Saturday, August 29, 2009

Not back in the saddle again...

An 82-year-old friend of the family got mugged a couple of weeks ago and I am so excited to say that they caught the guy. Think goodness he confessed so that Helen does not have to go through a trial. Apparently he has had a drug problem for a while and hopefully he gets what he deserves and get off drugs.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty boring because for most of it I have been stuck in bed. Last Monday I had an appointment with my primary care doctor and an appointment with my rehab doctor on Thursday. I got a blood test for menopause and to see how severe my colitis is. On Monday I have an appointment in Watsonville at the wound care clinic and it looks like I will be going there a couple of times a week for awhile.

Today turned out to be a really great day. Yesterday it was 101° here in Santa Cruz and I was so afraid that it was going to be the same here today because I was invited to a barbecue across the street for Alex and Jack’s birthday. They have some cool friends and I always feel so comfortable around all of them. I thought the weather was going to be really warm but it actually started cooling down when I went over there and I had a really great time.

Cassie is going to start working for me again on Friday. She worked for me when I first moved in here but she was going through some problems so we agreed to wait a year and try it again, she is doing so much better now and I really hope that works out.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

It has been a while...





The concert last Friday, Greg Kihn, was awesome. The lady that usually tries to take up a lot of space was just keeping to herself, maybe they finally helped her to understand.

When I got home the Modesto gang was here. It was Stanley and Corinne’s birthday so they came for the weekend. Corrine brought one of her friends and they decided to spend Saturday at the Boardwalk. After that we all went out to dinner at Mobo’s and of course everybody loved it.

So far this week I am just staying in bed because of our pressure sore that just won’t go away and it’s really making me stir crazy. Heather and Linda came over and kept me company today and Heather cooked a really good dinner... calamari with butter and capers, squash and zucchini strudel, asparagus and rice and for dessert tiramisu.

I did get up this week because my niece, Corrine, is staying with me. On Monday we went to go see “the Time traveler’s wife”, I called to see if Heather and Linda would like to join us and they said they probably wouldn’t make it but showed up, it was a nice surprise. I thought the movie was going to be kind of strange but I liked it very much. On Tuesday I went to see Claudia to get a manicure and pedicure and Linda came over to the house to cut and color Corinne’s hair, it looks really cute and she loves it.

Lexi came down to stay for a couple of days so we cruised the wharf and then went to rent a couple of movies. While we were on the wharf we saw a sea lion that had gotten tangled up with a fisherman’s line, it really broke my heart to see the fishing hooks dangling from the side of his mouth and not be able to do anything about it. We found a whale watching rental shack and talk to the lady and she said that if we took pictures she would look at them and call the authorities but there probably wasn’t much that can be done. As we were leaving we saw a rescue team out by the lifeguard building and told them about it and they said that they were out training and that they would go and take a look and see if there was anything they could do, that made us feel a lot better.

The concert this week is Patty Smyth and the scandals. I haven’t decided if I want to go see that but I think it earlier that day we are going to see “Julie and Julia”, that looks like a really good movie. I’m really going to try to start going to the movies at least once a week, by myself if I can’t find anybody to go with me. I did a couple of times by myself and had no problems but that was when I had Brodie but I know I can do it they will just take a couple of times to prove to myself how easy it is.

Next week is back to staying in bed until my pressure sore is totally healed. I made the mistake of letting one of my caregivers take pictures so I could see the progress and it really scared me so I will have to make myself just stay off of it until it is healed.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

What a nightmare...

What a huge nightmare that colonoscopy was. First of all I had to go without eating, until having to drink 4 L of thick, nasty, pineapple flavored goo the worst thing I thought could happen. I got it all down and amazingly was able to keep it down but it made me feel horrible, I had to constantly fight to keep it down and my stomach was so bloated I thought it was going to pop. From what I heard from everyone else it cleans you out really fast, not for me. Because I cannot run to the bathroom whenever needed they gave me something called a colon catheter. It basically looks like a big jellyfish in the top of it fills with water so it does not slide out, perfect I thought. It constantly leaked around the edge so somebody had to be here at all times. Teresa stayed here until 11 PM but had to work the next day so my mom ended up staying up until 3 AM, my caregiver was supposed to be here at 4 AM. I had taken a bath the morning before but I was so sweaty from the chills and the constant sweat that I took a bath in the morning, about never felt so wonderful, and got dressed to go. The hospital part of it went really smoothly. They didn’t have a portable Hoyer lift but the people that they got to help transfer me really knew what they were doing, sometimes not very common in the hospital. The cool thing was I got to see the inside of my colon, I thought it was cool anyway. It turns out the only thing that was wrong was some swelling and I can take care of that with medication. They gave me some 7-Up and a banana muffin, put me back in my chair and sent me home... I was SO glad that that was over and I won’t have to worry about it for another 10 years.

Thursday and Friday I just stayed in bed and on my side to try to get rid of a couple of pressure sores. I’m really sorry that I missed Ray Parker Jr. at the free concert but I will definitely be at the next one, Greg Kihn Band. I sure hope the lady isn’t there that takes up all the space because this week I’m really not in the mood to be nice about it.

It felt so great to get out today and to get out of the house. Teresa and I went over to check out the new Safeway store and then to get some Chinese food. I have been craving Chinese food for a long time and it was awesome. Heather called me this morning and said that she didn’t feel good and she was going to stay in bed for a day or two and recuperate. I just found out that somebody ran over the plug for my wheelchair charger, of course they had to do it over the weekend. I think what is the most disappointing is that nobody said anything, it's going to cost $250 to replace.