Almost a White Christmas

 There was pretty snow last night, 2-3 inches, I guess.  I was already in my warm spot when it started so didn't even get up to look.  I did peek out this morning, and luckily it's melting pretty fast.  Lucky because I have to get out this morning and have a hard enough time trusting myself to walk without falling, and I sure don't need anything slippery. 

I know that feeling will pass, but it sure does slow life down.  Not that mine was that exciting in the first place.

I lifted a few pictures from the Snoqualmie FB page but only received one from the girls.

They were too excited to stop for gloves and even a coat in one case.  

The town was beautiful for a time last night.  There's a beautiful video of the decorated downtown and the depot, but I could get it here.  

This was before the snow.

The family is busy running here and there, and I can barely keep up with what they're doing. And I'm perfectly content with letting them.

I was supposed to help with a meal for the homeless shelter today, but I just got dismissed from anything involving cooking.  I don't hate it, but I feel bad Emily and Ryan have so much to do today.  She says they're having fun getting it all together.  They're feeding 15, but it's just a drop-off this year, so it should be easy to get there.  

Emily is taking me to Issaquah for my post-op visit this afternoon, and I'd rather be going almost anywhere else.  Luckily, a lot of the pain is gone and most of the bruising, but I've got a long way to go.  I also have to stop in for a blood draw to send to the cardiologist.  It sure will be nice to get home tonight!

I received these big-girl pictures from Emily yesterday before they left for their shopping trip for Katherine to buy Graysen's gift.

Graysen had the honor of going with her dad to Home Depot, but I didn't get any pictures.

There was this though.

I miss doing holiday things with the girls this year, but I'm sure I'm not the only one to miss out on things this year.  We should be able to have one little gathering over here to open their gifts from Elise and me - and their stockings - and then I hope to zoom in by video for some more excitement on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Since they had to miss the Nutcracker this year, the girls and their two school mates got all dressed up and watched the performance digitally.  

  

I know it wasn't as exciting, but it was something.  They do love to dress up.  So far, this is the only picture I've been sent, but I've requested another one or two (and was met 

with silence!

I hope it works out for me to go next year, especially if it's this one.  We saw a smaller, more kid-friendly one last year since it was Katherine's first year, but the George Balanchine one is magic.

Katherine and Harper.

I'm trying to make myself more useful today but not overdo it.  I cracked an egg but with my right hand for breakfast.  I didn't try the left one.  I knew what would happen.  I'm slowly working on the sewing room and a few little projects.  I Marie Kondo'd the dish towel drawer.  I'm not sure Elise was as impressed as she should have been. 

I think the pretty ones must be in the laundry, or maybe this is it.

Now I'm going to ice my shoulder, take some Motrin, and pray.

Still Healing

 There's not much else I can do.  I am learning creative ways of doing almost everything without a right hand or arm.  The pain is much better, with only Motrin at night sometimes.  

Emily changed my bandage, and I got the courage to look at the incision.  I thought it was an amazing job of stitching, but I've got a scar that's pretty impressive.  First visit to physical therapy is next Thursday, and I'm hoping I'll do okay.  I can let Emily move my arm around and show me what to expect, but I know there's much, much more to come.

I think my biggest concern right now is the atrial fibrillation.  I'm on some new meds and will have to have a cardioversion. I don't remember anyone giving me a choice, so I guess I'll do it.  Getting shocked, even under anesthesia, is not something I look forward to.  If the rhythm gets back under control, that's good.  If not - I think 15% of people don't - it can be managed with blood thinners.  I've been told to expect to take those the rest of my life anyway.  

I feel like I have caring doctors who have explained things and taken much time with me, so I'm not really worried about anything.  I knew I was bound to have some ailment one day. Two at a time is a little much though.

I've been spending a good bit of time at hospitals lately, and doing that sure does make you grateful for the blessings you do have.  I sat at the entrance to Swedish yesterday and watched people walking in, rolling in, limping in - and then some being wheeled out and some walking like they had a great burden on their shoulders.  It makes me so sad.  And then I remember to be thankful for all the dedicated people inside the hospital who work to try to heal them and save their lives.  

This sweet lady and I exchanged smiles and exclamations in spite of our masks at the size of the service dog going out the door.  It was like a Shetland pony.  It was a moment out of time that cheered us both up, I think.  

Those stairs looked a lot different to me on Valentine's Day of 2013 when we were almost running up them to see our sweet one-day-old Graysen.  Now she's almost as tall as I am and such a treasure.  I do miss my babies.  Katherine took her mom's phone upstairs last night to whisper secrets about what she had just wrapped for her Mama's Christmas present.  She was excited about every picture she had drawn, and I know Emily will be too.

I'll be back there next week for more vein poking and blood drawing, but I'm still feeling great.  I do miss our girl parties we had the first two days I came home from the hospital.  It's a little lonely when everyone goes back to work or their own activities.  But not really.  I have plenty to do.  It seems to take me half a day to get my teeth brushed and clothes on.  Then I have phone calls and texts and emails and other fun things. 

I have cats to watch.  Layla seems to be back to normal from her 5-week vacation, and she and Bowie are getting back to tolerating each other well.

I might need to try some left-handed vacuuming.

I'll love it when I can finally get away from hospitals and post about some interesting things, hopefully really soon.

Life on Hold

 It's just the documenting part that's on hold, really.  It doesn't hurt to type as much as it just make my arm ache and takes away from my valuable time of squeezing an exercise ball or taking an hour to get myself ready for the day.

So just the highlights.

Dreaded shoulder surgery was successful.  Surgery experience couldn't have been better.  I had more actual pain with people drawing blood and putting in an IV than I did after the surgery.

At least 7/8 of my caregivers, including all the random wheelchair pushers and even the cleaning lady asked me about my "accent." Most of them placed me in GA or NC and two in Australia.  

Nerve blocks sound dangerous but aren't very. I'm a big fan.  I didn't even have to experience the blocking, or either I was asleep or under the spell of a forgetting drug.  One minute I was being cheerfully rolled through halls with people warning me it was going to get colder around the corner, and the next I was waking up clear-headed and pain free in my room.  Can't beat that! 

Less than 24 hours later, I had gotten up, twice, worked with occupational therapy, and practiced walking up and down stairs with PT .  

I had breakfast but not lunch.  Just forgot.  Looked good though.

Having an electric or lifting recliner has been a game changer also.  I sit in another chair during the day, but for relaxing and sleeping, I have my cocoon just the way I want it with just the right amount of right arm padding and all my stuff on a table to my left.   A really sweet lady on our community FB page  offered it to me.  I figured I would use it a while and pass it on, but I might get attached to  it.

Again, so little real pain that I'm worrying something is wrong.  Except for a half a hydrocodone at night, I'm doing great on Motrin, muscle relaxer for neck stiffness, and an occasional Benadryl for sleep since that one position can get a little tiring.

Daughters, granddaughters, and cats.  They have all been totally devoted to getting me better -- daughters to try to meet all my wants and needs and some things  I don't  even know I want or need. 

 Elise has been tireless in hoisting me up for 2 weeks now, maneuvering me into clothes,  fixing my sling and preparing nice meals for me.

Emily has changed dressings, reassured me of what is supposed to be happening, making me a medication spreadsheet and sorting my meds, making appointments, and entertaining me.  Who else would read me to sleep every night?  She's reading Dickens Christmas Carol, but we stop to discuss every sentence, so we've barely got to the appearance of Marley's ghost.  

We haven't had this much time together in years, the 3 of us, and we laugh so much my ribs hurt.  I almost hate to get well.

My little girls have been allowed to visit and watch a movie, White Christmas. They've already seen it twice, so there's been a lot of singing and dancing by some.

,

One can watch a dressing change or see my bruises with interest while the other can't stop her tears at poor Mimi's condition.

Just not doing well with typing, so pics.

Gifts for our neighborhood heroes.

Gifts for me. One from Washington and one from Alabama.

These are neat books I got the girls from Puppy Dogs & Ice Cream Publishing.  

Beautiful cookies  made by my future PT Laura.  I know she's going to hurt me, but she makes pretty cookies.

Enjoying Life

 I guess because things are about to get real for me on Friday, or maybe it's because of the holiday season, or just any number of reasons, it's seeming like a fun time around the house lately.

Most of the time, we all go along our separate paths, just touching base here and there, but this past one week (exactly, almost to the minute), a bunch of us have had our lives criss-cross because of trauma and a kitty miracle and forced togetherness, and we're making the best of it.

I just had a series of texts with my daughter that made me laugh.

Emily: From work, asking how I am and if I need anything.

Me: Elise is helping me wash my hair today.  Can you trim my bangs tonight.  She's taking me to cardio at 12:30 tomorrow.

 Are you bringing me home or does she need to wait?

Emily: Sure. 

Can she wait? If I can stay and work, I need to work.

And by "work," I mean

I'll add more today, but that took a long time.  I hope I am properly thankful for my health and abilities if I ever get them back again!

And HereI Am

It still hurts to use my right arm but not as much as before. I might add a few pictures and call it a day.

These are my favorites:

My sweet girls are so concerned and so interested in my dilemma - any medical problems lately.  I guess it's a good thing I got them each a wheelchair and casts for their dolls for Christmas!

Katherine's art work.

I love the way she is flaunting her ability to put her arms over her head.  I can't even remember being able to do that.  I also wish my hair were that short.

Then I also got these last night.  This accident is getting a lot of attention!

I had the sweetest visitors last night!  The neighborhood welcome wagon cat Lunala found Layla and stood guard until her owners came to help.  This is the mom Kenda and her very special children, Kellen and Luca the moment they saw Layla again.

They brought her a good supply of food and toys and even a little bed.

After the retelling of her story, we realized just how close we were to not finding Layla alive.  Kenda said she was face down in the dirt under a bush and not responding.  Because of these wonderful friends along with my neighbor Jaime, she's sitting there getting her chin scratched.  What a miracle!!

Just that little bit of typing was frustrating.   I'll try to add more during the day.

Our street decorations, so far.

A Sunday afternoon visit and more fun activities.