Tag Archives: health

Michigan July 2008

You can pretty much read this post and get what Michigan was.

I am always glad to see family and especially fun to see Dad and Sue.
This year got to meet great-niece Lauren who is just a delightful engaging young woman. I hope we can get to know each other through emails.

Lauren Brown
 

I did get to see niece, Laurie (17) and she is a beautiful as ever. I am so glad brother John brought her down from Alpena to visit while I was there.

Also had dinner and a visit with Lauren’s grandparents, Scott and Donna. Now how this works is my sister (who died at 31 in 1985) had a son with Scott, this is Jamey, and Lauren is his daughter. Scott and I were in school together, he is the only person from my graduation class of 1970 that I still have contact with. It was really good to visit with them awhile. Time is always too short.

My old friend Darlene also came to visit. I am so glad she did. We go back to the 70’s as well. She has been my friend longer than any other. Her life is good, she is a grandmother now and totally into that sweetness.

The thing I am not speaking too much of is Dad’s cancers, both melanoma (neck and shoulder area) which he has had roughly 4 operations on.

And now squamous cell carcinoma in his throat/base of tongue. They have decided to do a 5 days/7 weeks of radiation on that.. the doctors say he should be able to beat it. I don’t know. He was much more active than I had thought he would be. But he doesn’t feel good at all, he is just doing what he can do till he can’t do it any more.

We did the usual 4th of July picnic out on the lake (these are from a few years ago..but it’s the same thing) with a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins. Good to catch up with them, it all seems so surreal at times though. Our life here is so very different than any ones back there.

The Return Trip

I had a total body break down at the end of the toxic Michigan stay.
Part was bad bed and pillow which caused an old injury to arm/shoulder to reappear. I couldn’t even raise my arm to dress, brush hair, eat (right arm). This started the last week we were there.
Not good. And the hives had started too. I try to eat as clean as food as possible, but …. any way for what ever reason my hands were swelling up. Then motel night 1.. got a severe sinus drip and intense whole body swelling.. took a antihistamine and knocked my self out for a few hours only. Got up at 4am.. flight at 6am.. worst airport food any where (Detroit).. got to Denver.. no time to get decent food there either. I did pack some stuff, but wasn’t good enough.

Got into Sacramento… smoke… fires..100 plus degrees… running on adrenalin by now. Russel just muscling me through to our car… the 4 runner battery was dead. Russel jumped started it and we went to Woodland and bought a battery. Ate some not so good pancakes and eggs and he wanted to keep going.. it was only 11 am here. So we drove on too Clear Lake (2+ hours) where I had booked a room (Best Western) in case we couldn’t drive all the way.

Good thing, I was about to lose it bad. Nice motel there .. and friendly staff. But I needed to eat, but felt total nausea, got R to get a baked potato from the motel eatery. What happened next was the total break down. Hives, rapid heart beat, head ache, dizzy, so much more… I told Russel to find out where an emergency room was cause I didn’t know if I would make it. I passed out at this point.

Good bed and we had our pillows, I woke up feeling better than I had in a few days. It doesn’t sound like much when writing this down, but I don’t ever remember having my system that stressed by something I still don’t know why.

It took several days before I was normal… other things I won’t mention here were happening too.

The sun came up like a red rubber ball in the Sacramento valley.
And went down as a red orange ball here in the hills. For some reason my camera wasn’t capturing the redness of the sun??

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Full Moon May

The garden is mostly in. The poppys are popping.. the sage is blooming and the wild lilac. We have had a dry spring with mild temps until the last several days of HIGH HEAT (100’s). Watching the clover yard dry up. The deer coming around less as there is less to eat. Haven’t seen the bambies yet, although we had a pregnant doe here for weeks.

Russel’s Aikido teacher from the bay area is here this weekend for a retreat. The potluck was last night and good food was had by all.
He is wrapping up the schools classes. In 3 weeks he will go to Aikido summer camp in the south bay for a week. I hope to have a lot of energy and maybe some money to do some interior work on this house.

The Michigan trip is booked for June 25 -July 11. Dad does have even more cancer. The melanoma keeps spreading, there are spots on his lungs which nothing can be done about, and a lump in his neck that is some kind of squamous, but not skin cancer kind. There is at least one more surgery ahead, if he chooses to do it. Probably just before we get there.

I have started to speak it out loud, that he may die soon… or not .. as he is a tough old guy (86) going on 60. But I need to prepare myself. This one will be hard to let go of.

My friends T and Ter from Florida are actually saying they may come visit this way this summer. I am so hoping that they do. I need them too. I need to see T… just feels like it must happen.

Not a lot of photos to brag about. Haven’t been using my camera much. Got this one in april through the hazy kitchen window:

turkey
 

I have been working a lot.

And Bruce Cockburn, www.cockburnproject.net is out on a short tour which is being recorded and filmed for a new LIVE-Solo CD and DVD. Wish he was doing some shows on the west coast for this, but he’s not.

There is also a lot going on locally. Too much to really go into here, but here is a link to a local blog who keeps everyone informed at least to what is going on with code enforcement, diesel concerns, 2nd district elections and Reggae wars, to name a few. I use it only as a means to being alerted and seeing what some (few) people are thinking about these issues. I do not generally agree with a lot that is posted over there as opinion.

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Spring 2008

Spring is here the daffodils and tulips are blooming as are the peach trees. Life should be sweet, and in many ways it is, but I am stressed in so many ways.

First off, Dad isn’t done with the cancer it is back and another surgery is planned for April 23. This time the surgeons are taking ALL the muscle left in his left shoulder.. why I am not sure seeings how the lumps of melanoma are in his neck ..but I am not there to ask all the questions. And they will do what ever the doc says is the best thing to do. Dad is afraid the cancer will spread to his brain, or eyes or ears..and I understand that. But after this surgery, he will have no use or movement with his left arm.

I did book flights back to Michigan last month. We will be gone end of June through early July. I would like to go back now.. or when he has surgery, but they ‘can handle it’ and I am sure would prefer I am not there.

I am on a hormonal roller coaster just now. But hope to end that all soon. I may stop the estrogen as well, but have to see how bad the hot flashes get again.

I have been working, a local woman who I have written about before, Estelle Fennell is running for Humboldt County 2nd district supervisor. I have made her a website.

Estelle Fennell
 

And I am working on a new version of Russel’s Aikido for Kids website.. this one will go live in a couple of weeks.

I did manage to see Prezident Brown a few weeks ago at the Mateel Community Center. It was a good show and I danced in a new dress! (Yes finally finding the rayon batik dresses I like really did lift my spirit a bit!!).

That’s pretty much it. All the usual spring projects and clean up and dump runs, and getting the garden ready, and figuring out what projects, if any are going to get done this summer. Our summer here won’t really start until middle of July! Yikes its so hot by then nothing much can get done. I hope Russel feels good enough and has enough energy to actually get some stuff done before school is out.. other wise, it mostly won’t I fear.

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Spring into Summer

The weather has been great.. a bit too hot a few days and then just right. Garden is evolving, put – off chores and projects are getting done.

Went to a healing circle for Carolyn last Sunday. It was an awesome empowering and powerful circle of women. I am so glad to have been invited.

KMUD has a new website, built with Joomla. I was talking with Simon, the station tech manager about all things web and actually felt some excitment in that area again. Perhaps I will get more into it as time allows this summer.

Tickets are purchased for a trip to Michigan to visit Dad and Sue and see the family. I am really hoping the Kelly and Laurie (my nieces) make the trip down from Alpena to visit. Going end of June till July 10 or so. Going to be hot, we were there the same time last trip.

Seems like my life is mostly the same, when I look back through archives, it’s mostly the same old same old, perhaps with just a few new things here and there. I am looking forward (again) to seeing Bruce Cockburn at Solfest in August.

Usually I would be looking forward to Reggae, but this is the year of Reggae hell. Too many long stories about why, if you really want to know, read from the beginning (meaning scroll down and start reading up) here and from links there to the other blogs. It’s such a fucking mess. I really really don’t plan on going. It hurts my heart the way this is. Reggae is what brought me to Humboldt to begin with, and I am a 21 year vet of Reggae on the River.

I also started a myspace space, I had so many people who wanted to communicate that way. I find it a bit cumbersome to use, I can hand code the page I want faster than I can use the ‘myspace’ method, but I am learning 🙂

I haven’t tied it to my sites or this blog yet. I really want to redo all my sites (been saying that for years now!) before I do that. Time will tell. I want to be able to blog again and have and control comments, with out the spam. If I get a different blogging tool, and transfer this site, maybe I will tie it all together.

Health wise I am good enough, the tendonitis in my right elbow is back hard, started a few months ago when I was moving tubs of stuff around. And my back and left hip are painful most of the time, but I have also weaned myself almost off the advils, down from 2400mg a day to maybe 800mg. Hope I can get those things under control.

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Fall in the air

Well September went by in a blur. First off there was bunion surgery on the 7th.. this wasn’t too bad as far as surgeries go. I was off my foot entirely for a week or more, then I used a huge boot type support to hobble around.. unfortunately a blister was created that I didn’t know about until the bandages were changed a week later.. dealing with the blister has been just as painful as dealing with the surgical site! Any way, I am into Uggs type foot gear now and can drive and move about. Good thing as tons of to do stuff is piling up.

My birthday was September 11, and we lost a good friend on that day this year. Bob Wansick died from a heart attack, he went quick, and it was sudden. He will be sorely missed. There was a memorial on the 23rd.. a wonderful celebration of his life. His wife Diana, and his son and family are neighbors here on the creek road. I hope that all the ‘lets get togethers’ are actually gotten together. Time is short and you never know when the last time might be.

The laundry room is finally enclosed. What an ordeal. The storm door from Home Depot was more than a p-i-t-a to install/frame. But we like it.. it has 3/4 light and storm and roll-away screen. We’ll see how well it does keeping the rain out. The machines will be delivered on Tuesday… gonna be great although will take some getting used to. Having to do laundry daily and not all at once will be very different. Also, with the light and sun getting shorter, I guess I will have to run the generator for each load.

The water system hasn’t been switched to the new system yet. Russel will be working on that all winter I believe. He does have wood for this year bucked, split and stacked, and almost everything for next year. We try to stay a year ahead so we have really dry wood to burn. We had our first light rain this week so we could actually start a fire in the wood stove. Felt just wonderful!

I called my best friend Tom in Florida too. He just went through an agonizing month of rehab with several more to go, following a shoulder surgery to reattach some muscle and ligaments. Seems a full recovery is possible, but painful getting there. I am hoping that he and his woman Terry can make it out our way next year. It has been well over 20 years since Tom and I have seen each other.. funny how some relationships survive the time and distance with almost no effort. He writes just wonderful letters, when he writes. And we have a connection like no other. It gives me something to look forward too.. something outside the paradise I live in and the sweet life I have compared to so many others.

Bruce Cockburn is coming back my way again! I have tickets for the show at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma on November 9. I am taking 3 girlfriends to this one!! It should be lots of fun. It is something to look forward too!!

As the year rolls on, and all the holidays spring up, time will get even more short. I have lots of plans to work more on the computer, learn more programs, do more with what I already know and all that. I also need to still unpack, sort and decorate this house. Lots of stuff still in storage and infrastructure not in place to house everything I want to have out. So I figure that will be an ongoing project of mine.. a little every day or week depending on the other stuff that has to be done.

If you have bothered to read to here: Happy Fall !! Everyone. Enjoy the change of the seasons, slow down and hug the ones you love. Take time to enjoy the life you have and the ones you love, you never know what’s around the bend!

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Recovery is slow..

The last time I wrote here, I was getting ready for a tonsillectomy.
Well May 9 I had it done. I am 53. It was the most horrible physical experience I have ever had.

I knew it would be rough, but those words don’t really bring it into focus just what goes on with your body. The throat was as if a blow torch had been used down it.

The Dr. said, my tonsils were really bad, worse than he had thought at our initial meeting.. they were large with lots of folds and filled with tonsil stones .. the operation usually takes him about 20 min.. mine was a full hour.

I was in recovery getting the somewhat good, but could of been better pain meds, till 5pm.. when they kicked us out.

Then I was on liquid vicodin with tylenol, not all that effective for the pain I had. I still couldn’t use Advil because of the fear of hemorrhaging when the scabs come off 10 days or more later. So nothing for the head ache, the ear aches, which almost brought me too a withering blubbering idiot. (I probably was, according to Russel!).

Not to mention the neck ache and shoulders and back that always ache. And no food of course.. the first couple of days weren’t as bad as I thought they would be, I could get down some mashed potatoes, energy drinks, and such, but 3 days into it and I was just on ice water (for 8 days), and ice chips, with an ice pack around my neck.. and because the ice made the Eustachian(sp) tube hurt, the ears started really hurting so I used hot packs on them tied up with a scarf. And my circulation was low so I was wrapped up in a blanket and it was 92 in the shade here for a week!

And I didn’t really sleep..for 8 days I couldn’t lay down, or even recline much as I was so swollen inside that I couldn’t breathe out at all. My sinus was totally blocked. And if you mouth breathe in this condition the pain is so severe!! I would nod off and wake screaming, for meds, ice and heat..poor Russel he was my savior. He was at my side the whole time, which I thought would be 5 days…ended up being 2 weeks. I was using 10cc of the vicodin every 3 hours for over a week.

The main thing is to keep the throat moist..constantly be sipping water.

I did lose 10#s but most of it has come back on.

I still have trouble swallowing..things still don’t look right in there, and there is still swelling. I squeak when I swallow, but there is little pain. The sinus and upper palate in the back is where the sensation of having a big old glob of something in there ready to be expelled, is at. I am hoping that this too shall pass.

More info than you needed to know.
Would I do it again? Don’t know, haven’t healed enough to know if it was worth it yet. The one problem I had in my neck/throat area is gone though and that is great… I can once again look up at the stars and not hurt.

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Tonsillectomy May 9

I am finally going to do this. Months of sore throat and pain and tonsil stones and I believe toxins entering my body. Wish me well and a fast recovery. I won’t be able to talk for awhile, and the pain I hear is just dreadful.

Nothing like having a full plate, I am in the middle of a website build, with at least many hours to go. We are in the last phases of moving from the little town house to here… Russel may have to do the rest by himself, as I may be down for anywhere from 10 days to a month (yikes!).

Russel is at the end of the school year with spring fever kids and lots of demonstrations to get together. His Aikido teacher, Frank Doran Sensei will be here for a weekend training May 20-21, which is always fun, but lots to prepare for as well.

And it went from rain rain rain 2 weeks ago, to 90’s last week…mud to dust just like that. We haven’t got the garden in, but the beds are mostly ready.

We took some big trees that were dying out and the back yard is full of timber and debris. Russel has started the firewood cutting, but there is a ton to do. And so many other things here, boxes are starting to pile up, water system needs work.. the list is endless.

So for the few of you who come here, that’s what I have been up too. I hope when I recover from this surgery and Russel is done with school and we are out of the town house, that all our energy and time will be here, either on the homestead or for me, on the web doing all the things I said i wanted to do last year.

Oh, and my camera is in the shop..in New Jersey of all places, at MackCamera, who i had an extended warranty with. It had developed dead pixels in the center of the ccd and it was very hard to even photoshop them out.

Oh, and Bruce Cockburn has a new cd [Life Short Call Now ] coming out in July and he starts touring in June…we have tickets for the Kate Wolf Festival June 25, more on that later.

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And then the sun came back!

And things are starting to dry up a bit. The road is holding its own for now, but here are a couple of pictures, which really don’t do it justice:

China Creek Road-Blue Slide Creek Road front slide 2006
 

The road is now only half that width, this was taken in the beginning of the storms.

China Creek Road-Blue Slide Creek Road front slide 2006
 

Over the side into the creek a river of mud. This is still moving slowly.

In a brief break ( a few hours) of the rains last month, I boxed up my computer and brought it out to our house. Finally… no more trying to commute to town to work. The road being what it was last month was really the deciding factor. I needed to have access.

I am working on several of my sites right now,
and also a new Flickr account. This will be an ongoing project as I want to move many of the photos I have on my other sites to this account. [ related post ]

Tuesday I have appointments in Eureka, and so we will make the day of it there. It’s been a long time since we went up, and I know we won’t get all the way through our lists.

I have an appointment later in month for the ‘trigger thumb’ problems I am having. The right thumb really hurts in the night and morning. Must get it fixed. Mousing isn’t really good for it and neither is typing. Also have an appointment with and ENT guy because my tonsils and throat are just plain messed up.

Doing the Blockbuster online thing.. it’s ok, their site is very very slow on this dial up. But it’s the only way to get movies now. I hope to get satellite tv and internet this summer and maybe then I will cancel the BB thing.

Been trading a lot of live Bruce Cockburn shows at BC_Live lately. Finally being able to use the computer whenever I want has made that possible. If you are a Bruce fan, go check it out.

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