four whirlwind weeks

Health, thou fragile thing.

My own health is fine, but that of my husband has been giving me fits...

Here's a calendar.



(Wed 2/11) he had an MRI at Lexington Diagnostic and Open MRI.

(Fri 2/13) he saw his cardiologist at Ohio Valley Heart, who said the MRI showed an abdominal aortal aneurism (known as "triple-A") that was large enough to warrant immediate surgery.

(Mon 2/16) he checked into St. Joseph Hospital and had the triple-A stented.

(Tue 2/17) he came home from the hospital.

(Fri 2/20) still feeling bad: no energy, sleeping all the time, short of breath, he made an appointment to see his cardiologist at Ohio Valley Heart.

(Wed 2/25) he saw his cardiologist, who ordered a CT scan at Meadowview Regional Hospital, which he had the same day. His cardiologist recommended a PETscan to further explore the findings of the CT scan, which showed "a mass" in his right lung.

(Fri 2/27) Blue Cross/Blue Shield refused approval of the PETscan, calling it "experimental" and "unnecessary."

(Sat 2/28) Blue Cross/Blue Shield called to say they'd reconsidered and approved the PETscan after all.

(Mon 3/2) Lexington Diagnostic and Open MRI phoned to let me know the PETscan was approved by my insurance company.

(Tue 3/3) he had the PETscan

(Wed 3/4) his cardiologist told us by phone that the PETscan shows the mass looks like cancer, and he (the cardiologist) would get in touch with the surgeon (at St. Joseph Hospital)to arrange for immediate removal.

(Thu 3/5) he checked into the hospital; due to the distance from home they put us up in the Campbell House Inn, catty corner across the street from St. Joseph.

(Fri 3/6) he had surgery and was moved into Recovery.

(Sat 3/7) he was moved into CTVU.

(Sun 3/8) he was moved to a private room on the 3rd floor.

Yesterday (Tue, 3/10) we came home from the hospital.

The surgeon, who coincidentally is the same surgeon who stented the AAA two weeks earlier and performed the heart bypass two years before that, said the spot was indeed cancer but it was very small and very early and he got it all out. Biopsy of lymph nodes showed the cancer had not spread at all, so neither chemotherapy nor radiation are necessary! Yea.

If BC/BS had not reconsidered, in another month this would probably have been in the lymph nodes. From there it's about impossible to get rid of it.

Can't sleep

Been up since 2:30.
This'll make for a rough Tuesday.
Supposed to snow pretty much all day today.

healthy

Well, th'Mr's surgery went off without a hitch, though the doctors again changed their minds and decided "for now" he does not need a pacemaker. I'm a little confused as to whether this is a good thing or not. There was more shuffling of medications and another new doctor to add into the mix. Now the three he sees regularly are Tomasoni, Ragu, and Dunaway. Halpin performed the bypass a year ago, and then there's Maas, at the VA. I could understand this better if we had good insurance, but these guys are really not getting paid well, or promptly.

Sunday we went to Lexington, did an hour of preadmission things and checked into the University Inn, courtesy of Central Baptist Hospital. Or of Cigna, I suppose. Monday morning at ten we began waiting for surgery, which happened five hours later, but took less than two hours. Monday night he spent in a hospital bed, while I stayed at the hotel another night.

In the meanwhile, my immune system rebelled. I had a lot of plans for !shopping! while in Lexington but managed to buy only Theraflu and Zicam, a pizza and bottled water. The pizza was th'Mr's request, a chance to fall off the diabetic diet while out of town.

Sunday afternoon I got sick. Nose running, nose clogged. Lungs full of phlegm. Whiny. Now it's Wednesday and I don't feel much better. Too sick to knit? Well, yeah, sort of. Most of the day.

everything update

***
Health

Tonight we're heading to Lexington. Th'Mr's cardiologist thinks a pacemaker is a good idea, so that's where we stand now. He (th'Mr, not the cardio) doesn't seem as nervous as I feel, and I suppose that's a good thing.

Tonight we check in at the hospital, then go to a hotel, then tomorrow morning back to the hospital for the surgery. He'll probably spend a night or two.

I've told them at work I might not be back till Thursday, if then. The higher-ups are starting to whine about absenteeism, but some things can't be helped.

We've spent a lot of time splitting firewood and moving it to the porch - I doubt he'll feel up to that sort of thing after being cut on yet again. It's still too cold to do without a fire in the woodstove. Next year we will definitely make an effort to winterize this old house.

***
Knitting

Aranmor

I couldn't do Aranmor both sleeves at once after all, since I wasn't sure two balls of yarn would suffice per sleeve, and I have "enough yarn of one dye lot" issues. However, now I know, when using Lion Brand Wool-ease --which comes in 85gm/180yd skeins-- for this project, I'll need 3 skeins each for front and back, two skeins each for the sleeves, and (don't know yet) for the collar and finishing.

I've finished one sleeve to the saddle cast-off and finished the cuff of the other.


Fair Isle sox

Got hooked on Fair Isle. I've sat down to work on the socks only three times but have the leg done on the first and am past the cuff into the leg on the second (it's a habit I have, to work both at once but not exactly at once). I doubt I'll ever be content to knit a plain sock again.

Three-color sox

My movie knitting project is moving right along. I'm doing these toe-up and the first sock is done past the heel. I like the way the colors work together. This'll be a great way to use up scrap yarn on days I'm too distracted for stranded work.

Yet another sock

Yesterday when I checked my Ravelry message board found an invitation to join Sock Knitters Pentathlon, so I did. The first pattern won't be posted till March 1, but the specs are up and last night I swatched that ball of Opal Uni I bought in Florida almost a year ago. This might be a good project on which to learn to tighten up my knitting... using #1 needles I wasn't quite achieving gauge.

There's so much I want to do...

he's home!

They completely backed off the idea of a pacemaker and instead took him off a bunch of the pills he'd been on, and cut the dosage on another. Tomorrow we still have the appointment to see the dietician and diabetes doctor, and now next Monday we'll be seeing the cardiologist. The general broad overview of a diabetic diet seems fairly easy to follow (most of the time, anyway); that's pretty much how we've been eating anyway (sometimes).

After the blizzard this time last week, now it's pushing 70F here. Beautiful weather - teeshirt weather.

still

Spent all day - from ten to ten - in ICU with th'Mr. They don't seem worried except they haven't let him go. His pulse has been mid-fifties to low-sixties all day. They've backed off the idea of getting him on a pacemaker and instead are taking him off some of the medications, which together amount to a great big pile are probably what's causing the pulse slowdown. Less pills seems like a Good Thing to both of us.

He was okay'd to move to a bed in Telemetry, but one hasn't come open, so he's still in ICU.

Today I got several inches done on Aranmor, in between emptying the urinal and rearranging tubes, hoses, wires and bed linens. I'm a wreck when I'm at home (and even now am wondering if I'm missing a vital phone call by being on line) so I just stay there with him all day.

hospital again

This afternoon we went out for a bit: to Lowe's for bird suet and to Food Lion for the odds & ends we forgot yesterday. As I was waiting at the register at the grocery store, th'Mr, as always, said he'd go get the truck and pull it around to the front of the store. So, when I got out of the store and he wasn't waiting where he usually does, I looked through the parking lot and saw his truck in the ditch at the far end!

He'd passed out, hit another car, and went in the ditch.

Nobody in the other car was hurt, but he has a bruise on his cheekbone where he may have hit the steering wheel.

He's in the local hospital ICU overnight.

They don't think it was his sugar. His pulse was 30bpm. They think he may need a pacemaker.

I'm tired of being scared like this. He promises to take better care of himself when this is over, without "making" me nag him to do it. I hated to leave him at the hospital, but I'm tired and scared and weepy and was not doing him or myself any good by staying there.

sugar sugar honey honey

th'Mr's sugar is down to 194!

I've got him taking a short walk after every meal or snack, and it's been dropping steadily for two days!

Thank you!

The little I know about diabetes I've learned this week. I know your sugar is typically lowest when you first get up (is that correct?) in the morning. His was 390 yesterday morning. Then it dropped all day, to 220 by 10PM. We took several short walks and ate reasonably: Oatmeal, roast beef & swiss on rye, orange juice, a salad with bleu cheese dressing and cheese nabs, sunflower seeds, leftover turkey. Reasonable foods in reasonable amounts with a reasonable amount of exercise. I am heaving a big sigh of relief, and hoping yesterday was the beginning of a trend.

We also spent $120 at the grocery (is that ridiculous? for two people?) and today I'll do a pork roast. Hopefully that's healthy food (white meat pork as opposed to red meat ham). Wednesday he'll see the nutritionist and we'll learn more about food. Wednesday he'll also see the doctor again and we'll learn about those numbers.

Thanks to all of you who prayed or danced or crossed your fingers, today begins with more hope.

salt addict

Earlier today I finished off the can of french fried onions that we got to make green bean casserole with, and now I'm munching on dry stuffing mix. I want a bag of chips, or chex mix. I am a salt addict.

I think the only thing that could satisfy my salt craving (besides salt) is crunching on nuts --almonds, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, filberts, sunflower seeds, brazil nuts...

Is that why nuts cost so much? It's a devious plot to keep us all hooked on processed food?

I'm glad with me it's salt and not sugar. I wonder if I drank a lot of water it would neutralize all the salt I take in?

blame it on continental

I'm pretty sure I have a knitting-related injury.

Not too long ago I successfully sped up my knitting with a swiveling motion of my left hand that, each stitch, put the yarn over the right-hand needle.

A while later I noticed my left arm felt injured, that, for instance, if I was sitting in the chairtrap and reached out to open the sliding glass door for one of the animals I got an intense pain in my upper arm, around the top muscle (whatever that one's called).

I think these things are related.

This week, once the last-minute Christmas knitting rush was complete (and I won't be doing that again), I've done almost no knitting.

My arm feels better.

I think it's time to slow down, read more, get back into cross-stitching... reintroduce some variety.

magazines

Like I don't have enough keeping me from knitting: (work, for one) a tumbling pile of books by the bed and a shelf full of unread paperbacks by my desk, email subscriptions to fifteen yahoo groups (though I'm "no mail" in all but four of them, and in digest mode in those), not to mention email from family & friends, now I've gone and bought the latest Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting magazines.

I went looking for the VK Holiday 2007 because I read (one one of those lists) that there's an Alice Starmore pattern in it. My favorite bookstore didn't have a copy, but IK's Winter 2007 leapt off the rack and into my hands in its place. Just in time; Knitting Daily (another email list I'm on) has a poll: which project(s) in this IK are our hands itching to get started on.

My answer?
Henley Perfected - it's perfect.
Colette Pullover - love those cats, but in different colors, please.
Tilting Cable Socks - solid color yarn for me.
Ivy League Vest - if I wore vests, the fair isle is so tempting.
Farrow Rib Cardigan - pretty.

I also fell in love with the skirt half of the dress on the inside front cover, an ad for Rebecca Magazine. Love several more of the ads. Hate a couple of the patterns (citrus yoke pullover, rosemary's swing jacket), and was charmed to find the closing article column (whatever that's called - the inside back cover article that many mags sport) to be by Marilyn Roberts, my very favorite blogger.

As if that wasn't enough, on the way home yesterday, since I knew th'Mr had a gig in Lexington & wouldn't be home till after nine, I stopped in AC Moore and there I did find the Vogue holiday issue. The Starmore is wonderful, of course, but I'm more drawn to Sasha Kagan's leafy vest. Yes, vest. I'd find a way to wear a vest, if I knit that vest.

Babbling.

Nearly noon, time to wake th'Mr. I'm home today because at 2:30 I have to go have my head examined in Mt. Sterling, a new doctor to look at the "dark spots" my regular doctor found on the MRI she took back in the spring. Hey, I've been saying for decades I have a brain tumor. Might explain some personality quirks, eh?

sleepless

I worked Wednesday and Thursday (we're scheduled four ten-hour days, M-Th). I'm having a really hard time staying asleep at night. Even with a sleeping pill Wednesday night I slept only from eight to midnight, then dozed till four-thirty, when I got up. I think I'd gotten a total of seventeen hours' sleep in four nights, then last night I tried a "toddy," Jack Daniels heated, with honey and lemon, and sure enough that put me to sleep, but when I woke up the dryer was still going, and it only runs a hundred minutes.

Today we're going to Muncie.

I'd write more, but it looks like I need to get ready now.

We're back on forties

Thursday afternoon the Powers That Be decided that for now we're working forty-hour weeks. I was unprepared, so had to go back to the apartment for stuff - my laundry, for one thing - before heading home. I do love three-day weekends.

Friday we cleaned a little, we grocery shopped, and I cooked chicken to go into a pot pie. Saturday we went to a little book fair at the Morgan county HS, bought & sold books (they had a dollar table, and I dropped ten real easily) and had a pretty nice time - Brosies were there, as were Hughes', Dicks, and others we see only at these events; Sunday is today, and we spent time together while finishing up preparing for the week ahead.

Next weekend is the Sturgis book fair, but we may go to Muncie instead. th'Mr's dad is sick with something called pre-leukemia and Sis is worn out with worrying over him. Our turn.

Tonight we had a surprise visitor; a HS teacher from Carter county wanted to talk to th'Mr about how to get started writing. Was interesting, though I wandered off to knit after a few minutes. Was funny the little dog had gone off, barking at the back door; th'Mr and I thought it was over some noise I'd made in the kitchen, and I said something along the line of, "STFU Grrrl, there's nobody out there," when came the answer, "oh, but there is."

'K, it's now time for me to take my nine o'clock Sunday sleepy pill - so I don't wake up at two ayem and stay awake till the alarm goes off at four.

convince me

Well, some time between mowing, pulling weeds in the garden, refilling the hummingbird feeders, shredding cucumbers for cuke salad, planting my bamboo-that-is-not-really-a-bamboo and having a beer, I decided that six months from now we won't even notice the roughly twohundred dollars I'll miss by not going to work tomorrow, and that there's really too much left to do to declare the weekend over. Simple as that.

Laundry is still unfinished, I haven't unpacked/repacked, I have a pork roast thawed that I need to cook, have to finish making the cucumber salad, liver is thawed to feed the cats (I don't like to refreeze it once it's thawed), still have two netflixes to watch, haven't done the first bit of knitting or cross stitch this weekend, my back hurts, I want a nap --a real nap, a daytime nap, not a night-- and a drink, I haven't found the gloves I brought th'Mr from work, haven't done any cat brushing this weekend, Nameless Roadie and Grrrl still need their flea dope doses, haven't been to the grocery yet, I have the light in my bedroom closet still to replace and I'd like a long soak in the tub...

th'Mr tells me the Perseids meteor shower is going on tonight, and if it's clear out we ought to drive up to the Enex Cemetery (where we got married, yes, in the woods, at the cemetery) to watch it. Because that's far enough away from city lights & so forth, which is one of the reasons we got married there -- no traffic noises, etc. So I hopped on line to see if it's clear or cloudy out. Really, right now it's in that grey area between daylight and dark you can't tell if the stars will come out or not. Simplest is go to my google home page and see what the weather says.

plan rebuttal

Wow, what a lot of plans I had for last weekend.

So here's what happened. When I got to the tub (remember I'd drawn myself a bath) all the water had leaked out. I guess there's another thing to add to the to-do list: put a new drain/stopper on the old bathtub. It'd be more efficient to just replace the whole bath/shower stall, but I'm still holding out for the day we win the lottery and build a whole new house further back in the woods. This one needs a lot of work. It was built in 1923.

So, no bath, at least not right away, which of course threw everything else off schedule. Th'Mr phoned about his monitor --our place in town doesn't work on them at all, so there was no point dropping his off on the way to Lexington. Phoned his drrr and they told him to come in Sep 4 for a CAT scan, so the reasons for the Lexington trip were down to "pick up desk, go to liquor store." Not that we don't have a liquor store in town, but the big one in Lex is so much ...bigger.

We blew off the trip into the city.

C&S arrived earlier than expected, and the little neurotic pitbull greeted them and their dogs. A flurry of activity later she was on her way to the doggydrrr/kennel for the weekend. C&S were in town for the Fiddler's Convention, so C didn't go to the Sparky & Rhonda Rucker concert with th'Mr, nor did S go to knitnight with me. Instead we all went off in three different directions...

I got to knitnight and was the only one there for an hour, till N&T (mother&daughter) showed up. I really enjoy those two. I guess I'm about halfway between them in age and for some reason they both seem to really like me. Th'Mr says it's because I'm just likeable, but I find that hard to swallow. I don't see a lot to like in me...

shakes herself

So anyway, no grocery run, no dinner cooked, no desk picked up nor built, no old desk moved out, no wall painted (and that green doesn't look all that bad)... but th'Mr got his CD, I had my knitnight, C&S had their Fiddler's Convention, and it was a good weekend.

the list

Looking over the old blog I realized a list may help.

Four nights three days at home all in a row seems like an adequate --maybe even a long-- weekend, but when I think of all the things I want to get done it feels shorter and shorter.

While I was away, th'Mr informs me, the vacuum arrived (ordered online, so no more "can't sell you the display model" woes) and the desk is awaiting pickup. Not to mention (but I will) the ball of Paton's Kroy Whitecap I've been waiting for (not really waiting, but if I knit fast and often I'll need it this week) came in this week's ebay mail... Soon as I have some time I'll list what I've bought on ebay lately. I went a little nuts going over his amazon.com wishlist and as usual couldn't keep it a surprise, but I think he's been happy about all the books & music. Maybe a little amazed, even. I'm not a generous person when it comes to spending money...

Oh yeah, a list.

The VA phoned. He's still in bed, so he doesn't know yet, but his doctor --the one he told me this week he really likes-- wants him to call back. The pneumonia or whatever it is he's had since ...May?... still hasn't cleared up and this week she ran a slew of tests. He knows he'll have to go back and will probably argue not to "waste" my weekend with it, but hell, the desk is also in Lexington awaiting pickup. Two birds with one stone. My folks sent him the desk in check-form for his birthday (late May); last weekend we finally got around to buying it.

LIST, the list dammit!

Go to Lexington.

No, wait, that can't be first.

Go to the bank, deposit my check.

No, first, phone the VA doctor and then decide what to do next.
Phone the computer repair place and see if there's any point bringing him the flat-screen monitor which died suddenly yesterday; yes, the same flat-screen that I had to wait seven months for the $90 rebate on.
Go to the bank, on the way hopefully dropping off the monitor.
Double back to the check cashing place, repaying the $200 I borrowed two weeks ago.
Turn around & head to Lexington, pick up the desk, visit the VA doctor, get home before the veterinarian closes at 5PM.
Take the dog to the vet for boarding while C&S are here over the weekend with their two dogs (ours, if you remember, thinks it's her role in life to be the only dog. Unfortunately the pitbull blood means she tries to make this happen with literally her teeth in their throats).
Move th'Mr's old desk, clean a space to put the new desk, and paint the wall behind where the new desk will sit. I'm serious. I'll use the paint I intended for my sewing room. His room really needs paint (observe the sickly green behind my profile photo) and I haven't even started on my room yet, and the paint's here, so there.
Assemble his desk.
Get groceries, prepare for C&S' visit.
Attend the Sparky & Rhonda Rucker concert at 7PM (at least long enough for him to buy a CD) and my knit night, which also begins at 7. They're just a couple blocks apart.

Crap, it's already closing in on noonish (10:30AM) and looks like none of this will get done. I have a bath half-run (waiting for the water heater to do its thing again, which by now it's done), I'm going off in seven different directions on line, and he's still asleep.

still sick

Yesterday in addition to the vitamins (calcium-magnesium-zinc, D-400, and E-400) I normally take, I had three garlic-parsley and three echinacea-167 every 2-3 hours. By afternoon I was feeling fine enough to spend an hour pulling weeds (and marveling that my back wasn't protesting - working for a living is good for the muscles and noticeable after just a couple of weeks) and a few minutes picking berries behind the barn. I also made a pot of chicken soup (good for the soul body) and spent a bit of time on the front porch watching the birds and working on the wolfpups cross stitch.

This morning I woke at three, congested and feeling like shit. Though not as shit as yesterday morning; I've been wavering about going to work or staying home and trying out the new (free) clinic. Don't have a fever, but I run hot & clammy to normal to cold & shivery. My nose runs (pun intended) from stopped up to drippy to sneezing repeatedly. The intense headache comes and goes. The bowels are loose (sorry if that's too much information).

Th'Mr suggested yesterday if I'm not better today I go to the ER, but if the 'clinic is open (surely they're staffed by volunteers, and how much can they do, anyway? X-rays? Prescriptions? Will I end up at the ER anyway?) I'll try them first. "My husband had pneumonia and when I first learned of hypochondria I thought to myself, 'I've got that!'"

In the meanwhile, it's just twenty after five; a good hour before I can call in to work (didn't call yesterday, but two days in a row - I'd better let them know what's going on) and surely at least a couple hours before any clinic, free or otherwise, opens. At 7:30 th'Mr plans to take Moby Dodge to the dealership from whence he came (how do ya like that, a "whence!" Whew!!) to get diagnosticized. The good news on MD is that the place that sold us the rebuilt motor is liable for the main seal leak, and for the labor to replace the motor.

MC & R are coming in for the weekend (they'll be camping, but will stop in to see us), so though I'm too sick for the interminable drive-walk-work-walk-drive I'm well enough to do some spot-cleaning on the house (that would be the same house that would benefit from much much more than mere "spot" cleaning).

headache

The sore throat I had yesterday AM is back. It's rained all night, so is probably NOT pollen-related, which might be a bummer. The weather shows thunderstorms all day here and in St. Albans, so combining that with how I feel already means I'll stay home another day. I think I'll load up on garlic & other antibiotic food once I get this headache under control...

Happy Independence Day!

I have the day off; woke up with a sore throat at 3AM (naturally, on a morning I could sleep in) and made lots of noise in the kitchen looking for honey, which we apparently are out of. Warm bourbon with lemon without honey tastes like shit.

I don't know if this is some kind of seasonal allergy (my first guess) or a reaction to the fly ash at work --which I'm pretty much away from; we've been powering up a "trailer city" out by the cooling towers, so quite a distance from the fly ash-- or a summer cold coming on, please no.

Whatever it is, I don't like it one bit.