Bunn’s Prairie

Tonight, I’m all about “borrowing” my sound bites from other sources. Andy likes to use the phrase “working smarter, not harder”. At this point, I am still on track to be in bed substantially earlier than usual. Woo-woo! Wouldn’t that be something?

A few of my favorite folks from Colonial dubbed me “Super Twerp” a long while back. It always makes me laugh, and sometimes I hear “Hey, short, like YOU!” Going to be as brief as I can!!

So, as I wrote to my friend, RMB, “…It’s been a pretty good week, which is extremely encouraging. I’m so pleased-as-puch, I might actually start to glow in the dark.

Finally saw the bottom of both my sink and laundry basket in one day. It’s amazing what monumental things I am capable of. I also have a little kitty that has figured out how to get my attention. (See my pet ownerhip manual titled, ‘How to Ruin a Pet in Two Weeks or Less.’) Little Miss Smarty Pants knows how to carry her feather wand around in her mouth, park it at my feet, and yip like a dog until I give in and play with her…” I had some good scratch time with Big Sister Toni, today, as well. I think it’s true that pets can be healing influences. I like being part of a “furry family.”

I DO feel as though I’m finally making some headway, both in the Health and Home arenas. That definitely feels good. Have another mile long list to keep whittling away at for tomorrow, but the HUGE point is that I have been actually able to work on some of these things.

I’ll toast to that, and be on my way!! Here’s to a wonderful weekend for all!!!!

Hullo to all!

I haven’t been “up” on my “updates” the past several days. I suppose that’s for a bunch of reasons, though mostly due to the ever continuing game of Catch Up that I play when I can. It feels like the pace around me has been a bit frenzied. Too much to do, and my J-tube/surgery/hospital woes consumed a few weeks almost completely. FORTUNATELY, I AM starting to do better. YEA! I just need to plug away at the rest, one thing at a time…and not beat myself over the head if it takes awhile!

I spent another day down at the U of M, today…but think it was more productive than some of my recent trips have been. I had an appt. with the surgeon that placed my new J-tube, and finally have some information about it’s length, capacity, and bile output…all of which were befuddling me. The irritation and swelling have gone down quite substantially, so it hurts less, too. Bonus in my book! He seemed much more confident that it can be swapped out for a “mickey” button in a few weeks. That will make a WORLD of difference. This hose is SO cumbersome and clunky, not to mention that it’s hard to keep my meds going in with any consistancy. The big ol’ incision is healing up, too. Boy is that a “clean” line, considering it’s been opened up four times, I think. (Guess “surgery” IS their specialty…) Heck, they even snagged my belly button back in, so I’m not an inny-outy-inny-outy anymore!! (Hee…odd coincidence for the week — my Dad gave me a couple of really cool gifts he found at a craft bizarre that he took my Grandma to. One of them was a tiny belly button brush! What a riot!)

I also had an appt. with the Hematologist I saw last winter — more fondly referred to as a “clotter”. From what I now understand, I was supposed to be sent to their office as an outpatient MONTHS ago, for follow up testing and care, but that never happened. (Thank you, transplant center…) I learned a bunch of info about my Lupus Inhibitor Factor, he explained the tests that I have run through the Coumadin Clinic, and found out that they might be able to discontinue my blood thinners at some point. (That would be the drug that’s really the same thing as rat poisen. Gotta love that thought.) Anywho, next week I will have ultrasounds done on the areas where I had clotting to help them evaluate the current situation. Combined with the blood workup they are doing tomorrow, I should find out whther they will change or discontinue the blood thinners. It’s nice to know that SOMEONE around there wants to “make a plan!” Gee Wiz!

Lots of other little “goings ons”. I finally sold my car tonight…the transplant surgeon thinks my visiting Dennis at the hospital is fairly “low risk” if I wear a mask and gloves. Yea!… Andy and I just might plan a vacation… I saw the family, including my Sis, this weekend and exposed Andy to an almost-painful-to-watch videotape of one of my high school musicals… carved a pumpkin and am going to roast seeds tomorrow afternoon!…got a flu shot today…have been “patrolling our “newly expanded” kitty family with Andy… am climbing the mountain of laundry we have accumulated…
….WHEW! No wonder I’m a little overwhelmed! I’m sure there’s lots I’ve forgotten to mention, but that’s enough for one sitting. (Definitely ENOUGH to read for one sitting, too!) Hope I’m back to choir this week, and get to watch a Halloween movie, or two. Beware! After spending a few of the past Halloween seasons in the hospital, I’m happily “haunting” for the next week! One never knows what sort of spooky mischief I will find to get into!

Ahh… I was going to try to “hit the hay” by two, but digestion and what-not were not playing fair. Finally returned a few e-mails, and want to leave a post.

Once again, the nausea trolls have been quite nasty to deal with. I had about six good hours yesterday, and about 5 or six today. Better than nothing, I suppose!

Andy almost had to carry me to my Infectious Disease doctor appointment this morning, but thank goodness he did. I swear Dr. VanBurick has more going on “upstairs” than some of these medical folk. Apparently, she requested before my surgery that they biopsy one of the lymph nodes in my stomach. Of course, there was no mention to me of this by the surgeon, and Andy wasn’t told WHY, only that they were planning on doing this. Of course, he heard the word biopsy again (Twice in a month isn’t generally comforting…) and was worried they were looking for cancer.

As it turns out, my lymph nodes are swollen, and she is wondering as to whether they might be carrying the avium infection as well. It would be HUGE in explaining the nausea, and digestion woes I have experienced for goodness knows HOW long. It seems that the IV antibiotics I run every day, have pretty much knocked out the infection in my blood cells, or at least caused them to retreat quite a bit. If my lymph nodes are also infected, it could be another year or two of antibiotics. Not sure how the body would handle that, but AT LEAST there would be an honest to goodness explanation for some of this crap. It would really make me feel as though there MAY be an end to this SOMEDAY. I can’t even wrap my feeble mind around the gravity of that either right now. Wow.

My recovery from surgery is still a slow mend. I’m dreaming of the day they can convert this gardenhose of a J-tube to a j-tube mickey button. Then I wouldn’t be dragging around the big ol tube and the “impaler” clamp that accompanies it. Such grandiose desires, I know.
I really wasn’t up for choir practice tonight. I’m hoping my abdominal muscles will be strong enough by next week! Andy and I watched a movie. “61*”…which I really enjoyed. It’s a baseball movie, so at least it fed my baseball season withdrawl. It was nice to do something normal! We also are getting a bit further with our “kitty introductions”. Toni’s still not sure about the little one, but we actually let them have a chance to freely (almost) check each other out. Sasha seems used to other cats, and only hissed when hissed at. Poor Toni’s only cat experience was “Bad cat” at our old house, where he would lunge at the screen door at night and try to attack her. Hopefully, even if Toni decides they’re not going to be good buds, they’ll learn to share the place and find they’re own places of comfort. I had a good time picking out a kitty bed and some essentials (ok, AND some toys…) for Sasha last night. She seems to have already claimed the bed I bought her– and ours, as well!

The house is quiet, so I think all involved are slumbering peacefully right now.
I might read the paper, and take my liquid meds. I have a full day down at the U tomorrow with my Primary Care Doc, transplant Coord., and pharmacy. Would like to find some more time to put up Halloween decorations and my lighted village!!!! We’ll see what the day brings!

Sweet dreams!

I have a new kitty-cat! OK, WE have a new kitty and member of our family, but I ‘m hoping she’ll like to curl up with me, sometimes. We haven’t had a real introduction between Sasha and Toni, yet. I’ll probably keep them separated until Andy is home over lunch or after work tomorrow. The more hands “on hand” the better. We’ll see how it goes…
It was such a wonderful surprise! I’ve been feeling cruddy most of the day, and opened my eyes when Andy walked in the room carring the kitty I fell in love with yesterday. What a wonderfully thoughtful decision for him to make.
Welcome to the family, Sasha Rotering!

No more news tonight, hopefully sleep will take over in a few minutes!

I don’t know if “slow and steady wins the race”… but, it’s definitely the only pace my body is allowing right now. Turtle speed!

From the time that I last wrote, I have been having quite the battle. From what I understand about the Narcon (sp?) that they gave me to reverse the narcotic overdose of Tuesday night, it is a fairly fierce chemical for the body to process. Until this afternoon, I’ve been going through “Round Two” of it’s nauseating rampages. Ugghh. By 11 or noon, I was able to sit up for a bit, and eventually progressed to juice and a piece of toast. Ahhh… my bread and wine. I wasn’t sure about moving more than just the occasional crawl to the bathroom or stumble to the kitchen, but by later in the afternoon, Andy was going to run a few errands, and thought it might be good for me to get out of the house.

Good call. The sunshine did me well, and I was feeling enough better that the driving didn’t bother me. We stopped at ARC to donate a few things, Home Depot- in search of plant hanging brackets that will work with our mostly cement condo, and PetSmart for kitty litter. We even bought a pumpkin in the process! Yea!

Of course, I fell in love with one of the cats that was up for adoption, and cried when we had to leave. I’ve had her on my mind all evening. I just wish we knew how Toni would react to another cat. Andy and I are both assuming that she might not be very happy with the situation…that and our place is fairly small. Maybe there’s not enough space for two kitties to coexist. I’ve always said that Toni comes first. She’s Andy’s baby, and I don’t want to cause a disturbance in her life. Maybe someday…

Off to bathe for me. Not sure whether to “tub-it” or shower…. either way, my wounds will all have to be rebandaged. One thing’s for sure: if I don’t wash my hair, it’s going to revolt, get up, and walk off my head on its own. Yikes!