Thankful Thursday

There is a lot to be thankful for these days. I haven’t quite gotten to the cane stage (I tried it a bit yesterday, but I’m still too wobbly), but I think I’ve made great strides in my recovery. What else am I thankful for?

     ·         Food! Two sets of neighbors have brought food by (chicken casserole & potato salad & veggies from their garden). We really enjoyed it a lot. Thanks!

     ·         More food! A couple of ladies from church made meatloaf for us. They’re in their 70s & one of them has just started chemotherapy for a return of cancer – and they had the nerve to apologize that we needed to come by to pick up the meatloaf. We enjoyed our outing a lot – sat & talked with them for a while & then returned home with our booty. (I meant the meatloaf – what did you think I meant?)

     ·         Dr. M’s school sent me flowers! They’re gorgeous – don’t you think?

     ·         I really like my two home health folks. I have one for physical therapy and one for nursing. They’re really nice and seem to be focused on getting me better quickly.

     ·         Last night I freaked out when I realized that my pharmacy didn’t refill my prescription for percoset – they gave me vicodin. I was sure there was an error until I realized that the vicodin was a different dosage than what I had before. Apparently my Dr.’s office decided to change my pain medication without telling me. Grrr. But I took the new meds last night & had the best night of sleep since before the surgery. So I’m not going to complain to the doctor in case it was a mistake & they make me start taking the other stuff again. Heh.

     ·         In non-surgical news, I’m really thankful for our back yard right now. Dr. M & I sat out there in the shade for a while yesterday & it was so pleasant. We kept laughing at these two doves on the power line – the male would skootch over to the female & she would skootch away from him. They probably moved a foot or so down the line in said manner. I could have watched that show all night, but she got tired of it & flew away.

So, what are you thankful for today?

Taking a Dip

Last night I dreamed.
I dreamed and it was
Chaos and Confusion
and you.

Well, the you
who inhabits
such dreams.
Diligently tending
the wounded
you sent me away.

You sent me away
and told me to swim.
Drench my pain and
bathe my boredom
with cool clear chlorine.

In my dream I felt
your love & concern
and a mother’s
impatience to get
me out from underfoot

Listening to my mother
for a change,
I slid into the water.

Monday Miscellany

Things are moving along just swimmingly at the Bug Household. Although I did hear the phrase "knotted plow line" muttered just a few minutes ago. If you'd like to make him feel a little more calm please visit Dr. M's blog today - he took some lovely moon shots the other day. Please, do it for me. Ha!

I seem to be recuperating by leaps and bounds. Dr. M & I are impressed with my therapy (so far just with him as the task master - haven't seen any sign of home health care yet). I'm having to remember that I still need to use my walker, which I take as a good sign. I'll bet I move straight to a cane by the end of the week.

My recovery is aided & abetted by the love I receive in the mail nearly every day. Here's my stash of cards:

Anne send the card on the bottom left, as well as a crossword puzzle book, a seek-a-word book (my salvation this week!), a James Patterson mystery and BROWNIES. Wow - those brownies are the BEST. My friend Bev sent a pack of cards of her original artwork, as well as one of her photo cards. See:

You should check out her artwork  - she's pretty fabulous. Another artist sent me a gift that arrived just today.

I had been feeling pitiful because no one had given me a prayer shawl & then Robin sent me one of hers! Thanks Robin! Isn't it lovely?

Several people had mentioned that I need a bag for the front of my walker, so I decided to see if I had any ingenuity left (after the great cane/paperclip escapade) & rigged up this little bag. Note my hair clip within easy reach should I have a MY HAIR IS TOO HOT GET IT OUT OF MY FACE emergency.

So we're doing ok. I think Dr. M's murderous impulses have been kept in check. Here is a picture from my afternoon constitutional yesterday. I look all calm, but in fact, I had a moment of terror as I realized that the cypress vine was trying to wrap around my arm. Yikes! and I'll bet you women know what my first thought was when I saw the picture: wonder how soon I can get a color appointment?

Have a nice day!

2011 Project 365 – Week Thirty-Three

This is kind of an unusual week of pictures. For one thing, I actually took most of them. And there are no birds! (I don’t know how that happened either). And I do believe that there’s a State of the Bug picture practically every day this week.

Sunday, August 7^th   

Since I knew that I wouldn’t be using makeup for a while I decided this was an excellent opportunity to wash out my makeup brushes.

Dr. M bought me a present. She's a pillow! She's a pet! She's a penguin pillow pet! Her name is Mavis (I introduced her earlier this week on my post after my surgery).

Monday, August 8^th

The Day has Finally Arrived! Here I am looking all chipper, ready to head into surgery.

And here I am afterward – don’t I just look blissed out?

And here I am in my room trying to look cute.

Tuesday, August 9^th  

One of the many excellent uses of Mavis. She was a great lap desk!

Dr. M went home on Tuesday to do some stuff around the house & theoretically get a good night’s sleep. He took this picture – made me smile.

Here I am at 9:00 at night wondering if I’ll be able to stay awake for the Braves game. The answer is no.

Wednesday, August 10^th  

I was awake at 5:00 taking my pain meds. I was just dozing off when I glanced out the window & saw the sun rise.

I look ready to go home, don’t I?

They sprung me! And I took a picture of this great car – the license plate says: TWDY PIE

Isn’t the sky beautiful? I thought maybe I just thought it was pretty because I’d just been sprung, but I’m pretty sure that you think it’s pretty too. [Note: I am still taking pain meds]

Here I am taking a picture of mobile me. I was instructed to keep both hands on the handles young lady because that’s a wheeled walker thank you very much.

Thursday, August 11^th       

Busted! Dr. M thought it would be cute to take a picture of me coming around the corner, but then he got all annoyed because I was trying to carry my netbook at the same time. As it happens, he was right – that thing was very tricky to try to carry that way!

To soothe his temper, he went outside & took pictures of green things.

Friday, August 12^th

The home health care folks stopped by yesterday, but today is the day I remembered to check out the folder they gave me. I decided to not be offended by the first insert I saw. Heh.

Our neighbors stopped by to see how we’re doing & brought me the cutest little miniature rose. Thanks K & R!

Dr. M took a picture of the moon. Love it!

Saturday, August 13^th

The weekly squirrel. Doing some silly squirrel thing.

Look – I’m wearing a different shirt! Just in case someone was worried about my wardrobe.

Here’s my little futon nest – you can see Mavis’s backside there. Sometimes it’s just more comfortable to have something at my back when I’m sleeping on my side.

I’m doing a lot of sleeping and working seek-a-word puzzles. That’s about all my brain can handle currently. I will probably visit all your blogs, but whether or not you get a (coherent) comment will be hit or miss.

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants. Have a great week!

Thankful Thursday

Well, I have a lot to be thankful for this week! I'm sitting in my own home composing this post from the comfort of our futon. I got discharged today about 3:30 or so. I'll have home health care come in for two weeks to do blood draws (because I'm on coumadin to thin my blood) & help with physical therapy. The PT in the hospital wasn't bad at all - I think I'll ace this recuperation. As I said to Dr. M today, I don't know why I couldn't just go ahead & go back to work now. There's the little issue of not being cleared to drive yet, but otherwise I think it would be a breeze to go back to work. Heh. Daddy & Amy are coming to visit & help out on the 22nd so I'll be taking my full three weeks off no matter what I think about the situation.

Dr. M has just been the BEST. He worked hard to get the house ready for me & a walker. We were a little concerned about me and this potential weapon, but he did such a good job so no worries here. While he was out getting my prescriptions filled I snuck* and took a couple of pictures. The first one is showing how he fixed the kitchen so I could actually go between the table & the refrigerator. The second one is me at the wheel, so to speak - aren't I always taking pictures while I'm on the go? As you can see, life is good right now.

So, what are you thankful for today?

* I don't think I knew until just now that snuck wasn't a real word. I use it all the time, so I consider it to be a word. I mean, I wouldn't use a made up word, would I? Heh.

She's Alive (and slightly loopy from the meds)

My second dose of pain meds is about to kick in, so this will be brief. I survived my surgery - glad to have the easy part over. Now on to physical therapy - yikes!

My doctor said that the arthritis in that hip might have been caused by the construction of my hip at birth - something wasn't quite right. I had wondered how I got arthritis in that hip at age 41!

Here are some pictures from today - keep in mind that I look ROUGH. It's to be expected I reckon. But I have no shame, so I don't have any problems posting these. Heh.

Before all the poking & prodding began

Ah yes, the meds are kicking in now...

Post surgery - feeling pretty good.

We just really like this chair in my room :)

The view outside my window

Wherever we go there's always a sheep. Ha!

Mike got me a penguin pillow pet! Her name is Mavis & I will be sleeping with her tonight. 

Well, tomorrow is predicted to be rough - apparently they take their physical therapy seriously around here. You know I'll be letting you know how it goes - but maybe not until later this week.

Well, the baseball game is about to start. Have a great week everyone!

Monday Miscellany

I know I know – it’s not Monday yet. But you all know where I’ll be on Monday morning. My alarm is going off at 4 a.m. so I can shower off with the special liquid soap (It’s pink! And kinda slimy!) and then leave the house shortly before 5 a.m. for our hour long journey to the hospital so we can meet the arrival time of 6 a.m. and then do all the pre-op things for my 8 a.m. surgery. Whew! It’s like getting to the airport two hours early only the pat-down is a little more intense.

I can’t eat or drink anything after midnight, which means I’ve already had my pre-surgery meal – spicy chicken filet sandwich from Wendy’s. That might not have been the wisest choice, but I am no gastronomic wimp!

I was anointed with oil at church this morning – that laying on of hands is pretty powerful business. And I’ve had an overwhelming outpouring of virtual laying on of hands. I wonder if that’s why I have to use the special pink soap? I jest, because that’s what I do – but I am so incredibly thankful for all of you guys. I’m so at peace that I’ll be skipping into surgery in the morning. Except for the skipping part.

Now I’m going to ask for a favor of you all. Once I’m in surgery I’ll pretty much be out of it & not caring what’s going on. But Dr. M will be waiting by himself & chewing off any remaining fingernails. He could use some of the peace I’m feeling – could you please wish it for him?

I’ll leave you with a gift that he gave me yesterday. You know I had been trying to take pictures of the Queen Anne’s Lace that’s so abundant right now. We took a little drive up to his school so he could deal with some paperwork & on the way back he stopped so I could take these pictures.

Can you see? I’m in the center there, surrounded by delicate, perfect love. Thanks!