out onto a pillow or something to my left and it fell off the pillow. He grabbed it again and said leave it there. And I said I have to have a chance to GET it there, and I put my arm back in a better position and that's about the last I remember. He said now you're going to start seeing double as I explained to you. And that WAS the last I remember. He was the only person at the hospital who was the least bit gruff and humorless.

Next thing I knew, I woke up and Gooserock was standing beside me in my room again. Everything was done and my surgery was over. I relaxed again and fell asleep. Whenever it was that I woke up again I was really sore. They gave me a button to push whenever I wanted some pain relief but no more often than every 8 minutes. It really worked quickly and was very good. The next day they took away my "drug pump" and gave me vicodin instead, but it worked well also. I am very lucky to have so little pain, I think. My roommate was in LOTS of pain constantly.

That first day post op, It was really hard to turn over or sit up or move much. I kept thinking, "I wonder how hard I can strain without popping a stitch". But they have told me I don't have any stitches. I only have "steristrips" which I guess are the four band-aid things on my belly. The surgery was laprascopic which calls for 4 "stab would" incisions instead of one large one which cuts through muscle layers. Everyday it got easier.

It was so good to get home today. Toto2 just about wagged his little self apart when he saw me, he gave me kisses and kisses and tail/body wags galore. So, finally we are a family of four all under one roof at last.

I may think of more things later but this is all for now.

Again, thanks so much for being there with me and with Gooserock. You all are great friends.

Day Whatever: The Gooserock Reporrr

Puget4 is looking great and making progress recovering.

They're going to hold her over one more night since she's running a slight temperature (which is actually coming down), still has plenty of pain from very simple movements, and is only partway along restoring various bodily functions.

Given all the chaos at the house, it all around seems best to keep her here tonight.

She's resumed taking food, bit of oatmeal and some stir fry, and doing well with that. The temp isn't too concerning. Nurse explained that it's natural after surgery, indicating vigorous metabolic activity of the healing process

Well she's probably finishing the phone call from her eastern ex co-worker buddy so I'll sign off and visit for another half hour or so.

Thanks for your supportive comments. I know she'll enjoy reading them.

Update: Day three morning

Howdy All,
I had a nice surprise this morning. I got to have clear fluids again instead of nothing. Yeaaaaay!! My surgery won't be until around 3-4:00 so they said it was okay to have this lucious breakfast.

Next exciting bit....I was allowed to take a shower. Yippee!! It'll be several days until I can do that again I suppose....have to keep incision(s) dry initially. At least my hair is clean now....not stylish but clean.

Gooserock sent me a couple pictures of GMom in her new digs at our house. I'll try to include them here. First one is of GMom when only her chair and part of her huge sofa is in the room. She's taking a break.



This next picture is later when all of her furniture is in her "sitting room". Notice the little stack of books at the left end of the sofa. That's so Toto2 can get up onto it. :-) They are real buddies...GMom and Toto2. Toto2 really loves her because she isn't jumping up and down but stays put and pets him continuously.



My surgeon just walked in to talk to three ladies here in the surgery waiting room. I still really like her. It was reassuring to hear her with this other patient's family.

All for now. I plan to check back a little later but before surgery.

Update, day two, afternoon

Howdy All again,

Well, it's definitely set for tomorrow. The surgeon came around and gave me a very complete description of what all would happen and left a little booklet with me that's full of pictures even showing the exact location of where my gall stone plugged the common duct which made the pancreas juice back up and that made the pancreas really angry.

I told my pancreas that it's always done a wonderful job for me and I really appreciate all the hard work it's done for me and that I was going to help make it well again by saying goodbye to my gall bladder (I also thank my gall bladder for its excellent service these 65 years).

Since I've moved west of the Rockies, I've learned that you have to do these things.....talk to your organs, sing to the flowers, pat the Douglas Firs and give a tree a hug on winter solstice. There's a lot of really interesting philosophies out here on the left coast. I love it!! It's a great place to live. I feel like a born-again hippie. -)

Tonight for supper I had vegetable broth (which actually was delicious), jello, grape juice and cammomile tea. I suspect there is another jello or two in my future before midnight. After that I don't get anything until after the surgery.

The surgery itself will be sometime between 3 and 5:00 PT, will last about 1.5 hours and about the same time in recovery. I've already told Gooserock where this computer is so he can entertain himself during the whole process. I'll try to talk him into posting to my blog here.

This is all so new to me so I'm glad everyone (the nurses, aides, doctors, surgeon) is so willing to explain what all is and will be happening. Makes it much less scary.

My buddies at work sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers, yellow lilies, blue delphinium, white snapdragons, white roses and some really cool yellow pompom thing all tied up in a blue bow. Very pretty.

So, thank you all again for being out there sending love and powerful energy to help me heal. It means a great deal to me and to Gooserock. I'll try to post a few tidbits before surgery tomorrow.

Update....Monday, Day Two

Howdy All,

Day two in local hospital.

Slept well. My blood counts are down to normal. Everyone is happy including my
surgeon. Surgery will be tomorrow for sure.

Mu surgeon, a gal, is just a little bit of a thing, very bright, very energetic, well thought of in the community (even the insiders at the hospital here). She's friendly, warm and has a big smile. I asked her today, "How do you make sure you're taking care of YOURself?" She said it's hard sometimes because of the full schedule.
She'll be back in the afternoon to give me the particulars about the surgery. I like her alot.

Gooserock is, as we speak, getting GMom moved into our house. He's been shepherding GMom and Toto2 and keeping the world held together while I'm away. Plus he's keeping in touch with me by phone. I feel like he's right here beside me. If he were here, we'd both be nuts with just sitting around staring at each other. So, I'm glad he has something to keep himself entertained while I'm stuck here feeling fine.

Oh!! Big news!! Since my blood work was perfect this morning, they let me have clear liquids and jello! The nurse said do I want red, yellow, orange or green? I said one of each, plus apple juice and a cup of glorious coffee!

What else..... I have a roommate now. She is in with kidney stones...lots of pain. She's very brave. She's had lots of problems in the past, lupus which in itself is painful plus other stuff. So she knows the meaning of pain. She's a great talker and we get along well. She's also very considerate about TV sound level etc. It's nice to have someone to talk to.

I've been getting lots of phone calls from friends out here. It's really nice to know people care and are thinking of you. That's why I appreciate all of you so much.

I'll post again after I talk to the surgeon this afternoon.

Funny Thing Happened.....

Dear Blogger Friends,

WARNING! Long post. I have lots of time on my hands.

No pictures to share because I am not at home. I'M IN THE HOSPITAL!! I am recovering from my third in 4 weeks attack of Gall Bladder Pancreatitis. It is not pretty.

First one was 4 weeks ago and lasted 10 minutes and was totally gone. It felt like a steel band around my chest and some pain coming through to my back. The next day we were due to close on the sale of our house so, I felt fine, so we closed then I decided to tell my doctor about it. That's when she put me on Plavix and Zocor. She did an EKG which was fine and scheduled a treadmill stress test which also went very well.

Three weeks after the first one (last Monday, the 15th) I had another. This was much nastier and lasted 2.5 hours all told. After only a few minutes of this one, Gooserock drove me to the doctor who again took an EKG and again it was fine so the doctor felt it was acid reflux again and gave me a gastric cocktail of lidocain and chalky white paste. Lovely! Everything went numb including my swallowing so each swallow of saliva was a real scary experience.

She thought I should have an upper GI done. My upper right abdomen just under the ribs was VERY tender to the touch. We were standing there talking and she said, looks like you don't feel very well. I said, "I don't". They asked me if they should call an ambulance. Now I ask you, why does a doctor ask a sick patient that question? How the heck do I know?

We decided that I should go to a large nearby hospital to their ER, tell them I was having chest pains. Duh! and they would take me in right away. Going to this hospital involved a ferry ride. We got front row seats, first on and first off. Gooserock was a champ! Sure enough at this ER, they took me right into a room.

Pause a moment. I was now about 2 hours into having a knife stuck into my chest at the sternum and reaching right through to my back. They always ask you in a hospital where you pain is on a scale of 1-10. Again, this was my first time ever in a hospital so how do I know how to compare pain. Now, looking back, it was about an eight.

The drew some blood, did another EKG and we waited. Almost immediately, the pain started easing and by the time they got the blood work back, I was fine again. No more chest pain, no more tender abdomen.

According to the blood work, my lipase was 12,042. So what? Well, normal is 13 - 40. My pancreas was very unhappy. My amilase was also elevated to the scary point. But, I now felt great! I'm learning a lot about being a patient in a hospital instead of a visitor and about enzymes and body parts in general.

They did a complete CT of my aorta because of how I described the pain....sternum straight through to the back, eight on a scale of ten. My aorta is excellent! An internist came to the ER and said I definitely have pancreatitis, now to find out what caused it because none of the multitute of causes applied to me: black scorpion bites, alcoholism, drug interactions, etc, etc. So he ordered an ultrasound of my pancreas/gall bladder/liver area for the next morning.

So they admitted me and I spent my first time ever night in a hospital. Not bad considering I'm 65. Oh, yes, I was also NPO (nothing by mouth). No food, no water, no nothing. And I feel great and I'm on an IV.

So Gooserock reluctantly left me there and went back home to take care of GMom and Toto2 who were back at our new house.

Tuesday, they did the ultra sound and found a whole bunch of stones in the gall bladder. Apparently what happened was one of the stones had moved and gotten stuck in the "common duct" which sends juices from the pancreas and the gall bladder into the intestine to digest food. This made the juices from the pancreas backup and literally irritated the heck out of the pancreas which made it scream at me.

They drew blood again at 5:30 on Tuesday morning (before the ultra sound). My lipase had gone from the amazing 12,042 somethings to 400 somethings. This is a good thing but still quite elevated. Still on IV and NPO and I had to stay another day and night. They said it was a very dangerous situation to have the pancreas so irritated. Tuesday night I was taken off the IV because my lipase was down to 65. Yippee! AND I was given jello and applesauce and some soda crackers. Thought I was in heaven!

Wed morning they sent me home with the admonition to get my gall bladder yanked within the next two weeks. They wouldn't do it right then and there because of scheduling the surgeon so I decided I wanted it done at my local hospital which involves no ferry ride and Gooserock and various friends are close by. They also said to stay on a low fat diet. Some of you may recall that two years ago Gooserock and I went on a Very Low Fat diet to combat my cholesterol. We don't eat anything with feet or anything that comes from critters with feet (this includes shellfish and crab) We do eat fin fish. Basically its a vegan plus fin fish diet. Soy is my friend.

So good! I go home. Monday the 22 is the day the movers come to pick up GMoms furniture and bring it to her two rooms in our new house. So we begin to work on getting her packed.

Friday, mid morning, I call Gooserock from GMom's apartment to tell him I don't feel quite right.....discomfort in my back. 10 minutes later I have GMom call him to come get us both and I need to go to ER. My instructions had been that if I have another attach before the g.b. can be yanked I'm to go directly to ER. We deposit GMom at new house to keep Toto2 company. We call 911. By now the pain is right up there. I'm willing to call it a 10. I get nauseous. The EMT's come, (of course everyone things "heart"), the ambulance arrives, we head for the local hospital about 25 minutes away with Gooserock hot on our heels in our car. It has now been about 1.5 hours. The EMT in the ambulance had just offered me some pain meds and the pain which had been easing, left entirely.....just like before.

To make a long story even longer, I spent last night here in the hospital, NPO again and on IV again dragging my IV stand with me when I want to visit the Little Girl's Room, and once again bored to tears because I feel fine. A GP came to check on me.

The surgeon came to visit and explained a lot about the upcoming surgery which will probably be on Tuesday. They want my pancreas to be completely rested and all the blood levels back to normal before doing it. They still hope to be able to do it laporoscopaly (tiny incision and cameras). They won't send me home because of this last week's experiences.

I finally asked the nurse if there were any laptops I could rent and she offered to bring me to a computer in the ICU waiting room. So you're getting the whole long, boring story, because I have nothing else to entertain myself with.

Oh yes, poor Gooserock is left with all the packing assistance for GMom and worrying about his buddy sitting bored in hospital. Movers come tomorrow. The local Good Will comes Tuesday to get the furniture that GMom can't bring into the new house for lack of room. He's a really busy guy, bless his heart. He'd rather be here with me, but I'm okay now and Gmom and aged Toto2 need him back there. So we talk on the phone a lot. I've had friends call too.

Everyone here at hospital is wonderful, friendly, caring and very helpful. ....and very smart. We feel real good about everything that is being done.

I think I'll stop for now and go back to my room and my IV.

I'll keep you posted.

Much News!

We are now in our new house, and more important, we are totally OUT of our old house. This process on inning and outing took two weeks. Then/now we have to unpack and get resettled in our new house. This is critical as we have to get our home craft business workshop set up and running ASAP.

NEW HOUSE

Notes: Click image for larger view
Taken with Nikon CP7600 September 2007

It's larger than it looks.....room for the workshop space, 3 adults and one elderly but very spunky Toto2.

Here's the view from the livingroom

VIEW FROM LIVINGROOM OF THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS

Notes: Click image for larger view
Taken with Nikon CP7600 September 2007

Gooserock has been busy with the CoolPix 7600. Here's a couple panoramas he did. The dawn one I never would have seen because I DO NOT get up that early.

Dawn Panorama

Daytime Sunny Panorama

Notes: Click image for larger view
Taken with Nikon CP7600 October 2007

RATS!! Now why do you suppose that happened? I got the first two images in just fine then when I "hid preview" to go back and add more to my post, the code for the two images was gone and the images them selves were embedded. Then I couldn't get the code to work any more. I tried to add an image the way Blogger says to do it and that didn't work either. Oh Me. I guess I'm too tired tonight to figure it out.

My apologies.

Well, that's enough for this post. I see I'm way out of practice in putting photos into a post so I will have to do some review. Next post I'll have some photos taken with Nikon D80 today.