A Quick Note

Good Morning:

This will be short.  Just wanted to let you know since I had told everyone I was having knee replacement surgery on 5/21 that it has been postponed.  I had a lot of problems getting an appointment with my cardiologist for her okay for the surgery.  Long story short, I now have a new cardiologist.  I will be seeing him on 5/30.  I have notified both my primary care doctor and orthopedic doctor of this change.  After I see my new cardiologist and get his okay for the surgery they will reschedule.  I will let you know.

Thank you.

Cows, Flowers and Doctors

My next door neighbors to the north now have a cow and a bull.  Saw them this morning and have been listening to them ever since.  Should be interesting.

I also want to mention that my day lilies are starting to bloom and are looking very pretty.  I didn’t think they had lived through last year because they didn’t bloom.  They just had green stalks (sort of) and looked terrible.

Monday started with a trip to hospital equipment store.  I had a prescription for a two-wheeled walker, shower seat and special toilet seat to be used after knee surgery.  Renea took me to the store because I had no idea where to go.  The equipment is now stored in their garage.  I will need to take the walker with me to the hospital.

Before Renea and I headed out, Kevin informed me that he has orders for five more fishing rods.  Yea!!! I have also been asked to do several more fishing towels.  I just need to find out what colors he wants me to use. 

Meanwhile I am watching the NASCAR race that was postponed yesterday because of rain.  Not happy with the winner.

Kevin came over and game me the list of fishing towels that I need to do before the weekend.  Not a problem.  There are five of them.  NOTE:  I finished them.  I even helped Renea cut her muslin.  It was a busy afternoon!

DOCTOR VISITS

This was the week I had three days of doctor appointments to get ready for my knee surgery.  Tuesday was the busiest.  I started by going to St. Francis Hospital.  At 9:30 I had to register for my pre-op and surgery.  I arrived early and she took me back right away.  In fact, I was finished by about 9:10. 

My pre-op exam was next.  It was scheduled for 10:00.  Since I was finished with registration the nurse took me back for my tests/exam right away.  It was 9:15 by this time.  She did the usual, weight, blood pressure and temperature.  Next she drew six vials of blood.  She measured my neck. I asked about that and she said it had to do with sleep apnea.  Never heard of that, but okay.  She then did an EKG.  I then had a chest x-ray.  We were finished by 10:30.

My next appointment was with Rehab at St. Francis.  Of course, this is in a different building.  I went to the garage, got my car, and drove over to the next building.  My appointment was for noon, and I arrived at about 10:45.  There was nothing to do in the area, so I just went to the waiting room.  I checked in and told the girl I would just wait there.  Sam came out and got me at just about noon.  This meeting took about fifteen minutes.  He gave me three exercises to do at home before my surgery.  He said this would help with my rehab after surgery.

My next (and last for the day) was back at the hospital.  The appointment was for 2:00.  It is now about 12:25.  I drove over to the hospital and went to the waiting area.  Since I had some time I walked to the coffee shop, got a strawberry muffin and a bottle of water.  When I finished I went back to the waiting room and watched HGTV.  Other people started arriving for the “joint camp class” (no kidding, that’s what they call it) and everyone started chatting.  The time went quickly.  Now, this instructor was late.  She didn’t get us until 2:20.  Then we had to walk like seemed miles to the conference room.  EVERYONE was complaining.  There was ten of us.  We met for about 45 minutes.  I did learn a lot.  After she finished we heard from an Occupational Therapist and a Rehab Therapist about what would happen after surgery.  We left there about 3:20. 

Next was home.  It was a long day.

Wednesday was actually a visit with my podiatrist.  He checked my toenails.  It seems I have a fungus which needs treatment.  We will not do this until after my knee surgery.  I will be getting laser treatments which are not covered by insurance.  Insurance considers it cosmetic.  Give my options I decided I would go for the laser.

This was the afternoon I worked on the fishing towels and helped Renea.  Another long day.

Thursday was a visit with Dr. Reese.  She is my primary care doctor.  I was with her almost an hour.  She had received the results of my tests from Tuesday and went over all of them.  She also told me I needed clearance from the Nephrologist and Cardiologist.  I have an appointment for Monday afternoon with the Nephrologist.  Still waiting to hear from the Cardiologist.

It has been a few long days.  I have started doing my rehab exercises, and I am hurting by the time I am finished. 

Today is Friday, and I do not plan on doing much of anything. 

No Internet Service

This is not fun.  I have not had internet service since last Thursday.  I called AT&T right away, but, of course, they cannot get out here until Monday (today) afternoon between one and five.  I am sure it will be closer to five.  Actually, he arrived about 2:00.  Everything is up and working just fine now.  My router had gone kaput!

It’s been a busy week down at the She Shack.  I have been doing my regular chores in the morning and working down at the Shack in the afternoon.  The first project was my new kitchen curtains.  I am really happy with the way they turned out.  I used the same material as I had used on my kitchen wall hanging.  And, no my kitchen walls are not black.  They just look that way and I don't know why.

 

Before I forget, I took a picture of Jana’s quilt top that I finished last week.  Jana and I are both happy with the way it looks.

My next project down at the Shack was two “special” fishing towels that Kevin needed for the two “special” fishing poles he is working on.  We purchased several different colored towels to use.  The first one I did was a navy blue with white embroidery.  The second one was black with pink.  The “special” one is the black one with pink because it is for a young lady who had cancer and is doing fine.  Kevin asked me to put the pink ribbon on it along with the logo.  

I then embroidered the logo onto the three shirts that Renea had purchased.  One was for Ryan, one for Stephanie and one for Ray.  She bought these sometime ago.  I had not done them because of the type of material that they were made of.  I finally found out what kind of stabilizer to use, so they are now finished.

My next project was a tea towel for me.  I am planning to do three of them to hang on the rod behind my kitchen stove.  I still had Christmas towels hanging there.  The first one is of daffodils.  I plan on doing one with pansies and one with tulips.  Hopefully, I will get them finished next week.

 Next week is going to be busy also, but for a different reason.  Monday Renea and I are going to pick up my walker and other supplies for when I have my knee replacement surgery. 

Tuesday I will have my pre-op work done at St. Francis at 10:00.  At noon I meet with Sam at Rehab which is also at St. Francis.  Then at 2:00 I have a Joint Replacement Class at St. Francis. 

Wednesday I go to the podiatrist.

Thursday I have an appointment with the primary care doctor for a physical for my knee replacement surgery. 

Friday I plan to REST!!!!!

Till next time 😊

A Quick Update

I know.  I have not done a good job keeping up on the blog.  I will give you a quick run-down of what has been going on. 

Sunday, 4/14, we had another tornado scare.  Penny and I spent the morning and part of the afternoon at Kevin and Renea’s.  We had plenty of rain and some wind, but the bad weather stayed south and north of us.  We were in the donut hole so to speak as far as tornadoes were concerned.

Monday and Tuesday were “normal” days. 

Wednesday I headed to the orthopedic doctor about my knees.  I will be having a complete knee replacement on my left knee on 5/21.  There will be a lot of doctor appointments before then.  Meanwhile, the pain continues.  I do not get a lot of sleep because the knees are bone on bone with arthritis and bone spurs.  Every movement is painful and I wake many times during the night because of the pain.  Hurts to walk, hurts to sit, hurts to stand – I am sure you get the picture.

Thursday Kevin and Renea headed for San Antonio, TX, for the funeral of one of their best friends/Army buddy.  Kevin was part of the service.  They took the camper and arrived on Friday.  The service was Saturday.  Left for home on Sunday and arrived on Monday.  They also took Shelby since I would be dog sitting, and Shelby is still a handful.  Lola and Copper are older and easier to take care of. 

However, and of course, we had another tornado watch/warning on Thursday night into Friday.  Penny and I spent Thursday afternoon, Thursday night and party of Friday at K & R’s house with the dogs.  I didn’t get much sleep watching the television regarding the storms.  Again, we were lucky.  We did get six inches of rain.  Ryan came over on Friday to drain some water out of the pool. 

Sunday was Easter so I went to Mass on Sunday instead of Saturday night.  Sunday Mass still lasted an hour and a half.  Church was packed.  There was an Easter egg hunt for the kids after Mass.  Lucky me.

Monday I had an appointment with PA Randy at the Urology Center.  All of my tests came back showing no problems.  Of course, just to be sure, now they want me to have a Cystoscopy (better known as a bladder scope).  This will also be done in May.  May sure is getting booked up with doctor appointments.  I also have an appointment with a nephrologist.  However, that won’t be until the end of September.  They kept changing it to June, then July, then August.  Finally, I said end of September because I am still hoping to get to Cincinnati for a visit.

Dr. Wolff told me I would be in the hospital two to four days after the knee surgery.  Then I will have two weeks of home therapy.  K & R want me to stay at their house when I get home from the hospital.  They will take care of Penny.

Meanwhile I have finished Jana’s quilt top including the binding.  It is now ready for the quilter.  Jana wants to take it to the place in Indiana to have it quilted.  I will take it with me when I go to Cincinnati. 

Forgot to mention that I went to the Derdoski’s for Easter dinner.  Jennifer fixed a ham and fixings.  Sure was good.  Had a really nice time.

That pretty much catches me up on the happenings here. 

I've Been Busy

Today was a very busy day.  I spent the morning house cleaning and moving furniture in my living room.  I still would like to get a new area rug for the living room since I had to throw the other one away.  In addition I did a few other inside chores before lunch.

After lunch it was down to the She Shack.  I added the first border to Jana’s quilt top and cut the pieces for the second border.  It is looking really nice.

I also finished the wall hanging for my kitchen.  I am going to try and find more material just like it so I can make kitchen curtains.  I am proud of this wall hanging because it is the first one I made that I didn’t use a panel.  This was from scratch.

 

I also remembered to take a picture of my new tote bag that I just finished.

While I was taking pictures I also took a couple of my snowball bush.  This is the best it has looked since I planted it.

Didn’t get one of the iris because they finished blooming.

However, I did get one of the pretty azalea bush.  All three bloomed, but this one was the best.

Now, I am finished for the day.  I just took two Tylenol because I am hurting.  I am going to sit and watch some television now.  I need to rest.

I got very lucky.  My first stop this morning was Hobby Lobby to check and see if that was where I had bought the material I used for my kitchen wall hanging.  And….lo and behold!  There it was in the closeout bin.  There was enough yardage that I needed.  Now I can make my kitchen curtains.

While there I also bought the material I need to make Samantha’s flag.  She wants one that says “The House Family” and has a picture of the State of Ohio.  This project will be a first for me.

Next stop was Kroger’s, and then I headed for home. 

Kevin is busy mowing grass.  He trimmed some trees in the back along the woodline so the branches didn’t hit him in the face when riding the tractor.  As of right now he has finished the back yard and is working on my front yard.  Renea helped him by mowing their front grass.  I can’t believe they finished all of the mowing in one day!

It is now Friday and another busy day.  I spring cleaned my dining room today.  After that I went down to the She Shack and finished Jana’s quilt top.  I will be taking it with me to Ohio because she wants to take it to the quilt shop in Indiana for the backing and quilting.  The colors are much brighter and prettier than the picture shows.

Ryan came over and started weeding the area in front of my deck.  He is about ninety percent finished and will be back once more to complete the rest of it.  He is also going to cut back the lantanas for me.

Had a very nice evening.  Friends of ours (Patrick and Kara) came to visit.  They actually were at Kevin and Renea’s for supper.  I was invited but since I am not eating meat on Friday (and they were having turkey) during lent I did not go over.  However, they came over to my place after supper and visiting Kevin’s fishing shack and my she shack.  We sat on the deck until after nine o’clock.  Kevin and Patrick were in the Army together for a while.  When he and Kara married Kevin and Renea were Best Man and Matron of Honor.  They have a son and a daughter.  They also have horses that they train, not for racing, but for dressage and other events.  It was great seeing them.  They live here in Russell County.  It was a fun evening.

More Doctors and More Tests

All of a sudden I am having trouble with the type in my blogs.  I am trying something new this time, and I hope it works.

I went to see the podiatrist this week.  Of course, I have strange things happening.  The toe which had the nail removed is growing (sort of) a new nail.  Along the sides of the toe is new toenail.  However, in the center it is soft and rough and weird.  We are going to keep an eye on it.  As for my big toe on my other foot, and three other toes, he took some clippings and is sending them off for analysis.  They have some type of fungus, and before he can treat it he needs to know what kind of fungus.  I just keep all of the doctors guessing.

This week I finished my new tote bag. 

I am still working on Jana’s quilt top.  I put the blocks together, and the rows are now sewn together.  Next step is the borders.  I have cut the first border.

I have decided I need more plastic tote boxes for my fabric.  I want to sort it so I can find what I need, and I just have too much fabric for the storage I have. 

Friday night Kevin and Renea invited me for supper.  Bruce, Jennifer and Bethany were also there.  Kevin had caught some catfish and a bass.  This is what he fixed for supper.  It was an evening of remembering.  One of their dear friends from the Army died of cancer.  He had been battling cancer for quite a few years.  They drank the type of beer he drank.  We looked at numerous pictures.  Many stories were told.  Dave was much loved and will be missed.

I have been having a couple of rough days.  My knees, hips and fibromyalgia has me in a lot of pain.  Part of it is the weather.  The other part is the arthritis.

I found someone to pull my weeds.  Or, I should say Kevin and Renea found someone for me.  Ryan stopped over and told me he will be pulling weeds when the rain stops.  Thank you, Ryan.

Kevin has been busy mowing grass and using the weedeater.  We have decided to take down the magnolia tree.  The leaves have brown spots and white dust on them.  When I researched this on the internet it seems there is nothing that can be done to correct this.  So, we decided to take it down.  Several of our trees that we are growing in containers are ready to be planted.  I don’t think that will be done until fall.

However, we do have another big project for this summer.  The wood on my deck is starting to rot.  We are discussing the possibility of removing the deck and replacing it with a concrete patio.  This makes more sense that replacing it with more wood. 

Sunday was a lazy day because of the pain.  I finished a book I was reading, and I watched the NASCAR race.  Sure tired of Kyle Bush winning all the races.  I keep rooting for Clint Bowyer.  Love that redneck! 

I was sorry to see Auburn lose that game in the Final Four.  I truly think the refs messed up.  I watched several angles of replays, and I just can’t come to any other conclusion.  They missed one call and should not have made that last one.  I hope Texas Tech wins the final game.

This morning I cancelled four doctor appointments.  Three were tests that Dr. Miller signed me up for and the other was the appointment with Dr. Miller.  Two of three tests have already been done by my new doctor. 

Today is Tuesday and I had my appointment for my CT scan at the Urology Center in Columbus.  Friday was I supposed to have an appointment to have an ultra sound at the same place.  Today was for my bladder.  They are trying to find out why I have blood in my urine.  Friday was to be an ultra sound of my bladder and kidneys.  Anyway, the gal that did my CT scan told me her next appointment had cancelled and she would be glad to do the ultra sound if I wanted.  I said sure, but wasn’t sure my bladder was “full” enough.  She said she would check and if so would continue with the ultra sound.  Yea, it was full enough so I don’t have to go back Friday.  Now I just have to wait until 4/22 for my appointment to get the results.

Hopefully, I will get some more work accomplished in the She Shack this week since I stopped at Walmart and Winn Dixie on my way home.  While at Walmart I bought a couple of plastic containers for my material, a couple of notebook binders and masking tape. 

Other than putting my groceries away, I didn’t do anything the rest of the day.  I had a headache and upset stomach.  I think it was from the dye they injected for the CT scan.  Tomorrow will be a better day.

My Week Before Last Post

Now that's a title :)

Continuing with the doctors.  Thursday was a trip to the Urology Center of Columbus.  After running a couple of tests I am now scheduled for a CT scan of my bladder and an ultra sound of both my bladder and kidneys.  Then it will be back to see the doctor.  All three of these are in April. 

Next week I see the podiatrist for a checkup on my toe that had the nail removed.  I also need him to check a toe on my other foot. 

Also in April I have an appointment with the orthopedic doctor to check my knees.  The shot they gave me helped the right knee, but the left one still hurts like crazy.  I haven’t been able to do my rehab exercises for my hip because they hurt my knee.  Not sure what they will do next.

Wednesday was laundry day, which wears me out because I am on my feet so much.  Then today, Thursday, was grocery day which also wears me out.  By the time I shop, load the car, drive home, empty the car and put the groceries away I am done! D. O. N. E. DONE!  Both knees are hurting now.

Friday I spent most of the day working in the She Shack.  I am making great progress on Jana’s quilt top, and I am almost finished with my large tote bag.  I have been doing some research on the computer because there are two quilts I want to make and I am looking for patterns.  I may have to make them up as I go.  I’ve done that before.  I am also looking for a couple of patterns for another type of tote bag/purse and table runners and placemats.  I may make those up as I go along also.  I have pictures of what I want to do.

Saturday was work done in the house and going to Mass.  Sunday was my do nothing day.  I did print pictures of all the items I quilted to put in a book.  I am also going to start a book on my embroidery projects.  And a third book will be for patterns for both sewing and quilting. 

Now I need to find someone to hire to weed my garden areas.  I seem to have a problem getting that done because of my knees. 

I also watched the NASCAR race on Sunday.  I thought it was boring.  I was hoping Clint Bowyer would win.  He is such a redneck, but is my favorite!  I have also been rooting for the Auburn basketball team.  They made it to the Final Four.  WAR EAGLE!!!!  I wish them the best of luck.

It’s been a busy week so far.  I have spent time in the She Shack working on Jana’s quilt.  I have been working on my tote bag.  I have been getting fabric together to make a wall hanging in my kitchen.  I hope to finish that and the tote bag this week.  I have also been doing some research for patterns on a couple of items I wish to quilt; one is a bookcase quilt and I have several ideas for some jellyroll projects.

I would also like to mention that it looks like all my trees made it through the winter except the weeping willow.  The trees in containers on my deck are looking awesome.  We should be able to transplant a few this fall.  My snowball bush is beautiful this year.  It has started to bloom and I have many blooms.  I will take a picture when I get a chance.  I have one yellow iris blooming.  It has three blooms on the stalk; one is blooming the other two are buds.  My azaleas are starting to bloom.  I have day lilies coming up in the containers they are in.  Two of the rose-of-sharon bushes made it through the winter along with the rhododendron.  Even the Franklin trees have leaves.  Okay, I will stop here and just say everything is starting to look healthy.

I am going to end this here, and start a new blog for the past week.  This is basically from the week before last.  LOL