At long last

I was on my kub kadet for the first time in 2013 last night.  You may recall that my kub kadet is my ride-on lawn mower, and that very few things give me as much peace as mowing my lawn.

Well, it was too early to mow any grass, but after Murray 'thatched' the lawn, there was a lot of dead grass and leaves and junk to mow up and bag.  It was a dirty job - dried grass clippings, leaves and detritus billowing up into my face and hair and onto my clothes and down the back of my neck and then there was the dust which affected all other areas of my being.  And then there was Murray asking me trick questions like "if the wind is blowing in this direction which way should you turn to avoid all the dust".   As soon as the word "direction" or "left" or "right" enter the conversation I panic, and I flash my deer in the headlights look.  And he would turn in frustration, wildly gesture with his artificial arms and say a few choice words to himself which were likely not that complimentary to me.

Anyway, I mowed away happy as a clam.  I was happy when the bagging tube kept coming apart and dust flew unhindered into the air and fell like snow banks onto my head.  I was happy when the bagging tube plugged up and I had to stop and empty it manually while the dust swelled around me.  I was really happy when the bags were filled and needed to be emptied because Murray was doing that part for me.

Alas, nothing lasts forever, and it was soon back into the house and laundry and dishes and all those general miserable jobs.  But, I have the hope that the grass will grow and that soon I will be mowing for real.

There is nothing more therapeutic than a ride-on lawn mower.

Well, maybe a roto-tiller but that is a story for another day.

/bye

Can you call (sniffle choke snort) Mom?

Murray and I have discovered a new low in pathetic-ness.  We both have a gastroenteritis that is particularly vile and disgusting.  Thank goodness we have two bathrooms - otherwise things would really be messy!  Have you seen the commercial where the grown man is sick in bed calling to his harried wife "Pam, Pam can you call Mom?"  That is us.  Of course my husband is more pathetic than I - but really not much more.  I have, of course, self-diagnosed on the internet and we are suffering from the Norovirus - or the Black Plague - either way we don't really care.

I blame myself, really, as I was just about over the cold and cough that has been lingering in my chest for the last month.  It was bound to happen - right.

Possibly it is a reaction to the fact that we cannot go on a winter holiday this year, because I was so ill in the summer.  No more discussion of staying here all winter, as I will be driven to tears.  Trust us to get Montezumas revenge at home!  Not a bit like takin' a trip and never leavin' the farm either! (Please don't email me if you are too young to know what I am talking about - I just don't have the strength for that).

We are beginning to run out of supplies here too.  Mr Really Really Sick (unlike me who is just, you know, sick) wanted an orange, or an apple, or grapes or a banana.  I suggested I could peel him a carrot, and he passed on that indicating that he is "not a Cochrane" (slight slam at "healthy Holly" - who is not sick btw - hmmmn?  Any connection I wonder?)  Same for the frozen peas. How pathetic.

One of the first comments anyone who has had the pleasure of hearing all this in person makes is "and you had the flu shot too" .  Pul - lease people.  This is gastro, not respiratory, which is the one your are immunizing against with the flu shot.  (See paragraph two above) - Yeah well, I still swear by the flu shot and get one every year. 


Anyway, my sister in law emailed a really nice New Years card to everyone. It was a very nice photo filled gallery that summarized their year. So, not to be outdone, and yet put my own personal spin on it, I thought I would write this really nice blog post - and wish everyone a Happy 2013. 

May your year be measured in something else besides kleenex and toilet tissue use.

/bye

Home At Last

Well my health finally got to the point the I was admitted to the cardiac ward of the Regina General Hospital last Thursday, September 13.  Finally, all the tests were being done.  Finally, things were happening that made me feel better.  But, the news was not great.

Whatever has attacked me this summer has seriously damaged my heart.  It is enlarged, and just not pumping like it should.  There is a function used to measure the hearts efficiency, called the ejection function or ef.  A normal persons ef should be 50 - 70 %.  Mine is at 19%.   I have a leaky valve.  My left ventricle is not pumping well and is out of sync.  

The better news is, is that there is a lot of medical intervention which can improve all of these things.  I am on a long list of drugs to make the heart pump stronger, to reduce the fluid retention, to slow the rate so that it doesn't work as hard.  At some point I think I will have to have a defibrillator put in - which is much the same procedure as a pacemaker - but they are going to monitor me on the drug therapy first to see if there is improvement.

The good news is my arteries and veins are free of any blockage.  Yay, something good.

As for my lungs it looks like they are clearing now that the fluid has been removed from around my heart.  I will have to follow up with the respiratory surgeon but he thinks they will likely clear on there own.  However, my pulmonary function is at half of what it should be so there are issues there too.

In any event I am just tickled to be home and looking forward to getting on with things.  Adjustments have to be made, but that will be possible.  I have a wonderfully supportive family backing me up, as well as terrific friends, and believe me when you get news like this, these are the people you need to have around you.  

Thanks to everybody who visited, sent cards, texted (even if that is not a real word!) phoned and just generally were there for me.  But especially to my daughter who is already too busy with her life and had to put many of those things on hold because I was not well.  Bless you all.

/bye

Lace Shawl

I am on the last few rows of the latest venture into knitting lace.  I am almost afraid to finish it,  because then it will have to be blocked and I really don't have much experience doing that. 

Yesterday I cleaned out my deep freeze.  Yes, I am that troubled about the blocking thing that I procrastinated by cleaning my deep freeze.  Oh man, I am in big trouble.

Whats next?  Sorting out the office, actually filing all that sh*t that Murray and the taxman think should be kept?  Cleaning out closets? Tidying up the basement? It will have to be something awful, because its been my experience that if I procrastinate doing something fun, others disapprove.  I hate others.

Still it feels good to have the deep freeze cleaned out and organized.  I have been lifting the lid and looking around inside just because I can.  I could buy a frozen pizza and I wouldn't have to eat it within 5 hours of bringing it home as there is a place where it can be kept until I actually want to eat pizza.  I can respond with smug assurance should anyone ask me how many roasting chickens are in my deep freeze.  If asked, I could declare in a clear voice that I do not have any T-bone steaks in the bottom of the deep freeze.  Nor freezer jam from 2004.  Of course, no one will ask until my freezer is a mess again when my responses will be vague and quiet and non committal.

/bye

More of the same

I have continued to enjoy "poor" health for the rest of the summer.  Early in August I managed to get hospitalized because the doc wasn't impressed with my follow up x-ray.  They have, after extensive testing, discovered that they do not have a clue what is wrong with me.  

The most recent "specialist" did go so far as to name it.  It is an "ideopathic lung inflamation".  Roughly translated that means "we do not have a clue what is wrong with you".  Health care is much like roulette, I have found, only the wheel turns grindingly slow.  One can only hope that at some point your name will come up and all the tests/procedures they want you to have will be assigned to you.  Until then, I sit here doing nothing to become better - just sitting and waiting for the phone to ring like a high school graduate hoping for an escort.  But, I am not bitter.

I have been thinking a lot about my future.  I dread the day that the remote becomes a complete mystery to me.  It is kind of one now, but I just avoid the buttons that I don't recognize - like aux, and cbl, and amp.  As long as I can remember TV and SAT and PVR I will be ok, but the day will come when they are as outdated as VCR and then I am pretty sure I will be relying on younger generations to turn on my television.  I can remember my mother yelling at Murray and I to "just put it on a channel that gets Another World and leave it A-LONE!"   That will be me.  My children have so much to look forward to.

The garden is dying a natural death - and I am happy with it for the most part.  I had wonderful corn again, the tomatoes are fantastic so far, nothing to complain about with the cucumbers, the potatoes are kind of sparse but ok, carrots look good.  Soon it will be time to pick it all off and then Murray can have at it with the big roto-tiller and those weeds will be plowed under once more.  Next year, things will be different.  I am going to be weed free!

/bye

Just a bit of news...

If you are reading this, then you likely were not hit by the DNS malware  plague that was all over the news a couple of days ago.  Since Y2K, I am highly suspect of "the sky is falling" news when it comes to computers.  One day that will come back and bite in the tush but for now I am in my happy place.

I really don't have much to say, other than I have pneumonia.  I woke up at 3:00 am last Weds because I was having trouble breathing.  It took a little while, but I finally decided that I needed to go to the hospital, and got Murray up to take me.  Anyway, end result of bloodwork and xrays was diagnosis of double bilateral pneumonia.  So, I am on antibiotics, staying out of the sun, and resting. 

I was told, in the gentlest way possible, that my Stampin Up supplier will be moving to Stony Plain Alberta in August.  This on top of my illness.  It is a wonder that I am able to function at all!!  I will so miss the stampin up times, but more so I will miss Chris and her family.  Stony Plain has no idea how lucky it is.

I am not able to be out in the garden much, or to mow my lawn, or do any of the outside things I like to do because I am supposedly ill.  So, I am knitting fiendishly on another lace shawl.  For very different reasons, it has been every bit as much fun as the first one was!  However, several of the Knitwits group are working on the same patterns so we are able to commiserate together.  Misery loves company, as they say.

Well, it is getting close to my bedtime - these days I follow a newborns schedule of being awake 1 hour and asleep for the next 4.  Hopefully I will be "cured" soon and able to stay up for a long time, like 2 hours, without having a nap. 

/bye

July 1, 2012

I love the July 1 parade.  Whenever possible - all family members come out.  ESPECIALLY Holly and her family.  WITHOUT a doubt one of my VERY FAVORITE FAMILY MEMBERS CERTAINLY WORTH NOTING AND NEVER, EVER FORGETTING.  (trying to assuage hurt feelings.  Hmmm???? Peri-menopause?????? Nope nope, not going there, goodness knows how I would every assuage THAT!).

back l - r Princess Dana, Tyler, Bev Dodd, Brad, George, Kelly

; Middle Bonnie and Wade, Front: Owen, Declan, Grampa

Kenzie on CU Float

Brad, Declan, Owen

Declan watching the most interesting thing in the parade

The most interesting thing in the parade

This year was a particularly big crowd, family wise.
/bye