Random Updates

My son-in-law is in the hospital now for outpatient surgery for that kidney stone. He was on antibiotics for 2 weeks to recover from the infection and swelling that happened when his kidney backed up. They put a stent in place to allow his kidney to drain around the 9 MM stone. My daughter is at the hospital now.  Updates later.

Yesterday I pulled all the bins and boxes out of the big closet so I can go through them. All that's left in there are a few clothes hanging and a bunch of books on the shelf. I was a little sore yesterday and hubby said I'm doing too much. I told him, "No, somebody needs to do it and you're doing the garage." My back was sore yesterday but today I feel fine, just discouraged.

The job situation is dismal. Apparently most companies like to wait until after the elections to hire, maybe even until after the holidays. It's a sad state in this country that companies want to jump ship and move operations to Mexico or other countries. They are just running from paying their fair share in taxes. I watched a clip yesterday of the traitor former orange in chief talking to John Deere. He told them if they move their operations to Mexico he will put $400 tariffs on everything they produce and they won't sell any of it here in the US. So John Deere said, if he gets elected they will keep their plants open here in the US, but if Harris is elected they are leaving. They announced earlier this year their intent to close 3 plants here in the US and open them in Mexico. What does that say about our country? Where are all those jobs and the booming economy we keep hearing about? 

Government, Hospitality and Healthcare/Education. Well, there you go. Manufacturing is loosing. 

My son-in-law is prepped and waiting now, time 10:35 am.

Back to politics. Hubby and I are voting for Democracy and for protecting the Constitution and for protecting Kosovo and Europe from the onslaught of dictatorship from Russia. But I reluctantly understand why people choose orange because they view him as stronger on the economy, as in keeping jobs here in the US and not watching them flee our tax system. It's complicated. I can't pretend I can understand it all or even debate or explain it. It is what it is. 

Right now I don't know how we will move forward in this mess. All I can do is continue to pack, so if hubby gets hired for a good job, we can move. Or maybe a good job will happen locally, and we can stay. But I need to be prepared. At least my spring cleaning will be done. Our lease is up the end of April, then our rent will go up AGAIN. Our rent was $995 in 2019. It might have been the same when we moved here in April 2018. It's now $1115, and I'm sure it will increase again in June. So, $120 in 6 years may not seem like a lot, but everything else has risen horribly. Insurance, Internet, FOOD.....need I continue, and his job is getting cut by SEVEN dollars per hour. That's $1120 less per month, like a whole rent payment. 

We keep dumbing our budget down. And it's not just us. My son-in-law is an engineer, he and my daughter (who also works) are paying for the house they built. He's putting one kid through college and the other starts next year. He is the hospital and his out of pocket max is $8000. My daughter said he hasn't had any overtime in years.

My daughter said they took him into surgery at 10:55 am

11:32 am, he's done. They had to break up the stone, it was too big to pull out. One hour in recovery and she gets to see him.

I'm happy my son-in-law's surgery went well and he can recover and not be in pain all the time. 

Here are some pictures, the first two are from today. I was going to bring more plants in but it's just too beautiful out. The other three pictures are Sandhill Cranes. They stop in to eat birdseed I put out for them.

Ramblin' on Wednesday

It's Wednesday...ramble on!

OMG my shoulders are still weak. 5+ months since my surgery and I've been thinking my favorite frying pan must weigh 5 pounds. I weighed it...on a postage scale....2 pounds. Yesterday I also picked up my 2 pound weights and did a few arm exercises. Big mistake. Next time use the one pound weights, and do it every day, dummy.

Cooking and washing dishes are my biggest challenges, every day, oh, and bending over and peering sideways into cabinets or the frig. I feel my neck and shoulders straining to do mundane tasks. Yesterday I also cooked three dishes and washed all those dishes and washed all the dishes from dinner and dried all the dishes and put them away and wiped down the stove and counters. Should be a daily thing, right? Usually I end up leaving some of it undone, but last night I was determined to finish, amid hubby's concerns that I was hurting myself. I went to bed achy.

The manual coffee grinder arrived yesterday. Now all we need are beans to grind. Hubby said it looks like it will be good enough.

Here is our grinder

The parts

After we buy coffee beans I will post a picture of the ground coffee.

It's cloudy and raining today. Tomorrow is supposed to be partly sunny and chilly, then warming into the 60's and then 50's.

I have an order coming Saturday (at least that's what the tracking says). I'm eager to show you what I ordered and how I hope it will help me eat better and keep my blood sugar under control. More on that later.

No Alarms

Yesterday I had my 3 month check up and X-ray. Results, excellent. Chance for future problems, slim, unless I stress my remaining movable neck joints too much. Chance for setting off airport security alarms...none. The metal in my neck is Titanium, and it's even MRI safe. Oh well, so much for setting off all the bells and whistles. It is possible for the joints above and below the fusion to eventually fail, but it doesn't happen to everyone, and if so, usually several years down the road.

I also need new glasses, simply because the ones I have are 10 years old and the lenses are cloudy. I tried to get new glasses when we still lived in California. The optical department at Fred Meyers in Brookings Oregon was close by and I found nice frames. The problem was the first time they put someone else's prescription in my frames. The second time it was my prescription but it was off. I still couldn't see well. This time we were less than 2 weeks away from moving. I had no choice but to get my money back. We were out of time.

I was kind of shocked when I started looking for glasses here because 95% of the frames were ugly thick black or dark plastic things. I don't care HOW FASHIONABLE they are supposed to be, to me they look like crap. Anyway, I'm on my hubby's vision plan from his work, and they only accept certain places. Since the Sofia Loren brand is always the one I reach for, as it turned out, Sears Optical was to be our go-to place. We drove out on Saturday because hubby had the day off. I lucked out and got a walk-in exam. The doc was good, an older man who was sharp as a tack. I felt good about my exam. My new script is only slightly changed from my old one. He also told me that I have some very slight yellowing of the lenses in my eyes. He said it is a very slight beginning of age-related cataracts. I asked about how this could progress. He said it might be 7 years before I need surgery. Let's hope my eyes and neck hold out, so I don't "fall apart" all at once.

We have been enjoying cooler, dryer weather. We've had some torrential rains. It's really green here. The lawns have been green all summer, no need to water. I've heard there are droughts in other areas of the Midwest. I don't ever remember having humidity in Wisconsin in the past. There was never a need for air conditioning at the cottage.

Looking back a little over a week, we had a good time with my older daughter, her hubby and his 2 kids. We went swimming one day, ate dinner at Perc Place, had a good time talking and laughing. My younger daughter appreciates having some furniture, which was the main reason for the visit.

Oh dear...it's Tuesday, and I didn't do a Ten on Tuesday.....ok, quick:

10 Things I Need to Do

1. Sort and file old mail
2. Clean out my closet
3. Repot some of my plants
4. Take more walks
5. Go back to healthy eating
6. Stop being so lazy (related to having no energy?)
7. Get my energy back (related to being lazy?)
8. Seriously sort out all the stuff in the bins in the bedroom
9. Sleep better...new pillow? (Maybe why I'm tired and lazy?)
10. Get better pictures of the mommy deer and her fawns and the Sandhill cranes

Busy!

My daughter in Indiana and her family are coming up tomorrow. They are bringing her sister some furniture.

I have the apartment all straightened out. Feels good.

No meteor showers for us, just rain showers, pouring rain for hours. We needed it.

Hubby and I needed to visit a government building today. I was disappointed my neck hardware didn't even cause a blip on the body scanner. Before stepping through I told security and showed them my scar. They joked that it must be cheap metal. hahaha Then mentioned it's probably titanium. I really wanted to set off all the alarms LOL

I'll write more later, after the weekend.

Post-op Hair Loss

OMG my hair. Yeah, I was figuring it was related to my surgery.

From a post in a forum (I can't credit it because it was posted by Anonymous. I confirmed this info as accurate through some fact-checking:

"Telogen effluvium" is a term used to describe hair that has been rushed into the resting state after the body suffers a shock due to major surgery. As resources are redirected to help heal the affected surgical area, the body temporarily shuts down hair production because it is not necessary for survival.

Telogen effluvium related to surgery can be distinguished from other forms of hair loss in several ways. Individuals typically begin to notice the increasing hair loss two to three months after the surgery. Hair loss after surgery is uniform, noticeable on the scalp but never excessive enough to cause a patchy appearance or complete baldness.

Hair usually resides in the telogen phase for a period of two to four months before growth resumes. Individuals don't begin to notice the increase in hair loss when showering or brushing the hair until about three months post-surgery. Although the resting hair is being pushed out of the scalp by new hair that is already growing, it can take anywhere from about six months to a year for the hair to return to its normal fullness.

Wonderful. It's been falling like snow.

Therapy

Twice a week, but no more neck massages. Now I have a Theraband and Theraputty, along with a list of exercises. According to my therapist, I'm moving my head more normally now. I still feel like a bobble head. My head feels a bit too heavy for my neck. It takes time. They want me to work up to lifting 20 pounds, but that's not happening with the disk degeneration I have in my lower back.

In other news, I ordered some Avid on Ebay. I used to keep it on hand, but gave it away when we moved. I have 5 Primulina plants (they used to be called Chirita). I finally got around to re-potting them. I had two gemella in one pot and two Jade Moon in another pot. I noticed one Jade Moon plant is looking like it has a mite infestation. I was not able to spot any mites with my magnifying glass (yes, it is possible to spot them with a good eye loop), but that doesn't mean the plant is clean, or any of them, for that matter. I still need to re-pot my species plant. It has been on a different shelf, but I think I should treat it anyway. My one and only violet has been bagged for some time, so I'm pretty sure it is safe.

I have not bought any plants, except for the flowers outside on the window sill, which have not come in contact with anything inside, so I'm at a loss as to what happened. Here is a picture of the one Jade Moon plant in question.The center is off-colored. It just seemed odd looking.

The other Jade Moon (from the same pot) looks normal...?

I figure it can't hurt to have some Avid on hand, especially if I decide to acquire another violet or two. 

I'm Free!!!

Six weeks of hot cervical collar are over! It came off today. Doc says I can do anything, drive, swim, enjoy life. PT will continue at home, with new instructions. She is super happy with the healing in my neck and the abundant growth of new bone to form the fusion. She was pleasantly surprised to see me motion with my arms how I wash my hair and fix it by myself. "Let me see that again", as she asked me to raise one arm, then the other.

Today's X-ray. The ghosty wavy lines on either side of the hardware is the new bone browth

Of course my neck is still weak and stiff. The back and sides of my neck and my shoulders tire easily. I thought I should wear the brace while my daughter drove me home from Milwaukee, but she said no, that will prevent my neck muscles from getting stronger.

I stopped in for the X-rays a little over an hour before my appointment. We had some time to kill, so my daughter and I went up to the Healing Garden, then down to Starbucks for coffee, then over to Rehab so I could say hi to the girls who worked with me when I was in so much pain. They were happy to see me and happy to see I'm doing so well and that I ditched the pain meds after the 4th day at home.

It was an all-around great day.

I Drove, darnit

Ok, ok, it was only from the street out front, around the corner and into the parking lot...two right turns, no traffic. I also got the front door open. I don't know why it's so heavy. It looks like a regular door, but I need to throw my weight on it to open it, and right now I don't have a lot of that. I lost 10 pounds in the hospital, so I'm a skinny 146. Pulling it open (after unlocking it) from the outside is more difficult, because I must pull really hard. I can get it open enough to get my knee in there, and then I can leverage it open.

The security door entry to the apartments

My daughter put in an application for one of the apartments in the second building (on the corner) that will be open September 1st. We are waiting to hear from the landlady, because when the application was given to my daughter last month the price was $10 more than what we are paying, but now we hear the landlady wants to raise it up by $30. The reason...there is a third identical building that she doesn't own and she found out from someone the residents are paying $35 more per month than what she is charging right now.

It's probably still a good deal though, because heat is included, and so is water, sewer and garbage. We only pay electric. The stove is gas, so we don't even pay to cook our food. The buildings are well-lit and each building has locked entry. And they are clean. Cheap, but clean. The floors creak but the bathroom is newly tiled and sparkling clean. The cabinets in the kitchen look like a weekend plywood project and the kitchen is way too tiny and has no dishwasher, but the stove is new. All this for under $600 per month. A luxury apartment costs about $900 and they usually don't include heat. We have no idea how much it costs to heat an apartment here.

Hubby's job is going well. He is a hard worker, which has been noticed by the supervisors here and in Sussex. When there is no work here in Hartford, hubby signs up for the plant in Sussex, about half an hour south. They are always happy to have him. He hasn't had any difficulty with breaks or with time to eat. His cousin's friend recently went from Finishing to Pressing. He likes it. If a person signs up to run the presses they cannot go back to Finishing. It's a bit more money but also longer stretches when you cannot leave the machine unattended. You better be darn sure you want to be a pressman. A lot of people shy away from running the presses for that reason, so Pressmen are always in demand, and always have steady work. Apparently the printing presses usually stop after several hours for mechanical reasons and then the pressmen get a break. I told hubby think long and hard and don't make any snap decisions. 12 hour shifts are long, no matter what part of the plant you are working in.

By the way, if you get a catalog in the mail, or some other circular or flier, there's a good chance it was printed by the company where my hubby works.

I see my surgeon Wednesday. I'm looking forward to hearing what she has to say about the next steps to my recovery. I've already been taking my brace off at home. It's hot and it drives me crazy.

The weather has been good. We like it. We have warm days (usually in the low to mid 80's) and cool days (usually in the 60's or 70's). It cools off at night. Saturday was hot (in the upper 80's and humid) so we put the A/C on. It cooled off that night, so it was a one-day deal. I keep the windows open almost all the time. The air is fresh. 

Today

I took a shower with my brace off AND washed my hair all by myself!!!

I do have to say that today is a vast improvement over yesterday. I had no appetite and my tummy hurt. I had a low-grade fever and I was achy. It seemed to pass without incident. I'm relieved to be eating better today. My appetite has been mostly off since the surgery. Between the mini-stroke-or-whatever and the surgery, I spent a total of three weeks in the hospital. Three weeks of mundane hospital food, greatly suppressed by my "no soy" requirements, which was difficult to sort out with the Food Police Computer in the kitchen because I'm not bothered by cooking spray but I am bothered by soy protein. Oh, and don't forget the mega dose of Cipro to knock out the bladder infection I had. I've drank so many bottles of probiotic yogurt I'm sick of it.

You would think after all that I would have hit the ground running as soon as I got home, but no, not so much. I have a hard time wanting to eat meat. This morning I cooked some Albanian sausage with a scrambled egg. It was good. I ate it. I have a love-hate relationship with eggs. I love them as long as they don't taste like eggs.

Tonight I'm going to try home-made pizza, with turkey pepperoni and lots of veggies. Junk food, maybe, but I need to do something to get my appetite going.

Winding Road

The road back to my health is a winding one, but I'm making progress. A few days ago I started washing dishes, leaving all the heavy stuff for my daughter. I also made taco salad, which was a milestone for me...cooking! On June 1st we took a long walk along Pike Lake. I estimate that we walked about 2 miles.

Me and hubby walking along Pike Lake. Haha that blouse makes my butt look fat. I have no butt.

I still get moody. There is the twist in the road. Memories. Recently I tried to find an African Violet my mom bought when she and I shopped together back in the mid 1990's. I kept it for many years. I have no idea why it didn't make the move with me. I still have the one I bought for myself, which is the only violet I own right now. I have many other things from my mom, a cute kitty flowerpot, needlework, a wall hanging. I don't know why the violet bothers me so much.

Then there is Wisconsin. We didn't move here to wallow in the past, but so much of my past is here, the memories keep rearing up. I have good memories and sad ones. When I first came to the Midwest from California I set foot on the ground at O'Hare Airport. It was August 28th and so stiffing hot and humid I couldn't breath. My first hubby and I and his parents then drove to the cottage in Wisconsin. It was wonderful, magical, beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, the best times of my life. It was there I learned to fish. It was a week before I would see Indiana, where I spent the next 40+ years of my life. Indiana was daily life, raising my daughters, paying bills. but Wisconsin was always magical fun. I always felt I should live here. Now that I'm living here and paying bills, I find myself wishing for magic, but the cottage was sold years ago and all the people have died.

I wasn't so naive to think that the past would be here waiting for me, but this surgery with the long recovery makes time drag on. I can't open the door to the apartment complex without help. It's too heavy, so I'm stuck, like a child. I'm still waiting to be able to drive. I'm still waiting to get to the downtown craft store to attend some group sessions of fun painting and such and make some friends. My hubby wants to make picnic destinations at the various lakes and scenic areas around Wisconsin. He missed so much work in May with me being in the hospital for so long that he's still working extra to catch up.

I only have the one therapist now, and once a week. She will come once after I follow up with my surgeon on the 15th, to make sure I understand my next steps in recovery. My older daughter and her hubby and his kids are coming to visit the weekend of the 18 and 19th. My hubby will be off work for a few days. The company does that when the workers change shifts. We might try a trip to the Dells before he returns to work on the 22nd. It's only an hour and a half away.

Post Surgical Depression

I googled "why do I cry all the time after having surgery" and apparently it is very common. Some people become truly depressed. Others not so much but they cry often and become very reflective on their lives, which is what I've been doing.

I'm no stranger to surgery. In 1994 I had a total hysterectomy, then in 1996, bi-lateral breast cancer. These surgeries came with their own set of emotional challenges. The first made me feel the loss of womanhood, the second left me hoping for life, which I have, because I am a 20 year survivor. I once told one of my doctors that everything that makes me a woman was trying to kill me. She told me, no, being a woman, including sexual feelings, are in your mind. Best advice I was ever given.

And here I am, in my surgically altered body, loved and cared for by a younger man, and blessed to have my daughters near me, one in Indiana and one right here to care for me.

Knowing I'm not alone helps. The long recovery process makes it hard to move ahead, but I have progress.

Chin Up

I almost titled it "No Pain No Gain". The neck brace keeps my chin up, but also this has been an emotional trial for me. It's a helluva journey back. There have been tears and, at first, lots of number 10 pain. One day, before entering Rehab, before my pain was under better control, they had me sitting in a chair and they were trying to get me to stand up and walk. I was having an increasingly severe pain event and I was crying that it hurt too much and I couldn't get up. My daughter walked into this calamity and she started crying. Behind her walked my husband and he started crying. OMG my husband was weeping. I finally mustered the strength to get up and thankfully most of the worst pain subsided in the standing position (because my hands on the walker took the weight of my arms off my shoulders), so I walked! I walked with my daughter in tow behind me with a chair in case I needed to sit and my husband in front encouraging me on.

I've experienced reflection and moodiness. I cry easily. I just want to be me again, pain-free and able to do things again. Independence is a long process after this surgery. In order to reach the spine they must cut and pull aside the shoulder muscles. There's the pain. No reaching over my head, no lifting over 3 to 5 pounds. I need help getting anything higher than the 1st shelf in the cupboard. My hubby fills a small water bottle with milk so I can make my coffee and cereal. At this point, reaching into the frig and pulling out an 8 pound gallon of milk is not advised and would likely put my neck and shoulders into a night-long throbbing pain event.

At least my neck has healed enough for me to put on my shoes. I can sit at the computer for longer periods of time. I can dress myself. If anything must go over my head I lie down to do it. I can't wash or comb my hair. My daughter must attend to those things. No driving, no turning my head other than very slowly side to side as an exercise. The neck brace is hot. Sometimes I lie in bed with it off, so my neck can breath.

Surprising physical changes...

When we were still in Crescent City (see Stories from the Mist) I suspected something serious was beginning to happen but I didn't know what. Some of these symptoms began a few years ago and worsened progressively. My stomach was taking a long time to empty and it was getting worse. My bowels weren't moving, well, not more than once a week. Probiotics encouraged things slightly, but they were becoming less effective. I had trouble emptying my bladder. My right hand was turning numb along my little and ring finger. My left toes were numb. My legs cramped every night. It was increasingly severe on the left, with only the slightest movement throwing my leg into terrible cramps. Other parts were not working right. I didn't mention this before because I was focused on a healthier location for my husband, but deep down inside I knew somehow that I was going to be needing a specialist for my own health. The race to move for both of us was increasingly important.

I had no idea all those problems were related. Sometime after my surgery my stomach woke up, and so did my bowels. The sudden restoration caused gas pains, slight nausea and cramps, but after time they settled down to a normal routine. The numbness gradually went away. Everything else because working properly. My legs have not cramped at all. My blood pressure went to normal, a perfect normal! No more blood pressure meds!! Another possible resolution is the pain I had shooting across my left hip when I walked no longer seems to be present.

The thing with spinal stenosis, when it's that severe it can cause permanent damage if left alone. One doc said I was one bad fall or accident away from being in a wheel chair for the rest of my life.

June 15 I go back to Milwaukee to get an X-ray and see my surgeon. I hope to be able to remove the collar at that time, or at least begin removing it for periods of time. I read that the bone graft will need about three months to heal and continue to strengthen over the next year. Neck and shoulder muscles will continue to heal and strengthen.

Turning Point...

On May 26th I felt well enough to handle the short drive to Pike Lake. We had asked my therapist and she said I should be ok for that, just don't overdo. I had been taking short walks to the corner with my therapist and she could see marked improvement. I nearly cried I was so happy to finally get out to do something besides seeing a doctor. It was a beautiful day, breezy, sunny, puffy clouds.

In the meantime...

There have been family changes. My daughter and her husband had mutually decided to divorce, so her move here from California is permanent. She needs a car and an apartment, and to begin working (she put in for a transfer and medical leave). I am finally becoming independent enough to be left at home while she works, so I'm sure she will be going back to work soon. All of this mess has stressed our budget severely. My husband missed a lot of work and now work is slow. Well, we are all hopeful for things to normalize soon.

End note....

The air is so fresh here! The breeze is rustling the leaves. It's mostly cloudy but it's not hot. I love Wisconsin!

Surgery

Side x-ray

before staple removal They start at my hairline but they gave me a buzz cut.

Glad daughter is here to help. Many things I can't do yet but I'm getting better. Hurts to sit at the computer for very long, so this will be short. Surgery was the 5th, on lots of pain meds, extreme pain when trying to get up. Pain level 10 when standing. Can you say crying and screaming. Transferred to Rehab on day 4. They discovered my pain level and said they would get that under control first. Finally up and starting therapy after a couple days. After 8 days I was doing well enough to come home. Discharge on the 17th, back to Milwaukee to have staples removed on the 18th....crazy, but they couldn't keep me an extra day. Trip in car was a pain setback but I have recovered. Two therapists come twice a week on alternating days for two weeks.

Wearing a cervical collar until next appointment the second week in June. Hard to eat, hard to chew because of swelling, collar, neck and shoulder pain, but I voluntarily stopped the pain meds. Just using Tylenol. Weak, lost the 10 pounds I wanted to loose but not the way I would recommend. Many issues I had before the surgery have been resolved. Ok, tired now.

Tomorrow

Arrive at hospital 5:30 am

Surgery - 7:30 am

Daughter arrives in Milwaukee - 7:30 pm

Distance from airport to hospital - 6 miles

See you on the flip side.