Updates

Good news of the day:
-- New baby at The Good Life! Welcome baby James!!
-- The pain is still lessening every day, although I always manage to find the limit and have to sit back down to rest.
-- Two sets of out of town friends are stopping to visit this weekend! Yay! Happy to see my buddies, both in town and out of town buddies!
-- My sister's house has been on the market for less than a week and they just got an offer! God is good. Still all the details to work out, so not a done deal, but hurray for movement in the right direction!

Stuff I should try to remember:
-- My usual power walk is a bad idea right now.
-- The fridge needs to be cleaned out.
-- Take off glasses before falling asleep... and turn off the light too, just for the heck of it.

Other tidbits:
-- I showered and was all excited, decided to put on "real clothes" as in something other than these large, workout shorts with the generous waistband and no elastic. Wore real shorts (loose and comfy) for all of 5 minutes and went back to the work out shorts. I just can't stand anything touching the incision right now. Oh well. Instead I put on make up and blow dried my hair for the first time in a week, and that feels "real" enough for me right now, even in work out shorts.
-- I just left the house for the first time since last Friday. Just needed milk. And to get out of the house for a few minutes. Driving was fine. Wandering through the store to find milk and tortillas was fine. Good thing it was a short errand though, apparently I still need to take it easy.

I am blessed

I've started a post several times but never know quite what to say. Here we are, a week post-surgery, and I'm still not entirely sure what to say. Rather than recount the gorey details of my surgery last week and the ongoing recovery, I thought I'd give you a glimpse of how blessed I am.

I was in the hospital from Weds at 11 am, surgery at 1, and through recovery (a traumatic experience until the epidural) and finally in a room shortly after 6. My parents were waiting for me there, with another friend (who is a nurse at St. Joe's and will marry my cousin later this summer). My dad brought me Communion. They stayed awhile to visit, joined by others later in the evening... In fact, my entire time there was a rotation of people coming to visit-- I really think it was probably the best hospital stay ever!! (Especially while the epidural was in and the pain was under control). I got some funny looks from the nurses, who I am sure wondered how it was possible every time they came into the room to see different people there. I received chocolate, games, oreos, flowers, cards, artwork from munchkins, hugs and kisses, prayers, phone calls, and people who just kept me entertained while I was stuck there in bed. I just kept thinking how blessed I am with a terrific family and terrific friends who take such good care of me!

I went home Friday afternoon and my at-home recovery has been very similar. The narcotics and pain killers have not been very effective, which is kind of a let down, but they do take the edge off the pain. In the last week I've spent more time sitting still than maybe ever before in my life. Weird. But once again, the time has been filled with visitors, phone calls, digital scrapbooking, working from home, pretending to pay attention to movies, and blessings. I am itching to get up and do a lot of stuff, but the pain has kept me in check (perhaps a blessing in disguise). Yesterday was the first day I could detect the pain was a little less and progress in any form is very encouraging. I can't even begin to express just how well people are taking care of me- Communion every day, dinners, house cleaning, entertainment, visitors, all of it. I am so blessed.

Although this is clearly not how I intended to spend the month of June, I am blessed and thankful. I'm happy to be on this end of the surgery, the worst behind me, and on the upswing. God is good.

The big day

Tomorrow is the day... pre-op starting at 11 am, surgery at 1 pm. Say a prayer if you think of it. I'm actually looking forward to the surgery because it means the end of the pre-surgery pain management / waiting and on to the recovery which means on to the rest of my life after that. That being said, I did have an awful nightmare about the surgery, so apparently my subconscious is more concerned than my conscious self is letting on. Nonetheless, I am at peace with the whole thing (right now anyway) and know that I am in good hands with both the doctor and the Father who loves me.

In the meantime, here's some great stuff that made my day:
1. Flowers from a friend who knows where my hidden key is.
2. Friend stopping over to visit.
3. Clean sheets.
4. Great meeting at work and some changes afoot.
5. A great doctor who I trust to cut me open and make good decisions therein.
6. Family and friends. The phone calls. The updates. Knowing I am loved and cared for in the midst of the craziness.
7. The pups.
8. Dr. Pink said I don't have to sit still for a month. He said recover. Take it easy. Go for short walks. Get up and do some house work. Don't landscape (he said nothing about weeding though). For some reason, this is a great comfort. I know I'll be in pain and recovering for awhile, and thus sitting still more than I like, but it's nice to be told to get up and do some little things.
9. My Goddaughter Maria (age 3) who apparently is taking my illness very seriously and mutters little prayers all day long for my healing. So stinking cute. She's coming to visit at the hospital and keeps telling her mom she'll see Aunt Reenie and the baby. Um. No baby. Just Aunt Reenie. (It does stand to reason though since probably every hospital visit Maria has made has included a baby.)

Taking it easy may be the death of me

I love Saturdays, and usually Saturdays are my high energy, high efficiency days to try to get everything done (and failing to get it all done every single time!) Today was no different... it is Saturday after all. And even on serious pain killers and "take it easy" mode, I do assume I can get a lot done. I'm actually off the vicodin, the doc prescribed me some super strength ibprofen to take alternating with the vicodin, but I think it actually works better. So the last two days I've only been on the ibprofen and it's nice because there's not the same woozy drugged feel as with the vicodin. Anyway, this morning I woke up in less pain than usual, took my usual dose of ibprofen, loaded the travel mugs with coffee, and the homie and I headed out the door by 7:15 am to hit the strawberry patch. And I don't care what she tells you, she did it voluntarily. I said I was going strawberry picking and going early, she looked skeptical, but said she'd have to come along. Who am I to argue? Although, once Saturday morning hit, she wondered what on earth was wrong with us!

As usual, there are crazier pickers than I who probably made it to the fields right at 7 am when the picking started. I felt pretty good about 7:40. We picked for a little over an hour and got 30 lbs of strawberries- large, juicy, tasty, wonderful berries. They are sitting on the table waiting to be washed, jammed, and some frozen. As you can see, I haven't gotten all of it quite done.

On our way home, we stopped at a few subdivision wide garage sales and did quite well. We each got a couple games and movies, I got a fabulous glass cake dish with lid (for a whopping $3), and (try to contain your excitement) 5 soaker hoses for $1 each. jackpot!! I know, most of you didn't know soaker hoses could totally make my day (even more than the awesome cake dish) but I have a couple already, but not enough to thread sufficiently through the huge vegetable garden to really make watering easy. Now... look at me, $5, 5 more soaker hoses... and now I just need the energy to go out and do said threading through the garden for easy watering. Maybe tomorrow...

We made it home and cleaned for a while and then I hit some sort of wall. The energy was gone. The nausea set in. The comatose Reenie passed out on the couch for awhile. Then took more ibprofen. Then the anti nausea drug. Then drank some coke.... and yes, she's still wiped out. Sigh. I'm not even done cleaning the kitchen. Haven't touched the dining room. Need to put clean sheets on the bed.

No. energy. I don't like this girl. Usually, the Reenie I know can do anything (and does) and can power through most slacking impulses... but this is different... I really can't convince myself to get off this couch. So... here I am writing a stupid post. And I'm sure I'm proving to you all that 1. I am a terrible patient. 2. I have no earthly idea how to take it easy. 3. Strawberries are so worth it. 4. Softball sized ovarian cyst is no laughing matter. and 5. I may be asking for help sometime soon. I hate asking for help-- hate it with a passion. But there are a couple flower beds that must be weeded at some point (and won't wait the month). And those soaker hoses have got to be strategically placed in the garden... and...

Yeah, this "taking it easy" may kill me yet... I'm just glad surgery is just a couple days away... and maybe some day all of this taking it easy will just be a distant memory and I can go back to powering through crazy Saturdays.

More Babies

I have been sitting more in the last few days than I can ever remember doing. It may kill me yet, but I am trying to be good... anyway, the other night, while sitting on the patio enjoying the gorgeous evening, I noticed a bird sitting under one of the pine trees, on a log, perfectly still and not going anywhere. I watched him for awhile and finally decided I should go warn him about the dogs and their um... attachment to eating small things. I walked right up to him- a gorgeous baby robin, clearly fresh out of a nest (the pine trees house lots of birds nests every year). Naturally I ran for the camera... and then encouraged him to go through the fence and he hopped down the road happily and very much still alive. It sure feels good to save something's life.

Then today I found this... sigh... I guess you can't save them all.

Learning Patience and the Garden

I am not a very patient person. Not necessarily impatient with other people, but mostly impatient with myself. I always want to accomplish more than is possible in any given time. I want my house to be perfect, to finish my kitchen, to plant my garden, to pray enough, exercise enough, work enough, socialize enough... sigh... I am not good at balance. And I am really bad at being told to "take it easy"... this ovarian cyst is already proving to be a stretch to my patience- and we've barely gotten started!!

Saturday I woke up in a fair amount of pain and the pain killers really did very little for me. Never one to be stopped by some pain, I went to Farmer's Market and picked up my pepper and tomato plants for the garden. I rested when I got home (like a good girl) and then eventually went out to plant. In my defense, the hard part was already done- I'd tilled, weeded, and spread compost. All that needed to happen was putting those plants and some seeds into the ground.

My housemate, sweetheart that she is, volunteered to mow the grass. And then helped me plant the garden. (Mind you, the homie doesn't actually like doing any of these things- but was worried about me apparently). I was in a lot of pain for the acutal planting- but was taking it easy, scooting around on my butt, taking it slow, and not overdoing it. And I feel great having gotten it all planted and in, hurray!!

Here's what I've got planted:
Onions
Sugar snap peas
Beans
Carrots
Lettuce
Cilantro
Rosemary
Basil
Tomatoes
Bell peppers
Jalepeno peppers
Tomatillo

I can't wait!!