Getting closer to freedom...

Monday was just another day of staying in bed. I just about think that I’m going to go crazy and then I remember the days when I was in Seton Hospital eating nothing but oatmeal, cottage cheese and tuna fish sandwiches. It was always so cold and there and I had to watch the same stupid television programs over and over. I guess it’s not so bad here in.

Tuesday was yet another day of staying in bed. I’m trying to eat a lot of protein and drink a lot of tea. The visiting nurses are supposed to come by today and check it out, I hope it’s good news. Teresa and Karen have been on top of everything and taking really good care of me, I don’t know what I would do without them. Jess, Teresa’s boyfriend, has been taking Robby to play with their animals and for long walks.

Wednesday was pretty much the same old thing, laying on my right side until I can’t stand it anymore, two hours on my back and and then back on my left side. It is getting better but it takes a long.

Thursday was the same thing all over again. Thank God for Jess and Teresa for taking Robby to the beach every day to play and thank God for Karen for putting up with my crankiness and. Nothing really exciting happened.

Friday was the same old thing BUT my family came down from Modesto. It was really great to see them and they took turns keeping me company, I hope it wasn’t too cranky. Corinne brought one of her friends, Jordan, to hang out at the Boardwalk with. I have some coupons for some free movie rentals so that kept them pretty busy.

Saturday was my support group Halloween party, I was really sad that I had to miss that. Teresa went to drop off some stuff for me and ended up staying in talking to everybody. Then Robby visited with some patients, she took him to the beach and then came back. My brother barbecued ribs and steak and made some brussels sprouts with bacon and some asparagus, it was awesome. Oh he also made egg and bacon omelette’s and toast for breakfast.

Sunday was the same old thing again, flipping from side to side. For some reason my body REALLY hate being on my left side and after a couple of hours I start sweating and I just can’t stand it any longer. We ordered pizza from Woodstock and my family left for home. I am thankful that I am at home instead of at Seton. They’re coming out on Tuesday to reevaluate my bed and get the low loss air flow mattress I should’ve gotten a couple of years ago. The pressure sores started I’m sure from having too much air in my cushion and then I thought it would be better staying in bed but when the nurse felt the mattress she said it was just making it worse.

Will I ever get out of this bed...

Monday was such a great day. It started out kind of sad because Kelly took Bailey to the vet and found out that he had a heart murmur and bladder stones, she was so sad I wanted to cry with her. We decided to go ahead and go to the Monterey Bay aquarium, we wanted to go there all summer. Before we went into the aquarium we found a restaurant on the Bay simply called C and decided to give it a try, there are restaurants inside the aquarium but the restaurant was so beautiful and had such a great view that we decided to go in and try. It’s a good thing we did because the food was AWESOME, Kelly as a chef and she was very impressed and that says a lot to me. We sat down and looked out the window and watched a couple of otters playing in the water. They brought us some herb bread with goat cheese butter and olive oil drizzled on top, so good. We started with a crab cake with balsamic onions beets white truffle vinaigrette. I had rock shrimp, artichoke, spinach, goat cheese and crispy potatoes and Kelly had local smoked sardines, sundried tomatoes and toasted bread crumbs. That right there made the trip worthwhile, although it only took about 50 minutes to get there so we will definitely go back next year... at least once. We went to the aquarium and did the full loop and took lots of pictures. We went shopping at a little place called “after the quake” and got some really cute stuff. I got a couple of Christmas ornaments, one a really cool angel made out of shells and the other was a starfish with sunglasses, a little bikini... the top of the bikini was made out of shells, some big sunglasses and a surfboard. I also got some seahorse earrings and a matching necklace for my mom and got blown wine bottle collapsed and fold it in half with a Tuscany picture on the front, it looks perfect in my kitchen. It started to rain on the way back so we stopped and got a soy mocha and waited for the rain to die down. On the way back a friend of mine text me and said that there was a bus accident in Marina and would probably slow us way down, there’s really only one way to get from there to here but it was definitely all worth it.

Tuesday was really sad because Kelly was leaving. My mom woke up with a flooded bathroom so we called out the plumber, that was expensive but everything is working now. We visited for most of the day and then Kelly left, very sad. The time usually does go by very fast and her and Tom will be back before we know it, probably around June.

Wednesday my personal care took a long time so I just took a hot bath and went back to bed. I wouldn’t have been able to get up anyway because my wheelchair was in getting a tune up. I wanted to make sure that everything was tightened up and the legs were going to fall off while I was out and about by myself. Teresa brought some boneless wings from wing stop and some french fries, they were really good. Teresa and Karen started decorating for Halloween, I can’t wait to get up tomorrow to see what they did.

Thursday I was so excited to get up and be able to get outside. Unfortunately it rained practically all day. I saw the sun come out so Robby and I made a break for it and went for a cruise, after a while it started raining so we came home. A couple hours later the sun peeked out again so we once again made a break for it. While cruising we found a really cool stick with a bunch of Moss on it, I’m into collecting cool sticks for my air plant terrariums. It was really wet and Robby didn’t like the feel of it in his mouth, I have to have him pick them up and put them on my lap, so he tried to scrape off the moss. He finally got it in my lap and it was soggy and gross but we made it home with a perfect stick. We went out for another cruise and then came home and watched Teresa and Karen decorates the more for Halloween, my house looks so awesome.

"Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them,
Filling an emptiness we don't even know we have." ~ Thom Jones

Friday I got my massage and decided to stay in bed for another day, my pressure sores are getting better but it just takes time and it’s very boring staying in bed all the time. Of course the weather is beautiful outside today.

Saturday was another day stuck in bed. To me the pressure sore doesn’t look that bad and I usually heal very quickly but I have to remember that I’m getting older and skinnier so I just have to treat it like it’s really bad.

Sunday I stayed in bed again and Karen called in sick so Teresa came in to take care of me. Dr. Owens came over to look at it today, and brought the puppies to play, and said that Theresa was doing the right thing and that she would have home health care come out and look at it tomorrow. Thank God I have Teresa and Dr. Owens. It looks like I’m going to be stuck in bed, on my side for a while. Lots of protein and good thoughts.

Will I ever get out of this bed...

Monday started out to be a really bad day and ended up being a really good day. Kelly and I were going to go have sushi and then go to the movies to see “crazy stupid love”, it looked like a really good movie. When Karen was cleaning Robby’s ears he yelped and then was shaking his head so I decided I better get him to the vet quick. I called and they said they had an appointment in 15 minutes so I jammed down there, Kelly and Bailey went with us for moral support... Bailey was so thrilled that nobody was poking him. After that we went to the bank to get a cashiers check so the guy could start working on the additions to my back porch, I am so excited and wanted to do this for a long time. He’s going to put a sink, a pass-through to the kitchen window, some shelves, some drawers, lights and the big heat lamp... I will be able to sit outside even when it’s cold. Kelly rode her bike and we decided to go down to Charlie Hong Kong’s and get some noodles, as usual they were awesome. On the way back we stopped at the battery and got cupcakes and coffee mocha drinks, it just doesn’t get any better than this.

Tuesday the weather was beautiful. Years ago I had a support chat room on AOL and I met a lot of great people. One guy I met named Jesse lived in Washington and we always got along really well. He has a sister that lives in Merced and one year he came to visit her so I drove up from San Jose to meet him and his family, a great bunch of people. He was a paraplegic injured when his seatbelt threw him out of the back window of a Hyundai, he had to wait several years for a settlement but finally got one. He was visiting his sister again in Merced and drove up here to Santa Cruz to see me. He got here and then we went to lunch and then he left, a short visit but very nice. I came back and took a nice long hot bath and went to bed, a really great day.

Wednesday was another long day but I got to take another bath, it felt so good. Kelly and her friend brought back some Indian food, it was really good.

Thursday I was supposed to go to San Francisco with Kelly, our last chance to go before she leaves, but I do have an open pressure sore on my butt so I thought it would be better to stay in bed before it got worse. My mom and Kelly went into San Jose saw was nice to have the house all to myself, I just rested all day and played words with friends.

Friday Kelly and I were going to go to Big Sur when Phil called to say he wanted to come and take some measurements, Phil is going to install a sink, counter, passed through to the kitchen, shelves and drawers outside on my patio... I am so excited, I have been wanting to do this for a long time. We went to the roadhouse restaurant and had a great meal, I had a calamari salad and Kelly had an heirloom tomato salad.

Saturday I was supposed to go to Los Gatos to meet a friend’s new baby twin girls but I was just miserable in my chair so I decided to go back to bed. I always miss the fun stuff. Teresa and Karen cleaning the garage and it looked awesome.

Sunday was another really long day with only a bath and then back to bed, getting really tired of this. Kelly made a killer blueberry scones, I saw her take some across the street so I snuck up and had Karen grab us a couple to have with our tea.

Tom leaving :0(

Monday by the time we finished my personal care it was 12:30 PM and 91° outside so I decided to stay in bed, everybody said it was a great decision because it was miserable outside. It was nice to rest all day.

Tuesday I was up by 9:30 AM and ready to go. I had an appointment to get a manicure/pedicure at 11:30 AM so I wanted to take Robby for a cruise in case it was too hot after, it was supposed to be hotter than the day before. We cruised through the lagoon, past the lighthouse, to the end of the wharf and then over to sunshine Villa where I get my nails done. It was surprisingly cool and there was a nice breeze when we left so we were going to go for another cruise when Heather text me and asked if I wanted to go somewhere for lunch, of course I did. I was going to meet her at a Greek place when she texts me and said it was closed so we went to her favorite taco place, I was craving tacos anyway. Robby is barking in his sleep, is it a good dream or a bad dream? How are we supposed to know?

Wednesday I got up just in time to take Robby for a cruise while the housekeeper’s clean the house, they usually clean on Tuesdays but they had a mixup in their schedule so they wanted to skip us this week but I asked them to come a different day if they could because we are having a barbecue here the Saturday. I cruise around for a while and then came back and went to the Farmer’s market with Tom and Kelly, I just had to get some more of those roasted potatoes with Rosemary and lavender sea salt... the best roasted potatoes I’ve ever had. After we came back Teresa brought us some hotdogs from some famous place in Watsonville. Her and I split one with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese and one with guacamole, sour cream and salsa... both of them were awesome. We also tried fried pickles and homemade potato chips. My mom got one with sauerkraut and bacon and Tom and Kelly both got some kind of spicy sausage. I really need to start eating better again.

Thursday Tom, Kelly and I took the boys to San Francisco. I always love to go there and the weather was perfect. We got some Ramen noodle soup and Tom and Bailey sat outside for a while while Kelly and I got a “praised the lard” longsleeved shirt from a work company, I can’t remember the name. We also got some more of that killer orange and fennel salami and the couple different kinds of cheeses. We came back and Theresa put me to bed.

Friday I got my weekly massage, took a nice long hot bath and it just went back to bed to rest for the day.

Saturday we had a barbecue and Kelly cooked a ton of food, we will have leftovers for days but that is good. They invited several friends and it was a beautiful day, a little cold at times but they really have some awesome friends. Luckily I was able to be there... earlier I was going too fast out the door and the foot pedal off my chair jammed into the door. I practically ripped the door off the hinges and ripped a foot rest off my chair, luckily I had my braces and my boots on or I would have definitely broken my leg or ankle. I really need to slow down a little bit sometimes. I like him because he smiles at me and means it.

~Anonymous

Sunday we planned on having another puppy play date but that didn’t happen. I ended up staying in bed again because of another long drawn out personal care session. We did play cribbage with Lee and Claudia, my aunt and uncle and my mom and I broke even.

Monday turned out to be another awesome day. I got up and it was already getting kind of warm so I took Robby through the lagoon, through the Lagoon Park, down past the lighthouse and back. On my way back I got a call from Tom saying “let’s go have soup”... that’s all I needed to hear. I have been hearing about this killer Artichoke and green chile soup that they have at Duarte’s  Tavern in Pescadero for a long time, they put them both in one container. We went to pick up the soup and decided to go find a place on the beach to eat. We went to Pescadero State Beach and the weather was perfect, the sun was out but the wind kept it cool. We enjoyed the view and took a couple of pictures and decided to go to Pigeon Point lighthouse. They are in the process of restoring it and it looks so beautiful. We explored there a little bit and took some pictures and then headed home, what a great day!

Tuesday was another awesome day. Tom had plans with a friend so Kelly and I decided to go to San Francisco and spend the day. The weather was gorgeous, I was afraid it was going to be cold and windy. As we pulled up to the ferry building somebody was pulling away from a handicap parking place, how perfect is that? The first place we went is to a place called The slanted door, I have been there once before and Kelly has been there several times. We ordered the imperial roll and lemon grass pork and of course it was delicious. We wandered around for a while and I got a sweatshirt that says “praise the lard” from a pork company. We decided to get a couple of tarts, chocolate and sea salt and lemon, and some Vietnamese coffee... also very delicious. We got a fresh baguette, three different kinds of cheeses, salami and prosciutto and insulated bag from the cowgirl cheese Co. to go on a picnic the next day. We actually drove home and missed most of the traffic.

Wednesday morning it was cold and I just didn’t feel right. Kelly volunteered to redo my scarf valances, I have been really happy with them for a long time. I wanted to take Robby out for a cruise but I just didn’t feel good, I finally had Kelly take off my leg braces and then I felt better. I went to sit in the sun for a while, when I don’t feel good and my back is sweating for some reason when I sit in the sun it makes me feel better. After I fell better I took Robby for a cruise through the lagoon and down to the wharf. I came back and Teresa took me to Costco, I needed a bunch of stuff and I haven’t been there for a while. She put me to bed and I slept really good, Therese always makes me feel better.

Thursday was another really bad long day. I was supposed to go to Big Sur with Tom and Kelly, I have been looking forward to it for a while. I didn’t even get to take a bath because my personal care took so long. I just stayed in bed and rested. Teresa came over to give me a bath but I was too comfortable and she had homework so we decided to just feed me and call it a night. I get a massage on Friday and I need to take a bath after anyway. Yesterday Tom and Kelly got me some organic rotisserie chicken and organic fingerling potatoes with rosemary, lavender salt, they were so good. The same truck goes to San Francisco on Thursdays but there they have a roast that they make sandwiches out of.

Friday was yet another bad day, I hate it when you have more bad days than good ones. I guess as long as the good days outweigh the bad days and are really good then it’s worth it. We did get to play cribbage and that’s always a good thing.

Saturday was our monthly spinal cord injury peer support group meeting. It was only four people there but we really got to discuss a lot. There is a lot of plans that are very exciting. Roger is opening up a wheelchair clinic and they’re looking at a wound care clinic, both of which will be awesome. We talked about having a support group potluck next month, I don’t know why more people don’t come because there’s always lots of food but we always have a good time no matter how many people show up. This year I bought a convict outfit and I’m going to be a woman in the electric chair.

Sunday was another awesome day. Robby has not had Bella and Ozzy over for a play date in a very long time and he had such a good time. I set up the pool and of course Bella was the only one that got in and splashed around but I’m always hoping that Robby will jump in and see how much fun it can be. After they left Tom and Kelly rearranged my patio furniture so that there is more room on the patio and I have a table and chairs down by the van, that’s how I originally wanted it to be. We talk some more about the counter, sink, passed through to the kitchen, cupboards, drawers and shelves for the outside patio. Tom and Kelly are so creative and I’m excited to get started and see what it looks like.

Roaring Camp Railroad...

Monday was a holiday and another long morning for me so again I ended up staying in bed, my neck is really getting sore from staying in bed. My brother and his family left around noon so I just relaxed the rest of the day.

Tuesday was a busy day for everyone. Robby had a bath, the housekeeper’s were coming to clean and I had a dentist appointment. After my dentist appointment I met Tom and Kelly at the bagelry and had an everything bagel with light cream cheese, tomato and capers and some chai tea, my new favorites. I came back and waited for Robby and then we took a nice long cruise down past the lighthouse, it was so beautiful. It has been really warm here the last couple of days so it’s nice to go down by the lighthouse where there is a nice breeze. I came back and Tom, Kelly and I talked about what we wanted on the back porch. The last time we had a barbecue we talked about how nice it would be to have a sink and a pass-through from the kitchen to the porch. There’s not a lot of room but I do have a big Burrell table out there so we decided to incorporate that, it is going to look so awesome. We’re also going to put up some lights.

Wednesday again I ended up staying in bed. My personal care took a really long time and I was really wiped out. I did get to take a nice long hot bath and then just relax the rest of the day.

Thursday I got up and took Robby for a really long cruise through the lagoon, over to the lighthouse and down to the wharf. It was really warm out so it’s nice to get the breeze down by the lighthouse. I came back home and Teresa waxed Karen and I and then we went to Hong Kong Charlie’s to get some noodles, man that place is good. Tom joked about wanting a Slim Jim, a Moon pie and RC Cola instead of noodles so we ran around Santa Cruz to get him what he wanted, the Moon pie was the hardest to find.

Friday I got my much-needed massage, I love Fridays because I get a massage and I get to sleep in. I got up and ran Robby through the lagoon, down to the lighthouse, to the end of the wharf and back. Kelly and I went to see our idiot brother and then we were going to go have sushi but then decided to come back home and order pizza from Woodstock pizza, it was awesome. I wasn’t feeling very good and I think it’s because I haven’t been drinking very much water during the day or tea during the night and my urine was really dark, I think I’m getting a bladder infection. I went to bed and drink as much tea as I could hoping to flush it out.

Saturday was another long, exhausting morning and I just took a bath, went back to bed and rested.

Sunday was such an awesome day. Tom, Kelly and I decided to take the Roaring Camp Railroad ride. We have been trying to find a good day to do it for a long time, we got the tickets months ago. It looked overcast outside but it was really warm so we headed down to the boardwalk and waited by the carousel ride. At first we were thinking maybe they canceled the train again, we try to take it a couple of weeks ago and they canceled it, but pretty soon we saw it coming down the tracks... I was so excited to finally get to ride it. I was surprised how secure I felt in their wheelchair lift. The ride was as awesome as I had imagined, it was just so beautiful. The conductor explained a lot and was very funny. We were running late so we only had about half an hour to eat and we didn’t get to explore as much as we had liked. We boarded the train and headed for home. Such a great day.

Lots of down time...

Monday I had an appointment to FINALLY get my new tooth. The weather has been kind of cool but I really wanted to give Robby some much-needed exercise so we cruised down there. It took less than half an hour so Kelly met me at dig to get some more air plants and another hanging terrarium, that place is so awesome. Kelly suggested that I put some air plants in a fishing net that I have hanging outside my back porch, what a great idea. Robby and I cruised through the park, down the river, through the boardwalk, to the end of the wharf and back, through the lagoon and back home. When my caregiver got here we worked on Robby’s excitement when people come up to him, he did pretty good. We also worked on picking up things, sitting down and then putting them in my lap without getting excited.

Tuesday I was supposed to get my hair dyed and get a manicure and pedicure but the morning routine was just taking too long so I changed my appointment to Wednesday. Instead Robby and I went for a long cruise and then came back and I took a nice long hot bath and went to bed. I hope it’s just allergies but I have been coughing and sneezing a lot, I don’t want to get sick again.

Wednesday was my appointment to get my hair dyed and to get my manicure and pedicure. When I got to the shop there was hardly anybody in there so I’m by pretty fast and I love the way everything turned out. I came home in time to eat and go to bed before Lee and Claudia, my uncle and aunt and my mom came over to play cribbage. Kelly made some KILLER banana bread, it was so awesome.

Dogs Live Here
If you don't want to be greeted,
With paws and wiggly rears,
Don't come inside, because DOGS LIVE HERE.

Thursday was a great day. Robby and I went on a really long cruise, as I was cruising through the boardwalk I noticed that the waves were really coming close. I talked to one of the security officers and she says that hasn't happened for a long time. I came home and Teresa took me to dig nursery. We got some more stuff for the back porch and she finished decorating it, it looks so awesome... I have gotten so many compliments.

Friday I ended up staying in bed. Susan came over and gave me a massage and boy did that feel great, it has been three weeks since I have seen her and I can really tell because I get really sore. It ended up being a long morning and I guess I just felt like it. I missed the last concert on the beach but I won’t lose too much sleep about it. Tom and Kelly were gone and I really enjoy going to the concert with them.

Saturday I really felt rotten so I stayed in bed, I didn’t even take a bath. My brother, his wife and their daughter came up for the long weekend, it always seems to go my Way too fast. Janet made a taco salad, she makes the best taco salad. My heart is starting to beat really loud and really slow sometimes and it makes me nervous. I went to the doctor when I was younger and he told me if I didn’t like it to just quit drinking coffee but I don’t drink near as much coffee as I used to, I only drink one cup a day.

Sunday I got up and took Robby for cruise to the bridge above the wharf and back. Karen said there was a lot of traffic on her way over here so I wanted to see just how bad it once, a long weekend always brings a lot of tourists. We were going to try to go to Monterey to the fair but it was too cold and I was afraid they would be way too much traffic. I took Lexi and Corinne over to the video rental store and they each picked out two movies to watch. We got to watch two of them do we have two to watch tomorrow. We watched my sisters keeper and the Time traveler’s wife, wrote really good movies. Tomorrow we’re going to watch tangled and beauty beast, the new one.