Author: nurtureyrheart

Mom, Wife, Grandma, Full-time Elder-Care giver; Multi-media Artist, Word-Smith

smile with your words

My Journey Notes:
Drain is out and today I should be able to do more side to side movement instead of having to turn my whole head to see something to the left or the right. No pathology report as of yesterday, but the tech said she should be able to have the report for Thursday’s appointment since I would be seeing her and the PA for the removal of the sutures. Then, I’ll be headed back again in another week or so for bloodwork to see where we are and if adjustments need to be made for the now missing thyroid and for the parathyroid levels which were a little lower than anticipated, but thankfully, I’m not showing any of the symptoms of low calcium.

On the funny side: Scared the pest control guy yesterday when I answered the door. He took a few steps back and wanted to know what had happened. His final words after reporting his visit was for me to rest and take care. Not sure if his look and response was much different than a few others at the dr’s office yesterday – though I felt sorry for the kids that were in the reception area. You just can’t hide the 5 inch line of stitches that run across the front of your neck.

Take this to heart…

My Journey Notes:
First of two dr appointments for the week is today. Hoping the drain is coming out today – but if not, that they’ll reset it slightly so it’s not pulling quite so hard at the incision area. I’ve pinned things up to keep it from pulling as much, but it’s still a bit painful at times.

Woke up this morning with another migraine – day 3 of 5. I hope we can find something that will be within budget and work soon. Starting again with the interim stuff that only works for a little bit of relief… I need to function today as I’m falling terribly behind on things for next month’s birthdays and mailings.

Look for the beauty

My Journey Notes:
Home again after having to spend a post surgery overnighter at the surgery facility. Grateful for no complications and excellent care at every step there and no big problems when I got home. No pain meds since Thursday pm other than a 500 mg plain ol’ Tylenol as needed since coming home. I will be glad when the drain comes out on Monday, but it’s working as it should. New med on board and that will take a little adjustment since I can’t just lump it in with the rest of the morning bunch. Oh well. At least there’s a way to replace the hormone easily.

own it!

My Journey Notes:
Today’s the big day. It’s a late start as far as surgeries go — like the last one on the schedule at the center for the day – around noon. I’ve been fasting since 10pm. Luckily, only two pills to down this morning instead of the normal bunch, with a couple of sips of water to wash them down an all too dry throat.

I did get some good news yesterday — my insurance is going to cover the dr’s fees 100%. That was a huge relief, but still a bit annoying because the business office had no intention of calling and letting me know – I’m glad I did made another call bright and early yesterday. The gal I spoke with just kind of laughed it off…. Umm, do you think you’d laugh off the possibility of having a multi-thousand dollar bill due the day before the surgery? Nah, neither do I.

choices

My Journey Notes:
Thus far, it’s been a good week. Hoping that tomorrow’s surgery goes well and I get to come home tomorrow evening, but there’s a chance I’ll be staying overnight.. so I’m going in prepared with that in mind. Getting laundry done, packing a bag and doing a few other chores around the house that no one else wants to do. LOL Making sure we have some extra cash on hand for the vending machines or the small cafe at the surgical center for my driver’s lunch and dinner if she decides to hang out that long — I doubt it, but just in case.

Easy to fix meals in the freezer for T and A, though I think they’ll be picking up some carry out tomorrow evening if I’m hanging at the hospital overnight – along with some other meals that will be easy on the throat for me for a couple of days. I’m looking forward to being able to eat a few foods I haven’t been able to eat for a while again.


thoughts create emotions

My Journey Notes:
It’s been a sort of crazy week as we prep things for my surgery next week. 1st of the month bills paid, and there’s a bit of info for T and A to have just in case they need more details on things since I generally take care of the financial stuff for our household.

Grocery shopping is done and I think we’re pretty well stocked up on soft foods for a few days and stuff that is easy to fix for everyone else. Though, we’re still waiting for delivery of some fresh handmade tamales from a local source. Hoping they’ll get here today. I’d love to have tamales for dinner this evening!

I think the scariest thing about this upcoming surgery is how the anesthesia might impact things. I watched Dad deteriorate so quickly after his hip surgery last year and that’s really scary to me.

I’ve noticed that I’ve slowed down a lot in being able to get things done. It’s bugging me. I used to be able to put a whole stack of cards together in a few hours and now, it may take me a couple of days to finish that task. I figure close to 3 days now to get 20 cards made and in envelopes and that’s a card that doesn’t have lots of layers or fiddly details. I’m not sure I can attribute is solely to age, but getting distracted or forgetting where I was in the process seems to be more the culprit. We’ll see how this next card/project unfolds itself and all.